A Source Of Inspiration » Culture

Do It Yourself at SHiFT 2010

Armando Alves — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:59:05 +0000

We’re almost there: the 2010 Do It Yourself SHiFT conference is starting this week. The next 16th and 17h at Teatro Aberto, Lisbon, we meet again to discuss and share Social and Human Ideas For Technology, after the 2 previous successful editions.

Tinkerers, thinkers, hackers, technologists or curious people by nature can find something of their interest on the several talks and workshops. Here’s a preview:

The 2 day event is more than a tech conference: it’s about how technology can be used to be achieve a positive change in society. The casual setting is a great chance to meet other people and learn about new things. Better yet, not only learn, but Do It Yourself.

Come and meet us in Lisbon next Friday an Saturday, as tickets are still available !

Disclaimer: i’m a symbolic last minute helper of the fantastic team organizing the event.

Shameless PromoTion: Rua de Baixo V2

Armando Alves — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:54:12 +0000

After a few months absent, my favorite Portuguese online magazine has returned. Rua de Baixo launched today their second version, a truly 2.0 release, as the site is being powered by WordPress and it’s still in beta.

Started in 2003, it achieved a recognition as one of the main online references of portuguese urban culture, publishing the latest news, events and featuring a wide range of artists and projects. The quality of their online publishing efforts is testified by their faithful readers and newsletter subscribers and more than 40 contributing writers.

Rua de Baixo V2 Launch Teaser on Youtube
The team/collective did a great job on the new version, with new features and a more acessible website (the old one was a frame nightmare). Congratulations, David Carvalho, Hugo Pinheiro, Mário João Camolas and Pedro Marques and to the tech team at Spirituc.

The relaunch edition goes by the theme of DIY, a look on the Do It Yourself spirit of 7 portuguese artists: Joana Bastos (Art); António Aleixo (Cinema); Photonz (Production/DJ); Paulo Almeida (Fashion); Noiserv (Music); Rui Vieira (Design) and Cristina Miguel (Fashion).

On the regular sections, you can fin the usual great news coverage of music, with a a new X-Wife video (canIHaz embedded video player, plz ?), the always surprising cult findings, and an interview with the director of with my latest tv series addiction, made in Portugal, Um Mundo Catita.

Even if you don’t understand a word of Portuguese, have a look and bookmark it as one of the main online references on portuguese urban culture.

OFFF Lisbon 2008, day 3

Armando Alves — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:12:13 +0000

Olá ! (hello in Portuguese). We’re all set for the last day and it’s been great.
Check this flickr set from Pedro Sousa to get a feeling.

12:00

Entering the afternoon with several directors from Boolab, a motion studio, and an almost oficial partner of Psyop.

13:00

Adobe misses their talk. Missing evangelizing opportunities like this one brings no good karma. Chris, of Crashmedia, Canada, is filling their shoes.

14:00

Oh great, porn ! The Shai project, with compliments by Agence7seven.

16:30

Onesize, Gmunk and Minivegas answer how creativity and technology shape motion graphics. Minivegas showed a impressive software to create generative station ID’s, based on live footage. And also, more penis.

Gmunk debunks motion-fx houses, claiming they don’t know shit about design. The discussion goes into the domain of pushing interactivity (live data, user input) into motion graphics.

18:00

Group 94 is now on stage with a behind-the-scenes of their web design work. They applied a panorama transition of Jeronimos Monastery to their Nokia project.

Awesome.

19:00

Devoid of yesterday premieres the event titles. Lots of fish. I’ll post it as soon as it’s available.

20:30

Fallon talking about the power of ideas.

Ideas are leaps of imagination … with commercial consequences.

Of course they showed Cadbury’s gorilla. Which is just a stunt by a production company (Glass and a half full) whose goal is to deliver joy.
Digital makes ideas more useful and involving.

Ok. we’re done. As the conference organizers just confirmed, see you next year at OFFF 2009 Lisbon !

OFFF Lisbon 2008, day 2

Armando Alves — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:26:03 +0000

Hello everyone !

12:00-12:30: 50Done & friends is presenting. For those who don’t know yet 50Done & friends is a project of Rui Vieira ( currently Creative Director at Fullsix Portugal) to do out of the box projects in the areas of digital creation and communication they work with real clients but in a diferent way of communication. Rui presents the Body and Soul, a project for Nokia that showcases beautiful models (one component shows the body , the other a more emotional soul) .; Ingrediente X – A motion design showcase.; Carlos Matias – Dialectica shows his creative work applied on t-shirts and shoes, and some of the illustrations shown here at the venue.; Pedro Pinto, a 3d motion designer at Fullsix with some sample work.
13:00: Karlssonwilker with a weird piece: a spoken portfolio, on audio tape.
14:00: Regine is on stage, sharing how We-Make.-oney-Not-Art evolved and reflecting on emerging art and the relation with technology. Right next to her, Andy Cameron, now creative director at Fabrica, talking about his work and what interactive media means. They both hate Second Life, and finish their talk with a discussion on the challenges of nem media art.
16:00: Hellokimori is now on stage.
17:00: A great panel on information visualization. Quite more useful than the usual showcase that we’ve seen today.
18:00: FakePilot rolling his impressive ground of work. Feels a lot like Chris Cunningham.
19:20: Now a Interaction Deigin Panel, starting with the folks from naninka. Beats me why the organization decided to this “panels” when no interaction with the audience kicks in. Surprised to find out that Nanika was involved in the BBC radio (below).
20:00 -21:00: After some astonishing works by Alex Trochut, we’re ending with Hi-Res.

OFFF Lisbon 2008, day 1

Armando Alves — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:21:51 +0000

Hello everyone. It’s been a few days since I’ve posted, but back from vacations (and a bit sick) I’m ready for the full 3 days at OFFF Lisbon 2008, live blogging and twittering.

12:00

Loads of people outside (an estimate of around 2000). Collecting their tickets, getting a sun tan and drinking beer. I’ll need to do an errand, but i’ve been told the doors are already opening.

12:30

TheKDU is showcasing their works.

12:40

Just found out that some conferences are being broadcasted at
http://videos.sapo.pt/offf. For those abroad, Sapo is a xtra cool portuguese portal, and i’ve met with some of their team here at the event.

13:10

Dino dos Santos, one of Portugal’s most famous type designers, talking (in English) about the process and themes that inspire him.

18:00

Late lunch and more errands, after watching Eric Natzke (North kingdom cancelled their talk).

Now watching Trafik and their several interactive projects.

19:00 – 22:00

Last but not the least, the all exciting Joshua Davis, with his humorous talk, inviting everyone to get naked. The day wrapped with the work of PsyOp (and a wonderful making-of their latest commercial for Absolut). See ya tomorrow.