AMT, the Archaeologies of Media and Technology Research Group at the University of Southampton / Winchester School of Art, has been recently launched. Proud of being part of it, the group presents itself in the following terms:

Amt – (German) an administrative unit, office

The group rethinks computing through surprising, innovative and fresh approaches. It is an office for speculative ideas, grounded research and investigations into the contemporary.

El próximo viernes 30 serán presentados los nuevos cursos, talleres y laboratorios del Aula de Música Experimental. Este año María Andueza y yo hemos propuesto una sucesión de talleres en los que emplear el sonido para pensar y trabajar sobre conceptos como la ciudad, la Tierra o el silencio:

“El volumen del arte sonoro es inconmensurable, ensordecedor” con esta afirmación el artista Christof Migone hace referencia a los dos factores que vertebran este curso: el espacio y la materialidad del sonido.

I'll be presenting my research on the rewriting of landscape as an Inner Colonization at this conference:

"The conference explores the material and phenomenological consequences of both accelerations and decelerations, as well as the aesthetic strategies afforded or precluded by them. It is concerned with the material inscription, practical harnessing and social experience of varying speeds, from the perspective of contrasting temporalities. Particular emphasis is placed on transversal approaches reading across, and drawing into dialogue, seemingly incompossible positions within the fields of sonic and visual arts, cultural and critical theory, and media and communications."

In a piece contributed to the conversation Planetary Computing (Is the Universe Actually a Gigantic Computer?) in e-flux supercommunity Jussi Parikka reviews Mineral Vision:

Indeed, considering luxury culture, “Shine could be the paradoxically material base of an optical economy typically (mis)understood as being purely cognitive or immaterial.” The alchemy of such visual surfaces, as well as their material processes, seem to have fulfilled Zosimus’s fifth-century dream of “The Divine Art of Making Gold and Money” that rings true as to the place of technology in contemporary culture. Art projects also engage with this premise—for example, Abelardo Gil Fournier’s Mineral Vision installation (2015): a copper slab whose silent façade opens up through augmented reality vision, revealing the quasi-mythological world of hidden messages; the digital opens up the material that becomes itself readable. It’s the new, technological version of Roger Caillois’s The Writing of Stones.

The full piece can be accessed here (July 22nd 2015): The Alchemic Digital, The Planetary Elemental

Deep and long interview to Jussi Parikka on the Geology of Media, speculative theory, the planetary dimensions of contemporary geopolitics... full of valuable references (with a mention to Mineral Vision) .

"Images and sounds educate us and create the worlds in which we live; they can create ethical predispositions, not in the sense of moral guidelines, but to teach us to see in particular ways, with particular leanings. And they can also guide us to think of the thick materialities in which images and sounds anyway are carried: the work of modern media technological storage; transmission and processing which involve earth materialities so that we can see colour; we can hear fine-tuned sounds from vinyls to laser discs; we see through minerals."

http://www.kunstkritikk.se/artikler/the-constitution-of-worlds/

My work Mineral Vision has been mentioned among a group of great projects in an article by Jussi Parikka on his book A Geology of Media:

"... it is often in contemporary design and media arts that we find an audiovisual expression of this complex ecological situation. Contemporary art, from The Otolith Group to The Crystal World project (Martin Howse, Jonathan Kemp, and Ryan Jordan), to the work of Katie Paterson, to Critical Infrastructure by Jamie Allen and David Gauthier, provides examples of art that is embedded in thinking about the geological. More recent projects, such as Abelardo G. Fournier’s Mineral Vision, have addressed the connection of materials like copper and digital computation and vision systems. Indeed, we need to be aware that design and art projects are well-positioned to articulate this situation; it’s a mode of knowledge that works in and through art methods as methods of ecology; of working in and with the materials that constitute the technological culture even if often in precarious, sometimes even toxic, ways."

Mineral Vision is being shown in the OA Foundation stand in the ground floor of the JUSTMAD 2015 art fair.

As part of the Franqueados 0.15 exhibition in window shops, Factory of Mineral Vision is being displayed in Optica Alohe, C/ San Andrés 2, from Feb 19th to Feb 28th.

More information on the festival here: http://franqueados.es

Art2Drone is a catalog of art projects that explore diverse and critical approaches to “drone” technologies. In recent years radio controlled and mobile application driven quadrocoptors have become ubiquitous toys simultaneous with greater public awareness of commercial and military uses of UAVs (unmanned autonomous vehicles). Artists have adapted these tools for their practices.

You can download the catalog directly here (pdf file).

Table of Contents:

PROJECTS

Nadav Assor, Ophan

Andrej Boleslavsky, Crash!

Paul Catanese, Visible From Space

Sterling Crispin, Charon

Joeseph DeLappe, In Drones We Trust

Ricardo Dominguez + Ian Alan Paul + Jane Stevens, Drone Crash Incident

Abelardo Gil-Fournier, Sanguine. Crowd colorations

Nathaniel Hartman, ASM_frag

Jim Jeffers, Flyover 16

Richard Johnston, Weightless

Maria Judova, Composition for a Drone

Patrick Lichty + Mark Skwarek, AR Drone “Love Bomber” Over Bushwick

Lee Montgomery, Learning to Write with Remote Control

Simon Remiszewski, Drone Conditioning

Kathleen Rogers, My First Dronie

Carlos Rosas, Revelry Revealed

Nicholas Sagan, For the Love of…

Lile Stephens, Flight Simulator

Scott Patrick Wiener, Landscape Acquisition

Jeff Will + Liz Wuerffel, My Drone Brings People Together

CRITICAL ESSAYS

Meredith Hoy, Invisible Shadows: Overturning Secrecy in Drone Technology

George Monteleone, Liminal Airspace!

Abigail Susik, The Drone in Social Imaginaries

Mineral Vision has been selected to be shown in the JUSTECH 15 exhibition in JUSTMAD, an emergent art fair, together with works of Marina Corach (Mexico), Jorge Luis Vaca Forero (Colombia), Anaisa Franco (Brasil) and the group formed by Citlati Herna?ndez (Me?xico), Nicola?s Villa (Colombia), Ona Sallas i Batle (Espan?a) & Andre?s Costa (Chile).

Read the jury statement here (spanish only): http://arteelectronico.net/fallo-del-jurado-justech-15-y-premios-oa-foundation-de-arte-electronico-experimental/

Una aproximación habitual a las dinámicas de colaboración parte de una visión en la que individuos separados, aislados e incluso categorizados previamente (en disciplinas, por ejemplo) se encuentran y pasan a organizarse, a pensar y a trabajar en común. La colectividad aparece en este relato como un envoltorio desplegado a posteriori sobre esta matriz anterior de singularidades individuales y sostenido por herramientas y metodologías catalizadoras.

¿Cómo podemos atenuar las diferencias categóricas entre humanos, tecnologías y naturaleza, y poner en primer plano una visión de los afectos, movimientos y relaciones entre partes? En esta presentación, que tuvo lugar en el simposio internacional Interactivos?14. Repensar la acción y el comportamiento colectivos, mostré cómo el trabajo que he realizado en estos últimos años ha ido centrándose en los soportes imperceptibles de la colectividad: su materialidad molecular y algorítmica y su actividad creadora.

I've been participating in the Interactivos?'14 workshop on collective behavious as artistic advisor during two stimulating weeks of collective production and discussions.

Interactivos?'14 is an initiative born from the common interest of the Neuroethology Lab at Instituto Cajal (CSIC) and Medialab-Prado to explore new ways to understand, measure, analyze and tapper the benefits of human collectives in life, science and art.

The programme comprises a number of actions in varying formats intended to bring together different areas of knowledge, disciplines and outlooks on the notion of the collective, in the form of discussion and practical sessions. It aims to involve professional and amateur scientists, artists, designers, engineers, town planners, educators, sociologists, activists, entrepreneurs, people connected with public administration and any citizen interested in being part of this process of experimentation and reflection. Based on experimental studies and data analysis, the programme will be addressing issues such as the following:

What can we learn from other species sush as ants or fishes about the way our brain works and our collective behaviour?

- How social networks help us understand human collectives?

- How do we interact with each other and with our environment?

- What kind of collective actions allow our cities and hwo does internet affected them?

- Is creation an individual or collective matter?

- Is learning a solitary process or implies interaction with others?

- Is there a natural tendence to cooperation?

- To what extent are collectives capable of self-governance? Are leaders necessary?

- What are the possibilities for art in collectives?

- What new forms of political expression can we use in collectives?

-What kinds of new technology will help us understand and enhance social action?

Here you can see the selected projects: http://medialab-prado.es/article/convocatoriaparacolaboradoresinteractivos14

Mesa redonda sobre 'Producción Artística' en "IV Encuentro sobre Redes Sociales en Museos y Centros de Arte y Producción from musacmuseo on Vimeo.

Documentación de la mesa redonda en la que participé junto a Quimera Rosa y Oscar Martín. Mi presentación comienza en el minuto 37.

The theory of new materialism is traversing many disciplines of knowledge: from quantum physics to art theory. This allows a search for a common ground for interdisciplinary studies. In addition, these theoretical approaches are proving themselves as a suitable “ethic-onto-epistemological” framework (Barad, 2007) that permits the examination of social phenomena from multidimensional perspectives, alongside offering new ways to theorize and challenge the divisions between matter and discourse, nature and culture, etc. However, the methodological parameters of these approaches remain underdeveloped and somewhat unclear especially when related to feminist theories and politics. New materialism has been coined as a “third wave feminist epistemology” (van der Tuin, 2009) in the present globalized information society, and it is because of this that a profound reassessment of some of the core research concepts is needed if these ways of theorizing want to configure themselves as an alternative to social constructivist approaches specifically in the context of digital cultures and political engagement. To these methodological concerns, we have included ‘gender’, ‘politics’ and ‘the digital’ because of their centrality in scholarly debates produced in feminist journals and scholarship. The terms also remain key for contemporary feminist practice. Can we still consider gender as a key concept for feminist politics? How is social change conceived of and produced within a new materialist framework? How is digital inter-connectedness affecting/affected by new materialisms, and most importantly different forms of life?

Next weekend, September 20-21, I'll be participating in the IV Encounter on Social Networks in Museums, Art Centers and Production: Intermedia_Networks_Ecosystems. I will present my practice in a round table discussion together with Oscar Martín and Quimera Rosa.

Following, the documentary co-directed with Raul Alaejos and produced by Ultra-lab, Hello World! Processing will be projected.

Immigrant Sounds is a participatory exploration of the urban space proposed by María Andueza and Abelardo Gil-Fournier throughout concepts such as presence, permanence, displacement or settlement. During the performance the participants will freely move in a particular area of the city of Stockholm while carrying a small electronic device that will broadcast a cicada-like sound, characteristic of the sonic environment of southern countries. A set of ideas and questions will be provided to each participant in order to stimulate this specific exploration of the urban social environment.

Immigrant Sounds is part of Re(s)on-Art, an International Artistic Research Conference with actions in Public Space held in Stockholm between September 9-12, 2014 at ArkDes, Skeppsholmen and throughout Stockholm. Re(s)on-Art is organized by Monica Sand and Ricardo Atienza, artists and researchers in ArkDes, the museum of Architecture and Design of Stockholm.

Re(son)-Art – the art of resonating with/in/through the city – intends to explore everyday situations in public space and encourage daily urban awareness by collective actions. A number of interventions will be arranged in Stockholm by the conference participants, based on their research and artistic practice. Everyone is most welcome to participate actively in all events of Re(s)on-Art!

Following you can find the list of artists participating and the title of the proposed actions:

Maria Andueza / Abelardo Gil-Fournier (Spain): Immigrant Sounds

José Luis Carles / Cristina Palmese (Spain, Italy): Exploring the walk

Ulrika Jansson (Sweden): Natural Citizenship

Guillermo Lares (Venezuela, Germany): Ensayos con fuentes sonoras

My Lindh / Monica Sand (Sweden): Rösträtt/Suffrage

Pavel Matveyev (Sweden / Russia): I wanted you to feel the same #1

Pablo Padilla (UK): Verklärte Stadt

Cecilia Parsberg (Sweden): Kropp på gata

Chris Porcarelli (USA, Sweden): Soniferous Mingle

Jenny Simmar / Olivia Berkowicz / Joe Campbell (Sweden): Vigil III

Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec (Norway): Rhythms of Presence – Heare Drum

Tianji Zhao / Max Gerthel (Sweden): Hold your breath

All the events of Re(s)on-Art are public and free of charge. More information and the updated schedule at: http://playingthespace.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/reson-art/

Next June I'll be participating in the Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics conference organized by the Operational and Curatorial Research and the Pera Museum in Istambul. In the event, that will bring together inspiring authors such as Jussi Parikka, Anne Balsamo, Ljiljiana Fruk and Darren Tofts, I'll be presenting my last work in the context of the synthesis of colors and the materiality of images in a session with Genevieve Tremblay, Milena Szafir and Simone Mandl & Petra Gemeinboeck.

The synopsis of my presentation, titled Color erosion. Inks and dyes in the pixel era, follows:

In his first color film, Red Desert, Michelangelo Antonioni showed the effects of chemical pollution over an industrial landscape through the experience of the main character, a woman affected by a nervous syndrome that altered her senses. Visually, the film is characterized by the continual appearance of elements with striking colors that introduce in the image the synthetic and toxic substances present in the atmosphere of the industrial plant. Colors, visible on painted surfaces, clothes or gas emissions, appear as active agents that leave the surface of objects to invade the space and characterize the mental state, health and relationships of people within it.

This paper presents my research on color as an agent that materializes the action of another industry, the IT one. From the point of view of the digitalization processes of objects and images, every color surface can be addressed as an information surface, susceptible of being recodified in real time through a large number of techniques, and its colors changed consequently. In my last works I have explored the use of projections and overprints of grids of benday dots to digitally modify the perceived colors on objects. This paper presents these projects -Vividness, Chromogeny and L’image est une machine malade- contextualized in relation to the theoretical work of Esther Leslie, historian of art, around the history of the production of synthetic colors.

Film by lesfilmsduhiboo.com documenting the wonderful encounter in Nantes, where people, installations, workshops, films and generative graphics met in an inclusive and critical event full of inspiring ideas and exchanges.

I have been interviewed byJulie Salmon for the french online tv magazine vlipp.fr in the context of a piece on the Processing [Art] event in Nantes at Stereolux where I was invited to participate.

Here you can see the video:

Code_in[ART] #1 // Le mag' qui explore... por vlipp

Increasingly complex interactions with machines blur the differences between matter, life and conscience. Next Thursday and Friday I'll be in Stereolux (Nantes) speaking about Hello World! Processing and working in a workshop on the alien generative energy stored in algorithmic systems, where we'll get to work with Vectorfields and Graphs as basic models of natural and artificial environments.

Vanessa Alonso interviewed me for the WBAI -a classic among NY radio stations, the one where Max Neuhaus for example performed his Public Supply experimental piece- and we chatted about Vividness and the relation of art and technology. The interview begins approx. at min 5.

Here's the link to the interview

Refest is a 3-day art and technology festival that celebrates the convergence of new and old, digital and analog, near and far. The artists featured in Refest are those who are breaking open possibilities through their practice. Creators working across a broad range of technologically informed media will gather at CultureHub in New York City to share video, performance, music, and more. Refest invites artists to share how they are reforming, rebuilding, reiterating, and renewing ideas.

Exhibition Opening Friday 29 Nov 5 pm. Featuring works from Abelardo Gil-Fournier, Jesper Norda, Jane Tingley and Michael Seta, Matthew Mazzota, RATS Theatre, Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint, Jody Zellen, Karen Niemczyk, Robert Spahr, Namwoo Bae

Fantastic experience meeting the team that rules Medialab USAL, discovering their projects and discussing Hello World! Processing with a group of art students from the Universidad de Salamanca.

Last Tuesday, Nov 5th, I participated in a conversation with Daniel Miracle on his experimental and open source TV, Neokinok. The hangout was organized by Comandante Tom in the context of the DoingDoing conversations.

You can watch the video here:

Last week I published a simple GUI to common toxiclibs operations for algorithmic mesh manipulations. Based conceptually on the HemeshGUI by Ammon Owned, this interface was developped for a workshop in San Sebastián, and was meant to show how we can reelaborate 3d models through coding.

You can download it here.

I've been invited by the Art & Technology lab of Arteleku, coordinated by Daniel Artamendi, to workshop together with artist Dario Urzay in San Sebastian during two days, 20-21 October 2013.

Workshop in Alghero, Italy

in Stockholm, helping María Andueza with her awesome project on public art, sound and radical geography, Augmented Spatiality

Telefonica Foundation asked Ultra-lab, a company which I'm partner of, to develop a visualizacion of the VIDA Prizes database.

We proposed them to show the collection in a 3D environment that could be explored by the users in a first person game-like navigation. The space was designed to create the illusion of an unknown territory that is being occupied by experimental and rhizomatical practices. The metaphor of a space fill with colonies of exotique creatures drives the whole experience. You can see a set of images here.

As creative director of the project, I designed and developed the visualization, which was exhibited in the Premios Vida 2012 exhibition. Today, with the help of the developers at the studio Helsinki 203, it has been ported to Javascript and published online with its own site: http://vida.fundaciontelefonica.com/premiosvida/

How can we think of systems, abstraction and emergent behaviours through digital fabrication? How can we grasp the notion of growth of structures, or of digital structures as well, with the aid of multiple 3d printers working at the same time?

Daniel Artamendi proposed a very interesing workshop around these topics to Pello Mitxelena, a vasc sculptor, and me, as part of the workshop program he has been developing in Arteleku (Donosti).

Rather than thinking of printing objects, how can we start to think of the idea of printing systems? The workshop was a two day creative meeting with several people with different backgrounds, from architecture, education and engineering to arts.

In order to introduce some concepts around algorithms to the participants in the workshop, I prepared a series of tutorials in Processing connected to the building of elementary snappable "coded" pieces. This code has been further elaborated by Mikel del Valle and will be released soon as an open source tool to "program" printable pieces.

I worte post-workshop review here (spanish only): http://ultra-lab.net/blog/sistemas-y-modularidad-volvemos-de-arteleku

You can browse also through its flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62141688@N08/sets/72157631827373101/

Or hear a conversation with Pello Mitxelena, in a video (spanish only) here: https://vimeo.com/57051140

Abelardo Gil-Fournier eta Pello Mitxelena. Elkarrizketa - entrevista. from ARTELEKU on Vimeo.

Mexico DF, February 13-17, 2012, in collaboration with María Andueza

SAE Insitute Mexico - http://mexico.sae.edu/

The city is a process landscape where people, machines and infrastructures cohabit and populate a space-time experience so complex that allows infinite variations and local site specificities.

This was a 5 day workshop where we set up a process of intense collective creation and discussion with a complex videogame as a result.

We proposed to think a specific spatial context in terms of game design, and explained gradually a set of tools we had prepared to work with Processing and Android devices:

- Day 1. The room - The space and its representation in a map - Interaction

- Day 2. The building as a situation database - QR Codes

- Day 3: A specific open space, the park - Mobile cameras, image upload, public sharing content networks.

- Day 4: The streets, the map - The city as a situation game engine - GeoData and Google Tables

- Day 5: The complete game - Project presentation

We prepared a website of the workshop (spanish only): http://sumadecodigos.hotglue.me/

And posted all the codes (a lot of useful classes to work with Android Processing) here: http://ultra-lab.net/code/wiki:android

Finally, you can read a post-workshop review by María Andueza here (spanish only): http://mariaandueza.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/resultados-taller-suma-de-codigos-en-mexico-d-f/