June 28, 2007
How to be a Cyber-Lovah
So. Fucking. Awesome. And they even sell Mavis Motherfucking Beacon on their website.
This was in Entertainment Weekly months ago. How is it I always miss the obvious stuff?
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
June 27, 2007
Call for Papers - INTIMACY: Across Visceral and Digital Performance
Well, I'm off doing other stuff right now so this place is a little quiet, but here's something interesting:
OPEN CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS & PERFORMANCES
“How are bodies represented through technology? How is desire constructed through representation? What is the relationship of the body to self-awareness?” [Stone, Allucquère Rosanne The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age Cambridge, Mass. & London: MIT Press, 1995, p. 17]
INTIMACY Across Visceral and Digital Performance is a three-day (December 7-9) interdisciplinary programme of events made to illicit connectivity, induce interaction and provoke debate between makers, participants and witnesses of works that explicitly address proximity and hybridity in performance. It will feature workshops, seminars, performances, posters, and a 1-day symposium. INTIMACY will employ digital and live art practices as agents, aiming to further practical exploration of and vibrant discourse into notions of intimacy in contemporary performance. It is framed as a forum for artists, scholars, community workers, performers, cultural practitioners, researchers and creative thinkers.
INTIMACY will provide a platform for the discussion of live art/performance practices concerned with displaying intuitive, intimate and visceral relationships between artist and other. It will explore performance practices that engage in intimate encounters, raising issues around bodies of data and flesh; presence as aura and representation; desire as embodied condition and disembodied fantasy; the human and posthuman self. Confirmed contributors include: Johannes Birringer, Kira O'Reilly, Tracey Warr, Janis Jefferies, Amelia Jones, Dominic Johnson, Kelli Dipple, Paul Sermon.
SPACETIME
INTIMACY will take place on the 7th, 8th and 9th December in and around Goldsmiths University of London, LABAN and The Albany (South London).
CO-DIRECTORS: Rachel Zerihan and Maria Chatzichristodoulou [aka maria x]
BOARD
Prof. Johannes Birringer, Chair in Drama and Performance Technologies, School of Arts,Brunel University of West London; Artistic Director of AlienNation Co.
Hazel Gardiner, Senior Projects Officer, AHRC ICT Methods Network; Researcher.
Dr. Adrian Heathfield, Principal Research Fellow (Performance and Live Arts), School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University; Writer; Curator.
Prof. Janis Jefferies, Artistic Director, Goldsmiths Digital Studios; Director Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles; Artist; Writer; Curator.
Gerald Lidstone, Head of Drama Department, Goldsmiths University of London.
PROPOSALS
All participants will be selected on an open submissions basis.
Proposals will be peer reviewed by the INTIMACY Board and Advisory Panel. Proposals must not exceed the word limit specified. You may provide additional info such as links to digital material including online video, photos and websites. Further supporting documentation such as hard copies and discs are welcome; if you want these returned please enclose a SAE. We are accepting proposals for:
Paper presentations or Performance Lectures
Poster presentations
Live performances -physical and/or digital
Proposals should be concerned with the relationship between visceral and digital environments/methodologies being explored in contemporary performance practice. Specifically, topics of interest include but are not limited to:
The politics of intimacy in contemporary performance
Risk in relation to intimacy in contemporary performance
Pornography/erotics and performed intimacy
(Dis)embodiment, (tele)presence and intimate performance encounters
Technologies as affective instigators of intimacy
Intimate aesthetics in contemporary performance
Interfaces of performed desire
Accepted proposals will be published on our website. Further publishing possibilities are being explored.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Submit by email to Maria X at and Rachel Zerihan intimacyrachelz[at]yahoo.co.uk writing INTIMACY SUBMISSION in the subject line. Send hard copies to INTIMACY c/o 22 Dutton Street, London, SE10 8TB.
Performances: Submit 1) 500-word statement detailing your project; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Tech Drive; 4) Any other supporting material as described above. Please note that only limited technical support can be provided.
Papers/ Performance Lectures: Submit 1) 500-word abstract. This contribution would form a 15 minute paper to be presented at the Symposium on Sunday 9th December; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Any other supporting material as described above.
Posters: Submit 1) 300-word abstract /summary; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Any other supporting material as described above.
DEADLINE
Deadline for submissions: 19 August 2007
Notification of acceptance: early October 2007
ADVISORY PANEL (confirmed to date)
Daisy Abbot, AHDS Performing Arts Glasgow
Gavin Barlow, CEO The Albany
Alice Bayliss, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds
Brian Brady, Head of Programming, LABAN
Anna Furse, Drama Department, Goldsmiths University of London; Director
Marc Garrett, Artist, Co-director Furtherfield
Gabriella Giannachi, Co-director Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter
Joe Kelleher, School of Arts, Roehampton University
Roberta Mock, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth
Molly Mullen, Re-Write Co-ordinator
Chris Salter, Artist; Researcher Hexagram; Department of Design and Computational Arts, Concordia University (Canada)
Jennifer Sheridan, Director BigDog Interactive
Igor Stromajer, Artist (Slovenia)
Bojana Kunst, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Tony Thatcher, Choreographer; Programme Leader LABAN
Helen Varley-Jamieson, Performer (New Zealand)
INTIMACY Across Visceral and Digital Performance is supported by the AHRC ICT Methods Network, Goldsmiths Graduate School, Goldsmiths Digital Studios, Goldsmiths Drama Department and LABAN.
For more information on INTIMACY please visit http://www.cybertheater.org
If you have further queries, please contact intimacyrachelz[at]yahoo.co.uk or drp01mc[at]gold.ac.uk
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
June 12, 2007
Snowball
Yes, it's a vibrator.
I think that's all I have to say.
via this great blog post on weird sex toys
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone
Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone (PDF)
I met Meghan Laslocky at a party at the Game Developers Conference back in March. As always, teledildonics came up, 'cause that's apparently all I talk about these days. She mentioned that she'd done an article on Real Dolls at one point, and emailed me the link.
3 months later, I actually read my email.
So, here you go. 28 pages on the history of the Real Doll, a few user stories, and some theory on why $6,500 worth of silicone and plastic can turn into a relationship, an addiction, and a hobby, all at once.
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
June 9, 2007
qDot speaking at Writers With Drinks - Saturday, June 9th
I's talkin' again! I sure like hearing myself speak these days...
(Topic for this one is completely undecided so far, so expect to be surprised! I know I will be.)
=====
Writers With Drinks has finally broken out of the spoken-word ghetto and into the slightly larger hipster-entertainment ghetto! To celebrate, we're having an explosion of literary greatness, including:
- Judy Budnitz, author of Nice Big American Baby and If I've Told You Once
- Clifford Chase, author of Winkie
- Sesshu Foster, author of Atomik Aztex
- Anthony McCann, poet and author of Moongarden
- Kyle Machulis aka qdot, who blogs at Slashdong.org
- Comedian TBA
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd St. btw. Mission & Valencia, San Francisco, CA
When: Saturday, June 9, from 7:30 to 9:30, doors open 7:00
How much: $3 to $5 sliding scale, all proceeds benefit http://othermag.org.
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
June 6, 2007
RoboGames 2007 - OMG BOTZ EVERYWEARZ
You know, you'd figure that once I moved out here to the Bay, I'd have all sorts of new and interesting projects getting done with the massive amounts of resources available to me now. Unfortunately, that's diverted by the severe lack of time due to all the awesome shit that happens here. Awesome shit like...
3 days. 70+ events. Hundreds of bots. Thousands of people.
Holy. Fucking. Fuck. I love living here.
Dorkbot Swap Meet happening there:
This is the swap part:
Bring your old electronics, gadgets, and other junk that you would like to swap. Swap it with someone else who has also brought *their* old electronic junk to swap.
Drive in with a truck full of clean electronics crap, come away with a truck and a half full of cool stuff. Emerge with a bright new understanding of this thing called "Community". This event is free with admission to RoboGames, but if you just want to drop stuff off, we'll take it.
This is the Play Day part:
If you were at MakerFaire, you will have noticed that the superlative Michael Shiloh and his friend Wayne put together a utopia of tools, bits of equipment, glue and other stuff so you, the participant, could cobble together all sort of exciting contraptions. This is what we are doing at RoboGames!
Get rid of that roomba you cannibalized for parts, those cables that have been taking up space under your desk, that printer that choked on its own vomit and died, and contribute it to RoboGames Play Day! You will delight countless children and their very happy parents who may now drink delicious beer in peace while Junior is roughing up that old laptop.
We are accepting donation for Swap Meet and Play Day space at these times: Wednesday, June 13, 9am-9pm
Thursday, June 14th 9am-9pm
Friday June 15th 9am-Noon
If you are coming to RoboGames anyway and would like to bring stuff with you to swap, arrangements can be made.
The Dorkbot Swap Meet takes place June 15th, 16th and 17th, 12 Noon-6pm Friday, 12 Noon-10 pm Saturday and Sunday.
So, obviously, I'll be at the event (will have many useless interesting things to shove on unsuspecting people at the swap meet!), and you should be too! Go buy your tickets now.
Or, if you want to get up close and personal, volunteer! Just use the contact page of the robogames site to get ahold of someone and demand a t-shirt and entrance in exchange for your time! Require them to let you help them!
Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
