Author Archives: adkat
DEX workshop in Bangkok – 9 fantastic days with students!
From learning the basics of programming Arduino and soldering distance sensors, servo motors and RGB-Leds to the micro-controller to developing a kinematic system that can react to the sensor input and is actuated by the motors. – It was a very busy week for the INDA design and architecture students – With a beautiful outcome and the good feeling that some more students are now enabled to become makers and not consumers of technology!
We are also proud that the results of the workshop were part of the Bangkok Design Week!
Thanks to the DEX team! Especially Hadin Charbel! We had a great time!
Impressions of Empathy Swarm at Machines are not alone, device_art, MSU Zagreb
Emotional swarm robots of Empathy Swarm interact with the guests of Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art and proof that Machines are not alone.
The robots and us experienced exciting days: from the robot’s first contact to strangers at the opening on Tuesday to a vivid discussion on ‘Autonomous relations: actions, reactions & tangled sovereign systems’ with artists Luiz Zanotello and Ralf Becker on Thursday and our final goodbye to the robots on Friday, who will now stay till 3. February 2019 all by themselves. Crazy to see the little ones grow up and become independent 🙂
We also want to thank KONTEJNER again for their hospitality and precious help setting up! We always feel very welcome in Zagreb and like part of the big Kontejner famiiy! ♥
Empathy Swarm will be at Device Art – Machines are not alone from 18. December 2018 – 3. February 2019.
(pictures © Kontejner, Sanjin Kastelan, Dragan Matić / HANZA MEDIA, Hochschuh&Donovan)
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
device_art OPENING tomorrow 18. December 2018, 19:00
A little preview on our shiny swarm robots! And a warm invitation to tomorrows opening!
@ Museum of Contemporary Art, Avenija Dubrovnik 17, Zagreb – 19:00!
Empathy Swarm – setting up for Device Art – MACHINES ARE NOT ALONE – at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
It is fantastic to be back in Zagreb! After our EMAP/EMARE residency with Kontejner this summer, we are now presenting Empathy Swarm at Device Art – Machines are not alone!
“Everywhere it is machines and machines are not alone.” (curator ZHANG Ga)
The major exhibition concept fits perfectly to a swarm of empathetic robots that are waiting to interact with the visitors swarming through the exhibition.
At the moment still busy setting up and fine tuning our work to the space of the museum, but looking forward to a fantastic opening @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Avenija Dubrovnik 17, Zagreb – 19:00!
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Warming up for Device Art with Psychophysics Machines in Split
As a warm-up for the Device Art festival of Kontejner in Zagreb, we took 3 of our psychophysics machines on a road trip to Split. The two Megatautophones joined Dr. Doppler and us for a nice performance at MKC Split – Multimedijalni kulturni centar . After the performance in a short talk, moderated by Klara Petrović from Kontejner, we introduced our Empahty Swarm and invited everybody to the opening at the Musuem of Contemporary Art – MSU Zagreb on 18th of December.
(pictures © MKC Split / Platforma 9,81)
A world without us – Impressions of Empathy Swarm at Impakt
An intense week setting up Empathy Swarm for the very first time, with a great outcome 🙂
The swarm is keeping the memories of what it means to be human and its interpretation of human feelings and social behaviours, alive in – A world without us.
After a fantastic opening on Friday, we joined a panel discussion on Saturday with the other EMAP/EMARE artists Taavi Suisalu, Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, discussing how our works take part in a future scenario that we try to avoid.
Thanks IMPAKT for hospitality, support and intriguing ideas!
(pictures © Impakt Foundation, Pieter Kers)
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Empathy Swarm at IMPAKT from 24 November 2018
Only a week and then the first of the EMAP/EMARE group shows starts for us.
We are happy to be part of ‘A world without us’ at Impakt, Utrecht, Netherlands.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Curious Tautophone on Australia tour – next stop: ROCKHAMPTON ART GALLERY: 13 October – 2 December, 2018
Soon it is the fifth time that Curious Tautophone shows. This time in Rockhampton, Central Queensland at the Rockhampton Art Gallery.
Opening event: Saturday, 13 October 2018 | 06:00 PM to 08:00 PM
And who wouldn’t want to go after such a nice introduction at Australia’s “WIN News” and “9News Central Queensland” both featuring the Curious Tautophone.
“It’s the sights and sounds of a whole new world. – A world of mesmerizing modern media art.”
– reporter Alexandra Cullen at Australia’s “9News Central Queensland”
Making of: Dissection of the robots
We just wanted to share some more impressions of the scale of this state of the project: 10 robots – that’s a lot of parts!!! And even some of the SMD parts are still in boxes as they would just get lost with a size of half a millimeter x a millimeter!!
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Open-Studio swarming with our guests
Some impressions of a busy night, full of emotions, enjoying the robots and explaining the backgrounds to our guests.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
OPEN-STUDIO this Friday 31.08.2018 6 PM
Hey everyone!
We would like to invite you to our open-studio in Zagreb at the Academy of Fine Arts at Ilica 85.
Starting from 6 pm we invite you to check out our nice studio that we spent our EMARE residency with KONTEJNER at.
Electronics, etching, 3D-printing, camera tracking, emotion recognition — of course a lot of ROBOTS and FUN 🙂
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Silent Running: Robertina and Kryten
With the dear help of professor Zorislav Šojat from Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, we finally managed to make the robots smooth and silent. 🙂
Learning about interrupt functions to get the update rates of the WiFi communication and the sending of PWM values to the brushless DC motors independent of each other!
See Robertina and Kryten rolling smoothly on the grey “NASA” floor of the studio, while the prototyping of the next generation is in full work mode
– 10 robots to be seen soon, with new body and battery management!
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Curious Tautophone on Australia tour – next stop: TWEED REGIONAL GALLERY & MARGARET OLLEY ART CENTRE, New South Wales: 27 July- 23 September, 2018
Soon it is the forth time that Curious Tautophone shows. This time in South Murwillumbah,
New South Wales at the Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
Opening event: Friday 27 July
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Lecture and Workshop: Machines in the Landscape of PLEMENITAS for Croatian Art students
The past weekend we spent with a group of students and their professors Ines Krasić, Mirjana Vodopija and Iva Ćurić from the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb in the idyllic village of Plemenitaš where they have one week of lectures and workshops on the topic of SOUND from different experts ranging from mathematicians and physicists to composers, musicians and artists. We are situated in the middle of this field of experts and presented our work and Empathy Swarm in the relaxed atmosphere of an outdoor evening lecture and a workshop “Machines in the Landscape of Plemenitaš” with one of our Psychophysics Machines: Megatautophone.
In a first step we sent the students out to record the sounds that express how they experience Plemenitaš, capturing the sounds of the scenery, ranging from cicadas, birds, bells of sheep to the rustling leaves in the wind. Then they could listen to their recordings through the directional speaker and learn how to modify the sound to improve it for the special nature of the directional speaker, applying high-pass and low-pass filters to get into the correct frequency range. To capture the results of the workshop and as a prototype for a series of “Machines in the Landscape”, we put the Megatautophone into the landscape, giving it the transformed sounds of the landscape as a language to communicate with its surroundings. We shot videos from different positions and used Zoom X/Y microphones next to the cameras to record this ‘dialog’ of the machine with the landscape. The videos and sounds need still to be combined and cut. We will present it soon!
You can get an impression of the overall Plemenitaš workshops in the article ” “Zvučni radovi” proizašli iz matematike i fizike” by Marinko Krmpotić.
We had a great time in Plemenitaš! Thanks to all organizers and our host Vesna Osojnički!
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Check out our studio in Zagreb
Those first weeks of the residency with Kontejner have been very busy: meeting experts and new friends,
setting up our lab that we took with us from home to get the tool chain up and running again for the next generation of prototypes,
while prototype Kryten is the guinea pig for finalizing the PCB design and programming steering behaviors.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.