Part workshop, part collective documentation, part installation, part audiovisual collage, part occupation… this is a workshop that combines ideas from two previous projects by the Astrovandalistas collective, El Abismo No Nos Detiene and Æffect Lab, to create a collective narrative about events of interest to the participants.
The workshop is an opportunity to allow participants to create a collective media archive, and then use this material to create their own narratives based on their experiences and perspectives.
During the workshop the ideas of collective archives and collective narratives are introduced, and participants discuss what kind of events they want to research and collect information about. In one instance hosted in Montreal, the workshop was centered around events related to the Maple Spring protests of 2012.
Afterwards, we introduce the technical framework that was developed for the workshop and show how participants can use it to upload their materials onto a local media server. The contributed files are organized and tagged using meta-descriptive words that can be specific to the events, or more abstract words related to the mood, effect or pace of the material. For the workshop in Montreal participants used many water-related words (“frozen”, “turbulent”, “flowing”) to describe the media files in their archive.
Each workshop participant then programs a RaspberryPi computer connected to one of the players (a TV, a megaphone, a set of speakers), specifying which keywords/tags their player should respond to.
Once all the players are set up and installed in their locations, the media server starts sending out tags/keywords that describe an overall macro-narrative. Much like a symphony has movements, the server sets the mood and pace by stringing together tags/keywords that different players can respond to. Each player has their own logic, but they all followed queues from the same server/conductor.
Length: 2-3 days x 2-3 hours each
Materials: 1 RaspberryPi per participant, +1 for server, assortment of TVs, projectors, speakers
2015: Transitio_MX 06, Centro Nacional de las Artes - México City, MX
2014: Sight+Sound Festival, Eastern Bloc - Montréal, CA
