What: “People doing strange things with electricity”.
Where: Black & Blue Gallery, 302/267-271 Cleveland Street Redfern
When: Friday 4th December, 5:30 - 6:30
Cost: FREE!
Dorkbot will be having a special presentation by Japanese electronic artist Daito Manabe in conjunction with the opening of Spooky Action at a Distance, a show curated by Amelia Groom at Black & Blue Gallery. The show hosts a selection of ten experimental video works by Japanese artists including the work of Daito Manabe.
After working as a system engineer and a programmer, Daito Manabe graduated from IAMAS (International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences) in 2004.
Redefining the existent media and technologies from unique angles, he has been active in various fields, such as art, design, and even research and development. He produces sounds, images, and light by analyzing and transforming numerical values gained from various sensors and input devices.
He is internationally active as a Turntablist and a Sound Artist using surround/oscillation/super low frequency technology and pursuing sensual peculiarity, commonality and interaction.
This month's presentations range from synthetic birds in swampy wetlands to wireless ultrasonic rangefinding with Arduinos. Steve Adam will talk about his Common Sounds installation, which was set in the Sale Common Wetland Reserve (Gippsland) for the WaterWater Festival in November 2005. The installation uses real-time generated synthetic multichannel audio which was diffused in a swampy wetland setting. The system was self-powered and involved numerous technical challenges. The installation's sounds include a range of synthetic birds and insects. Ross Bencina & Danielle Wilde will discuss the design and construction of an ultrasonic rangefinding system built as part of a recent residency at Steim Amsterdam by Ross, Danielle and Somaya Langley. The idea was to create a wireless system for measuring the distance between performers by timing ultrasonic pings from one unit to another. Each range finder unit uses an Arduino and has two separate ultrasonic sender and receiver circuits. The units use Nordic Semiconductor NRF2401 digital wireless radios to synchronise and transmit data back to a basestation. Ross and Danielle will discuss the successes and limitations of the project to date. read more for more details and links for each of the projects, or visit http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmelbourne/