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A lomo photography & cycling tour of Surry Hills

Submitted by AliaK on Fri, 2010-07-30 15:16

31 July 2010 – 14 August 2010 Saturday 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Surry Hills Bike Tour

A self-guided cycling tour is being held each Saturday during Sydney Design 2010 to showcase the creativity buzzing within the 2010 postcode.

Unleash the photographer within and capture a slice of Sydney on this cycling tour with a difference. Exploring the design precinct and some of the lesser-known parts of Surry Hills, participants are provide with a LOMO camera, map and passport to aid in their self-guided tour, documenting discoveries as they go along. The cycling tour starts and ends at cloth and Metalab, meeting in the middle at I Ran The Wrong Way. These three venues will be showcasing the Designer Sushi exhibition - an exciting new project which challenges designers to re-imagine everyday objects.

i heart kings X project - opening day

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2009-10-10 22:57

the I heart Kings Cross project has been installed into Fitzroy Gardens & surrounding streets in Kings Cross, Sydney. it looks amazing! it took a week to install & they used a tall ladder and a crane.

the knits seem to blend in to their surroundings well & at the same time brighten up the streets. I took waaay too many photos but I couldn't stop look at the detail and volume of amazing work. incredible! I couldn't stop staring at the detail of the stitches. I had to wait for my sister to arrive so I had some time after the launch to listen & watch some of the people's responses - everyone seemed to love it! they were taking turns having photos on Jade's knitted chair, and in front of the trees' branches and next to Zoe's circle piece on the sculpture & the I heart Kings Cross logo as well as staring up at the tall tree pieces.

http://www.aliak.com/content/i-heart-kings-x-project-opening-day = (this) blog post
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliak_com/tags/iheartkingscross = photos
http://bit.ly/19jFKo = slideshow movie of the photos

thanks to Reef Knot - especially Michelle McCosker, for organizing everything and letting me contribute. was a lot of fun. I hope they keep me informed of any future projects!


video @ archive.org page

photos

slideshow movie of flickr photos

some highlights













& the pieces I made :
the rainbow blanket & pink scribble lace (Debbie New pattern) ...


the red section under the frilly knot hole ...

and the bucky fuller inspired triangles & different stitches ...

more photos & documentation of the project at these wonderful places:

http://mvenables.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/week-two

http://mvenables.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/week-3-an-image-and-some-words...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reef_knot

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/artandabout

http://clydethepenguin.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/i-heart-kings-cross

http://daisysknitsnpieces.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-heart-kings-cross.html

This Is Not Art & Electrofringe 2009

Submitted by AliaK on Tue, 2009-10-06 17:49

This Is Not Art festival 2009
This is Not Art is the parent arts, music festival of experimental and underground arts & music held annually in Newcastle, North of Sydney, Australia. The 2009 festival was held between October 1-5. The festival comprises of various festivals, listed below.

Electrofringe
Sound Summit
Critical Animals
National Young Writers' Festival
Crack Theatre Festival

video playlist : (all videos taken at the festivals - individual videos also in separate articles below)

Squat Space - Sydney

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2009-01-17 20:32

Squat Space was born from the energy of artists and activists of the Broadway Squats.

The organisers cleared out an old locksmith shop and launched a dynamic art and event space in December 2000. The gallery played host to political film screenings, free dinners, durational performances, experimental sound nights, site-specific installations...

SquatSpace opposed the standard "pay-as-you-show" system used by many high-rent artist-run-galleries in Sydney. Exhibiting was free, with artists usually becoming involved in the life of the squatting community in some way.

Cicada

Submitted by AliaK on Sat, 2009-01-17 15:08

cicada is a collection of artists who work with landscape - urban, natural, constructed and imagined... a combination of results occur, including site-specific installations, performances and interactive pieces... cicada also make other bits of sound+image works for theatre, dance and performance projects... and occational urban gifts of unexpected enlightenment...

Cicada projects have included :
* Mob - an installation exploring the crowd as a discrete organism.
* Saltmilk and other wonders - work resulting from a residency in the West Australian wheat town of Kellerberrin.
* Amensal - an interactive street level installation, a purely negative urban symbiosis.
* Re_Squared - an immersive outdoor audio visual performance celebrating moments of discovered beauty in the city.

visit http://www.cicada.tv for more details

urban knitting - graffiti knitting

Submitted by AliaK on Mon, 2008-11-17 04:49

deputy-dog blog has posted an article about urban / graffiti knitting & the knitta please crew who do graffiti knitting around their towns. check out the tree cosies below

Knitta began in August 2005, when the soon-to-be-Knittas were discussing their frustration over unfinished knitting projects: half-knitted sweaters and balls of yarn gathering dust. That afternoon, they knit their first door handle. Then it dawned on them ... a tag crew of knitters, bombing the inner city with vibrant, stitched works of art, wrapped around everything from beer bottles on easy nights to public monuments and utility poles on more ambitious outings. With a mix of clandestine moves and gangsta rap - Knitta was born! Today, Knitta is a group of ladies of all ages, nationalities, and ... gender.

there's a video of them on youtube :
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=9wVfUwVQhS8

:::

Frances Goodman's Sculptures - Toilet Graffiti Embroideries

- thanks Avital for the links!

:::

craftzine.com has a cool Motherboard Dishtowel Embroidery article - embroidery of motherboard circuit boards

:::

Lion Brand Yarn Studio looks like a great space! I love their stash shelves - they're like an artwork in themselves, and functional too

VloMo08 : day16 - Patta Chitra Katha - traditional folk art of storytelling using visual language

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2008-11-16 22:32

today I watched a video Senthil Kumar posted a video on WADI facebook group called "Arjuna the Archer : AD 2008" - it was based on the techniques of Patta Chitra Katha

I wanted to find out more about this artform and technique, so I googled (without much luck, due to googling the wrong things) and asked the Sarai reader list and received lots of helpful information from many people. after reading about it, it reminds me a bit of the multi-media of a few hundred years ago. multiple paintings / panels on scrolls are read and music played whilst they're read, so there's a mixture of images, music, text, written / spoken word. the artists travel to different villages - equivalent to the communication methods / networks of today transmitting the multimedia messages & works. originally the works were made on cloth using vegetable based paints but these days modern paints are used and most works are done on paper. I hope the traditional methods are not lost completely! the style of painting comes from Orissa and West Bengal. modern artists use both traditional, classical topics as well as current topics & stories - they are trying out new variations of the art too, to keep the method alive and to learn new techniques & skills.

I wrote a blog post (ongoing) about Patta Chitra Katha @ http://www.aliak.com/content/patta-chitra-katha-traditional-folk-art-sto...

VloMo08 - day16

http://vimeo.com/2260235

VloMo08 : day16 - Patta Chitra Katha - traditional folk art of storytelling using visual language from kath on Vimeo.

Patta Chitra Katha - traditional folk art of storytelling using visual language

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2008-11-16 20:32

Senthil Kumar posted a video on WADI facebook group called "Arjuna the Archer : AD 2008"

he's also posted it to youtube :
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UPtfEkl_o

there's now a facebook page for Patta Chitra Katha

I wanted to find out more about this artform and technique, so I googled (without much luck, due to googling the wrong things) and asked the Sarai Reader list and received lots of helpful information from many people. after reading about it, it reminds me a bit of an equivalent to multi-media, or even video blogging from a few hundred years ago. multiple paintings / panels on scrolls (equating to video frames?) are read and music played whilst they're read, so there's a mixture of images, music, text, written / spoken word. the artists travel to different villages - equivalent to the communication methods / networks of today transmitting the multimedia messages & works. originally the works were made on cloth using vegetable based paints but these days modern paints are used and most works are done on paper. I hope the traditional methods are not lost completely! the style of painting comes from Orissa, West Bengal & Bangladesh. modern artists use both traditional, classical topics as well as current topics & stories - they are trying out new variations of the art too, to keep the method alive and to learn new techniques & skills.

I made a video for VloMo08 day16 explaining how I found out information about Patta Chitra Katha :

VloMo08 : day16 - Patta Chitra Katha - traditional folk art of storytelling using visual language from kath on Vimeo.

read more for information about this special artform ...

mumbai digital arts, new media & urban research links

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 2008-11-16 04:17

looking for digital arts, new media & urban research projects or exhibitions in mumbai - I'm only here for 2 weekends so might not make it to any festivals. here's some I found so far - some are past projects & some are not strictly mumbai based but I came across them whilst following links for mumbai related items

:::

Comet Media & COSMOS
a non profit group working in educational communication & new media. they have festivals, projects & publications
http://www.cometmedia.org
http://groups.google.com/group/cosmos_mumbai
upcoming events
aliak.com Comet & Cosmos page

:::

Digital artists - THE WEBMUSEUM CYBERCULTURE RESEARCH LIBRARY page
http://www.lastplace.com/page177.htm

:::

CRIT
http://crit.org.in

ELECTROFRINGE 2008 :: 2nd - 6th October :: Newcastle, Australia

Submitted by AliaK on Tue, 2008-09-30 11:52

Australia's largest festival of experimental electronic arts and culture, "Electrofringe", will burst through the cracks of Newcastle from October 2 – 6, 2008, for its eleventh year as part of "This Is Not Art". More than 100 emerging and established artists from Australia and overseas will take part in 80 events over five days including workshops, gigs, screenings, performance and public intervention.

Electrofringe in 2008 brims with new ventures. These include an artists-in-residence program and a three-week interactive media exhibition. New program gems include a hybrid media/dance performance, an all-girls soldering workshop, a chorus composed for Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, an audiovisual "love-in", and a chamber recital for robots.

Special international guests include Birchville Cat Motel (NZ), Domenico Sciajno (Italy), xtine (US), The League of Imaginary Scientists (everywhere) and The Green Eyl & Sengewald (Germany). Japan is well represented by elongated harshcore musician Maruosa, noise artists Pig & Machine, and experimental multi-instrumentalist KK NULL.

Electrofringe 2008 features an impressive screening program including award-winning highlights from the Japan Media Arts Festival and SIGGRAPH 2008, surround-sound selections from New York's Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Centre and eclectic works from France’s Arcadi festival. There are also two specially curated screening reels called ElectroEtre and ElectroProjections compiled from open, international call-outs.

Head to: www.electrofringe.net for more details, and see you in Newcastle!

Electrofringe 2008 is directed by Alex White, Elmar Trefz and Somaya Langley.

-- electrofringe & the other festivals as part of This is Not Art are my favourite festivals in the world - very grassroots. Newcastle becomes abuzz with creativity and people at this time of year. I hope you can all check them out this year!

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