PIFcamp 2018 – So it Begins!

The fourth edition of the international hacking camp PIFcamp could do nothing but attract creatives, nature lovers, technology enthusiasts, art professionals, scientists and open culture advocates to the Alpine valley of Trenta once more. You can imagine that the promise of informed discussions, inspired activities, thought and skill provoking projects, new or renewed & brilliant friendships, as well as unforgettable adventures, collaborations and experiences in Slovenia’s Triglav National Park is more than enough to induce clever, daring, mindful and unselfish individuals to flock here from all corners of the world.

One of the several indicators of the camp’s success are all of its participants who have joyfully returned to have a second, third and sometimes even forth go. Nonetheless, there are enough new faces around to add to the excitement even further. But first things first! A mandatory dive into the what subjectively feels like freezing, yet incredibly enticing Soča river, a myriad of handshakes, introductions, laughs and a hefty meal before it’s off to work on the PIFprojects.

This year’s projects and activities promise everyone will get to fully satisfy one’s inner nerd. Hannah Perner-Wilson, our cherished Austrian multimedia artist, pedagogue, as well as a wearables and e-textiles researcher pitched her concept for a well thought-out and engaging project that definitely got our childlike probing juices flowing. Another PIFcamp bastion is undoubtedly BASTL Instrument’s Vaclav Pelousek, a modular synthesis professional who hails from Brno (CZ) and can’t fail to impress with his extensive list of planned activities, workshops and ideas, which are all informed by his broad understanding and his signature playful humour.

We feel very fortunate to be able to include Dmitry Morozov ::vtol::, a Moscow-born and based new-media artist, musician, sound engineer and sound system designer with an impressive portfolio to our international PIFcamp family. While we hope to squeeze out as much knowledge from him as possible, he will work on developing his already beautiful and sometimes clandestine Mobile Terminal for Guerilla Communications.

Fresh faces round out the roster of the local team. The recognized Slovenian new media artist, phenomenal VJ and awarded game developer Boštjan Čadež- Fšk promises to build Trivolan, an Omega 3 by Force Dimensions inspired, but accessible haptic interface for use in visual performances. Januš Aleš Luznar, a Slovenian electronic music producer working under the artist names Yanoosh and Ohm Fat will work on his Symphony of the Heart, a project that explores the effects of the heart beat and various images on our brain waves and the cardio-vascular system.

A staple of the PIFdiet remains hacking our food habits and therefore our own wild herbalist and botanist Dario Cortese has once again thought of a programme to test and impress our taste buds while not in or around the kitchen, store or the local market.

 

Video Sonification and the Manipulation of Field Recordings

Connor Haynes will be exploring different compositional techniques in this project, using the environment both sonically, and visually to produce A/V compositions. With emphasis on field recordings as a raw sound source, such sounds will be manipulated in concrete fashion and mixed with sound produced from video to sound patches inside Max Msp/Jitter, using the environment to create the sonic landscape. The A/V compositions may hopefully be completed at the camp but perhaps they may be finished at home and shared online depending on the camps time constraints. 

The Symphony of the Hearth (by Yanoosh)

The Symphony of the Hearth is a project that explores the effects of the hearth beat and various images on our brain waves and the cardio-vascular system.

With the use of multi-channel sampling, the hearth is used as an instrument. These get modulated in real time and thus become the basis of the audio performance. “I will also use an Arduino pulse sensor to trigger the visuals and to control the tempo of the composition, the tempo of the sampler and the effects.”

The Space of Futurization – building a prototype

The Space of Futurization is a project by Anna Sircova.

This immersive interactive installation is envisaged to create a space where a person would physically feel what type imagery and associations people have with the term ‘futurization’. It will allow to physically experiencing the contradictions embedded in the present and uncertainty of moving towards the future by architecturally constructing the space that would influence the human body and senses.

During the PIF camp I’m planning to concentrate on creating a prototype and test some of the elements for the final installation. I would like to explore how to create a certain interactive emotional space, through visuals and sounds (possibly smells), that in one part of the installation would enhance one particular emotion / feeling and something different in another part.

Radical Listening (w/ J. M. Escalante)

Juan Manuel Escalante will explore the intersections of field recordings, mappings, graphic notations and concrete sound explorations using a modular synthesizer.

“I plan to record different sounds at different locations and map them accordingly on my sketchbook. Based on those sounds, a graphic notation will be generated and used as a tool to arrange sounds in time. Sounds might be remixed using a synthesizer (either at the camp or back home). Either an OP-1 or an eurorack modular synthesizer.

The result could/might be shared online as an interactive map or browser piece similar as our previous “Radical Listening” exploration.”

Wi-Fi poets and hotspot ninjas

Dmitry Morozov ::vtol:: will fully exploit the ESP8266, a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip with full TCP/IP stack and microcontroller capability. Project will be developed over 3 stages, from very simple to more advance.

First stage of project is focused on creating hot-spot poetic machines, an autonomous micro-device which distributes Wi-Fi masked as wireless network, visible to any gadget such as a smartphone or a laptop. The device is automatically renaming its network every 10 seconds, taking as its name various lines of poems by famous poets.

The goal of the second stage is to create crazy Wi-Fi name SSIDs spam machine, similar to this one.

The third round of the projects gains to create a machine that can be used to create your own network, chat,… your personal internet actually. Hot Ninja is a multifunctional network device for autonomous activity in the city environment. Its main function is communication and propaganda through the Wi-FI wireless standard. This is the hacktivism DIY response to attempts by the authorities in different countries to control the Internet. And should be fun to try it out in the mountains!

Do you want to participate in The Mystery IC Challenge?

Know more about Michael Page will do at PIF this year!

 

 

“At PIFcamp I will generally be assisting with DIY electronics. As a creative technologist, artist and educator I have the following skills and interests to bring to the party: Simple circuit design, CMOS tricks, PCB fabrication, Manhattan style, advanced kludging, electro-mechanical implementations, deep thoughts & sassy dance moves. I am currently designing a CMOS groovebox & I will probably still be working on that during PIF. If time permits I will also host the greatly anticipated THE MYSTERY IC CHALLENGE!!!”

Sonance Garden

Ina Thomann will be turning the camp area into a sonic ecosystem.

“I will build and program sensors around the area which will control effects and filters that in turn will manipulate the captured sounds of the camp.

So, don’t be irritated if you see me sitting anywhere in the camp with a little microphone, trying to catch the sounds all around.

As I’m trying to improve my skills on live coding in Supercollider I’m looking forward to a week full of live manipulating the sounds around me.

You can feel free to interact with the sensors. (In fact, you will be involved anyway just by passing the sensor.) I would appreciate if you just have fun with manipulating the sensors and taking part in my sound installation.”

Aeolian Artefacts

Project by Juan Duarte consists of sound devices that enable an experience of Augmented Listening of wind forces. It focuses on subtle changes in an outdoor environment to create generative soundscapes. Wind-sensitive systems are used to detect orientation and speed of the wind. These create acoustic events, that are registered and processed as a generative sound piece by a network of sensor networks.

The work takes as a reference an ancient instrument that is known as the Aeolian Harp (cf.  Kircher, A ca 1650.). The mechanism used the aleatoric forces (wind) to  self-play the strings and resonators. This enabled holy spaces, such as mountains and temples, to “speak” to humans.


“I am specifically interested in creating a series of devices that depend on wind forces to transmit a generative sound piece over FM radio. I will bring electronic components to build a number of devices with PIFcamp participants, based on previous experiments I’ve done recently. The device includes an FM radio transmitter and a micro-controller with environmental sensors.”

Here is some project related documentation.

Wild Food or How to Hack Your Food Supply

Local wild edible plants expert Dario Cortese will once again enrich PIFcamp’s eating habits, tastes and minds!

Majority of the wild plants which grow all around are edible. Some are not. It is nice that you know both types.

As our food supply started changing dramatically some 10.000 years ago, starting from Middle East, not to mention a vast change after the so-called industrial revolution – and especially in the mid-20th century -, we tend to eat food that grows on market shelves and sometimes in the gardens, too. But the wild edibles are still around, plenty of them. You may prepare them in different ways, combined with cultivated food, for which you shouldn’t spend too much money, e.g. pulses, some grains, root vegetables, potatoes, etc. Fats are needed, too. A pinch of salt.

We’ll try to figure out what would be a cost for the annual ration of food combined in the above manner. But the money doesn’t really count; what is really important is the experience and knowledge that you are not dependent on the industrial food supply. Not to mention the energizing effect of wild food.

Materials & Tools: edible wild plants are all around, tools are us. Some pots and pans are always in the kitchen.