Unit X - Monday 11th March Mad Lab talk

On Monday 11th March we had an 1,1/2hour lecture on what Mad Lab is and the work it does in Manchester. Based in the Norethern Quarter of Manchester, Mad Lab is the workshop of creativity for inventive, physics design involving electricity, space and sound. 

Some of the amazing things Mad Lab have done in thier workshop include: using soil and lemons to create electricity; changing pigeon poo to soap; and making yogurt an anit-depressant for breakfast. I loved all thse concepts as they took an everyday object and gave it a new fascination that the public can interact and find humour in, which I would love to see in our work. 

We were told to see electronics as a new commodity medium, in an age of mass technology and gadgets, we are forever having more access to cheap and effective circuit systems such as LEDs etc and this needs to be celebrated. This involves physical computing - where spaces or devices that are easy to work with are made to be modified. We where shown a few examples of the way artists use technology in thier art, sculptures and installations. One of the pieces was Daniel Rozin's round wooden mirror, a work of genius that changed colour to mimic the face of the 'viewer'. The work of Moritz Waldemeyer held particular interest to my work in fashion as he has previously been known for collaborating with famous Avant Garde designer Hussein Chalayan with lighting installed in the clothes. The You Tube video from Daito Manabe was amazing too, it took a stroke of genius and some willing co-operators from the public to join the experiment which gave tiny electric shocks to four people which fit in time with a piece of music made by the artist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLAma-lrJRM 

The easiest eway to construct a circuit and made a beautiful unqiue sound with old pieces of sound and electronic equipment is a thing called "Circuit Bending". This is where you adapt the ready made circuit and tweak it to get a new response. Also the idea of "LED throwies" sounded appealling, simply made by attaching a battery to a cluster of LEDs and a magnet and throwing them on magnetic conductors to create a beautiful city 'starry scene'. 

After this talk i was really excited to see what we were going to get up to on the workshop on Tuesday 13th! Bring it on...