THE EXPO
Current working idea:
For all the below: take corona/covid measures into account such as distancing
Working theme: 'OPEN' [other ideas welcome, to be finalized soon]
Projects in public space ('out in the open', or if you prefer a regular 'from home' project, or some other 'special' location related to the context/theme (senior citizen home, prison ;)).
Streaming event where all projects get presented, using different formats (video, panel, interview, livestream, demos, prerecorded videos etc) and potentially guests. Approx 2 hours. Recording will be kept. Platform TBD (could combine multiple platform such as Twitch+Fbook (/Youtube))
Documentation on the website similar to previous years
Or something virtual like https://www.artsteps.com/
Solo or groups up to 3
This page provides details on the expo for the expo researchers/exhibitors, information for the public will be posted on the home page.
For chats see the #nmnt Discord channel.
GROUPS
Add group collaborators (names) or solo, still open to collaborate, first ideas.
If you are working in a group, add who will be available to be interviewed at the talkshow (one or two per group).
SOLO:
Niels - Idea: visualising information/possibility space
Ásbjörn
Kasper - Idea: merging the physical/digital (& robotics)
Thijs
Titus
GROUP:
Simone & Pien (Simone is available for interview)
Xiao, Ingrid, Olaf & Mitchell
Bart & Marthe: both available for interview, Marthe is present at our installation.
Carlo & Caitlin - [Both available to be interviewed]
Daphne, Veerle & Peng - [Daphne & Veerle are available for interview]
Avita & Orissa
Kamil, Melle and Vitor
OPEN TO JOIN A GROUP:
THE THEME
The theme of the expo is 'OPEN'.
With respect to theme, don't let this constrain you. Specifically do not take it too literal, but make a connection to the underlying meaning(s) of the theme - let it inspire you.
Have a look at 2. Past NMNT Editions to get a flavor for the themes and diversity of works in the previous years.
THE ASSIGNMENT
What is expected?
The goal of the final assignment is simply to create a mediatech / creative science project that you will be proud of and that is memorable. The projects are expected to be more 'meaty' on the conceptual side compared to the Lab 1 and 2 projects.
The audience will be a mix of people, and you can assume they are interested, but don't assume a media tech background or anything.
Good projects:
Tend to have a strong concept, focus and in a natural fashion evoke an experience with an observer.
Tell a story to it without becoming too obvious, artificial or pretentious. Less good projects are all over the place or attempt to be more than they achieve.
May ask a clear and intriguing question, and make you think; it doesn't enforce a way of thinking on the participant
They may have a link to some underlying scientific research. Or some may be even research projects themselves - gathering data on the spot.
In terms of the 'how', good projects often achieve this with minimal technical means, it's the concept and experience that counts. See what you can strip away from your project without affecting the experience and concept - keep it simple. Technology should become almost invisible or at least not detract visitors from the experience.
Physical is preferable over pure digital; try to avoid 'media tech cliches'. There is no requirement to use whatever form of technology even.
Don't know where to start? If you don't have an idea, don't start with the project ('the solution') but find a topic or question that interests you first - browse what we have discussed and the various new media project repositories for instance for inspiration (but think about creating something different). When you have defined some kind of topic or question of interest, coming up with a specific topic will be easier. Look at last year's projects for examples but don't imitate (see Past NMNT Editions).
I may make a selection of output from earlier assignments (Old New Media, OF in Space) that I will ask to include as well if feasible.
You can work in groups of up to 3 people (4 by exception). Unless you feel strongly about a personal solo project you want to do, teaming up is highly recommended.
What is the setting and who is the audience?
<Note that the below in based on the 2019 text. This year will be more of a mix of offline and online audience but the general idea still applies>
The expo will not be a traditional static exposition, but more like an open Lab, and may cover interactive or scientific approaches to art, or artistic and creative approaches to research and science. Many of the installations will be interactive, some of these are early studies, others will be more like polished end products, and the students will be around to answer questions about the concepts, ideas and methods behind their work, and even hack some more on the fly. In other words, it will not be a pristine museum environment, but more like feel like a creative workshop or atelier, that has a mix of finished projects as well as prototypes.
We are also considering small 'events' which could small how-to sessions or presentations. If you are interested in running one of these (or devote your project to it) let me know.
We will not be targeting just the usual creative crowd, but also the more general, open minded and curious audience who happen to walk into the expo unplanned. You shouldn't underestimate your audience, but the project should be engaging, fascinating, interesting to the casual visitor.
LOCATION
Digital Realm (Platform TBA)
DEADLINES & HOW YOU CAN HELP
Free up site space - asap - we are at 78%
Note we only have max 100MB available on Google Sites. Please help up freeing some space by making sure images and other attachments do not take up too much space (ie generally not more than 0.5MB). If you select 'manage site' (settings top right) and then attachments you can see what attachments (pictures etc) take up a lot of space, and whether these are owned by you. There are images of a couple of MBs; you need to resize these to say 100-200KB max and then replace where ever you were using the larger image with the resized one and then delete the attachment. Put movies up omn Vimeo/Youtube rather than Google Drive/iCloud so that availability in future is more guaranteed.
Finalize Lab 2 descriptions in Portfolios - no later than June 12. Should you still need to submit Lab 2, I want you to focus on the final expo first.
Team composition
Please list your team composition above - no later than June 12.
Project teaser on front page home page - no later than June 19.
Put a (working) title, group members and up to 3 sentences as a teaser on the front page (OPEN LAB EXPO), if possible with some kind of visual
The main goal for the above is to draw people to our streaming event where we launch the online expo - these are teasers for expo visitors so you dont need give your entire project away. For example something in the form of a what if question can work well. So focus on the concept, not on what the work consists of or how it is realized.
See Past NMNT Editions as an example, check 2018/19 for the proper formatting. As you can see some of this was then updated after the expo.
If your project is still in flux, still put something on there and you can keep it more cryptic
Tuesday June 23
Peter will be at Snellius so if there is any additional equipment you want to borrow, this would be a good time to pick it up (contact Peter)
Wednesday July 1
Peter is planning to be at Snellius in case there are last minute equipment requests
For groups, indicate or two team members who can be interviewed live during the talkshow (see above)
Final check in meeting - Friday July 3
Unless you need to be on location somewhere, make sure that at least one member of your group attends the final check in call on Friday 10am
Content for Talk Show and Home Page - Friday July 3
Deadline for around up to two minutes project video (or visual materials like photos)
Send Peter the original files via Wetransfer or other means (to have good quality) that I can show during the talkshow. Note content may be edited by me because of total time we have. If you have content ready before Friday please send it so that I dont need to edit everything on Saturday. For projects in public take covid rules into account, this ofcourse also holds for any recordings.
Update the teaser on the front page
Create first version more detailed description under portfolio before talkshow (see below).
Do you have any ideas/preferences for the talkshow? Major issues? Let me know in time.
Final project description under Portfolio - Friday July 17
First version before talkshow start (one per project, put a placeholder under each student that links that refers to a page under one of the team members so that everyone has a complete portfolio)
Given the streaming session I will need to get access to (part of) the content at least a couple of days beforehand...
Promotion
Facebook Event - for Facebook users
If you are Facebook user, there is a Facebook event page here; please join the fb event, actively share the event, and most important, invite people to the event (drop down share button in event - invite friends)
Also leading up to the event, share teaser materials in the Facebook event discussion stream; anything that will encourage people to come or give them some idea what will be shown; let's get some discussion going
If you are on insta, follow @mscmediatechnology, if you have content that you think would be nice to share just send it across
Are part of your project already functional or otherwise prototyped so that it could be shown to someone? Just in case I get some press contacts and want to give them a preview idea of what could be expected. If so let me know
Ofcourse you can also share the homepage of this website on other social sources, mailing lists etc.
I will see whether we can get some further exposure in terms of articles in Mare etc - I may ask for volunteers
RESOURCES
Note that we just introduced a lending system as well that you can check (for the materials in Maarten's/Marcello's offices). At this point 3/4 of the equipment is listed or less so if you want to see what we have, talk to the staff.