WORKSHOP AT LABORAL CENTRE OF ART AND INDUSTRIAL CREATION IN GIJON

From Thursday, July 22 , 2010 to Saturday, July 31 , 2010

Workshop focused on mobile devices, experimental TV and the production of new narratives.

For the third year running, Centre of Art and Industrial Creation is organising SummerLAB, an annual event conceived to bring digital creators together with the purpose of developing collaborative projects. The new introduction this year is the focus on research and development of productions revolving around a specific topic. On this occasion, SummerLAB will be looking at mobility, mobile technologies, experimentation with new data transmission technologies and, finally, how new narratives are traced through these processes.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and more specifically mobility technologies, outline a prolific scenario for the development of new narrative forms, which not only increase the possibilities of expression, but also evolve in line with the technological transformation as determined by interactive communication. Especially noteworthy is the transition from the former work to the more current process-based structure, and how the concepts of author, reader, producer, visitor/audience, authorship or signature become increasingly more fuzzy. The author becomes a creator and supplier of a continuum of reading and writing, of an infrastructure, of a space full of possibilities which, in collaboration with the erstwhile reader—now transformed into creator—takes an active part in the generation of content. The concept of narratives is, as such, applicable to either natural or human-created information processing systems, and opens up to a wide spectrum of emerging practices based on the latest information and communication technologies, bearing a great impact on individuals and indeed on society as a whole.

SummerLAB 2010 explores new forms and models of collaboration between professional digital creators interested in collective and collaborative development and production. During the ten days of this production workshop, artists and creators are invited to develop eight proposals that examine the structures for constructing new narratives. This call makes a special appeal for projects involving mobile phone and similar technologies, projects which offer resources for the community of creators, which contribute ground-breaking solutions in terms of creation and technology, and which have social applications committed with the environment. The projects may revolve around three broad areas of interest:

• Mobility technologies and locative media to develop mobile devices with new applications or uses

• Non-conventional transmission media, with particular emphasis on projects proposing the use of analogical or digital media suggesting experimental forms of TV, radio and others

• New Narratives, meaning experimentation with action and collaborative participation through which the abovementioned technologies can be explored by means of specific actions.

As a showcase for SummerLAB, New Narratives will move to the Mediateca Expandida at the end of the year. This space will contain all the projects generated during SummerLAB 2010, as a new line of research included in Mediateca Expandida, a model which combines a 3D documentation space, exhibitions and a prototyping space. Mediateca Expandida opened its doors in Autumn 2009 to showcase cultural projects within a more dynamic environment than conventional exhibitions, somewhere between documentary, demonstrations and the exhibition per se. The New Narratives project will be presented at Mediateca Expandida in Autumn Winter 2010/2011.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

This open call invites you to propose innovative ways of developing a project to be included in DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION NODES. There are two options for participating in SummerLAB:
As coordinator of a development and production project
As collaborator in one of the development and production nodes.

For more information: www.laboralcentrodearte.org

DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION NODES

Development and production nodes comprise eight initiatives or projects to be implemented during SummerLAB, focused on the proposed topic, and which will eventually showcased at a New Narratives space at Mediateca Expandida. These are continuous spaces of collaborative work which are firstly established through a selection of projects and then rounded off with a call for collaborators.The creator(s) leading the project should be prepared to work in collaboration, with an open, flexible approach, inviting collaborators, tutors and participants of SummerLAB to make overall suggestions for the projects. It is critical that SummerLAB be recognised as an open, flexible space, encompassing all ideas and establishing synergies for exchange and transfer of knowledge.
To register, you can fill in the FORM specifying your proposal. You can also present your ideas, comments or suggestions, or meet other people who are also sending their proposals in the SummerLAB WIKI.
Should you have any questions you can contact the SummerLAB coordination team at summerlab@laboracentrodarte.org


MEETINGS AND DEBATES

Debates will be carried out during daily meetings, as well as in the various spaces set aside for discussion and debate. The debates will be organised according to the most relevant topics for the community and participants. A schedule will be gradually drawn up comprising the most diverse proposals or experiences from participants. Some of these topics, dealt with in previous editions, are structures and modes of production, ethics and aesthetics, art and technology , theory and practice, new models of work management, etc. You may find some of these topics relevant for you or your community, and we encourage you to make suggestions for new topics of interest.