November 9 , 2006 - 8:00PM
Cafe Mundi, 1704 East 5th St.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Rodney Gibbs
Dorkbot-Austin
(512) 825-8021
dorkbotaustin@dorkbot.org
http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotaustin
DORKBOT, INTERNATIONAL GEEK TALENT SHOW, LANDS IN AUSTIN
Austin, Texas, May 23, 2006 – Austin, keeping technology weird, is the latest city to launch its own chapter of Dorkbot, the international group devoted to people doing strange things with electricity. A monthly free gathering, Dorkbot gives shade tree engineers, artists, musicians, designers – essentially anyone tinkering with technology in creative ways – a soapbox from which to show off their projects and solicit feedback. Austin’s foray into this geek talent show debuts at Café Mundi, 1704 E. 5th Street, at 8:00 PM on June 8, 2006. Subsequent meetings occur the second Thursday of each month.
Started in New York City in 2000 by Douglas Repetto, director of Columbia University’s Computer Music Center, Dorkbot has spread to over 50 cities around the world. From Bogota to Barcelona, San Francisco to Stockholm, Dorkbot chapters have blossomed everywhere people are fascinated with weird and wonderful ways that technology impacts our lives. Austin’s embrace of the strange, coupled with its vibrant tech and arts community, make it ripe for Dorkbot.
“Having participated in Dorkbot in other cities,” says Austinite Rich LeGrand, whose GBA-Lego robots were featured in The New Yorker after he unleashed them during Dorkbot-New York City, “I’m thrilled for Austin to launch its own chapter. Dorkbot is a perfect fit for Austin’s mix of technology, art and geek pride.”
Anything goes at Austin’s informal Dorkbot gatherings. Brave dork souls volunteer for fifteen minute sets, in which they demonstrate their projects, be they completed or works-in-progress, and field Q&A from the audience. The evening culminates with “Open Dork,” a two-minute open mic for aspiring dorks to implore, lambaste, rant, or engage the audience.
“It’s an open forum that’s geek-friendly,” says David Nunez, Dorkbot-Austin co-founder. “Between Austin’s high-tech workers laboring away on their labor-of-love projects, students pushing gadgets into bizarre new directions, and artists divining the beautiful from technology, we expect Dorkbot-Austin to be a field day for geeks of all stripes.”
For additional information, contact: Rodney Gibbs, (512) 825-8021. dorkbotaustin@dorkbot.org. http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotaustin
About Dorkbot – People doing strange things with electricity, Dorkbot is a free, open forum for shade tree geeks, engineers, artists, designers and musicians.
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