InterLAB Cairo-Dresden

interLAB Cairo-Dresden

• 2013

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by Joanna Szlauderbach InterLAB: Cairo – Dresden is a project developed within TANDEM/ Shaml 2012/2013-program by Dia Hamed from Medrar for Contemporary Arts and Joanna Szlauderbach from Trans-MediaAkademie Hellerau e.V. .

The idea of InterLAB is to bring together young artists, scientists and other creative people from different parts of the world and to offer them collaborative work - platforms.

The aim is to facilitate and enable intercultural creativity and artistic creation as well as to cross borders of artistic and scientific approach.

First InterLAB: Cairo – Dresden is a collaboration between KAZOOSH!from Dresden in Germany and OpenLabEgypt from Cairo in Egypt. KAZOOSH! is an interdisciplinary group of young creatives that works exclusively with open source software and applies it to create interactive installations, games and playful devices. OpenLabEgypt is a platform that facilitates the creation of interactive, digitronic artworks by local artists through educational workshops and cooperative projects to explore new tools for artistic creation.

In InterLAB: Cairo-Dresden both groups concentrate their creative in- and output on projects based on new media and new technologies. During two project phases the participants

german:

Einführung Das Projekt InterLAB: CairoDresden von Dia Hamed von Medrar for Contemporary Art und Joanna Szlauderbach von der Trans-MediaAkademie Hellerau e.V. wurde im Rahmen des TANDEM/Shaml 2012/2013 – Programms entwickelt.

Das InterLAB hat zum Ziel junge Künstler, Wissenschaftler und Kreative aus unterschiedlichen Teilen der Welt einander näher zu bringen und ihnen Plattformen für Zusammenarbeit zu bieten.

Das Ziel ist die Förderung und Ermöglichung von interkultureller Kreativität und künstlerischer Kreation sowie die gleichzeitige Auslotung und Überschreitung der Grenzen zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft.

Das erste InterLAB: Cairo-Dresden widmet sich der Kollaboration von KAZOOSH! aus Dresden in Deutschland und OpenLabEgypt aus Kairo in Ägypten. KAZOOSH! ist eine interdisziplinär agierende Gruppe junger Kreativer, die ausschließlich mit open source software arbeitet und diese einsetzt, um interaktive Installationen, Spiele und verspielte Geräte zu kreieren.

OpenLabEgypt ist eine Plattform, die erschaffen wurde, um die Entwicklung von interaktiven, digitalelektronischen Kunstprojekten von Künstlern durch Workshops und Kooperationsprojekte zu ermöglichen und gleichzeitig/ dadurch auch neue Werkzeuge für künstlerisches Schaffen zu erforschen.

collaborate and develop artistic works referring to the theme: alternative ways of communication over geographical distance.

First InterLAB-phase starts in December 2012 with ongoing online conceptualization and ends with an intense, week-long workshop for the realization and a following public presentation in February 2013. In that phase collaboration between InterLAB participants is completely virtual and takes place via online tools. The presentation is a tele-event and takes place at the same time in Cairo and in Dresden. Audiences in both places are able to use the artistic communication tools to communicate with each other.

The second InterLAB-phase is in March/April 2013. It starts with a week-long workshop in Cairo and finishes with a monthlong exhibition within Downtown Contemporary Art Festival Cairo (DCAF). For the first time the participants are physically connected. Still related to the theme, the exhibition happens in two venues, Medrar for Contemporary Art and Hotel Viennoise, simultaneously.

Aim of this publication is to offer an insight into different project stages and into personal experiences of participants as well as to share “receipts” on how to “diy” the alternative communication devices and installations that were created during InterLAB: Cairo -Dresden project. Hands on & enjoy!

ً ‫والتفاعل بوصفهما عم‬ ‫ إن الزائر لهو‬.‫ال فني ًا في ذاته‬ ‫ في‬.‫ببساطة مبدع العمل وفي اللحظة ذاتها قارئه‬ ‫نهاية املطاف تظل جتربة التفاعل أو التأثير الناجم‬ ‫ وليس شكل الرصاصة‬،‫عنها هي ما يعلق بذاكرة املرء‬ .‫نفسها‬ ‫املنظمون‬ ‫ القاهرة – درسدن مشروع أقمي في إطار برنامج‬:‫إنترالب‬ ‫ على يد ضياء حامد‬،2013 /2012 ‫ شمل‬/‫تاندم‬ -‫من مدرار للفن املعاصر وجوانا شالودرباخ من ترانس‬ .‫ في‬.‫أكادميي هيليراو إي‬-‫ميديا‬

‫إنترالب حيز دينامي نابض يرعى التواصل وابتكار‬ ً‫ يسعى إنترالب إلى أن يغدو حيزا‬.‫أجهزة فنية تفاعلية‬ ‫مفتوح ًا لشباب املبدعني من شتى أرجاء العالم الراغبني‬ ‫في حتقيق مشروعات عابرة للحدود تتخطى أشكال‬ .‫التعاون املعهودة‬ ‫يخلق مشروع إنترالب الرائد ساحات إبداعية تستند‬ ‫إلى تقنيات حديثة متزج ما بني فناني امليديا الناشئني‬ ‫ يدعو‬.‫وعلماء احلاسب من كل من درسدن والقاهرة‬ ‫إنترالب جمهوره كي يجربوا بأنفسهم ذلك التالقح ما‬ ‫ والذي متيزه تعددية حس ّية وطبيعة مادية‬،‫بني الثقافات‬ .‫ملموسة‬ ‫معرض إنترالب‬ ‫يطرح معرض إنترالب ساحات إبداعية تستند إلى‬ ‫تقنيات جديدة متزج ما بني فناني امليديا الناشئني‬ ‫ كرست‬.‫وعلماء احلاسب من كل من درسدن والقاهرة‬ ‫تلك الساحات التفاعلية لإلمكانات البديلة في‬ ‫ كيف سوف يكون شعورك إن‬.‫االتصال عن بعد‬ ‫أمكن ألناس في موضع آخر أن يتحكموا في الصوت‬ ‫والرائحة واإلضاءة وغير ذلك الكثير من عناصر البيئة‬ ‫احمليطة بك؟ ألن يكون من املستغرب أن تستشعر‬ ‫وجود أناس في مواضع قصية وكأمنا هم بالقرب‬ ‫منك؟ يمتتع الزوار بفرصة نادرة في استكشاف وسائل‬ ‫ جدير باقتران‬.‫االتصال املستقبلية تلك واختبارها‬ ‫التقنيات املتطورة والفكر الفني واإلبداعي أن يسمح‬ .‫بحدوث لقاء غير متوقع وتفاعل مثير‬

Im InterLAB: Cairo-Dresden konzentrieren beide Gruppen ihren kreativen In- und Output auf Projekte, die insbesondere auf neuen Medien und Technologien basieren. Während der beiden Phasen des Projekts arbeiten die Teilnehmer gemeinsam an der Konzeption und Realisierung künstlerischer Arbeiten, die sich in das Thema: Alternative Wege und Methoden der Kommunikation über geografische Distanzen hinaus gewidmet sind.

Die erste InterLAB - Phase startet in Dezember 2012. Bis zum einwöchigen Workshop im Februar 2013 werden die Ideen zwischen Dresden und Kairo ausschließlich online gesammelt, reflektiert, modifiziert und schließlich in enger virtueller Zusammenarbeit während des Workshops auch realisiert. In unmittelbarem Anschluss daran, werden Ende Februar die Ergebnisse parallel dem Publikum in Kairo und in Dresden präsentiert. Die Besucher in beiden Städten können die neuen Kommunikationswerkzeuge testen und auf ungewohnte Weise mit Besuchern an dem jeweils anderen Präsentationsort in Verbindung treten.

Die zweite Phase folgt im März/ April 2013. Sie beginnt mit einem einwöchigen Workshop und wird mit einer einmonatigen Ausstellung im Rahmen des Downtown Contemporary Arts Festivals abgeschlossen.

Zum ersten Mal treffen die Teilnehmer live und direkt aufeinander. Immer noch dem Hauptthema folgend, spielt sich die Ausstellung parallel an zwei räumlich voneinander getrennten

‫تقدمي‬ ‫تقوم فكرة إنترالب على اجلمع ما بني عدد من شباب‬ ‫الفنانني والعلماء وغيرهم من املبدعني من شتى أرجاء‬ .‫ بغية خلق ساحة تتيح فرصة العمل املشترك‬،‫العالم‬ ‫يسعى املشروع إلى فتح املجال أمام االبتكار ما بني‬ ‫ إلى جانب مد‬،‫الثقافات واإلبداع الفني ومتكينهما‬ .‫جسوراً ما بني التوجهات الفنية ونظيرتها العلمية‬

‫لقد قمنا بإنشاء منصات متوازية تقوم على تفاعل‬ ‫آني ما بني حيزين منفصلني مادي ًا متصلني علي‬ ‫ لقد قمنا بتركيب وحدات‬.‫الصعيد السبراني‬ ‫ وقمنا‬،‫وأغراض ومعدات يومية في كل من املوضعني‬ .‫بتوصيلهما بشبكة اإلنترنت‬ ‫معرض إنترالب األول‬ ‫وأقمي ما بني مقري مدرار للفن املعاصر في القاهرة‬ .‫أكادميي هيليراو في درسدن‬-‫ميديا‬-‫وترانس‬

Orten ab, im Medrar for Contemporary Art und dem Hotel Viennoise, beide in Kairo.

Diese Dokumentation soll einen Einblick in die verschiedenen Projektphasen und die Erfahrungen der einzelnen Teilnehmer geben sowie gleichzeitig auch „Rezepte“ vorstellen, wie man selbst die kreierten Kommunikationswerkzeuge nachbauen kann.

Viel Spaß!

‫معرض إنترالب الثاني‬ ‫وأقمي ما بني مقري مدرار للفن املعاصر وفندق فينواز‬ ‫ كان املوضعان في املدينة‬.‫في وسط مدينة القاهرة‬ ‫ الزالت‬.‫ وإن لم تتالشى احلدود كلية‬،‫ذاتها هذه املرة‬ ‫اجلدران اخلرسانية التي أقامتها القوات املسلحة‬ ‫املصرية في عدد من الشوارع املتوازية بغية إعاقة تقدم‬ ‫ تشكل فاص ِال‬،‫املتظاهرين إلى املؤسسات احليوية‬ ً ‫ على املرء أن يدور طوي‬.ً‫عمرانيا‬ ‫ال للوصول من أحد‬ ‫ لقد تخطينا هذا احلاجز‬.‫موقعي املعرض إلى اآلخر‬ ‫الرمزي بسيل ال ينتهي من التواصل املعلوماتي ما‬ ‫ امتد املعرض ملدة عشرين يوم ًا وقدم‬.‫بني املوقعني‬ ‫للجمهور فرصة للتدخل املباشر مع أزرار التشغيل‬ ‫ لقد كان لطول املعرض أن يجعل من‬.‫والقمي الرقمية‬ ‫ كان‬.ً‫ال حلظيا‬ ً ‫تعديل األعمال وصيانتها وتطويرها عم‬ ‫من املثير أن نلحظ تكرر زيارة عدد من األفراد ملوقعي‬ ‫ حرصوا فيها على‬،‫املعرض على مدار عدد من األيام‬ ‫دعوة أصدقائهم وأقربائهم كي يشرحوا لهم األعمال‬ .‫الفنية وكي يمتتعوا بالتجربة بصحبتهم‬ ‫لقد سعى هذا املعرض إلى تعزيز استكشاف الزائر‬ ‫ في الوقت الذي يحفظ فيه‬،‫حلواس قلما يستخدمها‬ ‫ لم يقم املعرض بمتثيل‬.‫عالقته الوثيقة بأجهزة مبهمة‬ ‫رسالة فنية بعينها بقدر ما دفع بعمليتي املالحظة‬

by Dia Hamed

Based on real time interaction between two physically separated venues that are connected to the cyber cosmos, we built parallel platforms. Units, objects, daily used Gadgets were installed in both spaces and wired to Internet.

InterLAB 1st Edition: took place between Medrar for Contemporary Art space in Cairo and Transmedia Akademie Hellerau in Dresden (please write about the setup in TMA and how it felt like) InterLAB 2nd Edition: took place between Medrar for Contemporary Art and Hotel Viennoise space in Downtown city center Cairo. This time the spaces were located in the same city zone, while other borders existed. Still the Concrete walls (placed by the Egyptian military along parallel streets to block protesters from reaching important institutional establishments) formed an urban divisor. One had to do a long detour in order

to reach the other venue of the exhibition. Such symbolic barrier was overcome by the constant data connection between both venues. Along 20 days of direct exchange of triggers and digital values the exhibition was open for visitors to come in and intervene. The duration of opening made the pieces be customized, maintained and developed over the run time. It was interesting how some people kept visiting the spaces over several days and were keen on bringing friends and relatives to explain the artworks and enjoy the experience together.

This exhibition tried to enhance the visitor’s exploration of unused senses, while having him or her in a closer relationship with shapeless devices. It didn’t represent a certain singular artistic dispatch, more than it suggested the process of observing and interacting as a standalone artwork. A visitor is simply the creator and the reader in the very same moment. At the end of the day, the experience of reaction or the impact is what strongly occupies ones memory over the form of the bullet itself.

Where you are there's me instead english: Places. Places are spaces, consisting of architecture, objects and people. A distance between two places can be bridged architecturally, object-like or/ and socially.

Cairo and Dresden, no bridge is long enough, Downtown and Garden City divided by a wall.

Everything material-like faces limitations. We cannot simply meet for a cup of coffee.

Two showrooms become a living room, an object in Dresden operates another one in Cairo, people experienceably interact with each other at the same moment at two different places.

The attempt of the dissolution of distance as an experiment.

I

german: Orte. Orte sind Räume, bestehen aus Architektur, Objekten und Menschen. Eine Distanz zwischen zwei Orten kann architektonisch, objekthaft oder/und sozial überbrückt werden.

Kairo und Dresden, keine Brücke ist lang genug, Downtown und Garden City von einer Mauer getrennt. Alles materiehafte stößt auf Grenzen. Wir können uns nicht einfach zusammen setzen und Kaffee trinken.

Zwei Ausstellungsräume werden zu einem Wohnzimmer, ein Objekt in Dresden steuert ein anderes in Kairo, die Menschen interagieren erlebbar im gleichen Moment an beiden Orten miteinander.

Der Versuch der Aufhebung von Entfernung als Experiment.

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InterLAB exhibition

sign

PHOTOBOOTH* The simultaneous exchange of faces over two different places facilitated an indirect dull interference with another human being over the virtual existence.

One captures his face in a photo Booth and it stays in the digital memory where others can later get their faces masked by it, smile with his mouth, blink his eyes and raise eyebrows. Creepy deformed results as well as new persons’ faces were born on a paper print. The user was able to take away an evidence of his favorite facial mixture. It somehow brought back the joy of self-photography and ecstasy of posing before the shutter click.

Family Picture The mere sort of expression that results from positioning oneself in a public photo was a targeted operation of this experimental piece. It’s interesting to see how people tend to increase or decrease the physical spaces between them according to their social behavior and private playful practices.

Users merged compositions of their layered captions over time and left it open for others to construct the final picture with their presence.

They were able to add their pictures over the others as background or to totally erase and start from blank white.

* Special Thanks to: Arturo Castro arturocastro.net/

The temporary venue named after its former function as a downtown hotel in Cairo had great memory within its old rubble walls. It also had remains of previous exhibition setups and tear-downs, it still makes old house sounds when left alone there. The teamwork of InterLAB got very inspired to set the space in homage to the forgotten inhabitance of its rooms. Down the staircase behind a rusty elevator’s engine laid the original wooden sign of the Hotel. Hand made carvings of Ruq’ah arabic typography “Hotel Viennoise”, aged wood cracks and spider webs were the main surface skin. Time has come for this relic to be uncovered and pulled out to a certain event.

Placed in a tiny room of the hotel, not even fixed inside in any meaningful position, made it feel uncomfortably under construction or temporarily stored. The artists decided to extend the dimensions of this old sign using white cotton threads that were illuminated in the darkness with ultraviolet black light bulbs. People were looking for something to touch or interact with but the main light switch of the room.

Others found it a not working interactive installation.

While many sat there in silence wondering how this piece would speak to them at some point, which brings in the never-ending confusion about living and dead objects.

Comes later a mapping projection show, performed by Kareem Osman to reveal the mystery beyond such setup and blows the dusty three dimensional surface of the sign with abstract visuals that reshaped the title and gave it some motional vibes

LASER ROOM

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Provided playful platform for the audience to start structuring their own ambience within a show room. The frail visibility combined with illusion of perspectives creates a neutral space of engagement to the act of improvisation. The infinite vision in this room created by parallel mirror walls, expanded the fictional paths made of some little lit dots and laser beams. Familiar gadgets like light torches, has become musical instruments. Audience were invited to use them together for a collective noise like momentary jamming sessions, that was provoked on the basis of transferring sound through light 8Ω. Connect the anode of each light source and the positive charge of the power source with the primary inductor of the audio transformer. Connect a mono jack plug with the secondary inductor.

See details in fig. 1. > Connect arbitrary sound sources with the light sources via the jack plugs e.g. MP3 players or radios. >> FINISH Switch off the light, feel free to experiment!

You will hear sound when you move the LEDs or any other light sources over a solar cell.

The laser beam should create constant audio signals that are only stopped when the laser beam is interrupted by someone standing in the way.

Steps

Ingredients: • 1 LED Torch big enough to hold an arduino board • 5 4,7k potentiometers • 1 Arduino Uno Microcontroller • 1 USB Cable • div.

Connector wires

>> BUILDING THE SYNTHESIZER** >> PREPARING THE BOX > Connect wires with the solar cells so that you can measure voltage when you point a light source onto the panel. > Attach one solar cell on the angular top surface and one on a front side surface of the box. > Connect the wires of the two solar cells in parallel. > Connect the resulting two wires with a mono jack plug. >> PREPARING THE ROOM > Clean the room. > Mount as many mirrors on the walls as you can carry off. The mirrors should be placed parallel to the walls to create the best illusion of an inifite room. > Attach the box to the floor.

Nobody should be able to move the box by accident. > Place the speakers next to the box and plug them into the mono jack socket coming from the solar cells. > Screw wall plugs and the srew hooks one step in front of the box on the left and on the right into the wall and strain a cord between them. >> CONNECTING THE LIGHT SOURCES WITH SOUND > Attach the laser to the box and adjust it to be reflected several times in the mirror before hitting the solar panel on the front side of the box. > Curse the fact that you already cleaned the room and that the laser is not visible in the air due to the lack of dust. > Buy a stronger laser and repeat step 11. > Attach the synthesizer and the LEDs to audio cables. Hang them next to each other from the cord on front of the box and lead the cable to the box. You can hide the cables partially behind the mirrors and you can connect the cathodes to save cable. > Connect the cathodes with the negative charge of a power source (~4.5V-6V).

An audio transformer is used to amplify the audio signal. Use an with the primary impedance of 1KΩ and a secondary impedance of

The Synthesizer-Torch** was used in the Laser Room during the D-CAF Festival in Cairo. It is able to generate sounds by waveform synthesis techniques and use these as input to modulate the amplitude of an array of LED in the torch. A solar panel is used to retransform the modulated light back to an input signal for an active speaker.

Procedure: • 1 Open the torch and remove entrails • 2 Drill 5 holes big enough to hold the potentiometers • 3 fit Arduino inside and connect potentiometers and LEDs

according to sketch • 4 connect USB Cable to Arduino and ensure that it

can’t be unplugged accidentally • 5 * details on the laser audio Upload arduino synthesizer transceiver: sketch** and have fun http://bit.ly/ZqxAC1

interactive objects

Do people in Cairo care about people in Dresden sitting down on a couch? What do people in Dresden experience, when a person in Cairo enters a room? Can soap-bubbles travel many thousands of kilometers? How can every day objects in two remote rooms be cupeled?

We wanted to find out and combined objects, that have never talked to each other before. Through this new medium remote visitors of our exhibition where able to get in touch in a very new way.

LINKS

Ingredients • 1 room • many mirrors • 1 laser • 1 box with an angular top

surface (ca. 30x30x80cm) • 2 solar cells (about 5x5cm

to 15x15cm) • 1 active speaker pair • 2 screw hooks • 2 wall plugs • 1 durable, thin cord (e.g.

length = width of the room) • 3 LEDs (bright) • 1 torch • 1 Arduino • 4 audio transformers • 4 potentiometers • 5 mono jack plugs • 4 mp3 players • 1 power source (e.g. AA

battery, 4.5V - 6V) • a lot of wire • even more audio cable

technical description: To make objects talk categorize them into sensors and actuators and give them names. Therefore they can be addressed easily.

As sensors you can use pressure sensors, microphones or hidden switches. Whenever a visitor triggers any of these sensors make sure to handle them the right way. Connect them to an Arduino and send a signal over to a pc via USB and serial write. On the pc you should have a program running, that reads from serial. We used one that was written in C++ and openFrameworks. Processing would also work for that. To

transmit the signal to an other pc we used OSC. It can be tested nicely using a smartphone app too. Connecting two pcs in different networks over the internet was rather hard. We managed to do it over skype and a special tool. Now, that we are wiser, we recommend using spacebrew. From the second pc the signal can be send to the second Arduino via serial write. From there you can toggle relays, transistors or what ever you want to control your actuators.

We connected a fan, a spotlight or led-strips. Now hook up your objects!

* step-by-step tutorial on the light transmitter: http://bit.ly/12eWDK7 ** details on the Arduino synthesizer: http://bit.ly/70qEl ** Auduino Synthesizer Sketch for Arduino: http://bit.ly/1aubuhA *≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈* Special Thanks to: David Strang www.transmit-interfere.com/

Cup phone

Coming to means of communication, InterLAB’s Hi-tech devices were expected to perform efficient simple phone calls.

Rather, we thought of reversing the method by interrupting the process with weak connection and latency of response. Thus, combining Can/Cup thread phone toy with high speed Internet voice calls, made it almost impossible to achieve a simple clear hello contact. The interesting part is that the users would still insist on communicating and force the belief in a functional classic toy.

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MEDRAR EXPLORER Spacebrew / RC Car

We filled two spaces with interactive pieces. Not so surprisingly, visitors in one space loved to see how the other space was affected when they sat on a chair. Not just that, they wanted to walk around and see what›s happening in the other space without having to physically be there. Mmmmm.

It took us a while to make this happen luckily without breaking any of the laws of physics. Here is what we did: a remote control car with a mobile camera in one space, and a USB joystick and a screen in the other. Well, we also needed two more things. An Arduino connected to the car›s remote controller to tell it how to move, where to go.

That›s one thing. The other crucial ingredient

in this tasty recipe is a connection between the joystick and the car: something that knows when someone pushed the forward button on the joystick, then very quickly tells the Arduino to tell the car to move forward. It kinda sounds more complicated than it actually is. Well, we used an internet connection! OK, with a little program called Spacebrew that, you guessed it, connects spaces like Medrar and Viennoise Hotel. Spacebrew is super cool as it lets you do these connections right from your browser.

Check out: http://docs.spacebrew.cc/

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Bubble Cannon

Dinning Table

The bubble cannon was used in the first part of the interlab project. It was triggered by blowing bubbles in cairo. With this it was possible to transmit bubbles over a long distance as a kind of communication.

Ingredients: 1 Toy Bubble Gun 1 Servo Motor 5 cm strong steel wire 10cm fine wire 1 Ardino Uno 1 Arduino Relais Shield

(f.ex. 2 Kanal 5V Relay

Relais Module Modul for Arduino at ebay)

An ordinary dining table. Covered with glasses, plates, cutleries and fruits.

Although it is empty voices can be heard and people be seen. Within a screen attached to the wall on one side of the table there is another one. It looks nearly identical and seems to be the image of a mirror. When sitting down, sound appears and people on the other side take notice of new guests. Still unfamiliar people are going to have dinner together.

Procedure: 1 open the bubble gun and remove the original (finger) trigger 2 solder wires to the battery connectors 3 close gun and tape servo motor with wire extension to the

side of the bubble gun 4 connect the servo wire to the filament that wets the ring at the front of the cannon 5 attach the wires from the battery to the relais that is powered by a seperate energy source or two bateries providing 3-5 volt 6 connect servo motor and relais shield to the arduino microcontroller 7 to let bubbles fly write a little programm for the arduino that tells the servo motor to rotate 10 degrees (depends on setup) and back to wet the ring and then triggers the relais to power the air blower Notes and Tips: >> how to control a servo motor with aurduino: http://arduino.cc/de/Reference/Servo >> formulas for perfect hommade bubbles: http://bubbleblowers.com/homemade.html

technical description: For the dinning table installation you need two identical dining tables, that are placed in two different rooms. Equip each table with an internet enabled pc, screen and camera. Through this a video chat is established using skype. After placing glasses, plates and cutleries on the table the harder parts starts. Attach pressure sensors to some of the chairs.

Whenever a visitor sits down they are going to work like a switch. Connect them to your Arduino and the Arduino to your pc. For the Arduino you should write a program that sends a signal to the pc via serial write whenever the sensor is triggered. For the pc you should write a program in C++ and openFrameworks or Processing to publish the signal on your space-brew server. We had ours in Dresden, which was kind of a long way to go for the signal. In the other space the second pc subscribes to the publishers of the first and sends signals to the second Arduino via serial write. To the Arduino you can connect led-strips with transistors so that they turn on whenever a visitor sits down in the other space. All of this will happen within seconds and visitors quickly take notice of each other.

Shisha One of the most attractive connected objects in the exhibition. Simply a regular Egyptian Water pipe that senses the inhalation of a person and sends real time triggers over the cloud to a bubble canon in Dresden. It was very intuitive, familiar look and the act of usage wasn’t based on interaction more than the simple smoking practice.

Smokers had their moments of sending exhales to Germany, as some felt a digital taste of it.

Family Picture The mere sort of expression that results from positioning oneself in a public photo was a targeted operation of this experimental piece.

It’s interesting to see how people tend to increase or decrease the physical spaces between them according to their social behavior and private playful practices. The first version was created during the first interlab having the idea to create a photo where people from Cairo and Dresden are part of. A person entering the the portrait room sees himself on a wall projection, him and all the other persons that took a photo of themselfs. He now can add himself permanently to the photo by pushing a button on a remote control. Also he can reset the screen and be the first one on the photo by pressing another button.

Technical description To set up a family portrait you need: - a room with a white wall, equally lighted on every part of the wall (most important part to get the installation work) - a webcam - a remote control (hacked wireless mouse) - a projection screen and projector or a really big television - the family portrait software (can be found on github) - a computer running the software - a working dropbox account Create a remote control - hack a mouse: The remote control can be built using a plastic box, drill two holes in it and put two buttons into the holes. The buttons have to be connected with the original mouse button contacts by soldering.

The software: The family portrait software is written in C++ using openFrameworks.

It uses a background substraction algorithm to detect new elements that can be add to the picture. Whenever a new photo is taken a layer is added to the image. This layer includes the recently added elements. Each layer is saved separately and the final portrait is composed by the software overlapping the most recent 10 layers. The synchronization is done by using dropbox.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TMA english "Founded in 2001, Trans-MediaAkademie Hellerau e.V. (TMA Hellerau) is a Dresden based institute for interdisciplinary research on theoretical and practical level focused on how new technologies influence human body, behavior and creative expression. Main activities of the organization are based on two pillars, TMA laboratory (TMA lab) projects on the one side and CYNETART festival on the other. The focal point of TMA lab Hellerau is media education, reflection on media and interactive media art practice.

Its philosophy is to create and provide space for creative exchange and coproduction in the field of arts based on new technologies. It is dedicated to mediation of various ways to perceive and to apply new media.

Projects within TMA lab Hellerau are for example European TelePlateaus, A.P.P.I.A. Lab or holiday-workshops for kids and young people. On the other hand, there is the CYNETART Festival, which is an international highlevel festival for computer based arts and interdisciplinary media projects. Every year it unites outstanding media performances, cutting-edge interactive installations as well as current positions of electronic and experimental music. CYNETART festival is an experimental space where artists can experiment and play with future art, music and ideas. It aims to engage festival audience and artists in a participatory experiment in creating new kinds of artworks, new forms of participation, new understanding of art and technology and innovative ways of presenting media art. Arranging encounters between artists from all over the world, the festival becomes a vibrating, interdisciplinary space for groundbreaking projects. TMA

Hellerau is considered to be a platform for artists, researchers and passionated activists. The association is embedded in many international networks like for ex. European Cities of Advanced Sound/ International Cities of Advanced Sound (ECAS/ICAS) and participates in numerous international exchanges like for example in the TANDEM-program.

TMA Hellerau is unique organization in Germany for the exploration, the testing and application of walk-in, interactive, virtual environments and their effects on the perception of body and society.

In this process interconnections are made between the artistic, scientific, psychological, technical, cybernetic and cultural aspects of the development in media technology.

TMA Hellerau sees itself as a flexible network project for the registration, investigation, linkage, and testing of the possibilities of an extended perception of the self, of social reality and of the world."

TMA german "Der gemeinnützige Verein TransMedia-Akademie Hellerau e.V. (TMA Hellerau) ist ein Institut für integrale Wahrnehmungs- und Medienforschung. Im Dezember 2001 gegründet, fokussiert sich die TMA Hellerau durch Eigenproduktionen und die Präsentation (medien-) künstlerischer Projekte, bspw. im CYNETART Festival, auf die Konsequenzen der Medientechnologie-Entwicklung für das Selbst- und Weltbild vor allem aus künstlerischer Sicht.

Das CYNETART Festival ist der Kristallisationspunkt der TMA Hellerau-Aktivitäten. Es ist ein erstklassiges internationales Festival für Medienkunst und digitale Kultur, das seit bereits 1996 alljährlich durchgeführt

wird. Es vereint innovative Kunst, bahnbrechende, audiovisuelle Performances, neueste Positionen der elektronischen und experimentellen Musik sowie aktuelle Highlights der Digitalen Kultur. CYNETART versteht sich als Experimentierplattform für Künstler aus allen Disziplinen, die mit neuen Technologien arbeiten und so Kunst und Ideen für die Zukunft generieren.

Künstler, Aktivisten, Querdenker, Wissenschaftler, Allrounder– CYNETART bietet viel Raum für kreative Begegnungen und interdisziplinären Austausch auf allen Ebenen.

Die TMA ist deutschlandweit einzigartig in der künstlerischen Erforschung von (begehbaren) virtuellen Environments und die Auswirkungen auf die Körperwahrnehmung.

Dabei werden Verbindungen zwischen künstlerischen, naturwissenschaftlichen, psychologischen, technischen, kybernetischen und kulturellen Aspekten der MedientechnologieEntwicklung geknüpft.

Produktionen der TMA wurden bereits zum Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, zur WRO Biennale in Wroclaw, zum Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF) in Rotterdam, am ICA London, dem enter-Festival in Prag, zum Festival für modernen Tanz in Strasbourg, zum MUTEK Festival in Kanada, zum MUTEK. CL in Santiago de Chile, zum SOCO Festival in Montevideo sowie zum Pariser EXIT Festival präsentiert."

Medrar English Medrar sets the stage for artists seeking to have extensive conversations and collaborations with their peers to develop their purpose as active contemporary artists thus creating a more dynamic and inspired movement.

By tapping into this existing collective intelligence, Medrar encourages cooperation, over competition, among artists,

locally and internationally, as well as between institutions, critics and technologists to engage and experiment in this rich playground of media arts.

This non-profit collective, running since 2005, achieves this through: hosting festivals, workshops and events to stimulate the scene; providing a collaborative space for media artists; documenting and disseminating audio-visual content on the contemporary art movement in Egypt.

.‫ في‬.‫أكادميي هيليراو إي‬-‫ميديا‬-‫ترانس‬ ‫ كمعهد لإلدراك‬2011 ‫أ هيليراو في العام‬.‫م‬.‫تأسست ت‬ ‫ وترى في نفسها ساحة للفنانني‬،‫التكاملي وأبحاث امليديا‬ ‫ أحد‬.‫والباحثني ذوي اخلبرة في مجال األنظمة التفاعلية‬ ‫محاور العمل هو مهرجان فن احلاسب ومشروعات امليديا ما‬ »‫بني التخصصات الدولي الذي يحمل عنوان «سينيتآرت‬ ‫ يقدم مهرجان «سينيتآرت» عروض‬.ً‫والذي يعقد سنوي ًا‬ ‫ يستند‬.‫ميديا وبيئات افتراضية شبكية وجتهيزات تفاعلية‬ ‫املهرجان في تنفيذ أعمال امليديا التي يتضمنها إلى أبعاد‬ ‫اجلسد البشري كحجر الزاوية لتحقيق إدراك وتواصل‬ .‫أصيلني‬ )‫أ‬.‫م‬.‫ (ت‬.‫ في‬.‫أكادميي هيليراو إي‬-‫ميديا‬-‫تعد ترانس‬ ‫فريدة من نوعها في أملانيا في مجال االستكشاف واختبارات‬ ‫بيئات احملاكاة التفاعلية االفتراضية وتطبيقاتها وتأثيرها على‬ ‫ تعقد من خالل هذه العملية‬.‫اإلدراك اجلسدي واملجمتعي‬ ‫صالت ما بني اجلوانب الفنية والعلمية والنفسانية والتقنية‬ .‫والسبرانية والثقافية التي حتملها تطورات تقنيات امليديا‬ ‫مدرار‬ ‫مدرار هى نطاق تفاعل وجتريب وحوار يخدم املمارسات‬ ‫ تسعى مدرار الى املساهمة فى حتفيز الوسائل‬.‫املعاصرة‬ ‫ والدعم املادى‬،‫ تطوير اخلبرات‬،‫املختلفة للتواصل‬ .‫للممارسات املعاصرة على املستوى احمللى والدولى‬ ‫تهدف مدرار باألساس الى دفع األهمتام بالفنانني الشباب‬ ‫وتزويدهم بفرص التشبيك والتطوير من خالل تشجيع‬ ‫ال عن خلق‬ ً ‫ فض‬،ً‫أنشطتهم وايض ًا التبادل الثقافى بينهم دوليا‬ ‫انتاج النشرات‬ ‫مساحة للحوار بني النقاد الشباب من خالل‬ ‫واألبحاث النقدية وتوفير البيانات واملعلومات للمشاريع‬ .‫التنظميية‬ ‫ وبدأت باملهرجان‬،‫نظمت مدرار العديد من األحداث الفنية‬ ‫ ومشروع معمل مصر للفنون‬،‫الدولى للفيديو بالقاهرة‬ .‫التفاعلية‬

"Club Mate to become part of our technical rider!"

Joanna

"Remarkably absorbing ...sensational" Ahmed InterLab was about rethinking communication and cultural exchange between two cities, Cairo and Dresden. The interactive installations played with this idea, but what was extremely powerful about the exhibition was the fact that the entire creative process was itself a cultural exchange between the artists, who had never before met face to face, from exchanging Arabic and German phrases to how we communicated while working remotely together. Our virtual experiences in developing the project transalted creatively into the installations we built, allowing us to create new forms of dialog. >> Yasmin

"Te2eel"

Youssef

"Breathtaking" Martin Phase I When I talk to someone, I use gestures. Small things like grining or frowning, keeping eye contact or clicking with a pen change how you receive what was said. When we started to work on the Interlab project, we had never met most of the people from Cairo. We were supposed to work on an interconnected installation while the questions about who the others were seemed to be bigger than the questions one could ask via Skype.

That›s why it appeared natural to me to work on simple interfaces that communicate via gestures. Small things like sitting on a couch, smoking a shisha or picking up a phone.

Phase II Being in Cairo felt like a cultural adventure fading into irreality after we left. In a madly short time we created snappy installations that were not perfekt but a big improvement of the first phase. What will stay is the knowledge that there is a group of people in Cairo who grew close to my heart and who I hope to meet again, one sunny day. Viva la Open Lab movement. >> Deborah

"Dropbox voyeurism" Dia Hamed

"A powerful, dark, original work " Kareem OLE English Open Lab Egypt exists to counter the prevailing culture that infuses competition and intellectual possessiveness by proposing an alternative lifestyle of collaboration along with inducing willingness and ability to experiment and create.

The nature of digitronic arts is engaging and invites audiences to be part of the process. Open Lab Egypt facilitates the creation of such artworks by local artists through educational workshops and cooperative projects to explore new tools and produce artworks.

By using and expanding on the existing networks locally and regionally, Open Lab Egypt is a hive for these artists and technologists to use their community for collective production and buzzing solutions.

Digitronic arts are diverse

in form and reality.

It can be like mixing potato soup with a DVD writer and making it fly at the end. The range of artworks produced through such a collaborative environment can be transformed into daily life and are not confined to only galleries. Digital prototypes can be treated to operate in museums, public spaces, educational institutions, intergrated in performative arts or even in clubs. A priority for Open Lab Egypt is to document our processes through our blog to contribute to the open source international community generally and like-minded media labs specifically.

KAZOOSH! KAZOOSH! is a dynamic group of like-minded people coming from different

For me, the interaction with Cairo team members was the most interesting part of the project. During the first phase communicating through blogs, chats or video conference was complicated and therefore short and mostly subject-related. For the second phase, coming from cold Dresden to warm Cairo, also interaction got warmer. It was fascinating to see the whole variety, that was condensed so drastically through the media before. After this experience I am curious how it might be for the Cairo team to come to Germany. >> Hannes

The Interlab Project in my personal kind of view was a very rich experience. The first iteration where worked together with the Cairo people we never met in person and suddenly starting an intense project week was very interesting. Nevertheless I preferred the Interlab in Cairo.

Meeting the great persons from Medrar there turned the work experience from the first time a real personal experience. Having the chance to get to know Cairo with people living there is far more than a generic tourist visit. Also creating something interactive on another continent with people living there was just a great experience for me. >> Brian

Across deep-sea trenches (after phase 1): We do not listen to each other on the phone, but on Skype, in the chat. Colleagues, friends, acquaintances, family, everyone is where ever he/ she may be. In between a deep-sea trench. Cables above, winding between mountain ranges, connecting the two ends.

What happens, if one only knows each other from user-profiles? A challenge to cooperate that way.

We did not know the people that were with us. Not until the end. At the last minute, we anticipated the impact of our actions in on the other side. The concept too abstract. Now a bird is twittering here, another one is answering there.

Sometimes one wandered from dead end to dead end, difficult orientation when zeros and ones comprise our data. How to bring up the motivation to spend the evening only infront of screens? Much nicer to meet in a bar, have a drink, a chat. Thus, the work is alive and not only done.

Still, it was somewhat successful: we moved one step closer to each other. The two thousand kilometres between us have not disappeared, but moved into relation to us.

Share our bed (after phase 2): The plane lands in a sea of lights, which lay spread out before us like a cloud of stars.

Lost at the airport, the drivers bring us bananas. We do not know where to go, what to do.

The next morning in our apartment, a phone call: someone is coming to show us around the city. We follow without a plan, impressed by the abundance. Impatiently waiting for the start.

The meeting with the others. Delayed. We at nine, they at twelve.

Coffee together. A stream of ideas, we concrete its bed as fast as we can. Much closer the exchange than online. Thoughts must bridge distances too. Now, we can communicate directly, if we are able to.

For a long time two groups. Slowly synapses are growing, one finds one’s role. A new one, not the old one. Work originates.

The time should not have been any shorter, we needed 10 days to get that far.

The more intense the completion, together we parted from each other.

Promising to meet again. >> Marit

backgrounds as fine arts, computer science, media design or electronics. One of main goals of KAZOOSH! is to enable everybody to understand new technologies and to show their diversity in an artful way. The permeable team structure and corresponding ways of collaboration are driven by the idea of exchange. Using and creating open hard- and software allows to provide our technological output to a broad community and empowers it to reuse it in a creative way. In this sense collaboration is an inherent part of the KAZOOSH!concept.

‫معمل مصر‬ ‫هو مشروع طويل األمد يركز على تأسيس منشأة‬ ‫معمل مصر‬ ‫ومعمل لتطوير الفنون الرقمية في مصر والترويج الستخدام أدوات‬ .‫البصري‬-‫السمعي‬ ‫املصدر املفتوح في العمل‬ ‫طبيعة الفنون الرقمية تقوم على املشاركة و دعوة اجلمهور‬ ‫ معمل مصر يسهل على الفنانني الشباب‬.‫ليشارك في عملية الفن‬ ‫إنشاء مثل هذه االعمال من خالل ورش تعلميية لها تابع تعاوني‬ ‫ معمل مصر يتفاعل مع الشبكات‬.‫إلكتشاف أدوات جديدة و إنتاج املشاريع املختلفة‬ ‫احمللية و اإلقلميية ليعطي الفرصة ملجموعة الفنانني و التقنيني في مصر ليتفاعلوا مع هذه‬ .‫الشبكات في إصدار االعمال املختلفة‬ ‫يهدف املشروع إلى تعبئة املجمتع احمللي في القاهرة ال سميا اجلهات املستقلة الت يميكنها‬ ‫ واستخدام جميع‬،‫البدء بدعم إنتاج بيئات تفاعلية وتوافقات إلكترونية في املستقبل‬ ‫موج ٌه إلى طالب الفنون‬ ّ ‫ واملشروع‬،‫التكنولوجيات املتاحة التي قد تكون ضرورية‬ ‫والفنانني واملصممني واملثقفني واملهندسني والعلماء املشاركني في تطوير اإلنتاج الثقافي‬ .‫في املجمتعات احمللية‬ "!‫جماعة درسدن "كازوش‬ ‫كازوش! جماعة دينامية تشترك في أفكارها على الرغم من تنوع خلفيات أعضائها‬ ‫ إن أحد أهداف‬.‫ما بني الفنون اجلميلة وعلوم احلاسب وتصممي امليديا واإللكترونيات‬ ‫كازوش! هو متكني اجلميع من استيعاب التقنيات اجلديدة ومن استعراض التعددية بطريق‬ .‫ ينبع هيكل الفريق القابل لالختراق وسبل التعاون التي يعتنقها من فكرة التالقح‬.‫فني‬ ‫جدير باستخدام البرمجيات والعتاد املفتوحني وابتكارهما أيض ًا أن يتيح منتوجنا التقني‬ ّ ،‫لشريحة عريضة من املجمتع‬ ‫ وبذا يغدو‬.‫فميكنه من إعادة استخدامه بسبل إبداعية‬ .!‫التعاون أحد أبرز محاور رؤية كازوش‬

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