Constant

The Bitflipping Mixtape launch

Femke Snelting — 2019-05-23T11:19:40Z

ATTENTION: Postponed due to a SEU!

With The Bitflipping Mixtape, The Flipping (de)Ontologi(ci)sts set out to answer a simple, burning question: What is happening in the forbidden zone? The result was nothing short of a revelation. Finally turning all Truth Tables, The (de)Ontologi(ci)sts burrow into the past and future of Ageing Companions, a worksession that explored the interconnected ageing of bodies and technologies, to bring you this coercive statement towards Non-Coercive Computing.

The Bitflipping Mixtape is a soundtrack for the summer solstice, emerging exactly one year after having observed the impact of cosmic rays on a chamber saturated with ethanol fumes. It's a rich and messy mélange of real real new new wave and particles, carrying a luminous sheen and a bittersweet undercurrent. Instead of constructing a playlist around catchy hooks and brisk 16-bar verses, the tracks revel in pregnant pauses, stop frequently to insert a BUT-gate, flip lines several times, and generally falter and stumble blindly across the middle ground of the tape's lush production, which is characterized by thick, buzzsaw bass lines, glittering arpeggiated synths, and juicy vieillissant harmonies.

~~Broadcast Sunday 23 June from 21:00 until a bit after midnight~~. Place and frequency to be announced. If you bring a used cassette tape, we will make you a magnetically enhanced copy on the spot.

Performance: Zoumana Méïté

Femke Snelting — 2018-05-28T11:24:19Z

How do ageing bodies keep each other and their technological partners company? What account do they give of their generational specificities? Can we develop ecosystems that transcend time and scale in solidarity? At the closing of the worksession Ageing companions / Geprogrammeerde veroudering / Les cyborgs vieillissants, Zoumana Méïté performs with electromagnetic devices to explore what old ideas of 'soul' these so-called new technologies might carry. Using his observations from participating in the worksession, he will move with radio-waves, ink-drops and the memories of his own body.

I form the vision of a black ink drop falling in my eye, bringing a recollection of the possible. I see each and every hesitation, trembling, shaking like an oscillography of my flesh, magnetically charged. Those objectivised vibrations in front of us are spread and spattered spores, generating other hesitations, doubts, ... slides of an oriented gesture. I partially charge my flesh with a strong craving, something obsessing me. I gather liquid from my liver on blottingpaper. Drops of an (id)entity "¦

Zoumana Méïté is a performer and theatre-maker based in Brussels. He recently concluded the post-master programme in a.pass, advanced performance and scenography studies.

Pianorama Extra

Femke Snelting — 2018-05-24T15:14:00Z

Life limited electronics link the life cycle of humans, animals and machines; growing older biologically intersects with the lifespan of pacemakers and defibrillators. How do ageing bodies and their technological partners keep each other company, now and in the future?

Film programme within the framework of senior cinema Pianorama. With care robots, digital grandmothers and hybrid animals. Cake, coffee and discussion included!

Free entrance, offered by Pianofabriek Kunstenwerkplaats + Gemeenschapscentrum and Constant.

Open Call: Ageing companions / Geprogrammeerde veroudering / Les cyborgs vieillissants

Femke Snelting — 2018-02-24T11:02:11Z

The lifecycles of different species are linked via electronic circuits with limited lifespan: accessories that measure biorhythms or monitor the growth-rate of specimens; interactive medical implants, networked pacemakers or wireless defibrillators are an everyday reality. As minerals, plants, animals, people and machines wear out, the technologies they carry and/or are part of, age as well. Their batteries might be empty, their computer chips break down or remote monitors can no longer handle the latest update. The ageing processes of biological and technological merge and it is not always so clear whether we are faced with physical or programmed obsolescence.

Under the influence of medicalisation, miniaturisation and algorithmic optimization, the prolongation of life seems to be a tech-only challenge without limits. Calibrated on the basis of constantly updating data flows, we become-older-together regardless of who or what has access, where we will stay all this time and how long we will last. Meanwhile, we generate dumping sites full of leaking bits and bytes, excess chargers and broken components. The associated ageing of bodies and devices takes place simultaneously in microseconds and in geological time, both on nano- and global scale. While tools innovate and flesh declines, faltering devices keep promising eternal youth.

During the worksession Ageing companions, we will work on the interconnected lifespan of both technology and bodies. How do ageing bodies keep each other and their technological partners company? How do they give an account of their generational specificities? Can we develop ecosystems that transcend time and scale in solidarity? Are bodyparts and extensions imaginable beyond the expiration date of concepts like The Internet of Things and The Quantified Self? How does ageism affect the "new" in so-called new technologies? What would it mean to engage in wild and mutual life-long learning?

Worksessions are intensive transdisciplinary moments that Constant organises twice a year. We create a temporary working environment where participants can link their different types of expertise in order to develop ideas and research projects together. We prefer to use Free, Libre and Open Source software and data available under an open license. Language: English, with inserts in Dutch and French.

Participants of all ages are welcome to apply. They have diverse backgrounds, disciplines and ages. We are looking for example for critical gerontologists, data feminists, reflective self-quantifiers, artists who work with wearables (who wears what?), sensors (who feels who?), micro-controllers (who controls what?).

During this intensive week we jointly develop prototypes, models and concepts that can stretch the imagination for the connected ageing of technology and body. We work hands-on with open hardware, visit a high-tech lab and contribute to a special episode of Pianorama (cinema for seniors). The week ends with a performance that Zoumana Méïté develops together with us over the course of the worksession.

Ageing companions takes place in Brussels from Sunday evening 17 June to Saturday evening 23 June 2018. Participation is free of charge, Constant provides lunch and travel plus accommodation if necessary. Constant already invited a number of participants to start the session. In addition, 15 places are available via this open call.

If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to wendy@constantvzw.org before 18 April 2018 and briefly motivate your participation. Also mention your chronological, biological and/or subjective age. We will reply no later than 25 April 2018.

Ageing companions is developed by the association for art and media, Constant in collaboration with the kunstenwerkplaats and community centre De Pianofabriek.

Ageing companions

Femke Snelting — 2018-02-24T10:52:35Z

Ageing Companions was a worksession that explored the interconnected ageing of bodies and technologies.

The life-cycles of different species are linked via electronic circuits with limited lifespan: accessories that measure biorhythms or monitor the growth-rate of specimens; interactive medical implants, networked pacemakers or wireless defibrillators are an everyday reality. As minerals, plants, animals, people and machines wear out, the technologies they carry and/or are part of, age as well. The ageing processes of biological and technological merge and it is not always so clear whether we are faced with physical or programmed obsolescence.

The worksession took place from 17 until 23 June 2018 in the kunstenwerkplaats and gemeenschapscentrum De Pianofabriek, Brussels.