Promiscuous Pipe(line)s

Transcription

1 Promiscuous Pipe(line)s 31 August 6 September 2015 'Universalism is not rejected but particularized; what is needed is a new kind of articulation between the universal and the particular' 1 In computation, a 'pipe' is a method to enable various software modules to connect to each other, where the output of one program is treated as the input for the next program. 'Pipes' form the basis of The Unix philosophy, a perspective on software production where multiple task-oriented tools can be chained together to make seemingly endless software combinations possible. While interchangeable and flexible, the assumption that each element should be optimised to 'Do One Thing and Do It Well' leads to a rather predictable and ultimately normative set. If each tool is designed to be used in any context by anyone at any time, what about situated knowledge? How can we imagine modularity, knowing that software processes are inherently leaky and contextual? To think modular systems beyond received ideas about efficiency and optimisation, we propose to first of all pay attention to the plumbing itself, to what exactly happens between 'standard out' and 'standard in'. Beautiful accidents, unpredictable U-turns, lopsided loops, porous borders between inside and outside and the pleasure of spaghetti code... imperfect software systems stretching out their tentacles to make connections between what does not yet belong together. At Promiscuous Pipelines we'll experiment with the principle of 'pipes' to inspire uncommon junctions and perhaps achieve the opposite of a productivity-oriented system. It is an occasion to discuss, re-work and develop tool-sets, methods or systems that generate hybrid practices, contaminate standardized working methods, and are ready to incorporate unintended results. In parallel, we write and edit the Promiscuous Pipelines A-Manual, an impossible e-publication that will be the missing anti-manual for how the systems and proposals present in the worksession can (not) be linked up. Promiscuous Pipelines continues and deepens various software experiments that artists and developers around foam and Constant and have undertaken in recent years and links them to new initiatives. With amongst others: Øyvind Kolås Microraptor/GEGL Martino Morandi Unitary Networking Heij, Anne Laforet The Botopera Marthe Van Dessel bolwerk Ž eljko Blace QueerOS Michael Murtaugh Active Archives An Mertens, Gijs de Christoph Haag Etherpash Pierre Marchand Wænd 1 Chantal Mouffe in: The Return of the political (1993)

2 Call for participants Participants in Promiscuous Pipelines can be artists and/or thinkers and/or developers interested in rethinking tool-sets, methods or systems. You are invited to bring existing or imagined projects that care about connections between social, technical and physical worlds. There are 5 places available. If you are interested in participating, please send a short motivation to femke@constantvzw.org by July 1, The worksession starts on Monday 31 August in the afternoon and ends on Saturday evening. The session is organised by Constant in collaboration with FoAM and hosted in their Brussels studio. Participation is free. Constant and FoAM will provide lodging and vegetarian lunch. A basic hardware workshop, plus a library of related materials will be made available. If you need anything particular, let us know and we'll try to facilitate it. We ll primarily use Free, Libre and Open Source software because we would like to focus on tools that invite us to speak back to their social and technological construction. Hosts Promiscuous Pipelines is prepared and hosted by: Constant (Femke Snelting, Wendy Van Wynsberghe). a non-profit association, an interdisciplinary arts-lab based and active in Brussels since Constant works in-between media and art and is interested in the culture and ethics of the World Wide Web. The artistic practice of Constant is inspired by the way that technological infrastructures, data-exchange and software determine our daily life. Free software, copyright alternatives and (cyber)feminism are important threads running through the activities of Constant. Constant organizes workshops, print-parties, walks and Verbindingen/Jonctions -meetings on a regular basis for a public that s into experiments, discussions and all kinds of exchanges. FoAM (Nik Gaffney, Maja Kuzmanovic). a network of transdisciplinary labs for speculative culture. It is inhabited by people with diverse skills and interests from arts, science, technology, entrepreneurship, cooking, design and gardening. It is a generalists community of practice working at the interstices of contrasting disciplines and worldviews. Guided by our motto grow your own worlds, we study and prototype possible futures, while remaining firmly rooted in cultural traditions. We speculate about the future by modelling it in artistic experiments that allow alternative perspectives to emerge. By conducting these experiments in the public sphere, we invite conversations and participation of people from diverse walks of life.

3 Draft program Monday 31 August 16:00 Arrivals and set-up 17:00 Discussion, talks Tuesday 1 September 10:00-12:00 Promiscuous Pipelines conversations 13:30-18:00 Development Wednesday 2 September 10:00-12:00 Promiscuous Pipelines conversations 13:30-18:00 Development Thursday 3 September 10:00-12:00 Promiscuous Pipelines conversations 13:30-18:00 Development Friday 4 September 10:00 Excursion to the sewer museum 17:00 Apéro / presentations / discussion Saturday 5 September 11:00-13:00 Talks 14:00 18:00 Development

4 Wænd (2015) Claire Williams: Uncanny Creatures (2012)

5 Libre Graphics Research Unit: The Piksels And Lines Orchestra (2013) Marthe Van Dessel: Home is a server (2013)

6 Dave Griffith: Fluxus Christoph Haag: Etherpash (2015)