Bricolabs Workshop at Mal au Pixel and Enter:
Jaromil, Matt Ratto, Rob van Kranenburg ( Venzha, tbc)
The workshop will consist of short presentations on a) the recent new possibilities of open source software, content and hardware and its promises for real democratic generic infrastructures (non branded, non ip) from your average electricity supply, your automobiles (OScar), your connectivities (mobile infrastructure) and b) bricolabs; a series of labs all over the world that work on shared objects, not so much through a shared philosophy. Apart from presentations there will be two participatory strands: 1) a scenario workshop on what generic infrastructures would mean for you, your house, your street, your life, and 2) hands-on experience with installing and using dynebolic (a free software operating system and tools developed specifically for digital artisans) and exploring the open device called the GP2X that allows user/developers to create novel forms of interactive and handheld computing.
Timo Arnall: “What I really like about the Bricolabs is the kind of low-tech hacking of everyday infrastructure. If the participants come out of a bricolab course with an increased sensitivity to everyday, ubiquitous, technology infrastructures, that would be fantastic.”
The convenors of this workshop, along with many others, are currently developing novel means for exchanging knowledge between “bricolabs”, distributed sites that explore the potentialities of pervasive information technologies in an open context. The central theme is that of “re-working”, “re-using”, and “re-purposing” existing infrastructures in order to develop novel forms of knowledge exchange between artists, technologists, and socio-technical theorists, as well as the development of new models for innovation in business and in society more generally.
We believe that the work of bricolabs would be extended and made more durable through the creation of a shared open hardware and software testbed for experimentation. In this workshop we provide details about potential aspects of such a testbed; first by exploring an open device called the GP2X that allows user/developers to create novel forms of interactive and handheld computing; and second, Dynebolic, a free software operating system and tools developed specifically for digital artisans.
The workshop will consist of a demonstration of the “hackability” of the GP2X, and a hand-on experience with installing and using dynebolic.
