Month: March 2019

Posted on by admin Events, reports, research

Cryptorave #10 @HEK

As part of the exhibition Swiss Media Art: !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Fragmentin, Lauren Huret – Pax Art Awards 2018 a Cryptorave will take place at HeK; a dance party that combines crypto currencies and live action roleplaying games.

!Mediengruppe Bitnik, Omsk Social Club, Knoth & Renner, Cryptorave #10, 2019

Recently, !Mediengruppe Bitnik – Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo – developed Cryptoraves in collaboration with Omsk Social Club: performative events including live action role-playing games, dance parties and crypto currencies. Visitors are invited to take part in the participative performance by registering on the Cryptorave website and allowing their computer to mine the anonymous crypto currency Monero in order to unlock information about the party and the role to be played. By joining their computing power, the participating community collectively generates value to enable the autonomous dance party experience. Through the online mining process, participants unlock their LARP identity, the Cryptorave reader and finally their entry ticket to the rave.

Mine your ticket and unlock information on the party here: http://0b673cce.xyz

The acts Ven3mo (CH), Primitive Art (IT), Crystallmess (FR) and Suutoo (GB) will play live at the Cryptorave.

Ven’3mo is a Geneva-based multidisciplinary artist, DJ and researcher. She plays with sound in order to explore notions of hybridisation and mutation – looking at music as a vector for transformation and deconstruction. Her sets are not subject to one genre and are filled with different textures and narratives.

Primitive Art is an Italian experimental music band founded in 2011 by the collaboration of Matteo Pit and Jim C. Nedd. Digital soundscapes provide the arena for timbres, melodies, verses and spoken words to crash into one another. Within the haze, the duo winds up its chaotic energy, channeling their intimate songs in strange territories.

Through the medium of DJing, Crystallmess concentrates on the analysis of so-called „subcultures“ and the influence of black diasporas. Through the multiplication of references to dancehall, soca, logobi and hip-hop, Crystallmess manifests the importance of these currents in the formation of new musical territories. Her expressive sets decolonise club culture, inviting us to rethink the future.

Multi-disciplinary artist and musician Suutoo creates soundscapes both harmonious and discordant. Utilising fantasy as a weapon of choice, Suutoo destroys the gods you thought you worshipped and lets you swallow light.

Black Mirror Special on ARTE.TV about crypto raves.

Amnesia Scanner

Rave Culture on Block Chain

Posted on by admin projects, research

SAROBMED

Upon conclusion of the pilot phase, documenting human rights violations occurring at sea during SAR or interdiction events in the period 2015-2018, following a successful launch of the SAROBMED website, including at the LIBE Hearing of 27 November 2018, and considering the urgency of events unfolding in the Mediterranean, the situation in Libya, and the project of a FRONTEX reform and disembarkation platforms gaining support at EU political and policy level, SAROBMED partners meet to assess results so far and determine the next stage of collaboration. This meeting will allow a reflection on the work undertaken and the changes necessary to adapt to the new circumstances, where SAR NGOs can hardly operate and where a conversion of rescue into monitoring activities of
interdictions and pull backs at the EU’s external maritime borders seems the main way to go. The meeting will serve to review the incident template report, assess the SAROBMED App currently being developed by our Brunel partners, adapt the data categories of recorded information, agree on SOPs that are safe and in compliance with the relevant legal standards, and collectively reflect on the way forward.

OUR MISSION

Migrant deaths are rising despite increased operational presence at sea. Proactive Search and Rescue (SAR) operations are being replaced by security missions by coastal states. Allegations of human rights violations against boat migrants and NGO vessels and personnel are multiplying and humanitarian assistance is being conflated with the crimes of smuggling and trafficking.

Currently no monitoring system exists for SAR and the measures adopted in this regard have been ineffective. Such scenario makes SAROBMED initiative all the more necessary, as our mission is to raise awareness among stakeholders, policy makers and the general public.

In order to carry out our mission, SAROBMED would set up an independent, research-led observatory of search and rescue (SAR) and interdiction incidents, through a secured digital environment for the collection, storage, exchange, and dissemination of reliable data regarding human rights violations in the Mediterranean.

 OUR ORGANISATION

 SAROBMED: The Search and Rescue Observatory for the Mediterranean is an international, multi-disciplinary consortium of independent researchers, civil society groups, and other organisations working in the field of cross-border maritime migration, either on the ground, or through advocacy, research and/or strategic litigation.

The key purpose of SAROBMED is to set up an independent, research-led observatory of search and rescue (SAR) and interdiction incidents, through the collection, analysis and dissemination of reliable data regarding human rights violations in the Mediterranean.

Members of the Observatory record and report incidents occurring at sea to the SAROBMED who processes, stores, and analyses the data. Analysing and systematising new data sources feeds into evidence-based research, tracking trends, identifying best practices, and fostering knowledge exchange between partners. This collaborative process supports cooperation, optimizing responses in cases of victimisation and/or prosecution of survivors and/or their helpers. NGO partners are also the main end-users of SAROBMED results, which support evidence-based advocacy, strategic litigation, and research-led lobbying and campaigning. Researchers, from their part, have the opportunity to gather and compile this new dataset, conduct ground-breaking, cross-disciplinary research, and impact realities beyond academia, helping to generate a counter-narrative challenging prevailing discourse and raising public awareness.

OUR VISION

SAROBMED’s mission is pursued through the four inter-dependent legs of the project:

  1. Data collection and dissemination of first-hand information of incidents occurring at sea published online
  2. Operational cooperation and coordination between members to maintain high-quality SAR
  3. Policy-relevant research and targeted advocacy action
  4. Strategic litigation of key cases to promote legal change
Posted on by admin reports, research

Immersive Lab workshop @HEK

Adnan Hadzi took part in the immersive lab workshop @HEK. The ‘Immersive Lab’ is an artistic and technological research project of the Institute of Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts. It is a media space that integrates panoramic video, surround audio with full touch interaction on the entire screen surface. The ‘Immersive Lab’ provides a platform for a catalogue of artistic works that are specifically tailored to the unique situation that this configuration offers. These works articulate the relationship between immersive media and direct interaction. It functions both as a space for experimental learning and creation and as a permanent audiovisual installation for the general public, showing finished pieces in a self-explanatory way.This installation as a platform is the fruit of several years of investigation and artistic creation. The term Immersion is used in a broader sense. Apart from spatial envelopment by image and sound, additional levels of immersions are generated for the visitors: they enter into a dedicated physical space, direct tactile interaction on the panoramic surface enhances their personal engagement, and finally within the shared space arise group behaviour and social interactions. Such an extended form of immersion provides a multi-faceted experience.The compositions can be collaboratively created and combine visual and sonic material with generative and algorithmic methods. The artistic approach focuses on real-time pieces that react to visitor interaction and that take advantage of the panoramic nature of the installation.

Different forms of engagement are possible within the installation. The audience can freely explore the works and experience different types of perceptions. Artists can experiment with the development of compositional strategies for working with different senses and artistic domains. The installation exposes foundational aspects of immersion such as spatial and multi-sensory perception, which provide interesting topics for investigation.Work in the ‘Immersive Lab’ happens in different phases, activities, and addresses different people. In a teaching context, in general, any student can visit the lab in guided tours. Students majoring in electronic music or media arts, however, are invited to actively learn by exploring the inner workings of existing pieces. Artists and advanced students have the opportunity to become involved more intensely by creating entirely new pieces. For this, the ICST offers to share its experience, methods, and tools for development and realization of ideas for this particular media space. Finally, in the exhibition context, general audiences are invited to experience the catalogue of works.