Open Source Tools for Artists workshop and zine

2021

Open Source Tools for Artists was a workshop and created collaborative zine I led at ARoS Art Museum, part of ARoS Public, co-organized by Flux Factory, Cantina and Code & Share[] Aarhus.

Imagine if all illustrators were required to use the same brand and design of #2 pencils or if all photographers could use only one type of camera and film and pay a monthly fee for their continued use. This is the situation today for today’s largest (and best-marketed) digital artmaking suites like Adobe Creative Suite. But a whole world of other exciting, experimental and artist-friendly tools exist beyond their confines. This workshop on creative tools is built for artists, and small DIY communities, covering possibilities of image production, drawing, photographing, organizing and experiments.

In this workshop we will start with a brief overview of artmaking tools that are alternatives to commercial offerings and then launch into a range of many other experimental and exciting artist software tools such as zine making tools (Electric Zine Maker), digital painting software (Krita, JS Paint), painting tools that allow one to collaboratively draw with a computer (NoPaint), 3d object scanning (Meshroom), and many more. Participants will create mini projects with these tools which we will document with photos and screenshots. By the end of the session we will produce a collaborative zine about these tools and showing the work we’ve created, with the goal of making this resource available for artists everywhere.

Zine

Open Source Tools for Artists digital zine.

Workshop

Workshop held August 21, 2021, ARoS Public, Aarhus, DK

Collaborating Organizations

Code&Share[ ] Aarhus is a group of software artists, coders, designers and students interested in exploring code and software development beyond its functional aspects. Alongside Processing Community Day, we hold monthly meetups where we make workshops, coding sessions and share our projects.

CANTINA is an artist-run exhibition space run by members of the studio community Corporum. CANTINA is based in Godsbanen in Aarhus C., Denmark

Flux Factory’s mission is to support and promote emerging artists through residencies, exhibitions, and collaborative opportunities; build sustainable artist networks; and help retain creative forces in New York City. Flux provides affordable space to 40 local and international emerging Artists-in-Residence annually through bi-annual open calls. This artist’s hive is an incubator for experimentation with collaborative processes showcased in Flux’s 1400 sq ft gallery, which hosts over 75 annual multidisciplinary events.

ARoS Public is a community space containing new workshops, an artist-in-residence studio, a salon, an auditorium, and digital interactive exhibits at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Denmark.