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VR/Urban is a collective of public media interventionists and their latest project, Smslingshot is a really cool (and fun) attempt of reclaiming public urban space. The city has been covered by advertising posters and commercial digital media screens. Graffiti and other street art represent an attempt of  marking the walls as being public domain. Still, new technologies ask for more initiatives and this is exactly what Smslingshot is.

What is it exactly?

The SMSlingshot is an autonom working device, equipped with an ultra-high frequency radio, hacked arduino board, laser and batteries. Text messages can be typed on a phone-sized wooden keypad which is integrated in the also wooden slingshot. After the message is finished, the user can aim on a media facade and send/shoot the message straight to the targeted point. It will then appear as a colored splash with the message written within. The text message will also be real-time twittered – just in case.

If you want to know more details on how they developed the device just check out their website. And if you want to try the device for yourself, VR/Urban might be coming to Eindhoven in November at the STRP art & technology festival.

Designer Bashkim Isai created a garden that “feeds on social interaction” – in other words, the plants will survive only if you will be a very good friend on Facebook. Just like any other plans, they need water, soil, and nutrients, but the way these elements are used depends entirely on how many people become friends with the garden on Facebook and the comments on its wall post.

The mechanism is the following:

“Meet Eater is rigged up with a system to register physical contact and social media interaction. Watering is triggered by human contact and nutrients are delivered when you start hanging out with it on Facebook. Of course the novelty of such a project could draw more attention than is desired. If the plant becomes over loved it will call for quiet time via the Facebook page, just as you or I would.”

The experiment had quite a success as in 81 days it gathered more than 5000 fans on Facebook, constantly interacting with the garden.

Check it out for yourself andlet us know what you think – it is at least an interesting way to rethink our relationship with nature, using the interactivity and connectivity that social media have to offer.

source: Mashable

“A festival in a Must Go Zone. The Brussels Festival Kanal projects are artistically diverse and explore cultural, social, political and historical issues, but they have one thing in common: they literally get the public moving. As Brussels edges its way westwards, the various districts around the canal are gradually being incorporated into the city centre. Some changes are already under way, others are on their way: streets are being revamped, development plans drawn up and new projects given the green light. At the same time the gap is widening between rich and poor, between those with a qualification or a job and those without.Yet because of its mix of different nationalities, languages, smells, colours and vibrant young population, this is Brussels at its best – a powerful mélange with an unseen reserve of energy, creativity and joie de vivre. Unfortunately, these communities don’t always have the opportunities they deserve. Unfortunately, a none too rosy picture of this part of Brussels is often conveyed to the outside world.” Source, Full programme and more info

I recently discovered a website “where the future is being made today!” On www.fablab.nl, a Dutch website, you can find about anything on Fablabs (short for Fabrication or Fabulous Laboratory): it features interesting articles, shows Fablab initiatives in the Netherlands and beyond, offers an overview of machines you should definitely put in your own Fablab and directs you towards numerous audio- and videoclips. You can even e-mail the developers of the website if you need andy help, advise or support with setting up your own Fablab!

While you’re visiting this website, you should definetely check out the audioclip “The Making of a Personal Lab”: in the clip, dating from 2005, Neil Gershenfeld of MIT (the ‘founder’ of the Fablab) talks about a manufacturing-revolution in which “existing technologies and tools bring capabilities once held by huge facturies dowon to the personal level”. You can check the clip here.

Participants sought for the art project ’Short Cut Leuven’ by Stijn Van Dorpe

“Short Cut traces an imaginary straight line (a ‘short cut’), via a group of walking people, through Leuven. The aim is to form a line and walk a trail between Naamsevest and Engels Plein, straight across private property, public buildings, streets and squares. In this way Van Dorpe reconnects the private to the public, while making us think about topics like “living in the city,” “loss of privacy” etc.” Source & more info