Brussels Girl Geek Dinner

Just a quick note to announce that registrations for Brussels Girl Geek Dinner #8 (on 9 October in Vooruit, Ghent) are open.

For those who’ve just tuned in: Brussels Girl Geek Dinners are free (including entrance, food, drinks, and even a goodie bag) but seats are limited. This is why only people whose name is on the Wiki page are allowed in.

Who puts your name on the Wiki page? You do. Just click “edit page” and add your name to the “Attendee list”. If asked for an “invite key”, it’s sacoche.

Jan Leenders is sponsoring BGGD #8 with a commissioned artwork. One lucky girl will be able to order a large canvas featuring that favourite sacoche of hers. Or something else of course. You can come up with any theme or subject and Jan will turn it into an artwork. Size of the painting will be 100 x 100 cm or 100 x 70 cm, depending on the subject/design. That’s large. Who said size didn’t matter?

Jan Leenders is a Belgian artist whom you might know from his Twit2art art project. Twit2art works likes this: you send him a message via Twitter (to @twit2art) and he turns that twit into a painting. What makes this project special is its price strategy: the first painting costs € 1, the second € 2, the third € 3 and so on. So if you’re fast, it’s cheap. Or at least, it was cheap because currently he’s up to painting number 53.

How cool is that.

So, if you’re still blogging this, the complete  sponsor link love list is now Vooruit.be, IBBT.be, iets.be and JanLeenders.com.

This is some of the stuff that will be in the bags.

• IBBT: stick
• Vooruit: “vuurstokjes” (for modern-day Little Match Girls?)
• Hoet Bekaert gallery: 50 limited edition vinyl records by Matthieu Ronsse + maybe also art magazines

Who is Hoet Bekaert gallery, you might wonder.

Hoet Bekaert gallery focuses on promoting, supporting and showing young contemporary artists, covering divers media such as painting, video, installation, photography and performance. The gallery was founded in an old abbey, the summer of 2003, opening with an ambitious group-show of, among others, Jason Rhoades, Sisley Xhafa, Kris Martin, Franky DC, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Joost Conijn and Kendell Geers.In september 2005, the gallery moved to the grounds of an old factory building in the city of Gent. Their cool new site (www.iets.be) combines the clean, white museum-like cube with a huge backspace with a more trashy character. Like this the gallery wants to offer a wider range of possibilities to exhibiting artists,functioning as a laboratory for young contemporary art. Mainly artists from the same young age as the founders themselves. Jan Hoet junior (37) Delphine Bekaert (28).

So if you’re blogging this: linklove goes to Vooruit.be, IBBT.be and iets.be :-)

As you know, we’re trying to keep Brussels Girl Geek Dinners free for the girl geeks who subscribe. We already mentioned arts centre Vooruit as one of the driving forces behind BGGD #8, but we would like to thank IBBT as well for taking care of the food and drinks, and part of the goodie bag. Thank you, IBBT!

IBBT (Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology) is an independent research institute founded by the Flemish government to stimulate ICT innovation. The IBBT team offers companies and organizations active support in research and development. It brings together companies, authorities, and non-profit organizations to join forces on research projects. Both technical and non-technical issues are addressed within each of these projects.

Brussels Girl Geek Dinner #8 takes place during two Ghent art festivals: Almost Cinema and Film Festival. And the ladies are getting a special treatment…

Almost Cinema (07 until 18 Oct) is a festival from Vooruit and the Film Festival Ghent. It welcomes artists with an original view on film and cinema.

During the BGGD#8 you can explore a video and installation trail throughout the Vooruit building with curator Eva De Groote. She will present a personal view on art and technology while guiding you around the works of international artists who play with optical illusions, fireworks, flickering light bulbs, flashy visuals and smoke rings…

You can also experience a one-to-one performance by CREW. Eric Joris of CREW gives a demonstrative lecture while their newest head swap technology lets you see the world through someone else’s eyes.

During the Film Festival and Almost Cinema, Ghent is a vibrant place to be and a vivid crowd finds its way to Vooruit. Would you like to explore the free installation trail yourself on the 9th or another day (7 until 18 Oct, 18:00 – 24:00) or try out more of our performances, concerts and talks? Check all events, photo’s, audio and video on www.vooruit.be/almostcinema.

Vooruit is an arts centre with an eye for new and refreshing ideas in music, performing arts, digital and media arts, literature… It offers a stage and a work place for several artists and acts as a critical forum that raises questions about the city and the world.
Four years ago Vooruit started a transversal digitalization project as we believe that the digital revolution is forcing all socio-cultural actors to reconsider their role in society. Cultural institutions must find an appropriate response not only to the plethora of new media, new means of display and art forms, but also to the new possibilities of communication and interaction with the public. Output of this project are amongst others a wireless internet network in the entire building, research projects and an interactive web 2.0 site where visitors can add, personalise and share information. Take a look at www.vooruit.be.

* BGGD #8 on 9 October 18:00-21:00 @ Vooruit, Ghent
* Topic: “Art and technology”, with Eric Joris (performance group Crew) and Eva De Groote (Almost Cinema festival).
* Food and drinks: check.
* Goodies: check

Will put wiki up tomorrow. Want to be the first? Follow me on twitter or subscribe to the Facebook group.

Keep this date free:

* Wednesday 12 November 18:00-21:00 @ CreativeClass , Hasselt
* Topic: Music and Technology featuring Audiocubes demo by Percussa.com’s Bert Schiettecatte.
* Food and drinks: check.
* Goodies: not yet

No wiki etc yet, because first we’re pulling BGGD #8 together (9 October, Ghent, theme “Art and technology”).