[dorkbotsea-blabber] DORKTOBER? DORKTOBERFEST!

[Kate Seekings]

Swingin' sensors - it's Fall* already, and time for the
regularly-scheduled dorkbot-sea meetings to resume after a hiatus during
the 'people doing strange things with electricity' show.  
 
So.  what's the regular schedule?  First Wednesday of every month; which
makes the next dorkbot meeting WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1ST at 7.30 pm at CoCA
(http://www.cocaseattle.org <http://www.cocaseattle.org/> ) on Capitol
Hill.  And what's the event?  A monthly forum for anyone with an
interest in art and technology - whether you're an artist, a performer,
a student, an engineer, a mad scientist, an introvert or a show-off; if
you're interested in the creation of electronic art in the broadest
sense of the term, this event is for you.  And it's FREE!
 
 
dorktober speakers and performance:
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
* LAURA MACCARY AND LAWRENCE MACCARY:    Seattle artist and weaver Laura
MacCary and her father and collaborator, Spokane sculptor, poet and
electronics expert Lawrence MacCary, will be talking about the hows and
whys of their series of interactive artworks combining weaving and
electronics.  They will also unveil a new piece for the first time.
Each piece in the series consists of an electronic component woven of
conductive or resistive materials cast off by industry, and a circuit
designed around the weaving.  By interacting with the weaving the viewer
physically enters the circuit, and the circuit passes through the
viewer, blurring the boundary between them.  The title of the series,
Dialectric, is taken from the words dialectic, meaning the juxtaposition
or interaction of two conflicting ideas or forces, and dielectric, an
insulating substance or one in which an electric field can be maintained
with a minimum loss of power.
 
Videos of some pieces in the series can be seen at
http://www.maccary.com <http://www.maccary.com/>  .
 
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
* TOBY PADDOCK, "MAGNETIC SENSORS FOR THE UNWASHED AND LAZY; using Hall
Effect devices without learning very much".  Toby is "just some guy who
thinks that Hall Effect sensors are kind of neat and that everyone
should know about them".  He will be giving an introduction to simple
sensors and switches that detect the position of a magnet. Inside is a
lot of science, but from the outside, they are small, cheap, rugged,
have few wires, and are pretty easy to get along with. They may be a
reasonable alternative to mechanical switches and potentiometers in some
things that move. They can be simpler to use that people realize -and
he'll be telling us how, along with showing some of the things he's done
with less effort than we might've expected.  Some of you might know Toby
in his other incarnation, in which he likes to listen to audio frequency
magnetic fields using homemade pickup coils - but that's a different
thing altogether.   http://www.seanet.com/~tpaddock/ will tell you more
about all of it.
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
* PINKY & REX, talk title TBD:  Seattle-based experimental musicians
Pinky & Rex re-contextualize thrift-store toys, toy instruments and
other electronic oddities, appropriating rather than reinventing the
devices to create symphonic walls of sound using "crappy Casios",
discarded metal objects, toy tambourines, walkie-talkies and so forth.
While they do some basic circuit bending and are working on some custom
amplification setups using old stereos, discarded speakers and
megaphones, their main aim is to see what kind of sound they can coax
out of interesting stock components by working instinctively rather than
tweaking those components into something else altogether.  See and hear
the results a week from today!  
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
* AFTER-SHOW PERFORMANCE:  PINKY & REX 
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
 
DIRECTIONS are on the CoCA website (http://www.cocaseattle.org).  PLEASE
RSVP to dorkbotsea at dorkbot.org so that we can plan seating, beer and
cocktails - and come a little early to nail parking and your spot in
front of the screen.  Admission is FREE, but we will be asking for
voluntary donations to CoCA to help them continue to host dorkbot and
events like it in future.  Bring WORK IN PROGRESS or STRANGE OBJECTS to
discuss with other people after the presentations - or just bring
yourself.
 
All the details above, and more, will shortly be up on the DORKBOT-SEA
website at http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea .
 
If you would like to SPEAK and/or PERFORM at a future dorkbot, let Kate
or Kathy know at dorkbotsea at dorkbot.org.
 
See you on the 1st - and thank you to CoCA for hosting this event!
 
K
 
 
 
 * That's Autumn to me.
 
 
 
 
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