MEDIA ALERT

Media Contact:
Rebecca Cittadini
212.937.6580 x222
press@eyebeam.org

MARCH 18 + 20, 2010: ElectroSmog International Festival for Sustainable Immobility

Eyebeam will be video streaming live events from the other participating festival locations on
Thursday, March 18 – Saturday, March 20 in Eyebeam’s main exhibition space.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2010, 10AM – 4PM:
ElectroSmog SkillShare: Tools and Models for Online Collaboration
RSVP: EYEBEAM.ORG

SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2010, 1 – 6PM:
Urban Wilderness Action Center (UWAC): Workshop + Collaboration
Free

Eyebeam will be participating in ElectroSmog, a new international festival that revolves around the concept of “sustainable immobility.” ElectroSmog will take place simultaneously at many locations around the world, introducing and exploring the concept of sustainable immobility in both theory and practice, with discussions, workshops, and performances taking place at each of the festival partners’ home bases.

Eyebeam will run two events on Saturday, March 20:
*ElectroSmog SkillShare: Tools and Models for Online Collaboration
*Urban Wilderness Action Center: Workshop + Collaboration

eyebeam.org
electrosmogfestival.net

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Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 10AM – 4PM
ElectroSmog SkillShare: Tools and Models for Online Collaboration
Free with RSVP: eyebeam.org
Limit of 30 participants (in New York).

Tools and Models for Online Collaboration, a free public SkillShare, will explore and expand the practice of “sustainable immobility” as proposed by the ElectroSmog Festival. This free public SkillShare, held on March 20 at 10AM, will be led by Eyebeam senior fellows Ayah Bdeir, Michael Mandiberg, and Jeff Crouse; with Eyebeam honorary resident Mushon Zer-Aviv, intern Patrick Davison, and free/open source advocate and theorist Jonah Bossewitch. The SkillShare will investigate the potential uses of current online collaborative tools by exploring the definitions of collaboration, setting goals in collaborative context, and investigating rules and etiquette for collaborating online as well as identifying the tools’ deficiencies and benefits and expanding their usage. This series of focused SkillShare sessions will demonstrate and expand existing tools, with the goal of collecting a toolbox of ideas and knowledge to create a better future for online collaboration.

SCHEDULE

10AM: Doors Open

10:30AM: Michael Mandiberg, Jonah Bossewitch, and Mushon Zer-Aviv (online) will present current models and challenges of online collaboration:

• What is and is not collaboration? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different models?
• Distributed Collaboration as promsing new model of group online development and collaboration
• Online collaboration methods as a way to bridge cultural as well as geographic distance
• Discussion of their work together in Berlin on Collaborative Futures

11:30AM: Patrick Davison on Online Documentation: best practices for photo and video making and sharing:

• How to produce a good image: tools, editing, sharing/tagging on Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook
• Video: Planning video documentation for every project

12:30PM: Refreshments served

1PM – 4PM: Hands-on workshops from Ayah Bdeir and Jeff Crouse. Participants will break into two groups of interest:

• Ayah Bdeir: Have you ever wanted to make a real printed circuit board (PCB) and not known where to start? Circuit Design with Eagle—the best PCB design software available­—will teach the basics of the most used, least friendly circuits. Free but ot completely open source Eagle is the preferred software for hackers, DIY enthusists and engineers alike.
• Jeff Crouse: Learn how to have your own myYouTube.com, and use video sharing for global educational campaigns with the open source video sharing platform Panda and Amazon cloud computing services. This workshop will assume some you have experience with JavaScript and/or PHP, and a valid credit card to get your Amazon account up and running. Free Panda beta accounts will be supplied for participants.

ABOUT EYEBEAM SKILLSHARES:
Eyebeam’s SkillShares are peer-to-peer working/learning sessions that provide an informal context to develop new skills alongside leading developers, technologists, and artists. They are for all levels and start with an introduction and overview of the topic, after which participants will work on specific technical topics in small groups while getting feedback and additional instruction and ideas from their group. It’s a great way to level-up your skills and meet like minded people.
All levels of skill are welcome. If you consider yourself a beginner make sure to check SkillShare topics and material beforehand. Bring a laptop. We supply WiFi and coffee.

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Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 1 – 6PM
Urban Wilderness Action Center (UWAC): Workshop + Collaboration
The Urban Wilderness Action Center (UWAC) is a project initiated by Eyebeam alum Jon Cohrs, in collaboration with the Eyebeam Student Residents, Eyebeam education coordinator Stephanie Pereira, and UK-based artist Kai-Oi Jay Yung. The UWAC project includes a web platform uwac.anewfuckingwilderness.com and a day of action where people from NYC, Berlin, Amsterdam and London will work with us to design and disseminate projects around the theme of “urban wilderness.”
UWAC DAY is Saturday, March 20. Each of four lead cities will host a day of free artist-led interventions that respond to urban wilderness. We will document the day through a live Twitter, Flickr, and video feed streamed through the UWAC website.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Live video chat with all four sites: 3PM EST
Ongoing live Twitter feed from each project site at #UWAClive

1–6PM EST, NYC:
Eyebeam will host a series of participatory workshops and demonstrations. Workshop leaders include: Eyebeam Student Residents Caroline Spivack, Jade Highleyman, Luther Cherry, Spencer Brown, and Zoe Penina Baker; in collaboration with Doris Cacoilo and Sonali Sridhar, Tatfoo Tan, Matthew Slaats, Boswyck Farms, Liz Neves, Jay Weichun, and Safari 7.

3–6PM GMT, London:
Artist Kai-Oi Jay Yung has coordinated a day of gardening with partners: Stoke Newington Transition Group, Friends of Arnold Circus, The New Hanbury Project, and students from Central Saint Martins.

2–6PM CET, Berlin:
Artists Myriel Milicevic and Jon Cohrs organizing the Berlin Micro-Turf Expedition.

9PM CET, Amsterdam:
Activist group Damoclash will be celebrating a new space that has been reclaimed from what little ‘urban wilderness’ is left in Amsterdam. This event will represent the closing party for the Electrosmog Festival.
For a full schedule of events, please see: http://eyebeam.org/events/electrosmog-festival-urban-wilderness-action-c...

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About the Festival:
ElectroSmog is a new festival that explores the concept “sustainable immobility” in theory and practice. Sustainable immobility is first of all a critique of the growing global crisis of mobility. Current forms of hyper-mobility of people and products in travel and transport are ecologically increasingly unsustainable. The will to slow down, however, seems thoroughly absent. The economic crisis may have temporarily slowed matters down, long term projections still point towards exponential growth of worldwide mobility and exploding energy needs. Alternatives for the current state of hyper-mobility need to be designed urgently. For more information and schedules: www.electrosmogfestival.net

SCHEDULE OF LIVE STREAM EVENTS AT EYEBEAM

Thursday, March 18, 3PM – 5PM EST
City and Country Branding Debate
Discussion hosts: Merijn Oudenampsen and Ana Méndez.
Participating live from Eyebeam: Beka Economopoulos and Jason Jones (Not An Alternative).

Friday, March 19, 2PM – 4PM EST / 20.00 – 22.00 CET (GMT+1)
Public Media Art Projects and Sustainability

Saturday, March 20, 10AM – 12PM EST / 16.00 – 18.00 CET (GMT+1)
Food and Global Mobility
Tracing the path of food to our kitchen-table.

Saturday, March 20, 3PM EST / 21.00 CET (GMT+1)
Urban Wilderness Action Center Linkup
Hosted by Jon Cohrs, Kai-Oi Jay Yung, Damoclash, and Eyebeam.
Online linkup between New York, London, Berlin, Amsterdam and elsewhere.
For a full schedule of events, please see: http://eyebeam.org/events/electrosmog-festival

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ElectroSmog Partner Organisations:
De Balie, Centre for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam
ADA: Aotearoa Digital Arts Network, New Zealand
Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, New York
Banff New Media Institute, Banff
Medialab Prado, Madrid
RIXC: Centre for New Media Culture, Riga
Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
m-cult: Centre for New Media Culture, Helsinki
REFRAMES, Munich
Hivos: Humanist Institute for development Cooperation, The Netherlands
Floss Manuals: Free Manuals for Free Software, (international network)
Engage! Tactical Media, Utrecht
Cool Mediators Foundation, Amsterdam
Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

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Eyebeam Art + Technology Center
540 W. 21st St., NYC. PH: 212.937.6580 | info@eyebeam.org | eyebeam.org
For a complete list of Eyebeam supporters, please visit: http://eyebeam.org/support

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