lm^nrb mobpbk`b - knowbotic research

Transcription

lm^nrbmobpbk`b
Manual of latent invisibilities
OPAQUE PRESENCE
Manual of latent invisibilities
Hrsg. von Andreas Broeckmann und Knowbotic Research
Edition Jardins des Pilotes
published by diaphanes Zürich-Berlin
The association Les Jardins des Pilotes for art and culture presents outstanding art
projects and facilitates artistic productions and cultural exchange. In the 'gardens
of the pilots', travellers and settlers meet for shared experiences in hospitable
environments.
The publication series Edition Jardins des Pilotes, published by diaphanes in
Zurich and Berlin, supports these encounters and fosters international discourse
surrounding special achievements at the intersections of art, science, technology,
and theory.
www.jardinsdespilotes.org
www.diaphanes.net
Inhalt
12
Andreas Broeckmann
The Naked Bandit in the Theatre of Visibilities
Imprint
This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition of filmachine in Berlin,
February 2008, produced by Les Jardins des Pilotes and supported by the Agency
of Cultural Affairs, Japan and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), Japan.
Editing by Andreas Broeckmann and Stefan Riekeles, Berlin, Germany.
Layout and design by Ryoji Tanaka, Semitransparent Design, Tokyo, Japan.
English proof reading by Christine Korte, Toronto, Canada.
This book was set in Helvetica and printed on Munken Polar paper.
Printed by Oktoberdruck Berlin, Germany.
Published by diaphanes Zürich-Berlin. www.diaphanes.net
© 2008 Les Jardins des Pilotes e.V., Berlin, and the authors.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the authors.
ISBN 978-3-03734-060-8
22
Sabine Maria Schmidt
be prpared tiger!
36
Felix Stalder
Tracing Translocality:
42
Stefan Riekeles
withdraw and shine
54
Stefan Wagner
Reading Purity Grade
4 Preface
Editors
Preface
Im Rahmen der Edition Jardins des Pilotes erscheint im Herbst 2009 im Verlag
Diaphanes Zürich-Berlin der Band OPAQUE PRESENCE, der sich am Beispiel
neuerer Arbeiten der Künstlergruppe Knowbotic Research mit Fragen der öffentlichen Sichtbarkeit und der strategischen Camouflage beschäftigt. Der Band entsteht in Kooperation mit Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich.
In der spätkapitalistischen Gesellschaft - ob in ihrer Gestalt als Konsum-, Kontrolloder kybernetische Gesellschaft - steht kommunikative Transparenz nicht mehr für
demokratische Offenheit, sondern zunehmend für administrative Verfügbarkeit. In der
Tendenz werden Räume des Handelns und Räume der sozialen Reibung in die
Oberflächenwelt der technisch gesteuerten Prozesse absorbiert.
Im Spiel mit der Sichtbarkeit, mit Aufmerksamkeit und mit den Mechanismen der
Subjektivierung geht es nicht immer um's nackte Überleben, wohl aber um die
Behauptung und Aneignung heterotopischer Zonen, in denen nicht Freiheit, aber
Widerständigkeit formuliert werden kann.
Mit dem Theoriekollektiv Tiqqun könnte man hierfür die Metaphern der "leeren
Zwischenräume der Nichtkommunikation", des Undurchsichtigen, des Nebels verwenden: "Undurchsichtig wie der Nebel zu werden bedeutet zu erkennen, dass
man nichts repräsentiert, dass man nicht identifizierbar ist. Es bedeutet, mit allen
Kräften Widerstand gegen jeden Kampf um Erkennbarkeit und Anerkennung zu leisten."
Die Künstlergruppe Knowbotic Research hat sich in den letzten Jahren auf eigene Weise mit den Phänomenen der Sichtbarkeit und der Präsenz beschäftigt.
Nachdem die Gruppe in den 1990er Jahren vor allem an der Gestaltung elektronischer Netze als Handlungsräume gearbeitet hat, untersuchen die neueren Projekte
in Ausstellungen im Rotterdamer Witte de With, im ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
oder beim Inter-Communication Center in Tokio, sowie in performativen und installativen Arbeiten im öffentlichen Raum, anhand von realweltlichen Szenarien und
semi-fiktiven Testfällen jeweils Formen der Übersetzung zwischen unterschiedlichen
Bedeutungssystemen.
In dem öffentlichen Performance-Projekt 'MacGhillie - Just a Void' werden städtische Orte von einer Figur aufgesucht, die mit einem handelsüblichen Tarnanzug
bekleidet ist und weder als Individuum, noch überhaupt als Person auffällt: die
Camouflage mit dem 'Ghillie Suit', im 19. Jahrhundert ursprünglich erfunden für
die Jagd und dann auch im 1. Weltkrieg eingesetzt, sorgt für eine weitgehende
Anonymisierung und Neutralisierung des Trägers im öffentlichen Raum.
Für das Projekt 'be prepared, tiger!' entwickelte Knowbotic Research zusammen
mit dem Installationskünstler Peter Sandbichler ein eigenes kleines Tarnkappenboot,
das die 'Stealth'-Technologie amerikanischer Tarnkappenbomber anwendet. Wenn
es durch Häfen und andere Gewässer gefahren wird, ist das metallisch glänzende Boot zwar mit bloßem Auge zu sehen, es bleibt aber für jedes Radargerät
verborgen.
'NEWBORN - undeliverable' ist eine Aktion, bei der mehrere Meter große, auffällig gelbe Buchstaben auf einem Lastwagen durch den Stadtraum gefahren werden. Der Text - das Wort 'NEWBORN' - mag sich, wie im Referenzprojekt aus
Prishtina, auf die Gründung des unabhängigen Kosovo 2008 beziehen; er kann
sich aber als polyvalentes Zeichen, das im Stil einer Werbebotschaft daherkommt,
auch auf alle möglichen anderen Kontexte beziehen und wird gerade dadurch in
Camouflag
Urban society, were supposed to be removed like
normal rubbish by a special department. Grey
concrete walls ought to remain By presenting he
slogans as loops and samples, passioand for cleanliness actually lead to poses the supposed to
be removed like normal rmal rubbish by a special
department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain
By presenting he slogans as by a special department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain By
presenting he slogans as loops and samplesociopolitical conditions of the political issues in.
Bilderklärung
Camouflag
Camouflag
Urban society, were supposed to be removed like normal rubbish by a special department. Grey concrete walls
ought to remain By presenting he slogans as loops and samples, passioand for cleanliness actually lead to poses
the supposed to be removed like normal rmal rubbish by a special department. Grey concrete walls ought to
remain By presenting he slogans as by a special department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain By presenting
he slogans as loops and samplesociopolitical conditions of the political issues in. Bilderklärung
slogans as loops and samples, passioand for cleanliness actually lead to poses the supposed to
be removed like normal rmal rubbish by a special
department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain
By presenting he slogans as by a special department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain By
presenting he slogans as loops and samplesociopolitical conditions of the political issues in.
Bilderklärung
Andreas Broeckmann
Die Projektreihe 'naked bandit / black cat' reflektiert über die Übersetzbarkeit von
Handlungs- und Fluchtszenarien zwischen unterschiedlichen Realitätsebenen; ein
Szenario software-basierten Gefangenseins wird in einer teils interaktiven
Rauminstallation zum metaphorischen, vergeblichen Befreiungs- und
Handlungsangebot. Sichtbarkeit, Aufmerksamkeit und Camouflage werden hier als
systemische Effekte behandelt, die nur bedingt von einem Kontext zum anderen
übertragen werden können.
Der geplante Band untersucht Phänomene wie die strategische Sichtbarkeit, die
Undurchsichtigkeit und das unbemerkt Bleiben, visuelle Redundanz und visuelle
Undurchdringlichkeit.
Neben grafischen und fotografischen Darstellungen der Projekte sowie Texten, die
den unmittelbaren Projektkontexten von Knowbotic Research entstammen, umfasst
das Buch auch mehrere theoretische Texte, die das Thema des Bandes aus anderen Perspektiven beleuchten.
The Naked Bandit in the
Theatre of Visibilities
Control, Attention and Performance in Recent
Projects by Knowbotic Research
Attention is the key to the society of the spectacle, and
visibility is the key to the society of control. We live in
both, and contemporary subjectivity is built on the affective attachment to media images, as well as on the regimes of surveillance and fear.
Visibility and attention play crucial roles in recent works by
the artist group Knowbotic Research. The project "be prepared!
tiger!" was presented at the PubliCity exhibition in Duisburg in April
2006 and included a self-built stealth boat, two video projections, a computer
terminal and an advertisement in an online shop, offering the boat up for sale.
One projection showed a short film loop, culled from the Internet, of two Tamil
Tiger rebels proudly driving through Sri Lankan marsh land, while the other presented a re-enactment of that scene with the artist-built boat on a quiet, European
river. Though visible to the camera and the human eye, the boat is invisible to
radar and might thus be useful for specific military and other kinds of operations,
and it is no contradiction that such a boat should be on view and for sale
through the Internet - the object alternates with ease between the domains of
commerce, of military action, and symbolic representation.
The performative action "Passion 5" was staged in Zurich in November 2005
when a small cleaning van drove around the city, with large loud speakers on
its roof, blaring out a collage of original sounds recorded during the revolutionary May 1st demonstration, an annual spectacle of political and ethnic diversity.
For a brief period only, the van would drive through the newly refurbished Puls
5 building with its assembled art audience, only to disappear again into the city's street labyrinth after a few minutes. In the building, the political passion machine of the van had a brief, staged encounter with the scientific passion machine
of a small blimp which is used for experimentation with machine vision systems.
Cleaning van and blimp - two unlikely, yet symbolically charged actors in an art
spectacle that reflects upon the social and technical scenarios of controlling public
space.
A different type of transit, and a different type of dichotomy between visibility and
action is explored in the concept for the "BlackBenz Race", a project that will
take a small caravan of black Mercedes cars on the route from Zurich via Bari
and Tirana to Pristina, and back. The cars, quite visible along this axis of migration and trafficking, are used as a metaphor for the difficulty in understanding the
meaning of over-coded public spectacles. During the drive down to Albania and
Kosovo, the passengers send back descriptions, images and other mediated reports
of their journey, which in turn are published in different venues in Zurich, some
more private, others blatantly visible in the main streets which could easily become the scene for one of the illegal night races that Kosovo youth organise under
the eyes of the UN Blue Helmets as well as in Zurich.
The project that preceded these explorations of the politics of visibility was a
series of variations on a formula, naked bandit/here, not here/white sovereign.
Its kernel is the scenario of being caught up in a relationship of power in which
the weaker part, the naked bandit, is held by the metaphorical white sovereign
in a state of limbo where the bandit has to affirm its role of the subjected
(here), while at the same time being kept in a status of absence and having
no outside authority to turn to for mercy or objection (not here).
One instantiation of the project comes in the form of software code that turns
the scenario into a computer process. Here the drama of the naked bandit is
played out as a struggle between dependent processes running under a UNIX
operating system, where the hierarchies are structured as 'parent' and 'child' pro-
Camouflag
slogans as loopete walls ought to remain By presenting he slogans as by a special department.
Grey concrete walls ought to remain By presenting
cesses. The white sovereign process controls the scene and demands of the naked
bandit to continuously report back, here, not here, affirming the uneven and isolated relationship. However, modifications of this repetitive process can be set in
motion which will, eventually, allow the naked bandit to create a clone of itself,
a shadow or avatar, that will from then on report back to the white sovereign,
while the original bandit can liberate and re-install itself on a higher level in the
computer system's hierarchy.
phor for the white sovereign who actively controls the scene. The sound of the
voices ('naked bandit', 'here, not here', etc.) is in the room, coding the interaction of blimp and balloons. And when the sequence is set in the motion that
modifies the computer process running on the PC, upon the 'liberation' of the
naked bandit the blimp will be caused to halt for a few seconds, - before the
computer process again starts from the beginning, returning the bandit to its
Sisyphean fate.
This programmed drama has been used in the spatial realisations of the project
"naked_bandit / here, not here / white_sovereign" both as a text-based narrative running on modified PCs, and as the source for a sound element in which
the dialogue of the players ('naked bandit', 'here, not here', etc.) is spoken by
different voices and projected into the exhibition space. On the monitor screen of
the PC the visitors to the exhibition can follow the computer process running
through its different stages, and by pressing the 'Start' button of the PC, visitors can initialize the steps that will lead to the eventual 'liberation' of the naked
bandit. Each of these steps is echoed by the two voices that speak the terse
text of the scripted relationship, culminating in a third voice joining in, affirming
the double presence of the naked bandit: 'naked bandit, here, and now'.
A third recurring element of the different versions of the "naked bandit/here, not
here" installations has been a text excerpt from the Steven Spielberg movie
"Terminal", which deals with the absurd situation in which a man arriving at an
international airport without a valid passport or visa is kept in the 'limbo' of the
transit lounge because legally he can be neither accepted into the country, nor
detained, nor sent back. Mr. Navorski, currently the citizen of nowhere, is 'simply unacceptable'.
The most elaborate version of the project comes as a spatial installation in which
large, lengthy black balloons hover vertically in a white space. While these balloons are passive, the small blimp which has later also been used in the "Passion
5" project, moves around vividly in the space. It is mounted with a miniature
vision system that allows it to recognize individual objects (in fact, it recognizes
'something dark and vertical, surrounded by white'), and to fly towards these
objects until they get hit by the front tip of the blimp ('camera vision field completely black'). The blimp then backs off, turns, and seeks the next victim which can, in the exhibition, also be a visitor who is standing among the balloons watching the blimp move around.
Whereas in "Passion 5" the blimp is an ambivalent symbol for the exploratory
passion of an engineer who constructs systems that can be used for surveillance purposes and might thus endanger public liberties, the blimp is here a meta-
In this vignette from the Hollywood movie, the relationship of territoriality, legality, and power, is again pinpointed sharply. The subjectivity of the naked bandit
is constructed, in all its different variations, as one that is tied into oppressive
power relations which leave little room for manoeuvre to the individual. While the
balloons get pushed around as utterly passive victims, the computer-coded bandit has the potential, when helped from the outside, to replicate and free itself
from the dependency. Each time, we experience a situation in which inside and
outside are radically separated, in which the threshold between inside and outside is existential. The naked bandit can only be liberated because it can delegate its attention to a digital clone, while for the balloons and for Mr. Navorski
the border is absolute.
A theoretical discourse that resonates throughout the "naked bandit/here, not here"
project is the one regarding the homo sacer by Italian philosopher Giorgio
Agamben. While the line of flight of Agamben's analysis is an understanding of
modern forms of power culminating in the concentration camp, including its most
recent instantiations, he also reminds us that the figure of the homo sacer, the
person who is banned from the legality of society and who can be killed by
anybody, dates back to ancient Roman law. Crucially, Agamben explains how the
modern understanding of legality and sovereignty as it was developed since the
18th century, is anchored in the homo sacer as an exceptional, yet necessary,
'external' position on the inside of society. The epitome of this logic is the concentration camp which is ruled by a permanent state of exception, and where
that which is to be excluded from society, is interned.
Knowbotic Research make only tentative references to Agamben's thinking which
has been quite widely received over the last years. Recent excesses of US and
British soldiers in Iraqi prisons, as well as the strange omnipresent invisibility of
the camp in Guantanamo Bay where the USA keep their own version of the
homo sacer, the illegalised unlawful combatants, have highlighted the uneasy relationship of power and legality which lies at the heart of those cherished Western
values. In the same way as the different variations of the "naked bandit/here,
not here" project seek to transcode aspects and elements of the respective logics
of space, agency, and machinic processes, in order to bring out similarities and
differences, and in order to trace potentials for resistant behaviour, in that same
way the naked bandit can be read as a variation on the homo sacer. And,
accordingly, the elements in the different installations.
The white_sovereign blimp operates purely on the basis of optical data that it
extracts from its environment and that, when analysed, provide the parameters for
its next action. It is a device of visual surveillance and articulates the relationship of space, visibility and power. In contrast, the mechanism of control and 'surveillance' in the said computer programme is firmly scripted into the code. Like
in an obsessive theatre play, the parent process continuously demands of the
child process to respond and confirm its presence. The power relation here is
abstract and purely systemic, and only the voices that repeat the machine exchange give the dialogue a human dimension. However, ironically, the latitude of the
programmed bandit with its potential to liberate itself, is larger than that of the
balloons which, although they hang freely in the delineated space and can even
be moved and protected by exhibition visitors from the tentative attacks of the
blimp, are damned to utter passivity - their drama will repeat until they go flat.
The visitor who enters the installation of "naked_bandit / here, not here /
white_sovereign", enters a theatre stage on which a scripted and repetitive action
is unfolding. The space is specially designated and allows for specific forms of
audience engagement that thread into the narrative of the play on power. Like in
the "BlackBenz Race" and in "Passion 5", the spaces of the performance and
the audience space intersect without necessarily becoming the same - only those
audience members who identify with the scene and decide to share the fate of
the vehicular actors, can transgress into the exterritorial and secluded room of the
action. The vehicles themselves - the blimp as well as the car, the boat and
the cleaning van - are players with only partly defined roles that can get scripted into different scenarios set at the boundaries of visibility, action and camouflage in public space.
An interesting set of precursors to these mobilia are the Vehicles constructed by
the Polish-American artist Krzysztof Wodiczko since the early 1970s, most notably perhaps the early "Vehicle" (1973), a lengthy mobile walkway with a tilting
platform at the top which the artist can walk up and down on; as the platform
tilts in a seesaw movement, this energy is transformed into a movement of the
entire vehicle, which travels always in the same direction. Insisting that the object
may only be used by the artist, Wodiczko constructed an instrument for an authorial performance in which his meditative walk is turned into the motor of progress. Later works, like the 'Doppelgänger' prosthesis of the "Alien Staff" (1992)
and the famous "Homeless Vehicle" (1988) were meant to be used by disadvantaged individuals, in this case migrants and homeless people. Wodiczko's contraptions are designed to draw the attention of passers-by, since the "Homeless
Vehicle" was not only meant to make life on the street easier, but is also there
to make the fate of the homeless visible. People who are normally only tolerated when they are unobtrusive, are here given special attention by making them
the owners of conspicuous vehicles.
Camouflag
Camouflag
Like Wodiczko's vehicles, the recent projects by Knowbotic Research explore the
potentials of agency through performative scenarios in a theatre of visibilities: From
the spectacular "BlackBenz Race", through the strategic play on visibility and invisibility in "be prepared! tiger!", to the public performance of "Passion 5" in
which the city becomes a stage and the audience is drawn into the metaphorical re-enactment of the May demonstration in confrontation with the blimp as a
symbol of an equally passionate control apparatus and its agents.
"naked_bandit / here, not here / white_sovereign", finally, comes across as an
absurd drama, part tragic, part humouristic, given the repetition and inescapability that the computer script, the balloons, and Mr. Navorski seem to share. They
raise the question of the potential for transgressing a designated space, and ask
whether we need to think of power as something that operates within limited scenarios, or across different such stages. The visitor entering the installation space
is confronted with different conflicting processes of simulation and dissimulation in
which he or she has to define her own role. In a world lit up by the glare of
spectacle and surveillance cameras, we have to find our place between spotlights
and camouflage covers.
In Samuel Beckett's play 'Waiting for Godot', the two protagonists are stuck in a
place somewhere in the middle of nowhere, anticipating someone who they think
is called Godot. The exposed spot lays bare the fact that their waiting is futile,
and that they are caught in a loop of obscure dependencies which will, if there
is a tomorrow, always bring them back to the same situation. Their only hope
is that night may fall and that darkness deliver them from the inescapable deadlock. A small hope. Instead - this I add to Beckett's scenario - the sun seems
to grow brighter by the day.
Camouflag
ought to remain By presenting he slogans as loopete walls ought to remain By presenting he slogans as by a
special department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain By presenting he slogans as loops and samplesociopolitical
conditions of the political issues in. Bilderklärung
References AGAMBEN, Giorgio (1998). Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare
Life. Stanford University Press. BROECKMANN, Andreas (2000): Wirksamkeit und
konnektives Handeln. Zu den translokalen Konstruktionen von Knowbotic Research
+ cF. In: Heute ist Morgen. Über die Zukunft von Erfahrung und Konstruktion
(M. Erlhoff, H. U. Reck, eds.) Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, p. 213-237. FOUCAULT,
Michel (1977): Discipline and Punish. London, Allan Lane. KNOWBOTIC RESEARCH (2005): Transcoding the Dilemma - naked bandit. Zurich. WODICZKO,
Krysztof (1992): Instruments, Projections, Vehicles. Barcelona, Fundacio Antoni
Tapies.
Sabine Maria Schmidt
be prepared tiger!
Invisiblity as power
Invisibility is a form of power. It has to become visible in
order to assure itself of its existence. Only by revealing its
secret can invisibility affirm its authority. It can only unfold
its authority over those who know about its secret.1 The
fact that this secret still remains encrypted is part of invisibility's paradoxical existence.
"Dream of a magic hat for invisibility - soon a reality?", was
the headline of an Austrian press release in August 2006.2 Again
the hope is alive that scientists might have found a way to compete with the
mythical ancestors of that dream. Siegfried succeeded over Alberich, the guardian of the hoard of the Nibelungen, by stealing his magic hood. Much earlier,
the Cyclops made a perfectly fitting magic helmet for the god Hades that rendered him invisible and allowed him to stand by Zeus in the fight against the
Titans. Another magic hood is mentioned with regard to Perseus who received it
from the Nymphs on his way to the Gorgon Meduse. Or, to put it more precisely: Perseus stole the information necessary for this theft by means of an aggressive spying technique from the Graias who he had cheated on.
There is no fight without self-aggrandisement, no weapon, however highly sophisticated, without psychological mystification. Weapons are not only tools of destruction, but also tools of perception. The video of a small Tamil Tiger guerilla unit,
placed on the internet, continues this mythological story. They also decide to make
their secret visible in order to affirm the power of their invisibility.
The project of Knowbotic Research and Peter Sandbichler begins with the discovery of a piece of information in the grey zone of the internet, difficult to verify: a short propaganda video by the Tamil liberation army, recorded with simple
filmic means and stored with poor image resolution, which shows the glorification
of a speedboat that was supposedly financed by North Korea. The boat is deliberately likened to the American F 117 stealth bomber, a myth of invisibility and
invincibility.
Is the stealth boat a dummy? In order to test the truthfulness of the vehicle's
claim which, in this case, has clearly been staged in a scenic jungle river environment for the purpose of the demonstration, the artists decide on a complete
reconstruction of the boat, as well as a re-enactment of the scene. An extensive online diary documents the preparatory dialogues, requests, research and collection of materials concerning stealth technology. Knowbotic Research and
Sandbichler translate the Tamil version back into a 'stealth boat' for local shipping that is barely visible on the sports boat radar. The boat is tied up in the
marina of the Duisburg inner-harbour during an exhibition project, and with its
simple electric motor it is driven around from time to time for the passers-by to
see. At the same time, the boat has been put up for sale on the appropriate
internet sites (Boatshop24.com; Boot-24.com; Best-boats24.net).
The reconstruction works perfectly. Moreover, the perceptual paradox becomes evident: the boat which can easily be seen with the naked eye, remains invisible
for the radar system installed on the nearby Ludwigsturm. Here the work becomes highly political in that the artistically engendered act of perception forces us
to remember the hideous claims that have been made on the basis of technological images in order to justify recent political and military interventions (like the
start of the current Iraq war).
"be prepared! tiger!" represents the ruses and tactics used to escape from the
global positioning and surveillance technologies of the 21st century, yet it also
stands for the problem of symbolic representations which become more easily avai-
lable and less controllable in the course of increased local and global interchanges.
shows a fake of a stealth boat which the artists have transformed back into a
functioning original.
Part of the particular artistic quality of the projects by Knowbotic Research is that
they reveal chains of effects, interweave them with multi-layered systems of communication, and analyse them in all their facets. Knowbotic Research guide the
motorised stealth boat through their own maneuvers, moving it on water, on land,
on the internet, and as a projected image. We again see two men standing
upright in the boat, driving through the quiet waters of a flooded marsh landscape (near Vienna!). Here the boat can barely be decoded as a weapon, it
looks more like an invention by Buckminster Fuller. It is neither threatening nor
camouflaged, but offers itself for sale and exhibits its appropriated originality and
sculptural character. It is inscribed into contexts of economic utility and suggests
different civilian usages. The artists demonstrate the demystification of the legendary stealth technology and its putative invincibility which has to expose its secret
in order to become effective.3 The moment a stealth bomber kills, it becomes
visible.
While the earlier, network-based projects by Knowbotic Research had concentrated on structures important to the networks, the more recent works emphasise the
aspect of transcoding in public spaces. By 'transcoding', Knowbotic Research mean
"the translation of abstract social facts and conditions which are removed from
the classical public sphere, into situations that can temporarily be observed and
negotiated."6 The vehicles thus become instruments that can be deployed in manifold ways. They embody a material, almost sculptural translation, both experimenting with and disrupting their conceptual contexts. They help Knowbotic Research
achieve an oscillation between 'documentation art' and 'mediation art'
('Dokumentationskunst', 'Vermittlungskunst') in that the instruments also work as
autonomous aesthetic objects in a gallery exhibition. An element of this is - like
in the fake video - the filmic manifestations, the video clips which have been
produced with a professional camera man. They are an active part of the specific translation processes of the project, and not just their mere documentation.
The setting of "be prepared! tiger!" in Duisburg included not only the public
space, the marina, the tower with the radar system, video and sound projection,
and a large printed banner on a wall; it also included a slightly removed second
station in the Lehmbruck Museum with a video projection of the re-enacted boat
ride and the continuously running computer chat with materials from the research
archive. Knowbotic Research thus achieved multi-layered and syntactical relationships between the different elements and sites of the action.
We can further extend the context in which to read the action, environment and
gestures. The true value of an image was once determined by its mimetic function. At the same time, an image was truthful when it was genuine. That is why
in the era of representation, the original always ruled over copies, imitations,
reproductions and forgeries. The deep historical rupture of new reproduction techniques started a new era of artistic practice in which the attention has gradually shifted from the mimetic reproduction of the object of representation, to the
reproduction of that which has been represented. Images no longer copy reality,
they copy images. Thus contemporary art has established the strategy of the 'fake',
which claims to be a 'forgery' from the start and is thus liberated from claims
of deception which might be judicially persecuted.4 The work of Knowbotic
Research continues this tradition by presenting an artistic appropriation of the military stealth technology, which immediately also exposes itself as fake guerilla tactics. The truthful and the untruthful have become invisible, and thus indistinguishable, in the public sphere of the media.5 And in this specific case we can
even suspect that the re-enacted video image used by Knowbotic Research itself
The fact that the stealth boat has actually been constructed is crucial for its
demystification. By virtue of its construction, it loses its secret and its belligerent
power. And it comes as an encouragement to the audience to imagine further
applications and manoeuvers for the boat. The work dissolves its initially mimetic
character and becomes exemplary. The magic cloak is no longer there to camouflage, but rather to enchant.
Knowbotic Research and Sandbichler's construction turns out to be an aesthetically elaborate object, a sculpture committed to the proportions of the human body.
Camouflag
Camouflag
It remains functional and can be used for simple trips on water and also as a
marketable good. However, the fact that the entire complex structure is very
obvious, makes the boat rather suspicious. Which is perhaps why there have only
been very few offers to buy the boat, either from yachtsmen or from guerillas.
The situation of the self-made-boat can thus be located in and beyond the context of art. As a further step that might also be read as the unexpected completion of a circle, an American website announces the unusual find of a stranded 'stealth boat' in a parking lot which, as another internet user remarks, seems
to have been built years ago by a knowledgeable amateur, and which found use
as a movie prop.7
Footnotes
1 Cf. VERWOERT, Jan (2005): Da ist es. Siehst du es nicht? Da ist es doch. Über die
Hellsichtigkeit der Paranoia. In: KORPYS/LÖFFLER (2005) Organisation 1990 - 2005 Frankfurt
am Main, Revolver Verlag, p.156-189.
2 http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/verfahrenstechnologie/bericht-68487.html
3 Two fundamental problems of the technology: in order to remain camouflaged, the stealth bombers have to carry their weapons internally, which reduces the maximum weapon load. As soon as
the stealth bomber opens the hatch to fire its weapons, it creates an increased radar echo and
can more easily be traced.
4 RÖMER, Stefan (2001): Künstlerische Strategien des Fake. Kritik von Original und Fälschung.
Köln.
5 Cf. SCHMIDT, Sabine Maria (2006): Designing Truth - Streifzüge durch ein unwegsames Gebiet.
In: Cat. "Designing Truth." Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, p. 8-15, and on the
project by Knowbotic Research, p. 46-51.
6 Cf. KNOWBOTIC RESEARCH: Room for Manoeuvre, in this volume.
7 http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page583.html
Camouflag
Felix Stalder
Tracing Translocality:
The Black Benz
Camouflag
The project "BlackBenz Race" (BBR) by Knowbotic
Research is a semi-fictional car race from Zurich to
Pristina, Kosovo, and back again to Zurich.1 A convoy of black cars, decorated with Kosovo-Albanian
iconography and stylized as improvised racing cars,
start the race at the international bus station, located
downtown, next to Zurich's main train station. This is a
highly public event replete with cars, music, food, and information stalls, put together by the artists as well as the Kosovo-Albanian community of Zurich. The race leads along one of Zurich's main exit/entry roads,
onto the highway, south into Italy, all the way to Bari where the ferry is
boarded. Upon arrival in Durres, Albania, the race continues to Pristina. Here,
at the turning point, a series of events are being staged, in collaboration with
Dokufest, the international documentary film festival in Prizren. After that the
race returns, via Macedonia and Italy, back to Zurich. The more direct route
via ex-Yugoslavia cannot be taken, partly for security reasons (in Serbia), but
partly also because the visa requirements for people who only hold an UNMIK
(United Nations Mission in Kosovo) passport are more than onerous in these
countries.
At the end of the race, one of the cars is removed from circulation. It is
exhibited for one year in a public parking spot and washed every week with a
mobile car-washing unit, like the ones that can be found everywhere in
Albania under the name of Lavaz. During the race, LED panels are installed
along the last few hundred meters of the main entry/exit road to Zurich,
where, on the weekends, the tuned-up cars coming into town from the suburbs are stuck regularly in traffic jams. On the panels messages, sent in via
mobile phones by the racing teams, are being displayed indicating the development of the race. On the project website, small video clips from mobile phones are being uploaded showing scenes from the race and the stops along the
way. In this project, the black Mercedes car serves as a vehicle to examine
public space in a place like Zurich and to trace the outlines of an emerging
translocal space. Traditionally, public space is thought of as something entirely
local, the proverbial village square, which in Switzerland has accumulated semantic layers. To this day, direct democracy takes place in some cantons in the
form of assemblies on village squares, the Landsgemeinde. People coming
together in one place, discussing public affairs in the open and making decisions on the spot, in full view of all elective members of the community, is
the oldest form of democracy, originating in ancient Athens. Modern forms of
democracy, developed in the 18th and 19th century, governed societies far too
large to assemble physically in one spot. The mass media took the place of
the village square, making sure that everyone could listen, though not speak,
to the elected representatives who deliberated public affairs. Despite very significant differences within and between ancient and modern forms of democracy,
the notion of public as relating to a unified, contiguous territory is constitutive
for both. In the first case, the space of the village square is covered by the
medium of the voice of the speaker, in the second, the space of the national
territory is covered by the mass media, first print, then electronic.
BBR rests on the assumption that this notion of public space is being challenged by a new type of space that must be conceptualized quite differently.
Rather than being local, contiguous and based on mass media, this new space
is translocal, distributed, and based on what the sociologist Manuel Castells
calls "the space of flows". The space of flows consists of three layers. First
is the physical layer, the material nodes of the network that create and administrate the flows. This includes specific buildings, roads, dedicated computer
machinery, airports, communication wires, and so on. The second are the
things that actually circulate, including people, materials and information. The
third is a particular culture that facilitates the coordination of these elements,
without which they would not coalesce into something stable enough to create
space. The space of flows is best thought of as a myriad of translocal networks, held together by a continuous circulation of people, materials and bits,
each characterized by a particular make-up of resources, and developing, over
time, a unique culture that defines the boundaries of that space. The key
aspect of the space of flows - about which it is justified to speak as a unique space despite its constitutive fragmentation - is that it enables the connection of distributed entities to occur as if they were in one place, thus fundamentally affecting social geography.
This sociological concept echoes an older philosophical debate about the ontology of space, going back to the famous Clarke-Leibniz exchange (1715-16).
Samuel Clarke, who served in this case as Newton's proxy, defended an
absolute notion of space against Leibniz's relative one. Newton conceived space
as an invariable entity independent of the objects that are placed within it.
Such space can be empty or full and distances are absolute. This is, as seemingly self-evident common sense, how we conceptualize space today. Leibniz,
on the other hand, conceived space as in-between things. For Leibniz, there
could be no such thing as empty space because space did not exist prior to
objects. Thus, space is relative, relating to the in-between of objects, rather
than to an absolute, invariant measure.
In the present context, there is no need to get into the depth of this ongoing
ontological debate about the nature of space. All that is necessary to remember right now is that we can think of space differently, as being characterized
by the 'in-between' of objects. Flows can be seen as the empirically observable 'in-between', as they connect one object with one or many others. Over
the last decades, we have seen the development of an infrastructure for highspeed, high-precision, high-volume, low-cost flows substantially transforming the
character of long-distance exchanges that have existed throughout history. While
there is a lot of debate as to when this process started, it's more obvious
that in the 1990s this infrastructure has become accessible to a very wide
range of people and organizations, rather than just the elite, as evidenced by
the ubiquity of cell phones, easy internet access, satellite TV and low-cost
airlines. From the point of view of physical urban spaces, the impact of the
emergence of the space of flows is that of a deepening fragmentation. Physical
Camouflag
proximity plays less and less a role in bringing together different entities that
co-exist within one locality. Put somewhat schematically, the easier it is to
create real-time interaction across distances, the less important is the fact that
local co-presence enables real-time interaction as well. From within the networks, on the other hand, people and things that are geographically distant
become quasi-locally present for real-time interaction. Thus, we have two
interlocking movements, one is fragmentation (on the ground), the other is
integration (through flows) of social processes and the particular cultures
through which they are created.
However, one might ask, what does all of this have to do with black
Mercedes cars racing between Zurich and Pristina? To understand this, it helps
to get some background on the migration of Kosovo-Albanians to Switzerland.
During the 1990s, the immigrant population from ex-Yugoslavia more than doubled to about 360,000 people. Roughly half of them are, in fact, KosovoAlbanians who now constitute the largest immigrant group in the country. While
the first were called upon as "guest-workers" in the 1960s, the majority came
as refugees following the break-up of Yugoslavia at the end of the cold war.
In many ways, they faced similar difficulties to earlier migrant groups in terms
of discrimination, uncertain legal status, difficulties of integration, economic insecurity, and so on. However, in important respects, their experience was also
very different from other groups. First, contrary to other recent immigrant
groups, the Kosovo-Albanians are Europeans and thus the distances between
the place of origin and the place of migration is relatively small. One can
drive from Zurich to Pristina and back over a long weekend. And many do.
Second, contrary to post-WWII immigration from Southern Europe, the means
for local and international communication, the infrastructure of flows, has been
widely available. Today, there are numerous Albanian newspapers in Switzerland,
some produced in Kosovo, others in Switzerland, others jointly in both countries. Satellites make local Kosovo TV available in real time, internet portals not
only provide topical information in great detail, but also enable the connection
of migrant communities scattered across Europe. Cell-phones and, most recently, internet-based phones, support individual, real-time communication for people
on the move, at low cost.
Taken together, an alien and often discriminatory environment which is making
Camouflag
Camouflag
integration difficult, and the possibility for connecting, physically and informationally, with relative ease to people who either stayed back home or went to
other parts of Europe, have been factors in the creation of a particular kind of
translocal immigrant culture. Thus, one could say, the experience of most
Kosovo-Albanians across Europe is one of a culture created in the space of
flows. Seen from local public space, the most visible element of this culture
are cars which play a central role in immigrant culture generally, and here in
particular. Apart from their essential transportation role, they are over-coded
with meaning. Quite generally, black limousines represent the weight of power,
be that political or criminal. Cars can also represent individual freedom in a
context that allows little such luxury to immigrants at the bottom of the social
ladder. They also constitute, and represent, considerable investment. They indicate a certain status and, when driving home, the migrant's success abroad.
As an investment, cars are highly mobile, and turned into cash quite easily.
Furthermore, cars are often gifts by parents to their children, to whom they
have sometimes little else to offer. Being poorly integrated into a society in
which their children are much more at home, can make parents dependent on
the children, upsetting traditional family hierarchies.
In Switzerland, the high-powered car as the symbol of Kosovo-Albanian culture
became particularly ingrained in the public's mind when a sudden media hysteria broke out concerning high-speed car chases and fatal accidents caused by
them. With overt racists overtones, it was not a co-incidence that this media
campaign took place a few weeks before a general vote on whether to relax
Switzerland's very restrictive naturalization laws. Characteristically, the treatment
of these illegal car races was markedly different from the favorable media
reception that, around the same time, "gumball rallies" received. These rallies,
named after a 1976 B-movie, are illegal car races across Europe, but for
international jet setters in fancy cars who stay at expensive hotels, full of
media hype about the rich and famous flaunting traffic regulations, while in the
background, everything - one must assume - was well coordinated with the
police.
For the local population, a car race, unless it's done in circles on a track, is
almost imperceptible, as cars pass quickly in and out of sight. It's an event
that is, almost unavoidably, semi-fictional, and also participants often are busy
creating their own mystique. Scores of website collect little clips of illegal
races, yet, it's often not clear to which degree these clips represent real
races, or are just edited for show, or both. BBR takes the race as a metaphor for the media-saturated translocal cultures, situated at the border between
reality and fiction, between a self-determined telling of one's own story through
do-it-yourself media and heavy-handed discrimination through mass media. By
showing the cars, both on the LED panels installed along a main artery of
Zurich, and on the website, BBR creates a narrative space in which to examine both the myth and the reality of translocality, as constructed by a collaboration between artists and migrants. In this sense, it's not a documentary project, as the framework in which all of this takes place, is semi-fictional. This
should give greater freedom to explore the realities on the ground, as the cars
move from one locale to another, with their own rhythm of speedy advances
and forced delays at borders, ferry crossings, military checks, and so on. The
exploratory part of observing how the racing cars, and the race as a whole,
change their meaning according to different contexts, remains, of course, highly
speculative, as the project has not (yet) been realized. At this stage, the
project makes a series of tentative proposals about how to deal with the
transformation of (public) space, artistically and theoretically, which is being
fragmented and reintegrated under our very feet.
Footnote 1 "BlackBenz Race" (BBR) was initiated as a commissioned work in
2005. It was one of five projects to re-examine the relationship between art
and public space in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. Knowbotic Research invited
Osman Osmani, Arben Gecai, and me to collaborate. While BBR has not been
realized yet, Knowbotic Research transformed some elements of the project into
a work suitable for a closed exhibition space. This text refers to the original
conception.
References CASTELLS, Manuel (2000-04): The Information Age: Economy,
Society and Culture. 2nd edition(3 vols). Cambridge, Blackwell. KHAMARA,
Edward J. (1993): "Leibniz's Theory of Space: A Reconstruction,"
Philosophical Quarterly 43, p. 472-88. RAUNIG, Gerald; WUGGENIG, Ulf
(eds.) (2005): Publicum. Theorien der Öffentlichkeit. Wien, Turia + Kant.
STALDER, Felix (2006): Manuel Castells and the Theory of the Network
Society. Cambridge, Polity Press. WINSTON, Brian (1998): Media Technology
and Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet. London, Routledge.
Stefan Riekeles
withdraw and shine
tiger_stealth is a project by Knowbotic Research in
cooperation with Peter Sandbichler. It was first presented in April 2006 in the harbour of Duisburg
(Germany) as part of the installation Be prepared!
Tiger! during the exhibition "Designing the Truth".
The project tiger_stealth takes its point of departure
from a video produced by the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam or for short, the Tamil Tigers, which was
published on a website. Two soldiers are manoeuvring their
boat along an abundantly overgrown river bank. A steersman and his colleague
are boastfully posing for the camera with their rifles. Machine guns are mounted on the boat's bow, underpinning the poses with military force. The shape
of the boat is reminiscent of the stealth bombers deployed by the US Air
Force. Despite the poor quality of the video footage, one is able to recognize
the polygonal design which is typical for crafts that use stealth technology, a
passive weapon aimed at reducing a vehicle's visibility to radar.
Based on the video images, Knowbotic Research and engineer Peter
Sandbichler traced the exact shape of the boat in order to design a similar
vehicle. In the design process the artists paid great attention to achieving
effective camouflage from radar. The hull was made of wood and aluminium.
Equipped with a silent engine the boat is actually invisible to radar. A radar
system that is mounted at a viewpoint close to the harbour basin as part of
the "be prepared! tiger!" installation, 'proves' the stealth qualities.
Radar (RAdio Detecting And Ranging) is a positioning system based on electro-magnetic waves. Developed during the 1930s for military purposes, it is
used to detect and locate objects as well as to determine their current movement, trajectory and speed. A radar system sends waves in a specific direction
into space. Similarly to sound waves, radar waves generate echoes when they
are refracted by an object. These echoed signals are registered by an antenna.
By displaying the received data as coordinates of objects on a screen, radar
visualises information which might otherwise not be accessible to the human
senses. Because of this process of visualisation, radar is also called an imaging technology. The boat built by the artists elides this representation by wearing its camouflaging hood.
The concept of stealth itself is not new. Being able to operate without the
knowledge of the enemy has always been a goal of military technology and
techniques. However "stealth technology" redesigns the vehicle itself in order to
reduce its observability. Significant for the design of a stealth craft is the so
called stealth angle. This angle defines the orientation of a surface so that
impinging radar waves are least reflected back to the source. Curves and right
angles are especially unfavourable to this stealth effect. In order to forward and
diffuse the radar waves the surface area is divided into polygonal faces. The
characteristic shape of the vehicle is defined precisely by the technical requirements. The resulting multi-angular structure of the hull gives the boat the
appearance of a faceted artefact.
It is the special geometry that potentiates the vehicle and allows for its
camouflage. An interesting functional aspect of the radar system is that, instead
of only receiving waves which are reflected from an object directly, it emits
energy itself. Radar waves are dispatched from a source in order to cause
echoes. Radar is a reflexive system. In terms of modality,"radio detection"
resembles touch more than vision, although it is not sensitive to texture. For
the artists' craft withdrawal from the radar's touch is made possible by a geometric stratagem. The vehicle appears to be untouchable for the radar beam.
Camouflag
Its sharp-edged cap allows the boat to slip through the radar's groping fingers.
In the negative relation between radar and vehicle the detecting waves function
as a shaping die, a form shaping the boat. In return, the shape of tiger_stealth is a negative blueprint of the radar controlled space. The spatial logic of
radar is rendered visible, yet fragmented in the precisely shaped facets of the
twinkling aluminium hull. Radar space is reflected as its shadow in the aluminium surface of the boat. The US Navy takes up the opposite perspective
when they name a stealth warship Sea Shadow. This vessel is the direct military counterpart to tiger_stealth and has a very similar shape. Yet, the warship
outperforms Knowbotic Research's nutshell significantly in size, range and power.
Additionally Sea Shadow is coated with a matt finish in order to keep it as
unobtrusive as possible. In contrast tiger_stealth's shiny surface blinks in the
sunlight and literally forms a visual spectacle. Even if this may interfere with a
potential military deployment, it is very productive for the mission of tiger_stealth. The appearance of the boat reflects its different modes of visibility to
radar-augmented vision and to the naked human eye. Conspicuity and camouflage refract in the geometric metal surface of the boat. This way the vehicle
refers to the different spaces in which it effectively operates. The facets of the
hull display how radar space and visual field superimpose and permeate each
other.
Camouflag
The public sphere is crucially constituted by visibility. However, today's ubiquitous surveillance systems suggest that to appear in public is now itself stigmatised. In the perspective of a superior inspector, visibility enables control and
consequently increases security. But to show up in a public space then means
to become a potential source of danger. One does not need to be particularly
paranoid to imagine oneself as a target in the focus of the monitoring power.
The desire for civil camouflage or a protective shield comes as no surprise.
tiger_stealth provides such a protection. Its user has the chance to avoid being
detected by radar and to withdraw from an area of surveillance and control.
The boat's camouflage bestows partial topographical indefiniteness and allows for
free manoeuvres in an environment controlled by radar. Thus an area kept
under surveillance is partially transformed, by the stealth shape of the boat,
Camouflag
into a freely accessible domain. However there is a price to pay for this freedom of movement. Such liberty of action demands civil armament. Even though
stealth technology can be regarded as a "passive" technology, it is a weapon.
To operate a stealth vehicle in civil space therefore implies the militarisation of
this space. The project S-77CCR (System-77 Civil Counter-Reconnaissance)
by Marko Peljhan and his Projekt Atol is aiming at a similar armament of civil
forces, though using a more "active" technology.1 S-77CCR is based on an
unmanned aircraft which is equipped with surveillance technology. The drone is
designed for "civil counter-reconnaissance" in public space. S-77CCR and
tiger_stealth both stress the notions of civil resistance and the appropriation of
technological know-how by artists and activists. However, a deployment of the
crafts also implies the affirmation of a military logic. It is the same logic that
is at work in the civil war the Tamil Tigers are fighting. Yet, as we will see
in a moment, there is a significant difference between S-77CCR and tiger_stealth.
The shape of the tiger_stealth boat suggests military virility. Although the technical requirements of the stealth technology had long been a well treasured
military secret, most of the information necessary to build a stealth craft is now
publicly available. What remains of the former secret is the myth and the aura
of a technological prodigy that go along with the characteristic shape. Several
stagings of "stealth" crafts latch on to this myth and contribute to it. The
blockbuster movie "Stealth - Under the Radar" (USA, 2005) features aircrafts
which resemble the legendary F117 stealth bomber used by the US Air Force.
The machines supposedly accelerate to 6 times sonic speed in a few seconds
and dominate their territory with a global operating range. In the James Bond
movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" (GB/USA, 1997) a reproduction of the already
mentioned warship Sea Shadow is used by Bond's mighty opponent. The geometric shape of these crafts has become an icon of military force.
Although the Tamil Tiger's boat shows a shape which is similar to the US
military stealth vehicles, it is very likely detectable by radar. With the mounted
machine guns, the open deck and the motor lying outside it will reflect enough
radar waves to be traceable in the jungle. It is obviously constructed to benefit
from the iconographic value of its shape. Just as tiger_stealth. Like a glaring
bullet it is anchored in the harbour basin. Amongst the chubby tubs and
yachts it stands out by its sharp edges. However, it comes across as strangely fragile and flimsy. Knowbotic Research shot a video sequence featuring
their boat cruising along the river bank in the Danube marshes near Vienna,
Austria. The sequence is nearly 3 minutes in length and shows the boat
approaching the camera from a far distance, coming closer and finally disappearing out of frame. In contrast to the original video by the Tamil Tigers, the
re-enactment shows a vessel that is impressively slow. The boat actually sneaks stealthily through the scenery. Its appearance is more contemplative than
aggressive. Whereas the Tamil Tigers make a show of their questionable weaponry, tiger_stealth startles by its radical slowness. This craft is obviously not
designed for attack. It is solely constructed with respect to its stealthiness and
cannot support a heroic pose. This is the major difference to the S-77CCR
aircraft which is designed to actually empower civilians in a military sense.
tiger_stealth does not only withdraw from the radar beam but also from the
logic of power demonstration and the show of force in which the Tamil Tigers
are caught as is the S-77CCR.
By offering the boat up for sale on an internet platform, Knowbotic Research
finally extend the vehicle's field of operation to the economic realm. On the
website of a boat shop, the craft appears in a state of temporary availability.
Here again its spectacular shape comes into play. Its glittering surface combined with the promise of invisibility might well attract a customer. Whoever can
muster enough financial power can acquire the potential that tiger_stealth offers.
Knowbotic Research are manoeuvring their vehicle through a multi-layered scenario of (in)visibility and power. The boat traverses a port basin, river banks,
radar space, mass media fiction, and finally appears on the public market. In
each of these domains it operates in another mode of visibility. Conspicuously
twinkling it lies in the harbour. Camouflaged by the thicket it creeps along the
Danube river bank. Disappearing completely from the radar's screen it returns
with iconographic power as a media phantom just to show up briefly on a
website before it is bought and disappears again. Between stealthy withdrawal
and spectacular presence tiger_stealth oscillates in a complex topology. If it is
a weapon at all, then it is a sharp blade. Its keen edges slice through the
manifold areas of its operation. In the faceted aluminium hull the resulting fragments assume a definite form. The boat is an interface to the spatial structure
of its manoeuvre. It is not a warship but a spaceship.
Footnote 1 http://s-77ccr.org
References
ARENDT, Hannah (1958): The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
FOUCAULT, Michel (1987): Andere Räume. In: BARCK, Karlheinz, ed. (1990): Aisthesis.
Leipzig: Reclam.
Stefan Wagner
Reading Purity Grade
protocol of a performance
An orange coloured vehicle, the passion_cleaner is
slowly moving among cars and pedestrians, constantly sweeping the curbstones. Instead of the
engine's rumbling, some heavy noise resounds,
emitted by oversized loudspeakers mounted on top
of the road sweeper. Audio recordings telling of
justice, of equality and of sufficient wages for all,
are broadcast ceaselessly into the night. The passionate
slogans were recorded during Labour Day demonstrations on
the 1st of May, rearranged and are now played back in loops.
"Was macht den Bürgern Angst - Klassenkampf! Was macht den Bürgern
Angst - Klassenkampf! Was macht den Bürgern Angst - Klassenkampf! ..."
(engl.: what scares the bourgeois? - class struggle!) The vehicle drives on
slowly, heading towards a shopping mall, appropriately named Puls5. The venue
arose from the ruins of a former casting house and was developed for an
affluent clientele. Beams, free of any grime, endow an impressive ambiance to
the romantic idea of hard work. The sweat and dirt are in the past however.
The romanticized stage setting is accentuated by red flags. In the middle of
the hall, an engineer is erecting a tent. He is tinkering with a zeppelin which
he constructed in long, committed hours of work. This vehicle is equipped with
a system that allows for autonomous operation. A video camera provides the
necessary data for navigation, as well as surveiling the surroundings. Every
now and then the engineer steps out of his temporary laboratory to let the
silver shining aircraft float through the hall. In the meantime the passion_cleaner
arrives at the mall. Slogans resound loudly. However, the pathetic chants of
the workers completely lose their power in the halls of consumption.
Degenerated to mockery, they are merely reminiscent of former times. Between
the passion_cleaner and the engineer, children are running around and joyfully
handing out flyers to the public. The leaflets are proposing to download the
workers slogans as ringtones for mobile phones. A few minutes later the chanting passion_cleaner exits the mall. Audience, engineer, flags and zeppelin are
left behind.
Overriding functionality
Let's follow the passion_cleaner for a while. The appearance of the machine
was transformed. By mounting immense loudspeakers on top of the driver's
cabin it mutated into a protest machine. Thus it is not only hybrid in design
but also in function. It does not cleanse anymore. Although the brooms are
sweeping constantly, the brushing is not sucked into the machine. Empty cans
and crumpled papers are left behind on the street. However the passion_cleaner modifies their position. By rearranging the rubbish the seemingly useless
sweeping mechanism turns the litter into an ornament. As restructured assemblage the waste emerges with a new visibility within public space. Obsolescence
by repositioning Artefacts called litter are not inherently worthless. In fact they
are only valued as such when dumped on the street. Actually these objects
have only lost their functionality. They are not usefully protecting foods or other
items anymore. When such dysfunctional objects are dumped, they ultimately
become excluded from the sphere of valuables. Consequently the used-up
goods shall be forgotten, put away, eliminated. But what actually occurs to
them is a shift in their visibility. These objects are rearranged in our patterns
of recognition. By repositioning the dumped objects and subsequently leaving
them as its own trace, the passion_cleaner renders this process visible.
Purification as a strategy of surveillance
Outside of the intimate sphere of one's home, discarding and cleaning gain a
moral and political dimension. Some years ago the municipality of Zurich launched a cleanliness campaign titled "permitted is what does not disturb".
Camouflag
Numerous rules of conduct for public space were formulated. The campaign
was trying to raise the population's sense of security by increasing the cleanliness of public space. Everybody was prompted to keep the city clean and to
dump waste in the appropriate places. Graffiti and tags, signs of an urban
society, were supposed to be removed like normal rubbish by a special
department. Grey concrete walls ought to remain grey, white ones should be
white. Posters presenting the new commandments of cleanliness were put up to
increase the efficiency of their propagation. They became constant companions
for city walks. However the campaign only achieved that which it was trying to
prevent. Due to a lack of resources, some waste and graffiti could not be
removed. Consequently the abnormal demand for cleanliness actually lead to a
situation in which the sense of security in some areas of the public space has
not increased but rather, diminished. In the logic of cleanliness one eventually
had to wonder whether such clean spaces were actually uncontrolled territories
which could only be crossed with great caution. The strategy to keep all parts
of the city clean and secure is based on an extensive claim to surveillance
which was supposed to be realised by internalising the commandments of cleanliness. Whoever misbehaves is disturbing and can be corrected immediately.
In this way, a society is constructed in which all other values are subordinate
to cleanliness and security.
Camouflag
Purification and art
It was one of the crucial concerns of artistic modernity to achieve abstraction
by reduction. The principle of attaining a new visibility by removing displeasing
elements was at work there as well. Architectural modernity was restricted to
simple shapes ruled by the paradigm of functionality. In this respect the "Plan
Voisin" by Le Corbusier (1925) was an ambivalent climax in the history of
architecture.[1] The idea was to remove an entire quarter. To increase the
quality of life, historically valuable urban structures were supposed to be replaced by a formal system. The megalomaniac project was never realised. Some
decades later, in 1962 Allan Kaprow took on the subject of purification in his
performance "Sweeping". His work was not dealing especially with abstraction
which would be attained by purification. More so Kaprow was working on the
absurdity of a recurring process of cleaning. In "Sweeping" the audience was
requested to clean out an area of the forest with a broom and to build up a
heap from the rubbish. Even the thought of sweeping the forest with a broom
must have appeared dubious to the American audience of that time. Afterwards
red paint was poured on the heap which then served as another element of
the performance. Kaprow's excessive use of paint must be related to the techniques of his teacher, the painter Hans Hofmann.[2] In this sense "Sweeping"
can be read as a response to modernity which is literally dumped here.
passion_cleaner refuses such a modernistic utopia of purification by means of
reduction. It does not aspire to an avantgardistic impetus to reduce every
object to its proper shape, as Adolf Loos did. Instead litter is turned into an
urban ornament and a stumbling block for the perception of everyday life.
Negotiating passion The passion_cleaner is rearranging several layers of meaning
and renders them legible in a new way. Its hybrid shape and functionality
refers to the culture of political demonstrations, which draws attention to political
issues in public. By presenting the slogans as loops and samples, passion_cleaner points out that they have lost their political impact. By preventing the
road sweeper from actually cleaning and reducing waste, it is rearranging the
litter. On the one hand this process exposes the sociopolitical conditions of the
urban space. On the other, it refers to artistic strategies of modernity which
are re-interpreted by the passion_cleaner.
Footnotes
[1] FAYET, Roger (2003): Reinigungen: vom Abfall der Moderne zum Kompost der
Nachmoderne. Vienna.
[2] URSPRUNG, Philip (2003): Grenzen der Kunst. Allan Kaprow und das Happening. Robert
Smithson und die Land Art. München, p. 175f.
knowbotic research
mac ghillie
nobody nowhere
Insert 2
knowbotic research
vanishing system Vol.2
re-enactment as strategy
Editors
Nachwort
Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge und mit großer Spielfreude agiert das sorgfältig
ausgewählte Schauspieler-Ensemble (u.a. Stefan Kurt, André Jung, Sunnyi
Melles).
n übers Alter diskutiert wird, die Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin
des Seniorenheims (Christine Sentiert wird, wie Bparallelen Episoden im
Altersheim der 80. Geburtstag einer unwürdigen Greisin gefeiert. Und zwei
Teenager, die gerne chorn) ein ihrem Alter adäqWährend sich drei Paare in
einem Nobelrestaurant einfinden um den 50. Geburtstag von Giulia (Corinna
Harfouch) zu vfeiern, zieht es diese vor, den Abend mit einer
Zufallsbekanntschaft (e wirklich bissig diskutiert und lamentiert wird, wie
Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst amüsant
anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie,
Melles).
m Restaurant über schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich
bissig diskutiert und lamentiert wird, wie Bparallelen Episoden im Altersheim der
80. Geburtstag einer unwürdigen Greisin gefeiert. Und zwei Teenager, die gerne
älter wären, versuchen sich im Ladendiebstahl.
Wie hier auf allen Ebenialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie,
Bonmots finden sich zuren übers Alter diskutiert wird, die Teenager gern
gewissem Sinne redundant und unauffällig.
Während sich drei Paare in einem Nobelrestaurant einfinden um den 50.
Geburtstag von Giulia (Corinna Harfouch) zu feiern, zieht es diese vor, den
Abend mit einer Zufallsbekanntschaft (Bruno Ganz) in einer Bar zu verbringen.
Dazu wird in parallelen Episoden im Altersheim der 80. Geburtstag einer
unwürdigen Greisin gefeiert. Und zwei Teenager, die gerne älter wären, versuchen sich im Ladendiebstahl.
Wie hier auf allen Ebenen übers Alter diskutiert wird, die Teenager gern älter
wären, von der Insassin des Seniorenheims (Christine Schorn) ein ihrem Alter
adäqWährend sich drei Paare in einem Nobelrestaurant einfinden um den 50.
Geburtstag von Giulia (Corinna Harfouch) zu feiern, zieht es diese vor, den
Abend mit einer Zufallsbekanntschaft (Bruno Ganz) in einer Bar zu verbringen.
Dazu wird in parallelen Episoden im Altersheim der 80. Geburtstag einer
unwürdigen Greisin gefeiert. Und zwei Teenager, die gerne älter wären, versuchen sich im Ladendiebstahl.
adäquates Verhalten gefordert wird und ieen übers Alter diskutiert wird, die
Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin des Seniorenheims (Christine
Schorn) ein ihrem Alter adäqWährend sich drei Paare in einem Nobelrestaurant
einfinden um den 50. Geburtstag von Giulia (Corinna Harfouch) zu feiern,
zieht es diese vor, den Abend mit einer Zufallsbekanntschaft (Bruno Ganz) in
einer Bar zu verbringen. Dazu wird in parallelen Episoden im Altersheim der
80. Geburtstag einer unwürdigen Greisin gefeiert. Und zwei Teenager, die gerne
älter wären, versuchen sich im Ladendiebstahl.
adäquates Verhalten gefordert wird und im Restaurant über schwindende
Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich bissig diskutiert und lamentiert
wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst
amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie,
Melles).
n übers Alter diskutiert wird, die Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin
des Seniorenheims (Christine Schorn) ein ihrem Alter adäqWährend sich drei
Paare in einem Nobelrestaurant einfinden um den 50. Geburtstag von Giulia
(Corinna Harfouch) zu feiern, zieht es diese vor, den Abend mit einer
Zufallsbekanntschaft (Bruno Ganz) in einer Bar zu verbringen. Dazu wird in
parallelen Episoden im Altersheim der 80. Geburtstag einer unwürdigen Greisin
gefeiert. Und zwei Teenager, die gerne älter wären, versuchen sich im
Ladendiebstahl.
adäquates Verhalten gefordert wird und im Restaurant über schwindende
Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich bissig diskutiert und lamentiert
wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst
amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie,
Melles).
m Restaurant über schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich
bissig diskutiert und lamentiert wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und
dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin
Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie, Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge und mit
großer Spielfreude agiert das sorgfältig ausgewählte Schauspieler-Ensemble (u.a.
Stefan Kurt, André Jung, Sunnyi Melles).
Geschickt spielt Christoph Schaub auch durchgängig mit Spiegeln, dem
Gradmesser fürs Alter schlechthin, und taucht das Restaurant als zentralen
Schauplatz stilvoll in warme Brauntöne. Doch darüber hinaus fällt ihm auf der
visuellen Ebene nicht allzu viel ein. Grossaufnahme folgt auf
GrossaufnahmeWWie hier auf allen Ebenen übers Alter diskutiert wird, die
Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin des Seniorenheims (Christine
Schorn) ein ihrem Alter adäquates Verhalten gefordert wird und im Restaurant
über schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung
bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich bissig diskutiert
und lamentiert wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant
und voller Ironie, Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge und mit großer Spielfreude
agiert das sorgfältig ausgewählte Schauspieler-Enseie hier auf allen Ebenen
übers Alter diskutiert wird, die Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin des
Seniorenheims (Christine Schorn) ein ihrem Alter adäquates Verhalten gefordert
wird und im Restaurant über schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen
und bewusste Ernährung bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie
wirklich bissig diskutiert und lamentiert wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden
und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von
Martin Suter sind brillant und voller Ironie, Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge
und mit großer Spielfreude agiert das sorgfältig ausgewählte Schauspieler-Ense,
und die Dialogkomödie beginnt sich aufgrund der äußeren Statik, aber auch
aufgrund der thematischen Engführung im Kreis zu drehen. Auch wenn viele
Aspekte des Alterns und Klischees angesprochen werden und höchst lustvoll
darüber parliert wird, so ist doch eine gewisse Substanzlosigkeit nicht zu übersehen. Viel haften bleibt nicht nach diesen 90 Minuten. [Walter Gasperi] uates
Verhalten gefordert wirdvWie hier auf allen Ebenen übers Alter diskutiert wird,
die Teenager gern älter wären, von der Insassin des Seniorenheims (Christine
Schorn) ein ihrem Alter adäquates Verhalten gefordert wird und im Restaurant
über schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung
bis zu nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich bissig diskutiert
und lamentiert wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert, ist höchst amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant
und voller Ironie, Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge und mit großer Spielfreude
agiert das sorgfältig ausgewählte Schauspieler-Ense und im Restaurant über
schwindende Schönheit, körperliche Wehwehchen und bewusste Ernährung bis zu
nachlassendem Gedächtnis geschliffen, aber nie wirklich bissig diskutiert und
lamentiert wird, wie Bösartigkeiten ausgeteilt werden und dann wieder relativiert,
ist höchst amüsant anzusehen. Die Dialoge von Martin Suter sind brillant und
voller Ironie, Bonmots finden sich zur Genüge und mit großer Spielfreude agiert
das sorgfältig ausgewählte Schauspieler-Ensemble (u.a. Stefan Kurt, André
Jung, Sunnyi Melles).
Geschickt spielt Christoph Schaub auch durchgängig mit Spiegeln, dem
Gradmesser fürs Alter schlechthin, und taucht das Restaurant als zentralen
Schauplatz stilvoll in warme Brauntöne. Doch darüber hinaus fällt ihm auf der
visuellen Ebene nicht allzu viel ein. Grossaufnahme folgt auf Grossaufnahme,
und die Dialogkomödie beginnt sich aufgrund der äußeren Statik, aber auch
aufgrund der thematischen Engführung im Kreis zu drehen. Auch wenn viele
Aspekte des Alterns und Klischees angesprochen werden und höchst lustvoll
darüber parliert wird, so ist doch eine gewisse Substanzlosigkeit nicht zu übersehen. Viel haften bleibt nicht nach diesen 90 Minuten. [Walter Gasperi]
Biographies
Kazunao Abe
Chief Curator and Artistic Director at Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media
(YCAM). From 1990 to 2001, he was a full-time co-curator with the “Canon
Ar tlab” project at CANON Inc. in Tokyo and was involved in various original
projects such as “Lovers” by Teiji Furuhashi, "IO_DENCIES" by Knowbotic
Research and "POLAR" by Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan. He has been
with YCAM since 2003. He has worked as a producer for “C4I” and "datamatics" by Ryoji Ikeda, “Gravicells – Gravity and Resistance” by Seiko Mikami
and Sota Ichikawa, “syn chron”by Carsten Nicolai, “WORLD B” by exonemo,
“LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible...” by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani,
and others. He was a member of the jury for the “transmediale.06 award” in
Berlin.
Andreas Broeckmann
Dr. Andreas Broeckmann is an art historian and curator who lives in Berlin.
He co-founded the art association 'Les Jardins des Pilotes' in 2008, together
with Stefan Riekeles, with whom he organised earlier exhibitions at Skuc Gallery
in Ljubljana ('KRcF - Room for Manoeuvre',
2006), and at TENT/Witte de With in Rotterdam ('Tracer / Neuralgic',
2004). Indepently curated exhibitions include projects at Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam ('Deep Screen - Art in Digital Culture', 2008), Media Art Biennal
Seoul ('media_city_seoul', 2008), and with Kontejner / MaMa in Zagreb
('Runtime Art', 2004). From 2000 to 2007, Broeckmann was the Artistic
Director of transmediale - festival for art and digital culture berlin. From 2005
until 2007, he was an artistic director of TESLA Laboratory for Arts and Media
in Berlin. From 1995-2000, he worked
as a project manager at V2_Organisation Rotterdam, Institute for the Unstable
Media. He is a member of the Berlin-based media association mikro.
Broeckmann studied art history, sociology, and media studies in Germany and
Britain. He holds a PhD in Art History from the University of East Anglia,
Norwich/UK. In university courses, curatorial projects, and lectures he deals
with art, technology, digital culture, and an aesthetics of the machinic. He is
currently working on a study about 20th century machine art.
Takashi Ikegami
Takashi Ikegami heads the Ikegami Laboratory at the University of Tokyo
(Komaba Campus). His research in the area of artificial life and complex
systems focuses on evolutionary systems and cognitive developments.
Alva Noë
Alva Noë is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.
He works on the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, with a special
interest in the theory of perception. His work also deals with the philosophy of
art, the history of analytic philosophy, Phenomenology, and Wittgenstein. Noë is
a member of the UC Berkeley Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and
of the new UC Berkeley Center for New Media, as well as a faculty member
of Berkeley's Cognitive Science Program. During the 2007-2008 academic year
he was a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin.
Stefan Riekeles
Stefan Riekeles, born 1976, studied audio-visual media in Stuttgart, Germany;
New Media in Zurich, Switzerland and Culture Studies in Berlin, Germany.
Since 2002 he has been a project manager and curator for transmediale,
festival for art and digital culture, Berlin. Together with Andreas Broeckmann,
he has curated several other international exhibitions, such as: 'Neuralgic', Witte
de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2004; 'Room for Manoeuvre', Skuc Gallery,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2006. Artistic projects include among others: MobLab –
Japanese German Media Camp, Japan, 2005. He has spent several months in
Japan for
studies and research. He is a founding member of 'Les Jardins des Pilotes',
an association to curate, organise and produce exhibitions and festivals.
Otto E. Rössler
Otto E. Rössler, born in Berlin in 1940, is a Professor for Theoretical
Biochemistry at the University of Tuebingen. He studied medicine before working
at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Psychology with Konrad Lorenz. His
numerous scientific publications are in such fields as theoretical biology, theoretical physics, mathematics, philosophy of natural sciences and chemical engineering. Rössler is one of the pioneers of chaos theory research.

lm^nrb mobpbk`b - knowbotic research

Transcription

Similar documents

design guide köln

hier downloaden

Paris au rythme du dessin au rythme du dessin