Mathew Lippincott to speak on Mechanical Intestines and Cybernetic Waste Management
Mathew Lippincott is doing amazing things with balloons, like building ones that can take aerial photos of the Gulf of Mexico. He’s also toxicologist and the one to ask if you’re curious about the plastics in your house or car. One of his strongest areas is in the field of waste management and sewage systems.
Sewage is something everyone contributes to but never sees. It’s an important part of everyday life, but it is rarely discussed. This is why Matthew Lippincott is going to speak about it. If we’re lucky, he might show a few DIY aeiral photography balloons as well.
Abstract of Mathew’s talk:
Your toilet is the human interface for a baroque yet ineffective mechanical system whose outdated and moralizing logic is re-enforced with every flush. This talk will cover the class-based ideologies of hygiene and control that drove installations of municipal sewage in the 19th century, and what “waste” management might look like in a networked world conscious of biology.
Who is Mathew Lippincott?
A designer and artist residing in Portland, Mathew’s work addresses augmentation, autonomy, and aerospace. Recent projects include balloon construction and commodity plastics assessment with Grassroots Mapping and de-digitizing animation processes with Fernando Renes. With partner Molly Danielsson, he is currently launching the Cloacina project, an all-out assault on sewage systems. Mathew and Molly also work with partner organizations PHLUSH and ReCode Oregon. Lippincott’s work has been displayed in Portland, LA, New York, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid.
DIY Aerial Photography
Here’s a video of Lippincott’s super cheap DIY aerial photography balloon project. He sent a bunch of these with Max Ogden to MIT kids who used them to photography the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico.
Here he inflates a DIY balloon using a hair dryer.
Read more about it on Mathew’s Blog.
Grassroots Mapping PDX 6/26/2010: helium flight from mathew lippincott on Vimeo.
Marshall Kirkpatrick is discussing. 
Wow, Amber, thanks – I’d better get fired up before arriving in order to live up to such an introduction! Prepare for time and space to get bent! 😉