Shift Workshops
Exhibition Hall
Thu, 22.10. – Sun, 25.10.2009
Workshop 1
Build your own mini-theremin or pixel-ball
Thu 22.10.2009 20.00–23.00 h
Fri 23.10.2009 17.00–23.00 h
Sat 24.10.2009 14.00–23.00 h
Sun 25.10.2009 11.00–18.00 h
diy makeaway workshop with the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society
Under the competent guidance of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society (SMAS) electro-tinkerers one can solder an electronic toy or instrument in around 45 minutes. Especially for Shift 09, the SMAS has developed the “Shift Theremin”, a contemporary lo-fi variation on the mother of all synthesizers that can be played without touch. Alternatively, one can make a copy of two other new inventions: “The Pixel”, an illuminated ball that responds to sound and the “Cosmic Space Receiver”, which picks up sounds made by the weather or planets.
No previous experience required.
Fee for materials: 15.–
www.mechatronicart.ch/diymakeaway
Workshop 2
Shift Kids: Make jewellery or fantasy creatures from electronic junk
Fri 23.10.2009 12.00–18.00 h
Sat 24.10.2009 12.00–18.00 h
Sun 25.10.2009 12.00–16.00 h
workshop with atelier recycling@rt for kids aged 6+
Something new can emerge from a bunch of old keyboards, circuit boards, cables, ball bearings, resistors and other bits of electronic junk. Participants can choose to make jewellery (necklaces) or a technoid fantasy creature and take the results home after the workshop. They also get to learn about technology's other face, namely about this type of delicate equipment's short-lived existence and the havoc it wreaks when it lands on the junk heap .
No previous experience required.
Fee for materials: 5.–
Workshop 3
Track down the spectres in the electromagnetic spectrum
Workshop Part 1: Sat 24.10.2009 16.00 h
Workshop Part 2: Sun 25.10.2009 14.00 h
Meeting Point: in front of the Exhibition Hall entrance.
Both workshops will be conducted in English only.
Workshops with Alejo Duque
We are surrounded by electromagnetic waves. Many of them are generated by human activities (radio, CB, broadband networks, etc.), and others by natural elements (the weather, solar eruptions, etc.). Advocates of the “Electronic Voice Phenomenon” theory presume that the deceased can communicate via such waves with the living: recordings are manipulated and listened to for as long as it takes for some words to become comprehensible. A rational explanation for this phenomenon is, that human minds are always in search of something familiar and therefore may well detect meaning in what are actually random signs or chance events. However, Swiss-Columbian artist Alejo Duque is not really concerned with the “faith question”. He speaks rather of the “creative misunderstanding” that leads to fresh insights beyond mere agreement or dismissal. Duque demonstrates this in the two workshops by conducting an experiment with the participants:
Workshop Part 1: The Wave-Walk: at the Dreispitz site participants will listen in to various frequencies and search for networks: radio, satellites, wireless-LANs – and perhaps ghostly voices too.
Workshop Part 2: Hearing Ghosts: recordings made during Part 1 will be evaluated. When they are filtered and played repeatedly, “ghostly voices” become audible.
Workshop Part 1 and 2 can be attended independently of one another.
No previous experience required.
http://distressfreq.wordpress.com
Workshop 4
Shift Kids: 'Media Competence' workshops for senior grade school-classes, developed by MedienFalle (advance registration required)
This year's edition of Shift has a workshop lined up especially for school-classes. The minds behind it are MedienFalle Basel, the Film and Media Workshop for Educational and Artistic Projects. During workshops school-kids create audio and video clips and publish them on the Festival blog. They thereby use their own equipment, primarily cell phones, to develop and publish their views, insights and statements in the world of electronic media.