Programme
Welcome: Permacomputing and Beyond
Opening words and contextualisation
| Introduction by |
Aymeric Mansoux
Jarl Schulp
Ola Bonati
Lukas Engelhardt
Brendan Howell |
| Time |
12:00 - 12:30 |
Why permacomputing? We start the day with a short introduction to permacomputing and neighbouring movements as well as how they relate to the ongoing Rewilding Computation series of events and activities at FIBER. Prior to this event, three workshops were held to introduce participants to permacomputing principles, more specifically in relation to alternatives to big tech server hosting, notions beyond "productivity" and our physical connection with nature. The sessions were (more or less) conducted in accordance with permacomputing principles and concerned themselves with everyday practices and ideas that can be applied by individuals and collectives right now. Some of the experimental results will be shared in this introduction.
The reality of data centres and the need for regenerative relationships
| Speakers |
Marloes de Valk
Michal Klodner |
| Time |
12:30 - 13:30 |
To arrive at alternatives to our impactful digital behaviour, we need to fathom the infrastructure, computation and its culture behind it. The 'cloud' is a physical data centre that extracts data and natural resources on a large scale. Can we propose alternatives to steer away from using global companies and their harmful use of resources? With resilient skills, from digital to ecological, we can start building new connections and environments based on self-governance and regenerative relationships with our environment.
Marloes de Valk (she/her) is a software artist and writer in the post-despair stage of coping with the threat of global warming and being spied on by the devices surrounding her. Surprised by the obsessive dedication with which we, even post-Snowden, share intimate details about ourselves to an often not too clearly defined group of others, astounded by the deafening noise we generate while socializing with the technology around us, she is looking to better understand why.
Michal Klodner (he/him) moves from the field of audiovisual live performances and experimental film to forest gardening, building livinglab and back. With a background in information science and coding, he was one of the founders and current curator of node9.org digital community server and online gallery. Michal Klodners’ practice involves writing on online activism, digital curation or postmediality, as part of creating networks based on trust in those fields. In the recent projects on the role of artistic research in sustainability Klodner got into computational aspects of media art in relation to ecosystems and more than human natureculture communities, trying to develop livinglab as an interdisciplinary method of nondestructive living-research in nature and wilderness.
Session 2: Collective Practices of Reuse
Repurposing e-waste and assembling collective knowledge
| Speakers |
Raaf (Unbinare)
Danny Tirthdas van der Kleij (varia) |
| Time |
14:15 - 15:15 |
If our mission is to combat e-waste, extend the life of electronic and digital devices and create infrastructures of collective creation, what open-knowledge systems and tools do we need to support this? What are the challenges and opportunities inherent to the practices of collective repair and reuse? In this session, we will take a deep dive into working with DIY digital tools, discarded electronics, etherpads, writing methods and the ways to arrive at new collective practises, and new assemblies of technology and theory.
Raaf (Unbinare) (they/them) is an anarchist, hacker and reverse engineer. In 2020 they founded Unbinare, an e-waste reverse engineering laboratory which aims to reduce the increase of e-waste by finding ways to repurpose discarded electronic devices. Unbinare operates from an anarchist context and considers their research to be a form of direct action to counter state and corporate control of the environment. Prior to founding Unbinare, Raaf has been an artist, composer, architectural designer, security consultant and hardware security researcher.
Danny Tirthdas van der Kleij (varia) (he/him) is a software developer, varia-member and radio DJ. His practice combines alternative and situational software with amateur electronic engineering. Currently this revolves around topics of computational frugality, divisions of (non-)meticulous labour and the practicality ignored within politics of repairability. varia is a Rotterdam-based initiative and space for developing collective approaches around everyday technology, through maintaining and facilitating a collective infrastructure. At its core, varia aims to develop critical insights into the technologies around us. They experiment with different instruments and tools to develop physical and digital infrastructures in a collective way.
Session 3: Artful Applications & Energy Aesthetics
Art & design research to lower impact and rethink energy
| Speakers |
Marie Verdeil
Sunjoo Lee |
| Time |
15:45 - 16:45 |
Concluding the symposium, we highlight art and design practices that experiment with, and implement low-tech and permacomputing-like principles and explore alternative energy sources. What can we learn from their making processes, and is it possible to transfer them to a wide variety of applications? Going beyond aesthetics, shaping our collective consciousness and being a medium for advocacy, education and inspiration. Through the lens of creative expression, we can begin to reimage a society where sustainable and regenerative design principles are not just concepts but could also be transformative for art, design and cultural production.
Marie Verdeil is a french designer based in Bruxelles, BE. In her work, she uses hacks and subversion in an attempt to shift our relationship with technology and draw attention on the ever growing resources involved in its production. Her practice is based on empirical and empathic research and often results in creating tools, methods or experiences, rather than ready-made solutions. She also wonders what design can, but also can’t do to challenge our beliefs & habits in a finite, ecologically threatened world. She prefers to work with open-source resources, re-purposed materials, energy-aware approaches and DIY techniques. Previous projects take the form of websites, objects, instruments, publications & installations among others.
Sunjoo Lee (she/her) is a media artist based in the Netherlands. Lee makes tools, sensory robots that respond to the environment, and video art installations, combining technology and ecology. Her works often explore topics such as; technology for more-than-humans, emergence, biomimicry, permacomputing and future forms of symbiosis. Her recent works are more research-based, largely replacing her computer-based practice in her studio with spending as much time as possible in a natural environment.
Moderators & Demo
Originally trained in Anthropology and Philosophy, Shailoh Phillips (they/them) has spent the past 10 years working in the field of digital media, social design and media arts education, as well as cultivating a collaborative practice of cross-media projects such as interactive installations and inflatable sculptures with the collective Tools for Action. She previously worked in VPRO television and in the field of animation, game design, and creative writing.
Abdelrahman Hassan (he/him) practises at the intersection between software, critical theory, data, and poetry. He is an applied researcher focusing primarily on algorithmic inequality and decolonial computing. His interests include memetics, internet geographies, technical utopias/dystopias and depictions of e-governance. His overarching goal is to bridge critical theory with digital practice and to limit accessibility gaps and hurdles to open access to knowledge.
Rein van der Woerd (he/him) graduated from Design, Art & Technology at ArtEZ Arnhem in 2022. Inspired by the psychedelic mindset, Rein searches for ‘hippie-technology’ and researches permacomputing for his residency at Creative Coding Utrecht. At the symposium Rein presents his work on Nintendo DS homebrew. By making art for this device that some might consider obsolete, he shows that through continued care a devices can become *more* capable as it ages instead of less.
