Coworking Space in Aarhus
Workspace, Meeting Rooms & Café
LYNfabrikken is situated in a former factory building, tucked away in a charming backyard in the middle of Aarhus.
On top of the factory you will find our rooftop terrace and coffee shop. It is open 7 days a week from 8-22. A very special haven that sets the scene for informal conversations, business meetings and those in need of a change of scenery and an exceptionally good cup of coffee to help their work flow more easily. When day turns into night, coffee turns into wine with small dishes on the side. We are very inspired by traveling the world, so you will find an international vibe with that special lobby atmosphere, that we love so much.
Below our coffee shop, you will find our workspace with 40 different independant co-workers. This unconventional workspace gives the co-workers the opportunity to share experiences, ideas and breaks with each other. Many great collaborations have started here in this old factory building with all the quirky and charming details. See more here.
We like to share the energy and exiting framework of LYNfabrikken with even more people than we can possibly fit in our coffee shop and workspace. For that purpose we have adapted part of our house in to inspiring spaces available for rent. If you need an extraordinary place for a meeting, an innovative work shop, a reception, a photo shoot or something completely else, please contact us. See more here.
THIS IS LYNFABRIKKEN
LATEST VIDEO
AFK [ Away from Keyboard ]
Words from the artist: Felix Van Gent
AFK (Away from keyboard) for LYNfabrikken
First person shooter games like Counter-Strike are designed for hegemonic masculinity that prioritizes aggression. They show how traditional masculinities are enacted in digital spaces, while gaming involves the embodiment of a character, these characters are often a version of idealized militarized masculinity.
During my time as a teenager, both my brother and some of my friends have played a lot of first person shooter games in my presence, I was never enjoying them so much so usually I was just observing apart from the few times I actually played with them. Because this time of my life was also a time where I struggled with masculinity and my sexuality, first person shooter games that let you embody this version of hegemonic masculinity were not helping me with feeling more confident.
[ + Read more ][ + Læs mere ][ − Read less ][ − Læs mindre ]
Counter-Strike is one of the games I remember being played a lot.
Counter-Strike is a game where players are divided over two teams of five, the team that wins the most out of 30 rounds wins. Per game you choose to be part of either the “terrorists” or “counter-terrorists” they are fictional groups inspired by real world terrorist and counter terrorist groups. The three animations take Counter-Strike’s own visual language and turn it against itself.
Rather than introducing new elements, the work operates entirely within the game’s existing aesthetic, using 3D character models sourced online and reanimating them giving the character subtle movements breaking with the hegemonic masculinity usually presented within the game. By doing this I’m trying to imply queerness to the characters. The perspectives the animations are rendered in are giving them a voyeuristic feeling as if the person playing with them left and the characters finally have time to do what they want to do not knowing they are being watched secretly, hence the name AFK.
One aspect of Counter Strike is the Skin market that is part of the game. Skins are cosmetic weapon decorations that don't affect the gameplay, an example of a skin could be a checkered pattern on an AK47. Skins hold real monetary value, and are sometimes worth thousands of dollars. Prices are determined by supply-and-demand dynamics. When I found out it is possible to make your own skin for Counter Strike using digital tools like Blender and Photoshop, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try to use the market of Counter-Strike to infiltrate this hyper masculine space. The first thing I did to achieve having my own skin on the market was making my own camouflage consisting of homoerotic imagery. The use of homoerotic imagery within a camouflage pattern is a contradiction of militarized visual codes. Camouflage is traditionally designed to conceal the body and align it with structures of uniformity, and heteronormative masculinity. By embedding homoerotic content into this pattern, the work disrupts that function. Whether the skin you upload to the steam workshop is chosen is decided by Valve the developer of Counter-Strike.
After purchasing a skin for your weapon or gloves you can inspect it in game, by using a command the hands out of the POV will use a gesture to make it look like you are viewing your newly bought skin. I found this aspect of the game very interesting because there is a sort of contradiction in the fact that people in this hyper masculine space are willing to spend thousands of dollars for a skin which is purely cosmetical. The gesture of inspecting your skin reminds me a lot of the gesture I make when I have my nails done to look at them. A part of the work that is not visible at the LYNfabrikken gallery is a pair of robotic arms that is wearing the skin I made, the arms are repeating the inspect skin animation. The movement done by the arms could be interpreted both as inspecting your weapon in Counter Strike and as viewing your manicure. When the installation is in its full form the arms are positioned in front of the screens showing the animations referencing how first person shooter games reduce the body to just the arms and the act of shooting. The robotic arms are wearing the skin I designed that I translated to physical gloves.
As a teenager, these were games I mostly watched others play, more than something I wanted to play myself. Years later, AFK became a way for me to return to them on my own terms. By queering these elements of Counter-Strike, I wanted to imagine what these characters might do when the players are no longer controlling them. They dance, kiss each other, admire their nails, and wear camouflage made from homoerotic images. These are quite small interventions, but for me that is also the point.
The characters are still recognisably part of Counter-Strike, but they are no longer limited to performing the masculinity that the game normally gives them. When the player goes AFK, perhaps the characters can finally have some time to themselves
The Instagram feed is a snapshot from the live site.
ENJOY THE MUSIC WE PLAY IN THE BAR.
We have worked on this playlist over the last 20 years, first the cd now on Spotify. enjoy.