Workshop: Interactivos?'2007 · Magic and Technology

This new edition of Interactivos? in Medialab Madrid is inspired by the strategies of magic and illusion, in order to harness some of the old and new technological resources to collectively build software pieces and interactive installations which can propose a rethinking of the usual scenario in magic tricks, marked by a very clear separation between the wizard and the spectators.

The call is focused on projects of digital and sound art, critical design, educational applications, etc., which, inspired in magic and illusionism techniques, propose experiments on perception and attention, behaviour and interaction generated by social relations. The call is also focused on projects inscribed within the open hardware and software philosophy.

This workshop proposes a transformation of the exhibition space into a space for production, meeting and debate. Open hardware and open software tools will be used to create new forms and modes of expression inspired in magic and illusionism. The participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to work in the production of advanced projects hand in hand with a group of well-known artists with a wide experience in leading workshops which focus on different issues related to the proposed subject matter: Zachary Lieberman , Daniel Canogar , Simone Jones

Interactivos? supports a model of open hardware and open software. Project can be made in any number of ways, but some of the of platforms we utilize include: Arduino, PD, Processing, andOpenFrameworks.

http://www.arduino.cc/
http://puredata.info/
http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html
http://processing.org
http://openframeworks.cc/about

Artist statements

Daniel Canogar: Phantasmagorias
At the end of the 18th century, the Belgian Ettiene Gaspard Robertson presented his "Phantasmagoria" in Paris - a show which caused quite a stir at the time. An important precursor of cinema, this form of representation used magic lanterns to project spectral figures over gauzes and smoke curtains, terrorizing a spectator little accustomed to this kind of optical effects. In audio-visual media archaeology, we often come across associations of technology with alchemy, of palmistry with the afterlife. Even nowadays, we keep seeing remnants of this "ghost in the machine" in cinema narratives, haunted houses and science fiction novels. During the workshop, Daniel Canogar will offer a series of theory-based presentations on how magic has contaminated the social distribution of new technologies throughout history. We will also reflect on how the relationship between magic and technology persists nowadays. Finally, we will introduce a series of creative exercises which will allow us to operate artistically on the issues under discussion.

Simone Jones
I am interested in the origins of contemporary media from a technological, social and cultural perspective. I believe that it is crucial for artists who work with technology to see themselves as inventors and manipulators of technological material rather than simply end-users of pre-packaged and pre-defined technological systems. Technological developments are often referred to as being part of an evolutionary process (i.e. one technology is replaced by a “better” technology). However, this evolution is far from natural, it is instead a component of larger cultural and social issues. We build technologies but they also shape us: it is a reciprocal relationship that has rich art making potential.

I have worked with electronics since 1989. I am fascinated by the possibilities that arise from building machines and designing systems that engage with physical and temporal space. My work arises from experimentation with a wide range of materials and processes. This methodology has lead to the development of a body of work that includes animation, performance, film, video and kinetic sculpture. Much of the work is made for installation. Because of my fondness for absurdity, the work is sometimes humorous.

Since 2002, Lance Winn and I have worked collaboratively on kinetic/video projects that investigate the promise and the limitations of extending media. We share a common interest in the mechanisms of reproduction and the impact they have on representation. Our collaborative work focuses on the edges of the two-dimensional image and the desire to see beyond the limits of the frame. By creating programmable, moving video capture/projection machines we are able to make explicit the requirements of the projected image as it filters into space rather than onto a flat screen.

Simone Jones, March 2007.

Zach Lieberman will present a library of software for creative programming in c++ called openframeworks (http://openframeworks.cc) with an emphasis on exploring techniques for augmented reality. We will investigate visual and auditory tricks, exploring how fiction and reality can be mixed to present plausible but entirely magical worlds.