Playshop

Playshop can be described as an open-access laboratory which encourages the free flow of ideas. It presents projects, workshops, seminars, art installations and a web site that collectively question or challenge the role of technology and propose alternatives to the cultural social and economic systems we live in. Playshop is where the energy of art production, education, curatorial practice and social interaction fuse to create a vital public space and an environment of exchange.

Organized by Futurefarmers, Playshop is an extension of their studio practice. Through their Artist in Residency program, Futurefarmers have collaborated with a wide range of talents since 1995 to explore the relationship of concept and creative process in the development of work in new media. Futurefarmers artists and friends; Amy Franceschini, Michael Swaine, Elmar Trefz, Stijn Schiffeleers and Richard Mortimer will be on hand in the Playshop several days a week to host a series of projects and workshops. The projects include: the Fingerprint Maze, a physical interface turns individual fingerprints into a 3D maze to wander through on screen; Community Connectivity, a workshop which presents instructions for building one's own wireless antennae; Botanical Gameboy, an installation of custom Nintendo gameboys powered by a network of lemon trees; and an interactive installation centered on the video game paradigm created by the student collective Artech. Transport, the online component of Playshop, will serve as a resource and window to the events and projects within the space consisting of a mailing list, database and gallery.

Futurefarmers use the metaphor of a mothership to characterize Playshop as a free-floating and open-source system of activities. The mothership has landed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts [in the former cafe space] from January 17 through April 4, and will seek out another destination in which to open shop after this date.

http://www.futurefarmers.com/playshop/

Posted by delpesco at April 18, 2004 03:04 PM