MA/MFA Transdiciplinary New Media Students to participate in "LowTechLab", Saatchi Gallery, London

MA/MFA Transdiciplinary New Media students will be participating inLowTechLab at the Saatchi Gallery, London.

#LowTechLabLondon2016 is a project developed by Raúl Marroquín and coordinated by Daniela Medina Poch for the Educational Program of the Saatchi Gallery that will take place January 15 through 17, 2016.

We interviewed MFA student Helga Jakobson to give us the low down of the project.

Tell us about the project
It’s an experimental project through the education program at the Saatchi Gallery, London organized and developed by Raul Marroquin. Raul is an artist from Bogota, Colombia. The project is called “Low Tech Lab”. This program is based on the low tech manifesto by James Wallback. So in about two sentences, this low tech manifesto presents a proposition for technological engagement centering around open source, DIY, hacking and utilizing resources that aren’t necessarily high tech in an attempt to produce high level work. Something like that.

What will the students be presenting?
There are going to be 4 projects in varying phases of completion. We, as a masters group have taken the word “laboratory” very seriously, and are presenting works in progress and exploritory processes in an attempt to understand this low tech manifesto. For us, this takes form through producing twitter bots, work with laser cut braille, capacitive sensors attached to plants, 3D printing from pinhole cameras and augmented reality.

I would say the questions posed by the group revolve around themes of communication, play and innovation as well as mortality. These works and experiments have been guided by Klaus Fruchtnis, Raul Marroquin, Filippo Lorenzin with support from the Draft Ateliers – that’s where we’ve been doing all of our 3D printing and laser cutting.

How are you feeling about it?
I’m feeling excited about the opportunity to see works related to this manifesto. It’s been very interesting learning new techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting. It was very exciting to know Filippo, a curator, and Raul through this process. And it has also been inspiring to see the different avenues that people have been taking in their research and I can’t wait to see the works in situ.

If we can’t make it to London, how can we experience this event?
We actually have a few of the masters students staying behind in Paris to create a live feed of the event on our campus. For one of the projects, which I did with my colleague Max, there is a twitter account that Max has attached to a twitter bot which will be live feeding the death of a house plant in the PCA gallery. The account is@deathofaplant so follow us on twitter! It’ll be running through the course of the exhibition so from the 15th -18th of January, 2016. We will also be updating our tumblr account leading up to and during our exhibition.

Great! Finally Helga, if you could only take 3 books to a deserted island, what would they be?
Oh geez!… I would take Elizabeth Grosz’ “Becoming undone”, “The unbearable lightness of being” by Milan Kundera, and I’m just thinking… I have to pick the best one… I would take Jane Bennett’s “Vibrant Matter”.

LowTechLab, Saatchi Gallery, London UK
Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4RY
January 15 thorugh 17, 2016