Saturday, June 21, 2008

Liverpool: The Open Source City

This post is proud to have been syndicated to the Ponoko Blog.

Open Source CityAs you may or may not know, Liverpool is European Capital of Culture 08, which means that this year there's even more than usual going on there.


One such example is Open Source City, "A micro-festival of open source practice in the production of media art and music". This from the organisers' newsletter:


20th - 22nd June 2008




Booking is now open for _Open Source City, folly and SoundNetwork's exciting micro-festival in Liverpool this June. Most of the art and events are free and you can just turn up on the day, but for the programme of workshops and masterclasses you need to book in advance.




Places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment..!




Open Source City tips its hat to Liverpool's pioneering spirit by offering a programme of art, workshops, masterclasses, talks and concerts that shed light on the growing impact of Free/Libre Open Source Software on the creative practices of today, in particular in media art and music.




Download the full programme and find out how to book your place on the workshops at folly's website http://www.folly.co.uk/click/1060/11


Although there are a lot of events aimed at programmers and music makers (great!), there are talks discussing open source culture and particularly its continuing effect on art and design. Tom Chance's talk Copyright and freedom – a brief philosophical tour looks to be good, as does Daniel James talking on his experiences of the effect for users of open sourcing in the Indamixx hand-held studio project.

Folly are really active and every year put on their own festival for the Northwest, Velocity which always has a good showing of innovative digital manufacturing in both visual and interactive art pieces, as well as a good line in hardware hacks. Would recommend getting along to either festival if you can.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's great to see the concept of Open Source being explored in its cultural context like this. People need to see that the open source movement isn't just about free software, it's a much, much broader idea with far reaching social implications.

Unknown said...

Couldn't agree more, Lance, thanks for commenting! Sorry this post was so late going up - they're generally published on Ponoko first, and then only hewre when i get round to it! Did you manage to get along to any of the events?