Needs your trash

Forward from Paul Sargent, participant in Version >09

Dear Chicago friends,

On April 18th, I'll be rolling into town to build a river out of trash for this year's Version festival (will look like a ground-up variation on this: http://www.recycledcarbon.com/bigorbit/FREED2628small.jpg). I could use your help as I won't have lots of time to collect trash on my own. If you could save for me any water-bearing items like:

plastic milk jugs
detergent and juice containers
large cans
those obnoxious plastic grocery bags
old plastic paint tarp type stuff
5-gallon paint-style buckets
cheap plastic sleds
watering cans and plastic flower pots
discarded children's toys
plastic and foil serving trays
trash cans
and other stuff that would be light, can be easily drilled, cut or reshaped, and will hold or carry water (like a riverbed) without leaking.

To create the sort of mountain landscape on top of which the riverbed will sit, I'll also need:
medium to giant sized cardboard boxes
milk crates
items like trunks, tool boxes, suitcases, etc
and other odd items that'd make for a visually interesting addition to a giant landscape of trash.

And, lastly, I'm looking for two video projectors, 3 DVD players, and a decent stereo PA/speaker system that I could use from April 20th to May 2nd. I'd like to avoid my usual buy-and-return tactic if possible so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you (and here's hoping for your sakes that the snow is done for the year!).

Best,
-Paul
paul sargent

CALL FOR ENTRY : Seeking Art Bargain Basement

CALL FOR ENTRY : Seeking Art Bargain Basement
NFO XPO, Version Fest ’09, April 25th & 26th

Artists, need CASH?? Do you have surplus ART?? Clear out your studios
and make way for new work by selling your outdated, rejected, and remaindered art for cash in the Seeking Art Bargain Basement!

Seeking Art Bargain Basement: The first bargain basements appeared in 1909 as an effort by department stores to move unwanted merchandise. Selling surplus goods at discounted prices cleared the way for new products, catered to the consumer's desire to acquire hidden gems for
less than their worth, and allowed lower-income shoppers to participate in the trendy new world of mass-produced goods. The Seeking Art Bargain Basement is applying the same economic and
psychological principles to the art market by uniting artist's leftover work with shoppers seeking affordable art. Come celebrate the 100th anniversary of the bargain basement by exploring the model of recycling unwanted objects and challenging the notion that certain items are only for the wealthy.

Details: All work will be accepted, including sketches, old prints, works-in-progress, and multiple submissions by one artist. Work may be priced at any amount under $100, with all money going to the artist. To submit work, include your name, the piece's name, name of
series or project (if applicable), date made, and price, with your piece and contact info or a SASE for the return of unsold work. Pick ups can be arranged within the Chicago area or mail work to: Seeking Art Bargain Basement, 7314 N. Bell Ave, Chicago, IL 60645.

For more information, visit versionfest.org or huimintsen.com.
Deadline: April 20.
Contact huimintsen@gmail.com with questions or to schedule a pick up.

King Ludd's Midway Arcade

Call for Submissions
For
King Ludd's Midway Arcade
Version Fest 09'
Curated by Material Exchange
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Calling all gamers, artists, engineers, tinkerers, hackers, manipulators...

The Midway Plaissance in Hyde Park was the home of the World's Fair of 1893, an international celebration of the landing of Columbus in North America 401 years earlier. It involved displays of world cultures, technology, food, the debut of the Ferris Wheel, and endless other amusements. It was a hopeful moment that looked fervently toward the future. Hope in our time may have to do with retracting high-impact commitments, resisting speed, slowing growth and expansion. To that end, King Ludd's Midway Arcade proposes an Antidote to the World's Fair with a call for proposals for home-made video games, parlor games, and carnival games that in some way challenge or offer an alternative to the dominance of high-technology.

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Send Entries to info@material-exchange.org

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The Games:
Games
may be analog, low–tech, mechanical, or hacker. They might be re-vamped arcade games, games called 'Sabotage' involving wooden shoes, or games with a carnivalesque feeling. You may want to begin with an existing video game console like a Pacman table, or re-imagine existing game rules and make them your own. We are not looking for board games. All games must involve some significant physical apparatus or console. Games must be portable, fully functional, durable, family friendly, and should not require excessive assembly on our end. We want to especially encourage science, art, and engineering students and faculty to build games together with a group or class.

History/Philosophy:
Our
interest in analog or low-tech arcade games began with the creation of our multi-player, analog pinball machine in 2007 (this game will be present at the arcade). We are interested in the multi-player, hand-driven, collaborative game apparatus as a site to investigate metaphors for social engagement inspired by game theory. In broader terms, they approach questions about the necessity of parameters or
rules for meaningful interaction and dialogue, or invention within non-parametric contexts.

Proposals:
Please send us a brief bio of yourself or your team and a description of your proposal for a game. Visual aids are encouraged. Deadline: Monday, March 22nd, 2008.

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Send Entries to info@material-exchange.org

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Transparency:
We intend to charge a minimal admission fee (around $5 for adults, $3 for kids) for entry as a way to cover our administrative costs. We also intend for the makers of the games to receive an ongoing royalty (albeit a small one) from the arcade if it travels to future locales. Our objective is to create an ongoing source of funding for our projects, and those of fellow makers.

This seminal exhibition of fully functional games will debut at the Experimental Station in Woodlawn, from April 24th to May 2nd, after which the arcade will travel to other locations yet to be determined. We will create a festival atmosphere likely to attract visitors from as far afield as Indiana and Wisconsin!!!

All entries compete for the King Ludd Award the people's choice favorite.

visit: www.material-exchange.org

Version Festival Fundraiser

March 21, 2009, 8pm

Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St

There are way too many good reasons to come by Co-Prosperity Sphere this Saturday, March 21.

We are launching two new publications: Matériel and Pr.

They are awesome. And HUGE! Download this link for a sneak peak at Matériel:
http://lumpen.com/materielmag/Matériel_Mag_Issue_001.pdf

We are also raising funds for Version>09 Immodest Proposals our annual international art freak out. This is our only fundraiser that will pay for 10 days and nights of projects by over 350 people from around the world.

Bobby Conn is playing along with Casual Encounter, and a super secret internet famous band.


Matériel is an oversized broadside newsprint publication that’s a collection of the best/brightest designers/illustrators/photographers work we can find – creating a showcase for their submitted work. It’s a sister magazine to Proximity providing a ‘design’ counterpoint to Prox’s ‘art’ focus.

Pr is Proximty’s in-between issues poster letter featuring reviews, interview, a calendar and a sweet recipe for a healthy art ecology.

Both of these oversized publications are beautiful. Come and get one, and fund our soon to be epic festival.

issues are complementary with a $10 Suggested donation.

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