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20161108

Burning Man at Google lecture by Fred Turner explains how companies like Google foster (and capitalize) creativity and a sense of community using architecture, mailing lists and other nasty schemes. Turner argues that engineers and coders are the primus motors of social change and culture (like artists and poets were in the past). The talk makes it easier to understand what artist/facilitators like Andrew Gryf Paterson are after with their work- and talkshop activities. Technology (and art) is a tool for social (re)organization. It is made and used to express desires. The talk also discusses the growing role of self-reliance (and how survivalism is related to it). “Vocational ecstasy” (Ideological work) is also an interesting concept. It describes a creative mode people can arrive to when working in teams on creative tasks. Individual egos fade away through joined unpaid labor and participants feel transferred something else (work on modular technology is key in the experience).

I’ve been trying to motivate myself into editing Horse Porsche Show documentations I shot with Hanna. Also contacted the Workhorse hobbyist association in regards of their winter forestering workshops. Trans-Horse activities are progressing slowly and I’m having trouble with setting goals for next years activities. The funding I’ve managed to accumulate is not adequate for building collaboratory schemes together with professionals in the horse-community. Making mere representations (videos, texts etc.) of their work and horses feels boring.. Particularly as the reception of our “Come Together, Leave Together” (2015) movie was so lame (We didn’t get it into any festival screenings in Finland and it’s been rejected from the YLE (Uusi kino) programming too). We got positive reviews from peers and horse culture collaborators but the movie has failed to reach audiences through mainstream channels.

Alex Schweder continuing on Performance Architecture (lecture).

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20160824

Met with Andrew Gryf Paterson and Alexander Fleischmann at the HIAP residency in Suomenlinna and participated in an informal stroll around the island, which was organized to discuss “Undisciplinarity”. The theme is related to Paterson upcoming PhD thesis. The event was a part of the HIAP public program. I got to know Paterson when he was working for Pixelache and witnessed his impact on New Media Arts scene in Finland. Pixelache events and festivals brought together craftspeople, farmers, junkyard scavengers, programmers, circuit benders and artist working with video/sound. Rather than identifying and boxing in different genres of new media arts, Paterson was interested on what kind of social and ecological implications different technologies have.

He invited cultural heritage specialists, craftspeople and new media artist to the same front. The technologies they used were not judged based on how old they were – Digital dongles and stone axes fitted on the same desk. For him it was more important to find commonalities and joined motivations across different fields of creative life. It is important to organize behind joined dreams concerning the future and not to allow contemporary technology to segregate us (This premise has practical use in organizational tasks: Hosting a meeting with good food is way more efficient than sending emails).

Paterson has been influential to the development of Ore.e Refineries. The Pixelversity “Unconfrence on Art and Sustainability” in 2011 was a particularly fun event and we launched the NO-CHAIR-DESIGN campaign there. He’s currently working on a text “Reflections on Soil Future(s), Present(s) and Past(s)”. I’ll try to cover it in detail after it’s been published the RIXC “Open Fields journal”.

Got a PO-14 for a -60% discount! and now I could make gig using only Teenage Engineering gear. Also got the Cyanogenmod 13 (Based on Android Marshmallow 6.01) working on my Galaxy S3 (I9300). The device is slow but usable (I might have to return to Cyanogenmod 11 or other rom variant to make it snappier). Currently editing the Grey Cube Gallery video documentations.

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[En] Ore.e Ref: Metal Scavenging is Alchemy – Waste Expedition for Pixelversity 30.8.

[UPDATED: Added photos by Rasa Kavaliauskaitė. 3.9.2013] Post originally published at: http://www.pixelache.ac/

Photos on flickr.com

RETROSPECTIVE NOTE

The copper scavenging workshop by Ore.e Refineries for Pixelversity went well. We changed the original plans and didn’t go to “Niemen Romukauppa” in Tattarisuo… Instead went to “Romuliike Meriokanto Raimo” in Kumpula. The price of copper was 4,20 per kilo and we made 16,80 profit. Profits where shared with the group. Some video streams to the Pixelversity Bambuser channel where made during the day (but mostly photos where taken). Above is the receipt of the copper transaction.

20130605_copper-scavenging-waste-expodition_ore-e-ref_workshop_xxx_z_pho

During the “Metal Scavenging is Alchemy” waste expedition, blacksmith Jesse Sipola and artist Eero Yli-Vakkuri from Ore.e Refineries will escort participants into the world of Copper Scavenging 30. August. This waste expedition is the 3rd organised within the context of the Pixelversity 2013 Waste/d theme. The expedition will take participants for a bike trip from Helsinki downtown (meet in Hakaniementori) to Tattarisuo.

Sipola is well tuned to the junkyard scene of Helsinki and has disassembled engines for copper at his smithy in Espoo. Ore.e Refineries is a company advocating sustainable design and has worked on copper  related projects since 2007, and invite you into a one day workshop  process for scavenging copper and making profit! There is detailed information about programme & expectations below. Copper can be found practically anywhere in the city.

Register your interest & contacts to participate: http://pixelache.muistio.tieke.fi/pv13-waste-expeditions-oree and don’t forget to read more about Copper also.

Related blog post:

http://www.pixelache.ac/blog/2013/copper-scavaging-waste-expedition-with-ore-e-refineries

CONTACTS

Concerning workshop, travels and program: Eero Yli-Vakkuri (Ore.e Ref.) / eero //äät storijapan.net / +358 5057 29743

Converning Pixelversity 2013 Waste Management Expeditions: Andrew Paterson / andrew //äät pixelache.ac / +358 5040 23828

PROGRAM (via Ore.e Ref.)

30.8.2013

Meeting in Hakaniementori at 10:00. We’ll make a ~15km bike trip from Hakaniemi to Niemen Romukauppa Oy (http://www.niemenromu.fi/  ) in Tattarinsuo metal junk yards. While biking trough the city we’ll  keep a look for copper related trash on the way. When copper related  junk is found it’ll be scavenged on the field. Niemen romu is open until  16:00 and so we’ll need to arrive around 14:00 to have a proper look  around.

You’ll need a bike, wire cutters, gloves, a box cutter, backpack, food/water and a positive attitude.

Looking at the city as a mobile scavenger

Visiting the Museum of Technology area

We’ll sell the copper we’ve collected durign the workshop

Talk about the experience.

All of the profit goes to Jesse?

Optional Day 0. (Before the workshop)

Participants are encouraget to scavenge all sorts of copper containing junk from the  city and their homes before the workshop. The copper you bring along will be traded to cash at Tattarinsuo 30.8. Construction sites are good places to look for  material. If you are having trouble finding dumpsters in Helsinki try  using the https://www.facebook.com/groups/roskalava.helsinki/ service.

Tutorial on how to peel electric wires in Helsinki: http://youtu.be/ZTdrz6C5phg

Look for electric wires, old tvs, computers, transducers, power supplies, electric machinery

You’ll need wire cutters, gloves, a box cutter, a backpack, a bike, flashlight and a positive attitude.

The  stuff you collect does not have to be clean. A focus of the workshop is  that we’ll

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

30.8 Hakaniementori to Rattitie 12-14 (Tattarisuo)
15km bike trip will take 2-3 hours
10:00 Departure by bike from Hakaniemen tori (Center)
~12:00 Museum of Technology (Viikintie 1, HKI)
~14:00 Niemen Romukauppa Oy, Rattitie 12-14 00770 HKI (Tattarisuo)
Perhaps we’ll buy beers and ciders with the profits? Biking back will possibly be harder (but funnier).

Link (Short link: http://bit.ly/10Z7WQp ):
http://pk.reittiopas.fi/fi/#from(point*2552569*6673654)to(point*2558681*6683503)mapcenter(point*2555637*6678580)mapzoom(7)

 ABOUT COPPER (via Ore.e Ref.)

Copper is one of the first metals people have learned to use and it has a lot of applications. Modern cities and lifestyles are dependent on  it. It is the best medium for transmitting information and energy.  You’ll find it inside walls and computers, conveying electricity and  bits. As it doesn’t rust it’s also used in plumbing systems and as a  roofing material. “Copper is 100% recyclable without any loss of quality”.

It’s mostly hidden form plain site, inside transducers and PVC  insulation – So people aren’t aware how much of it is wasted. As  buildings are renovated it’s common to dispose of old electric wires by  throwing them in the trash… When you learn to look for it you start to  see the city in a new way. Every dumpster is a treasure chest filled with copper bullions turned into spaghetti. A kilo of copper can be sold  for 3-to-5 euros!

But before you start profiting from extension cords and copper  strings you’ve pulled from your amplifier, you’ll have to strip the  insulation. Inside 10 kg of the common three-phase copper cable (similar  to what you find in laptop chargers) there is nearly 2,8kg of copper.  You also need to know where you’ll get the best price for your efforts. See the city from the scavengers perspective; hunt for copper junk in Helsinki!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper

Ore.e Refineries on North-South theme
Manufacturing a Copper Plate for Printmaking (2007): http://youtu.be/_AsNsZxosiE
Copper Scavenging – Helsinki: How to Peel Electric Wires. (2013): http://youtu.be/ZTdrz6C5phg

On copper as a material: Jussi Parikka – An Alternative Deep Time of the Media: a Geologically Tuned Media Ecology https://vimeo.com/72676524#t=963