Promiscuous PipelinesPromiscuous PipelinesPromiscuous Pipelines

’Universalism is not rejected but particularized; what is needed is a new kind of articulation between the universal and the particular’ (Chantal Mouffe in: The Return of the political, 1993)

Promiscuous Pipelines was a worksession about modularity in software processes that took place from 31 August to 5 September 2015 in FoAM in Brussels. 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? This worksession was developed by Femke Snelting in collaboration with

Participants

Agustina Andreoletti, An Mertens, Anne Laforet - The Botopera, Bash, bolwerK, Christoph Haag - Etherpash, Eleanor Saitta, Femke Snelting, Foam, Gijs de Heij, Gottfried Haider, Marthe Van Dessel - bolwerK, Martino Morandi - Unitary Networking, Michael Murtaugh - Active Archives, Nik Gaffney, Øyvind Kolås -Microraptor/GEGL, Pierre Marchand - Wænd, Simon Yuill, Sophie Toupin, Wendy Van Wijnsberghe, Zeljko Blace - QueerOS.

Publication

https://gitlab.com/fs/pppp

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 1997. 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. http://constantvzw.org
* 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. http://fo.am

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 foAM Apéro / presentations / discussion
Saturday 5 September
* 11:00 - 13:00 Talks
* 14:00 – 18:00 Development