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--- foam_newsletter_winter_2013 [2013-12-12 14:36] – maja
+++ foam_newsletter_winter_2013 [2013-12-12 15:53] – maja
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 While we contemplate slowing down and revaluing silence as the northern hemisphere descends into wintry hibernation, it's time look back on FoAM's bustling activities over the last months as well as look forward to what the new year brings. Travels, talks, workshops, celebrations, residencies (punctuated by copious EC reporting and accounting) -- there’s been much interesting ferment (and fermentation). Some things are simmering down, more is bubbling up, and there's much that is quite new to all of us. At FoAM Brussels we continue to deepen and broaden our investigations in food and speculative culture. FoAM Kernow has found its niche in blending science, technology and the arts, thereby benefiting both the scientific community and wider society. FoAM Amsterdam is touring the world with Sphaerae, and FoAM Nordica consolidates its work on Foodprints. So without further ado, here’s a guided tour of the highlights. We hope you’ll be inspired, and be in touch!
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 === Food culture ===
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 A colourful congregation of artists, scientists, technologists and enthusiasts came together at FoAM in Brussels to explore the fuzzy edges between the craft of fermentation, the science of biochemistry and the interesting socio-technological developments surrounding the phenomenon known as bio-hacking, biopunk or DIY biology in the [[http://fo.am/biochymickal-arts/|Biochymickal Arts workshop]] this September. Led by [[http://tarantinofoodvice.wordpress.com/|Maria Tarantino]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_L._Patterson|Meredith L. Patterson]], [[http://transitlab.org/|Brian Degger]] and the core team of FoAM Brussels, the group spent a weekend engaged in charged debate about such issues as the ethics of synthetic biology, biomimicry in design, fermented fish, and bacterial cultures in pickled vegetables. The workshop adopted the form of a curated open space, with several parallel experiments taking place in FoAM's kitchen and makeshift wetlab. The wetlab will remain operational until further notice, as several of the participants continue to perform biological experiments. If you are interested in using the lab, feel free to contact bxl@fo.am for more information. See also the [[http://lib.fo.am/biochymickal_arts_2013|notes, summaries and references]] emerging from the workshop, and the [[http://flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157635582680823/|Biochymickal Arts photos]] on Flickr.
-<html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/9785759003/" title="L1006409 by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/9785759003_6b27061dbf_z.jpg" width="640" height="426" alt="L1006409"></a></html>
+<html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/9785759003/" title="L1006409 by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/9785759003_6b27061dbf_z.jpg" width="640" height="426" alt="L1006409"></a></html><html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/9783935026/" title="_MG_8572 by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2857/9783935026_535ebb5c43.jpg" width="500" height="319" alt="_MG_8572"></a></html>
-After weeks of planning, preparation, testing, tasting, listening and above all cooking, we hosted [[http://fo.am/smoke_vapour/|Smoke & Vapour]], two etherial evenings and degustation dinners dedicated to smoke and vapour in their many forms. Maja Kuzmanovic, Stevie Wishart, Rasa Alksnyte, Nik Gaffney and Alkan Chipperfield composed a synaesthetic experience where food and sound melted and evaporated into one other. On the first evening we invited guests from within the FoAM network who gave us feedback about the experience, based on which we tweaked various aspects of the dinner. Two days afterwards we hosted the wider public event, with visitors ranging from civil servants to food stylists, performance artists to food activists. We’re happy that both evenings were well received by our guests, and also gave us such exhilarating pleasure to produce and perform. You can find an 'insider's perspective' of Smoke & Vapour's creation in [[http://fo.am/blog/2013/12/09/creating-smoke-vapour/|Maja’s blog post]], browse the [[http://libarynth.org/open_sauces:smoke_vapour|documentation of the process, inspirations, and specially designed recipes]], and peruse the [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157635490865219/|photos spanning the entire production]]. Nik Gaffney and Dave Griffiths are currently working on the Open Sauces website, where these and other of FoAM's recipes and food-related information will migrate in 2014.
+After weeks of planning, preparation, testing, tasting, listening and above all cooking, we hosted [[http://fo.am/smoke_vapour/|Smoke & Vapour]], two etherial evenings and degustation dinners dedicated to smoke and vapour in their many forms. Maja Kuzmanovic, Stevie Wishart, Rasa Alksnyte, Nik Gaffney and Alkan Chipperfield composed a synaesthetic experience where food and sound melted and evaporated into one other. On the first evening we invited guests from within the FoAM network who gave us feedback about the experience, based on which we tweaked various aspects of the dinner. Two days afterwards we hosted the wider public event, with visitors ranging from civil servants to food stylists, performance artists to food activists. We’re happy that both evenings were well received by our guests, and also gave us such exhilarating pleasure to produce and perform. You can find an 'insider's perspective' of Smoke & Vapour's creation in [[http://fo.am/blog/2013/12/09/creating-smoke-vapour/|Maja’s blog post]], browse the [[http://libarynth.org/open_sauces:smoke_vapour|documentation of the process, inspirations, and specially designed recipes]], and peruse the [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157635490865219/|photos spanning the entire production]].
+<html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/10981531815/" title="L1007763 by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5504/10981531815_d343bafb68.jpg" width="500" height="319" alt="L1007763"></a></html><html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/10747758323/" title="131108-225543 by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5538/10747758323_6b1c2d70d3.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="131108-225543"></a></html>
+Nik Gaffney and Dave Griffiths are currently working on the Open Sauces website, where these and other of FoAM's recipes and food-related information will migrate in 2014.
 <html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/10533207625/" title="how to make carot salad... by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/10533207625_86d0291d08_n.jpg" width="320" height="229" alt="how to make carot salad..."></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/10533442283/" title="how to make carot salad… by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5480/10533442283_cffa04c841_n.jpg" width="320" height="232" alt="how to make carot salad…"></a></html>
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 In September Dave Griffiths attended [[http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/2013/09/dagstuhl-collaboration-and-learning-through-live-coding/|Collaboration and learning through live coding]], a seminar in Schloss Dagstuhl that explored live coding with experts in the fields of education and software engineering, leading to some exciting new collaborations (watch this space). He has also co-authored a new publication featured in the //Ecology and Evolution Journal//: [[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.888/full|Smartphones in ecology and evolution: a guide for the app-rehensive]]. It includes discussions of the [[|http://fo.am/doris/|DORIS]] lobster mapper, [[http://fo.am/boskoi/|Boskoi]] and [[http://www.ushahidi.com/|Ushahidi]].
-And finally, [[https://www.codeclub.org.uk/|CodeClub]] at Troon Primary School broke up for the holidays last week by making lots of Christmas games. Next year we're moving on to Raspberry Pi thanks to a donation from a rather large internet company!
+And finally, [[https://www.codeclub.org.uk/|CodeClub]] at Troon Primary School broke up for the holidays last week by making lots of Christmas games. Next year we're moving on to Raspberry Pi thanks to a donation from a rather large internet advertising company!
 === There and back again ===
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 We're delighted to let you know that the [[https://www.zotero.org/groups/foam_library/items|digital catalogue of our physical library]] is now online. Alkan has been cataloguing the publications and sorting them on the shelves, so it is now much easier to find what you're looking for in our humble but exciting collection of more than thousand books, magazines, grey literature and other ephemera informing and emerging from FoAM's activities. From 2014 we're planning to hold Open Library Days and Salons, giving not just our audiences but also ourselves a chance to enjoy reading and sharing our love of books and the written word. If you're interested to peruse the library, email us at bxl@fo.am for an appointment.
-Soon after the library was catalogued, one of our families in residence used it in the most creative manner. [[http://fo.am/family-microresidency-declerck/|Lies Declerck and her two-year-old son Adriaan]] spent a week at FoAM cooking from recipes found in FoAM's food-related books. This was one of the most unique and generous residencies we have ever experienced. Lies experimented with the bleeding edge between work and life, art and housework and took care of FoAM and our guests for a week. In exchange we looked after Adi and involved both of them in the daily life of the lab.
+Soon after the library was catalogued, one of our families in residence used it in the most creative manner. [[http://fo.am/family-microresidency-declerck/|Lies Declerck and her two-year-old son Adriaan]] spent a week at FoAM cooking from recipes found in FoAM's food-related books. This was one of the most unique and generous residencies we have ever experienced. Lies experimented with the bleeding edge between work and life, [[http://fo.am/blog/2013/09/06/kookresidentie/|art and housework]] and took care of FoAM and our guests for a week. In exchange we looked after Adi and involved both of them in the daily life of the lab.
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 Aside from short-form residencies, the library is being used extensively by our two current [[http://fo.am/macrotransiencies/|macrotransients]], [[http://fo.am/macrotransiency-luea-ritter/|Luea Ritter]] and [[http://fo.am/macrotransiency-michka-melo/|Michka Mélo]]. Luea is working on how to facilitate transitions on personal, organisational and even societal scales, while Michka (having just started a few weeks ago) has wallpapered a loft in Post-Its outlining plans to disentangle from a scientific career and explore the boundaries between self-sufficiency and interdependence. Their transiencies will continue well into 2014, so you can expect further updates in coming newsletters. Both Luea and Michka are supported through [[http://fo.am/coaching/|FoAM's coaching programme]], lead by executive coach and FoAM board member Vali Lalioti. There are still a few places left in 2014 for artists and other creatives in Flanders and Brussels who feel the need for coaching, so if you're interested, drop us an email at bxl@fo.am.
-Finally -- you might laugh after reading all of the above -- we are working hard on a new field of study at FoAM: [[http://lib.fo.am/doing_nothing/|Doing Nothing]]. In view of the malaise fuelled by stress, overwork, financial and social uncertainty and other well-known pain points pervading the cultural sector (though also the wider society of Europe and beyond), FoAM has initiated a practice-based research programme on how to do nothing: creating space and time to decompress amidst our hectic lives. So far the research has looked at how to do this on a daily basis at a microcosmic scale, in FoAM itself, but in 2014--2015 the programme will be extended. In the spirit of Doing Nothing, we may not document it explicitly or extensively, but we do encourage you to browse some of the exercises and inspirations that have begun to amass on the project's dedicated Libarynth page.
+Finally -- you might laugh after reading all of the above -- we are working hard on a new field of study at FoAM: [[http://fo.am/doing-nothing|Doing Nothing]]. In view of the malaise fuelled by stress, overwork, financial and social uncertainty and other well-known pain points pervading the cultural sector (though also the wider society of Europe and beyond), FoAM has initiated a practice-based research programme on how to do nothing: creating space and time to decompress amidst our hectic lives. So far the research has looked at how to do this on a daily basis at a microcosmic scale, in FoAM itself, but in 2014--2015 the programme will be extended. In the spirit of Doing Nothing, we may not document it explicitly or extensively, but we do encourage you to browse some of the exercises and inspirations that have begun to amass on the project's dedicated [[http://lib.fo.am/doing_nothing/|Libarynth page]].
 To conclude this newsletter, we'd like to wish you a wonderful Yuletide and a beautiful 2014, with much space for speculation, experimentation, good food, fun and games. But above all else we wish you plentiful time to do nothing and enjoy the abundance of life, whatever it may bring. Looking forward to seeing you on the other side of the holidays, in person or online…