EMI Ars Electronica Festival 2006
SIMPLICITY is a complex topic that has no single, simple answer.
We live in an increasingly complex technological world where nothing works like it is supposed to, and at the end of the day makes all of us hunger for simplicity to some degree. Yet ironically when given the choice of more or less, we are programmed at the genetic level to want more.“Would you like the big cookie or the smaller cookie?” or “Would you like the computer with ten processors or just one?” The choice is simple really, or is it?
For the Ars Electronica Symposium on SIMPLICITY we think together about what simplicity (and complexity) means in politics, life, art, and technology. Expect more than you can ever imagine, and less.
John Maeda
Ars Electronica Festival
EMI Minishop (daily workshop)
Enrique Tomas will show you how to become a digital luthier for some hours and design a small music instrument to perform with. The EMI group has designed a set of 16 different DIY electronic circuits that produce beautiful chirps out of sensors.
Enrique, who is part of Medialab Madrid, lives and works in Madrid. In 2005 created the EMI group together with Koray Tahiroglu (Turkey) and David Cuartielles (Sweden). Their actions have been commisioned and curated by the Swedish/Danish Art group E.A.T. SweDen
What You Need
If you want to join the EMI minishop, you should bring:
- a small toolkit, including a soldering iron, some screwdrivers, pliers, cutter, electric tape, etc. We will have some tools for you anyway
Electrolobby Minishops
The minishops are a selection of mini-workshops that will run in parallel tracks at the e-lobby. Experts in different subjects will organize short open sessions for visitors to get a personal experience.
A mixture small software actions and experimental music instruments with a topping of robotic irony will become the cocktail for the visitors willing to spend some time going hands on.
The minishops are open for anyone to participate, and will be repeated several times during the festival. If you happen to be that interested in any of them that you don't wanna miss it, you should make sure you can get a seat for the day. These include:
- no fee; minishops are for free, you may need to purchase some materials, though
- periodicity; the minishops will be repeated several times during the festival
- quick hands on experience; the duration of a minishop goes between 1 and 3 hours, they have been designed for you to spend some time in the way to the symposium, etc
Minishop's Dynamics
Each minishop will have one or more facilitator. We have invited experts in different fields to come and present how to make the works they do.
The facilitator will run about one session each day at the E-looby. The participants will get the chance to go hands on at some spaces reserved for them to work at.
The whole minishop's period will last for 5 days (check out the Agenda):
- the first two days will be devoted to quickly learn about the technology
- the third one, we will move the whole lobby to St. Florian's Monastery, together with the rest of the symposium. There we will bring all the participants to work in the workshop called Low Tech Sensors and Actuators where everyone will get the chance to go hands-on exploring freely how different toys can be transformed into new interesting interactive piees
- the forth and fifth sessions will go as usual
- the sixth day will be the presentation one. Participants will get to present their results to the others through the day
How to Participate
Minishops are open to anyone with the interest to participate. There is no application process for minishops. However, since we expect the lobby to be pretty crowded during the festival, if you want to make sure you get a place for the minishops, contact the specific minishop's responsible directly over email. Their addresses are writen further down.
Note that no previous experience is required for any of the minishops. You don't need to be a programmer or you don't need to never ever had played around with electronics.
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