I’m planning a three month (give or take) residency in Scandinavia – Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. It needs to be in winter because I’m still obsessed with the northern lights and other phenomena (check it out: http://spaceweather.com/). And yes, also, because maybe I want to leave SA. Who doesn’t, at this point? And if I go, I need to know I can survive the winter. I’m also seriously considering buying a place in Hopefield, because, animals, space… so not that serious about leaving SA. Maybe a halfies halfies thing, at best.
While there I have to make myself useful, and because I’m on this game thing at the moment, connecting with art-science initiatives like geospatial art is a great way to make networks, get inspired and maybe start a North-South collaboration that could result in something like the Eden Project in SA, or ‘Skills on a Train‘ vocational training or … in short, have fun. This page is researching what is out there – including funding to get me there.
To do: ask Thomas Niederoest and Hadley Arnold. And keep an eye on the DIYBio stuff. urban interventions – natalie jeremijenko?
While open-ended, I’m particularly interested in information design, biotechnology (in the DIYBio sense), geospatial, urban interventions and urban resource flows. Lower priority areas include animatronics, biomimicry, entertainment. I would prefer working with independent organisations rather than academic institutions, and open-source mindsets.
I guess I could just go to a well functioning hacker space with my own projects and then just see what emerges. I just realised though, that I want to be beyond the arctic circle (latitude 66.5), and the stuff seems to happen on the 60th latitude (Oslo 59.95, Helsinki 60.17, Stockholm 59.32, and Copenhagen 55.67, by the way, via Wiki). (ha! I thought, why not do a symmetrical collaboration, but Cape Town is a measly -34 degrees latitude. So not an easy marketing move)
More about the concepts
Geospatial art
Some initial examples listed on the bid page to host OpenStreetMaps’s annual global conference in Cape Town in 2020: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map_2020/Call_for_venues/CapeTown#Brand_Activation
Beer and Sigur Ros induced … but maps honouring Laplanders and Khoi… I don’t have heritage in either, an outsider to both, but they both share an indigenous history, opposite extremes of climate. At least some good music can come of this. And maps.
DIYBio – fringe biotech
in draft, because this deserves it’s own post – https://indiebio.co.za/diybio/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41292-016-0033-0
https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1057%2Fs41292-016-0033-0/MediaObjects/41292_2016_33_Fig1_HTML.gif – make dots where I am interested in working. It’s about fun, not real world impact.
Norway
I/O/lab: i / o / lab works with academic artistic research and development focusing on art, new technology and science. Through artistic productions and dissemination work, i / o / lab contributes as a resource through presentations, competence building, knowledge development, events and as a partner in the field both regionally, nationally and internationally.
DIYBio groups in Norway: https://www.meetup.com/topics/diybio/no/
Oslo Hackerspace Bitraf
Sweden
Art&ScienceInitiative: Art & Science Initiative is a platform that brings the exploratory nature of both art and science to a new arena – creating knowledge from passion-driven interdisciplinary collisions and accelerating their implementation into real-world solutions.
Finland
Denmark
Biologigaragen, Copenhagen no longer active but their facebook page lists other similar initiatives.
LiveKlein tiny house concepts, high design, small footprint. I want to design dry toilets for these. I’ll probably partner with Jacques at Timber Design / Minima instead (also?)
Other places
The Netherlands
Mediamatic: Art and New Technology in Amsterdam. We explore the possibilities and challenges that new technology offers art, design and society.
Officina Corpuscoli: Trans-disciplinary Design & Research practice – GROWING Design – Blending Boundaries between fields.