a workshop for everyday technology

Simon Browne works within an experimental publishing practice that aims to develop artistic, collective and critical approaches to technology. This work is based around nurturing convivial conditions for working and learning together and publishing through using whatever means is available, yet with a preference for free/libre open-source software (F/LOSS). Bowne's artistic research and experimental publishing projects invariably produce outcomes such as drawings, workshops, work sessions, meetups, graphic diagrams, plastic diagrams, digital tools, archives, libraries and knowledge-sharing systems and print and web publications. Accompanying this, he organises moments to introduce experimental digital tools for design and publishing.

Browne's work is situated within everyday life, seeing technology as not just hi-tech, for the experts nor a layer upon society, but as an entanglement we navigate. He is interested in developing localised, publishing systems as strategies for commoning, solidarity and resistance. As the artist states: 'I see publishing as not just making things public, but also the act of creating publics and how these are related to the social, technological, economical and political dimensions of public space. Through publishing, I am interested in creating moments and opportunities for collective learning and action.

As a member of the collective Varia, I’m interested in everyday technology and developing collective approaches to it. As a member of Open Source Publishing, I work with F/LOSS both as a set of situated tools for design production and study of collective conditions. With other peers, I’m part of CC (creative crowds), a server which as a “pedagogical space in flux” offers digital publishing tools while reflecting on inter-dependency relationships between software and creative practice'.

Simon Browne

Simon Browne works as an artist, designer and researcher. He is also a member of the Rotterdam initiative Varia (https://varia.zone), the Brussels design collective OSP (Open Source Publishing), and is a peer at a server for publishing experiments CC (creative crowds) (https://cc.vvvvvvaria.org). His practice travels between; DIY (Do It Yourself) and DIWO (Do It With Others), designing and publishing, software and hardware, books and library collections, Brussels and Rotterdam. Simon’s work touches upon convivial and collective approaches to technology, knowledge distribution, experimental publishing, free/libre open-source software and free culture.