The Fuse Factory is an art and technology initiative focused on cultivating artistic production, research, and experimentation with digital media and electronic tools. Our purpose is to function as an incubator for innovation, interaction, collaboration, critical thought, diversity, and artistic exploration. [Fuse Factory home].
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Adult Education Program :: Workshops and Seminars: Spring/Summer 2008
- Intro to Processing
- Instructor: Mike Reed
- Date: Saturday, May 10
- Time: 1:30pm - 4:30pm
- Location: Columbus public library, Whetstone branch multipurpose room
- Workshop cost: Free
- Materials cost (optional): $75 (for all written and reference materials)
- Enrollment limit: none
- Workshop description: Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. This introductory course is designed for artists who want to understand the fundamentals of computer programming as a tool for creating fine art. Together we'll cover the basics of programming using Processing, look at some examples of what is possible using this platform, work through a basic Processing project, and answer questions such as: What can I do with Processing? How can I use Processing in my work? and How can I do X with Processing? Note: Participants are expected to bring a laptop with web access and have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of using a computer for this workshop.
- Register for this workshop!
- Intro to Web 2.0
- Instructors: Dan Rockwell and Phong Nguyen
- Date: Saturday, May 24
- Time: 1:30pm - 4:30pm
- Location: Columbus public library, Whetstone branch multipurpose room
- Workshop cost: Free
- Materials cost (optional): $5 (for all written and reference materials)
- Enrollment limit: none
- Workshop description: Today's web is hot wired with blogs, widgets, social networks and life-streaming. What's it all about? The simple answer is this: it's all about YOU, your story, and how you can express it on the web. You'll be surprised at how easily you can generate a presence, track it, and dive into nitty gritty of finding nearly anything you could possibly be interested in with a handful of useful web sites and an open mind. This basic workshop will show you how to start a blog in 45 seconds and leap from basic blogging to harnessing the web like a web 2.0 pro. We'll talk about widgets, what they are and why they're so important, and we'll also explore the latest craze on the web: social networks and life-streaming. Note: Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop with web access and a notebook, and have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of web surfing for this workshop. A slide deck of the workshop will also be made available via the web.
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- Art Activism and Tactical Media
- Instructor: Dr. Alison Colman
- Date: Saturday, May 31
- Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
- Location: Junctionview Studios
- Cost: $5
- Enrollment limit: 15
- Workshop description: This lecture-style workshop will present tactics artists have used to critique and challenge societal forces such as excess commercialization, censorship, privatization or public spaces, bias, and authoritarian control. Such tactics include, but are not limited to, corporate infiltration, shopdropping, urban modification, pranks, self-publishing, ad busting, mobile broadcasting, on-line satire, and contagious media. The instructor will also give a demonstration on projection bombing. No prior knowledge is necessary, although basic knowledge of web surfing is helpful.
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- Copyright for Artists
- Instructor: Dr. Deborah Halbert
- Date: Tuesday, June 10
- Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
- Location: GCAC conference room
- Cost: $5
- Enrollment limit: 20
- Workshop description: The intersection of technology and art has made the issue of copyright law even more relevant to artists in today's world. Multimedia works are especially vulnerable to claims of copyright violation and often artists seeking to make something creative are left wondering about the scope of the law and how it applies to their work. Copyright law can be both a protective mechanism for creative work and have a chilling effect on creative work when is not clear about what the law protects. Please bring your examples and questions so that we can talk through the complexities of copyright law and the arts as relevant to specific works. Please note that this workshop cannot be understood as providing legal advice about copyright, but instead is designed to educate the artist on the fundamentals of copyright, what the law protects, what it does not protect, and the advantages and disadvantages of the law as it is applied to the arts.
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- Intro to Physical Computing: Arduino Connect-a-Thon
- Instructor: Matt Howard
- Date: Saturday, June 14
- Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
- Location: Spore Print Info Shop
- Cost: $5
- Materials cost (optional! This is only if you want to take the arduino home with you): $40 (arduino + tax + s&h)
- Enrollment limit: 10
- Workshop description: This workshop will familiarize participants with Arduino, an open surce physical computing system (e.g., the "brain" of physical computing projects), as well as familiarize them with basic programming for Arduino. The purpose of the workshop is to get participants to the point where they can get started on their own self-directed physical computing projects. Participants will need to bring a wireless-enabled laptop and a USB "A to B" printer cable (note: there are two computers available for use at Spore Print, so those without access to a laptop will still be able to participate).
- Register for this workshop!
- About our instructors:
- Dr. Alison Colman:Dr. Colman, artist and educator, ventured into new media/digital art as an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon. Upon graduation in 1992, she continued on this path first as a freelance computer animator and then as a graduate student in the Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design and the Department of Art Education at The Ohio State University, where she developed a strong interest in web design, net art, cyberculture studies, art criticism, and education. She has published articles on net art in journals such as Visual Arts Research, Studies in Art Education, and the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education and has lectured on net art and new media art criticism nationally and internationally. Her art criticism has appeared in furtherfield.org and the Tate Online. In addition to writing and lecturing, her work has been screened at venues such as Siggraph, Folioscope, and Circuits@NYS. Following a stint as a professor, Dr. Colman is currently the Founder and Executive Director of the Fuse Factory Electronic and Digital Arts Lab.
- Dr. Deborah Halbert: Dr. Halbert is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. In addition to numerous articles on intellectual property and technology, she is the author of two books. The first, Intellectual Property in the Information Age: The Politics of Expanding
Property Rights (Quorum, 1999) traces the expansion of copyright in the information age. Her second book, Resisting Intellectual Property (Routledge, 2005), maps the growing resistance to the expanding nature of copyright and patent law.
- Matt Howard: Matt is the consummate arduino-head. He collaborated with Ken Rinaldo and Ross Ballard on the Autotelematic Spiderbot, and has given Arduino demonstrations for Dorkbot Columbus. He is the CIO of eTech Ohio. He has been working with embedded controllers for 4 years, and is a general tinkerer, potter, and photographer. He is learning to play the banjo and is a bad speller.
- Phong Nguyen: Phong Nguyen is an Interactive Designer currently based in Columbus, OH. He studied Interactive Design at Savannah College of Art and Design, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art in 2007. He has been a member of the Fuse Factory since January 2008 and his latest interactive work, FUNeractive, has been exhibited at Ignition and Agora 2008. FUNeractive will be shown at the Ohio State Fair in August, 2008. He is currently working at Resource Interactive as a Flash developer.
- Michael Reed: Michael lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. His educational background is in computer science, fine art, and - most recently - city planning. Michael is an active member of the Columbus Arts community having shown work in a variety of venues ranging from galleries to coffee shops to warehouses supporting his belief that art is for everyone, art should be everywhere. His paintings are large scale, abstract and expressive and his work with art and technology integrates his experience with traditional art with a background in computer programming. He is also a founding member of the Couchfire Collective, a group of local artists who (among other things) organize the community art show Agora. Michael manages Junctionview Studios, a warehouse-turned-work-space synonymous with local art. Junctionview Studios is comprised of artist studios and performance space and is located in Grandview, Ohio.
