Living with Systems

The aim of this workshop is to investigate, contemplate and implement systems with which one could, would or should live. The concentration is upon technically mediated and consciously constructed systems, machinic constructions that influence, direct, control, stabilise or destabilise, use, misuse, redirect and play with the daily processes of life and living.

Examples here might include Ken Rinaldo's Farm Fountain, the Algorithmic Psychogeography of Social Fiction or the survival systems of Open Sailing, weather representations or the behavioural control of Life Sign. Non-machinic systems such as the process behind "Supersize Me!" or intentional communities will remain outside the spectrum of this workshop, as will purely software based systems.

In the first part of the workshop spent two days investigating experiments with lived systems, from urban gardens through to worn technologies. The students began to sketch projects that are implementable and applicable. Directions of investigation, processes of research, documentation and reporting strategies have been looked into. The systems are lived with not only when complete but also in their process of creation.

The second part of the workshop was held at the Time's Up Workshops in Linz, where access to machines for the fabrication of pieces exists. In these days in Linz, the parts of the systems that need mechanical support have been completed and a form of prototype got finished. Documentation and communication of the pieces was important here. There were a presentation of the pieces in their partially completed states to an interested public at the end of the last day. 

The third part of the workshop was in Vienna where a finalisation of the pieces have been undertaken using the laboratory at the University.