hackteria

PASAR SENGGOL Pasar = market Senggol = nudge (Indonesian suburban night market full of chaotic interactions and people pushing around in dense loud environment)

We suggested a participatory art installation that is done through collaboration with people who join us throughout the days of the CCCamp 2023 (Chaos Communication Camp) in a workshop setting, where they learn and make basic electronic units for interactive sound art and kinetics. Collaborative practicies are very common in Indonesia, both as a need to survice but also as a deeply culturally rooted concept. We are happy to be able to invite Helmi Hardian, from Surabaya, Indonesia, as “Hacker-in-Residence” to spend the summer with us in our hackerspace, Bitwäscherei, in Zürich, and join the HOME MADE 2023 Summercamp by SGMK and other activities. We have been working together in Indonesia, for HackteriaLab 2014 – Yogyakarta, and many other activites on DIY electronics and SoundArt, mostly doing workshops and PCB geeking. Besides Helmi and dusjagr, we invited 3 other mentors and constructors to help us developing the art installation and support the workshops.
* Yair Reshef, bureaucrat at T.A.M.I. (Tel Aviv, Israel)
* Steffen Koritsch aka noisio (Dresden, Germany)
* Eddie Zwetschge – Metaknoten (Dresden, Germany)
And more guests joined us throughout the week:
* Scott Beibin – Groucho Fractal (Philadelphia, US)
* Erun – Maker extraordinaire at T.A.M.I. (Tel Aviv, Israel)
* Alwin Weber – Störenfried / Circuit Control (Dresden, Germany)

You can follow our documentation and projects on the SGMK wiki.

«Bersama Inovasi dan Riset – Collaborative Innovation and Research»

Best residency ever!! – Helmi

During my residency, I had the opportunity to collaborate on the project The Loose Energy Curriculum for the exhibition at the Humus Punk Library in Zurich. We created a low-voltage and high-energy visual performance, utilizing previously unknown equipment from the hackteria studio. The experience of playing together and improvising with the hacked equipment was incredibly rewarding.

One of the highlights was simply attending a wide range of workshops at the Homemade Summercamp in Switzerland, which differs a lot from my usual practice usually being the host of workshops. This privilege of learning from others and expanding my knowledge in various media arts fields felt utterly precious. From building a music station where we learned to play drums, to skillbuilding on keyboard, DJ equipment, and more.

The overall cultural exchange during cooking time allowed us to share and transform traditional recipes into vegan and vegetarian versions. And the plurality of trips and destination furthermore offered precious insights into local cultures. Stops included: Randelab, GaudiLabs, collaborating with Hackteria ZET in Zurich, attending Homemade Summercamp, visiting the art and science residency at Max-Planck in Konstanz and organizing the program “Pasar Senggol” at Chaos Communication Camp outside of Berlin.

It was unexpected but exciting to explore personal studios for local artists, experiencing the different styles of how collective spaces can be implemented and getting to know the individual studio approach.

The residency taught me valuable lessons in space management, as I observed how collectives like Bitwäscherei or Fashion Revolution collaborate with the municiapal government to establish independent spaces. Overall, this residency provided a rich and diverse learning experience. – Written by Francisca Tan during a discussion with Helmi in Chiang Mai

Helmi Hardian (Surabaya, Indonesia) – 23 July – 25 August 2023
Helmi Hardian is a grassroots artist and ghetto scientist, with a specific interest in cooking and smoking at the same time. He lives in Surabaya, the city that is well known for its industry and technology, as well as being the center of electronic component trading (chiefly, Pasar Genteng). Hence, almost all of his works are closely related to science and technology as the medium of creativity. He is the co-founder of Waft Lab, a creative-based initiative that works at interdisciplinary practices. Currently, he focuses on tech development through DIY/DIWO culture and playing his role in researching, hacking, or deconstructing daily materials to provide some devices with new functional aspects, as well as developing workshop kits, lecturing contents, and presentation materials, which aim to learn, share, and exchange knowledge.

See more info about the “Hacker-in-Residence” program and the specific activities of Helmi’s BIR residensi.

Helmi’s Hacker-in-Residence was supported by the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, from the Loose Energy Curriculum by Regenerative Energy Community, the International Hackteria Society and the Center for Alternative Coconut Research. Besides this community support, sadly we were not able to receive any public funding for his travel and stay, but we did it anyway. Cos it was cool!