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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 This symposium brings together artists and thinkers to discuss the triumph of all that is obsolete and archaic over the incredible promises - and threats - of technological development.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