Helsinki, 30 March - 2 April

PIXELACHE 2006 HELSINKI PROGRAM

• Audiovisual performances and concerts in Kiasma Theatre
• Locative media workshop + mobile arts and experiments
• Pixelache Club and Pixelache VJ Battle
• Discussions and presentations: Open hardware and products, Video in Theatre seminar, Protolab project showcases

Pixelache 2006 is proud to premiere three new audiovisual performances: Orbital Glider/Raumgleiter by Scanner (UK), a Finnish version of Grenze (FR) and an environmental project Peurakaira vs Päätehakkuu (FI) . Pixelache 2006 also showcases a new work for mobile phones by Sari Kaasinen (FI) and several ambitious initiatives currently under development - collaborative sound project IMPROVe, open product code initiative Thinglink, game platform TileToy and many more…

Pixelache club events bring you fresh and challenging rhythms from Aelters (FR) + Forss Versus Borg (SE) + Katusea Soundsystem (FI) + many others… Combined with the Pixelache VJ Battle which brings together a grand bunch of 16 VJs from three countries - Hungary, Estonia and Finland. Long live the Finno-Ugrians!

Pixelache 2006 : Experiment * Collaborate * Improvise * Enjoy!

* * *

AUDIOVISUAL PERFORMANCES AND CONCERTS IN KIASMA THEATRE

MiniMovies is a brand new project by AGF & Sue Costabile (US + Germany). AGF and Sue Costabile are both young multi-disciplinary creators with their activities extending from conceptual art to establishing independent record labels. MiniMovies is a dvd and an audiovisual performance, ‘a collection of mini-lives in an urban and political context’. Everybody is a disaster. Let’s make our own movies.

Peurakaira vs. Päätehakkuu (FI) is an audiovisual performance, a work-in-progress which will have its first show for the audience at Pikseliähky 2006. The performance is based on photographic material from the Peurakaira region in Northern Finland. The ancient forests of Peurakaira are threatened by logging, a topic which is currently under a legal dispute between Finnish State forestry enterprise and the Lapin Paliskunta (Lappi reindeer herding co-operative).

Grenze (Patrick Fontana & Pierre-Yves Fave & Emeric Aelters, FR) is an audiovisual journey through the book ‘Capital’ by Karl Marx. It is an attempt to visualize movement and transformation of capital, opening a range of questions of how today’s capital catches our lives. Pikseliähky 2006 premieres a Finnish version of Grenze, featuring voice samples of people reading selected excerpts from the book.

Orbital Glider / Raumgleiter is a new audiovisual performance by Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner (UK). Created in collaboration with East German artist Maix Mayer, Orbital Glider / Raumgleiter is situated in the still-closed Leipzig Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Mayer made precise, slow scenes, in which the camera moves through space and creates an illusion of a generated 3D space. Performed live, Scanner’s soundtrack conveys a complex and mysterious chronicle, offering up a space for contemplation and reflection as the soundtrack weaves an imaginary narrative through the building.

ChDh (Cyrille Henry & Nicolas Montgermont, FR) performance is based on virtual instruments which are simultaneously controlling sound and visual elements. The instruments are highly complex and sensitive mathematical algorithms which can be controlled together by several musicians. Nicolas Montgermont, Cyrille Henry and his brother Damien are well appreciated by the developer community of Pure Data, an open source tool which is used for audiovisual performances and installations.

Pixelache 2006 festival will finish this year with a rare live set by Vladislav Delay (Sasu Ripatti), one of the most prominent Finnish electronic music creators who is also behind the very successful Luomo project. Sasu has worked on collaborations, remixes and productions for Massive Attack, Craig Armstrong, Towa Tei, Ryuichi Sakamoto. He has also established his own record label, Huume recordings.

PIXELACHE CLUB & PIXELACHE VJ BATTLE

Pixelache Club at UMO Jazz House presents live sound sets by artists who are experts in slicing samples, mixing genres and recycling beats - Aelters (FR) who is also known as one of the members of DAT Politics, successful Swedish duo Forss Versus Borg and Helsinki based independent label/collective Katusea Soundsystem. The crowds will be warmed up by DJ Messis (FI) and the night finishes with our fellows from Estonia, DJ Jaagup Jalakas performing with VJ duo Emer & Gruuver.

Pixelache 2006 VJ Battle! This year’s Pixelache festival features VJs from three countries: Hungary, Estonia and Finland. An impressive range of local Finnish VJ talent will meet some very interesting international guests. The “Battle of the VJs” will feature following VJs:

• Rio Rokokoo & Morc (PV, HUN)
• Emer & Gruuver (Plektrum.ee, EST)
• Rising Tiger, Tatum & Hello World (Under Control, FI)
• Nuutti Koskinen (FI)
• Jugi Kaartinen (Katastro.fi, FI)
• *jen (Amfibio, FI)
• Random Doctors (Vadelma, FI)
• Harmaa/Beige (FI)
• 304 & PHOQ (Xploitec, FI)
• Naïve & Hahmo (Visual Systeemi, FI)

The VJs will perform on Friday 31 March at the Pixelache Club in UMO Jazz House and on Saturday 1 April at the Ghettoblaster club satellite event at Kuudes Linja.

MOBILE/LOCATIVE ARTS AND EXPERIMENTS

Locative media workshop: Rautatieasema returns brings together a group of artists and researchers interested in locative media. The workshop participants will be given a key to a locker in the railway station. The locker contents will be starting points towards self-directed individual or collaborative activity during the workshop week. Several tools and platforms will be introduced in mini-workshop sessions focusing upon recent mobile art-activism and interaction design projects.

The workshop process/results are summarised in public events, featuring presentations by Ben Russell (www.headmap.org, UK), Angela Piccini (University of Bristol, UK), Mari Keski-Korsu (elephantpaths.net, FI) and workshop organisers Andrew Paterson (HIIT / UIAH Media lab, FI) & Meiju Niskala (Turku Theatre Academy / UIAH Media lab, FI).

The workshop finishes with reports, anecdotes and activity stories of what happened during the week, followed by an improvised sound performance by IMPROVe platform, coordinated by Richard Widerberg (UIAH Media lab).

Pixelache 2006 is also collaborating with Nokia Connect to Art and Sulake Ltd. Nokia Connect to Art is an initiative by Nokia to explore the possibilities to present art on mobile devices and Sulake is the company behind the popular Habbo Hotel online chat environment. Pixelache presents a new work created for Nokia Connect to Art by Sari Kaasinen and organises a seminar on experimental mobile projects.

The mobile arts & experiments seminar features presentations by Atau Tanaka (SONY CSL Paris, FR), Lisa Roberts (Pocket Shorts / BlueVend, UK), Heidi Tikka (Tilanteita/Situations, FI) and several others.

OPEN PRODUCTS AND HARDWARE

Open products and hardware concepts are explored in both Pixelache Helsinki and Mal au Pixel Paris. Pixelache Helsinki features a mini-seminar with three presentations:

• Open game platform TileToy (Daniel Blackburn & Tuomo Tammenpää, UK + Finland)
• Open product code initiative Thinglink (Jyri Engeström & Ulla-Maaria Mutanen, Finland)
• Open source car mechanics group Orgsmobile showroom (Erik Sandelin & Magnus Torstensson, Sweden)

The idea for the open products/hardware seminar was born from the fruitful ‘Disruptive Innovation’ discussion during Ultrasound 2005 festival in Huddersfield. The same topic will be further explored this autumn at the annual Piksel06 event in Bergen, Norway.

VIDEO IN THEATRE

Pixelache festival will again aim to create clashes and connections between VJ culture and local performing arts community.

Video in Theatre seminar on Sunday 2 April is organised by sound/video designer Ville Hyvönen in collaboration with Kimmo Karjunen from Theatre Academy. The purpose of the seminar is to bring together people who are interested in using video in performing arts. The seminar will be held in Finnish language.

1 + 1 = 3 ? collaborative performance laboratory starts on Friday 31 March. It is a six days long workshop organised together by Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, Department of Performing Arts and Pixelache 2006 festival. Workshop tutors are theatre director Riku Saastamoinen and VJ/video artist Jenni Valorinta.

PROTOLAB PROJECT SHOWCASES

Protolab is a presentation/discussion forum for new and on-going projects, chosen from the annual Pixelache Call for Projects. Protolab features short (10-15 min) project presentations, followed by an informal Q & A session. The projects featured in Protolab 2006 are:

• Audiovisual instrument loopArena (Jens Wunderling, Germany)
• Web camera sculpture Roermond-Ecke-Schönhauser (Markus Kison, Germany)
• Interactive installation Follow Machine 1.2 (Ruben Coen Cagli & co, Italy)
• Online VJ tool Flappable (Stefan Zerwas, Germany)
• Audiovisual performance software Midipoet (Eugenio Tisselli, Mexico)
• Video diary project Video-dnevnik (Sweden + Ukraine + Belarus)
• VJ software Eastböle (Markus Pasula & Jugi Kaartinen, FI)

PIXELACHE EXHIBITION

Joutokäynti - Idle Running is a new animation by Finnish artist Kristian Simolin. The animation features a group of workmen who are repeating monotonic and seemingly useless movement patterns. The starting point for the animation have been the small repetitive motions people make when they are nervous or frustrated: the rhythmic tapping of the foot or the hand, or the fiddling about with an object or a garment.

Joutokäynti - Idle Running is presented in an exhibition organised by Pixelache and Artists’ Association MUU. Exhibition is open between 2 March - 3 April at MUU Gallery (Tue-Fri 12-17, Sat-Sun 12-16).

MAL AU PIXEL IN PARIS

This spring the Pixelache festival is organised for the first time also in Paris, under the name Mal au Pixel. The festival presents a diverse program of exhibitions, performances, club events, workshops and seminars, spreading over a duration of 10 days.

Mal au Pixel is organised by three Parisian organisations - Ars Longa, Confluences and Mains d’Oeuvres with additional events by Institut Finlandais and Project 101.

Mal au Pixel 19-29 April 2006 :: www.malaupixel.org

ABOUT PIXELACHE FESTIVAL

Pixelache is a festival of electronic art and subcultures. Pixelache presents projects experimenting with media and technology from a broad range of disciplines: artists, engineers, designers, researchers and architects. Pixelache focuses especially in presenting activities of various international grassroot networks and communities such as VJ community, media activists, open source community and demoscene. The goal of Pixelache festival is to act as a bridge between the traditional creative disciplines and rapidly developing electronic subcultures.

Pixelache 2006 is the fifth edition of the Pixelache festival in Helsinki.

Pixelache // Pikseliähky // Mal au Pixel :: aching pixels since 2002!