[spectre] ArtBots Gent: 2-3 december, KASK academiestraat 2 - Gent.

[Eva DeGroote]

+++ copy, paste & send it out (plz) +++

ARTBOTS local
Saturday December 2nd [exhibition from 14.00h - talks from 20.30h],
Sunday December 3th [exhibition from 14.00h - 20.00h m&m performance at
LOGOS]

Location :
KASK Academie Gent
Academiestraat 2
9000 Gent

Come grab those frequent flyer miles, 'coz time flies and this is the
grand and glorious EXIT edition (well.. we've said that before.. huh )
with :

Amanda Windle - Chatterbots [exhibition + talk] [UK]

Amanda currently leads the graphic design and new media pathway of the
Foundation Diploma in Further Education at Epsom. Her research in
design, writing and critical theory are also used to teach a broad range
of critical and theoretical concerns currently as a sessional BA tutor
in Fashion Journalism and MA tutor for the Fashion, Graphic Design and
New Media courses at Epsom.
Subsequently, her artwork has been exhibited in Maine, Tokyo, Seoul as
well as the UK.

http://amandawindle.com/

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Marco Kruyt - Big [exhibition] [NL]
Big (pig) is an electric pet, a huge and extremely pink coloured friend
that likes to dance and go for small walks.
Big is controlled by a very simple control unit, which controls al the
vital functions.
Big is a better dancer then she is a walker.
In a sense of robotics, Big is not a world-shaking work of art.
But what she lacks in advanced robotics, she makes up for with her
amazing interactive capabilities, and bucket loads of charm and smiles
all over.
Big works by simple, and there for reliable 12 Volt electrics.
Her two front legs provide propulsion, and steering.
She can be very happy, showing it by opening her mouth, while her eyes
shine bright.
When mistreated she will scream for help.

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Sebastian Noth - Breathers [exhibition] [GER]
Sebastian Noth is interested in autonomous robots and a member of the
platform derstrudel [www.derstrudel.org]. normally he's concentrated on
crawling analog robots, trying to make them perceive their environment
and to interact with it or other specimen.

breathers' most important aspect is the discrepancy between familiarity
and strangeness: breathing is an action performed permanently by most
animals - including ourselves - to stay alive. Breathing hence strongly
suggests an association to life. But breathers' body, a coat of white
plastic foil without any distinct limbs, lacks all other commonness with
animals that would support this association.
simply breathing, they cause no emotions like pity or fear, neither do
they pretend to be intelligent. (what other robots do sometimes) They
look (and sound) less technical than walking or driving robots.
breathers are inspired by lungs. being as minimalist as possible, nine
basic electronic parts, two fan motors and white plastic foil form an
artificial lung. The technical parts are almost invisible from outside,
only from below the breather the fan exhaust is seen. Although
breathers' behavior is easily predictable, it is not obvious how they
technically function.

http://www.derstrudel.org/~snoth/breathers.avi

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Ian Gyselinck and James Vervenne - Lady Rollercoaster [exhibition] [B]

A giant rollercoaster in a female shape. In addition there is a
camerafeed for the public to enjoy the ride in action-perspective.

http://www.ladyrollercoaster.tiemen.be

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Johannes Taelman - Push-Pull [exhibition] [B]
Push-Pull is a minimalist low-fi robotic project. 2 computers (Apple
Powermac preferred since they are userfriendly) with a tray-loading
cdrom-drive (no slot-in) the computers facing each other, with the cdrom
drives head-to-head. About 4 inches between the frontpanels of the
computers. And a rope attached between the two cdrom trays.

When one cdrom-drive 'ejects', it pushes the other cdrom tray, so that
one starts closing. When one cdrom-drive attempts to close, the rope
blocks it from fully closing. Its self-preservation instinct make the
cdrom-drive to "eject" its tray again. The cycle is complete and
self-supporting.

The self-preservation instinct of both computers turns them into
slavery. Only one will survive on the long term: the fittest.

The only thing missing to enable darwinistic natural selection is
reproduction. Some part of the audience associates the repetitive in-out
movement with sex, but I leave those dirty associations to the audience.
So this installation reveals several nature-like behavioural aspects of
common hardware: self-preservation, slavery, suicide.

#...............//................?/

Johannes Taelman - I robot? [exhibition] [B]

A wireless remote controlled vehicle/robot equipped with a video camera
is connected to a VR-helmet. People see what the robot sees and control
what the robot does. Artificial intelligence or is substituted by the
actions of the
participant.

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Lara Green - 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G' [exhibition] [UK]

K-I-S-S-I-N-G is made of steel and bicycle cables. It will also have
sensors, small lights and leaves (either real or hand made). The piece
is an interactive sculpture. When two people lift certain brances each
one activates a head to move forward, tilt back and twist to the side so
that if operated precisely they can exactly meet in the middle and a
kiss is possible.

I made the piece because I wanted to challenge people to get involved in
something together which is intuively intimate and requires coordinated
control with another. I wanted to create opportunities for a unique
experince which breaks through our normal behaviour with others. The
piece joins two people, perhaps strangers in a romantic exchange, as the
sculptural heads become an extension of their own action. Children and
adults alike can, giggle and be delighted. Some people can't get in the
mood and operate it roughly, this is interesting too. Some get a little
embarrassed, perhaps they would like to really kiss the person opposite?

http://www.laragreene.com/

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Suzanna Hertrich - Robbits : [exhibition] [GER - UK]
Robbits is an artistic roboting project featuring a number of autonomous
mobile robots in the shape rabbits. The robots are grouped together and
interact as »social« community. They react to environmental such as
surrounding people, obstacles and movement. They only function with
people around them. The robbits small noses can sense the presence of
warm bodies. When they sense people approaching, their state of
hibernation and start exploring the world. At first they reactivate
their heartbeats and While carefully sniffing their way around, robbits
secretly chatter about their experiences. The closer a person comes to a
robbit, the more excited the robbits gets. Their little heart are
beating ears start moving rapidly.

Robbits are very curious by nature and they might come very close to you
to see who is there. But also very jumpy and easily get scared. If you
get too close, you might scare them to "death" ...

http://hertrich.kinben.de/robbits

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Christian Faubel + Ralf Schreiber : Overhead bots + Overheadbot workshop
: [exhibition + workshop] [GER]

Overhead bots live on overheads, a bit like parasites they sit on top of
the overhead and convert its light into their proper motion. The
overhead bots are completely autonomous; all their energy is delivered
by the overhead. The whole system is like a little ecosystem and works
once the overhead is turned on without any further
intervention. The projected screen is like a 2 dimensional window to
this world on the overhead projector, a world with real collisions, and
unforeseeable events. On the other side the screen can also be seen as a
an animated display, where consolidations of dots, lines and colours
move around and form an ever-changing image..

In addition a workshop on overheadbots will take place at artbots :

Anyone (children with parental help) can build and design his own unique
small overheadrobot. We use small printed circuits boards, so the
circuit can be soldered very quickly! We provide smallest motors, solar
panels and various electronic components. For individual design and look
we also provide lots of different materials like: shiny paper, coloured
foils, wire, springs, plastic capsules etc. Electronic know-how is not
required. Every robot can be tested on an extra overhead projector and
thus take part in the presentation/exhibition. All robots can be taken
home. The participants pay only the material costs (around 4, - Euro).

Christian Faubel works as a research fellow in the robotics group at the
Institut fuer Neuroinformatik in Bochum, Germany. In 2001 foundation of
derstrudel together with sebastian noth, to give a frameork to their
shared interest in the development of autonomous robots, sensor
integration, motor control and the mediation of a fearless approach to
electronic.
Since 2001 participation in several media-art festivals with
robotic-installations and workshops (selection): piksel 2006 festival
Bergen //strp art loves technology festival eindhoven 2006 // the art of
overhead 2005 bergen // transmediale 2005 berlin // garage fetsival
stralsund 2002

Ralf Schreiber lives in Cologne and works with audio installations,
robotics, chaotic processes, auto active systems and silence. He
finished MA studies at the Münster College of Art and Postgraduate
studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Exhibited in several
galleries and international festival of media arts (selection):
Interferenze 4, San Martino Valle Caudina, Italy 2006 //Wake up, Rauma
Biennale Balticum, Rauma, Finland 2006 // strp festival eindhoven ,
Netherlands 2006 // Artbots/ The Robot Talent Show, Dublin 2005 //
Transmediale 05 Basics, Berlin 2005 // Soundart, Art Cologne, Köln 2004
// Artbots/The Robot Talent Show, New York 2004 // Living particles,
Picture Gallery Klaipeda, Lithuania 2004 // RAM 4, Survival Kit - NIFCA
, Helsinki 2003 // Streams of Encounter, Taipei Fine Arts Museum Taipei
2003 // Sensible Module, V2-Organisatie / Goethe Institute, Rotterdam
2001 // Living particles, EMAF Osnabrück, Osnabrück 2001 //Gallery gnd
to earth coop to Transmediale 01 // Berlin 2001, Flexibilitätsversuche /
Fridericianum Kassel, Kassel 2000/2001

http://derstrudel.org/robots/overheadbots.php
http://www.derstrudel.org/
http://www.ralfschreiber.com/

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Boutiquevizique - Dustbunnies : [exhibition] [B]
Dustbunnies is a small colony of digital dust balls that scan the space
in search of crumbs of lost thoughts, emotions and dreams.

The artists' goal was to create an interface with a small number of
defined rules, linked directly to each other and to actions from the
past. The visitors' experience depends upon their approach toward the
installation both as a group and as an individual. It was really
important to them to get away from the 'one-to-one nteraction' used in
their previous work. They created a group of separate, but similar,
interfaces that would behave more as a group and generate an output
based on both instantaneous and past inputs. Dustbunnies has been
developed in cooperation with the arts centre Z33 in Hasselt, Belgium.

http://www.boutiquevizique.com/dustbunnies

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Willy Van de Velde - Joe, Martha and r3 : [exhibition] [B]

joe, Martha and r3 are lightobjects, designobjects, without running

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Benjamin van Oost - Kaiserrobotics [exhibition] [B]
Benjamin van Oost is a grafic designer : no mechanics - no electricity
but inspired by japanese series like goldorak and transformers/

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Leonel Moura - ISU [The Lettrist Robot] [exhibition + talk] [POR]

A robot that can paint and write

Leonel Moura has developed in the last years a series of robots able to
create their own original paintings and drawings. In 2004 he presented
in New York the project Artsbot, a group of small robots that painted
collectively, which lead to the production of RAP, a very talented
artbot that signs his own work and will be displayed at the American
Museum of Natural History soon.
ISU is the most recent evolution of this venture. Named after Isidore
Isou the creator, back in the 50's, of the French movement known as the
"Letrisme", ISU is able to draw letters and words and from there
generate pictorial compositions. Like in lettrism, which campaign for
the use of the letter as the basis of a new art form, ISU generates by
itself a series of letters and words that may or may not trigger on the
viewer meaning.
The process by which ISU decides the use of a letter or builds a word
lays on a complex dynamics between a positive feedback mechanism and a
random mode.
The robotic art of Leonel Moura seeks to broaden the machine autonomy,
stating that robotic pictorial expression, in this sense, can be
consider by itself a work of art independent from the human artist that
in fact originate it.

http://www.lxxl.pt/

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Blotter [exhibition] [B]
A huge positron brain lies at the very core of each killdroid!
Actually... no. The BLOTTER robots operate in a way similar to
agent-based Artificial Intelligence (thanks to Walter Daelemans for
pointing out the term). The software is a derivate of work we have been
doing at the St. Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, dealing with
natural composition and emergence in graphic design. Each robot has a
tiny brain (roughly comparable to an ant or a cricket) with a few very
specific tasks:

* 1) wander around aimlessly
* 2) if there is less sound than a while ago, go back where you came from
* 3) if another agent's trail is encountered, follow the trail

http://old.champdaction.be/cda.php?p=Blotter

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Logos Foundation - <M&M> ensemble [exhibition + talk] [B]
zondag 20u : <M&M> (Man and Machine) ensemble performance at Logos
Foundation, Bomastraat 26, Gent

Since 1969 the Logos Foundation has been performing research focused on
robot building and human interfaces. The connection with and
contribution to the latest developments in science and technology have
always been of primary importance to us. Interfaces we developed include
wireless gesture control (through sonar as well as radar systems), real
time polyphonic sound analysis, acceleration sensors, lightsensors,
myoelectric signals,...
Next to these interfaces we created more then 30 computer controlled
musical automats, including percussion instruments, organs, piano, a
sousaphone... but also completely new, more exotic, 'bruitistic'
instruments. The sound production of all this instruments is purely
acoustical, but under very precise electronic control.

Both the interfaces and the robots are controlled by <GMT>, a
multitasking development system for experimental real time interactive
and algorithmic musical composition, also developed at Logos.

Next to this technological research, we have also been developing new
forms of musical composition and a new musical practice. The classical
instrument, in the hands of those who feel compelled to give expression
to thoughts and feeling of our time, is experienced as some sort of
prosthesis: it is something a musician is intimate with, yet at the
other hand it is often unwilling and obstinate. Our aim is to create new
instruments that are more 'open'. Instruments that do no longer feel
like an external object, but whereby a performer can use motoric body
gestures in a direct way to control and to improvise with sound
generating devices. This does not mean traditional instruments are
completely obsoleted. Thanks to our polyphonic pitch detection devices,
one or more traditional instrumentalists can use their instruments now
as a controlling device for a complete robot orchestra!
Currently, the result of this technical and artistic culminates in
<M&M>, a professional ensemble with international profile, consisting of
more then 30 robotic musical instruments in interaction with several
human performers, dancers and instrumentalists.

http://www.logosfoundation.org

Another fine nMn release, in conjunction with it can be done, what
if..., Nieuwpoorttheater, KASK, Stad Gent, Ministerie van de Vlaamse
Gemeenschap and the people @ visual creations.
thx goes out to all participants. sans doute ! sans doute !
------------------------------------------------
DORKBOT-GHENT
<http://www.dorkbot.org>

........................................................................
.........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity..........
..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
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