..on Thu, Oct 01, 2009 at 04:27:39PM +0200, Damian Stewart wrote:
> i remember some discussions that happened hear a couple of years back along
> the lines of 'does New Zealand need a medialab?' well, i don't know about a
> /media/lab, since 'media' is a bit of a loaded word and corries with it a
> lot of the kind of pretentious nonsense that can have a whole lot of money
> spent on flash without very much content (eg the Film Archive 'Mediaplex'
> in Wellington).
>
> but, based on what i've seen in my travels, some of the most interesting
> creative stuff seems to be happening in and around /hack/lab spaces: the
> kind of spaces which put together, in one place, open-source enthusiasts
> who want to spread the word, and artists who are interested in working with
> new technology and want access to equipment, workshop space, or just a
> social space to hang out with other likeminded people.
>
> i just went this morning to visit the Metalab in Vienna (http://metalab.at)
> and am inspired. they have a very small space - 200 square metres - and in
> it manage to pack the following:
>
> . main room with couches, chairs, tables and cheap roll-down projection
> screens for presentations, meetings, or just hanging out
> . library/meeting room with books, tables, a more quiet/intimate
> workshop/work space.
> . tiny sound studio with some basic synth gear (lent from one of the
> members, who occasionally takes it back to use at his house)
> . kitchen with cooking equipment (to facilitate social interaction),
> honesty-box fridge with beer and energy drinks (Club Mate of course)
> . the 'whateverlab', with a bunch of electronics gear, electronics books,
> two kitset 3d printers (offspring of the RepRap), a 3-axis CNC lathe, and a
> laser cutter.
> . a darkroom/chemistry experiment lab
> . blinkenlichts of some kind in every room
>
> membership is 20$/month but you can go in and hang out and use the
> equipment without membership; it's a lot smaller, friendlier, and more
> practical/workshop-feeling than CBase in Berlin (if anyone else has been
> there). it's funded by the City of Vienna and some commercial sponsors, and
> seems to have been initially set up as an 'innovation incubator' kind of
> project.
>
>
> so, in my mind, the best, cheapest single thing they could do is part-fund
> the formation of a hack-space or several hack-spaces, strategically located
> in major cities. in Wellington, a small space (Happy-sized) somewhere in
> the not-yet-gentrified bits around upper cuba or tory st, or in newtown. in
> Auckland, divert some of the funding from the absurdly enormous Galatos
> place into a smaller, more realistic sized space.
>
> this could be funded all sorts of ways, in Wellington at least. if only the
> City Council still owned Citylink, that would take care of some things. and
> back in the day i'm sure paradise.net would have been interested. the
> Wellington Linux Users Group might like to play. certain people associated
> with 127 Abel Smith would be interested i'm sure. on the open source side,
> Catalyst IT might be interested; from the graphics programming/hacking
> side, Sidhe or Wandering Monster might like to play too.
I reckon this is also a good basis for a proposal. Good words Dames.
More often than not it's the medialabs that help make media-artists sing. I've
especially seen this again and again with the Medialab Prado in Madrid, who've
I've worked as teacher and participant. You've seen it first hand too Damian,
being a valued collaborator and artist at the Medialab Madrid on more than one
occassion.
There's an excess of technical/creative talent in NZ. Recycle!
A hacklab with:
- coffee machine
- hard and soft knowledge archive (leverage FLOSSManuals)
- strict open-source distribution and development models
- working area with lockers
- free code repositories for remote collaborations
- Friday arvo "I'll tell you how I made this project" talks with
a beer and concert chaser
.. would be a great contribution.
Take 'Grow Your Own MediaLab' as a good model for aquiring a basic inventory vis
a vis Sheffield's Access Space; ie engineer a little guilt with a corporation
like BNZ, convincing them to redirect the mandatory obsolescing of 20 PCs and
give them a sponsor badge on your web site.
Here's a template:
http://www.access-space.org/?c=recycling
This is something I'd be tempted to sink my teeth into one day.
>From what I see NZ seems to have overlooked this opportunity.. Rather, it seems
a culture of individualism in art and curatorial interest is predominant, even
at the artist-run-space level.
Chairs,
--
Julian Oliver
home: New Zealand
based: Berlin, Germany
currently: Berlin, Germany
about: http://julianoliver.com
>
> Douglas Bagnall wrote:
> > So this one is really boring. I mean, "Creative New Zealand Strategic
> > Plan" -- any one of these words would send you to sleep by itself. I
> > won't be surprised if no-one answers. Here's the link
> >
> > http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/WhatWeDo/StrategicPlan/StrategicPlanPublicConsultation/tabid/4910/language/en-NZ/Default.aspx
> >
> > but don't look. It's boring. It is better that we have an uninformed
> > and interesting debate. Supposing we did submit something, what should
> > we say?
> >
> > The obvious and expected tactic would be to notify them of our
> > unrecognised brilliance and diversity, of the exceptional art
> > experiences that we offer New Zealand and International Audiences, of
> > the warm glow they will feel from seeing our well-funded, important,
> > edgy work rise up on the world stage and represent the wise, culturally
> > aware, courageous CNZ. But we will be cunning, and carefully frame it
> > in such a way that we don't look like greedy sycophants. We don't like
> > money, but we will accept it for the good of the nation. We will also
> > not mention that they are funding our rivals to make crap, nor that they
> > are a bunch of conservative retards, nor anything else at all that might
> > sound disparaging of bureaucrats or strategic plans.
> >
> > That would be expected, and it would probably be wise. Perhaps
> > accurate. But it also sets up the temptation to do the opposite, to
> > scream and yell, and let them know that they have no idea about
> > anything. They are at best irrelevant, we'd say. They should disband
> > and give the money back to the paupers who bought lotto tickets.
> >
> > Then, of course, there's an expanse of middle ground, where we outline
> > the areas about which they have no clue, and try to tell them how they
> > could do better. Most likely they would like to. Which brings us back
> > to: what should they do, actually?
> >
> > Personally, I have few ideas at the moment. That's mainly because it is
> > one in the morning, but also because I haven't had much to do with them
> > for a while. The paperwork is not worth it for the piddly amounts I
> > apply for: I do better just getting a job for the days that I would
> > spend writing proposals and aquittals, and I don't get bound up in the
> > kinds of idiotic commitments I put in funding proposals, nor do I have
> > to wait at the letterbox to know what I'll be doing over the next six
> > months. But you lot will have ideas.
> >
> >
> > Douglas
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
> >
>
>
> --
> damian stewart | skype: damiansnz | [email protected]
> frey | live art with machines | http://www.frey.co.nz
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