Not An Alternative

RE:GROUP this week: Hacking Couture, Homelessness Mapping, Networked Solidarity, and WPA 2010

Below is the line-up for this week’s events organized as part of the exhibition Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus, which examines participation as a model and models of participation in art and activism. Re:Group proposes that with participation now a dominant paradigm, structuring social interaction, art, activism, the architecture of the city, the internet, and the economy, we are all integrated into participatory structures whether we want to be or not.

The exhibition showcases art/activist work that participates in and subverts existing participatory systems. Hands-on workshops invite audience members to collaborate with the artists, open-sourcing their works and producing new participatory interventions.
         
Re:Group is curated and organized by Eyebeam, Not An Alternative, and Upgrade NY!. Events are hosted at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, 540 w. 21st St, between 10th and 11th ave.
         
WORKSHOP: HACKING SUSTAINABLE FASHION
 JULY 14, 7-9PM: What is sustainable fashion? Why are design codes important? How do we decode them? Curator Sarah Scaturro and interaction designer Giana Gonzalez will use these questions as a starting point to work with participants to explore how the code for the sustainable fashion movement can be decoded and reassembled.
         
The HACKING Couture explorations will be a starting point for this work in progress. In the past, HACKING Couture has reversed engineered fashion labels to create open participation and entrance for all into the fashion system. Now, this process of hacking fashion labels has been expanded - how can we decode a period and/or a movement in order to re-appropriate it for your own purpose? This collaborative workshop between Hacking Couture and independent curator and sustainable fashion expert Sarah Scaturro will explore how we can collaboratively document, decode and reassemble the Eco-fashion movement.

WORKSHOP: MAPPING HOMELESSNESS: AN INTRODUCTION TO USHAHIDI
JULY 15, 2-6PM: With a group of up to 24 people, we will start a map of amenities for  homelessness. The session will start with an introduction to the purpose and history of the Ushahidi platform, an open source tool that allows rapid mobile input into a collaborative map and database. After installing and setting up an instance of the Ushahidi platform, we explore the Chelsea neighborhood as a group, photographing and geolocating aspects of the city we would notice if we did not have reliable housing. We will use smartphones (provided) to map places to find work, places to relax in safety, places to get food and shelter, places to take a family, social services. Participants will brainstorm ideas for using Ushahidi in diverse contexts.
         
PANEL DISCUSSION: ON NETWORKED SOLIDARITY
JULY 15, 7:30PM:Organized and moderated by Mushon Zer-Aviv Discussants: Chris Blow, Ushahidi.com & Meedan.net; Christopher Robbins, WPA 2010 &Ghana Think Tank; and Nadine Wolf, Elecciones Transparentes.com. As we’ve seen in Haiti, networked collaboration enabled geeks to affect disaster relief efforts, a job previously exclusive to governments, NGOs and multinational corporations. Will they stick around after the hype has passed? Is the network actually changing the flow and directionality of global attention? Are we seeing the prospects of a new networked solidarity or is it just another trending topic?
         
WORKSHOP: USHAHIDI WITH WPA 2010
JULY 16, 11AM: This workshop is part of a series of community action workshops
organized by WPA 2010, bringing back a citizen-driven Works Progress Administration, including action research with the Ushahidi open source digital platform, silkscreening and stenciling, and guerilla public works. As a follow-up to the more traditional paper and pencil workshop that Christopher Robbins ran on July 7, Chris Blow of Ushahidi will join WPA 2010 on July 16 as they hit the streets with the reconstruct crew, 8 google android phones, and the Usahidi platform to collect site data for possible WPA projects in Jamaica, Queens.
         
Faciliated by Christopher Robbins, WPA; Chris Blow, Ushahidi. WORKSHOP FULL, email stephanie@eyebeam.org to be added to the waitlist.