Recent entries

Verbindingen/Jonctions 13

by <stdin>, on 25/11/2011 — 12:45

Next week, the bi-annual festival Verbindingen/Jonctions 13, organized by Constant is happening!


Follow it live from our studio at rue Gallaitstraat 80 or online at http://vj13.constantvzw.org .

On the 1st of December, between 10:00 and 18:00, experience the Funzie Fonzie Reading Machine, a book scanner reproducing the books in its original font! At 21:00, we will present the online publication of «V/J12: By data we mean». Don't miss the great lectures on Sunday!

Vernissage/Opening/Font launch

by svilayphiou, on 12/10/2011 — 11:46

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Sticked flyer."

Open Source Publishing has its very first working space at rue Gallaitstraat 80, in Schaerbeek! Opening is on Friday 14th of October. We will launch the Crickx font (hand-cut vinyl letters from Schaerbeek) with Madame Crickx herself!

More about our new set up in the Variable house: http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/news/warming-up-the-house

Program of the day: http://variable.constantvzw.org/

Obama says Hello

by Stéphanie, on 13/07/2011 — 11:42

Last November, I went to Paris, with Femke Snelting for Constant, to interview Evan Roth about his Graffiti Markup Language (GML). It's an open format, based on XML, to describe graffiti movements. Based on this "simple" gesture of setting up a standard, possibilities are endless: unique graffiti's are now reproducible; what could be a digital graffiti, what are its aesthetics, its stakes?

Here are 3 projects I found the most interesting:

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Obama says Hello World"

PZI graduation show

by <stdin>, on 28/06/2011 — 12:19

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Graduation show.

This Friday, opening of the final show of the Piet Zwart Institute Master Media and Communication: Networked Media. There, you can get this year's catalogue we were proud to design as alumnis! Flyers and catalogues made only with free software.

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1st year exhibition, tutored by Inke Arns.

Friday 1st of July
19.00 to 23.00
Roodkapje, 119-133 Meent
3011 JH Rotterdam, Netherlands

EXPRESSION OF CONCERN REGARDING THE ACTA-AGREEMENT

by Alex, on 10/05/2011 — 08:18

Repost from the lab2lab website


This expression of concern will be sent to the members of the European Parliament and members of the national parliaments of the signatories.

The initiative to write this expression of concern was taken by the members of the following organisations: Medialab-Prado (Madrid), Kitchen Budapest (Budapest), Constant (Brussels) and PING (Nantes). These European medialabs collaborate in LABtoLAB, a two year programme of collective reflection on informal learning. LABtoLAB is supported through the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme Grundtvig.

The LABtoLAB network aims to create a platform for:

  • Sharing experiences and ways of doing, by studying specific cases,
  • Exploring the role of the lab in offering spaces for collaborative learning and knowledge exchange,
  • Examining the possibilities of life-long learning in the context of the lab.

The project builds on our belief in:

  • Open sharing of knowledge,
  • The use of Free Software tools,
  • The freedom of participation in the organization of culture and society.

The Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission defines Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in these terms: The EU's objective with ACTA partners is to have a new plurilateral treaty improving global standards for the enforcement of IPR, to more effectively combat trade in counterfeit and pirated goods.

We have sent you this statement because we have become convinced that the measures evoked by the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will make our work harder, less efficient and sometimes even impossible. As our practice is funded and supported by the European Commission, and by many major cultural organisations in member states[*], we believe that it would be counterproductive if the EU adopts laws which have a direct negative impact on the same activities they validate through their support.

In this document we try to explain aspects of our work and the negative impact that the adoption of the ACTA would have on it. We hope you find enough reasons for not supporting the ratification of the treaty.

Read more...

Porte ouverte "chez Georges"

by <stdin>, on 20/04/2011 — 23:54

Not so much time to blog since workshop at Royal College of Art with OSP (collaborative layout design, revival of Gill Sans to celebrate Eric Gill falling into the public domain hole), and 2 weeks of workshop with OSP in Vietnam (Saigon and Cấn Thơ).

Better is to talk about these live on Saturday during our atelier's Open Day. We are doing a print party along other performances and exhibitions by our studiomates: Maya Dalinsky, Mathias Koole, Dorothé Depeauw, Lot Jansen, Tine Ringelé, Peter Cserba.

performance, dans, muziek, film, schilderijen, improvisatie, print party

samedi 23 avril, à partir de 18h
66, rue Georges Moreau
1070 Anderlecht
(10 minutes de la gare du Midi)

Studiowarming

by <stdin>, on 17/03/2011 — 22:40

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                       Hello,
               in order to celebrate
                   our new atelier
                 +----------------+
                 | "CHEZ GEORGES" |
                 +----------------+
            we organize a studiowarming.
            Meet us on the 26th of March
                    around 7pm.
                 Contributions to
           our stock of drinks and snacks
                   are welcome!


                      *****
          66 rue Georges Moreau straat
                 1070 Anderlecht 
        10 min. Gare du Midi/Zuidstation
                      *****

                 +--------------+
                 | Alex & Steph |
                 +--------------+ 


Gimp half-tones

by Stéphanie, on 19/02/2011 — 17:12

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Different shapes for each color of a half-tone filter.

I don't use Gimp that often except for basic image manipulation (size, balance, color correction...). Wanting to mimic a risograph texture, I tried out the Distort/Newsprint filter. I was really surprised to be able to manipulate every color separately (angle, shape of the pattern...). Could be nice to use someday.

We could work for NASA !

by Stéphanie, on 19/02/2011 — 15:54

When I was a kid, I always wanted to work at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research). I'm proud that someone thinks we should work for NASA ;)

On top of this, it is a hilarious blog ! Grand merci Seb !
http://charlottecheesenan.tumblr.com/post/3256673314

Back Cover #4

by <stdin>, on 16/02/2011 — 17:21

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"Writing Design — Towards a Culture of Code"

After the post and the public transport strikes in Brussels, we eventually received Back Cover n°4 ! Next to articles by Robin Kinross, Karel Martens, Jost Hochuli, Catherine de Smet, Wim Crouwel and Roland Früh, our little contribution: "Writing Design — Towards a Culture of Code". Works from Petr van Blokland, Conditional Design, Lust, Open Source Publishing et Lafkon are used to illustrate the article. The text is under Free Art licence, written in French, translated in English by John Lee. Don't hesitate to share your remarks with us!

Created, edited and stored on a computer, printed matter is above all digital. Mainstream software still conceals this fact through the emulation of traditional creative methods. The use of programming, a preferred method for creating and editing digital objects, seems however to be gaining interest among graphic designers. The projects presented here, revealing different trends, look into the articulation between graphic design and programming. Does code serve only to eliminate redundancies? How do we move on from the purely aesthetic attraction of the machine and build up a critical view of the code and its effects?