Description:
In the Krokusvakantie (transl. spring break) the Digital Art Lab offered each day different workshops. Students from primary and secondary school would be free from school, and thus have enough spare time to kill. The Krokus programme had a day and evening programme. The day programme consisted of one or two 4-hour workshops. The evening programme consisted of mini-workshops/demonstrations and even a game night. All the Krokus workshops had only been tested on CKC members. The Krokusvakantie was the first event in which our workshop formats were tested on non-CKC subjects.

In the weeks preceding the Krokusvakantie we spend a lot our time and energy in publicising the event. Not only through digital media (e.g., website and social media), but also by handing out brochures throughout Zoetermeer and advertising at schools. At the Erasmus College, for instance, short presentations were given in class by the Patching Zone team. By showing a promotion video and demonstrating the cool stuff you could do at the Digital Art Lab, our team tried to get the kids excited for the Krokus programme. An extra motivational boost was given by the fact the Krokus workshops were regarded as ‘cultural activities’ by the school. This meant that attending a Krokus workshop would help the kids pass the course CKV (trans. Cultural Artistic Development).

WORKSHOPS

Greenscreen

Monday Februari 28, 18:00-10:00u
Participants: 2 kids 12-14 years old
The Greenscreen evening workshop explored the creative possibilities of chromakey. The chromakey technique is regularly used in video/film productions to generate special effects. It is a technique for composing two images together in which a colour from one image is removed (e.g., made transparent), revealing the image behind it. Green screen (also known as bluescreen or colour keying) is commonly used for wheater forecasts, wherein the metereologist stands in front of large map during live newscasts. For this workshop, a live videofeed set-up was arrranged with the live performance software ‘Isadora’. Participants could stand in front of a webcam, and their image would be placed on top of another image. Though the turnout was not as large as we would have hoped, the participants did really enjoy participanting in this workshop.

Soundmachines (formerly known as: Build Your Own Synthesizer)

Tuesday March 1, 13:00-17:00u
Participants: 10 subjects
In this workshop participants would learn how to build their own electronic synthesizer and soldering the parts together. Oscillators, knobs and switches were used to turn breadboards into playable instruments. Bass guitar teacher Vincent Zaalberg together with Patching Zone coach Berit Janssen had a big turnout for their workshop. Even a waiting list was made to control the attendance. See for more information: Sound Machine Production

Music Production (also known as: Mix Your Own Sound)

Wednesday March 2, 13:00-17:00u
Participants: 6 subjects, 10-18 years old. Presentation: 8 subjects
Bas Guitar teacher Vincent Zaalberg together with Patching Zone coach Inge Ploum gave this workshop as a beginners guide into music production. Participants would learn the basics of music production by mixing pre-recorded sound tracks with the audio software Logic Pro. After a short introduction, participants would manipulate each sound track step-by-step. At the end of the day, the partcipants had the chance to present their musical compositions.

Wii Control Dance

Wednesday March 2, 13:00-17:00u.
Participants: 6 CKC members. Presentation & Demo: 15 subjects
This workshop was in principle meant for Melanie Sloot’s CKC jazz dance students who were already working with Patching Zone coach Berit Janssen on a choreography with Wii Instruments. Wii Control Dance explored the creative possibilities of Wii motes as music instruments for dance performances. In this workshop participants had to explore how movement could be turned into sound using Wii motes. Experiments were done by attaching the Wii instruments to head, leg and/or arm of the dancer. At the end of the day, the participants had to present their work. See for more information, Wii Dance Production.

Digitaal Danstheater

Thursday March 3, 13:00-17:00u.
Participants: 8 subjects, 8-40 years old.
This was the first time that the Digital Dance Theatre workshop format was tested as a stand-alone concept. Ballet teacher Nicolet Sudibyo and Patching Zone coach Loes Bogers wanted to create a workshop in which technology and dance would unite. The Digitaal Danstheater (transl. Digital Dance Theatre) workshop combines dance, tracking and data visualisation software with Processing. Participants get a chance to explore the interactive possibilities of the computer for dance. Interactive images and sound will merge into 1 dance performance. After a short introduction and warming up, each participant got his/her own role (i.e., choreographer, director, spacing et cetera). In 2 groups the participants worked on their end performance. At the end of the day, the 2 choreographies merged into 1 final performance which was presented to family and friends.

Design Your Own Game

Friday March 4, 13:00-17:00u.
Participants: 11 subjects 8-18 years old. Presentation: 20 attendants.
Developed by guitar teacher Kim Wijsbeek and supported by Patching Zone coach Inge Ploum, this workshop was dedicated entirely to game design. Already within a few days of its press release, the workshop was fully booked and had quite a large waiting list. Participants learned the basic principles of game design by analysing game classics (i.e., Space Invaders, Pac-Man and so on) and by programming their own shooter game using GameMaker software. Step by step the participants would learn how to program the rules of the game. After 4 intense hours of computer programming, the participants each had a personalized computer game.

Game Night

Friday March 4, 18:00-19:00u
Participants: 8 subjects 8-16 years old
Last but not least, we held a game night to end the Krokusvakantie workshop madness. In this get-together participants and the Patching Zone team had the opportunity to play games on classic consoles (e.g., Atari, Nintendo an Super Nintendo) as well as more contemporary consoles (e.g., Play Station 2). Everybody was really enjoying him/herself and lost track of time. It was the perfect ending of a good workshop week.

Tags event krokus krokusvakantie