Now I’m back in Berlin, and I have to say that it was (and still is) a great biennial in Melbourne! Experimenta has assembled a very joyful exhibition and if you should be in Melbourne: Go and see it.
At the opening night, Grégory Lasserre, who is showing Akousmaflore and me did an interview with Suzanne Donisthorpe of the Australian national radio ABC. And well, due to some strange thing that happened shortly before, both, Grégory and me swapped identities and I while was explaining his plant piece, he explained the artistic backgrounds of the International Dance Party. It was really a lot of fun – maybe slightly too much fun. Suzanne has eventually found out about the fake and won’t broadcast the interview. But there will be something else about the IDP at Experiemnta on ABC next Sunday, 10pm Australian time, and Suzanne told me it will be available online too.
And the picture credits for the photo on top go to Isobel Knowles who also has a very nice piece in the exhibition. It is an interactive animation, and you can try out an online version of her work here (might be cheaper than a flight to Melbourne):
Yesterday, I challenged the kids in the park around the corner with two homemade sleds. I’ve built both very quick with a few wooden slats and some pvc skids. The Powerslide 9000 has a rather simple design – it is basically a flat and fast version of the classic “Davos” sled which I always liked.
The other one is more sophisticated. It has three skids and an active foot steering. It tourned out that the design of the Snowrocket drags a lot of attention especially amongst the five year olds. But it was also quite dangerous to ride.
Yesterday, Ray from the U.S.A. has seen this video online:
And afterwards, he wrote me this email:
Hello Niklas:
I saw your video with the power strip. How would a person acquire one? Does it work for 120 volts AC? Can you connect a series of power strips to the free plugs? Does it burn out? How long does it last? Does it work with heavy appliances?
You stated that you can make one out of common household goods. Do you have a schematic or plans? Do you have any more information? Is it UL approved?
I just fixed my good old Grafikdemo. I exhibited it a few months ago at HBC and people liked it so much, that it finally broke due to overstress. Well, now it works again and when I had it in my workshop, I also took the oportunity to make a new video of it as the old one was really crappy.
Ars Electronicas director Gerfried Stocker passes a cheque about 1470€ to a representant of the Austrian Caritas. And my WIA<>WIA project is finally finished.
What started about one year ago with a fake artwork proposal to Ars Electronicas 80+1 exhibition, has lead to this donation by the Linz public audience. The money will be used to repair two broken wells in Kilwa-Kasenga.
Thanks again, all Linzers, for donating your money!
“WIA < > WIA”, short for “Water in Africa < > Water in Austria”, is an installation that Ars Electronica has commissioned for their “80+1 – A Journey around the world” exhibition which took place in 2009 on the Linz’ main square. The installation, however, was a hoax. I made the organizers and the audience believe, that an
African artist, called “Melissa Fatoumata Touré” would have connected the public well in the Mali village “Koulouninko” to the Internet. The installation was supposed to transfer data about the amount of water that is pumped in realtime to the toilet in the exhibition space, where the same amount of water would feed the toilet flush.
I’m currently working on a redesign which also involves some general restructuring of this website. So do not wonder if this all looks a little bit crappy during the next days.
Update: Mission accomplished! Featuring the background color of hope:
Huh, I’m late. The Holland Dance Festival opened already two days ago. And the IDP is part of it – and I forgot to blog it. Well, if you are in The Hague, if you are in need of some hot ad-hoc party, the theatre at the Spui is the place to be for you!
Last week, Axel Roch gave me his latest book about Claude E. Shannon . Because he thought that I could be interested in it. And you were right, Axel! As Shannon was a “close to genius” mathematician, plus the founder of informations theory, plus a very talented relay toy builder, plus a serious geek, the book covered all stuff that I really like. And not only, that it is a very inspiring and knowledgeful book, it is also designed very beautiful by Mehi Park . Ok, that’s enough advertisement for now. You can get the book online here .
Also nice: The Heinz Nixdorf Foprum opens an exhibition with the machines of Shannon on November 5th. As the book presents his machines in the first chapter, it also became the exhibition catalogue.
Next week, I’ll present the IDP at Scopitone in Nantes. Check out the very good program of this festival. It will be fun. And I’m already happy to hear (and see!) Dannys very impressive TVestroy again and to meet some friends like Alain Thibault.
TVestroy of Thomas Ouellet Fredericks and Danny Perreault
Currently, I’m presenting the WIA < > WIA project at Ars Electronica. It is a custom tailored media art installation for Ars Electronica’s 80+1 exhibition, which was a bit too good to be true. Soon, I’ll publish a documentary about the project. But for the moment, here are some photos:
Next week, I’ll present my latest project at the Ars Electronica. It is the exhibition of a toilet, that I didn’t even build myself. Another clou of the project is, that I entered the exhibition under an invented name.
While the toilet is exhibited in the 80+1 basecamp at the Hauptplatz, I’ll also show a presentation of the project’s backgrounds at the Brucknerhaus. In two talks at the basecamp I’ll speak about the project and discuss it with the audience.
Ok, I’m a bit late with this post. The book, I’m writing about, was released already more than a month ago. But this shows that the internet is not always fast, because people which put stuff in the internet are not always fast. And I like that.
However, Dominik Landwehr has published this very nice diy electronics book, which features simple electronic artworks by many different artists. And I received a copy, because there’s also an instruction for my 1PXDIGICAM in it. It is really a nice book. Very enjoyable. But I have to say that I liked the essays at the beginning of the book most. I’ll copy the one of Nicolas Collins from Chicago, as I can 100% agree to what he writes:
Socioligist Richard Sennet observed that after computers became ubiquitous in the 1980s “we tend to forget the importance of physical senses.” A lot of people get lost in the world of computer simulation. But you can’t simulate everything: there’s a world before and beyond simulation, and that material world is now making a comeback. A new wave of hackers moves with grace from hardware to software [sic], from soldering to sawing, from adaptive re-use to spontaneaous creation, from happenstance to intent, from idiocy to genius – but their unifying trait is the desire to disrupt technology’s seemingly perfect inviolability, to master the material world by penetrating it.
You can order the book directly at the publisher or at amazon
