LOW GRADE
FRIDAY 22-SUNDAY 24 JULY
Futuresonic 2005

Low Grade - an interlinked exhibition, workshop, music night and  
symposium - focuses on technological obsolescence. That computer lying  
in the back of your closet, the printer in your attic, the ZX Spectrum  
on the bottom shelf at Oxfam: you may think they're useless, but to Low  
Grade they're the raw materials of innovative and thought-provoking  
contemporary art and music.

Curated by Michael Connor and film and Jackie Passmore (US).

All Low Grade events are free with a Futuresonic Wrist Band.
Learn more: http://www.futuresonic.com

*Download full Futuresonic 2005 Brochure by following this link*
http://www.futuresonic.com/2005/pdf/Futuresonic2005web.pdf


LOW GRADE LIVE
Friday 22 July, 9pm-2am
The Roadhouse

A showcase of musicians who use obsolete technology to make music and  
blow minds.

The line-up includes:
TREE WAVE (US)
a pop band from Dallas, Texas who make shoegazy pop music and video  
with 70's and 80's videogame gear and using a dot matrix printer as a  
synthesizer, fronted by lead singer Lauren Gray;
BODENSTANDIG 2000 (DE)
Germany's masters of 8-bit rave cabaret and champions of home computer  
folk music;
LOVID (US)
scramble TV output into mesmerizing psychedelic audiovisual output and  
sizzling, swirling stroboscopic patterns, using homemade and  
re-purposed electronic devices and low-res video loops;
ALEXEI SHULGIN (RU)
artist, musician, curator, activist, creative force behind 386DX and  
father of cyberpunk, making the trip from Moscow to demonstrate his new  
VJ-ing software - that creates psychedelic full-screen animations from  
a normal Windows computer screen display;
PAUL B DAVIS (UK)
fashion plate, gadabout and DJ, whose past work includes influential  
Beige Records release 'The 8-bit Construction Set' and notorious acts  
The Acidheads, The Potions and The Fonts;
CONSTRUCTO V DESTRUCTO (UK/US)
VJ artists Jackie Passmore and the unstoppable 68-year-old Kath Healy,  
performing visual battles about oppositional forces.


LOW GRADE SYMPOSIUM: OBSOLESCENCE AND PROGRESS
Saturday 23 July, 12.00-4.30pm
The Bridgewater Hall

Nanotechnology, designer babies, cryogenics: who cares? Despite the  
rapid rate of technological change over the past two centuries, our  
existential crises still tend to be more Sartre than Ballard. This  
symposium brings together artists and thinkers to discuss the triumph  
of all that is obsolete and archaic over the incredible promises - and  
threats - of technological development.

Speakers include:
SADIE PLANT  (UK)
world-renowned devotee of the philosophies and technologies of  
textiles, a champion of femme nerds and coders everywhere;
OLIA LIALINA  (DE)
net artist, animated gif model, and wife of Rockstar who here presents  
A Vernacular Web, her seminal account of the REAL Language of New  
Media;
MICHAEL CONNOR (US)
co-curator of Low Grade, re-examines a question first posed by Thomas  
Pynchon in 1988: Is it OK to be a Luddite?;
JACKIE PASSMORE (US)
film/video artist and co-curator of Low Grade, who divides her work  
bags into wet (lip balm, banana) and dry (leads, adapter) sections;
ALEXEI SHULGIN (RU)
presenting his fantastic new VJing tool, WIMP PRO (created in  
partnership with Victor Laskin) and discussing the theme of  
obsolescence in his art practice;
PAUL SLOCUM (US)
demonstrating the Dot Matrix Synth, the world's first synthesizer made  
from a dot matrix printer;
CAT MAZZA  (US)
presenting her KnitPro software and discuss knitting as an artistic and  
political stance;
AND MORE!


FUZZY LOGIC EXHIBITION
Saturday 23 July, 11am-11pm, Sunday 24 July, Midday-11pm,
The Bridgewater Hall

Low Grade argues that the roots of computing technology are linked to  
Britain's 19th Century cotton trade, with weaving looms providing  
inspiration for the design of the first computer. In a city famous for  
both its textile history - Manchester was once known as 'Cottonopolis'  
- and as the birthplace of the modern computer, Fuzzy Logic  
demonstrates how new media artists are turning back to the loom,  
combining technology with the knitting needle to create a new wave of  
fabric-based media arts, mathematical knitting and textile activism.

Artists and works include:
CLAIRE IRVING (UK)
mathematical knitting;
WOOLLY THOUGHTS (UK)
mathematical Afghans;
CAT MAZZA (US)
KnitPro Software, the LogoKnit knitting machine and examples of knitted  
work;
MANDY MCINTOSH (UK)
knitting pattern for Atlanta and other cities, plus Radiant Circle;
LOVID (US)
soft sound sculpture, sculpting psychedelic soundsssssssssssz;
Peter Coffin (US)
wall-based prints bridging ASCII art and knitting patterns;
CORY ARCANGEL (US)
security blanket based on the "infinite fill" patterns used in place of  
colour on early drawing software Mac Paint;
REBECCA VAUGHAN (US)
conceptual knitted cosies for uncosy environments;
TOM MOODY (US)
psychedelic and abject works riding the guardrails between the handmade  
and the digital.


TACTILE MEDIA LAB: MICROREVOLT KNIT WORKSHOP WITH CAT MAZZA
Saturday 23 July, 4.30-6.00pm
The Bridgewater Hall

Your chance to get involved in subversive knitting. In the face of  
rampant consumerism and disposable pop culture, put your dukes up in  
this hands-on laboratory of experimentation with knitting, feminism,  
and anti-sweatshop labour. In this introductory-level workshop, New  
York-based artist Cat Mazza will demonstrate her LogoKnit project and  
show participants how to weave their own anti-corporate garments using  
corporate logos. Get knitting! Maximum 6 participants - booking  
essential (through The Bridgewater Hall’s box office, 0161 907 9000)


TEXTS BY THE CURATORS
'It's OK to be a Luddite' by Michael Connor:
http://www.futuresonic.com/2005/futuresonic/ 
low_grade_its_ok_to_be_a_ludditemichael_connor2005.html
'Fuzzy Logic' by Jackie Passmore:
http://www.futuresonic.com/2005/futuresonic/ 
fuzzy_logicjackie_passmore2005.html


All Low Grade events FREE with a Futuresonic Wrist Band.
Learn more: http://www.futuresonic.com