And Christian wants us to reconsider public inconveniences

A PUBLIC INCONVENIENCE

‘A Public Inconvenience’ is the third in a series of workshops exploring in-between-ness in urban environments. We define in-between-ness as the places and times that are often on the periphery of everyday life – the journey to work or the time spent queuing in a shop.

Technologies designed for the city often try to abstract away from the inconvenient necessities which our bodies require; or, when they are designed explicitly for public toilets, the focus is on supporting the cultural values of hygiene and privacy. What do we miss by ignoring the fact that public toilets are also the site for a variety of social practices?

‘A Public Inconvenience’ will explore the experience and affect of public toilets in an urban environment, in this case Amsterdam. Through observation and engagement we will consider how public toilets are shaped by, and themselves shape, cultural practices, values, and attitudes. And further, how this essential part of the urban fabric contributes to the everyday experience we have of our cities.

Designers, architects, artists, computer and social scientists are invited to join us for an active investigation into the experience of public toilets in Amsterdam.

A Public Inconvenience is taking place at the Waag Society in Amsterdam this coming October (26 / 27). More information can be found at www.inbetweeness.org/apublicinconvenience/

Jim Prevett invites us to Open Source Embroidery

Open Source Embroidery

An exhibition facilitated by Ele Carpenter

Exhibition Preview

Friday 7th September 5.30 – 8.30pm

The exhibition features the design wall for the Html Patchwork Quilt, alongside work by Ele Carpenter, Tricia Grindrod, Trevor Pitt, Clare Ruddock, John Keenan, Lisa Wallbank, James Wallbank, and others. The evening will feature: delicious food; live electronic embroidery sound performance by Keith O’Faolain and Jake Harries; and hexagonal biscuits made with a recycled computer!

For more info see: www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk
www.access-space.org

Melanie says: Perhaps this would interest you guys..

To: Rieback Melanie
Subject: Robodock 2007: call for hardware hackers

Melanie,

Here’s the announcement for our event in Amsterdam the third week of September. If you could pass this on to anyone who might be interested, that would be great. We’d love to have as many racers as possible.

Best,
Beth

Description:

Hazardfactory organises an event in the Seattle area called the “Seattle Power Tool Race & Derby” where we take old power tools (saws,grinders, sanders, etc) and make them into “racers” which we then race down a track. It’s like an american style Drag-race with two racers side-by-side going in straight line for about 20 meters. Our event is partially about racing for speed but it is equally about being “clever” and building something different from anyone else, even if it is not fast.

A key point of this event is that it is “participatory”, we provide the track but we need people to build and bring racers to compete. They can take it as far as they want, our friend Wes brought a pit crew that fed racers tequila when their racetool suffered mechanical failure.

We have the tools necessary to help people build “racetools” for the event at Robodock. It is an easy way for people to vault over the barrier between audience and get some of the spotlight for themselves.

Some pictures and video from our event:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/06/learn_how_to_make_a_power.html

http://youtube.com/group/SeattlePowerToolRace

http://www.flickr.com/groups/seattlepowertoolrace2007/pool/

In September we are taking our show to an event in Amsterdam called “robodock” http://www.robodock.org/2007/ It is an Industrial Arts event that attracts, artists, scientists, inventors, and gadgeteers of all kinds. We expect an audience of two to three thousand for each of the four days we perform.

Frequently asked questions:

Q: What the hell are you talking about?

Here is our friend Bre explaining how to make a power tool Drag Racer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DWLmsz5N88vg

He gives a great explanation of the race and includes a clip from Georgetown
2007.

Q: Is there a more specific walk thru of building techniques?

A: Yes, here is Jeremys’ instructable showing step-by-step how to build a
racer..

http://www.instructables.com/id/EHXD774F23Z35HC/

Q: What are the dimensions of the track?

A: For the Robodock races we will be metric and it feels like salvation!
according to zach:

Exhaustive research has determined that the euro equivilent of a 2×4 is
50x=100mm rough or about 45×95mm finished.

So the track is made of 95×45mm wood on edge with a plywood base.

305mm rail to rail (1 foot)
19meters long (60 feet)

Here is a picture!

http://hazardfactory.org/images/international_power_tool_race_track.jpg

3d model of the track at:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=3D6418ab6e346a8c06f5f811b=31d02a6ff

Contact us with any questions!

hazardfactory@googlegroups.com

FoAM update (Tue 28 Aug 2007 20:58:02 GMT+02:00)

Greetings!

After a hot summer of research and design, autumn is promising to become a ripe and juicy season for FoAM-grown worlds – we will work on personal fabrication, open source telephony, green design and traditional crafts, experimental foods and coding. The last weeks of summer we will spend in China – some of us flying kites, the others diving deep into global economic currents.

Cocky Eek is currently criss-crossing the skies above Hong Kong and mainland China (27 August – 2 September 2007). Dressed in a twenty meter long costume, suspended under four large kites, she uses the wind, her muscles and the texture of the fabric to shape ephemeral sculptures high above the ground and the sea. Photos from one of Cocky’s previous experiments: http://fo.am/events/2002_zeezicht/

Maja Kuzmanovic and Nik Gaffney are joining the Young Global Leaders for their summit in Dalian, China, from the 3rd to the 9th of September. As members of the environmental and diversity task forces, they will present FoAM’s ‘green’ initiatives, as well as get to know, analyse and forecast critical economic and social currents.

http://www.younggloballeaders.org/

After we come back, several exciting developments are awaiting. To give you a taste of what’s coming up in autumn at FoAM:

Bricophone research gathering: open source telephony, with Jean-Noël Montagné. FoAM, Brussels, 28 September 2007

.x-med-k.: Fabbing workshop, on open source personal fabricators and 3D printers, with Toby Borland. FoAM, Brussels, 01-05 October 2007

ECO DESIGN SALON with the The Textile Futures Research Group and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, a conversation between Maja Kuzmanovic and Carole Collet. ICA, London, UK, 11 October 2007. http://mag.tfrg.org.uk/node/43

CraftNouveau, research gathering discussing traditional crafts in emergent contexts with Olu Vandenbussche and Sanjeev Shankar. FoAM, Brussels, 26 October 2007

Mutamorphosis Conference, presentations by Maja Kuzmanovic and Nik Gaffney. Prague, Czech Republic, 08-10 November 2007. http://www.mutamorphosis.org/

Open Sauces, On food and coding; tasting dinner and debates, with Kate Rich, Stefan Magdalinski, Femke Snelting, Ann Light, Alok Nandi and others. FoAM, Brussels, 22 November 2007

If you require any additional information at this stage, please contact
info@fo.am

FoAM is supported by the Flemish Authorities (Vlaamse Gemeenschap), The Culture 2000 Framework of the European Commission, the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC).