University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
SF, CA 94117
McLaren building, Room #251

More info and RSVP.

• 6:30pm-6:45pm: Socializing/networking. During the evening anyone in the audience is welcome to present their work in 30 seconds.
• 6:45-7:10: Linda Gass (Artist) on “Can Art Change Our Water Consciousness?”A visual presentation on textile-based art informed by site, maps, aerial photography and environmental activism. The artwork portrays aerial views of the human marks on our landscape in an effort to draw attention to concerns about water, using beauty to encourage people to look at the hard issues we face.
• 7:10-7:35: Peter Foucault (SFAI) on “Systems and Interactivity in Drawing”A discussion on how drawings are constructed through mark making systems, and how audience participation can influence the outcome of a final composition, focusing on an interactive robotic drawing installation
• 7:35-7:50: BREAK
• 7:50-8:15: Cindy Stokes (Photographer) on “Dynamic Form”A discussion of photographs and comments on some of the universal principles involved in the image structures
• 8:15-8:45: Imin Yeh (Zer01 Artist in Residence) on “Downloadable Mahjong”A discussion and craft circle based upon print media in the digital age and contemporary possibilities for “La Perruque”.
• 8:45:  Piero Scaruffi on the next Leonardo Art/Science eveningI will simply preview the line-up of speakers for the next Leonardo evening.
• 8:45pm-9:30pm: Discussions, more socializing You can mingle with the speakers and the audience.

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About dorkbotSF
dorkbot-sf is a spinoff of dorkbot-nyc which is
“a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students and other interested parties from the new york area who are involved in the creation of electronic art (in the broadest sense of the term.)”
The purpose of dorkbot is to:
give artists/programmers/engineers an opportunity for informal peer review
establish a forum for the presentation of new art works/technology/software/hardware
help establish relationships and foster collaboration between people with various backgrounds and interests
give us all a chance to see the cool things that our neighbors are working on

Time:
Tonight at 7:30
7 July 2010

Location:
Gray Area Foundation
55 Taylor St
San Francisco, CA

Cost:
Suggested Donation – $5-$20
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Mike Kuniavsky - Information is a Material

We have passed the era of Peak MHz. The race in CPU development is now for smaller, cheaper, and less power-hungry processors. As the price of powerful CPUs approaches that of basic components (there are fast CPUs now that cost less than some LEDs, for example), how information processing is used fundamentally changes. When information processing is this cheap, it becomes a material with which to design the world, like plastic, iron, and wood.

This vision is the opposite of cloud computing and it argues that most information processing in the future will not be in some distant data center, but immediately present in our environment, distributed throughout the world, embedded in things we don’t think of as computers.

This talk will discuss:

* * What it means to treat information as a material.
* * The properties of information as a design material.
* * The design possibilities created by information as a material.
* * How information as a material enables The Internet of Things, object oriented hardware, smart materials, ubiquitous computing, and intelligent environments.

Mike Kuniavsky has been active in the intersection of design and technology for more than twenty years. In 1994 he designed one of the first e-commerce websites. Since then, he has worked on hundreds of interactive experiences: search engines, museum guides, digital pianos, kitchens of the future, wine racks, amusement parks, and more websites than he can remember. He co-founded Adaptive Path, an influential Web design company, and Wired Digital’s user experience lab, one of the first user research initiatives dedicated to a single company’s online products. In 2006, he co-founded a new company, ThingM, which designs and manufactures ubiquitous computing products.

His previous book, “Observing the User Experience,” has been popular all over the world and is used as a textbook at many universities. He lives in San Francisco. He blogs at orangecone.com.”

Visit Mike’s site: Orangecone

k9d – Chip Music

After homebrew enabling a gameboy or similar retro computer it’s possible to run whatever software you like on it, including contemporary software that has been written specifically for composing and performing music! starPause will provide a birds eye view of the culture around this trick as well as demonstrating how he builds a track from the ground up using a playstation portable.

Jordan the k9d writes code for cash, rides keirin bikes on city streets, and produces lofi electro music as starPause. He’s also active in the demoscene with the Northern Dragons, practices dayan qigong, and publishes the DINOAIDS pocket zine.

Visit k9d’s sites at Starpause and Indie Games.

A. Tobias Tenney – Night Garden: Bio-Modified Photography

T.bias is compiling a book of photographs that he has taken of plants & flowers at night. Armed only with his point & shoot Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 he has discovered an interesting way to biologically modify his process to capture stunning night time photographs. He intends to release his book of these photos, “Night Garden”, in tandem with the Dorkbot talk.

T.bias is a jack of many trades; Music, video, web production, graphic design, interaction design, geekery and hackery. He spend some of his time trying to capture photographs that he finds pleasing with the limited photography gear he has.

Visit Tobias’ Site.

Scott Kildall – Gift Horse

The Gift Horse is:

* * 13′ high sculpture depicting the mythological Trojan Horse.
* *A public project where everyone is invited to make hundreds of real and imaginary paper viruses sculptures.
* *A means to smuggle the viruses into the museum and release them in a public ceremony.
* *Constructed almost entirely of sustainable and recyclable materials.

Scott Kildall is cross-disciplinary artist working with video, installation, prints, sculpture and performance. He gathers material from the public realm as the crux of his artwork in the form of interventions into various concepts of space.

He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Philosophy from Brown University and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through the Art & Technology Studies Department. He exhibits his work internationally in galleries and museums. He has received fellowships and awards from organizations including the Kala Art Institute, The Banff Centre for the Arts and Turbulence.org and the Eyebeam Art + Technology Center

Victoria Scott strives to understand the transformation of matter and energy as it flows from one state into another. Working with electronic media, sculpture and social relations, she creates site-specific installations, digital prints, objects and audio works.

Her recent projects include constructing 3D paper representations of objects that exist both in simulated environments and real life. She is also developing a series of batteries that are charged by human emotional energy.

Scott completed her MFA in 2005 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago within the Art and Technology Department. She has exhibited in Sweden, Mexico City, Toronto, Berlin, Boston and Chicago and received several Canada Council arts grants.

Check out Scott’s site: Trojan Gift Horse

MC Sasha Harris-Cronin

Sasha Harris-Cronin is a San Francisco based multimedia artist who creates interactive exhibits for museums. freelances designer, programmer, artist, technologist, integrator, manager, and all-around outside-the-box thinker.

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Let’s face it, MIDI is about the smallest possible straw you can suck a compelling music performance through. For guitar players, it has been nearly impossible. That’s why after more than three years of development, I and the rest of the team at Keith McMillen Instruments are proud to announce the release of the StringPort, the worlds first computer platform for guitar (and coming for other string instruments – violin, viola, cello and bass).

It can do so much that it is hard to describe in just a few words what it is, but the best explanation is that the StringPort is a computer platform for string instruments. It allows you to control software in a personal computer using your instrument as the interface.

The StringPort is used in conjunction with an instrument with a polyphonic pickup (a pickup that outputs a mono audio channel for each string of the instrument, such as are available from Roland, GraphTech, Zeta and RMC) to enable the player to use multichannel effects processing and synthesis control. Prior to the StringPort, the only way for a string player to accomplish this was via a dedicated hardware box.

While some of these products work well, they have several disadvantages. Foremost, they are very rarely updated so the feature set that initially comes with the product may well be what is available for the duration of its lifespan. By contrast, the StringPort’s features are implemented in software on a personal computer. This not only means updates are as easy as downloading a new version of the applications, but also that as processor speeds increase the StringPort will gain a natural advantage over its competitors. While a dedicated hardware device is never going to get any faster, and never going to be able to support more features than its locked hardware can provide, our software can take advantage of every increase in personal computing power whether is be clock speed or additional cores.

At its base the StringPort is simply an audio interface, albeit an optimized one.  You can use the hardware without our software and record every string of your guitar separately right out of the box. This makes it possible to put different effects on each string of the instrument in any DAW software such as Logic or ProTools.  However, our software also includes an analysis system that looks at the incoming audio from each string to provide a full set of spectral metadata. While other devices simply output MIDI (a single pitch and “velocity” and sometimes pitch bend), the information provided by the StringPort analysis is much richer. It contains continuous pitch and loudness, pitch bend, centroid, parity, noisiness, and inharmonicity for each string. These spectral parameters are gained from complex FFT analysis to describe the continuous vibrations of the string, not a single event. All of this control data can be output to other software programs on your computer or over the network, meaning anyone can write a software program to use this analysis data. This really does make the StringPort a platform for controlling a computer rather just a completely isolated effects and MIDI output system.

Of course, we also provide standard guitar and studio effects. Take, for instance, our PolyFuzz application. It contains an entire effects rack including compressor, EQ, pitch shift, filter, delay modulation, amp simulation, delay and reverb. All of these effects are available for every string independently. Not only are they available for every string, but they can all be modulated with the realtime spectral analysis data. Do you want your filter frequency set by the note you are playing? Or your reverb level to go up depending upon the fret you are playing? We have build a modulation matrix capable of controlling every knob you can touch with a mouse cursor with the realtime spectral data.

We also provide two very satisfying synthesis applications. The first is a three operator “classic” synthesizer. It contains a two operator FM section, a subtractive section, and an LFO. This synthesizer is driven directly from the continuous spectral data, so it is very responsive to a variety of subtle playing techniques. It is easy to perform sounds with this application that it previously seemed impossible for a guitar to create, let alone control in realtime.

This just scratches the surface of what can be done with the StringPort system. The software package comes with twenty-four separate modules including notation, MIDI output, additional synthesizer control, phase driven synthesis, sound file playback and manipulation, and physical modeling. We’ve really put a lot of tools at the guitarist’s disposal with this product, and are excited to hear what gets created with it.

Find out more information on www.StringPort.com. What features would you like to see in a polyphonic audio processor? Let us know.

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The conference was held at a very comfortable arts venue called Pianofabriek. Complete with bar, the sessions were broken up into a main presentation space plus several breakout rooms for birds-of-a-feather meetings and workshops. Every day of the meeting was filled with interesting content and real use cases and user feedback for the software packages being developed. The theme of this conference “reclaim your tools” was reinforced from nearly every angle from conception to final product. This is what really brought the message home for me, people actually using these tools and showing the great results they can achieve with complete open software and content packages. This is a stark contrast from most other arts, music, and engineering conferences I’ve attended where the papers are abstract, the tools extremely academic, and the products proprietary. None of these things applied at LGM, and the feeling of mutual creativity between all the participants was as big an argument as any in support of open source tools, free content, and shared knowledge.

Friends at Libre Graphics Meeting

Some of the most interesting things at the meeting were the sessions on desktop publishing. People self publishing and developing sophisticated tools made it clear that contrary to some opinions about the directions of literary technology, new tools will only strengthen the printmaking community, not wipe it out with dedicated e-readers. The sheer ingenuity of  projects solving publishing issues with freely accessible tools showed a steady movement that will with time inevitably destroy even the highest volume censored app store in the world. Excellent presentations were given on open font design by Christopher Adams (the publisher of Joi Ito’s book Freesouls) and on self publishing by Ana Carvalho at Plana Press on transitioning from closed source software to created independent comic books. Also Tom Lechner’s talk on his program Laidout shows off its many impressive features, including laying out print on an arbitrary polygon.

Jon Phillips of Open Clip Art showed off the new website created with a very interesting new database based CMS framework called Aiki.

Another very interesting thread was that of open source fashion. Susan Spencer‘s presentation for her project Sew Brilliant that aims to make scalable free sewing patterns available, and also create open source software for fashion design. The fashion industry currently has no open source solutions and is thus enslaved to expensive proprietary solutions for their entire production pipeline.

We stayed at the Pantone Hotel in Brussels, which is obviously leveraging the Pantone brand (basically big squares of color) into a panoply of overpriced products (like $15 coffee mugs). This made the presentation by Ginger Coons introducing the Open Colour Standard, a new effort to standardize a color definition model not owned by a corporation, particularly noticeable.

To see a more of the talks at LGM head over to River Valley TV, who recorded all of the presentations.

For some more perspectives on the Libre Graphics Meeting:

Inspiration at Libre Graphics Meeting 2010, And What Led Me To Brussels – Pete Ippel

“Libre Graphics Meeting 2010″ at LWN.net – Nathan Willis

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Alchemy is an annual San Francisco event, packed with interactive art installations built to connect and amaze you. Participation highly encouraged — but we know you won’t be able to resist picking up that joystick, paintbrush, or microphone. See the flyer and press release below for more information.

For investors, some of the more visible outbursts of imagination will come on May 1 at Gray Area Foundation For The Arts (GAFFTA), where Alchemy will take place. Activities from zoetrope-building to ice cream making will take place alongside an interactive hyphae video floor, puppet theater, an immersive diorama, strobe flowers, and demonstrations from a wide range of experts in exotic disciplines.

WHEN: Saturday May 1, 8pm-2am
WHERE: GAFFTA, 55 Taylor Street, San Francisco
HOW: $15 at the door
WHY: Because you’re tired of those same-old jello-mold art gallery evenings and want to have FUN with art instead!
RSVP: on the facebook page

Schedule of Speakers

9PM – MetaMind Evolution by Andreas Stadler, software engineer and inventor, presents his work on neuro-feedback EEG mind-machines. He explores their applications to meditation, lucid dreaming, and brain training, as well as creative uses in music and art. After the talk, you’re invited to don the MetaMind headset and software, displaying beautiful visualizations from multiple channels of your very own brainwave data. (http://meta-mind.de/)

10PM – In Your Mind’s Eye by Dr. Tristan Ursell, Stanford University. You are a highly evolved creature, bred to perceive that which keeps you alive best, not what represents reality best. Learn about why you see the colors you do, and how your brain distorts the world around us.

11PM – John Bela is a founder of the design collective REBAR, creators of the global PARK(ing) Day event, Civic Center Victory Garden, Panhandle Bandshell, and other transformations of public space. He is a producer of creative ideas and a maker of things. John will present the works of Rebar, and how its many pursuits remix the ordinary, repurpose the ubiquitous and restructure the fabric of the urban environment. (http://www.rebargroup.org)

12AM – cutsupposepossesssuck by M. Ryan Noble, redefines social roles for artists through collaborative and therapeutic art processes, covering a wide range of media and experimental performances that fuse archetypal traditions with contemporary experience. A discussion of cultural engagement, sensory integration, and sub/un/hyperconsciousness as a means to create a metaphysical art experience leads into an experimental performance. Noble becomes a living sculpture in the space, guiding and collaborating with participants to develop the piece. (http://www.imagici.org)

1AM – Matt Bell is an inventor, artist, and entrepreneur who has done a wide variety of projects including gesture-based interactive displays, intricate laser-cut sculpture, and, most recently, floating art for the Ephemerisle festival. He’ll walk you through his multiprojector no-computer-necessary video feedback system that generates fractals live, allowing you and your friends to manipulate the parameters and output.

Artists and Installations

- Tyson Ayers’ Sound Cave Roadshow
- Strobe Flower Garden by Shawn Lani and PJ Reptilehouse
- Ice Cream Lab by Langton Labs
- Group A – Telephone Booth and TXT ME MOVE ME
- LoveTechSF’s Electronic Jam Lounge
- The Bone Conductor by Jean Rintoul
- Head Room by Brent Bishop
- Hyphae Dancefloor by Mary Franck and Michael Broxton
- Cheeky and Practice - interactive video installations by Scott Murray
- Galaxy Conduit by Rich DDT
- Zoetrope-Making with Tim Anderson
- Mini-Masher by Moldover
- Finger Puppet Photo Booth & Salon
- Alchemyville Post Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC — Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced that no regulations will be placed on the so-called Outlandish Ideas (OI) market. This move is seen as a victory for both capitalists and artists preparing for False Profit, LLC’s fourth annual Alchemy event on May 1.

“We’re pleased that the commission sees the wisdom in letting us take our batshit-crazy ideas as far as possible,” said False Profit staff economist Rosco Petracula, speaking through a prismatic tube from a tiny sacred galaxy unfolding inside the mind of an obscure minor deity. “After all, hasn’t this sort of reasoning driven every major economic advancement in history?”

Two years ago, the public learned an acronym previously only known to quantitative financial analysts: CDS (Credit Default Swap). These financial instruments, built on bets around subprime mortgages, led to the massive collapse of credit markets and sent the global economy into a tailspin. In hindsight, the way these types of investments pretended to do away with risk seem absurd.

Today, we know that risk is unavoidable and absurdity inevitable. False Profit’s Alchemy event, now cleared by the SEC, is expected to further provoke wild creativity in the OI markets. No idea is too outlandish to be unleashed. While some fear increases in spontaneous interaction and artistic expression, many are welcoming the preposterous unpredictability.

Reacting to the SEC statement, Mary Pranckster, Director of the Gonzo Tactics Institute said, “The primary reason we saw a meltdown in ‘08 was actually low insanity levels. Sure, at the time everyone thought things were crazy, but let me tell you: You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

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Also presenting a new installation at the Gray Area Gallery on One Button Objects, is Peter Kirn, curator in conjunction with game art collective Kokoromi; just in time for the Game Developers Conference this week.

LOCATION:
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
55 Taylor Street
Thursday, March 11th
7PM – 9:30PM

The presenters are:
* VISDA GOUDARZI (Stanford CCRMA), will present Fosotomo/Gestonic/Neuroklang a video-based interface for the sonification of hand gesture for real-time timbre control. The goal of the system is to survey the space of musical possibilities and generating computer music using human movements. The system is build up on top of chuck and processing and uses simple frame difference as the metric.

* Composer CHERYL E. LEONARD will discuss how she creates music with natural objects, materials and sounds. She will demonstrate several of her unique natural-object instruments, including ones constructed with materials, such as penguin bones and limpet shells, that she collected in Antarctica last year.

* SURABHI SARAF will present her recent audio/visual works. She is interested in the dense, layered structure of sound with a focus on creating dynamic physical experiences. Her short performance will involve live singing and digital manipulation of the sound.

* JULIA OGRYDZIAK will present on working with the K-Bow, a new technology from Keith McMillen Instruments, which provides expressive live controls through a specially designed blue-tooth bow, transforming the possibilities of string performance. She will show how the bow works and give a live performance.

In addition, we will have awesome short LIGHTNING TALKS:
* SARAH GRANT says “i will be discussing my latest work using conductive felt as an interface for sound. i am interested in drawing connections between the similar properties of sound and fabric — specifically texture and the malleability and layering of form.”

* PETER KIRN (representing the Kokoromi collective of women and men) on the GAFFTA exhibit of ONE BUTTON OBJECTS: What can you do with one button? In an age of ever-more-complex touch interfaces, we’d like to imagine what a single, tangible, hardware button can mean for a design. To celebrate the arrival of their Gamma game event in San Francisco, art game collective Kokoromi is teaming up with Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion to launch a one night show of objects that respond to this question. The work extends from games to interactive art and musical instruments.

BIOS

VISDA GOUDARZI is a computer musician interested in research in software for computer music, human-computer interaction, gesture-based interfaces, computer graphics, sonification, sound synthesis, and the application of new media in art. She is currently a researcher at Stanford working on an audio-visual feedback device in the Department of Oncology. She received her MA in Music, Science, and Technology at CCRMA in 2009. She also holds an MS in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology in Vienna, Austria, which she earned in 2008. Visda began her studies at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran before relocating to Vienna in 1998.

JULIA OGRYDZIAK started the playing the violin at the age of 3 and made her solo debut at age 6. She has performed throughout Europe and North America, including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, and at Lincoln Center. She studied at the SF Conservatory of Music, receiving their Distinguished Alumni Award, the New England Conservatory of Music, and in Paris. Julia has a Masters with Distinction from Harvard Design School and dual degrees in Music and Physics from MIT, where she received the AMITA award for most outstanding woman graduate and worked in the Hyperinstruments Group at the MIT Media Lab. A vocal proponent of modern music, she is involved as both artist and composer. Her recent projects include BELLA piano trio, collaborations with Capacitor Dance, and shows combining live performance and immersive visuals, such as Dark Blue Sky Dream which premiered at the Chabot Planetarium. Julia is also an award-winning visual artist, Creative Director, and serial entrepreneur. She is the founder of Blacksquare, a digital media studio; she has received multiple Webby Awards and the Vera List Prize, and her work has garnered national media attention and exhibited at MOMA. She is currently working on a new startup: IMHO, a new model for media distribution online, and is thrilled to also represent Keith McMillen Instruments as a K-Bow Artist and Evangelist.

CHERYL E. LEONARD is a composer, performer and instrument-builder whose music investigates sounds, structures and materials from the natural world. Her recent works cultivate stones, leaves, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers and bones as musical instruments. Leonard uses microphones to explore the intricate worlds of sound hidden within these instruments and develops compositions that highlight the unique voices they contain. Many of her projects involve constructing one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments, which are played live onstage. Cheryl also enjoys creating site-specific works and collaborating across artistic disciplines. She has written numerous soundtracks for film, video, dance and theater, and designed sounds for exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Cheryl holds a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College. Her music has been performed worldwide and featured on several television programs and in the video documentary Noisy People. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, ASCAP, American Composers Forum and Meet the Composer. Leonard has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Villa Montalvo and Engine 27. Recordings of her music are available from NEXMAP, Unusual Animals, Pax, Apraxia, 23 Five, Old Gold, the Lab and Great Hoary Marmot Music. www.allwaysnorth.com www.musicfromtheice.blogspot.com

SURABHI SARAF is a new media artist whose work brings together elements from experimental sound art, classical music, choreography and video art. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 with an MFA in Art and Technology. Prior to that, she obtained her BFA in Painting from MSU Baroda (India) in 2005. Surabhi is the winner of Art vs Design (2009) organized by Artists Wanted, New York and presented her work at the announcement reception at the New Museum, NY. Her work PEEL is the Winner of Celeste Prize (2009), Italy and was exhibited at Alte AEG Fabrik, Berlin. Surabhi’s collaborative work with Nadav Assor, was presented at the NETMAGE 10 International Live Media Festival, Bologna, Italy. Her video Peel was also shown at the 13 International Video Festival, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Vojvodina, Serbia. Surabhi is the recipient of the International Graduate Student Scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her solo and collaborative works have been presented at the Links Hall, Looptopia and Sullivan Galleries in Chicago. She has shown at the Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi and was a part of Peers student residency program at Khoj International Artist Association New Delhi in 2006. Surabhi currently lives and works in San Francisco.

SARAH GRANT is a multimedia artist, developer, and alumni of NYU’s ITP, interested in designing soft instruments and textile-based controllers for sound. Her work brings together sculpture, fiber arts, electronics and experimental sound manipulation and signal processing. Her goals are to connect people to sound through physical means that are more germane to the nature of sound than traditional knobs, sliders and buttons, in order to facilitate more meaningful interactions. She is constantly on the look out for new ways to implement textiles as a means of interacting with sound be it wearable, architectural or sculptural. She often works in collaboration with her sister, Lara Grant. Their work can be found at http://www.fsp.fm….

One-button objects curator PETER KIRN is a composer/musician, media artist, and technologist, as well as writer and editor of createdigitalmusic.com and createdigitalmotion.com. The Handmade Music event series he originated with Etsy.com and Make Magazine is now spreading to other corners of the globe, from Texas to Portugal. He has also written for Computer Music, MAKE, Keyboard, Macworld, and Wax Poetics. He is the author of Real World Digital Audio (Peachpit Press). His own work spans live visuals and computer music, collaborations with modern dance, music for early instruments and voice and ambient techno, working with original software in Processing/Java and other tools. He’s currently teaching visual programming and sound and music design at Parsons The New School for Design and is a PhD candidate in music composition at The City University of New York Graduate Center.

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TechShop is sort of like a gym for people who make things.

It is full of the things you need to make things, including milling machines and lathes, welding stations and a CNC plasma cutter, sheet metal working equipment, drill presses and band saws, industrial sewing machines, hand tools, plastic and wood working equipment including a 4′ x 8′ ShopBot CNC router, electronics design and fabrication facilities, Epilog laser cutters, tubing and metal bending machines, a Dimension SST 3-D printer, electrical supplies and tools. It open to everyone, regardless of skill level, and they are opening a new San Francisco location.

Everyone is invited to the first TechShop San Francisco Building Preview Party!
Come and see the new building in all its pre-demolition glory, meet other future TechShop members and TechShop staff, and enjoy munchies and drink.

Jim Newton, TechShop’s founder, will be there to answer questions about TechShop and the TechShop San Francisco location.
The address is 926 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA. Please go around the back of the building.

Please RSVP so we can plan for enough pizza and Devil’s Canyon beer for everyone.

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Back by popular demand, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts introduces our third Creative Coding workshop, scheduled as part of Gray Area’s educational programming for February 2010.

Creative Coding: An Introduction to Processing is an introductory-level, project-based workshop that explores the creative potential behind Processing, a free and revolutionary programming environment that enables users to create interactive, dynamic, computer-based tools, projects, and art. Over four evenings, participants will explore creative programming in a project-based, collaborative learning environment. Instructor Scott Murray will cover Processing-specific syntax, as well general programming concepts. Creative Coding is intended for absolute beginners. No prior programming experience is necessary, although students with prior programming experience are still welcome to attend.

“Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool.” — processing.org

Classes will be held from 6PM – 9PM:
Tuesday — February 23rd
Thursday — February 25th
Tuesday — March 2nd
Thursday — March 4th

Registered students are expected to arrive on time, with Processing installed on a laptop computer. Processing is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X machines. Arrangements can be made for students unable to supply their own computer by contacting ss@gaffta.org. Classes are $240 for non-members, and $220 for members.

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Saturday, January 30th
9pm-2am
at Il Pirata 2007 16th St (@ Utah St)
$8, 21+

Moldover, Rich DDT & Jean Rintoul present:

Showcasing LIVE Electronic Musicianship

Collaborative Music Technology Party & Interactive Multimedia Art Salon.

LoveTech
1 Year Anniversary Epictacular!!!
Saturday, January 30th
9pm-2am
at Il Pirata 2007 16th St (@ Utah St)

Moldover
Unleashing a tsunami of live controllerism on his New MOJO

Preshish Moments
Seismic button smasher, Splinter builder and sound reactive Light Suit rocker of bassy synths, shattering beats, and enlivened rhymes

Nonagon + CSTNG SHDWS
The Monome master returns with live vocals, electric violin & superbly synchronized visuals

Colfax
Virtuosic sound sorcerer stirring electronics expressively alive

Tim Thompson + Michael Broxton
Bliptastic improvised robot synth-jazz percolating into generative visuals

All Night Educational PlayShops! by Barry Threw
From all our performers and special guests! Including:
Komega: Mind Melting Menagerie of Kustom Kreations: Kromatron, Komegatone, the Breadman
http://kromatron.blogspot.com

Moldover: Premier of The MOJO – The Sexiest Controller in the Entire Multiverse
http://youtu.be/HlBZpaLHRws

Preshish Moments: Sound Reactive LED Light Suit
http://www.preshishmoments.com

Interactive Art Salon by Jean Rintoul:
PERSISTANCE OF VISION POI – Jean Rintoul
BRAIN MACHINE – trippy glasses (Mitch Altman’s kit from Noisebridge!) – Jean Rintoul

All night VJ Mashup:
Sign Up Here and Bring Your Laptop!

Digital Jam Lounge (Drum Circle of THE FUTURE) by Rich DDT:
Bring your laptop, synth, or any electronic instrument, plug in and play!
A collaborative jamming space perfect for teaching one another new music hardware and software
Sign Up Here and Bring Your Instruments!

Featured Multimedia Artists
MICHAEL BROXTON – PhosphorEssence – Triptastic Visualizations Piloted with Joysticks

TIM THOMPSON – NoSuch Clips – Launchpad/Mimo/Keyboard Interface

CSTNG SHDWS – Jaw Dropping Live Visualist Duo – Previous collaborations include Boys Noize, The Toxic Avenger, Jack Beats, Flying Lotus, and Aesop Rock

Plus special top-secret surprises that will leave you utterly amazed and brimming with inspiration!

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