hi all,
greetimgs from the makrolab in the scottish highlands. r a d i o q u a l i
a are here in resdiency until 28 july
<http://radioqualia.va.com.au/makrolab/>.
for those who we haven't been updating regularly, we are at the makrolab
research station in scotland. makrolab is a temporary sustainable research
base, with living space for 4 - 6 people.
this is where we are precisely:
BLAIR ATHOLL ESTATE, SCOTLAND
N 56DEG 48' 182''
W 003DEG 58' 299''
ELEVATION 1276 ft
http://www.blairatholl.org.uk/
you can see pictures of makrolab at:
http://radioqualia.va.com.au/makrolab/image.html
after a short fine spell, we are now back to usual weather patterns for the
area with driving rain and howling wind ;-)
progress has been steady though, with makrolab crew numbers peaking a 9
yesterday, with: Marko Peljhan (project founder, .si), Tim Knowles (artist,
uk), Stephen Kovats (artist, writer, architect, .ca), Helen Evans (artist
based, .fr), Adam Hyde (r a d i o q u a l i a, .nz), me, Ewen Chardronett
(writer, researcher, scientist, .fr), with guests visits from Nina Czegledy
(curator, .hu/.ca) and Helena Johard (scientist and artist, .se).
many projects in progress.
the inclement weather yesterday allowed us to take some time to hold a
discussion meeting in the 'makrolab lounge', for a series of informal
'lectures' about our respective projects. stephen kovats and nina czegledy
outlined the concept of the aurora universalis project
<http://makrolab.ljudmila.org/research/aurora/rsrchaurora.html>, and talked
about how the geographical specificity of aurora phenomena could be
countered by the use of mobile telecommunications. a lively discussion
ensued about ionospheric activity in general, with the obligatory
discursive digressions into tesla's experiments and the shadowy HARPP
research been carried out in alaska.
ewen chardronnet gave a thorough introduction to the i-weather project
<http://www.i-weather.org>, outlining the background of his research
consortium, and the reasoning behind the desire to construct artficial
weather phenomena, optimised for human habitats which are isolated from
normal seasonal changes. a debate about melatonin ensued - does sunlight
stimulate or retard melatonin production? if it is the former, why is
melatonin taken as an anti-depressant? comments/suggestions welcome.
helen evans talked about her own interests in weather, which started during
her experiments with the ARTIFI-CIEL installation
<http://hehe.org.free.fr/artificiel/index.html> and the online
weatherproject.org <http://www.weatherproject.org/>. her interest is
cross-referencing data about physical weather activity, with man-made
phenomena such as air pollution. the resulting new weather phenomena could
be charted in forecasts, and visualised online or on-air ….
later on we staged the premiere of makro_kino or makro_cine - the
makrolab's first cinema screening. the film screened was 'no man's land'
the film which won the academy award for 'best foreign film' at the 2002
oscars. horrific syncing problems between the audio and video made the
blackly comedic and disturbingly bleak experience even more surreal.
the 'evening' ended with a brief but lively chat with jonathan berry a
researcher at the (U.S.) National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott
research station in antartica. this chat was a part of a seies of iVisit
discussion sessions, organised by stephen kovats as part of the aurora
universalis project. an inernal hull breach within the makrolab made
already chilly conditions slightly more icy, so we were forced to cut the
chat short at a little past 0400. however we still managed to confirm some
of ewen's earlier assertions about the human body's natural 25 hour
cicadian rhythm, as well as seeing some of berry's extraordinary aurora
photographs, posted on the CNN space site:
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/specials/scenes/frameset.exclude.html
back down to earth at base_camp, we have new photographs online of the
industrious activities of 18 july (that rare sunny day). specifically we
have image modules documenting the construction of makrolab FM - the
makrolab's temporary radio station (which has now been donated to helen for
her ongoing experiments); and tim knowles' insect compound.
visit: http://radioqualia.va.com.au/makrolab/image.html
today, crew numbers have dropped back down to 7, with marko and helen
departing this morning. r a d i o q u a l i a continue to experiment with
van eck phreaking methods, in search of information for the 'Van Eck TV'
project <http://www.radioqualia.net/makrolab/vaneck.html>, and are
collecting data for the 'radio astronomy' project
<http://www.radioqualia.net/makrolab/radioastronomy.html> also.
greetings.
honor
___________________________________________________
Honor Harger
[email protected]
Current Projects:
* r a d i o q u a l i a:
http://www.radioqualia.net
* in residence at makrolab
http://www.radioqualia.net/makrolab/
* Free Radio Linux: the first net.radio distribution of the operating
system, Linux.
http://www.radioqualia.net/freeradiolinux
report from makrolab
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Type: discussion