Posada y Alejo Duque
Greenbots
Spain (10.000 euros)
Greenbots will consist of a series of small robots created from simple electronics, with sensors, communication systems (radio, infrared, rfid, GPS) and solar panels that can absorb the energy required to power their night-time activity during the day. These organisms, whose shapes will vary (mechanical butterflies, balls, etc.), will be located at strategic points from which they will work and begin to react with the environment as programmed, gathering data, changing shape, generating light and sound effects, evolving, reprogramming themselves and other nearby greenbots and transmitting all the information to an online database. This information is a creative and innovative way of representing the levels of environmental pollution to which we are continuously subjected. This contamination will affect the Greenbots physically, modifying them internally without them realising. The Greenbots are an allusion to the new technological ecosystem we have created and to the damaged natural ecosystem in which we all live.
After completing his studies in Technical Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Cantabria, Alex Posada moved to Barcelona in 2002, where he began to work on interactive design and electronic art projects and the development of physical interfaces for musical instruments. During this year, he developed various interactive installations, such as Imaginarium (INJUVE 2002 audiovisual production fellowship) and Daylight modulations (a sound installation for a public space). Shortly afterwards, he began to collaborate actively with local artists such as Xavier Hurtado, José Manuel Berenguer, the collective "Joystick", Maria Stamenkovic Herranz and "Konic Thtr". In 2002, he created KNAL, a pseudonym under which he began to publish musical productions related to experimental electronic music and sound art. After 2003, he worked on events related with the theatre, such as the show titled The sound forest - a tribute to John Cage, the theatre production The black leg, directed by Roger Gual for the GREC 2003 Festival and The tale and Provenance: unknown with Maria Stamenkovic Herranz until 2006. Together with Carlos M. Franco he received a fellowship from the MTG (music technology group) of the Pompeu Fabra University (2003-2006) for the development of the project Mitosis produced by the Phonos Foundation, the 30km/s Foundation and the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2004, he founded the collective "dorkbot-barcelona" with another 4 people and obtained a residency (2004-2006) in the Metrònom Gallery (Rafael Tous Foundation of Contemporary Art). He also became involved in architecture projects, such as the wiki-plaza project ("the plaza of freedom” in Seville). He talked several workshops that focused on artistic creation with interactive technologies in Barcelona, Gerona and Bilbao: open hardware lab, Arduino, Pure Data, interactive technologies for the arts. He currently directs and coordinates the Hangar interactive design and electronic laboratory (centre of visual arts) in Barcelona, where he has carried out numerous projects in conjunction with other artists.
Alejo Duque is currently completing a PhD at www.egs.edu. He devotes his free time to interfacing spaces and trajectories that cross the digital networks in which he takes part and lives. His main interest lies in transcultural collaborations, preferably on the Southern hemisphere<-> East axis. He also researches sound and image data for S.O.U.P*and son0p.