Dodd Assistant Professor Xin Xin serving as the Lead Organizer for Processing Community Day

Processing Foundation had invited Assistant Professor Xin Xin to serve as the Lead Organizer for Processing Community Day (PCD), a day to celebrate art, code, and diversity in Los Angeles and 100+ communities worldwide, which will take places from January 15, 2019 through February 15, 2019.

Processing is a free and open-source software platform for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts, created by Casey Reas and Ben Fry. It is complemented by a web version, called p5.js, created by Lauren McCarthy. To date, Processing and p5.js are used by a worldwide community of artists, coders, educators, students. A focus of this project is to make learning how to program and make creative work with code accessible to diverse communities, especially those who might not otherwise have access to these tools and resources.

PCD @ Los Angeles is an inclusive event that will bring together people of all ages to celebrate and explore art, code, and activism. The day-long event features four themed-tracks — Accessibility, Disability, and Care (organized by Taeyoon Choi & Johanna Hedva), Radical Pedagogy (organized by A.M. Darke and Dorothy Santos), Under the Silicon, the Beach! (organized by Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne), and Epic Play! (organized by Chandler McWilliams). Each themed track contains lightning talks and sessions presented by conference guests invited through an open call.

The event is co-organized with Johanna Hedva, Lauren McCarthy, Dorothy Santos, Dan Shiffman, and Casey Reas at the Processing Foundation.

Xin Xin is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working at the intersection of technology, labor, and identity. Xin co-founded voidLab, a LA-based intersectional feminist collective dedicated to women, trans, and queer folks. They initiated the School of Otherness which seeks to empower marginalized communities through storytelling, forums, and workshops that process experiences of the other. Their work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica, the Hammer Museum, Gene Siskel Film Center, Tiger Strikes Asteroid and Machine Project. Xin received their MFA from UCLA Design Media Arts and teaches at the University of Georgia as the Assistant Professor of Media Design and Women’s Studies.