A knit piece by Ben Fino-Radin

Here’s a cool panel at the New Museum this Friday:

CRAFT HACKERS

Rhizome.org panel discussion

Fri, Dec 12, 2008 | 7:30 PM

New Museum of Contemporary Art

Craft Hackers is a panel discussion among artists who use crafting techniques to explore high-tech culture and the relationship between needlework and computer programming. Panelists include Cat Mazza, who translates moving images into stills knit in yarn; Christy Matson, who uses Jacquard Looms (some of the earliest computers) to knit landscape images from computer games; Ben Fino-Radin, whose witty needlepoint sculptures translate the World Wide Web into yarn and plastic, one pixel at a time; and Cody Trepte, whose embroidery of retired computer punch cards rekindles an old-fashioned love affair with the hand of the artist.

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Members of Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor Area Robotics Club sorting parts for their motor controller

A Maker-centric event, particularly robot-filled this month, in Ann Arbor, Michigan:

The next GO-Tech meeting is this Tuesday, December 9, at a new earlier time, 7 pm.

GO Tech (formerly NotBAGO) is a meeting for Ann Arbor (MI) area readers of Make Magazine, Circuit Cellar, Home Shop Machinist, Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools, slashdot, etc. That is, people who are interested in and make things using technology, whether that’s a metal-cutting lathe or a Python script. A kind of generalized mixture of CerealBar, DorkBot, Oxford Geek night, and Portland Machinist Guild. We have machinists, electrical engineers, software folks, industrial control types, and so on.

The Bright bike I posted about yesterday is just one of a plethora of Make-tastic projects Eyebeam has at their party next week:

Eyebeam’s beloved, annual Holiday Hackshop!

Sat., Dec. 13, 1PM - 5PM workshops | 6PM: Holiday party (think spiked eggnog, cider and holiday treats!)

LOCATION: 540 W. 21st St., NYC

COST: Free to visit; minor materials costs for select workshops.

If you haven’t yet experienced everyone’s favorite holiday gift-making event, here’s the scoop: For one day, and one day only, Eyebeam becomes an all-ages, multi-workshop electronic craft-making fair, with entertainment, decorations and plenty of holiday spirit.

The majority of the workshops are artist-led, with small fees for material costs, and you’ll leave with gifts that will far surpass lopsided clay mugs of years past!

All in all: A fun, thrifty, edutainment alternative to the trance-and occasionally rage-inducing department-store crawl.

Workshops:

Extreme Weather Snowglobes made of recycled materials
Led by resident Andrea Polli and collaborators Heidi Neilsen and Chuck Varga
Fee: $5/For all ages
1 - 5PM (Jump in any time; information sessions at 1PM, 2PM, 3PM, 4PM)

Bright Bike!
Led by senior fellow Michael Mandiberg
Just in time for the holidays: an opportunity to wrap up your bike with retro-reflective material to make biking NYC far safer.
Fee for materials: Whole bike: $30; material to wrap selected parts of bike: $10
You must bring your own bike to participate!
Recommended for ages 12 years and older.
Session 1: 1 - 3PM: (can accommodate 15 bikes)
Session 2: 3:30 - 5:30PM: (can accommodate 15 bikes)
5:30 - 6PM: Bike Ride/parade with workshop participants to document the effectiveness of the Bright Bike wrapping!

Frankenstein your iPod!
Led by resident Hans-Christoph Steiner and Chris “the Widget” DiMauro
Turn you iPod (or one of the stash we’ll have on hand) into something you never imagined possible.
Fee: Free (We recommend you bring your own iPod, though we will have some on hand.) Recommended for ages 12 years and older, unless accompanied by an adult.

Session 1: 1 - 3PM: Frankensteining 101: Hacking your iPod
Session 2: 4 - 6PM: Install iPodLinux for making music with PD or Rockbox for playing Doon on your iPod video (can accommodate 10).

We’ll have a stash of old iPods on-hand for harvesting parts, but those interested are advised to bring their trusty iPods with the battery, software or hardware failures.

Bend it, Shake it Workshop
Led by resident Christina Kral with collaborators Jamie O’Shea, Drayton Hiers and Dan Ribaudo
In this two-part workshop we invite you to hack and bend discarded plastic, battery-run toys to turn them into a potpourri of instruments.