thoughtsandtalks

and some other micro transformations by Bartaku

During the month of august, so-on will organize for okno 2 workshops dealing with the topics of media ecology, mobile- and networked architecture.
Connected Domes #01 consists of building greenhouse geodesic domes out of recycled materials as there are: newspapers, scrap metal, twigs, bamboo …
Connected Domes #02 will populate the greenhouses with wild plants, sprouts shooting up out of homemade compost. The plants will act as a print, a mirror of the greenlife of so-on’s garden over the last year.

The plants will be powered and stuffed with sensors (touch, humidity, UV) and the 3 domes will be connected in a wireless network by arduino’s and xbees.
On the dome-structure recycled computer ventilators will be added to provide a gentle breeze to the leaves, as well as small solar panels and led lights to light up the domes at night.
A sonification of the gathered data via Maxmsp and PD will turn the connected domes into musical instruments.

Signals from the South’ is an annual showcase of projects from ‘the South’ (South America, Africa, Asia). This year’s exhibition features work by Venzha Christ / Yogyakarta New Media Art Laboratory (Indonesia), Geraldine Juaréz (Mexico), Annemie Maes (Belgium), Vanessa Gocksch & Juan Carlos Pellegrino (Colombia).

The exhibition is organised by Pixelache festival in collaboration with MUU Gallery.
Pixelache Helsinki (2-5 April) is a festival of electronic art and subcultures, organised since 2002.

signals from the south
pixelache.2009
MUU Gallery 13.3. - 5.4.2009 — Lönnrotinkatu 33, 00180 Helsinki

information on the projects and artists: (more…)

Global warming, the financial crisis, famine, drought and overpopulation… The end is near, but don’t despair: artists and experts from different disciplines will launch proposals to save the world, put the threat in perspective or blow up the whole thing.
Well-aimed happenings, bold statements, bizarre turns, sophisticated utopias and biodegradable references.

Vooruit/Ghent - 4/14 march 2009

So-on – Politics of change
Annemie Maes has made a documentary wall with pictures, videos, and interviews she gathered during her field research at Barefoot College. In this Indian community, illiterate grown-up women are technically trained so they can personally provide their village with sustainable energy with the help of solar panels. Their knowledge could inspire the West to find solutions for current climate and environmental issues.
Annemie Maes is a member of the So-on collective, consisting of artists, filmmakers, activists and researchers. They want to confront the public with different views and try to stimulate the public debate on economic, political and cultural sustainability.

Left, the smithy of the Barefoot Solar Cooker Engineers in Tilonia, Rajasthan. Right, a solar energy project in the desert of New Mexico.
Under some diagrams on the horizontal and vertical sunlight-tracking for the Scheffler-system, as used for the Barefoot Solar Cookers.

Sheffler-cooker horizontal tracking

Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Women from several African and Asian countries in a training/workshop in India learning about photovoltaic solar energy.
streaming movie — 02:30 // free art license CIK.

Thursday 24 july 10 women (and 3 man) gatered at okno to build solar cookers. It was a sunny day, luckily.
In 2 hours time we built 3 umbrella-cookers and 3 fun-panel/cookit cookers. We started some cooking tests around 4.30 pm. The sunmoved fast and we had to adjust the cookers all the time. Than came the wind and he blew our pots away. Finally we cooked a simple meal on okno’s electric plates.

For pictures, go the the photo-album page and select solar_cooking: brussels.
Sofie, Marthe, Shelbatra, Wendy, Billy, Tina, Sara, Christina, Audrey, Annemie, Wouter, Fabrice and Rene. (more…)

Presented as a preview for our upcoming-series
‘creative eco/techno gardening forgirlsandboys’ (2009-…) :
the cook, the artist, the engineer and their urban garden;

OKNO/so-on invites you to participate in the mini-DIY-workshop:
++++ HOW TO BUILD A SOLAR COOKER ++++

thursday 24 july 2008 at OKNO, 01pm till 6pm
en petit comité
drinks available, food only if we succeed!
free entrance for women and transgender (boys, be inventive!)

what?
A Solar Cooker is a device that allows you to cook food using the sun’s energy as fuel.

why?
+ Solar cooking is the simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food without consuming fuels. But for hundreds of millions of people around the world who cook over fires fueled by wood, solar cooking is more than a choice.
+ Moderate cooking temperatures in simple solar cookers help preserve nutrients.
+ Smoke from cooking fires is a major cause of global warming.
+ Many solar cookers are portable, allowing for solar cooking at work sites or while pursuing outdoor activities like picnics, trekking or camping.
+ and so much more … read:
(more…)