User:LEa/PMOMM

PMOMM 1: Lieblingslöffel (Treasured Ladles, Cherished Scoops)

What is it?

A zine (or a website) that displays drawings of all my favorite spoons. Possibly with a story to them or background info where I got them or where and when I use them.

Why make it?

No matter where I live (or eat on a regular basis), I have at least one—sometimes up to three—favorite spoons. I get irritated if it is missing for a longer period of time. Did it fall behind the cupboard? Is it hidden somewhere in my housemates room? Did it not come back from a dinner party? If the spoon is available but dirty, I will clean it rather than using a different one. Even though I have strong opinions about the spoons I use, I can't tell what makes a good spoon. Some favorites have been light and small, others heavy or large. My currently preferred spoon is really pointy (on both ends!), but a beloved spoon back home is very, very round. I also have favorite forks, but for some reason the shape and materiality of a knife is less important to me. Side note: I love eating out of bowls.

Workflow

Draw spoons. Write about spoons. Talk to others about spoons.

Timetable

This could be a short project, possibly made in a few days or a week.

Rapid prototypes

Draw your current favorite spoon.

Design your ideal spoon.

Describe the last dish you ate with a (any) spoon.

Previous practice

I have made zines before. I have drawn things before. I like drawing everyday scenes or objects. I am interested in story telling and would be curious what stories I can tell based on my cutlery. I have no previous practice relating to spoons.

Relation to a wider context

The spoon theory is a metaphor for the amount of physical or mental energy a person has available to do everyday activities. One spoon represents a small unit of energy, and spoons are limited. The term has been used in context of disabled, chronically ill, and marginalized people to speak about energy management. Some people affected by these conditions call themselves spoonies. A friend with chronic illness has been telling me about a book they have been reading. Themselves part of the crip community, they wondered how it would be for someone living without disabilities to read about this. Maybe this project could evolve into an exercise for me to learn about chronic illness and how to better support and include struggling people in workshops, activities or social practices that I am involved in.

edit: found a great reference! the perfect fork

PMOMM 2: Who's Singing?

What is it?

A workshop about bird sounds: As a group, we walk around with the Merlin BirdID app and identify the birds that are making calls around us. We then imitate the bird sounds with our voices, and in writing.

Why make it?

I like listening to birds, but I don't know a lot about them. To connect with local nature, it can be great to learn about the species that live close by. I also noticed about myself that I am not able to scream out loud, and I am quite scared of using my voice to do anything other than talking (e.g. shouting, singing, imitating humans, animals or other sounds). Recently, I read a post on Mastodon where the author was describing bird sounds by writing them out. This project could be a fun and interesting assemblage of learning about ecology, training our own voices, and exploring bird onomatopoeias in different languages or even scripts.

Workflow

I think this project would not need much preparation. Schedule: Find people to come along, ask everybody to download Merlin, go into the woods, to a field, or just out to the streets. Maybe bring pens and paper.

Timetable

This could be a two to three hour workshop, then taking some time to document and structure afterwards.

Rapid prototypes

Imitate a seagull.

Invent a new bird and its sound.

If you were a bird, what sounds would you make?

Write a poem made of bird calls.

Previous practice

I am interested in ecology and local ecosystems. In previous projects, I have explored psychogeography and walking as a method for artistic practice and research and I feel like this workshop idea relates closely to it. I made field recordings before, and the Merlin app records and saves the audio tracks by default. Walking, listening, noticing.

Relation to a wider context

Not sure, but here are some resources:

• Birdwatching in the digital age: how technologies shape relationships to birds
• Interventions in walking methods in political geography
• Wikipedia: Cross-linguistic Onomatopoeias
• Bureau Of Listening: A Manifesto for Applied Ecological Listening

PMOMM 3: Research in Motion

What is it?

A website or an app that provides audio versions of non-fiction texts. There is an option to pause and annotate by speaking or uploading pictures.

Why make it?

Quite frequently I face the dilemma: Do I want to go for a walk, or do I want to read? I often opt for the walk, and will listen to podcasts (or occasionally audio books) when out and about. This is entertaining, and sometimes informative, but many valuable papers, essays and books stay unread. I feel that being in motion helps me to focus, and that inputs from the outside environment can stimulate new thoughts. To test this hypothesis, I would like to make a tool that I can use to combine walking, reading, and note-taking. The idea is to read a text once in a quiet environment and record it, then make it available on the webpage to re-read (listen to) and annotate on the go. Primarily, it is meant for me, but I'd be interested in how it can be useful to others, too. Thinking of people who commute (and—like me—rather look out of the window than into a book or a screen), people with visual impairments, or people who have trouble reading.

Workflow

Most important: Read and record texts. Then make a page that hosts the audio files, and allows some input (maybe with Flask?). Explore different forms of annotating (e.g. voice recordings, tts, photos (of handwritten notes or related things in my surroundings), in-page scribbles…).

Rapid prototypes

Send a voice memo to yourself with a random thought.

Write a poem in your notebook while running to catch the bus.

Whatever you read, read it out loud.

Previous practice

As mentioned in PMOMM 2, I enjoy walking and exploring it as a method. I made websites before, and would like to practice it more. In Prototyping, we are currently working with Flask and this could be a good exercise to use Flask as well as Phython.

PMOMM 4: Ode an die Feige

What is it?

This one has been spooking around in my head for a while. It is a zine about figs—my favorite fruit!

Why make it?

Figs are delicious. And I was amazed when I first learned about fig wasps!

Would like to collect various sources (screenshots of wikipedia texts or videos, botanical illustrations, etc.) and mash them into one short publication—visually, every page is different, but they all share the same citation style. a sort of fig mood board, but with links and stuff to look up.

Rapid prototypes

Eat a fig.

Eat another fig.

Grow a fig tree.

Relation to a wider context

The title is an (obvious) reference to Schiller's poem Ode an die Freude''

PMOMM 5: Baelog — annotations on the go

What is it?

A personal website for a blog (and potentially other writings and collections). Its texts can be annotated.

Why make it?

The initial idea was to move my blog from the wiki to a place that feels more personal (to then maybe share it with more/other people). To add onto this, I would like to use the website as a tool to collect references and the sources of my ideas, as well as edit and revise whenever a new thought arises. It would be very cool to edit the blog posts and add annotations on the go from my phone!

Also interesting to explore the many faces that annotation can take on: Is it about a source or a reference that is easily cite-able? Is a about thought that relates two very different subjects? Is it a picture of something seen when out and about that triggered a new idea or serves as a good example? Are the notes from me for a public, from me to myself, or do I invite others to annotate my texts?

Workflow

Make a website with a homepage (overview of the blog) and multiple subpages (individual entries). The entry pages either have a marginal column on the right, or the annotations pop up when the annotated text is clicked (like in this reference). Implement a Flask app that lets the user add new blog posts, as well as annotations (text, images, or both). Figure out how to make the notes correspond to a specific location in the text.

Multiple options: 1. focus on different types of annotations (images, quick ideas, background info, etc.) and how to style them 2. focus on footnotes (see McKittrick) and where my knowledge stems from 3. focus on the interactivity (with others and from mobile)

Timetable

Ideally, I finish it in the next 2-3 weeks. I'm afraid I will lose motivation if it takes too long. Manetta says: make sure to get to a working prototype soon-ish and reevaluate while trying it out.

Previous practice

This is sort of related to PMOMM 3. Although here I want to annotate my own texts (whereas in the earlier idea I planned to listen to and annotate others's research), I still see an overlap: New thoughts are not only emerging when sitting at a desk, in front of a computer, focused on one specific text. They come and go all the time, and I would like to develop methods to note them down in a more spontaneous, more fragmented way.

Relation to a wider context

Katherine McKittrick's Footnotes: Papers scattered about the floor inspired me to think more about the sources and inspirations for my writings. How do I keep track of what I read, see and process into my thinking and writing?

edit: Manetta mentions: project by Christina that uses Flask to make a button out of every single word in a text. Could that be useful for me?

edit: Feedback from class: Daan: A blog for cowriting is cool, can be a collective bog(log) or forest. Youjung: As Reference My website is a shifting house by Laurel Schwulst. Verdict: I really like thinking of the website as a swamp where many different organisms come together and ideas can ferment in the mud!

edit: Found an interesting text adding to Footnotes: A Note from The Annotator (Foluke Taylor) and another one by Laurel Schwulst (et al.): Multidimensional Citation

PMOMM 6: Kombucha Circuit Boards

What is it?

The idea is a shared session that revolves around fermenting tea with kombucha starter cultures, and—more importantly—making printed circuit boards (PCB) from the self-grown results.

Why make it?

PCBs are found in every computer. That means they are also in the servers that we call the cloud! Through making circuit boards ourselves from a sustainable and ethically sourced material, we can engage with the hardware in a hands-on way, while thinking about how our environments and the organisms living in them shape the tools that we make and use. I wondered if it was possible to replace some of the parts that make up the PCB with organic, re-growable materials. Reading a paper on kombucha electronics, I learned that kombucha mats might be useful for this. The biofilm that develops in a SCOBY can be used as conductive material when wet, but when dried it forms a non-conductive material similar to leather.

I'm also very curious about past experiences that participants might have with fermentation. People from different cultures and age-groups relate differently to this practice, so I'd love to include a moment to share stories with each other and possibly imagine new ways to include microorganisms in the making of hardware.

Workflow

A rough idea for the structure: I bring dried kombucha mats with me, as well an active starter culture. We prepare kombucha together while sharing past experiences and stories around fermenting. After a short intro, we will work on the PCBs using soldering equipment.

Timetable

For the whole session, I'd plan around three to four hours. After about a week, we can get back together and enjoy the fizzy fermented tea together!

Previous practice

I have attended a workshop on making microbial fuel cells with Sunjoo Lee. The cells make energy through the bacteria living in the mud, but it is very limited! This made us consider the organisms in the process, and be more intentful with our use of the energy.

In my past creative practice, I have been growing mushrooms, mold, and mycelium as part of my design processes.

Relation to a wider context

Inspiration for this idea has been a paper about testing kombucha electronics in the context of wearables. I am less interested in the wearables, but was excited to read that kombucha mats can serve as circuit boards.

This made me think of the Clay PCB project by Patrícia Reis and Stefanie Wuschitz that I saw after a workshop at CCU (Creative Coding Utrecht). Looking further into this, I discovered an in-depth research by Reis and Wuschitz: Hardware and Eco-Feminist Art: Hacking and Artistic Practices towards Ethical Technology introduces many different projects (among which the Clay PCBs), researchers and artists. It focuses on DIY and demystification of technology, and looks at materials used in hardware production through their matter and agency. So may good references and resources in there!

PMOMM 7: PMOMWs (Paths That May Or May Not Be Walked)

What is it?

For our field trip to Het Park, Tommi and I are planning to initiate some form of group walk with the class. We went on a walk together and discussed the Theatre of the Opressed as well as walking interviews (go-alongs) as potential methods for our activity. After our meeting, I wrote down a few quick ideas:

Het Image Theater: We sculpt each other exploring walking in public space and the city. Prompts for the sculpture could be obstacle, border, end, path… or longer questions such as What or who makes you start walking? When do you feel tired of walking? What does it look like to walk away? We could possibly bring props such as blocks, sticks, fabric etc. that can serve as items that the moulded person can/has to to engage with. (Would be cool to make a live drawing session out of it for documenting!)

Slow & Silent: We go on a walk trough the park with a small group. We make an effort to go very slowly and not talk. If someone notices something they are interested in, they stop to inspect it, listen to it, or feel it. All other group members stop, too, and document (on a collective website? with photo, drawing, note, recording?) what they are noticing in this moment - either trying to look for the initial thing of interest, or just adding their own observations. The whole walk could be random or follow a prompt (New here. Obstacles. Local flora. Sounds and smells. etc.)

Is It a Walk?: We prepare multiple (silly? serious?) questions such as: Is it a walk when you commute to school on foot? Is it a walk when you go do groceries? Is it a walk when you walk on a pilgrim's path? Is it a walk when you sit down on a bench after two minutes? etc. Throughout the day, we do one-on-one go-alongs (walking interviews) with interested classmates and ask them these questions, while staying open to branching out into other topics and ideas. We record audio (or video filming our feet?) to document the conversations.

PMOMM 8: Border Bodies | Bordernisms | Intra-acting With Het Park

What is it?

Exploring the (blurry?) borders between ourselves and the bodies around us through a walk or collective activity

Why make it?

When walking through a space—for example a park—, we usually see ourselves as visitors, as separate entities who are moving by while the space itself is static and inanimate. We are a single subject, the park and all its bits and parts and trees and plants are objects. In reality, these boundaries are not so clear. While walking, some mud might stick to our shoes, a fly might land on us, or we might pick a flower and carry it elsewhere. Our bodies are populated with millions of tiny microorganisms: bacteria, fungi and viruses live on and inside of us. For a while they are part of us, but the microbiome within ourselves or in the park is in constant flux.

Karen Barad, studying how things come into being, developed the idea of intra-action to emphasize that entities do not exist as separate individuals before they relate—they are formed through their connections. This term is the focus of this exercise, inviting us to explore physical boundaries and the relationships to the things around us in more depth: Where does one organism end and another start? How does interaction change this?

Rapid prototypes

We go on a small walk in the park to forage for edible plants. We then make small dishes or tea out of them and try them together. While consuming, we describe to each other how it makes us feel, how we are changing in the process, and how the foraged items change in the process. Documentation: video/audio?

We take five minutes to go on a (slow, silent?) walk in a limited space (5x5 m?), consciously interacting with the organisms around us and focusing on our interactions with them. These organisms can also be the other students walking! Then we come back together, sit in a circle and engage in an exercise of image theater: One person sculpts another into a new form based on a learning or observation they had on the walk. The others do a quick drawing of the human sculpture, and the sculptor gets a chance to share their reasoning and feelings. Documentation: the drawings! and maybe notes if someone doesn't feel like drawing

Previous practice

This is based on PMOMM 7—a continuation of our plan for the field trip to Het Park.

Relation to a wider context

Karen Barad: Agential Realism (intra-actions)

Jane Banette: Vibrant Matter

"What difference would it make to public health if eating was understood as an encounter between various and variegated bodies, some of them mine, most of them not, and none of which always gets the upper hand?" -Banette

Donna Haraway: Staying with the Trouble — Making Kin in the Chthulucene