three great projects i didn’t mention yet, nor checked out as much as they would have deserved …
Bank of Common Knowledge
Bank of Common Knowledge is a group of activists from barcelona, who try to match people according to their interests, people wanting to learn and people who can teach, to organize small workshops. on a wall with color coded post-its, green is “i can teach”, pink is “i want to learn”, they collect skills and interests as well as email adresses. when enough people cluster around a certain topic, workshops are announced. i think five or six such workshops did happen with topics ranging from “how to make sushi in 5 minutes” to “programming in C++”.
Fallen Fruit – Who owns the fruit?
the guys from fallen fruit collect fruit in urban areas; that pretty much sums it up. but of course this action raises questions about property, public versus private space etc. they offered a guided tour through linz, to show people where they can find fruit and to share with them their knowledge. the next day, they made jam with the fruit they had collected. i didn’t attend, but some people who did told me it was really quite great. nice and goofy.
Ethics Disco
Kalle Laar calls himself an aural archeologist, he plays records with a strong political or cultural message to create a “temporary sound museum”. during these audio collages he can play anything from “mein kampf” to malcolm x.
DJ Spooky Sound Unbound
peter miller aka dj spooky that subliminal kid was in linz to pimp his fantastic latest book sound unbound, a collection of essaies from people ranging from cory doctorow to bruce sterling, but also chuck d, scanner, brian eno and more, all reflecting on the evolution of sampling and dj culture and the future of music. the books subtitle reads: “sampling digital music and culture”. and i am now the proud owner of a signed copy 😉
to sum up my visit to linz here’s a wildy confused and confusing list:
– i discovered some artists i really liked (yeh duh, erm, hopefully. but i somehow doubted i would before the trip)
– i didn’t log into my world of warcraft account once and only watched tv twice, very briefly (and i still stared at screens almost the whole time)
– i ate 6 times within 5 days in the still quite fantastic vegetarian restaurant p’aa (and sunday the restaurant was closed)
– i also ate 3 pieces of linzer torte and 3 organic ice creams on a stick (sweet)
– i didn’ get laid, drunk nor otherwise fucked up, in fact i never even went out to party. my latest bed time was 22:50 (not that i planned to get laid, drunk or wasted, but it is sad what a boring sod i have become)
– i had actual conversations that consisted of more than 3 or 4 sentences with maybe 5 or 6 people (see what i did there, 7?)
– i met some really cool australian media artists (but am afraid they didn’t like me much in return and who could blame them, really)
– i beat the tris record on my ipod, a first time during one particularly boring symposium session (16245) – name of lecturer withheld – and then i beat it again on my train ride home (17499)
– i blogged, twittered, flickred and facebooked daily (what a good little chappy 2.0 i am)
– i wrote two articles for wmmna (one and two is not out yet, and might never see the light of day)
– i slept well twice in 6 nights (snorers, mosquitos and loud room neighbors kept me awake the other nights)
– i met the two loudest snorers i ever met (both in the same sleeping coach compartment with me on the way down)
– i bought a copy of dj spooky’s book sound unbound and got it signed (and yeah, i was shy like a real groupie)
– i am officially over my joi ito infatuation (he is still a very cool guy, but the aureole is off. i am sorry, joi, i know you never asked to get idolised. what was that saying? kill yer idols. better late than never)
– i ripped my favorite pants (/cry)
– i decided that next year will be my last visit to ars electronica (that’ll be 10 visits)
