Creating Agency through Telepresence GPS

CoLab is pleased to announce a one-day workshop - Creating Agency through Telepresence: Workshop on using interactive tools and technology

Places are limited so please enroll asap as this is a once-off workshop, on a first come basis.

Cost (incl GST): $50 student (discounted price), $80 regular

Registration: contact dawn.hutchesson@aut.ac.nz or phone 09 921 9566

This is an opportunity to learn and explore the possibilities of creating exciting interactive installations and new media environments using DIY electronics, open source software and ubiquitous technology.

This is an intensive hands-on workshop with artist and new-media practitioner Matthew Kenyon. A group of 15 motivated participants shall learn by working over one day 10am-4pm.

The workshop will be held at IDU Laboratory room WT 030, AUT, corner of Rutland and Wakefield streets, Auckland city, on Saturday 1st August.

This workshop will look at 4 technologies. Together, they will combine to create a distributed telepresence based artwork inspired by the local environment of Auckland city. The 4 technologies are: (1) digital photography, (2) rapid prototyping and digital fabrication, (3) programming and physical computing and (4) ubiquitous computing.

A basic description of the artwork:
An electronically controlled lightbox will contain a rear-lit photograph taken by participants from around the surrounding areas of the IDU Lab. An Arduino microcontroller running Processing software will be connected to the lightbox, which will allow for experimental interaction design techniques for turning it on and off again. One technique will use PDA devices with pre-made code for detecting certain GPS coordinate zones around the IDU Lab, which in turn will send data to Arduino/lightbox combos to turn them on and off.  Put more simply, user movement about the city of Auckland will in turn illuminate lightboxes in the IDU Lab. Artistically captured photographs of the city will be illuminated by pedestrian activity in real-time, via carefully designed telepresence, physical computing and ubiquitous computing techniques.

All materials will be provided on the day but you will need to bring a digital still camera.