Paramoulipist

In the framework of Bessst, a silence program organised by Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, artists Heath Bunting (irational), Rasa Alksnyte (FoAM) and An Mertens (Constant) welcome fifteen people to participate in a 2-days workshop to meet some particular trees and discuss their identities in such a way you’ll never forget them anymore.

Through questions we deal with daily, we look into the integration of trees as arborescal personas in our society, lives and language.
What’s your name? Where do you live? When were you born? Where do you come from? How long have you been living here? How did you arrive here? What is your mother tongue? Do you have any persons in charge? Are you married? Living together with a partner, family or friends?
We formulate possible answers, invent suitful concepts and words and think through the consequences of integrating such persona in our lives and societies. By the end of the workshop we will have gathered some exciting new stories. By sharing these during Erfgoeddag on 21-4 and Zoniënmars on 28-4 we will have save the first trees out of their anonimity. » Read the rest of this entry «

On 12 & 13 October 2012 Heath Bunting and I joined forces in this workshop initiated by Z33 and hosted by fo.am.

Our starting point: we are dependent on trees for our survival, even as the ongoing global process of rapid extinction continues apace. What does it mean to integrate trees as legal entities into our social systems, and how can we proceed with this?

We spent time looking at trees in the forest and in the city and we had great discussions. Thanks to the team of fo.am, Karen Verschoren of Z33 and all the participants!

Read the report of the workshop
More pictures

‘Arte en comunidad’ or ‘Art in Communities’ was an important topic in the series of conferences, discussions and workshops of LabSurLab. A lot of social artistic workers were present introducing their work on living memories, digesting violence and empowerment through art and technology in poor areas of Medellín, Bogotá, Cali…, like Antena Mutante, Platohedro, La DIREKTA, Geomalla, Sur del Cielo,..

Most remarkable is the work of rapper and social worker Lucia Vargas who mounted Sur del Cielo, a self run organisation in Bogotá with 60 youngsters now present in a collective structure.

Centro Cultural Moravia

Hacktivistas en Labsurlab

One of the lectures during LabsurLab was given by Epsilon and Daniel, two hackers representing Hacktivistas, a citizen mouvement that is part of Anonymous. Hacktivistas grew out of the Spanish hacklab community in order to ‘coordinate actions on a global level, discuss strategies and synchronize with other resistance mouvements towards the creation of a free society with free technologies.’ They are an open horizontal assembly community organised around three fundamental principles:
1) the construction of a society and culture that are free, open, participative throughout the use of free tools
2) the right to privacy
3) the desire to experiment freely. » Read the rest of this entry «

The program of Labsurlab dedicates almost 1/4 of the printed program to ‘palabras frecuentes’ or ‘frecuent words’. A lot of these words have been pronounced, illustrated during the conferences. The list is long with definitions mostly taken from wikipedia: collaboration, free software, free hardware, open code practices, laboratories, social networks, commons, p2p, DIY, DIWO, cartographies, communities, city, meeting (f2f), hacktivism, modularity, prototype, experimentation, copyleft, free content, horizontality, hacker ethics, recycling, permaculture, transdisciplinarity, critical reflection, degrowth, gender studies, opendata, performance, process, archive, remix, self-management, communities of wireless networks. Three of the speakers took the time to consciously put names and concepts to their practice (Marcos García, Medialab Prado, Madrid) and their residency and exhibition program (Roddy Schrock, Eyebeam, NY and Oscar Abril, Nauestruch, Barcelona). » Read the rest of this entry «

The first day of the festival started with an afternoon of lectures that were streamed and followed by more than 100 people in the venue and more than 100 people online. Lined up were some models of medialabs and networks. » Read the rest of this entry «

Labsurlab is taking mainly place in the Museum of Modern Art. They only moved recently to the area of Medellin where industries were set. The previous chemical factory was removed and Mamm moved into the old workshop of the factory. Mamm is a private organisation, the place is owned by the city of Medellín. Before Mamm was hosted in the university campus. So most taxidrivers refer to this place as ‘el nuevo Mamm’.

MAMM entrance with mobile sales of sweets, fruit and popcorn

MAMM inside: Gulgolet by Elías Heim (Cali) - install & working tables

Preparing the Labtolab presentation

Picture taken from 8th floor of El Portón, Sector Suramericano, Medellín Centro, with big thanks to Anne Marie Van Broeck

I arrived in the city of the eternal spring, Medellín, for the festival LabSurLab in the Museum of Modern Art (MAMM). » Read the rest of this entry «

Micronomics stadsvertelling – récit de ville – fairy city tale – cuento de ciudad y hadas – …

Stadsvertelling – wandeling en verhaal in mp3 in Nederlands, Frans, Engels, Spaans, Turks, (klassiek) Arabisch
Récit de ville – promenade et récit en mp3 en Français, Néerlandais, Anglais, Espagnol, Turque, Arabe (classique)
City tale – walk & story in mp3 in English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Turkish, (classic) Arab » Read the rest of this entry «