OpenLab Friday

March the 9th, 16th and 23rd.
April the 13th, 20th and 27th.

In these "mini-workshops", participants will be able to present and share their projects with other people, find solutions to specific technical problems, re-direct their development process in collaboration with other people or discover tools they can find useful.

The activities will be structured in subject-specific modules. A work-group will be set up for each of these modules, and it will be coordinated by one or more tutors who count with expertise in the subject area. Aside from advising and taking part in the practical work process, the tutors-coordinators can organise occasional theoretical sessions on specific subjects which can be of interest to the group. Therefore, the emphasis will be on both favouring the exchange of ideas among the participants of each group, and the exchange of ideas and the stimulating of new projects among the different modules.

Modules:

• Arduino / Physical computing / interactive objects

  Coordinators/Tutors: Ángela Ramos e Igor González

We will work with a variety of sensors and actors which allow interaction through different interfaces, halfway between the real and virtual realms. In order to do this, we will base our work on the Arduino platform and the Processing and PureData environments. There is no need for previous experience in this workshop, but some notion of programming and electronics helps.

• Computer vision and interactive audiovisual installation

  Coordinators/Tutors: Martín Nadal, Julio Obelleiro.

In this module we will concentrate on the creation of audio-visual installations which can be interfaced through a video camera (or other elements, such as microphones, etc.). We will approach the different computational techniques of vision and the strategies for real-time image and sound manipulation. This workshop is open to anyone who, despite their high degree of interest in the subject, lack a comprehensive knowledge of programming.

• mobile.Processing

  Coordinator/Tutor: Abelardo Gil-Fournier

The Processing programming environment has greatly eased the acces to the creation of mobile applications, thus making it possible to take advantage of their characteristics: their camera, connectivity, ubicuity We will investigate the possible uses of this technique in interactive installations and in the agitation of collective projects, taking up some very basic notions of programming in Processing as our starting point.

• From potenciometer to computer music: building sound instruments

  Coordinator/Tutor: Enrique Tomás.

This module proposes activities based on everything from the design of digital creations with or without micro-controllers, to computer programming of sound structures. We will use the following environments: PureData, CSound, Arduino and EMI. There is no need for previous knowledge or expereince, but a desire to make some noise is highly recommended.

• Real time visual creation

  Coordinators/Tutors: Iván Gómez España, Itziar Arriaga y Óscar Testón.

This module will focus on the creative, practical, and theoretical aspects related to real-time visual creation, its impact as a means of artistic creation, projection, and communication tool. In the workshop, which will be above all practical, we will work on the development of a visual discourse or narrative, which can structure and serve as a backbone for a live video session. This medium, which feeds on different disciplines such as cinema, video, and installation art, allows the creation of new narratives which provide a new understanding of time and space, and are capable of generating narratives which can only be expressed in this medium. The workshop will propose a story, upon which the participants will create a short session. Some practical notions, necessary for production, will be provided. The course will always concentrate on the direct relationship with the other workshops taking place in mlm.