a workshop by Stefanie Wuschitz (Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory)

This is a hacker workshop to build charismatic robots from old switches, motors, broken mobile phones and tiny pieces of hardware. We will create shaking little angst robots that interact with sound and touch. We will use micro-controlers at this basic electronics workshop, and we will re-use materials to implement them into circuits and small voodoo dolls (the angst robots). At the end we will experiment with sustainable energy resources and how they can make our angst-robots self-contained. If possible, bring old Barbie dolls!

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pictures from the workshop
11. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Gordan Savičić and Danja Vasiliev

Encrypted Wi-Fi networks are private spaces carrying simple radio waves into the ether. Still, they can be received with normal equipment in public space, far beyond your apartment’s room. Who and what is claiming the ether? Are waves an emerging transmission carrier reshaping the definition of public and private space?

Sometimes we can still enjoy the luck of finding an open Wi-Fi network that some generous geek left free or occupied house-wife forgot to secure. Sadly, most recent wireless access points come off the shop shelves being pre-configured with rather strong encryption. We believe that regardless the settings the devices sold with, people still might not mind us using their wireless for the common good. All we need to do is to help them share it.

On another hand the concept of wireless security is a flaky topic to begin with. Anything what is in the air (like the radio waves) can be captured and decoded. There are no barriers for anyone to tap into anyone else’s radio network and with the power of modern computers cracking the encryption takes very symbolic time to complete.

The workshop showcases the ease of cracking WEP/WPA wireless network encryptions as a way for understanding the risks of Wi-Fi networks and will provide participants with handy computer skill for the precarious offline times. After the participants taught the easy ways of securing your own wireless environment.

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photos from the workshop
12. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Gordan Savičić and Danja Vasiliev

During the “Data carving” workshop, participants will explore the contents of found hard-disks. Using methods borrowed from computer digital forensics participants will peek into the lives of others – former owners of scavenged hardware. Hard-disks as the most intimate part of any computer system. In case of a personal computer – the most intimate part of person’s life. Deductively, we will try to discuss and recreate “psyche” portraits of those strangers and restore the time-lines that otherwise would have faded away. In the times of paranoiac privacy awareness we forget that online is not the only place to loose your identity. Although more and more personal data is stored on the Internet servers it is still written to hard-disks. There were several reports about Internet servers hard-disks ending up on flea-markets, being sold for cheap money.

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photos from the workshop
11. 06. 2011.

In this workshop you can actually do what the picture on the flyer promised you to. DisAssemble and destroy computers. In the process we can look at all the pieces and find out what a computer is made of.

No previous knowledge needed.

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pictures from the workshop
12. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Sabrina Basten and Audrey Samson (Genderchangers)

You have things you can’t bare to throw away? Migrate the sentimental value by re-purposing components into a wearable electromagnetic wave sniffer!

Participants are expected to bring an old electronic object (preferably with coils in it) to dismantle. The coils are going to be re-purposed into pick up microphones (mics that pick up electromagnetic frequencies). We will then build an amplifier from components. After that we build the circuit into a wearable device (re-using the old components of the dismatled object). We end the day by a walk through the city and shopping areas discovering the electromagnetic environment.

The ELECTROMAGNETIC CITYSCAPE is about understanding how things work, breaking things open, working with the physical leftovers of planned obsolescence, and re-incarnating old components. It is also about exploring the hidden world of omnipresent electromagnetic waves.

No previous knowledge about electronics is required.

please bring to the workshop: an appliance to dismantle (old radios, TVs, VHS players, mobiles, tape recorders or kitchen appliances) and if you have, a piece of clothing to modify; if you have your own, bring soldering irons, solder and de-solder, tools like plyers, cutters, screw drivers

Participants: 8-10

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photos from the workshop
10. and 11. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Darija Medić

This workshop will demonstrate the possibilities to use GPS software and hardware for playing with different referential systems; Participants will work with locative media in urban environment and examine their abilities to navigate through the physical space of information.

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pictures from the workshop
10. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Maria Karagianni (Genderchangers)

Introduction to the command line, interaction with the computer throught textual commands only

The “Text Only” workshop will introduce participants to interacting with the computer operating system from a command line interface. In Windows terminology one would run a DOS “box”, while in Linux and Mac OS X the terminal window gives access to a prompt from which to send commands to the computer. The more familiar one gets in this text only environment the more you can do with your computer.

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photos from the workshop
13. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Helga Hofbauer (Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory)

the use of Free Libre Open Source Software for composing

playing around with sound composing software on open source basis. let’s compose a song

1. beats
2. bass
3. melodies/lead
4. add fancy freaky soundz
5. play it and dance the revolution 😉

http://lmms.sourceforge.net/
bring your laptop AND SOME HEADPHONES – install LMMS/Linux Multi Media Studio (linux or windows)

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pictures from the workshop
12. 06. 2011.

a workshop by Selena Savić

The workshop is thought of as a place to experiment with manufacturing of solar cells. We will build DIY solar cells, using different materials like copper, broken screens and old transistors. We will test the capacity of these cells and try to use them to power simple devices, that we could then leave in the public space.

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photos from the workshop
13. 06. 2011.

a step-by-step guide:

drawing lines with silver varnish, [photo electrode] (to make the surface more conductive)

covering the surface with TiO2 – titanium dioxide [semi-conductive electron receptor]

preparing the dye (raspberries and mulberries)

covering one sheet of the cell with dye

covering the other sheet with carbon [catalyst]

closing the cell with silicon, after adding some drops of betadine in between the sheets [electrolyte]

on the street, measuring capacities: