In the first part of the workshop, the artist presented the methodology of recording information in binary images, which the participants then used creatively, during their tour at the exhibition Statecraft.
In the second part, the resulting patterns were analyzed, which were then individually woven on small improvised looms. By the end of the workshop the participants have created their own unique needlecrafts that visualise their personal experience of visiting the exhibition.
Paper weaving with old photos and contemporary photos of the same city spots.
In this workshop we experimented with the basket weaving technique using the dictionary of the Tsakonian dialect as raw material.
Participants got familiar with Onassis Library open archives Cavafy and Travelogues. After the were introduced with concepts of remix and appropriation, they used material they found to create digital collages. The collages were animated and were sent to their contacts as Christmas GIF cards.
Project in collaboration with Nikos Voyiatzis.
You can see the whole collection created here
An alphabet primer embroidery in greek tradition was the first needlework a girl did in order to learn stitching and reading simultaneously. Women at the time didn’t have access to education so an embroidered alphabet primer was part of the home education they received from their mothers.
In this workshop participants (aged 60+) were introduced to basic electronics, conductive threads and conductive fabrics. While they were stitching they shared stories on culture, tradition, their perspectives on contemporary creative methodologies and technology. The stories were recorded and embedded into the handicraft.
The aim of this workshop was to create an atmosphere like the old days, when needlework was the social interaction between women. They gathered together to create and discuss. On the same time the attempt was to bridge the old with the new.
Through the use of conductive threads and fabrics, the embroidery itself becomes a sensor. By providing a platform of information coming from the participants, the viewer himself creates the narrative form. Each time an embroidered letter is triggered, a non-linear narrative based on the viewer’s own physical experience emerges. The result is unique and can never be reproduced in the same order.
In this way, by merging the natural organic elements (interviews, recordings, etc.) with the technical-digital media (conductive thread and fabric, sensors and microprocessors), the needlework manages to be transformed into a timeless cultural archive and at the same time an archive of workshop participants’ experience.
Project in collaboration with Afroditi Psarra.
The Kinetic Origami workshop for teenagers (aged 12-16) took place on December 2015 at the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens in the context of the Digital Revolution exhibition. The participants were introduced to the Japanese paper folding technique and explored the use of DIY electronics in order to enhance their origamis with lights, sound and motion. Special interest was given in teaching practical skills on using smart materials by creating flapping origami cranes using SMA (Shaped Memory Alloy or Muscle Wire).
The workshop was realised in collaboration with media artist Afroditi Psarra.
documentation photos: Stavros Petropoulos
The Electronic Pop-up Book workshop for children (aged 8-12) took place on November and December 2015 at the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens in the context of the Digital Revolution exhibition. The participants worked in groups of two in order to write and illustrate their own Haiku poems. Through five working sessions the illustrations were transformed in pop-up collages that were enhanced with the use of basic electronics eg. LEDs, buzzers, handmade switches, in order to create interactive paper circuits. At the end of the workshop the poems and pop-up creations of the participants were assembled into a collective interactive book.
The workshop was realised in collaboration with Afroditi Psarra.
Participants worked in four groups in order to create collaboratory projects that inspire new ideas on diegetic prototypes.Participants had to complete a prototype that narrates the life of a fictional future community. The workshop’ s goal is to promote DIY (Do It Yourself) and DIWO (Do It With Others) methodologies, through hands-on practices, familiarising the participants with interaction design, by triggering their imagination and combining technology with craftsmanship.
Group A
project name: AlivePictures
participants: Anna, Achileas, Ivan, Triada.
fiction: In a future society people have become passive receivers and they can’t experience any emotions or thrills. A group of scientists invent a technology which can teleport the viewer into his/her favourite films and live an intense experience. While his/her mind is part of the film, the emotions become bodily aware through a t-shirt.
object: A t-shirt (wearable technology) which translates emotions to body stimulus. Fear is translated to vibrations around the heart, Happiness to enjoyable breeze.
technical specifications: Arduino Lilypad, led lights, piezos, buzzers ,motor, conductive threads, fabric
Group B
project name: Runner
participants: Giorgos,Nikitas, Panagiotis, Stefanos.
fiction: In 2030, 3 years after the end of the World War III, survivors have formed small communities. They have created small villages by building huge walls around them, they protect themselves from radiation mutant human and animal zombies. There is a class of survivors that they chose to become “The Runners”. Their task is to run outside the walls in order to find and rescue survivors that haven’t joined a community yet. A runner is equipped with a navigation bracelet, which is found from future archeologists and led them understand the way communities functioned in 2030.
object: Runners navigation bracelet is a bracelet providing runners with three options: 1) reading electromagnetic energy of human brain – this option helps the runner to locate human survivors. 2) an option to help the runner locate his village and return back to home 3) an alarm to notify the runner when radiaton levels are high.
technical specifications: AT tiny 45, led lights, buzzers, 3d printed bracelet, 3d printed knife
Group C
project name: Smart Drug
participants: Dimitris, Elias, Konstantinos, Nikolas,
fiction: We live in a society where school is forbidden by law, because it is boring. Knowledge is in a liquid form and people have to create an injected cocktail of different type of liquid information in order to function in their everyday needs and tasks.
object: A machine which scans information and liquefies it. Information is then transferred to small bottles and stored in a liquid library.
technical specifications: AT tiny 45, led lights, ldr, motor, 3d printed glasses, 3d printed helical, carton models
Group D
project name: Spaceship
participants: Alkis, Dimitris, Elias, Konstantinos
fiction: Aliens are visiting different planets in order to steal water and use the hydrogen to make their machines work. They move around different planets and collect water with a three-craft system which imitates the bees’ community. The “worker” spaceship is a robot spaceship which detects, locates and collects the water. The “drone” spaceship is a spaceship driven by the aliens and secures the space station from invaders or potential damage. Last but not least is “the queen” which is a full automated, computer run space station.
object: The worker spaceship is a robot spaceship which can detect 1) objects in its way and adjust its flight 2) water which collects and store in 6 deposits
technical specifications: Arduino, led lights, proximity sensor, humidity sensor, carton model
project in collaboration with Afroditi Psarra
documentation photos: Stavros Petropoulos
The Cavafy Archive of Onassis Cultural Center is placed in schools, with a series of educational programs for the Alexandrian poet. The 2014-2015 programme will be evolve in 8-session workshop in Athens and the same in Ioannina. In Athens, the workshop takes place at the 4th High School of Korydallos.
Using computers and their capabilities, students create series of digital works inspired from poems of the Alexandrian poet.
Participants re-wrote Cavafy’s poets using Cavafy’s vocabulary and an algorithmic system they created. Subsequently they wrote the new poets on google map and then they visited the physical space and collected objects found at the street.
The result was an interactive installation where the visitor every time he/she moved Cavafy’s chessman on the top of the objects, he/she could listen to the poems and watch the street drifting of the area of Korydallos.
Project in collaboration with Thodoris Chiotis.
The aim of the workshop is to introduce young people to science and technology through experimentation and play. Employing the methodologies of STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and emerging from the Maker Movement ethics, the lab intends to stimulate young people’s imagination, creativity, curiosity through learning.
Participants learn about the basic principles of electricity and circuitry by creating puppets from recyclable materials.Plastic bottles are transformed into unique characters.
Project in collaboration with Afroditi Psarra