Permacomputing is the utopian hopium of our bleak technological present and future 👍, or in other words, "a concept and a community of practice oriented around issues of resilience and regenerativity in computer and network technology".

Workshop: PostmarketOS & Permacomputing Aesthetics (Leipzig, Nov 25)

Since the January workshop has been a success, a second iteration took place at the Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) hosted by Chaline Bang and myself.

Once again, design students were taught about the basic concepts of Permacomputing, its aesthetics and repair culture, transforming obsolete smartphones into mini-servers.
The end result was presented as a collaborative installation, hosting a dithered image gallery, a video streaming platform, and Conway's Game of Life.

Two hands are holding a Samsung Galaxy A3, with the screen displaying the terminal. One of the hands has a tattoo on the thumb that says 'communicare', as well as a shrimp tattoo. The room is large with big windows and a big table in the middle. During the workshop, a group of nine people sit in front of their computers. A crowd listening to a presentation by Aymeric Mansoux. In the background is an installation of 3 phones hosting web-servers. A group of five people are standing and looking at a computer. One of them is talking into the microphone and pointing at the screen as they talk about what happened during the workshop.

Workshop: If my Phone is so Smart, why am I only doing dumb silly stuff with it? (Jan 25, Rotterdam, NL)

A 1-week experimental pilot workshop with 1st and 2nd year design students at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, in which participants were taught to refurbish obsolete mobile phones into Linux-based computing devices for artistic exploration.
An attempt to answer the question "how can ICT repurposing practices and the concept of permacomputing be introduced into art & design education in a meaningful and accessible way?".

Organised by Aymeric Mansoux. Educational and organisational support by Boris Smeenk and Loes Bogers. Student assistants consisting of Chaline Bang, Martynus Jekentaite, Elizabete L. Sadauska, Nathan van Valkengoed, and Côme Roger-Dalbert.

Chaline Bang & Elizabete Sadauska giving a presentation on permacomputing aesthetics Student notes and scribbles on a red post-it. A student showcasing his work on an iPad, next to it his Laptop and the server phone. A server phone attached to a laptop.

Symposiums: Traces of Power

March, 2024 — Data Centre Industrial Complex

September, 2024 — We Need to Talk About the AI

Traces of Power is a series of events consisting of symposiums in which various artists, designers, writers, and researchers were invited to give talks and discuss technology in relation to permacomputing.

Facilitated by the Permacomputing Evenings with support from WdKA Team Communication & Events, FIT, KC WdKA, an unsustainable research group, Regieorgaan SIA

A 3D animated GIF of a cat, leaning forward to say 'We need to talk about the AI' A screenshot of the website displaying information about the event
A photo of the symposium with Dasha Ilina presenting her work, with the backs of the listening crowd.

Holistic HCI: Applying Permacomputing Principles in the Audiovisual Design Ecosystem

In this work, guiding principles and concepts of sustainable computer practices (permacomputing, ecomedia...) have been explored and integrated in the context of the audiovisual design ecosystem: From production, to distribution, to consumption.

Through experimentation and play with self-imposed limitations of hard – and software resources, and the reuse of obsolete devices, I approached a computing system that aims to question maximalist ICT tendencies and their obfuscation through virtualism — minimal design strategies that obscure inherent complexity. With this work I tried to explore if and how one can reimagine a holistic approach towards Human-Computer interaction (HCI), and how limitations in computational design can foster creativity.

Download link full research document

A modified laptop with a transparent front cover displaying the inside of the laptop. Attached a character display. The main screen is displaying web cam footage that is being converted live to ASCII characters. A character display, depicting the power and Ampere of the laptop A WIP picture of the transparent front cover A GIF of myself walking towards the laptop in the exhibition space