Artists • Organisations • Technical/Robotics • Toys • Misc
Art
Kanta Horio
Tokyo based electronic and sound artist working with delicate magnetic field activated machines
Ralf Schreiber's experiments in minimal robotics. Site of the solar module and living particles.
English and German
Maywadenki
Japanese company dealing with musical machines, commercial products and electronic arts.
English and Japanese.
The Owl Project
Wood electronica (and more) from Manchester.
English.
Cloaca
Automated shit by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. Image at http://www.lacan.com/frameXIX7.htm
English.
France Cadet
French artist specialised in modified I-Cybie robotic dogs.
English and Français.
Kenji Yanobe
Japanese artist well known for his atom suits.
Japanese and English.
Mona Hatoum "Pull"
A remarkable piece of interactive art performance.
English.
Gilles Barbier
French artist who builds succesful transgenic clones and correctors of reality.
Français and English.
Irational
Founded by Heath Bunting. Classic net history and still kicking.
English.
Survival Resarch Laboratories
Cult robot artists of doom.
English.
Lucy Kimbell
London based artist who applies business models to her practice.
English.
Simon Penny
Electronic artist developing ambitious interactive artworks with moving parts. Petit Mal is my favourite. English.
The Table: Childhood
by Max Dean and Raffaello D’ Andrea. I have not seen it myself, but it seems to be an impressive interactive robotic object.
English.
Stelarc
Seminal Australian artist who coined the sentence: "The body is obsolete". I like his take on Evolution (1982).
English.
Eduardo Kac
Bresilian artist famous for his GFP bunny (green fluorescent protein). Check my favourite piece of net art, Teleporting an unknown state (1994 version). English.
Jennie Savage
Cardiff based artist of StarRadio fame, contemporary psycho-geography.
English.
We make money not art
Excellent blog about techno-art and life.
English
Dorkbot
people doing strange things with electricity.
English.
Programme
Experimental project open in Whitechapel Gallery, London, in January-February 2002. Preachers, cake parties, disco, robots, language crash lab and more. Ran by Ella Gibbs. English.
Kontejner
Active organisation from Zagreb, Croatia. They organise events in performance arts and electronic arts.
English.
Machinista
Arts and Technology festival originated in Perm, Russia. They have a large archive of online contributors (electronic artists of all horizons) and held their 2004 edition in Glasgow.
English.
Information arts links
The reference.
Very complete pages of links related to electronic arts. Gathered by Stephen Wilson, from San Francisco State University.
English.
Vida
Art & Artificial Life International Competition. Includes a comprehensive archive of past participants.
English and Spanish.
Symbiotica
Symbiotica is a research laboratory dedicated to the exploration from an artistic perspective of scientific knowledge in general, and biological technologies in particular. Perth, Australia.
English.
Blip
Brighton based group organising monthly events and talks in the fields of arts and science.
English.
Amino
Art events organisers with high standards.
English.
Timebased
I spent a lot of time on that base.
English.
Trace
Installaction art space in Cardiff. Significant venue on global performance art circuit. Run by André Stitt. English.
G39
Artist run space in Cardiff.
English.
La Maquiladora
Strange Mexican group of artists.
English and Spanish
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Technical
Physical Computing
Excellent starting point for getting to grips with interfacing techniques, very accessible yet detailed. Covering electronics for interfacing, microcontrollers, sensors,... Aimed for the electronic artist. English.
La Vie Artificielle
Very complete French website covering news of the robot world, updtated often. French with an automated translation to English
BEAM robotics, Solarbotics
B-iological A-rtistic E-lectronic M-achine. A universe of links related to this developing branch of robotics. Solarbotics is a good starting point, offering among other goodies the full PDF of Living Machines, by Mark Tilden, who invented the first BEAM bots. English.
Technobots
Total Robots
Robot Electronics
Active robots
UK based online shops for all sorts of DIY robotics projects. English.
Milford Instruments
Distributors of the BASIC stamp microcontroller, classic entry point in the domain of DIY robotics.
Also UK resellers of BasicMicro, a Basic compiler for Microchip PICs. And various kits and add-ons to ease the experimenter's life (servo driver, RF units, ultra-sound module, robot bug...). English.
All Electronics
Massive surplus hardware shop from Los Angeles, good choice, cool prices, not so hot international service. English.
Microchip
Makers of the Microchip Pic, at the heart of most recent Z Lab machines.
English.
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Toys
Aibo and QRIO
Now discontinued infamous robot pets. QRIO is a humanoid AIBO, never was ready for general public. English.
Hack Furby
Check the links on this site dedicated to Furby, a toy with a serious nerd appeal, now going from ebay for as little as one pound = 1.4 euro = 1.5 dollar.
Of special interest is The Pool, by Kelly Heaton
English.
Tamagotchi links
Prehistoric precursor of the cybertoys wave. A reference.
English.
Bio Bugs
Based on Mark Tilden's BEAM designs, these ugly toys were not popular with kids.
English.
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Misc
Robo-Sapiens
A book by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (2000) that provides a unique perspective on global robot developments, with lots of images. English.
Karakuri info
Traditional Japanese art of mechanical puppets that continues to influence the Japanese view of robots.
English.
Techno trash
Unsettling report about the export of IT waste in Central Asia.
English.
Unabomber
Site dedicated to the trial of Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. Contains the integral Unabomber manifesto. English.
Les Bleus de travail
My brother Sylvain's gang of circus theatre. Très drôle. Français et English.
DDD
Stencil art by my brother in law.
Français.
One Switch
Home made solutions for disabled people. English.
8 Bits software
Best BBC Micro related site. English.
Weird science
Many experiments for the daring. English.
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• News archive 03-2007 to 11-2007
• News archive 06-2006 to 02-2007
- April: performance Sail Bridge Music Action in collaboration with Dynion Dance Company on Saturday 18th at 18.15. The performance is part of Locws Festival, Swansea UK.
The documentation of the event will be visible in Swansea Waterfront Museum until 10th May.
- May: performance on 8th and installations until 17th (My Little Eye and Biting Machine) at Ich-Machine festival, Edith Russ Haus für Medien Kunst, Oldenburg, Germany.
- February April B.O.R.N.
- Caton
- March Moscow
 
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September 2008
Went to Ars Electronica,Linz, Austria, invited by Slovenian Kapelica gallery to show Robot-Rabbit as part of their Ecology of the Techno Mind show in Lentos museum, and Servo Drive + Lo-tech Songs performance in OK Centrum. Premiered my new robot Mofo, which fell on a kitchen mixer and broke its neck after 2 minutes on stage. It was nevertheless able to perform disco dance on Born to Be Alive with me later on.
Enigmatic local graffiti |
 
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I had very little time to see the exhibitions or attend conference and performances. Selected highlights of bits I saw:
- On the opening night, several members of the German label Raster Noton performed sets in a big tent on Pöstlingberg, a hill overlooking the city of Linz. Among lots of overheated oscillators and other brutal audio machines I was happy to see the humorous performance of Franz Pomassl, very loud analog machines activated by a mobile performer who touched parts of his body with active audio jacks and ran on his table like a madman. |
  
 
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-A Small Contribution to Everyday Life by Miha Ciglar and Nika Autor, concert where the two performers, plugged into their AV system, generate tense sounds when they touch or get close to each other in a very effective bio-tech live performance.
- Sampling-Plong by Jörg Niehage: cheap looking electrical and pneumatic objects on a picnic blanket are activated when a projected mouse-driven cursor rolls over them. Poetic and fun.
- Kotaro from the University of Tokyo: hi-tech looking humanoid that did not do much but whose body language evoked a depressed young teenager.
- Kaze No Chi (Wind of Purification), also from the University of Tokyo: an interactive video projection looking like a visualised wind tunnel where turbulences are generated by the audience. Simple and beautiful.
-Origami Space Race by Saso Sedlacec who challenges Japanese scientist Shinji Suzuki to be the first to launch an origami prototype airplane from a space station.
www.sadlosedlacec.com
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- I was in Linz before the opening of the festival. Chilling out with a beer one evening I saw a group of young people wearing green t-shirts and white helmets, riding Segways in the nearby square.
Passer-bys were invited to have a test run, and i had a go. The vehicle is driven by leaning the body to the desired direction, which happens intuitively after a quick adjustment. My machine seemed to be fitted with a speed limiter which limited my joy, but I could nevertheless appreciate the silent elegance of the self-standing vehicle.
I still prefer my bicycle for urban transport.
- And a couple of pics of my hotel room where I spent too much time programming dance moves for Mofo the robot instead of enjoying electronic art and Austrian beer.
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April 6th 2008
Images from Japan |
     
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Spring 2008
3 of my machines feature in the spring campaign for fashion label Comme des Garçons in 20 magazines (Frieze, Wallpaper, Monocle, GQ, New York Times Magazine, Vogue Paris,...).
They look pretty good, in an unusual context, surrounded by many thin pretty girls in expensive outfits.
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February 20th 2008
Australian body-cyborg artist Stelarc gave a briliant lecture in the School of Art and Design where I work in Cardiff.
After the lecture he showed off the freshly implanted third ear on his arm to impressed students.
The bluetooth microphone that will provide internet connectivity is not installed, and the lobe is not grafted yet. When it is, Stelarc knows he will have to be careful not to tear up his ear when he pulls up his sleeves.
His 3D Talking Head was in fine form, answering all questions from the audience with great eloquence.
Photo credit: Kim Fielding |
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