Ayah Bdeir and Jessica Banks
Chandelier in 4, 2008
Custom electronics, lights, crystals, ribbon, wire, perspex
Pictures here
Shows
September 25th 2008 - untethered - Eyebeam - NY
Chandelier in 4
September 18, 2008
A reinterpretation of a traditional chandelier in which the crystals and lights form the underlying rigid structure for transient, flowing arms. The disappearing and reappearing body of the chandelier is defined by a fabric contour which weaves through a channel of suspended hoops. The system is actuated by a single driving motor unwinding a spool of custom ribbon. The speed of the motor is calibrated to match the prescribed pattern of the ribbon and define the timing of the piece. The effect is an ethereal lighting fixture which continuously draws and erases itself, in essence, a 4D chandelier.
littleBits
July 31, 2008
littleBits is a library of discrete electronic components pre-assembled in tiny circuit boards. Just as Legos allow you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are simple, intuitive, space-sensitive blocks that make prototyping with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together.
littleBits intro from ayah bdeir on Vimeo.
Press
June 20th, 2008 - Makezine - LittleBits discrete components system prototype
August 12th, 2008 - Engadget - LittleBits are like Legos for circuitboards
August 12th, 2008 - Gizmodo - LittleBits Fit Together Like Geeky Magic
August 12th, 2008 - Boing Boing - littleBits: magnetic, LEGO-like circuit board components
August 13th, 2008 - Core77 - Ultrafast prototyping, using “littleBits”
August 13th, 2008 - Makezine - littleBits Prototyping
August 15th, 2008 - Geek - littleBits are like Legos for electrical hobbyists
Shows
August 14th, 2008 - littleBits Workshop - Cleartag - Beirut
July 25th, 2008 - Sketching in Hardware - Rhode Island School of Design
June 23rd, 2008 - friends of Fritzing summit - Berlin
les Annees Lumiere
June 12, 2008
A bird’s eye view of a little over 3 years of violence, strife, and very bright lights rocking lebanon, remembered and replayed in 45 minutes of proportionally timed light display.
22 x 30 inches
Electronics on Canvas
produced June 2008
Shows
June 12th, 2008 - Marc Hachem Gallery - SEAL benefit - NY
Teta Haniya’s Secrets
May 30, 2008
After decades of running her kinky Syrian lingerie store in the Hamidiya souk of Damascus, Teta Haniya comes to America bearing gifts. With over 60 years of Islamic teachings on seduction, and an arsenal of kitschy electronics, Teta Haniya hijacks the western panty, triggering the sexual liberation of the American woman.
Ayah Bdeir’s Electric & Flying Panties - The best free videos are right here
Pictures here
Teta Haniya’s Secrets Website
Shows
September 13th, 2008 - Conflux - NY
May 22nd, 2008 - Fashionable Technology Book launch - .................................
Project Walkway and Girls Eye View
May 7, 2008
Teaching a workshop called Project Walkway led by Norene Leddy with Jessica Banks. The workshop is part of the Girls Eye View program where 8 high school girls come in after school for 6 weeks to learn about electronics and wearables.
The Arab store (in progress)
April 30, 2008
Fun stuff from the middle east, for a change
The Arab Store is a gallery of arab absurdities captured in satirical, whimsical, facetious gadgets. All gadgets are vintage artifacts hacked electronically to illustrate ludicrous urban legends, heirloom superstitions and crazy habits that characterize everyday life in the arab world, its sexuality, social relations, political instabilities and economic disparities. By exposing funny aspects of everyday arab life, we invite arabs all over the world to join us in our campaign to laugh at ourselves, but also (and more importantly) to present a nonthreatening, charming alternate view of the arab world to a western media that often tends to homogenize arabs and portray them as aggressive people in repressive societies, which we, by the way, respectfully disagree with.
Medecins Sans Frontieres donation visualization
April 23, 2008
An interactive visualization for a live concert and fundraiser in Vienna on April 21. The visualization will track and display in real-time the the SMS donations of audience members. By: Jessica Banks, Ayah Bdeir, Friedrich Kirschner, Zach Lieberman, and Addie Wagenknecht, with the Ars Electonica Futurelab
open source for snobs
April 4, 2008
Research around the idea of creating an open source model for hardware and design.
Press
August 23rd - SEED magazine - Open Source for Snobs video - SEED magazine
Shows
April 4th, 2008 - MIND08 - Parsons - NY
meem (in progress)
March 30, 2008
An interactive multitouch blackboard aiming to make the specificities of the arabic language a fun activity for kids.
With Lana Bdeir, Daniel Hai, Yachi Peng and Nort/d
WeAreMiddle.org
January 28, 2008
‘we are middle’ (WAM) is a group of designers, artists, and engineers who are looking to create, curate and publish works, articles, images and thoughts, which contrary to popular media and politics, represent the common in the Middle East rather than difference. We wish to examine and play with new representations of our Middle East through selected themes in which seriousness and humor are each other’s undertones. The themes will be open to contribution from creative makers from around the world.