transreal.org
Elle and I will be heading out to NYC in July for two events we’re really excited about! First, on July 16th, Elle and I will be on a panel at the Next HOPE [Hackers on Planet Earth] conference! I’ve always wanted to go to this conference ever since I started the 2600 group in Miami with a friend as a teenager, so I’m really ecstatic to be giving a talk there. It’ll be at 2300 hours in the Lovelace room, how perfect! Here’s what we’ll be talking about:
Crisis Culture and Emergency Aesthetics in the bang.lab
How do we, as thinking people, as hacktivists and artivists, respond to crises, ecological, economic, medical, ethical? Elle Mehrmand and Micha Cárdenas of the bang.lab at UCSD will discuss a number of their projects using cheap, recycled and DIY electronics to create mixed reality performances, alternate reality performances and augmented geographies of safety. Projects to be covered include technésexual, virus.circus and the Transborder Immigrant Tool. These projects utilize biometric sensors, wearable electronics and the GPS chips in inexpensive cell phones.
Interaction with Sensors, Receivers, Haptics, and Augmented Reality
Pan, Ryan O’Horo, Micha Cardenas / Azdel Slade, Elle Mehrmand, TradeMark G. (Evolution Control Committee)
Electronic sensor technology has been increasing in resolution while decreasing in cost. The ubiquity of GPS receivers has created the ability to obtain location-based information on demand. At the same time, Augmented Reality interfaces are becoming more popular in the consumer market. From the micro-level of delicate touch sensors in haptic interfaces to the macro-level of GPS positioning, these trends make physically interactive computing more and more accessible. This session will provide an overview of motion/light/heat sensors, GPS receivers, haptic interfaces, and other interactive electronics. Along with an explanation of how they work, several projects that utilize these technologies in the consumer, creative, and social realms will be covered. There will be an audience participation section where users will get a chance to explore sensors and electronics themselves.
Friday 2300 Lovelace (90 minutes)
Then, on Saturday, I’ll be doing a talk about my new book with Barbara Fornssler, Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs [powells] at Bluestockings books. I’ll be discussing a transgender approach to theories of desire, and its relevance for contemporary autonomous politics, looking at DIY/radical queer porn as an example of world building. It should be interesting and its my first time talking about the book publicly, so I hope people come with lots of good questions to discuss. I’ll also be performing some of the poems in the book as well, which are mostly about my transition.
