Electromagnetic Field is probably the first event I’ve been to that had not just a style guide and branding, but also its own fabric. Yes, that’s right - fabric!
The wonderful Morag Hickman made a fantastic solarpunk design which was featured on EMF things like lecterns and signage. Morag decided to give people the opportunity to buy some fabric with the design on, so they could make their own EMF solarpunk inspired creations.
I had ordered some of the fabric and decided to use it to make a laptop sleeve first of all. You can see the results in the photo below:
This was actually the first time I did some proper sewing with a sewing machine, after quite a few false starts. To prepare, I spent a while looking at other people’s DIY laptop sleeve projects, and watching videos reminding^H^Hteaching me how to operate our sewing machine - a cheap ‘starter’ model from a popular shark and meatball retailer.
I was very pleased with the results, which were essentially the result of stitching together two pieces of Morag’s fabric after adding some internal padding. I used felt for the padding, since it was nice and soft (so wouldn’t scratch the laptop) and easy to stitch through. Even then I broke a couple of needles due to being a total sewing newbie. I was particularly excited about being able to re-use the EMF wristband as the sleeve closer, along with an old button I happened to have lying around:
For a few months after EMF I kept thinking that the solarpunk design reminded me of something, but couldn’t put my finger on what it might be. Then I finally realised that I had been thinking of the Richard Brautigan poem - All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. Here’s a video of Richard reading the poem, which Adam Curtis incorporated into his eponymous series, and I’ve included the poem in full below as it is shared under a copyleft type licence.
EMF is a somewhat unusual event, and the machines in question are quite likely to be a mixture of faxes, giant Tesla coils, Strowger electromechanical telephone switches, giant robot spiders and uranium powered xylophones. Most important of all, and arguably the Final Boss of Hacker Camps is the ubiquitous Datenklo or Data Toilet. This usually provides wired and wireless phone services, wifi and wired data connectivity. The toilet feature has been temporarily deactivated - do not use the Datenklo as a toilet.
Here’s the full text of the poem:
Check out the Richard Brautigan archiveRichard Brautigan
ALL WATCHED OVER BY MACHINES OF LOVING GRACEI like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.Originally published by The Communication Company in 1967
And finally as a parting gift, here is one last photo of the laptop sleeve. Isn’t it amazing how the blue in the fabric seems to glow from within? Like pure water touching clear sky…
