X-LAB

From October 26, 2010 – January 29, 2010, Eyebeam Art + Technology Center’s main exhibition space was transformed into X-Lab, an open lab environment where we shared the ongoing research and practice of our residents and fellows, and offered opportunities for deep public engagement.

Much as an unConference favors a flexible, participant-driven format that values energetic dialogue over talking head presentations we described X-Lab as an unExhibition where, rather than present finished works, we provided a space for critical reflection on and participation in the research and production processes at Eyebeam.

In the spirit of open culture, X-Lab was a platform for opening Eyebeam’s process to the public. Through X-Lab, we shared thinking and techniques behind the work-in-progress through workshops and presentations, while looking critically at experimental lab models around the world. Artists, engineers, hackers and program staff  tracked the activities and projects within X-Lab as they evolved, forked, and converged via a dynamic documentation process – available online and in the space.

Check out a video of Eyebeam Residents + Fellows talking about their work in X-Lab.

Follow X-Lab projects online as they were in development: http://eyebeam.tumblr.com.

In exploding the Eyebeam lab model, putting it under the microscope for closer inspection, we offer new ways for both the public and Eyebeam itself to understand and shape its vision for creative practice at the nexus of socially-engaged art, design, and engineering. In keeping with exploring collaborative models for not only developing new work, but also developing new ways to curate and present interdisciplinary, and research based projects, the program itself was a collaborative effort, with some twenty different events, workshops, prototyping events, dinners, and discussions included in the program series.

X-Lab included the following resources and work/play spaces:

• R&D houses tools for prototyping and developing work
• Prototyping is a fabricating space for production
• Sandbox is a play space for user testing and collecting data for new projects
• Classroom is a networked space to think and make and meet
• Presentation is flexible space for workshops, discussion groups, formal presentations, and dinners
• Bookstore is a space for informal conversation, reading, doing research – and shopping 🙂

These spaces are flexible and permeable: the activity from one can easily bleed into others, or be taking place simultaneously in many.

The public is invited to interact with the artists’ works during our X-Lab Open Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 12PM – 6PM. Docents will lead visitors through the space and introduce artists during those times. Go here to view the schedule of artists’ work-in-progress.

Creators: Aaron Meyers; Brooke Singer; Jacob Ciocci; Jon Cohrs; Kaho Abe; Aram Bartholl; Piotr Adamczyk; Stefani Bardin; Tahir Hemphill; Ted Southern; David Jimison; Hans-Christoph Steiner; Tikva Morowati; Max Lavicka; Justine Neuberger.

Organizers: Amanda McDonald Crowley; Paul Amitai; Roddy Schrock; Stephanie Pereira

Technology and Infrastructure: Marko Tandefelt; Jamie O’Shea; Jackson Moore; Nicholas Fraser

Design: Not An Alternative (Ange Tran and Jason Jones)

Partner Organizations: Parsons The New School For Design; FutureEverything; Visualizing.org; SEED; Hacks/Hackers NYC Meetup

Interns: Arash Nassiri; Madeleine Aronson