Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory

Contact info

Društvo Ljudmila, laboratorij za znanost in umetnost
http://www.ljudmila.org
info@ljudmila.org
Rozmanova ulica 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana
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Region	SI-1
Luka Frelih, President
luka@ljudmila.org
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Živa Zupan, First Secretary
ziva@ljudmila.org
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Tina Dolinšek, Art Programme Coordinator
tina@ljudmila.org
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Online accounts:
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EU funded projects (Culture, MEDIA)

• European Art-Science-Technology Network for Digital Creativity, 2017
  Project summary
• Changing Weathers, 2014
  Project summary

Events abroad

Past Events

• 20 March to 22 March 2017
  The interactive sound installation Time Displacement: Chemobrionic Garden and artist talk by Robertina Šebjanič, Aleš Hieng – Zeron and Ida Hiršenfelder (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory) at Močvara Gallery in Zagreb, Croatia
  programme
• 1 February to 5 February 2017
  An audio-video performance and workshops by the Theremidi Orchestra, produced by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory and Projekt Atol Institute in cooperation with Werkstatt ThoughtWorks Berlin and SPEKTRUM and organised in cooperation with the Slovenian Cultural Centre in Berlin and the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Berlin, at Spektrum, Werkstatt Berlin in Berlin, Germany
  programme
• 30 September to 2 October 2016
  Luka Frelih (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory, Creative Commons Slovenia), Dare Pejič (Creative Commons Slovenia) and Saša Kranjc (Creative Commons Slovenia, IPI Institute) at the Creative Commons Europe Meeting at Escola das Gaivotas, Rua das Gaivotas 6 in Lisbon, Portugal
  programme
• 8 September to 18 September 2016
  Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator by Robertina Šebjanič and Slavko Glamičanin at the CyberArts exhibition, Time Displacement / Chemobrionic Garden by Robertina Šebjanič, Aleš Hieng and Ida Hiršenfelder (Projekt Atol Institute, Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory), Miserable Machines: Soot-o-mat by Špela Petrič, and Anatomy of Frozen Genesis by Dean Verzel within the Ars Electronica Festival 2016 at OK im OÖ Kulturquartier in Linz, Austria
  programme
• 23 August to 28 August 2016
  Light Oscilator by Tilen Sepič (Strip Core/Forum Ljubljana) at the Bella Skyway Festival, co-organised the Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory and Projekt Atol Institute, at Theatre "Baj Pomorski" in Toruń, Poland
  programme
• 21 December to 23 December 2015
  Noise Script, a workshop in DIY electronics with visual scores for experimental sound art, and live performances by the Theremidi Orchestra (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory) at the X-Dream Festival at ARTos Foundation in Nicosia, Cyprus
  programme
• 16 October to 17 October 2015
  Luka Frelih (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory) among the speakers at the Beyond the Obvious Annual Conference by Culture Action Europe at Åvägen 24, Brewhouse in Gothenburg, Sweden
  programme
• 24 September to 4 October 2015
  Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator by Robertina Šebjanič, Liminoid by Saša Spačal and Matic Potočnik (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory), and Self-Portrait by Boštjan Čadež at the festival Device_art 5.015, with curator Sandra Sajovic (Kapelica Gallery), organised in collaboration with Kapelica Gallery, at Gradec, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery in Zagreb, Croatia
  programme
• 11 September to 13 September 2015
  Projects In parallel by Natalija Črncec and Nina Šulin, Soundlighter by Izland (Gašper Milkovič Biloslav and Marko Vivoda) and jesusonecstasy aka Mitja Cerkvenik (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory and Projekt Atol Institute), and the workshop Clouds by Tilen Sepič (Strip Core / Forum Ljubljana) at the festival Lumina at Galeria da Marina, Jardim da Igreja Paroquial, Pavilhão Multiusos in Cascais, Portugal
  programme
• 5 September 2015
  A presentation by Luka Frelih (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory) at the Smart Creativity, Smart Democracy: 2nd Council of Europe Platform Exchange on Culture and Digitisation within Ars Electronica 2015 at Ars Electronica Center, SkyLoft in Linz, Austria
  programme
• 28 October 2014
  An artist talk by artist-in-residence Tanja Lažetić and a presentation of the portal Culture.si by Helena Pivec (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory), supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Tel Aviv, at Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon, Israel
  programme

Set up in the middle of the 1990s, Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory has been bringing together technology, art, science, and civil society ever since. As such it is not only a place where hackers, researchers and artists meet, but also a platform for reflecting and modifying culture through the lens of politics, as generated by the developments in communications technologies.

Its programmes are rather wide-reaching. Ljudmila runs the Strictly Analog Festival and the art&hacking meeting PIFcamp. Since 2010 it operates the Culture.si portal, and as of 2013 also the metasearch engine and culture aggregator Kulturnik.si. From 2011 it acts as a public lead of Creative Commons Slovenia. It organises workshops on the uses of open source software and on making DIY technological hacks; supports the production of new media artworks; has an orchestra; and more.

Mission

Ljudmila engages in the development and popularisation of open culture, free licences and software, and in new ways of data distribution. It detects the ways through which the transformations in the field of information and communications technologies affect the society and encourages the corresponding cultural and artistic practices.

As of 2017 Ljudmila is stationed in a skyscraper in the centre of Ljubljana, sharing its 8th floor with two other NGOs, the Delak Institute and the Projekt Atol Institute. Together they work on establishing the place as a multifunctional venue for new media art and contemporary theatre.

Background

The laboratory is a successor to the Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, as of 1994 a programme of the Open Society Institute Slovenia and later also the KUD France Prešeren Arts and Culture Association. Self-proclaimed as 'the latest spin-off' from the Open Society Institute - Slovenia (1992–2000), the Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory was established by 10 new & all media artists, software developers, hackers, and computer engineers in 2010.

The founding members of the Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory are Urban Belina, Mitja Doma, Luka Frelih, Tomaž Ižanc, Žiga Kranjec, Igor Križanovskij, Zoran Obradović, Alenka Pirman, Robertina Šebjanič, and Živa Zupan.

Educational programmes

Ljudmila organises regular courses in basic and advanced use of open source software (Blender, Pure Data, MediaWiki), as well as the Free Circuit [Prosto-vezje] workshops and Digital Dish public lectures and artist talks by international new media artists.

The workshops usually feature various modes of 'tinkering' with electronic circuits and technology in general, hacking and re-imagining it with the help of free software ('home-made synths' and 'wearable electronics' serving as a typical example). The participants are encouraged to search for further uses and include the findings in their artistic work. Since 2013 Ljudmila is developing its education programmes together with the Projekt Atol Institute.

Art projects and residencies

Ljudmila's artistic endeavours, also often involving Projekt Atol, usually fall under new media art. It focuses on young artists, offering them technological and other support for their productions. Some of the artworks produced by Ljudmila are Neur-o-Matic, an awarded analogue media-art installation by Lenka Đorojević & Matej Stupica; and the interactive generative sound installation Time Displacement | Chemobrionic Garden, done by Robertina Šebjanič, Aleš Hieng and [[Ida Hiršenfelder]], which was nominated for the STARTS Prize – the Grand prize of the European Commission honouring Innovation in Technology, Industry and Society stimulated by the Arts.

Tha laboratory also organises artists residencies, inviting and hosting one artist from abroad per year. Some of them were Hannah Perner-Wilson, Peter Edwards, Servando Barrerio, Bengt Sjölén, James Powderly & Eun-Jung Son and Chris Sugrue.

Strictly Analog Festival and PIFcamp

In 2013 Ljudmila launched the Strictly Analog Festival, then an international joint project with partner institutions from Graz, Trieste, and Tokyo as well as with the locally based Lighting Guerrilla Festival, MoTA Museum of Transitory Art, and Projekt Atol Institute.

PIFcamp, a temporary hacker-base set in the idyllic valley in Trenta, was first set up in 2015. Hands-on workshops, presentations, field trips, artistic explorations and random gadget tinkerings take place in an atmospehere of collective research and creation. Participants are assisted by experienced local and international guests from different fields.

PIFcamp 2015 by Ljudmila on Vimeo

Theremidi Orchestra

As a result of a theremin and theremidi physical interface workshop at Ljudmila in 2011, the electronic noise ensemble Theremidi Orchestra was founded in 2011, in collaboration with Borut Savski from Cirkulacija 2. The Theremidi audiovisual public presentations at festivals are usually combined with open workshops on making DIY instruments and gadgets.

Portals and digital agenda

On the behalf of the Ministry of Culture Ljudmila runs two web portals – Culture.si, which offers information on Slovene cultural producers, venues, festivals and support services, all in one place; and Kulturnik.si, a digital aggregator and search engine for all things (Slovene) culture.

In 2013 Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory was invited by the Ministry of Culture to collaborate with the National and University Library and Archives of the Republic of Slovenia and organise a line of discussions related to Digital Agenda in the Field of Culture in order to identify the issues and outline basic standards and recommendations for a common strategy. The working group led by Ljudmila focused on data acessibility, while the other two groups discussed the processes of digitisation and permanent data preservation.

Ljudmila has also been collaborating with the Slovene Museum Society, organising discussions on museums and the web. It advises art institutions on web design, manages the servers infrastructure for various NGOs, and is generally interested in the developments of digital politics and policy.

See also

• PIFcamp
• Culture.si
• Kulturnik.si
• Strictly Analog Festival
• Theremidi Orchestra
• Projekt Atol Institute
• Creative Commons Slovenia
• Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab (further history of the laboratory)

External links

• Ljudmila Lab website
• Powered by Ljudmila - exhibition at City Art Gallery Ljubljana in June 2011
• Documents of the programme Digital Agenda in the Field of Culture, 2013 (in Slovenian)
• The final document Digitalisation Guidelines - Cultural Heritage Long-term Preservation and Access (in Slovenian)

Gallery

Od oblike do oblike [Form from Form] in Match Gallery by Dan Adlešič, Tilen Sepič and Matic Potočnik, Lighting Guerrilla Festival in co-production with Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory, 2013

Nevromat [Neur-O-Matic] by Lenka Đorojević & Matej Stupica, produced by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory and Projekt Atol Institute, 2014

Nevromat [Neur-O-Matic], an installation by Lenka Đorojević & Matej Stupica that got the OHO Group Award in 2015

Nevromat [Neur-O-Matic], Lenka Đorojević & Matej Stupica, produced by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory and Projekt Atol Institute, 2014. An OHO Group Award winner.

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, taking place at Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future at Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future at Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

3D Printing of a case for Raspberry Pi as part of Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future at Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Projects review at Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Janez Janša at Lightning Talks, part of the Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, organized by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Reid Bingham (USA) presenting Autonomous Interactive Radio at Lightning Talks, part of the Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana, organized by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, Autonomous Interactive Radio, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Reid Bingham(USA), testing Autonomous Interactive Radio, part of the Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, organized by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, TeleVotón, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, Ophiodea, Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future, organized by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, Mycophone, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Obsolete Technologies of the Future taking place at Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, Repurposing of abandoned printing devices through physical computing and open source software and hardware, 2012

Mentors of the Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana: Ida Hiršenfelder (Slovenia), Luka Frelih (Slovenia), Yago Torroja (Spain) and Chris Sugrue (USA), Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Interactivos?’12 Ljubljana, Domače Volt Orkester, Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, 2012

Peter Edwards (aka casparelectronics), one of the artists invited to lead workshops at PIFcamp, 2015

The Austrian musician Sebastian Frisch (on the left) was researching the accoustic potentials of wood at PIFcamp, 2015

Tilen Sepič preparing a light installation at PIFcamp, 2015

Hacking electronic circuits at PIFcamp, 2015

Spectators at one of the performances for Strictly Analog Festival, 2014

Visuals by Kaja Kisilak & Lea Bradaševič, supporting the Niplodok act at Strictly Analog Festival, 2014

The analogue acid trio Niplodok performing at Strictly Analog Festival, 2014

Strictly Analog Festival, 2015

Claudia Reh projecting on Cirkulacija 2 premises at Strictly Analog Festival, 2015

Neja Tomšič & Dewi De Vree, performing at Strictly Analog Festival, 2015

The Austrian collective RaumZeitPiraten and their acousto-optic machines at Strictly Analog Festival, 2015