2009 January 27 « Pete Hindle

January 27, 2009

Other Cultures: slub, (void), and pickledfeet

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2953331&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1
weareten from Earle Martin on Vimeo.

As you read this, I’ll be flying to Berlin for the annual New Media bash, Transmediale. I’m not that interested in the actual main event, which although having some interesting content, is far too reliant upon art institutions sending out curators and other organisers in the hope that they’ll pick up some new media nous.

What I’m actually interested in are the far more interesting fringe events around Transmediale – and, to a certain extent, the organisers have managed to work out that the fringes are the place where interesting stuff happens, hence the creation of Club Transmediale. This year, the Club part of Transmediale holds work by artists involved with PickledFeet amongst others, whose output of group-supportive work using electronics and open source is miles away from the dry academic nature of the main conference.

And, while those concerned with exhibiting New Media as an artform find themselves increasing pushed for budgets, those concerned with using new media tools for a living – and for art – are having a great time. The footage above, shot by Earle Martin, shows the live-coding team of slub at the celebration of the mailing list (void)‘s ten year anniversery.

The rambunctious nature of (void), the work of slub, and the efforts put in by PickledFeet, all point to a shared culture that you won’t find within the lectures of Transmediale. And that’s a shame – because all the right people will be there. What is it that’s stopping New Media from being as exciting in the gallery, as it is in the rest of the world?

January 27, 2009

Unboxing Bitsbox

I came across the website http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/ the other day, and I was just so tempted by the piles of electrical componants they had that I floundered into capitalism. Just doing my bit to support the economy.

One of the problems of making (in the Make Magazine sense of the word) within Newcastle is that it’s really hard to get a reliable line on componants. Although we do have a Maplins in town, the delivery from bitsbox really puts them to shame. I ordered the lowest pack of mixed electrical parts they do, and I got such a great selection of stuff that I thought I’d do a traditional unboxing.

(Click through to see any of the pictures on Flickr)

This is what the pack looks like. As opposed to Maplins, everything is put in nice little bags, and not swimming around in an ocean of packaging. If you’ve ever ordered from the online version of Maplins, you’ll note that they give you about an elephant’s body weight in packaging, but still manage to mess up your order.

Look at that! The tiny little things are labelled correctly! In this pack, you get three different bundles of resistor, all of which are clearly labelled. Talk to the hand, Maplins, because the ordering chequebook ain’t listening.

I don’t know what these things are, but they look nifty. My flatmate suggested that they are miniature Cylons.

The pack came with a fair number of componants, including five 555 chips. The last time I tried to buy some 555 chips from Maplins, they had two in. Or they had one 555 chip and a 556 chip. I gave up on the project I was working on and went back to faffing around for a while, because you learn from being a Maplins customer that not having them in means that they never have them in. Can you feel the bitterness in my writing? Sorry.

Not only do you get a breadboard, but you also get a 9v battery! Maplin’s charge such a silly rate for breadboards that it’s untrue. What makes it really weird is that they don’t sell a lot of parts that actually fit on the breadboard, seeming to prefer to not give you anything to use on your fantastically expensive breadboard. Maybe they like to keep theirs neat? It’s a mystery.

I’m really impressed with Bitsbox – it’s a small operation, and they are providing a better service than the big high-street shops. I’ve no doubt that I’ll be picking up some bits from them in the future.

January 27, 2009

I will be ignoring my email for ten days.

I’m travelling to Berlin for ten days, from today, and as such will not have regular access to email. Rather than attempt to keep up with the enormous volume of email I get, or wade through the majority to find the interesting stuff, I’m not going to read any of it. Sorry. It’s a time/efficiency thing; it’s not efficient for me to use my time picking through ten days worth of emails. I’d miss things that were important, dawdle over things that weren’t, and generally just take too long to get back to work.

Therefore, I’m going to just ignore that ten days worth of emails. If you really need to talk to me, you can email me again on the sixth of February.