Join Václav Peloušek in doing some crazy experiments with microcontrolles and swag musical videos!
I have been designing and making synthesizers for more than 10 years and started a company Bastl Instruments 6 years ago. I also did a lot with physical computing and programmed various microcontrollers, but my main focus was always to create tools to help me to make music. So I am a musician and this year on PIFcamp I would like to use to opportunity to create some music with other people and I would also like to make a music video as cooperation with others. I will also bring tools, sensors and interfaces that could help me or others connect things in real life into a musical ecosystems. One idea i would like to spend some time on would be a MIDI controller that could attach to a hand held microphone. The controller could be played with flute type fingering and it would send MIDI notes to alter pitch of singing into the microphone.
Multichannel audio performances are fairly easy to setup when using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on a computer with a multichannel audio interface. In the case of a setup without a computer, a solution with Eurorack modules could be used instead, but at a higher price. Some multichannel (8 inputs, 8 outputs) audio interfaces can be used also in standalone mode (without a computer) and come with a powerful internal DSP (Digital Signal Processing with EQs, compressors and limiters) making it an appealing choice when a portable compact setup is preferred.
The Mapper is a project in which Mitja Cerkvenik aka jesusonecstasywill create a device that connects a MIDI controller to the audio interface bypassing the computer. This allows an arbitrary mapping of the MIDI parameters to the interface’s internal DSP parameters. The automation of EQs, levels and aux sends could create spatial psychoacoustic effects. Jesusonecstsy will perform a multichannel live act on the closing evening of PIFcamp, which will be accompanied by a visual performance by Kaja Kisilak and Lea Bradašević.
Currently I am working on a performance that includes electroacoustic music, digital visuals, custom made stage object / instrument, haze, air compressors and light from various sources (laser, moving heads, dimmers and strobes) – all these elements tangled and controlled from within computer. During the PIFcamp I plan to develop various elements of this project.
Synspecies
Tadej Droljc (b. 1981) is a Slovenian interdisciplinary artist and creative coder who works in the field of electronic music, computer-generated audiovisual composition and other forms of new-media art. His recent work is focusing at what he calls a pluralistic approach to real-time audiovisual composition, where various hierarchies between sound and image co-exist inside individual compositions.
For his solo and collaborative works Tadej was awarded the Edigma Semibreve Award, Shortlisted for Lumen Award 2018, Lumen Prize Student Award 2017, Dennis Smalley Scholarship in electroacoustic music and he won the Most Promising Video Artist prize at the Madatac in Madrid. He performed and exhibited his works at the festivals such as Ars Electronica, L.E.V. Festival, Brighton Digital Festival, Semibreve, Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, Node or Athens Digital Arts Festival among others. Currently, he is collaborating with Ars Electronica’s Futurelab on the project Immersify.
Join Olivia Kotsifa and build your own workspace in the nature!
Being a designer – maker on the move, I am very much interested in the freedom we have in choosing our workspace environment. During this year’s PIFcamp I will focus on outdoor furniture that will give the option to the participants to work or take a break from work and spend more time closer to the nature, in the woods.
I believe when we are talking about the future of work we need to think of our future workspaces. Flexible and mobile and most of all, close to a natural environment, is my answer to this.
This project is a continuation of Olivia’s Artist-in-Residence, which happened this February at Ljudmila, Art and Science Laboratory.
Since PIFcamp initially started in 2015, its embeddedness in the natural habitat of the Alpine region already indicated that the eating habits of technology motivated participants will be (re)defined by the surrounding environment. This happened gradually and without any specific all-encompassing plan. Through this time and process a concept of PIFood fermented from related sediments and now calls for a distillation into new forms. As such, PIFood encompasses practices, experiments, explorations and observations related to all-things-food at PIFcamp. In previous years these manifested as PIFdinner, PIForgaging and PIFerment.
In 2019 we set out to search for a common holistic approach through observing and understanding our relation towards food. We plan to do this with two, for now mostly separated subsections: PIFoodKitch and PIFoodLab. In the future the idea is to see both of them intertwine into a self-sufficient concept of PIFood. This year we will emphasize PIFoodLab, focusing on hacking the surrounding habitat with edible plants for later usage in fermentation processes. Find some concrete ideas bellow that call for further dialogue.
PIFood 2019
Foraging & mapping
Edible plants from the surrounding area will be mapped to enable the participants to conduct foraging trips when wanted. Participants are encouraged to propose and help out with choosing the appropriate tools and help with the mapping with our plant expert Dario.
Syrup making
Syrups for second fermentation stages will be prepared from regional edible plants gathered by foraging expeditions. Bring your grandma’s recipes and techniques, let us know your needs and let’s find the tangiest one.
Coffee and tea tastings
Participants can bring their own selected coffees and teas for tastings and as the basis for kombucha and water kefir fermentation. Basic equipment for preparing different styles will be available: chemex, aeropress, water boiler, coffee grinder, tea kettle. An additional idea is to make a kit for cold-drip (PIFdrip) and/or cold-brew (PIFbrew) coffee.
Kombucha and water kefir ferments
We will organise a workshop on how to prepare different tea and coffee kombucha ferments in the beginning of the week to be ready by the end of the week, while tasting previously made brews during the week. Water kefir ferments will be made on a regular basis as they need less time.
PIFermet cocktail = PIFcock
All the above ferment experiments will be used for an experiential cocktail tasting with the goal to find the cockiest fermet combination of them all, the PIFcock.
Kimchi and other vegetable ferments
We start with the question how to make kimchi variations only using local ingredients, asking thus larger geo-historical questions, such as what do kimchi and sauerkraut have in common and what its popular connotations mean for preserving local traditions.
Sourdough ferments
The idea is to exchange knowledge on how to bake bread and other sourdough ferments outside, without kitchen appliances and ovens using wood and charcoal. And finally also try out some of them, if possible. Participants are encouraged to bring their own sourdough starter.
Participation & Documentation
These are some ideas within a larger framework that can be worked on within the PIFood concept, and of course other suggestions are encouraged and more than welcome.
The final idea for this year is to compile a PIFood compendium/manual that future editions and participants can contribute to and build upon.
Coordination of PIFood activities will be supervised by Ahac (ahac@drmr.si), who can also be contacted in advance regarding additional requirements and/or questions.
HUMUS sapiens represents a compilation of soil explorations emerging from the networks of mikroBIOMIK, Hackteria, and Gasthaus – with the ambition to bring DIY (do-it-yourself) and DIWO (do-it-with-others) approaches as well as an open-source-based “hacker spirit” into soil ecology. Participants are invited to reflect on current scientific discourses and critical societal challenges through hands-on tinkering and curiosity-driven research.
Far more than just the dirt under our feet, soil is a truly complex and dynamic ecosystem. It is a constantly changing mix of minerals, living organisms, decaying organic matter, air, and water. It is the living skin of our planet, allowing new forms of life to come into being, incorporating the nutrients left there by organisms of the past.
Soil is bursting with life and can be vastly different from one square centimeter to the next. From plants, earthworms, insects, and fungi to invisible amoeba, nematodes, algae, and bacteria – each creature provides their own essential role in the soil ecosystem. The shared nature of the soil habitat manifests not only through the highly interconnected so-called “soil food web” – which is mainly driven by microbial metabolism – but also in regard to humans and their dependence on the productivity of edible plants. It is this dependency that motivates Homo sapiens to manipulate natural ecosystems, while at the same time failing to understand them.
Human impact on the soil, especially intensive agricultural practices (deforestation, overgrazing, use of agrochemicals, etc.) and urbanization, leads to compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation,and contamination – ultimately, the breaking down of these ecosystems and eroding of the soil to infertile desert. HUMUS sapiens aims to reexamine these problems from an ecosystem’s viewpoint and to support the paradigm shift from an anthropocentric ideology to a more biocentric philosophy of life.
This piece to be developed is a continuation of the previous light experiments and part of an ongoing visual exploration of Kaja Kisilak and Lea Bradašević.
The project is focused on exploring how light and shadow react on a moving surface, activated by a series of motorised points. The extension and retraction of elastic fabric transforms the topography of the “plane” and becomes a dynamic factor, onto which light, as a static component, adjusts. The movement is enabled by motors, pulling and releasing the surface, and doing so forms endless spatially dynamic patterns. By observing the surface effects we can study them and react accordingly. The intentional retainment of the control over the motors, hence the movement, makes the piece more in the performative realm, rather than a self-generative installation. Keeping the control is conscious and intentional. The experiments are going to be studied and developed over the week long PIFcamp and culminate on Saturday, when we are going to perform with Mitja Cerkvenik.
Our wild edible plant guru Dario Cortese will take care of our “real” detoxication! Are you ready?
Toxic!
What does it mean … Indeed? As far as it is not known there are no toxic plants in existence. Only some very powerful, which are one-sidedly labelled as »toxic«. Or the other way around – there is no single plant you would eat and die. Yes, the quantity is not mentioned. In some cases only a little bit than a small quantity is needed for lethal result. Because of powerful pharmacological action in human body most of the so-called toxic plants have – used in small quantities – medicinal and other qualities. Natural toxins in general heighten the body’s resistance to toxins, contradictory as it may seem. All the way through human history they were and are ingested regularly to acquire more power, be it for everyday life or for special purposes. So there is no need to detox indeed, only to »detox« the attitude toward the »toxic plants«. And mushrooms, too, as there exists some data that otherwise very poisonous Death Cap, Amanita phalloides, was used (smoked) ritually in the region of Mariovo, southern Macedonia, in pre-Roman times.
Hack your own borreliosis
As each borreliosis (Lyme Borreliosis) infecton is each infected person’s own homework it is very simple for self treatment. Indeed self medication is the only way to run the marathon of healing, or rather transforming the infection (and, good news, also co-infections as ehrlichiosis, bartoneliosis and babesiosis) when official medication fails. And it fails very often as the Borrelia bacteria (there are several species, B. burgdorferi being the most common and known) is very intelligent being, performing quite some miracles in the host’s body. And mind. A story yet to be told by future borreliosis-literate medical doctors. But there is no need to wait for them as you can be your own.
If you think about terraforming it always brings up a feelingof making an inhabitable space (e.g. Mars) habitable. On our home planet we are doing quite the opposite.
Since harnessing the control over fire and the discovery of the wheel mankind is fascinated with the exploration of technology. Today we are globally connected and a vast number of people are dependent on the electric power grid in order to survive. At times we think technology will solve our problems, only to forget that its‘ use always comes with a consequences. The solution to our biggest problem, the change of the climate, is probably not a technological one.
The task of decarbonisation of the atmosphere is best left to trees. They are the real professionals. We just have to let them do their thing.
Marina Miranda invites you to explore and amplify sounds, objects and data!
Some of my interests revolve around exploring very small parts and details from the world around me. I like working with contact microphones and hydrophones, granular synthesis, radio frequencies, the most basic systems of computation and digital logic, CMOS chips, DIY electronics, microscopes, analog circuits, field recordings etc. to bring the unseen reality around me into the field of perception and create biographical pieces about my day to day life. During my stay at the camp I would like to work on creating a musical and visual diary by using some of these techniques and instruments to explore and amplify sounds, objects and data. I would also like to share some of my work and techniques with others and build some simple musical machines to demonstrate the principles of binary and digital logic. And finally, I would like to invite other camp goers to explore our surroundings and learn about the tiny things that make up our world.
