Category: PIFlog

After last year’s Covid-resilient pocket edition PIFcamp is back in its full glory! A crowd of sixty familiar and new faces of artists, hackers, musicians, engineers, memsters and their inhuman friends gathered at the now traditional location in the Soča Valley to launch the seventh edition of PIFcamp, a one-week production lab that combines art, technology, creativity and open-source knowledge.

After everybody settled in at the camp’s backyard Tina and Uroš explained the do’s and don’ts. What followed were participants’ introductions which promised a varied week full of practical workshops, presentations, field trips, laboratory research, jam sessions and – which is never lacking at PIF – fun.

We are looking forward to projects and workshops searching for “mechanical nature”, collecting “micro stories” about fungi, using open source technologies for beer brewing, developing interfaces for simultaneous use of different sensors to synthesise sound and control other devices, exploring new 360 video filming techniques, speculating about “fungi internet”, developing experimental low cost motion “glove” controller and DIY microbial fuel cells,… if we mention only some of them. 

It seems that the keywords of this year’s PIFcamp edition are #mud and #funghi. We have yet to witness what will grow out of this combination, but one thing is certain – if nothing else it might provide fertile ground for quality pifmeme content. The Soča Memelords are already hard at work. Expect more reports in the future PIFlogs. 

After dinner, Bernhard took out an MB’s Vectrex, a vintage gaming console, built in 1983. Once the console was switched on, people started gathering around it, attracted to it like a cat to a laser point, or like mice to the sound of a flute. Many of the participants played at least one game with the Asteroid-inspired Mine Storm video game, and for the whole evening, the console was never left unattended.

Soon, the vintage space sound effects coming from the game got mixed with the sounds and the notes coming from Mitja and Vaclav’s synths.

After a while, the Vectrex was added to the jam session, functioning as an oscilloscope to render the sound waves coming from the synths.

This added a dreamy hypnotic visual tone to the chilly melodic style of the jam, making it continue well into the night, for the amusement of the few night owls that were still awake, bringing the first day of PIFcamp to a conclusion.

Friday’s rage claimed several lives: the morning began slowly and drop by drop, but without rain! Katja’s workshop (second part) bore the first fruits. After spending the night in the darkroom, the first cyanotype images appeared: the river in Gambia, a pet dog, river Soča, a mask.

In a full workshop with the locals in Soča town Dario and Darja shared their findings and knowledge. Meanwhile, we were kept under a tent by the last in a series of workshops by Andrew Quitmeyer, where we saw ants in a hitherto unknown role. The colonization of colonies on the body and interfaces as fashion accessories has succeeded. Wearable ants are a hit of the summer season. Dolce & Gabbana is out of fashion, here are Simon & Andrew.

Just after sunset, Vaclav from BASTL showed us how subtle music from DIY instruments can be. For a moment, we wished we could have listened to the mildly dosed rhythms and lyrics in melodious Czech for hours. How do you say ‘more’ in Czech?

The concert was followed by an AV performance by Bernhard and Rob, which included samples from the river’s surroundings and projections on the treetops. It seemed to us that the trees were moving in synth rhythms and rocking us in the hips. The audience went home hyped and ready for the last night in PIFcamp. Julian will take part of the atmosphere from the camp to Bohinjska Bistrica, where he will conduct a microscopy workshop.

The end is near. We are reassured by the thought of Luka’s rotator for potted plants. Until the next PIFcamp-!

It’s Friday?! A sultry morning started with the traditional and mandatory PIFcamp hike. Jumping into the pools of the (almost) icy cold Soča was reserved for the bravest and most heated heads. We keep their esteemed names in the editorial office!

In the afternoon, the PIF members continued with their work. Rob Canning is developing a tool for musical performance related to geological processes in the Soča Valley.

Over the past few days, he has been collecting field recordings and sounds of the surrounding landscape. Using the SuperCollider platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic sound composition, he is developing a system that will also be able to process music by other creators. Initially, the research was supposed to lead to the release of a short EP, but PIFcamp opened the opportunity to connect with the research and projects of other participants – Rob will also test the system in Blaž’s DIY ambisonic dome. In line with his previous creative ethics, Rob will make all media available to the public, under a creative commons license (click).

Darja prepared a workshop on hydrolates, tinctures and ointments from medicinal plants (among others Arnika, Rman, Thyme), which were collected by PIFcampers in the past days in the surrounding meadows.

Katja introduced us to cyanotype, one of the earliest photographic processes, and a once popular image transfer process, characterized by the blue color of the final image. That is why it is also called blue printing, and this time it was done on paper. The main compounds are ammonium iron citrate and potassium iron cyanide. Under Katja’s guidance the participants developed their own photos. After the introduction to the chemical process, we set to work. Some have developed images from meadow flowers and – suited to 2020 – from a protective mask! After the chemical process the images have to sunbathe, thus Katja’s workshop will be on the schedule on Saturday as well.

Robertina and Miha tested the protocol of the aquaforensic_2.0 workshop, which they developed together during PIFcamp. As the name of the project suggests, water forensics focuses on often overlooked contents from sea depths. At a lively and informative workshop, the mentors presented the development of the project from the very beginning, when Robertina and Gjino (Šutić – unfortunately absent this year) conducted preliminary field research (Ars Electronica Linz, etc.) and tested the content of pharmacological and toxic contents in rivers and seas. “The pharmaceutical industry is not interested in flushed parts of their medicines,” says Robertina, adding, “this project opens up a view of this silenced part and perhaps this can be a step in a direction of industries thinking more sustainably and less harmful to the environment”. In addition to microscopy of microorganisms, Miha also presented his invention from this year’s camp: sonified TSD sensor that reacts to conductivity and can be used to test liquids. The principle is this: more salt, more music! The maestro added salt by feeling.

Stella and Črt enlivened the evening via a live-stream from Ljubljana, where they performed an audio-video set they were working on at PIFcamp.

Last but not least, the card battles continued this evening as well and were accompanied by an audio-visual impro dessert offered ad-hoc by Rob, Klemens, Bernhard and Anja.

Early in the morning, eleven PIFcampers and Dingo the dog set off on an eight-hour hike along the off-road trails of the surrounding peaks. Bernhard lost both soles in mountaineering zeal, but the brave hikers agreed upon their return that the shoes were worth destroying for the stunning view from Čisti vrh.

The second group, meanwhile, visited Breginj. The village is situated very close to the Italian border. Here the group visited Mazora Museum Collection, an impressive private collection with 11,000 exhibits from the surrounding area and with an emphasis on both world wars. Breginj also houses the Breginj Museum, a curiosity and one of the rare examples of preserved construction of stone two-storey houses intertwined with porches. After the earthquake that destroyed most of the houses on this side of the border, the houses were replaced with prefabricated ones. The neighboring Italians, chose a different approach and mostly preserved the old villages. The visit to Breginj was followed by a stop in the village of Logje, where the Last Museum of Contemporary Art resides. It is led by visual artist Damijan Kracina, one of the members of the Society for Domestic Research. The cold Nadiža river offered a nice opportunity for cooling down after a long day.

Activities also continued in the PIFcamp base: Saša and Tilen Sepič spent Thursday morning in the surrounding forests, where they continued recording inaudible and invisible landscapes of fungi and microbes with geophones, hydrophones, microscope, thermal and infrared camera. The videos will be part of Saša’s MycoMythologies project, a series of ontogenetic mythological stories, video essays, and machines. The series explores the flow of substances in the fungi mycelium.  These serve as an inspiration for a new myth-building practice that would enable us to think differently about the conditions and possibilities of living in capitalist ruins.

Klemens Kohlweis continued his media archaeological research into EPROM chips (erasable programmable read-only memory), which were used from the 80s to the mid-90s, and are found also in digital drum machines used in Pop music of the time. The characteristic of EPROM chips is that the silicon part is visible and exposed, and the data can be erased with UV light. This process of deletion can take multiple hours, during which you can “play” the chips, explains Klemens, and observe how the data “sounds” when being destroyed.

Klemens also participated in the project of Saša Spačal, who is developing the Light Reader workshop, video tutorial and a lab book. For the lab book Klemens prepared two schematics of the electrical circuit. The Light Reader is a simple physical interface for triggering sound using light. Its technological principle was developed and used in Saša’s biotechnological sound art installation Mycophone_unison in 2013. The Light Reader is now also available on Github: https://github.com/okelk/Light-Reader

Luka completed his solar powered rotator for houseplants, while Blaž tested the DIY ambisonic dome, which we have already reported on in previous posts.

Andrew Quitmeyer, a mentor for an interactive ant-farms workshop, gave an online lecture in the afternoon on the safe placement of ant colonies on the body. Thursday was dedicated also to searching for anthills in the area and gathering ants.

Yet another productive day at PIFcamp was concluded by an evening sitting by a fire, playing cards, and enjoying improvised video and laser projections.

Wednesday finally brought slightly better weather so the morning walk with Dario took place on schedule, and the harvested plants spiced up lunch and dinner.

PIFcamp-goers continued to develop their projects and research: Robertina Šebjanič and Miha Godec, who are preparing a lab book for conducting aqua_forensic 2.0 workshops, have assembled a TDS sensor, which measures water conductivity. The degree of conductivity was sonified via an electronic circuit. Robertina and Miha hiked with Saša Spačal and Rob Canning to the Lepena valley, where they created field sound recordings. Blaž Pavlica joined in as well and he will use the recorded material in his DIY ambisonic dome project. On the dome, which was developed and used as part of PifLab and past PIFcamps, a matrix of eight speakers is installed – a diy system for reproducing the ambisonics, a spherical spatial-sound format that allows immersive representation of the sound field.

Lovrenc was busy working on his weather station – cleaning 3D printed elements and programming the Arduino and Raspberry. The lesson of the day: “Don’t update Linux!”, Says Lovrenc, who due to this fatal mistake spent significantly more time for programming than planned. The weather station, which will be connected to the network of amateur stations Weather Underground and installed here in Soča, will measure wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, and will also be equipped with a camera. In the future, the station can be upgraded with air quality and CO2 sensors as well. 

Test measurements at 8 PM (CET): 19 degrees / 148 hectopascals / 1.42 km/h

The afternoon was marked by workshops and presentations. Julian’s introduction to microscopy introduced various DIY and professional lenses and devices, we then used to look at soil and compost samples from the immediate surroundings. Julian Chollet is collaborating with the DIY soil photogrammetry project at PIF. On Sunday (after the end of this year’s camp) he will conduct a Humus Sapiens field workshop in Bohinjska Bistrica as part of the konS platform.

In the tent, the initial part of the remote workshop with Maggie Kane aka Streetcat.media took place. In the coming days the workshop will introduce the participants to the principles of designing narrative video games in the coming days. An enthusiastic cosplayer and versatile artist who gets bored at concerts, as Maggie described herself, presented various examples of how artists can use  “sick visuals and interactivity” of video games to enrich their concerts, performances and other events to increase audience engagement.

As part of their μπA (micropia) project, the Beam Team (Stella Ivšek and Anja Romih) researched ways of mapping video projections on natural objects and, in collaboration with Tilen Sepič, who prepared an improvised music set, also tested them in an experimental evening performance on the shore of river Soča. The live performance took place in an intimate atmosphere – due to the slippery terrain, only a handful of PIFcampers could attend. Thanks to the diligent video team the documentation of the event will soon be available to internet public as well. 

The weather forecast for the coming days is promising, so in addition to the many activities that are yet to happen, we are “looking forward to less rain and more fun”, as Luka concluded at the end of the day. Tomorrow, he will finally be able to test his solar cell-powered rotator for houseplants.