HARDcoded :: Digital Punk Magicians :: w/ Workshops, Screenings, and Performances by: Alex Ignlizian, Mark Beasley, Sandra Rosas Ridolfi, Jake Elliot, Marisa Plumb, Temporary Services, criticalartware, Paul Hertz, Valerie Brewer, Professor Pangaea, CHHO, Morgan Higby Flowers, I <3 Presets and more… :: December 8, 2007; 1 - 9 pm :: EN3MY, 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave 3rd Fl. Chicago, IL + simultaneously streaming @ CentroMultiMedia + BORDER, Mexico City DF, Mexico.

HARDcoded is an ongoing collaboration between newMedia artists in Chicago + Mexico City, that explore the cross-over between digital noise, punk, + magic. HARDcoded is a wordplay between embedded/non- mailable data sets in software development, like End User License Agreements (or EULA) or closed-source proprietary computer applications, + the xXxHARDCORExXx ethic of Punk culture. Our (artists + organizers alike) approach to reconstruct/disrupt the controlled environment of digital technology by breaking these social devices with wizardry. Here, wizardry is informed by Tolkien references in early moments of information technology + digital networking, as well as playfully applying narratives of spell casting, enchantment, + fantasy to the otherwise dull architecture of cyberspace. This wizardy of course would be nothing without “magic.”

This “magic,” which serves as ironic term with a critical bent, can break the spell of traditional methods of cultural communication + sharing in an ever-growing oppressive state.

HARDcoded seeks to create a space where ruptures in our digital playing field (glitch, noise, + hacked/repurposed material/tools) can take precedence over the norms of our contemporary static digital landscape. The collaboration borrows from a Punk ethics/ethos + the necessity for a sustainable break away from the normative practices of commercial platforms. By invoking these ideologies/methodologies HARDcoded hopes to provide/facilitate a DIY/DIT network of subversion. In attempting to approach this task, HARDcoded wishes to provide a social platform of workshops, talks, + performances (and hybrids of these three) to enable these fissures to break through the veil of our closed-source expectations + reliance.

The Program consists of workshops/talks by ::

[1:00 - 2.30PM ] Alex Ignlizian + Mark Beasley + Cassandra Rosas (Hardware Hacking/Building)
[2.30 - 3 PM] Jake Elliot dai5ychain.net (Reprogramming Computer Literacy)
[3.00 - 3.30 PM] Marisa Plumb Working Engineer, Pathegon corp. (Lecture/Performance)
[3.30 - 4.30 PM] Temporary Services temporaryservices.org (Lecture on Urban Hacktivism)
[4.30 - 5 PM] criticalartware criticalartware.net (Media Art Histories Lecture)

[5 - 7 PM] Installation By :: Mark Beasley (DotMatrix Printer + Sound Installation) Paul Hertz collaboratory.nunet.net/phertz/ (Ignotus the Mage, Performance/Installation)

[7 - 9 PM] Performances/screening by :: Valerie Brewer (Machinima Video); Professor Pangaea (Machinima Video); CHHO (The Chicago Hacked Hardware Orchestra, Performance from Workshop); criticalartware w/ Morgan Higby Flowers criticalartware.net (Realtime Artware Development Performance); I <3 Presets ilovepresets.com (Realtime Audio/Video performance)

@ CentroMultiMedia in Mexico City, Mexico

Simultaneously, in Mexico City the HARDcoded Program consists of Workshops/Talks by:

Jaime Villarreal (Installing Open Source Software Session and Discussion)
Ezequiel Netri (Media Share and Discussion)
Lalo Melendez (Gaming and Algorythmic Improvisation and collaborative Arduino standalone Workshop)
Sebastian Bojorge (Gaming programing)

@ CentroMultiMedia
And Performances/Screenings by:

All Participants
@ the BORDER