By Megan Burke, Maureen Cavanaugh

January 11, 2010

MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (Host): I’m Maureen Cavanaugh. You’re listening to These Days on KPBS. There’s no denying that illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico has gotten deadlier in recent years. U.S. border security policies have changed the usual urban routes for migrants into harsh desert treks. Many immigrants have gotten stranded without water and died from thirst and exposure. A group of art and technology activists have decided to do something about that. They’re developing what they call the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS cell phone app to help illegal border crossers travel safely into the U.S. As you might imagine, it’s caused a bit of a stir. Joining us to talk about what some call an act of electronic civil disobedience and some call breaking federal law are my guests. Ricardo Dominguez, associate professor of the Visual Arts Department, UCSD. And, Ricardo, welcome.

RICARDO DOMINGUEZ (Associate Professor, Visual Arts Department, University of California San Diego): Thank you very much for inviting us.

CAVANAUGH: Brett Stalbaum is a UC San Diego lecturer. And, Brett, welcome.

BRETT STALBAUM (Lecturer, University of California San Diego): Thank you. Really glad to be here.

Listen to the show: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/jan/11/ucsd-artists-develop-tool-guide-illegal-border-cro/

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These Days/KPBS Radio – UCSD Artists Develop Tool To Guide Border Crossers To Water

Join b.a.n.g lab researchers Elle Mehrmand and Chris Head, and Zach Blas on December 19th for Upgrade! Tijuana! It’s going to be awesome and is in a new location, Protolab!

Upgrade! Tijuana, Sat Dec 19th, Elle Mehrmand, Chris Head and Zach Blas

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Upgrade! Tijuana
6-8pm
@ Protolab

Presentations by:

Zach Blas
Elle Mehrmand
Chris Head

Telefono: (0152 – 664) 686 1610 y 686 6318

Dirección: Blvd. Agua Caliente # 10535
 Edificio Gallegos Planta
Baja.
Fracc. Aviación, Tijuana, B.C. Mexico.
C.P.22014

Poster here:
http://upgrade.dreamaddictive.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/upgrade2.jpg

and http://upgrade.dreamaddictive.com

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Elle Mehrmand

is a performance/new media artist and musician who uses the body,
electronics, video, photography, sound and installation within her works.
She is the singer and trombone player of Assembly of Mazes, a music
collective who create dark, electronic, middle eastern, rhythmic jazz
rock. Elle is currently an MFA candidate at UCSD, and received her BFA in
art photography with a minor in music at CSULB. Elle has received grants
from UCIRA and Fine Arts Affiliates. She is a researcher at CRCA and the
b.a.n.g. lab at UCSD. Her performances have been shown in Los Angeles,
Tijuana, Montreal, Dublin, San Diego, Long Beach, San Fransisco and
Bogotá, Colombia.

sextrument. <2008> performance/video
A live durational performance where I masturbated for one hour, with a Nintendo Wii remote controller. The accelerometer sensor in the Wii-mote measured the speed and intensity of my hand movement, which sent messages to MaxMSP altering the sound of my voice, which was then projected through speakers outside of the room. Behind a locked door, I invited viewers to look through the peephole, seeing only the bottom of my breasts, down to the top of my pubic line, revealing the in-between.

http://visarts.ucsd.edu/something-happening/?p=177
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Zach Blas

www.zachblas.info
is an artist and writer working at the intersections of networked media,
queerness, and the political. he is particularly interested in activist
art that addresses the methods and styles in which technologies, bodies,
and capital impact, reconstitute, and proliferate assemblages of
sexuality, gender, and knowledge, alongside the potentials and
possibilities of reshaping these assemblages as well as reconfiguring
un/human modes of agency and resistance. zach is a phd student in
literature & information science + information studies at duke university.
he holds a mfa from the design | media arts department at the university
of california los angeles, a post-baccalaureate certificate from the
school of the art institute of chicago in the art and technology studies
department, and a bachelor of science from boston university in film and
philosophy.”

zach’s current project, Queer Technologies, is an organization that
develops applications and situations for queer intervention and social
formation. Queer Technologies produces flows of resistance within larger
spheres of capitalist structurations, “identifying” and “disidentiying”
with these spheres in tandem. All pieces are designed as product, artwork,
and political tool, materialized through an industrial manufacturing
process so that they may be disseminated widely. QT products include
transCoder, a queer programming anti-language; ENgenderingGenderChangers,
a “solution” to Gender Adapters’ male/female binary; Gay Bombs, a
technical manual manifesto that outlines a “how to” of queer networked
activism; and GRID, a mapping application used to track the dissemination
of QT products and map the “battle plans” for Queer Technologies to more
thoroughly infect networks of capital. Queer Technologies’ products are
often displayed and deployed at the Disingenuous Bar, which offers a
heterotopic space for political support for “technical” problems. QT
products are also shop-dropped in various consumer electronics stores,
such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and Target.
(www.queertechnologies.info)

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Christopher Head
gubbish.org

Christopher Head is a MFA candidate at the University of California San
Diego. His practice is focused on the application of experimental
technologies and art to address issues at the intersection between
virtual, public, and social spaces. Christopher’s work often engages
computer games, data visualization, and issues of software production.

Christopher’s current project and upcoming thesis exhibition (tentatively
titled “mmmo”), is an attempt to create a software framework for exploring
alternative narrative forms in interactive digital media. “mmmo” will be
released first as a pair of free/libre and open-source software libraries,
with a follow-up implementation as a development example and use-case.

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Upgrade! Tijuana, Dec 19th with Elle Mehrmand, Chris Head and Zach Blas

The Transborder Immigrant Tool was the subject of a whirlwind of media attention in the past week. The project has been developed by the Electronic Disturbance Theater, consisting of artists Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Amy Sara Carroll and Micha Cardenas. The media coverage included television, radio and print stories including the Associated Press, BBC World, NBC, Fox, and the UCSD Guardian. While the actual stories are too many to list here, the following is a list of some of the major articles. Many media outlets improperly reported it as an Iphone app, others attempted to discredit the project saying it is illegal, and some interviewed Enrique Morones of the Border Angels, one of the humanitarian providers whose water caches the tools directs people to. Overall, the members of the group are extremely happy that the Transborder Immigrant Tool has been so effective in opening up dialog on the dire need for humanitarian aid at the border, where thousands of people have needlessly died. We look forward to completing and deploying the tool in the coming year.

GPS tool helps illegal immigrants cross US border
Associated Press

Celular para cruzar ilegalmente
BBC World

Border Crossing: There’s an App for That
NBC San Diego

Low-Tech App Aids in Crossing Mexican Border
UCSD Guardian

GPS para indocumentados
Telemundo

Border Crossing Application
Fox 5 TV San Diego

Smart phone application helps illegal immigrants navigate safely across border
NBC Spokane Washington

GPS Technology to Help Illegal Immigrants
KSRO – Santa Rosa,CA,USA

Poll: 56% say border-crossing tool threatens national security
OC Register

Border-Navigating Phone App Raises Concerns
KMJ Now – Fresno,CA,USA

mobile phone application gets mixed reactions
State Press

Border Crossing: There’s an App for That
NBC Chicago

UCSD Researches Creating Phone App For Border Crossers
MyStateline.com – Rockford,IL,USA

Want to sneak into US? There’s an app for that
WND.com – Washington,DC,USA

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Media Frenzy over the Transborder Immigrant Tool

Vice magazine wrote a long article this month about Ricardo Dominguez and the b.a.n.g. lab. The article covers numerous Border Disturbance Art projects but focuses on the Transborder Immigrant Tool. We’ve been getting a lot of good feedback from this article, so thanks!

FOLLOW THE GPS, ÉSE:THE TRANSBORDER IMMIGRANT TOOL HELPS MEXICANS CROSS OVER SAFELY

Also, b.a.n.g. lab researcher Micha Cardenas/Azdel Slade published a new article on Realityshifting on Augmentology.com last week. It includes a short machinima she produced as well as other videos and links. Check it out and leave a comment with your thoughts!
Reality Shifting – Part 1: Rezzing

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Articles in Vice Magazine and Augmentology.com

1 to 3p.m. on November 20th, 2009.
At Visual Arts Performance Space.

“SLEEP DEALER” A film by Alex Rivera

Artist Alex Rivera will be speaking about his work and his recent film “Sleep Dealer.”

Set in a near-future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor, and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology. The program also includes a selection of short films by director Alex Rivera that address border issues. [2008, Mexico/USA, 90 min.]

http://www.sleepdealer.com/

Alex will also take part in a panel discussion after his presentation with artist/film maker professor Cauleen Smith in the Visual Arts Deparment, UCSD, and associate professor Curtiz Marez, editor of American Quarterly, the journal of the American Studies Association, and a new member of the Department of Ethnic Studies, UCSD.

You can catch the “Sleep Dealer” the night before and short film montage as part of the border perspectives film series at The Loft on Thursday, November 19, 2009 / 8:00 PM. (http://www.artpwr.com/events/290)

The presentation and panel is sponsored by the Visual Arts Department, the Department of Ethnic Studies, the Department of Literature, and gallery@calit2 (USCD).

Check out “Tijuana/San Diego: Cooperation and Confrontation at the Interface” at gallery@calit2. This exhibition brings together works by seven artists who draw upon the cultural landscape of the border region linking Tijuana and San Diego. Through to Nov. 25, 2009. (http://gallery.calit2.net)

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Artist Alex Rivera will speak about his film “Sleep Dealer” November 20th, 2009

The Internet as Playground and Factory – Saskia Sassen from Voices from The Internet as Play on Vimeo.

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Saskia Sassen – The Internet as Playground and Factory

b.a.n.g. lab researchers have had a number of reviews and articles published about their work this month.

The new article Micha Càrdenas co-authored with Felipe Zuniga entitled “IO NON HO NIENTE DA DIRE (I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY)” is in the current issue Digimag, an italian new media magazine. Since its only in Italian, you can find english text here. The article discusses the Emergency – Emergent Agency / Emergencia – Agencia Emergente project, which Ricardo Dominguez was also a prt of, for the Dialogos y Interrogantes portion of the Proyecto Civico exhibition at CECUT in Tijuana.

Gabriel Menotti wrote a really interesting review of Artivistic TURN*ON for Furtherfield.org which mentions Elle Mehrmand and Micha Càrdenas’ workshop and includes photos of their performance technésexual!

Also, the UCSD Guardian did some coverage of the b.a.n.g. lab’s recent forum $0 Tuition – Reimagining the University of California, their article Forum Discussion Centers on Call for Free Tuition is online at their website!

Lastly, Freephone article in the Inflexions Journal for research creation from the Sense Lab in Montreal came out last week. It includes a howto for making your own freephone!

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Recent Reviews and Articles about $0 Tuition, technésexual, Freephone and Lui Velazquez

Dorkbot SoCal 38

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
1pm

Micha Cárdenas – Lecturer, Visual Arts Department, UCSD //
Artist/Researcher, Experimental Game Lab and b.a.n.g. lab

Chris Head – MFA Candidate UCSD // Artist/Researcher, Experimental
Game Lab and b.a.n.g. lab

Elle Mehrmand – MFA Candidate UCSD // Musician, Assembly of Mazes // Artist/Researcher, b.a.n.g. lab
->http://va-grad.ucsd.edu/~drupal/node/918

The Freephone is an art project that aims to provide people just deported from the US with a free phone call. To achieve this, a group of UCSD MFA students and graduates came together to present the phone at the Lui Velazquez gallery in Tijuana, just a few feet from the turnstiles where people who are deported are dropped off by the border patrol. The project is by Chris Head, Micha Cárdenas, Elle Mehrmand, Katherine Sweetman, Felipe Zuñiga and Camilo Ontiveros.

The Freephone is an effort to use new media performance art or performance with technology to make the experience that people who are deported from the US a little bit less difficult. To make the phone, the artists bought a non working payphone casing from Ebay.com, wired it to a new $10 phone from a store and hooked that up to an adapter which would allow the phone to make calls over the internet. Then, the phone was installed outside of the Lui Velazquez gallery and the artists invited people coming through the turnstiles at the border to make a free phone call.

D.V. Rogers
->http://pieqf.allshookup.org/

Leaving no trace, the Parkfield Interventional EQ Fieldwork (PIEQF) was a geologically interactive machine earthwork temporarily installed in the remote township of Parkfield, Central California during the summer of 2008. This time-sharing, performance earthwork merged together the micro-seismic resonance of geological time and the autonomous operation of a ready-made, modified machine, producing an immersive, digitally mapped 21st century machine earthwork action.

Owen Gerst
->http://stolondesign.com/

Owen Gerst is engaged in the process of architecture, but casts aside the title of architect. He is a representative of ideas, and draws a distinction between building and architecture. Building serves basic raw needs. Architecture is about something – an IDEA. It is the IDEA that, through the creative process, serves as the catalyst in a process of transformation – turning the very basic into something special, unique, and magnificent. The IDEA is the essence of architecture, and it is the IDEA that Gerst is interested in – the IDEA in all its forms and methods of representation.

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Today, 1pm, Los Angeles, Dorkbot Socal at Machine Project

$0 Tuition – Reimagining the University of California
Panel discussion and open forum on the UC Budget Cuts

7-9pm, Monday Nov 2nd
Visual Arts Facility, Performance Space

Featuring:
Denise Ferreira da Silva, Ethic Studies
Fred Lonidier, Visual Arts
and more TBA

The current University of California budget crisis provides an important opportunity for critical analysis and creative rethinking of our educational systems. How has an institution founded on the idea of $0 tuition and public access to education for all become a privatized source of profit for corporations and beauracrats alike? Is the university still a possible place of transformation and liberation? Or is the university a dead space that must be left behind? From the university occupations around the world to the powerful coalition between UC students, staff and faculty that began with a walkout and continues to grow in force, the university is once again emerging as a site of struggle, revealing the cracks in the rhetoric of “economic crisis”. Join us for a discussion on these issues and more.

The event will include the new release of Temporary Services new publication on the national economic crisis.

Moderated by Micha Cárdenas

Organized by Elle Mehrmand, Micha Cárdenas and Ricardo Dominguez of the b.a.n.g. lab.

If you are interested in presenting, please post a comment here (or just show up for the discussion period)!

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Nov 2nd – $0 Tuition – VAF Performance Space @ UCSD

technésexual // Echolalia Azalee and Azdel Slade from azdel slade on Vimeo.

//The sound is very low frequency, so please use headphones or good speakers to hear the video//


click for more photos

Performed in Montreal at Artivistic TURN*ON at the closing night event.

In technésexual, Echolalia Azalee and Azdel Slade commit playful erotic acts in physical and virtual space simultaneously, using devices to amplify the sound of their heartbeats for the two audiences. An electrocardiogram was used to monitor the heart rate with an Arduino/Freeduino, playing a recording of the heartbeat at the correct rate using Puredata. The sound is used here to bridge the two spaces, finding ways of exploring the space between realities. DIY biometrics are used to bridge realities with audio, beyond the usual visual approaches to augmented reality or augmented virtuality.

technésexual seeks to open discussion on the multitude of sexualities outside of the restrictive LGBT formulation and homo/hetero categories, both of which are rooted in binary gender assumptions. The mixing of realities in this project can be seen as paralleling our own personal experiences of queer mixing of genders and sexualities, queering new media. Virtual worlds such as Second Life are facilitating the development of new identities and genders, which allow for unimagined relations and relationships. Through the use of mixed reality technologies in performance, technésexual seeks to look closely at these new relationships and how they affect our everyday lives and our horizons of possibility.

More information at transreal.org and bang.calit2.net/wiki/Mixed_Relations

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technésexual in Montreal at Artivistic TURN*ON