The eTextile Summer Camp 2013, Call for eTextiles Practitioners!
CONTACT:
Mika Satomi
info@etextile-summercamp.org
eTextile-summercamp.org
DEADLINE: 15 May 2013
The eTextiles Summer Camp is a five day event that brings together expert practitioners of eTextiles and Soft Circuitry in one place to share their knowledge and skills through hands-on workshops, and facilitate discussions around their practices. We are looking for makers, designers, engineers and artists, who work in the field of eTextiles and soft circuitry to participate.
The first Summer Camp was held in 2011 in Borås Sweden, with 20 experts. This year, we are planning the second edition of the eTextiles Summer Camp from 17th to 21st of July in Poncé sur le Loir, France, hosted by Paillard Centre d’Art Contemporain & Résidence d’Artistes .
We are gathering eTextiles practitioners such as you, from around the world to participate in this event. We are expecting to host 20-30 participants. Please send us 1) the filled form (please down load from our website: eTextile-summercamp.org ) 2) web link where we can see your work to info@eTextile-summercamp.org by May 15th 2013.
Please note that the eTextile Summer Camp is intended for eTextile practitioners. If you are interested in eTextiles and seeking an introduction to the field, the content of the event is not suitable for you.
The E-textile Summer Camp’s 2013 theme will be “Soft + Slow Electronics”. Many of us as engineers, designers and artists are working with soft materials such as textiles and paper, exploring the potential of soft, malleable and flexible electronics. Our practices often involve techniques that require intensive hand work, often resulting in long production processes. Some of the techniques we employ are almost archaic, but because we see value in making our own materials in our own ways, old-fashioned and slow techniques often come into play. We propose to see these practices as “slow”, rather than “time consuming”.
In today’s society “slowness” has gained positive connotation and acknowledgement through movements like Slow Food, Slow Cities and Slow Design Principles. These movements not only embrace the amounts of physical time consumed in a process, but also the social and cultural impacts resulting from slow processes.
During the Summer Camp, we propose a celebration of slowness within soft electronics practices. We will look at techniques that take time to master and accomplish with skill, such as weaving, paper making, origami folding, pleating, embroidery, crochet, block printing and so on. Together we will explore what values slowness adds to our practices, and what values our practices contribute to society.
Contents/ Activities:
The Summer Camp contains three major activities; Skillshare Workshops, Discussions, and Group Projects. The Skillshare Workshops are where the participants teach their skills to others in hands-on workshops. We will make a survey of all the participants prior to the event, asking which skills you want to share and which skills you want to learn. According to the answers we get, we will arrange mini-workshops for the first two days. A discussion session will be held each evening to discuss topics related to our practice and the theme. The last two days will be dedicated to work on group projects. We will divide the participants into small groups to work on a collaborative project which reflects the theme.
Financial Requirement:
All the participants are asked to cover their cost of travel to the site themselves. The nearest international airports are in Paris and Tours. From these three airports, you can take a train to Vendome TGV station where we will arrange a pick up. We will let you know the further details of the pickup as it gets closer.
We ask all the participants to pay the shared cost of the work material, food and facility running costs (electricity, water). This amounts to 150 Euro per person. You can stay for free at the Paillard Centre d’Art in a shared dormitory room or camp outside. If you need more comfortable and private accommodation, you can stay at a B&B near the location at your own cost.
Location:
Paillard Centre d’Art Contemporain & Résidence d’Artistes is located in Poncé sur le Loir, a small village at the entrance of the Loire Valley, 214 km from Paris. The historic site of the Moulins de Paillard, an 18th century paper mill, returns to the creativity and the innovation of the industrial revolution thanks to a contemporary arts centre and its program of expositions and performances.
Dates and Schedule:
The Summer Camp is scheduled to be held from 17th (Wednesday) to 21st (Sunday) July. We plan to start the workshop on the 17th at 1:00 pm. It takes 2-3 hours from Paris Montparnasse station to Paillard, including pick-up. If you are coming from far, you may want to get to Paillard on the 16th. We can accommodate you on the night of the 16th at Paillard as well. If your flight is getting to Paris in the late evening of the 16th, you may need to stay in Paris for one night and continue your journey early on the 17th.
Accommodation:
The accommodation we can provide is very basic. It will be shared dormitories (4-7 person in one room) with shared bathrooms. If you prefer to have more comfortable accommodations, there are B&Bs near the location for a reasonable price, where you can stay at your own cost. Please let us know if you prefer this option. We will provide you with a list of B&Bs near the location.
The eTextiles Summer Camp 2013 is organized by:
Mika Satomi (KOBAKANT, www.kobakant.at )
Hannah Perner-Wilson (KOBAKANT, www.kobakant.at )
Meg Grant (www.meggrant.com )
Shelly De Vito (Paillard Centre d’Art Contemporain http://moulinsdepaillard.com )
James Porter (Paillard Centre d’Art Contemporain http://moulinsdepaillard.com )
Contact:
If you have any questions, comments or good ideas, please feel free to contact us at info@eTextile-summercamp.org
Video from eTextile Summer Camp 2011
