About the Worklab

For years the work-lab is a core format in the artistic research program of ‘mur.at’. Worklabs are “un-conferences” that can last for several days, to which people are invited to participate via a public open call. Work-labs create a temporary space in which artists (= specialists in the field of technology, design, art, etc.) and external guests can discuss topics from the field of digital technology, art and its social implications. People from different fields and with diverse backgrounds meet here / in them and work together on ideas and designs that will become the starting point for future projects, publications and productions of the current and coming years. The work-labs are both incubators for specific work and open think tanks where ideas, tools, as well as practical and creative approaches are developed and tested.

Remembering / Honoring / Paying tribute to Aaron Swartz

This program is part of the project series “Aaron´s Law” that includes various artistic-technical projects dedicated to Aaron Swartz and developed in close cooperation with ACOnet/net:art coordination center. Along with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, Aaron Swartz is considered one of the most important Internet activists to date, who strongly shaped and influenced the development of the Internet in his short lifetime. As a programmer and advocate for the Open Access Movement, Net Neutrality and civic awareness, he defended the exchange of information constructively across geographic borders via the web.

Aaron Swartz was conscious about the immense meaning of the words open access, open source and net neutrality for the creative development of art, design as well as science.

10 years after his death, we want to revisit what exactly happened and where are we standing today. Who is involved in these thought processes or is that all just wishful thinking?

Preliminary program!

Registration

To participate and receive more information please sign up for all workshops at: worklab@mur.at

All presentations and workshops are publicly accessible and will be held off-line in English at KIG – Kultur in Graz.
No entrance fee.

Public presentation & meet and greet:

• Wednesday June 21, 2023, 18:00 at KIG – Kultur in Graz

Workshops and public presentations:

• Thursday: June 22, 2023: 10~17:00 “Make Archiving (un)sexy again?”
  • 10:00-10:30 Ricardo Ginés (Tactical Tech) on ‘Aaron Swartz, Open Access movement’
  • 10:30-11:00 Leonhard Rabensteiner (Archiv Forum Stadtpark)
  • 11:30-12:00 Ricardo Ginés (Tactical Tech) on ‘Archiving as an art form’ (Otlet & Avram)
  • 12:00-13:00 Mag. Evelyn Tschernko (AAI – Afro-Asian Institute Graz) and Sebastián Palacios, on three artistic archiving strategies: Archiv der Vordenkerinnen / Archive of thought leaders, Archive of little things, Archive of a Sudanese Nomad (with city writer 2023 Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin)
  • Afternoon session: 14-15:00 Jean-Frédéric Berthelot (Wikidata Austria) on ‘Describing video games, the Wikidata way’,
  • 15:00-16:00 Valentina Pettinger, Nina Hoffer TypInfrauenschreiben*wiki (NOWA),
  • 16:00-17:00 Fabricio Lamoncha on ‘Digital Weeds – Interstitial Interfaces’.
• Friday: June 23, 2023: 10~17:00 “Desire to collect – Tools & Roadmap”
  • 10:00-10:30 Ricardo Ginés (Tactical Tech) on Tactical Techs digital archiving approach,
  • 10:30-11:00 Andreas Zingerle (mur.at) on electronic document management system
  • 11:30-12:00 Karl Voit (Life Hacker) on ‘the art of organizing yourself and your data’
  • 12:00-13:00 Martin Nadal on ‘Obfuscating our presence / parasitizing infrastructures’
  • Afternoon session: 14-17:00 Sylvia Petrovic-Majer (OpenGlam) on ‘How-to start a road map’
• Saturday: June 24, 2023: 10~17:00 “Funding and other sins”
  • 10:00-11:00 Online conversation with Nicholas Crockford (Tactical Tech) on application structure, tips & pitfalls
  • 11:00-11:30 Ali Özbaş (Jukus) – Migrationssammlung
  • 12:00-13:00 Andreas Zingerle (mur.at) on local funding opportunities
  • Afternoon session: 14-17:00 Wouter Moraal on Cativism and ‘archiving the future’

Besides these more focused morning sessions, we will also have afternoon interactive spaces, where we will, why not?, explore archives of the Global South, train to harvest our thoughts and souls, meet video games becoming an archivist art and learn how to play cards transforming ourselves in cats-changemakers!

All presentations and workshops are publicly accessible, no entrance fee, will be presented in English and be held off-line at KIG – Kultur in Graz. To participate and receive more information please sign up for all workshops at: worklab@mur.at

Cooperations and partners

• The work of Wouter Moraal was realised within the framework of a European Media Art Platform residency program at Werkleitz, co-funded by the European Union. This presentation was co-funded by Ars Electronica.