Lecture: Ritsuko ENDO

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Changes in Printing and Binding Techniques and their Influence on Book Design 1860s-1960s

28. October 2015 | 4 pm | Blackbox 3rd floor

In the West, the form of the book (including scrolls and booklets) changed slowly from handwriting to printing from the time of the Gutenberg’s invention. However, in Japan, the scrolls became booklets by binding the paper with thread. From the Meiji Restoration, efforts were then made to introduce Western forms. The fact that Western-style binding did not enter Japan easily, is an important characteristics of Japanese bookmaking and binding. It is thus difficult to delineate “the beginning” of the history of Western-style book making and binding in Japan. Form, technology and material of the book transformed during the Meiji era using Japanese, Chinese, and Western elements in different proportions.

The sudden introduction of Western techniques and material caused a lot of confusion and urged the reform of the consciousness and knowledge of the Japanese book-makers. They had to learn how to imitate the technology of the West, but their task at the time was not only to imitate, but also to realize a cross-cultural blend between Japanese and Western book-binding, and achieve iconic representation of the contents of the book on the cover of the book. These elements are important when considering the modern “Japanese book”.

The purpose of this paper is is to provide an overview of the evolution of book-making from the Meiji period until the 1960s, and to examine the relationships between the different technological innovations, and summarize the results. In the meantime, the book has changed from a form of the flat Japanese book, to the form of the Western book with a spine. The results of this research presented in this paper confirmed that the book became a three-dimensional object. From this research, we can make an attempt to conceive the future directions of book-design.

Music and the environment – Concert by Christophe Charles

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28. October | 8 pm | Klangdome HfG

Christophe Charles is a composer and professor at Musashino Art University, Tokyo. He has been using electronic devices since the 1970s to produce environmental music. With sonic examples, he will discuss the famous statement by Henry David Thoreau: “Music is continuous, only listening is intermittent”, how it is possible to compose and perform a music which is open to the sounds of the environment, and the idea of “interpenetration without obstruction”.
http://home.att.ne.jp/grape/charles/bio.html

MAU x HfG Go Public Karlsruhe

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Go Public Japan

21. Oktober – 1. November 2015
Ausstellungsprojekt öffentlicher Raum

Seit einigen Jahren herrscht ein reger Austausch mit Studierenden der Musashino Art University Tokyo. Zusammen mit Studierenden der HfG Karlsruhe entstanden in Karlsruhe mehrere Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum, eine Ausstellung im Kloster Frauenalb sowie eine Publikation. Im September entsteht aus der Zusammenarbeit zwischen MAU und HfG im September ein großes partizipatorisches Ausstellungsprojekt im öffentlichen Raum in Tokio, dessen Fortsetzung vom 21. Oktober – 1. November in Karlsruhe stattfinden wird.

Biomodd Angelo Vermeulen

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Workshop 24./25.10.

Raum und Zeit werden nach Anmeldung bekannt gegeben: agharib@hfg-karlsruhe.de

Auf künstlerische Ebene wird der Gegensatz von Natur und Technik in Frage gestellt. Die Antwort ist eine symbiotische Zusammenführungen beider Erscheinungsformen. Der Kerngedanke von Biomodd ist die Erschaffung von experimentellen Systemen, in denen modifizierte Computernetzwerke mit lebenden Ökosystemen koexistieren und interagieren.  Biomodd wird Ende Oktober, Anfang November einen Teil der Ausstellung ‚Exo Evolution‘ im ZKM sein. Der zweitägige Workshop versteht sich als Einführung zu dem anschließenden zweiwöchigen Workshop in der Ausstellung, bei dem die Teilnehmer gemeinsam die hybriden Kunstobjekte bauen werden.

Links:  http://www.biomodd.net

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=26ec64890b739569abbc85ac2&id=ee02169bc8&e=f1e1b87097

http://zkm.de/event/2015/10/globale-exo-evolution

Global-e GameJam

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Von Freitag den 09.10. bis Sonntag den 11.10.2015 findet der Global-e GameJam in Raum 323 ab der HfG statt.
Wir treffen uns um 14:30 in Raum 323; ab 15:00 Uhr geht es mit dem Jam los.

Innerhalb von 48 Stunden entstehen dann zu einem Thema Spieleprojekte, die im Rahmen des Family Day am Sonntag um 15:30 im ZKM präsentiert werden. Die Zuschauer am ZKM stimmen in diesem Rahmen über das Gewinner-team ab.
Das ZKM sponsort das Buffet für den Jam sowie ein Preisgeld von 100€.

Informelle Anmeldungen noch bis Donnerstag Abend an: greta.luise@googlemail.com

What’s Sex got to do with it? – Zeljko Blace

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22./23./24. June | 10am | Blackbox (341)
Workshop with Zeljko Blace

Some of the most interesting media and technology thinking and development was done by individuals from the spectrum of sexual & gender minorities. From asexual Nikola Tesla, to homosexual Alan Turing as groundbreaking pioneers to the contemporaries like Apple’s Tim Cook in consumer technology…however the social and cultural taboos around sexuality are only recently challenged to the point that thinking media and technology from non-conforming perspectives is not only possible but also strongly influenced by sexual orientation, gender identity and organization of intimacy.

In the workshop days we will look at issues that frame sexual and gender discrimination and emancipation, why and how it can be relevant for everyone . What can be learned from minority perspectives in organizing creativity and criticality. This will include looking at consumer niches of sex-dating geo-apps, but also interfaces of operating systems as normalizing environments and their potential “queering” of technologies to address diversity. We will also look into Sport as an extremely normative system that operates in fixed regimes. The two will co-relate and cross-pollinate in presentation  of QueerOS prototyping and Kickertable mod-ing where 3D modeling/printing will meet body and identity politics.  In video screenings we will shown some of the historic biographical documentaries and fictional movies that should feed both the imagination for work and discursive discussions for the day after .

Opening Vasulka Chamber – Kristin Scheving

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OPENING VASULKA CHAMBER

Talk by Kristin Scheving
18 June | 2pm | Entropia (323)

the Center of Electronic and Digital Art in Iceland http://www.listasafn.is/english/about/vasulka-chamber/
with the collaboration of the Vasulkas and their development and ideology in the field, with the opening of the Kitchen in New York in 1971 –  http://thekitchen.org/about

VASULKA CHAMBER CENTER OF ELECTRONIC AND DIGITAL ART IN ICELAND

With the establishment of the Vasulka Chamber, the National Gallery of Iceland directs its attention to the preservation of video and multimedia art, which has been a neglected area thus far. As a leading museum in visual art, the National Gallery plays a critical role in the preservation of Icelandic visual art. This is no less true of video and multimedia art than it is of art that is created with more conventional techniques.  Vasulka Chamber is a collaboration with Steina and Woody Vasulka and they have donated a large part of their digital archive.  Vasulka Chamber has already started a collaboration with various institutions around the world and one that has already got funding is Nordic Digital Conversation from the Nordic Culture Fund and Nordic Culture Point. Nordic Digital Conversation is a project initiated by the Vasulka Chamber in collaboration with Videokunstarkivet in Norway and AV-Arkki in Finland, both of whom have been working in the field of media and digital art for years. Vasulka Chamber´s aim is to: preserve the Vasulka collection (art works, documents and pertaining objects). continue mapping / maintaining video and related artworks. encourage researchers and give access to material for educational, research and exhibition purposes. Transfer artworks in film and video to digital format in order to preserve them and assist in the conservation of significant objects relating to the legacy of Icelandic media art history. Preserve video and filmed artworks. Promulgate research (e.g. through seminars, publications etc.). The future vision of the Vasulka Chamber is to provide insight into the works of the Vasulkas and give better access to their art and pioneering achievements, and to improve the working conditions of artists working with video and digital medium. We hope to achieve these aims in the near future.

SF Films and Computer Games – Alan N. Shapiro

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TRANSMEDIA WORKSHOP BY ALAN N. SHAPIRO

Monday, 8 June and Tuesday, 9 June 2015,  11am  – 16pm, Blackbox (341)

In this two-day transmedia workshop, we will watch excerpts from 6 important science fiction films about computer games (Tron, Tron Legacy, Existenz, War Games, Gamer and Avalon) as well as one film that was an adaptation of a computer game (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). We will have discussions about these films. We will examine questions such as: What is the relationship between “reality” and the game? What is the relationship between the physical and “virtual” worlds? What can architectural design learn from the virtual geometries of computer games? What is science fiction? In what sense has film already become “post-cinematic”? Has the computer game already gone beyond film as the emblematic media of our times? What is the significance of the game’s “POV perspective” – the special relationship between player and avatar – for narrative? What is the relation beween narrative and computer games? To write the software code for new games, is it possible to create a narrative-centered creative coding development environment, similar to how Processing is a visual-centered creative coding development environment? We will also take a look at the writings of cultural critic Steven Shaviro, such as Post-Cinematic Affect (2010). The workshop will be in English and German.

Pervasive Games – Brice Clocher

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From the 13th to the 17th of April  Brice Clocher, a french engineer and game designer with a special focus on pervasive and location-based games, held a successful workshop at the GameLab Karlsruhe.

2015 being the year of the Globale Experience in Karlsruhe, there is an increased interest in globalization and digitalization.

In their playful yet subversive way, Pervasive Games – games which grow to surround us – participate in reshaping how we interact with our environment and society at large.
This one-week-long block seminar offered an introduction to the theory and design of Pervasive Games. Each day, a different aspect was explored through formal presentations supported by literature, and playful workshops dedicated to understanding and making such games.

The workshop included a visit at the GEE Lab Europe and a very informative meeting with the game researcher and author Jussi Holopainen.