We here at LAB were trying to think of a way of sharing work with the world and a creating a library of resources was always going to be on the cards. So today we ‘launched’ (although not very grandly) the LABrary a section of the site that we hope will evolve into an emerging resource for makers, craftsters, artists, hackers and doers everywhere. In the spirit of LAB it is a project in development and needs contribution and LABing, if you have any resources, tutorials, blueprints, code, recipes etc. tweet us with the hashtag #LABrary and a link and we’ll put it up or alternatively send us an email.

Any ideas on taxonomy and organising of the LABrary please let us know, maybe a wiki? There are a few links up there for now and we’ll be publishing code from LAB #1 Processing workshop at some point next week. So keep checking back for updates.

LAB

Location: The Orange Tree, Nottingham View Map
Date: Tuesday 16th March 2010
Start Time: 7pm
End Time: 10pm
Description: No programming experience necessary but a laptop is.

Calling all designers, programmers, artists, film-makers, curious kids, animators, visualists, makers, hackers and list makers!

Exciting news LABs and LABETTEs! The first LAB session has been announced and will be the launch of a regularly MONTHLY open Processing workshop. This first session will be an introduction to the Processing software environment, programming language and we will be showing a few examples of projects that were developed in Processing so you know what it is capable of.

IMPORTANT!
LABshops are designed to be an open space, a chance to initiate collaborations, meet and learn from each other and develop a supportive and open community of people interested in making things. It is also a space for you to work on your own projects, experiment and test out ideas with a real-life forum to ask questions when you are foaming at the mouth and sweeping up pulled hair.


We are just finalising a loose structure for the workshop, led by Tommy Sweeney which we will post up on the blog in the next week or so.

If that wasn’t good enough already, we’re going to be taking over the (wonderful) Orange Tree, so come down and join us for a pint and talk to us if you would like to get involved but are not sure quite what this is all about or tell us about projects you are working on.

We will be open-sourcing the code from the session and posting it up in our library for people to download use, gawp at, modify, hack up and generally play with.

Participate

There are limited places for this LAB workshop because of the size of the venue, registration is required. i.e. we need to know how many are coming:

Register for the Processing LAB here:
WE ARE ALL FULL UP! BUT IT IS A MONTHLY LAB, CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES

Know someone who would be interested in LAB? Invite them along also by sending on them a link to this blog post. LAB is not just a space for people with computers and electronics, we are interested in makers of all kinds, if you’re interested in LAB and want to know how to get involved contact us.

What is Processing?

Processing is a free and open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. Think of it as a software sketchbook, beyond this is it can be used to rapidly prototype code ideas and take them right through to professional production. It is a great tool to begin learning programming, particularly in a visual/interactive context and make some cool stuff.

Processing is available to download cross-platform for free. Its worth downloading the software and having a quick look around before coming to the workshop to familiarise yourself with the basic layout of the sketchbook and maybe have a play with some of the examples:

Download Processing: http://processing.org/download/

What cool projects have you seen with Processing? Post us a comment below or tweet us @wearelab

There’s a good mixture of contemporary art and artefacts from the time, like a full-scale replica of Sputnik I and some great illustrations, plans and maps. This mixture illustrates the tensions made evident when comparing the optimism and hope engendered by the technological progress and propaganda that arose from the space race, against the arguably inevitable disappointment and degeneration left behind as communism crumbled and the technologically driven utopian future it promised failed to materialise. It’s a glimpse into a truly fascinating period in history, its consequences and the lessons to be learned from it.

Anyway. That’s quite enough from me, here are some photos.

Sputnik I

Various Soviet Posters from the ‘Ne Boltai!’ Collection.
Second from right is Soviet Science Fights For Peace by J.Paukert, 1960. Didn’t catch the others.

Elsewhere by Micol Assael

Inspire Me Again by Django Hernandez

The Dream and the Promise by Aleksandra Mir

Star City by Jane &LouiseWilson. Image courtesy of 303 gallery New York, via Nottingham Contemporary

Has anyone else been? What did you think of it?

P.S. There are a few (but not many) more photos here.
Also, if you’re interested in this time period, Ken Hollings’ Welcome To Mars is a great read.

A month or so ago, I came across this designer after discovering an awesome Instructable from momwithahook. It was non-other than an amazing crotcheted beard & moustache balaclava.

The original design and idea came from Icelandic design friends Vík Prjónsdóttir who have in their locally knitted arsenal, amazingly snug looking creations such as the Sealpelt which is based on a old folk tale from Southern Iceland. Its a story that I have now committed to memory because it is achingly beautiful and have been spinning on to anyone who will listen.

So as in the tradition of the folklore and oral storytelling, I would like to tell you this story as I have remembered it.  Maybe if you learn it, it will age and embellish with time.

A fisherman, who lived on the south coast of Iceland was walking down to his boats to head out into the icy sea when he was stunned to see a seal pelt lying on the shore. He picked up this pelt in his arms, it was the most beautiful he’d ever seen, soft and with a gentle shine to it. He took it back to his cabin where for fear that it was another’s he locked it away in a wooden chest and returned to the sea.

A week or so later he returned to the shore and in the place he had found this pelt was a woman, naked, cold and sick. He ran down to help her, took her in his arms and returned to his cabin to wrap her in blankets and nurse her back to health. The fisherman and the woman fell in love, were married and had seven children together. But he never told her of the sealpelt. At nights his beautiful wife would sit looking out to sea with longing.

Seven years passed and they were very happy together. The fisherman would go down to his boats every day and return evening and never told his wife of the sealpelt. Until one day out of curiosity, his wife opened the chest to find the pelt inside. Tears ran down her face, she ran to the sea wrapped the pelt around her and just before she dived in she uttered. “I am anxious for my children, I have seven on the land and seven in the sea. I must return to them.” with that she disappeared beneath the waves. The fisherman returned and never saw his wife again.

Although when he was out on the water, his boat was always followed by this one beautiful seal with a tear in her eye and he was the luckiest fisherman that ever lived.

Spin a yarn with your yarns and check out Vik’s other stuff.

http://vikprjonsdottir.com/

Bear with us whilst we LAB the site and get things running!