- digitalarti.com

Transcription

- digitalarti.com

#11
The International Digital Art Magazine
Artists - Festivals - Innovation and more
www.digitalarti.com
NERI OXMAN ANTONIN FOURNEAU TELEPRESENCE & DIGITAL ART HACKER FOR
AN OPEN CULTURE CHRISTINE SCHÖPF ARS ELECTRONICA ZERO1 SCOPITONE
d i g i t a l a r t i # 11
LIGHT, MOVEMENT, EMOTION…
October-November-December 2012 - 6 € / 8 $ US
rAndom
International
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
SWARM @ Victoria & Albert Museum,
rAndom International, 2010.
© Courtesy Carpenters
Workshop Gallery, R.R.
FEATURES
03 EDITORIAL
04 NEWS
info, blogs and links / digitalarti.com
06 IN SITU
news from New York
07 CHRONICLES
Marshall McLuhan, Edmond Couchot,
Jean-Yves Leloup…
08 ANTONIN FOURNEAU
Water Light Graffiti…
10 NERI OXMAN
storytelling and high-end research
in 3D printing
12 RANDOM INTERNATIONAL
light, movement, emotion…
16 NETWORKED SOCIETIES
new frontiers in time and culture
20 UBIQUITOUS
Lucifuge: telepresence and digital art
22 HACKERS
FOR AN OPEN CULTURE
will they save the world?
#11
EDITORIAL
OUR SURREAL WORLD
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ERUPTS INTO REALITY
In his lecture at the ZERO1 Biennial in San Jose, Bruce Sterling
perfectly described our immersion in a digital environment.
From 3D printing to augmented reality, we live amidst new esthetics
without even taking the time to question them. Reality and virtuality
have become hybrids, opening a surrealistic perspective, a “hyperreal”
panorama of the world.
Telepresence, the central feature of this issue, is no longer science-fiction.
We have evolved from Jet-lag to Net-lag. All telepresence activity is
composed of several parallel time-spaces that we are attempting to
synchronize. Connecting several “heres” at the speed of light implies that
we also find ourselves with several “nows”. This gap is measured in time
zones, not kilometers. The artists who are connected in this real time
are inventing new modes of creation, participative and collaborative,
which lead viewers to unexpected encounters, as in Maurice
Benayoun’s latest televirtual installation, Tunnels Around the World.
This issue also features the works of rAndom International, Neri
Oxma, the Water Light Graffiti of Antonin Fourneau, currently in
residence in our artlab, reports on ZERO1 in the United States,
Ars Electronica in Austria, Scopitone in France, and an opinion piece
by Louis Montagne who states that perhaps, hackers will save the
world, and open culture will be their weapon.
feedback 2012
Under the Magazine section of the Digitalarti website, you’ll find the
latest news, as well as the archive of our previous issues. Don’t hesitate
to send us your comments and feedback, or to start your own blog on
our community platform, as we publish a selection of online articles
in each magazine. Happy reading and/or writing…
28 ZERO1
ANNE-CÉCILE WORMS
24 CHRISTINE SCHÖPF
interview
26 ARS ELECTRONICA
seeking Silicon Valley
30 SCOPITONE 2012
digital Nantes
32 AGENDA
exhibitions, festivals…
digitalarti #11 - 03
DIGITALARTI NEWS
DIGITALARTI.COM
Find all of this information, blogs,
links and other news on our site
rAndom International
The digital art channel
Carpenters Workshop Gallery organizes a big
restrospective on random International artworks. This collective, founded by Stuart
Wood, Florian Ortkrass and Hannes Koch,
explores behaviour and interaction, often
using light and movement. Learn more about
them on the central article of this edition.
< http://www.digitalarti.com/video/random_international >
Focus blogs
ZERO1
Working with some of the most fertile and creative minds from the
worlds of art, science, design, architecture, and technology, ZERO1 produces the ZERO1 Biennial, an international showcase of work at the nexus of art and technology
and the ZERO1 Garage where principles of artistic creativity are applied to real world innovation challenges.
The ZERO1 Biennial, distributed throughout Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area, is North America’s most significant and comprehensive showcase of work at the
nexus of art and technology. Through curated exhibitions, public art installations, performances, and speaker
events, the ZERO1 Biennial presents work by a global
community of innovative artists who are reshaping contemporary culture. Established in 2006, the ZERO1 Biennial has presented the work of more than 500 artists from
more than 50 countries; commissioned 80 original works
of art, attracted over 100,000 visitors from around the
world, and contributed $20 million in economic revenue
to the region.
< http://www.digitalarti.com/blog/ZERO1 >
04 - digitalarti #11
KINETICA ART FAIR
Kinetica aims to actively encourage the convergence of
art and technology, providing an alternative platform to
static traditional forms of art such as painting and
sculpture. The museum champions artistic innovation
of all kinds and showcases work which explores the
interwoven complexities between scientific developments and the human condition.
Now in it's fifth year, Kinetica Art Fair is the only Art
Fair in the UK to provide collectors, curators and the public with a unique
opportunity to view and purchase artworks from leading international galleries, artists, collectives, curatorial groups and organisations specialising in
kinetic, electronic and new media art. < http://www.digitalarti.com/blog/keith1330 >
AKOUSMA
AKOUSMA is the electroacoustic music festival produced
each year, in October, by Reseaux in Montreal. Since 1991,
Reseaux has been working to highlight electroacoustic music
at an international level. This year, the festival will occur
from October 24 to 27 at Usine C, Montreal.
< http://www.digitalarti.com/blog/akousma >
Agenda
Artists
Update_4 Biennial
Dune 4.2
The 4th Update biennial proposes an exhibition radically different from the 3 previous editions: for the first time, it is taking
place in 2 cities (Ghent and Brussels) and
at 3 venues (Zebrastraat, iMAL and La
Cambre) and it is exclusively focused on
the 20 nominees of the New Technological
Art Award 2012 in order to emphasize the
actual dynamic of contemporary art creation in our technological world.
< www.digitalarti.com/en/m11_1 >
Kinetica Art Fair 2013
Applications are now being accepted for
KINETICA ART FAIR 2013.
Kinetica Art Fair is the only Art Fair in the
UK to provide collectors, curators and the
public with a unique opportunity to view
and purchase artworks from leading international galleries, artists, collectives, curatorial groups and organisations specialising
in kinetic, electronic and new media art.
Cyposium - an online symposium
on cyberformance
The CyPosium invites cyberformance artists,
researchers and interested participants to
share and discuss past online performances:
“What different kind of events happened?
What did they make possible? What was special about the event? Why were things done
in a certain way and what were the results?”
DUNE is a public interactive landscape
that interacts with human behavior.
This hybrid of nature and technology is
composed of large amounts of fibers that
brighten according to the sounds and
motion of passing visitors.
Tactile Sensations
Tactile Sensations is a dance performance
questioning both touch and vision set in an
interactive musical and luminous environment where the augmented bodies of two
dancers meet. Its light format makes it easy
for the performance to be presented in
non-conventional spaces - indoors or
outdoors.
The International Artist Residencies in
Budapest are open to submissions from the
end of 2012 to the beginning of 2013.
Gamerz Festival
Devoted to game and entertainment in
contemporary creation, GAMERZ yearly
gathers French and international artists,
researchers and professionals in Aix-enProvence, so as to provide the public with a
recreational and cultural journey.
Announcing (e)MERGE- The 2012 ZERO1
Biennial Street Festival
Mark your calendars for (e)MERGE, a
street festival specifically focused on showcasing work by emerging artists!
The New Mappings
Mapping is nothing new in digital arts,
even if this part of digital creation is only
a few years old.
Water Light Graffiti by Antonin Fourneau,
created in the Digitalarti Artlab
For a few weeks, Antonin Fourneau has
been working in residence at the Digitalarti
Artlab on the Water Light Graffiti project:
a wall made of LEDs which light up when
touched by water.
International Artist Residencies, Budapest,
from Dec.12 to Jan.13
creative ideas successfully to market,
through concept development, business
matching, and direct access to world-class
networks of creative professionals.
Festivals, Art Centers
X Media Lab festival
Innovation
Sound, flesh, openness, and biotech in
Europe, US, and Brazil
This 6-monthly mailout includes a selection of what happened recently and what is
coming up in the next months.
CONNECTED CITY, a daily adventure
Where are you…? The city is not just an
economic network based on division of
labor—it is a network of emotional connections, a perpetual source of crossed
lives, tragedies, love stories, intimate and
public moments.
X Media Lab, taking place in Basel in September, creates a meeting place to assist
companies and people in getting their own
IN SITU NEW YORK
NEWS FROM NEW YORK
MECHANICAL GHOSTS
© PHOTO CHERISE FONG
From the first vocal synthesizer to kinetic art and new audio, visual and biometric technologies, two exhibitions
expose the relationships (and interfaces) that persist between machines and human perception.
Rafael
Lozano-Hemmer,
Voice Array.
Courtesy:
Bitforms
It’s rare to see in a little museum on the
Bowery known primarily for its temporary
exhibitions of avant-garde, experimental
and alternative art by living artists, an
authentic antiquity of contemporary life.
And yet, the New Museum’s thematic and
largely historical exhibition Ghosts in the
Machine invites us to contemplate the first
patented vocal synthesizer, which was
presented at the World Fair in New York
in 1939.
With the assistance of a trained operator,
this pioneering machine was capable of
producing intelligible phonemes. Indeed,
its “vocoder” (voice encoder) technology,
developed by Homer Dudley for Bell Labs,
unveiled to the public for the very first
time a completely disembodied voice.
If one New York journalist initially
described the invention with giant speakers as the “terrifying metal man”, it also
engendered a budding esthetic sensibility
for the synthesized voice. (We would hear
it three decades later in the film A Clockwork Orange, but it wasn’t until Kraftwerk
that artistic voice synthesis went internationally mainstream.)
Each exhibition piece is contextualized
within the development of other seminal
artworks under the influence of new
media. On beyond phonics and into
mechanics and optics, we find the kinetic
sculptures of Jean Tinguely and an entire
floor dedicated to 1960s op-art, with its
calculated geometries creating the rather
disorienting illusion of movement or
(infinite) depth.
But the op-art pièce de résistance is no
doubt Robert Breer’s Floats, which premiered at the World Fair in Osaka in
1970: two smooth, white cylinders, standing on the floor like two halves of a giant
capsule. At first sight, they appear to be
modern sculptures, immobile, abstract
and conceptual. But upon closer observation over time, we notice that each piece
moves independently and randomly,
almost imperceptibly. The troubling truth
is that these “floating” cylinders, perpetually adrift, are absolutely unpredictable.
Such is the trend of these new artworks
that tease our perception, whose conception has evolved from empirical to digital.
More recently, it’s the juxtaposition of
media, combined with the confusion of
styles, that disorients and intrigues.
Among the New Museum’s selection of
trompe l’oeil experiments, two in particular literally jump off the screen. Seth
Price’s Untitled Film Right (2006) consists
of a silent six-minute corporate video loop
of ocean waves in slow-motion close-up,
which the artist colorized and converted
into 16 millimeter film. The result, reminiscent of vintage experimental film
where the source material is almost unrecognizable, is projected onto a transparent
screen suspended in a narrow corridor in
a corner of the gallery, to the hypnotic,
buzzing soundtrack of the antique film
projector. In an annex exhibition on the
ground floor dedicated to holograms
made by artists, Ed Ruscha’s The End
(1998) recreates in dynamic depth the
granulated texture of film “rolling”
according to the angle of view, alternating
the words “the” and “end”.
On the other side of Manhattan, in the
Bitforms gallery in Chelsea, Mexican artist
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s exhibition
somberly echoes the New Museum’s
mechanical ghosts. His Voice Array presents itself like a carnival game disguised
as a mural artwork for a techno-cosmopolitan salon. Like an audio-visual
update of the vocoder with autonomous
encoding, this formidable machine with
the intercom interface reproduces, translates into light signals and remixes into a
cloud of sound the voice of each person
who dares to confide his or her vocal
improvisations, intelligible or not.
But the artist’s most troubling, if not most
moving, work resides in the adjoining
entrance of the gallery. Titled Last Breath,
it’s a biometric portrait of the Cuban singer
Omara Portuondo. The robotic installation
is designed to measure, record and indefinitely circulate the individual respiration of
a human being, between the mechanical
bellows and a brown paper bag. The robot
“breathes” 10,000 times a day, representing
the typical frequency of an adult at rest,
and “sighs” 158 times in the same period,
wherein the physical rustlings effectively
simulate the rhythmic cycle of human respiration. But will this external pacemaker
for a paper lung only truly come to life
once its living model has expired its titular
last breath?
CHERISE FONG
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
Ghosts in the Machine, 2012.07.18-2012.09.30
New Museum < www.newmuseum.org >
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 2012.09.06-2012.10.13
Bitforms < www.bitforms.com >
CHRONICLES BOOKS
NEURO-ESTHETICS
What if “everything” boiled down to chemistry?
The kind that agitates our neurons into synapses that induce and translate our perception,
apprehension, cognition…
In his rather arduous book, Edmond Couchot
takes a “global” approach to art by measuring it
up to the “cognitive” sciences. But this scientific
approach could also be considered “collaborative”, as his field of research covers linguistics,
computer science, psychology and neurosciences
(which are themselves interdisciplinary).
Theorist, artist, former professor-researcher (director of the Arts & Image
Technologies department at Paris 8 University), Couchot synthesizes a
number of questions posed by cognitive sciences over the past 50 years,
how they help to understand “Beauty” and various artistic practices.
HYBRID PRACTICES AND
VIRAL DEVELOPMENT
Much has been written about techno, electronic
music and its many derived forms—passionately, seriously, not to mention maliciously…
But that was then. These days, the air has
cleared. Techno-culture has gone mainstream.
Now is the age of electro-consensus.
Following in the encyclopedic footsteps of
“multimedia” art, literature and digital animation—in Les Basiques series of online editions directed by Annick
Bureaud for the Observatoire Leonardo des Arts et des Technosciences
(OLATS)—electronic music is the latest theme to be dissected and
cross-examined, this time by Jean-Yves Leloup, whose long-standing
passion for the subject is well known.
As a journalist, he is also the author of Global Techno (collective work)
and Digital Magma. As a professor of “sound staging” at ISTS (Institut
Supérieur des Techniques du Son) and music journalism at Paris III
(Sorbonne Nouvelle), Leloup also presents himself as a sound sculptor
and DJ within the duo RadioMentale (with Éric Pajot), which is
known in the fields of cine-mix and sound-design.
THE
MECHANICAL
BRIDE
Marshall McLuhan’s media, hot or cold, had nothing to do with “our”
media, new and digital… Yet we still have much to learn from this theorist who “prophetized” the concept of the global village while affirming: The medium is the message…
We are still measuring the relevance of his words, even in their original
context (the fledgling fifties, budding consumer society, etc), as we
read this book published by è®e with the support of Espace multimédia Gantner, titled La Mariée Mécanique (The Mechanical Bride).
As unbelievable as it may seem, these texts had never been translated
into French. This is now done, in the form of an “art book” enriched
with about 60 illustrations, instead of the simpler format of gray essay
pages. The texts are more literary, less academic than his landmark
From brain biology to cybernetics, from esthetic tendencies to felt
emotions, from mechanics of artistic creation to phenomena linked to
brain alterations (special dedication to Oliver Sacks…), from the conceptualization of the personal experience to the concept of temporal
resonance, from formal language variants to the wire-haired fox terrier (see page 253)…
By “objectifying” that which is artistic and esthetic, by filtering it
through formal and natural sciences in an attempt to capture and
explain the inexplicable, Couchot sketches out a human geography
which, much like an artistic process, is called upon to re-evaluate
itself in the wake of the digital mutation that we are currently experiencing.
Edmond Couchot, La Nature de l'Art : ce que les sciences cognitives nous révèlent
sur le plaisir esthétique
(Hermann Éditeurs, 2012).
< www.editions-hermann.fr >
Structured like the others in the series around 10 key questions—What
were the first musical experiments with technology? What is the practice
and history of DJs? What are the current esthetic trends in electronic
music?—his analysis details a reality that touches on one nature and
multiple pratices.
From “erudite” music to the first new wave synthesizers, from kosmische musik to dub, from house to hardcore, from ambient to
drum-n-bass… Besides these trends, what’s interesting about this
patchwork is how it reveals, piece by piece, the various articulations
of this globalized and interconnected puzzle: the hybrid practices and
viral development of new composition and broadcasting techniques;
the shaping of new listening conditions and festival approaches
(clubbing, teknivals, etc); the evolution of a new topological soundscape, reinforced by its visual ramifications; and finally, a whole
esthetic that extends far beyond music to answer another fundamental question: How has the way we use electronic media transformed late
20th century music and culture?
Les Basiques: la musique électronique, by Jean-Yves Leloup
(Olats, 2012)
< www.olats.org/livresetudes/basiques/musiqueelectronique/basiquesME.php >
studies (Understanding Media, The Gutenberg Galaxy…), a bit like Wilhelm Reich’s Listen, Little Man!
Indeed, McLuhan seems to be sounding the alarm rather than exposing a reasoned thesis in this “entertaining” book, invoking Edgar Allen
Poe and his “descent into the maelstrom”, denouncing the press,
radio, cinema, advertising and their potential risks of manipulation,
exploitation and mind-control…
As an antidote, he invites rational detachment, (a)wakening of the
mind, knowing that the time for anger and protest has not yet come, we
are only at the beginning of this new process… The future resounds with
destructive threats and new developments, against which moral indignation offers very little support… What to think, or rather, what would
McLuhan have thought of reality TV, false friends on social networks,
real-time chat, virtual worlds and viral ads…
Marshall McLuhan, La Mariée Mécanique : folklore de l'homme industriel
(éditions è®e, in partnership with Espace multimédia Gantner, 2012).
< www.editions-ere.net >
DIGITAL ART ANTONIN FOURNEAU
WATER LIGHT
GRAFFITI
© PHOTO QUENTIN CHEVRIER
"Water Light Graffiti" tosses the classic
antagonism between water and electricity.
How did you get the idea for this water-activated LED wall?
Water Light
Graffiti
@ Poitiers.
Water has never gotten along well
with fire, or with its cousin, the electric
fairy… However, ANTONIN FOURNEAU
plays alchemist by reconciling these
two elements in "Water Light Graffiti",
a wall of LEDs that draw animated
forms, words and figures, activated
by a misting spray or water gun, which
replace the tagger’s can of spray paint.
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
< http://atocorp.free.fr >
Conceived in Digitalarti’s Artlab under
the responsibility of Jason Cook,
Antonin Fourneau was able to present
and test the project on-site in Poitiers
last summer. The work is quite faithful
to his artistic approach, which combines
fun and technology. A graduate of
ENSAD (École nationale supérieure des
Arts Décoratifs), where he now teaches,
Antonin Fourneau is particularly interested in funfairs and video games, from
which he borrows the “active concepts”
that can be found in his interactive
works (Eniarof, Ortep…).
I had already experimented a lot with
water as a means of interaction, for
example, in a project where you have to
touch others with a sponge in order to
interact in the water. And when I was at
the Galerie Duplex, I made a jaw of
LEDs activated by contact with the
tongue, called Jawey.
I also made several trips to China, where
I was fascinated by their practice of
cleaning away calligraphy on the ground
and by the old men who demonstrate
their water-drawing in the parks.
I began to think about it during a workshop that I titled Natural Interface
Device, at the Central Academy of Fine
Arts in Beijing in 2011. One night, while
I was preparing a class, I had this water
sprayer in front of me, and I was tinkering with LEDs. That was when the idea
first came to me.
Is there a concept or a theory behind
"Water Light Graffiti", or is it just eyecandy: playful tags and techno-bluff?
For this project, I really thought about
how I could develop an intelligent material without using complicated technology. I’m pretty obsessed with the ingenuity of simple ideas and tired of
technology-heavy projects that can
quickly become smoke factories. I wanted to develop a material that was fairly
easy to use, and which could also be
installed on a large scale. For me, technology should be magic and transparent.
So I had in my hands two ideal components that I could bring together and
interact with each other: water and light.
I would say that this project is relatively
consistent with my work on Eniarof and
Oterp, where I tried to evolve the interaction between humans and technology
from the fixed relationship that has
dominated up till now… I’m still an
adult, but I wish I could keep playing in
the street like I did as a child. One of my
main satisfactions today, as an artist, is
showing things that make people smile,
or at least, delighting them even for a
moment. So yes, there is a common idea
behind all my work that very often tries
to bluff people, but not just technically.
Do you currently have other projects based
on this process?
I would like to find some time for myself
to have fun drawing on the wall…
But yes, long before I started making the
large-format wall that we presented in
Poitiers in July 2012, I had begun thinking about ideas for a small format.
The magic slate was one of those cool
inventions that I held in my hands as a
child, so I will also work on smaller objects.
In fact, I had already started making things
through this process before Water Light
Graffiti, so I think I’ll go back to them.
You developed this project at Digitalarti’s
ArtLab. Can you give some (objective)
feedback about this experience, and more
generally, in light of your other experiences, tell us what can be gained from this
type of residency?
I’ve had the chance to do a few residencies these past years in Tokyo, Madrid,
Lorient, and finally here in Paris, at Artlab. Each time the logistics were different, sometimes with a beautiful space
and little production equipment, but lots
of people to meet. The Prado medialab
in Madrid is the closest to Artlab, which
for me is a guarantee of quality. However, Artlab is more focused on production,
which is perfect when you come with an
idea and need to develop prototypes and
get right into it.
The concept of interactivity is at the heart
of your work process. What technological
developments can we expect in this field?
What kinds of new artworks will we be
facing?
We’re coming to an era where everything
will go very fast, and I think it’s important that people understand and know
the basics about their future environment. Our technologies will be more and
more natural, and therefore pervasive.
They’re talking about intelligent dust;
everything will be increasingly miniaturized with MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) that can capture a bit of
everything around you while being
almost transparent. All this must remain
magic, and I think that designers, artists
and creators will relay the industry to
show and encourage unexpected uses of
technology and make them more transparent. We will see lots of magic.
I feel that all this hyper-boosted creativity will no longer be aimed at the viewer,
but at people in general. In the same
way, exhibition venues and spaces will
© PHOTOS QUENTIN CHEVRIER
also certainly change… This is why
I believe that street art, for example, has
a real technological future. There’s a lot
of talk these days about making the
urban environment more playful…
I will continue to create playful things,
because I strongly believe in the importance of leisure in our society.
What are the backgrounds and dynamics
of your new-generation media art students
at ENSAD?
At ENSAD I teach in a small lab that sees
its number of students double each year,
so I do feel that the screenager generation of young people sensitive to electronic objects is increasingly curious
about understanding their environment.
I was lucky to come across a particular
department where I wasn’t restricted to a
certain creative form. The AOC (Communicating Object Workshop) studio is
more of a free space, or a gateway that
welcomes students from different sectors. So I see lots of different profiles that
are related not only to media art, but
also to textiles, design, 2D animation,
photography. I think there will be a generation that is more and more transversal
when it comes to technology.
My own profile of professor and “tinkerer technician” isn’t always easy to
explain in an art school where the professor’s job is no longer to get their
hands dirty with the student… I encourage my students to do things that could
pass as engineering, so that in the future
they are able to collaborate more easily
with other technical professions, while
integrating more creativity into a project’s development process. We hear a lot
about UX (user experience) designers in
the digital world. I would say that I’m
more NUX (“non usual experience”)
with my students.
Coming back to your own art practice,
what other projects or directions are you
headed for, or would you like to be leaning
toward?
Up till now my artistic activity was mostly exhibiting in fairs like Eniarof, in festivals or galleries. What I want most is to
communicate my work to a larger audience, when I think it’s worth it. These
days, for exactly this reason, I’m becoming more interested in the broader fields
of industry, design and architecture. I still
defer to Japanese creators whom I like a
lot, such as Maywa Denki and Toshio
Iwai, who are able to extend their creative folly to several fields at once.
INTERVIEW BY LAURENT DIOUF
FOCUS NERI OXMAN
NERI
OXMAN
MYTHOLOGIES OF THE NOT YET
STORYTELLING AND HIGH-END RESEARCH IN 3D PRINTING
As much inspired from Borges’ imaginary beings as borrowed from coral-like masses of DNA,
amidst precious sculptures and organic prostheses for decades to come, Neri Oxman’s “Mythologies
of the Not Yet” blurs the boundaries between scientific investigation and fantastic utopia.
Transgressing art, science and design, these 3D prints brewed in the laboratories of the U.S. East
Coast, Israel and Norway by algorithm researchers, biologists, engineers and chemists are, for
this artist and MIT professor, the experimental totems of a revolution in progress.
© PHOTO R.R.
Conceived for the Creative Multiversities exhibition produced by Valérie
Guillaume at the Centre Pompidou,
Neri Oxman’s creatures challenge the
viewer’s perception: What are they
made of? Glass? Injected plastic?
Acrylic, or something else altogether?
Are these torsos, helmets and hips,
like super-hero prostheses extending
the body’s vital functions, part of an
haute-couture collection inspired by
biomimetic research, or are they the
result of laboratory mutations produced by a sorcerer’s apprentice, under
the influence of a singular baroque
esthetic, between Art Nouveau and the
science-fiction of H.R. Giger?
Creative Multiversities: generate,
fabricate, represent
Pneuma. Close-up on textures. Colors correspond to different materials
and elasticity criteria. From Neri Oxman’s Imaginary Beings, Mythologies
of the Not Yet. Centre Pompidou, 2012.
Architect, doctor in computational
design, a graduate of Jerusalem’s
school of medecine, Neri Oxman currently teaches at the Massachussetts
Institue of Technology, where she
directs the Mediated Matter research
group. The group aims to reinforce
the relationship between objects and
natural and constructed environments by introducing design concepts
inspired by nature to digital design
and new media.
The fruits of their research have been
awarded numerous prizes and pre-
sented in various biennials (Venise
2002-2004, Beijing 2009-2010) and
in France, at the Fonds national d’art
contemporain of Orléans. In 2011 at
the Centre Pompidou in Paris,
Oxman presented her original piece
Stalasso, made in collaboration with
Craig Carter, professor at MIT’s
department of material sciences and
engineering.
Stalasso was the object of a first
meeting with Valérie Guillaume,
curator of the Centre Pompidou’s
Center for Industrial Creation:
Our mission is to explore the creative
process, not only in terms of making
objects but also new systems of organizing design in the fields of architecture
design and new media.
Built around three axes—“generate,
fabricate, represent”—the exhibition
Creative Multiversities reflects on the
future of the big data industry,
whether it is based on computational
design and innovation models such as
fablabs or on any other process capable
of generating forms and structures that
may renew our everyday, cognitive,
imaginary or esthetic experiences.
The ball started rolling in September
2011, when Valérie Guillaume invited
Neri Oxman’s team, along with 20 other architects and artist designers of her
© PHOTOS R.R.
Arachné. Self-portrait 2012, Neri Oxman.
Multi-material 3D print on Objet Connex 500.
From Neri Oxman’s Imaginary Beings, Mythologies
of the Not Yet. Centre Pompidou, 2012.
Stalasso. Experiments on tubular formations. Stalasso,
with a Fibonacci sequence inducing a spiral movement
of air flowing through its skin cells, shows how it can have
specific effects on the environment. Neri Oxman and Craig Carter,
Boston Museum of Science, 2009.
generation (born in the late 1970s to
early ’80s), to design and produce
original pieces for an exhibition in
May 2012.
introduces a system of vertical slots,
which give the body flexibility without
losing strength as it twists. The combination of colors represents the complementary materials that constitute
these unusual creatures.
Nine months later, the prodigy of MIT,
supported by her colleague Craig
Carter, returned to Paris with 18 prototypes: 18 creatures as complex in
volume as in concept, combining sciences, contemporary technologies and
the universal myths they incarnate.
Biomimetics and Cryptozoology: the
algorithms of life
Most fascinating about Neri Oxman’s
extraordinary bestiary is the way it
explores the very process that leads to
life, form and function. In the series
Pneuma, which references both respiratory organs and the envelope of the
soul, Oxman takes inspiration from
the porous honeycomb structure of
sponges to model a corset-like bustier,
fabricated using components with
mechanical properties that are resistant, tender and flexible, which allow
air to circulate.
In another functional family, the artist
designer references the power of
Leviathan, whose sea serpent characteristics are described in the Book of Job.
For example, in the internal design of
this second skin (Leviathan 2), she
Besides the MIT research professors,
advised by the Wyss Institute of Harvard University, four other industrial
engineering teams set out to work on
Oxman’s fantasy objects: Math Works,
a publisher of scientific software;
Chaos Group, 3D rendering specialists; and the Norwegian company
Uformia, which is increasingly focusing its activity on drawing and designing 3D objects for printing.
And it’s thanks to the R&D team Objet
Geometries, based in Tel Aviv, that this
allegorical progeny will see the light of
day. As key partners of the project,
these masters of 3D inkjet printing
worked with the artist specifically on
algorithms and developing resin cartridges that can produce color patterns
in three dimensions.
Since 1998, the Objet chemists have
been developing a whole range of
materials—from the most rigid
acrylic-based photopolymers capable
of simulating glass to the most elastic
technical plastics—, multiplying textural and rendering possibilities
Above: Pneuma. Multi-material 3D print on Objet
Connex 500.
Below: Levianthan 1.
From Neri Oxman’s Imaginary Beings, Mythologies of the
Not Yet. Centre Pompidou, 2012.
through a spectrum of tones and a
special printing technique that simultaneously sends two jets of material.
What motivated us in Oxman’s work is
this ability to break free from the
restrictions that are inherent to industrial design and push the creative
process beyond current technological
limits, says Eric Bredin, marketing
manager of Objet in Europe.
Hailed as a “Revolutionary Mind” by
our colleagues at the scientific magazine Seed, Oxman chose to portray
herself through the myth of Arachne.
Just as the spider can spin up to six
different threads of silk, so the architect elegantly trangresses the boundaries between art, science, literature
and design, convinced that we are witnessing the dawn of an industrio-cultural revolution as powerful as Gutenberg’s printing press.
VÉRONIQUE GODÉ
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
Neri Oxman < http://web.media.mit.edu/~neri/site/ >
Creative Multiversities / Centre Pompidou
< www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/0/606C6C4FA276DED6C125795F
003B21FA?OpenDocument&sessionM=&L=1&form= >
Objet < http://objet.com >
Seed < http://seedmagazine.com >
PROFILE RANDOM INTERNATIONAL
rAndom International
DIGITALLY
PURIFIED
Presented at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery, the exhibition "Before The Rain"
by the creative studio rAndom International broadens our perspectives on behavioral,
technological and purified human representation.
FAR,
rAndom
International
/ Wayne
McGregor.
Situated at the crossroads of kinetic art
and interactive installations, the sevenyear-old London-based creative studio
rAndom International has already dug
deep into the nuances of human representation in artworks relating to movement,
light, and strong yet often minimalist
esthetics.
Despite their sober approach, everything
in their projects is subject to change.
Their strangely textured work reveals
mechanisms that sometimes act like digital paintings, where light blurs the appearance and fading disappearance of the represented form. Such is the case with the
materialized image of the viewer, whose
moves are reinterpreted (filtered by LEDs
in Swarm Light or Future Yourself, captured by light-reactive ink in Self Portrait
and Study For A Mirror) before they are
programmed to disappear.
rAndom International’s three thinking
heads—Stuart Wood, Florian Ortkrass
and Hannes Koch—draw upon a very sensitive combination of technological tools
(computers, motion-capture software,
LEDs, OLEDs, etc.) as well as more traditional means of representation (frame,
mural printers, mirrors), which they take
pleasure in transcending together through
projects that question behavioral logic.
As the trio prepares to occupy The Curve
at the Barbican Center in London with
their installation Rain Room, their latest
exhibition Before The Rain at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris almost
seemed to be a retrospective. It was also
the perfect opportunity to meet the artists
behind these very particular pieces.
rAndom International was formed quite
recently. Did you always have such a
strong esthetic in your work from the
very beginning?
© PHOTO DEEPRES / COURTESY CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
rAndom was founded following our graduation from the Royal College of Art.
It evolved from being a loose collective
since its conception in 2002. Esthetically,
we follow no pre-determined school but
rather rely on our mutual intuitive understanding; I guess a unanimous contempt
for waste, styling and a communal passion
for minimalist/reductionist processes in
the physical manifestation of our work.
Artistically, we are fascinated by a broad
spectrum of artists, scientists and people
from the performing arts. There are different focal points at different times; for the
last couple of years we’ve been particularly led by curiosity for the findings of
behavioral and cognitive research.
We’ve had an increasing interest in some
niches of art history that deal with artists
and institutions who have worked on similar themes such as Otto Piene, Group
Zero, Howard Wise and others. It’s very
interesting to look at this from a contemporary perspective.
The piece "Swarm Light", which translates
patterns of collective behavior found in
nature into moving light, like a swarm of
bees, is fundamental in portraying the
dynamic relationship between the piece
and the viewer. This approach is also used
by other collectives such as UVA.
Is this concept of working around light
© PHOTOS COURTESY CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY / R.R.
Swarm
@ Victoria &
Albert Museum,
rAndom
International,
2010.
mobility and viewer interaction essential
to rAndom International’s work process?
a true artistic medium, an experience of
self-communication …
The response of, and exchange with, the
viewer is indeed crucial to a lot of our
research; the unpredictability of human
behavior is such an interesting starting
point for sculpture and installation work,
and the latter are brilliant ‘tools’ to evoke,
predict, test and perhaps sometimes also
control behavioral responses. The medium (light, an algorithm, a piece of sensorbased software, kinetics, etc.) is hereby
secondary. With pieces like Swarm Light
we were interested in finding out if we’d
be able to simulate and embody such efficient and beautiful movement in a natural
fashion, and what the exposure to such a
simulation would do to us: would it be
possible to establish more emotional relationships between an object and the viewer if the behavior displayed by the object
appears to be very natural? Swarm Light
was the first piece where we simulated
‘figurative’ natural behavior, and we have
since pushed the research much further
into this direction, so for us it represents
our approach, yes.
The element of self-recognition through
creating self-image is definitely something
that plays a role. We found that this dialogue with oneself is often made much
richer through physical
engagement/movement than through pure
image representation. Communicating
with, and through, your own full body in
space adds a third dimension and a new
level of control over your environment
(through gesture, movement or facial
expression). The ‘self-communication’
becomes somehow more real like that.
In "You Fade To Light", where the viewer’s
moves are reflected in a grid of mirrors
through a kind of symbolic silhouette, the
informal interactivity between the viewer
and his/her light representation ends in
the programmed disappearance of this
representation. There are two sides: one
very real and the other one more abstract,
as if the viewer is communicating with
him/herself through the piece, making it
"Self-Portrait" is quite original, in that
the representation/interaction comes in
the form of printing the viewer’s portrait
as a light-reactive screen print on canvas.
Did you intend through this piece to
transcend traditional media such as painting
and photography, in order to explore new
technological perspectives?
We saw it more as an exploration of image
value: normally images, and of course portraits, are stored somewhere, and give you
a tangible (and often charming, or staged)
record of how you ‘were’ in one particular
moment in time. With Self Portrait, you
don’t have that reassurance; you have to
be completely present to ‘consume’ your
act of portraiture, as it fades within the
minute. By removing the baggage, the
viewers are encouraged to experience
themselves with more ‘presence’.
Or at least, to have a lot of fun by trying
again and again without the fear of ‘failure’.
>
Future Self, rAndom International, 2012.
© PHOTO COURTESY CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY / R.R.
>
"Self-Portrait" is part of a series titled
"Temporary Printing Machine". Was it your
interest in the concepts of presence and
absence that made you want to experiment
further with ephemeral printing?
What goes for image and portraiture is
valid also in a wider sense for all sorts of
digital data; with our increasingly screenbased consumption of image and text
today, we tend to believe that this data is
somehow ‘real’ or ‘tangible’. This may well
be a slightly deluded belief: if you remove
electricity from the equation, one is likely
to be left with nothing. Making machines
that heighten the experience of this ‘nothing’ is one of the reasons behind the Temporary Printing Machines.
For "Self-Portrait", you chose to work
with light-reactive screen print on
canvas. This material emphasizes both
the idea of abstract representation and
its organic nature. It calls to mind Thierry
de Mey’s video installation Rémanences,
which used infrared cameras to capture
movement. Was it a conscious choice to
avoid making an immediate connection
with high-tech imagery, as we tend to see
a lot lately in media art?
Choosing a process like screen printing
cotton canvas as a main component in an
installation that makes use of face-recognition algorithms, LEDs and a dual core
intel Mac was a very conscious choice, as
it adds a level of ‘analogue’ to digital
image creation. The temporary chemical
process again helps to maintain the illusion of seeing something ‘real’ that you
wouldn’t get from a TFT screen, or a
projection.
In the same way, "Study For a Mirror" also
questions the permanence of a piece in
time. The conservation of digital artworks
is a serious issue, given the impending
obsolescence of their technological
components. But can a “changing” piece
like "Study For a Mirror" be linked to the
question of an artwork’s temporality?
Yes it can. This particular piece was accessioned into the permanent collection of
the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2009,
and we’re working closely with their conservation department on all questions sur-
rounding the preservation of such pieces.
Besides the immaterial quality of the actual ‘output’ of the piece, we are discussing
the core points relating to the concept, the
intrinsically linked technological processes that are used to make the idea manifest
and the issues surrounding the obsolescence of the components. So at this stage,
we’re looking into finding durable ways of
measuring and assessing its current ‘function’ so that this can be preserved; it ultimately shouldn’t matter if it’s run by a
2009 state-of-the-art PC or a quantum
computer. What matters is what it does,
not how. Trying to preserve that is a really
interesting challenge.
With its ground-surface of 64 mirrors
staring at the viewer walking on the platform,
"Audience" is very representative of media
artworks that put the viewer at the heart
of the installation. But this piece also
seems to emphasize this positioning through
its inquisitive gaze, almost creating a
paranoia that makes the viewer uncomfortable to be followed by his/her own eyes.
Does "Audience" try to push the idea of
Audience,
rAndom
International,
2011.
PROFILE RANDOM INTERNATIONAL
Initially, we had assumed that it would
pose some thoughts surrounding the
uncanny, surveillance and loss of control.
But what we find much more interesting
is the behavior it evokes in the viewer and
the role-reversal that takes place: the
viewer becomes performer, and the installation turns into a spectator.
The piece that you are currently working
on at the Barbican Center in London, "Rain
Room", accentuates this idea of discomfort
in the viewer’s mind. I read something
about being able to walk through a
100-square-meter field of falling water…
Can you tell us more?
Not yet, no (smile). It’ll be premiering at
the Barbican Curve space on October 3,
and we can’t wait to work with the piece
and the audience reaction once it’s up.
Through this upcoming piece, and beyond
the question of formal representation, is
the study of experiences resulting from
the interaction between viewer and artwork
just as important? Is it a bit like the
“random” part of your artist name?
We guess that again, the ‘experience’ is
only created to elicit a behavioral response
in the viewer. And observing that
response, and working with it, is one of
the core interests that fuel our work.
The piece "Study of Time /I" again
emphasizes this idea of presence and absence/disappearance, this time through
a wall frame of LEDs interacting like a refined ballet of lights. This piece originated
from a staged choreography performance,
"FAR", directed by Wayne McGregor.
Is choreographic experience another approach
developed by rAndom International?
Why did you chose to create a more intimate
installation for this piece?
We think the choreographic experience is
definitely not an approach that we’ve
developed; it’s more a dialogue that
evolved from earlier collaborations with
Wayne McGregor. His perspective on our
work does add some very interesting
insights and starting points that we would
otherwise find difficult to access. Study of
Time /I is an exploration of the algorithmic principles of movement that Stuart
and Wayne developed during the making
of FAR. Bringing it into a piece like ‘Study
Of Time’ just made sense and allowed us
to further work on these principles in a
more intimate environment. The set for
FAR spans almost 10 meters across.
However, there does seem to be a
choreographic approach in the piece
"Future Self", also in collaboration with
Wayne McGregor and Max Richter for the
music, which translates your observations
on viewer behavior into the animation of
an avatar on a three-dimensional LED
sculpture…?
Future Self was a result of conversations
that we’ve had with cognitive scientist
Phil Barnard and the Head Of Research of
NaturalMotion Games [one of the leading
game technology and development companies], Joss Knight in summer 2011.
Those discussions dealt with our percep-
tion of motion and the simulation of natural movement to a large extent. At the
same time, we simply felt ready to bring
the entire discourse to the level of a piece
that would allow for full representation of
the self using light. The collaboration
with Wayne (McGregor) and Max
(Richter) was then fuelled by the guys
from MADE Space [a creative platform for
artists from various fields] in Berlin, who
commissioned the entire piece as well as
the performance and score. So for us, it’s
really interesting to have a piece that
works both as a performance and as a
sculpture that can be viewed on its own.
Through the visualization of this incarnate
light figure, "Future Self" explores the
idea of an “enhanced character”, capturing
the movements of all the viewers in a sort
of quintessential representation.
The esthetic is that of an abstract
character, as in some of the installations
of Electronic Shadow …
The focus of Future Self, and in particular
its tracking, was rooted in the desire to
create interesting iterations of the selfimage. So there’s a few different ways that
the piece behaves when there’s one or two
people in front of it, but possibly the most
striking one is the delayed mirror, which
allows you to interact with the future
image of yourself.
INTERVIEW BY LAURENT CATALA
FURTHER INFORMATION:
< http://random-international.com >
Study Of Time,
rAndom
International,
2011.
© PHOTOS COURTESY CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY / R.R.
interaction toward “sur-representation”,
by linking it to concepts of voyeurism or
CCTV webcam channels that are very
common in cities such as London?
INNOVATION DIRECT INTERACTION
emotion into the discussion within
worlds that are very different from
the linearity and rationality of the
written text.
A QUESTION
OF TIME
NEW FRONTIERS OF TIME AND CULTURE
IN OUR NETWORKED SOCIETIES
The speed of an Internet data exchange is measured in thousands of
kilometers per millisecond. The distance that separates us from a source
of digital information on a computer, wherever it may be, has vanished.
Nevertheless, during a two-way exchange of information between humans
instead of machines, each person’s biological clock influences her
experience and her capacity to interpret the exchanged information.
Now that synchronous (live) interactions are increasingly present in
our digital lifestyles, we can legitimately ask: "When are you?"
© PHOTO R.R.
seeing the caller,
regardless of his
time-space. This
new possibility in
terms of communication has crept into
our daily lives, from
update to update.
Without giving it a
second thought, we
have agreed and
accepted, only to
click and continue.
Jamming
The Network
@ SAT,
Montréal,
2010.
Ever since the emergence of language,
face-to-face human conversation has
required sharing the same time-space.
The telephone eliminated the distance between the voice and the ear,
but the experience of a conversation
in the presence of the other remained
incomplete. Then, in less than a
decade, bidirectional audiovisual
transmission over the Internet popularized the impossible: hearing AND
Webcams have
restored live conversation and interaction, which for the
past several centuries had given way
to the predominance of writing,
where the primary function of letters
and reports to reflect and analyze
allowed us to refine our thoughts…
in solitary, asynchronous (delayed)
mode. With online face-to-face, we
are re-immersed in intuitive communicational dynamics, based on the
synchronous present moment, which
re-integrates body language and
Never before in human history have
we had so many possibilities to communicate synchronously. Now everyone can interact directly with one or
several people located in similar or
different time-spaces. This tidal wave
of live conversations and interactions
has spurred along with it a wave of
self-broadcasting, where everyone is
self-taught. The education system,
designed to convey information
through texts and documents, is having a hard time keeping up. The current experience is spontaneous and
on the street; the manuals are being
written collectively on the Web, day
by day.
The counter-force to the scale of
destruction is the scale of communication. This quote from the Electronic
Cafe manifesto(1), published in 1984,
could have been written today.
As the use of telepresence in our daily
lives begins to increase, it seems that
only the cultural and social sectors
are exploring innovative approaches,
outside the conventional models of
marketing and mass media. In a
world where everything is destined to
being sponsored, digitized and globalized, are cultural and community
spaces the last bastions of spontaneity
and human contact?
Culture and society / here and now
In order to participate in and fully
benefit from a live cultural performance, you must be present, here and
now. Encounters between artists and
audiences engender new conversations and favor spontaneous
exchanges, before, during and after
the event. This clash of ideas, this
group experience, is the foundation of
a living culture.
How can access to telepresence-ondemand in a public cultural space
enrich the experience of creating,
interacting and broadcasting?
The Metalab of the Society for Arts
and Technology (SAT) in Montreal
has been exploring this question since
2003. In 2007, it began developing an
open-source platform for staged telepresence(2) in an effort to accelerate
© PHOTOS R.R.
networked art and experimentation
with other cultural centers, wherever
they may be around the globe.
Here is some of what we learned from
these experiments:
• Staged telepresence requires three
types of expertise in each place:
online networking; digital audio-visual production; art and animation.
The field of media art, where most of
these expertises cross paths, is ideal
for developing new forms of encounters, events and interactions through
telepresence.
• Using a standard platform accelerates knowledge-sharing and the creation of an international network for
experimentation and distribution.
This human and technological network also allows for performances
that can “tour” through this network.
• Different types of interconnexion
can be combined: place to place, person to place, place to virtual space,
etc. Exploring the possibilities of
interaction between real, virtual and
augmented spaces is fascinating.
To be continued…
• In a world where we are increasingly isolated and where we feel relatively anonymous in front of our personal
screen, telepresence reactivates our
reflexes regarding group behavior and
face-to-face interaction.
But the essential lesson, imposed by
nature rather than technology, is the
following:
• All telepresence activity is composed
of several parallel time-spaces that we
try to synchronize. Connecting several
“heres” at the speed of light implies
that we also have several “nows”.
The digital network is global and synchronized. Humans, however, are
local and cyclical. The geographical
position of each place and its participants is necessarily linked to a culture, a language and a local solar
time. In the case of public and cultural spaces, each has its own history
and community. A better knowledge
of the human and social biorhythms—the “here” and “now”—of
those with whom we wish to connect
is just as important as the quality of
bandwidth and code.
Impact on types of interactions
If the ubiquity of digital communication allows each one of us to
spend and organize our personal
time exactly as we wish, it’s another
story when it comes to collective
time-space. For example, if a performance taking place on a Sunday
night in Montreal is connected by
telepresence to a subway platform in
Taipei (Sunday night in Montreal
and Monday morning in Taipei),
there is very little chance that the
Taiwanese audience will participate
unless we integrate the participation
of commuters into the scene.
The “third space” that is created by
any form of telepresence activity will
finally be situated in a time-space
that has been negotiated or imposed
according to the nature of existing
connections, distances and protocols
between the participants.
position of the participants. Along the
East-West axis, the more time zones
are crossed, the more complex the
negotiations… Which participants
will have to modify their social biorhythm in order to attend? What will
be the etiquette for scheduling flexibility? Will there be an audience in
each location? Along the North-South
axis, negotiations to synchronize local
schedules will be greatly simplified, as
all the participants have the same personal and social biorhythm.
In a synchronous scenario implying
the assembly of several humans, it is
difficult to overrule the solar cycle.
The possibilities of interaction must
take into account the geographical
As the network reduces the distance
to zero, the space separating several
groups connected by telepresence is
perceivable only through the lag in
their biorhythms.
Dieu est un DJ,
Falk Richter.
>
© R.R.
Mappemonde
des corridors
culturels
spatio-temporels.
>
This gap is measured not in kilometers but in time zones. When local
solar time remains the only link with
our geographical position, tell me
“when are you?” and I will know
what time corridor you are in.
Emergence of cultural time-space
corridors
Our willingness to collaborate and
meet through online networks has led
to the emergence of cultural timespace corridors that disregard political borders and replace them with
those defined by the sun and language. Online, our local time-space of
interaction now extends from north
to south on the globe.
Each point on the world map
[opposite] represents a corridor
where all the participants are separated by fewer than two time zones
and are therefore more or less biologically aligned. Moving around
online within one of these corridors
leads to no major NetLag.
Contacts separated by a distance of
more than two points are more difficult to cross within our everyday
time-space window and require adequate coordination in order to interact synchronously. Beyond four or
five points, it is impossible to do a
live project without one of the parties temporarily changing their daily
behaviors.
to a different biorhythm, their respective
mindsets and energy levels are not aligned
Crossing the borders of local solar time is a
with each other.
recent phenomenon. Only in the early 1960s, Another type of “lag” appeared with the
as long-haul international flights became
Internet: “NetLag”. This occurs when you
more common, could the “JetSet” cross seve- virtually cross several time zones in order to
ral time zones in just a few hours and feel the participate in a networked collaborative
effects of “JetLag”:
event. All the participants feel a biorhythmic
Solar lag / Physical effects: Once the body
lag, more or less strong depending on how
finds itself in a different time zone, its cicamany time zones separate them.
dian rhythm, its internal clock, is offset.
In the end, the lag between the event and the
By immediately trying to resynchronize, it
daily schedule of the parties involved will be
disrupts its biological clock.
the result of negotiations (best compromise),
Biorhythmic lag / Psychic effects: Because the
limits (venues, audiences, fixed events) or
biological clock of each party is synchronized authority (customer-supplier).
From JetLag to NetLag
Telepresence events requiring the
audience to be present in each space
will naturally favor the North-South
axis. As social biorhythms along this
axis are aligned on several points, it
will be more and more simple to
share our daily cultural and professional lives, even separated by thousands of kilometers. As to East-West
connections, telepresence still eliminates travel time and reduces the
effects of solar offset, but they will be
much more oriented toward professional collaborations or occasional
cultural and social encounters, given
the constant negotiation required to
coordinate local schedules and biorhythms.
The language spoken must also be
considered in the emergence of these
cultural corridors. On the world map,
the colored zones represent very
approximately the use of international languages (i.e. those also spoken
outside their country of origin); the
black zones indicate places where the
native language is rarely spoken outside national borders. This information gives us a rough idea of the
potential for collaboration by telepresence in each cultural corridor.
As more and more Netizens have
replaced the old dream of esperanto
with “esperanglo”, the language barrier is slowly dropping, but solar lag
will always be present.
INNOVATION DIRECT INTERACTION
So when will we meet?
Instead of being held back by multiple trips back and forth, which are
both financially and physically costly, we could undertake long collaborations without expensive travel and
finance one or two “presencial”
meetings, which would be more productive than ever, as the introductions will have already been made
via telepresence. As for encounters
between audiences, nothing stops us
from planning a series of white
nights where everyone on the planet
could be together at the speed of
light—a 24-hour cultural truce abolishing the alignment of our social
biorhythms and allowing encounters
between audiences that would otherwise be impossible to program.
We have lived too long isolated inside
our national cultures, crossing others
only through mass media and diplomatic relations. As observed by
As a designer for over 30 years, René
Barsalo has founded and co-directed several
innovative companies and industry organizations in Montreal, in graphics, multimedia
and computers—three sectors that have
been constantly evolving since the emergence
of digital media.
From 2004 to 2011, he was the director of
research and development for the Society for
Arts and Technology, focused on telepresence and immersion. Currently, he designs
digital experiences and is involved in many
technological and social co-designs.
He is also finishing the production of his
first transmedia essay: Notes on digital mutation: first impacts on identity, space and time,
to be released in 2013.
McLuhan, First we shape our tools,
thereafter they shape us(3). The emergence of cultural time-space corridors
from our digital “tools” will surely
shape our geo-cultural, economic and
political future.
Being together, face-to-face among
citizens, live and without intermediary as the world is in turmoil
offers an exceptional opportunity
to share our common points rather
than our differences. Media artists,
experts in human emotion and the
present moment, are best suited to
understand and shape these new
tools, knowing that they will in
turn shape us. It’s just a question of
time.
RENÉ BARSALO
UTC -5, MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC
(1) www.ecafe.com/museum/about_festo/84manifesto.html
(2) http://code.sat.qc.ca/redmine/projects/scenic/wiki/Scenic_fr
(3) Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964.
Dieu est un DJ,
Falk Richter.
© PHOTOS R.R.
When we compare the cost of a plane
ticket with that of a telepresence
meeting, our collaborations beyond
borders, especially along the NorthSouth axis, are bound to be more
numerous than in the past.
And might cultural solitudes emerge
between East and West? Probably
much less than in the present…
INNOVATION LUCIFUGE
UBIQUITOUS
LUCIFUGE:
TELEPRESENCE
AND DIGITAL ART
If the collective unconscious imagines
this faculty to be somewhat divine,
notwithstanding its duplicitous connotation, the more down-to-earth definition of telepresence involves gathering
together several people in different
locations at the same moment, acting
on a single project. This new collaborative practice has grown with technological developments such as broadband
applications and 3D imaging. Telepresence was also in the spotlight of a
recent trans-Atlantic project between
the cities of Montreal and Poitiers.
Since early 2011, SAT (Society for Arts
and Technology in Montreal) and Lieu
Multiple (the media art component of
© PHOTO PHILIPPE JASMIN
Segueing from the realm of virtuality and awaiting the fall of yet another ephemeral
new "frontier of reality", telepresence is the latest incarnation of media art magic, as
it bridges gaps between protocols and devices with various forms of interactivity.
Yan Breuleux works in experimental video animation for
immersive environments. For the past decade, he has been
collaborating with musicians and composers—in particular
with Alain Thibault as the duo PurForm—to create multiscreen, panoramic and hemispheric performances. His most
notable video work is the series ABC Light. His work has
been shown in festivals including Transmediale in Berlin,
ISEA in Paris, Dissonanze in Rome, Scopitone in Nantes
and Nemo in Paris.
His online projects have been exhibited at the Museum of
Quebec, Museum of Rimouski and New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Following his project Black Box, an
immersive, four-screen installation, Breuleux assumed the
co-design and artistic direction of the panoramic video project Ars Natura for the foundation Nature Museums of Montreal and the Society for Arts and Technology.
© PHOTOS R.R.
Société des Arts Technologiques,
Montréal.
Espace Mendès France, Poitiers.
Espace Mendès France in Poitiers) have
been collaborating on a telepresence art
project with support from the Region of
Poitou-Charentes and the Franco-Quebecois funds for decentralized cooperation.
This artistic and cultural project uses and
distributes digital techniques that utilize
the full potential of broadband networks.
It follows the signing of a contract in January 2012, allocating public resources to
install a broadband communication network that covers the greater Poitiers area.
This network should be completed in early 2014 and involves the presence of cultural institutions on the territory.
ating visual disturbances in the environment. Their
remote and real-time
interaction also activates a generativemusic instrument
with resonance
strings …/… At all
times, both groups of
viewer-participants
in Montreal and
Poitiers can interact
and exchange with
each other in real
time within this
dynamic and shared
virtual space.
The projet has also led to an artwork
called Lucifuge, by Yan Breuleux (Quebec) and Robin Meier (France), in collaboration with the creative-research teams
of SAT in Montreal and Lieu Multiple in
Poitiers, as well as Hervé Jolly, artist and
programmer. The artwork was realized
during an exchange program set up by
these two structures. The first crossexchange residency Contamine SAT/EMF
took place in Montreal’s Metalab on January 21-27, 2012. The objective of this
workshop encounter was to conceive the
project while taking into account the
artistic possibilities of the technologies
developed by SAT. The artists also had to
establish a production schedule and
prepare the next residency in Poitiers,
which started in September 2012.
The Lucifuge telepresence artwork allows
viewer-participants at the Satosphere in
Montreal and the Planetarium of Espace
Mendès France in Poitiers to contribute to
a blossoming complex ecosystem of robot
insects and particle masses that flee the
light. The viewer-participants use flashlights to chase the robot insects, thus cre-
The Lucifuge installation was constructed using software tools and methods
of remote and real-time collaboration
developed at SAT’s Metalab: the SCENIC
software suite for the telepresence/teleoperation and SPIN (Spatial Interaction
Framework) architecture for the assembly
and interactive control of the visual and
audio elements that allow for spatial
interaction and which constitute the experience of the artwork.
The SCENIC software suite was designed
to help create a new form of networked
performance art. This powerful tool is
open and simple for stage technicians and
artists from all disciplines to transfer
high-quality audio, video and data feeds.
By encouraging experimentation with new
concepts for the stage and the development of skills that are specific to this new
space for creativity and distribution, SCENIC contributes to the ongoing discussion
around new performance spaces.
Robin Meier is a Swiss artist and trained musician, who is interested in the emergence of intelligence, both natural and artificial, as well as
the role of humans in a world of machines.
He attempts to shed light on these themes through
musical compositions and sound installations.
From 2001 to 2005, Meier studied electroacoustic composition at the National Conservatory and CIRM in Nice. From 2004 to 2007, he
studied cognitive philosophy at École des
Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris,
where he wrote his thesis on models of cognition and their artistic experimentations.
Since 2004, Meier also works as an electronic
musician with institutions such as IRCAM /
Centre Pompidou (Paris), CIRM (Nice), FNM /
Staatsoper (Stuttgart), La Muse en Circuit
(Paris), Radio France…
The SPIN architecture was developed primarily for the spontaneous creation of collaborative 3D environments. It is composed
of a software suite and OSX and Linux
librairies for 3D visualization and spatial
interaction in networked virtual environments. SPIN can quickly make prototypes
of immersive and interactive networked
experiences. For example, Lucifuge uses
SPIN to create particle clouds that can be
generated and altered simultaneously in
both spaces. This tool opens a fundamental
discussion on new formalisms for formal,
relational and playful processes.
LAURENT DIOUF
Lieu Multiple, digital artwork at Espace
Mendès France, C.C.S.T.I. (Centre de Culture Scientifique, Technique et Industriel),
Poitiers. Website: http://lieumultiple.org
SAT, Society for Arts and Technology,
Montreal. Website: www.sat.qc.ca
INNOVATION HACKING
HACKERS FOR
AN
OPEN
CULTURE
WILL THEY SAVE THE WORLD?
It’s always difficult to redefine a trendy word, especially
one that’s been so butchered by the media that we think
“hacking” is bad, and that “the hacker” is a powerful bandit.
© PHOTO R.R.
My definition of “hacker”, whenever
I can give it, is closer to “exalted engineer”. The first hackers, and their culture, were born in a miniature model
club at MIT. They were making electric
trains, very far from the image of pirates
that you hear about today!
Louis Montagne
Founder
of Bearstech
http://bearstech.com
This culture, which is indeed a culture,
strong and idealistic, was presented by
Steven Levy, in the form of fundamental
principles:
I. Access to computers should be unlimited and total.
II. All information should be free.
III. Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
IV. Hackers should be judged by their
hacking, not bogus criteria such as
degrees, age, race or position.
V. You can create art and beauty on a
computer.
VI. Computers can change your life for
the better.
More than a mere challenge, what motivates hackers is understanding the world
and the pleasure of doing something that
will stick or that is “smart”. Their approach
is creative, active, and very political,
based on understanding and innovation:
how does an SMS work (why is it more
expensive than an e-mail?), what is a
microwave, what is the “security of this
system”, how are addresses numbered on
a street…
Hacks can very well take place in the real
world. Hackers are idealists, they respect
the fundamental principles, and will do
anything to enforce their respect.
The Internet is a flagrant example:
experts are often hackers, and it’s thanks
to them and these fundamental principles that an (almost) free, open, neutral
system—a system that transcends
nations and to which anyone can contribute—(still) survives today.
This poses a number of questions and
challenges many established models.
The concepts of borders and nations
are becoming more complex, as the
digital economy explodes, yet depends
on the Internet, and thus, on the six
principles. We talk about hacker culture, and in a broader sense of digital
culture, with its ethics, its rules, its references, its spaces, its construction.
With the lightning development of our
all-digital world, digital culture is certainly becoming increasingly visible,
but remains reserved and elistist. “42”,
“glider”, “bar” are just a few entry
points of reference to understanding
this culture.
While hackers created the demoscene,
which provided the first digital artworks,
they favored collaboration, decentralization, openness, and very probably engendered Free Software, “open culture” and
its “open activists”.
“Libristes”, as they are called in French,
are defined on Wikipedia as people who
are attached to the ethics of free software
and open culture in general. They consider
the 4Rs, as defined by OpenContent, to
be fundamental:
0. Reuse - the right to reuse the content
in its unaltered / verbatim form.
1. Revise - the right to adapt, adjust,
modify, or alter the content itself.
2. Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other content
to create something new.
3. Redistribute - the right to share copies
of the original content, your revisions, or
your remixes with others.
(Beginning numbered lists with 0 is technically practical.)
These “open activists” defend great principles: freedom of expression, respect for
privacy, the neutrality of the Internet,
decentralized operations such as P2P,
cooperation… They develop, code, create applications, pilot machines, and
share as much as possible about what
they do and how they do it. This allows
them both to learn from others, who will
also share, and to showcase themselves.
This is how communities are formed,
often around projects or gurus. A very
good activist, or a very good hactivist,
will quickly make a name for himself,
but if he is also working on a useful or
interesting project, he can very quickly
find himself leading a large group of people. Not exactly a leader, but more of a
guru, an example to follow.
Hacktivists are today’s “sublimes”, those
specialized workers who were the only
ones who knew how to adjust, prepare
and maintain factory production lines in
the industrial era. They were obviously
in high demand, chose their employers,
took lots of free time, were difficult to
manage yet indispensable to operations.
© PHOTO MOHA
Hype(r)Olds.
We will need to manage these sublimes,
listen to and understand them, as they
are the ones who are setting the parameters of the industrial world of tomorrow.
We have now arrived at a turning point
in our social, economic models and
existing structures: our natural resources
are drying up, the global economy is
reaching its limits, market capitalization
is more and more risky, values are
increasingly difficult to define. Sustainable development and eco-responsibility,
which not long ago were little more than
communication tools or mere inclinations, have become hard realities, actions
that need to be taken and that a startup,
for example, must absolutely take into
account.
The best way to do this is to share information, the richness of this information
and the knowledge, experience and
means to apply this information.
The recent initiatives of Open Data and
Open Gov are a good start, but we must
not stop there. In the coming years, we
will need to protect this sharing of
knowledge, protect these models and
cultures, but also provide proper access
to them. Just as we need to learn to be a
citizen, we need to learn to be a good
digital player, a true Netizen.
We also see new types of companies
emerging in the world, based on the concept of profitability for the structure and
the employees, not just the shareholders
(B Corps in the U.S. or SCOP en France,
for example). Well beyond the capital
divide, these models are the beginnings
of what will probably need to exist
tomorrow, with employees’ quality of life
and company size becoming critical
issues. Today, they are adapted to these
sublimes, these hackers.
Cash? Who would have thought that we
would see the Open Source model
applied to other sectors, such as designing farm equipment (Open Source Ecology)? Being able to build your own equipment—now that’s sustainable
development! Who would have thought
that hacker collectives such as Telecomix
would help citizens to regain control of
their network, to rebuild their piece of
the Internet? Could we have foreseen
that movements like Anonymous would
become essential to future conflicts,
showing the way toward organization
that is decentralized, resilient and capable of intervention?
Perhaps, hackers will save the world, and
open culture will be their weapon.
LOUIS MONTAGNE BY COURTESY OF MCD
The strength of the Internet is incredible.
Who would have thought that one could
make a video, frame by frame, through
the collaboration of thousands of volunteers around the world, honoring Johnny
ARTICLE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON DIGITALMCD.COM
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE PUBLICATION
OF MCD #68 DEVOTED TO THE OPEN FUTURE IN DESIGN,
ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC, INTERNET, VIDEO, ART, SCIENCE…
MORE AT WWW.DIGITALMCD.COM
INTERVIEW DIGITAL ART
CHRISTINE SCHOPF
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL
© PHOTO RUBRA
You were one of the co-founders of Ars
Electronica in 1979. What were your
thoughts as you were conceiving this first
festival dedicated to electronic arts?
Christine Schopf
We weren’t thinking 30 years ahead, but
we thought the scene of art, technology
and society the subtitle of Ars Electronica
- would consist of the future. This was
from the very beginning. The name didn't
change, and the subtitle didn't change.
[…] My boss, Hannes Leopoldseder,
whom I think is the real founder of
Ars Electronica, came up with the idea,
because just a few years before, the first
Apple product came on the market as the
first personal computer. He and we were
convinced that this personal technology
would influence the arts, that artists
would use it, could use it now, and it
would influence our society.
Before it was meant to be just a small
symposium on electronic music,
because an electronic musician came
with the idea to do a symposium and
then he contacted Hannes
Leopoldseder. For Hannes it was quite
clear that this could be more than a
small symposium, that this could be a
festival, and that it could lead into the
future. […] We had the idea, but we
didn't know that it would be that fast
and that strong, that this technology
would become part of everybody’s lives.
We didn't know, nobody knew, that it
would happen within a few years.
The politicians of the time wouldn’t
have continued to finance an event that
excluded the locals!
8th symphony of Anton Bruckner.
We had an 8-track tape, which was split
into four, with loudspeakers on both
sides of the Danube, inviting the orchestra, a big balloon in the center, a laser
(which was a new technology at the
time), and we expected about ten thousand people. In fact, a hundred thousand people came. We had done a lot of
promotion work and we also invited
people to participate: If you can't come
to Klangwolke, take your radio, put it
on your window, put it in your garden,
and create your own Sound Cloud.
The symphony was transmitted and
broadcasted on the radio at the same time.
So, a hundred thousand people came
and this convinced politicians.
The latter first said, “ok, let's keep
Klangwolke, but forget Ars Electronica,
that's for a small audience, it doesn't
impress us”. Finally, Hannes
Leopoldseder convinced them to keep it.
His proposal was, “let's do a biennale.
So you give the budget every year, we
put it together, and every two years we
do it”. This was just a practical thing.
With that, Ars Electronica got more and
more attention. So finally, the politicians
understood this was something. […]
Hannes Leopoldseder’s idea was that we
needed to have an event outside.
This was Sound Cloud: Linz Klangwolke in the big open air, outside. […]
So this first Sound Cloud was the
The evolution of the Prix Ars Electronica
is fascinating. In the past, for example,
the Golden Nica for Computer Animation
was the most anticipated, whereas now,
These days, digital and online technologies
are ubiquitous. Is it the social aspect of
your event that keeps it relevant?
The word “society” was present from
the very beginning, and we also included sciences. So it was never meant to be
an elite art festival. It was meant to be
more of a cultural festival, dealing with
cultural questions, and it was clear that
this technology would influence our
society a lot. And what we see nowadays is that even the current crisis
would not have happened without digital technology, without networks, the
globalization of IT.
It was our precise idea to create a festival that included science. The first time
it had rather been a technology-oriented
and art-oriented symposium […]
In the beginning, the topics were not
meant for the general public of Linz.
They would never go to Bruckner
House. This happens everywhere.
The people from the city where it happens don't come, but you get people
from around the world.
© PHOTO NICOLAS FERRANDO & LOIS LAMMERHUBER
Ars Electronica
Center.
it’s the Hybrid Art category that is in
the spotlight…
When we started Ars Electronica with
those categories, we made clear from the
very beginning that this was a growing
project. Because technology grows, and it
has to be open in the future for new categories, it has to be open so that we can
withdraw some categories. So the Prix
Ars Electronica grew to seven categories
over the years with more or less technological changes and art changes.
We increasingly find that the borders
between the arts are disappearing.
For instance, if you go to the CyberArts
exhibition, you see the Nica final animation.
Is it an installation? Is it an animation?
You see in music, the German piece with
visualization and acoustics. Is it music?
Is it sound art? So this is really moving
around. As I mentioned in the very
beginning, I don't understand Ars Electronica as a pure arts festival, like Documenta. We understand it more or less as
a big research lab.
Digital technology continues to shape our
society…
There have been years when we focused
more on art. There have been years
when we focused more on technology.
For instance, in 1990: virtual reality and
artificial life. All this related to the question: “what does this mean?” We did
not merely present virtual reality as a
technological new thing, but asked:
“how could this influence our society?
What will this mean?” So we had a brilliant round of people here, from very
different positions. There was Bruce
Sterling, who is definitely not a technological person, William Gibson, people
coming from a quite different position,
talking about what it means. Other topics were more society-related or even
politically influenced. It changes.
Some years, it's a more philosophical
topic, then it's more technological.
Institutional museums are still reticent
about the idea of collecting unstable artworks. Could we say that Ars Electronica,
through its openness to emerging artistic
practices, has become a sort of lounge for
the rejected, for those banished from the
contemporary art market?
I recently talked with Julius von Bismarck. I asked him about the situation of
media art. Is it on the traditional art market of museums, galleries?
There is always the financial question.
What is the original work when you talk
about art? Is it sustainable? Technology
changes. Soon, maybe in 10 years, you
will no longer be able to display it.
This is a problem we have. For the art
market, and I think for museums and galleries, there's also a little risk in installing
interactive pieces, genetic art, because it's
not that sustainable, it needs a lot of main-
tenance. Most museums have nobody who
could do the maintenance […].
Is the low visibility of the digital art
market essentially linked to the question
of original artwork, which makes it a rare
commodity?
What we show here is more or less coming from laboratories, individual studios
[…]. I talked to Steven Sacks of Bitforms Gallery in New York. He sells
media art. We talked about ARCO in
Madrid, where he had a booth. As a certificate of originality, he gives the source
code, but it's a joke. Rafael LozanoHemmer, who does many large-scale
interactive works, produces prints
instead. So an artwork always has to try
to find a way to be sustainable.
Our history is over 30 years old, and looking back, it always took a while. I remember the first images of Herbert Franke, one
of the pioneers of computer graphics and
also very related to Ars Electronica.
Galleries and contemporary art museums
did not show the work he had done.
It was prints, easy to make, easy to exhibit.
It came really over the years; with a delay
of I don't know how many years, the art
market opened. It began with video art,
which started at the same time in the '60s
in the U.S. and Europe. Video art became
matter for collectors 20 years later!
INTERVIEW BY DOMINIQUE MOULON
AUGUST 31ST 2012, IN LINZ, EN AUSTRIA
FEEDBACK ARS ELECTRONICA
ARS ELECTRONICA 2012
It was precisely September 18th 1979, in Linz that Hannes Leopoldseder, Hubert Bognermayr,
Herbert Werner Franke and Ulrich Rützel initiated the first Ars Electronica festival. But who at the
time would have thought that an event articulated right from its beginnings around art, technology
and society would be so enduring? Christine Schöpf and Gerfried Stocker have taken on the artistic
direction again this year.
Overview
Cartographers, from time immemorial,
have strived to represent the world and
one has to admit that the photograph entitled The Blue Marble, a satellite image of
the Earth dating from 1972, has greatly
contributed to understanding its fragility.
Then Google arrived and exposed its
every nook and cranny. The exhibition
The Big Picture at the Brucknerhaus is an
assemblage of multiple representations of
the world. There are, for example, two
large screens connected to the site Visualizing.org. By looking at the map entitled
Map of the Internet Submarine Cables
designed by Nicolas Rapp, we discover
that cloud computing is nothing more
than a marketing invention because the
emails that we send to correspondents on
other continents use cables that humans
have patiently laid along the ocean’s
floors. The cable route between the Eastern United States and Europe seem to be
the most “congested”. The network of
networks thus appears to be a lot less
immaterial than one might imagine with
these huge energy consuming data centres
that a web of cables links one to another.
Under surveillance
Desire of Codes is a series of installations
by Seiko Mikami that one can see and see
again as they evolve so much while being
exhibited. This time it is at Lentos that
In the invisible
Ars Electronica, is also a centre that seems
a bit like a science museum where art
sometimes blends with innovation.
And it is down below, right at the bottom
that a label, which is apparently without a
corresponding work,
draws our attention.
We then continue
our visit between
mediators and technological objects
when suddenly we
feel we’re being
observed. Somewhere here, there is
a look, an eye spying
on us, surveying us,
once again. But it
only appears furtively in spaces swept by
momentarily abandoned looks. Reading the label we
learn that this work, extirpated from the
invisible and entitled saccade-based display
informs us that it involves the digital control of electroluminescent diodes right
down to the millisecond. Retinal persistence does the rest. The furtive apparition
of this eye that is spying on us might be
considered to be the consequence of an
involuntary collaboration between the
apparatus of the work and the spectator’s
body. Might not this pupil that literally
unfolds in space be the perfect metaphor
for a society under surveillance that
George Orwell warned us about?
Disappearance
Every year, the University of Art and
Design in Linz welcomes creations from
student artists from another school.
This year, it is the Berlin University of the
Arts that is being honoured and the level
is excellent. Among other things, we discover the installation Digi.flat 90-12 by the
Berlin collective Korinsky. This involves
an assemblage of flat scanners turned
towards the spectators. Slowly, they scan
the exhibition space. This luminous work
that incites contemplation is also interesting because it makes use of machines that
are gradually fading away. What can now
be digitalised in a world where everything
is digital? Flat scanners, which yesterday
symbolised access to the digital world,
Seiko Mikami “Desire of Codes”, ICC,
Tokyo, 2011, Source: Keizo Kioku
© PHOTOS R.R.
Nicolas Rapp,
Map of the
Internet
Submarine Cables,
2012.
Source: Fortune
these mechanical arms are being exhibited, spying at us through their lenses.
Those in the first room, numbering six,
move around with suppleness in the
silence, or almost, to then flee when they
are observed. We are always in the line of
sight of one of them, as though placed
under constant surveillance, but without
ever knowing under which angle. The fluidity of the machine’s movements, like a
gentle threat, draw our attention while
our images on the floor, appear and disappear, from one camera to the next.
But there are other articulated arms awaiting us in an adjoining room. They become
active also as soon as they see us, but they
are smaller, more numerous, noisier too
and only work in fits and starts. Here it is
by their number that the work seems a little menacing, when it follows us with all
of its robotised arms. A circular fragmented screen increases the insect quality of
this second machine that ceaselessly
observes us while surreptitiously posting
video sequences that are like imagistic
proofs of its extreme vigilance.
© PHOTOS R.R.
1
4
3
5
2
6
today only evoke the past of analogous
electronic documents. These technological objects of a past revolution diverted by
artists of the digital generation thus find
again a use through the slow acquisition
of a piece of the world.
Engulfed spectators
It is at the Offenes Kulturhaus that one can
find the CyberArt exhibition devoted to
works awarded with distinctions ranging,
in eight categories, from the highly sought
after Golden Nica to honourable mentions. But the museum entrance is partially
obstructed by the installation of another
event: Sinnesrausch. Two bushy yellow
rolls streaked with black resembling those
we see in automatic car washes await the
public. When they spin, whirling with
speed, they are even more beautiful.
Who hasn’t wanted to stay in the car as a
child, engulfed by the flux of saturated,
wet colours? This gateway, conceived by
the artist David Moises and entitled Touch
of the Tiger – even though there is neither
soap nor water at the entrance to the
museum – continues to indicate to us the
limit between a before and an after,
between one space and another; a kind of
obligatory passage with the appearance of
an initiation rite. Because, ought we not in
fact separate ourselves from any prejudice
or preconceived ideas before entering into
a place devoted to art?
From order to chaos
We are now at the CyberArt exhibition,
under the lumino-kinetic installation Versuch unter Kreisen by Julius von Bismarck.
This is the artistic result of a residency
spent at CERN, where particles circulate
on rings at great speed. The four lamps
that are suspended from the ceiling also
describe circles, but at varying speeds.
Starting from there, every imaginable choreography is possible as well as every
interpretation. The lamps describe figures
that imperceptible transitions trigger one
to the other. According to the artist, it’s
only a question of mathematics here,
though one asks oneself which one of the
four incandescent lamps directs the others. And just as quick as they come into
alignment as though linked by invisible
ties, there is one that seems to accelerate
while another can’t manage to keep up
with the group. You can watch them for
hours on end, hypnotised by the aesthetic
beauty of physical laws. The artist, Julius
von Bismarck, when receiving his prize
admitted to having learned a lot at the
CERN. It is likely that the scientists were
also marked by his presence.
Lunar geese
At Ars Electronica, there are generally
works that are presented while others are
only documented. In the case of Agnes
Meyer-Brandis, it is indeed the documentation that makes the work. The Moon
Goose Analogue is only the poetic research
stage built upon residences and exhibitions. To begin with, there is a book that
was written in 1602 par Francis Godwin:
The Man in the Moone that describes
Domingo Gonsales’ journey to the Moon,
drawn by a flock of geese! But it is also
the first text that mentions weightlessness. The German artist decided to raise
“lunar geese”, making sure that they
would memorise her face as soon as they
hatched. Agnes Meyer-Brandis has given
them all the names of astronauts before
preparing them to repeat the exploit
achieved by those lead by Domingo Gonsales on the Moon. The confrontation
between art and science in this project is
perfectly orchestrated, right down to the
gray colour of the lunar surface, recreated
for the occasion and without forgetting
the control room connected to the geese.
Science here is at the service of the imagination, which always precedes it.
The free art of assemblage
There are artists who have never quite
grown up. The collaborative project Free
Universal Construction Kit is one example.
Initiated by Golan Levin and Shawn Sims
after having noted the incompatibility
between the various pieces coming from the
many models of construction games, they
have now made it possible to freely download three-dimensional models for 80
adapters designed to connect the bricks of
different brands ranging from Lego to Tinkertoys and on to Duplo. 3D printers are
becoming more democratic. We are gradually seeing appear within small manufacturing
laboratories the culture of Open Source
technologies being associated with the practice of Free Art. The Free Universal Construction Kit is therefore much more political
than it seems when it incites us, not to
refuse standards any longer, but to imagine
possible connections that allow us to create
by operating through hybridisation. And it
is perhaps the hybridisation of approaches,
at the crossroads of art, technology and society that assures the longevity of the Ars
Electronica festival itself.
DOMINIQUE MOULON
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Ars Electronica < www.aec.at >
Visualizing.org < www.visualizing.org >
Lentos < www.lentos.at >
Seiko Mikami < www.idd.tamabi.ac.jp/~mikami/artworks >
Junji Watanabe < www.junji.org >
Korinsky < www.korinsky.com >
David Moises < www.davidmoises.com >
Julius von Bismarck < www.juliusvonbismarck.com >
Agnes Meyer-Brandis < www.ffur.de >
Golan Levin < www.flong.com >
Shawn Sims < http://sy-lab.net >
Free Universal Construction Kit < http://fffff.at/freeuniversal-construction-kit >
1.
Junji Watanabe,
Hideyuki Ando,
Tetsutoshi Tabata,
& Mariana
Verdaasdonk,
saccade-based
display, 2007.
2.
Korinsky, digi.flat
90-12, 2012.
3.
David Moises,
Touch of the Tiger,
2005.
4.
Julius von Bismarck,
Versuch unter
Kreisen, 2012.
Source: Rubra.
5.
Agnes Meyer-Brandis,
The Moon Goose
Analogue, 2012.
6.
F.A.T. Lab & Sy-Lab,
Free Universal
Construction Kit,
2012.
FEEDBACK ZERO1
© PHOTO COURTESY OF PATRICK LYDON / R.R.
Hojun Song, OSSI (Open Source Satellite Initiative), 2008.
SEEKING
SILICON VALLEY
The valley of innovation on the West
Coast of the United States is the symbol of
digital culture. Google, Facebook, Ebay…
The whole world dreams of their campuses. Two years ago, the ZERO1 Biennial in
San Jose spotlighted these young talents
who are inventing new applications and
transforming our daily lives under the
theme Out of the Garage. This year, lead
curator Jaime Austin has chosen the
theme Seeking Silicon Valley, in search of
this cultural identity that is so specific to
the San Francisco Bay Area.
The idea came to her on the way to the
airport, as she went to pick up international guests who were eager to visit these
famous sites of digital innovation.
The “discovery tour” of companies was
often deceptive. There was nothing to see
but parking lots and campuses closed off
to the public. The Silicon Valley network
is much more virtual than physical.
Creativity and innovation remain behind
closed doors.
For this reason, Silicon Valley native
Jaime Austin invited four international
curators to inaugurate the ZERO1 Garage
in San Jose and experiment with collaboratively curating an exhibition from far
beyond the Bay Area. Each was able to
express her vision of Silicon Valley and
bring a unique perspective on art and
innovation: Dooeun Choi, a South Korean
curator based in New York; Gisela Domschke, connecting Silicon Valley to Brazil;
Michelle Kasprzak from Amsterdam; Regi-
na Möller from Berlin. Together, they
already form an innovating team in Silicon Valley, where 95% of big company
CEOs are men.
The exhibition, which lasts through
December 8, 2012, presents 24 artists representing 11 countries. Outstanding projects include Philippine-born, San Francisco-based Stephanie Syjuco’s FREE TEXT:
The Open Source Reading Room, a selection
of texts about the Open Source movement
and Creative Commons; Shu Lea Cheang’s
Baby Work, an interactive, musical, robotic wall created from e-waste; and Michael
Najjar’s visualization of Nasdaq indices in
the form of an Argentinian mountainscape.
Dooeun Choi invited Maurice Benayoun
to present his telepresence installation
Tunnels Around the World, which connected Media City Seoul 2012 with Silicon
Valley in real time. She also selected
Eduardo Kac’s Aromapoetry (first discovered at Centre des Arts d’Enghien-lesBains), which offers an experience in
olfactory nanotechnology, Chinese artist
Wu Juehui’s Brain Station 2, which transforms brainwaves into light, and South
Korean artist Hojun Song’s Open Source
Satellite Initiative (OSSI). According to
Song, science is a fantasy and should be
open to citizen contributions. This project, which he started several years ago,
has led him to participate in all the scientific symposia regarding outer space.
This first satellite built exclusively from
open source components was made thanks
to a residency in France, and will soon
launch with Russian partners. To donate to
the project, log on to http://opensat.cc .
Art in space, nano art, telepresence and
brainwaves: Dooen Choi, who shares her
homeland with Nam June Paik, focuses on
artists who use technology to reveal the
invisible, who connect with us through
intimate experiences and conjugate the
future in the present tense. For urban
screens, she presented The Sigh of
Fukushima by Bae Youngwhan, a South
Korean artist who walked across Fukushima with a Japanese guide and a handheld
camera, and News From Nowhere by Moon
Kyoungwon and Jeon, whose diptych
questions the role of the artist after the
end of the world.
Berliner Regina Möller is most impressed
by Silicon Valley’s capacity to make bodies
disappear in favor of virtual reality.
Her selected artists—Wendy Jacobs, Jae
Rhim Lee and Jegan Vincent de Paul—all
show that we are more than just virtual
beings, and they place our physical bodies
at the heart of our digital experiences.
© PHOTO COURTESY OF PATRICK LYDON / R.R.
The question of invisible bodies, as well as
new applications and innovation in terms
of environmental issues, is the theme
explored by Gisela Domschke. The Brazilian artists she invited work on recycling
(Gambiologia) or question our frantic
consumption of mobile devices (Lucas
Bambozzi).
Finally, Michelle Kasprzak emphasizes
that art is probably what is missing from
the Valley. The link between science,
innovation and creativity is nonetheless
fertile. Today’s artist is an entrepreneur.
To illustrate these art-science connections,
she chose European artists: the Belgian
Frederik De Wilde, whose nano artwork is
so black that it absorbs light; the Frenchwoman Nelly Ben Hayoun, whose Ground
Control: An Opera in Space by the International Space Orchestra is the first orchestra
made up of space scientists; the Swiss Pe
Lang, who presents his kinetic installations (Falling Objects and Moving Objects),
as well as the famous decomposed-recomposed Toaster Project by the British designer Thomas Thwaites.
For Michelle Kasprzak, the main ingredient of this innovative valley is the right to
fail. It’s about the constant prototyping
that takes place before the experiment
succeeds. Sometimes the process is more
important than the result. Such is the new
frontier and the major teaching from this
ecosystem so particular that it can’t be
reproduced anywhere else in the world.
In addition to being showcased in Garage
ZERO1, the permanent exhibition hall
designed by the architect Christopher
Haas, art was spread throughout public
space. E-Merge, the event dedicated to
emerging artists, attracted 10,000 people
to downtown San Jose. The ArtHERE initiative allowed local companies to be associated with the art program; for example,
the Downtown Yoga Shala invited Hong
Kong artist Samson Young to give a sitespecific performance of his experiment in
transforming brainwaves into music.
Video artworks were also shown on
screens installed in public space, including a program curated by Nina Colosi of
the Streaming Museum of New York(1).
A network of local partners has engaged
social and environmental projects that
will continue well after the Biennial, as
they foreground connections between
real/virtual art/technology, global/hyperlocal, public/private: Lemonopoly is an
interactive game that aims to make the
valley autonomous in terms of lemon production, Manifest.AR@ZERO1 assembles
artworks in augmented reality… One
installation even touted in front of the
Ebay campus: Before Us is the Salesman’s
House by Jer Thorp and Mark Hansen.
To conclude this panorama, ZERO1
organized talks with artists and exhibition
curators. One of the highlights was Bruce
Sterling’s presentation of the New Aesthetic(2). He began by reminding us that computer art has a history that is not sufficiently recognized. Computer-generated
images have existed for more than half a
century. What is new, however, are our
everyday actions: taking a photo with an
iPad, searching for a WiFi network in
public space, etc. We now live in the
world of code, a world that has become
surreal through the emergence of digital
technology in reality.
Congratulations to the ZERO1 team for the
2012 biennial, which inaugurated its permanent exhibition space welcoming international artists to the heart of Silicon Valley. We fully share ZERO1 director Joel Slayton’s
convictions: art, at the frontier of technology,
broadens our critical understanding of the world
by provoking new ideas, experimentation, and
creative strategies. We know that things get
interesting when disciplines rub up against each
other. To be continued…
ANNE-CÉCILE WORMS
Shu Lea Cheang,
Baby Work,
2012.
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
< www.zero1biennial.org >
(1) www.streamingmuseum.org
(2) www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/04/
an-essay-on-the-new-aesthetic
FEEDBACK SCOPITONE
DIGITAL
NANTES
As a mainstream event, open to its city and friendly with all sorts
of electronic music, the SCOPITONE festival continues to popularize digitals
arts through widely diverse installations and its new Stereolux venue.
© PHOTOS COLLECTIF BELLAVIEZA / R.R.
While various venues were chosen for
their musical and festive qualities (Le
Stakhanov, Le Ferrailleur, Le Pôle Etudiant, La Friche Electro), symbolic cultural venues were also foregrounded, such
as Le Lieu Unique, which hosted Japanese artist Ryoichi Kurokawa’s newest
work. Discarding the traditional triptych
format, Mol consisted of a holographic
projection on two plexiglass surfaces.
Although staging a piece with optical
illusions and mirrors was new to the
artist, the artwork remained loyal to his
rough and synesthetic interactions
between images and sounds.
Mol,
Ryoichi
Kurokawa.
FURTHER
INFORMATION:
< www.scopitone.org >
Visitors of the Château des Ducs de Bretagne usually expect to see medieval tapestries and suits of armor rather than digital installations. During the week of
Scopitone, however, this Nantes landmark
offered the public two of the latter: spectacular artworks that people could admire
and experience. Illustrated by Ulf
Langheinrich’s detailed, trembling sounds,
South Korean artist HeeWon Lee’s Infinity
II—the reverse waterfall that appears to
flow upward, a liquid loop on a giant
screen—seemed to capture the timeless
character of the Horseshoe Tower.
On the ground floor of the Bâtiment du
Harnachement, Laurent La Torpille’s
installation 13 septembre 1858 offered a
three-screen interactive exploration of the
Austria steamer, which disappeared off the
coast of Newfoundland 150 years ago.
mapping specialist Desaxismundi who are
now benefiting from these infrastructures.
Besides the festival, comments Cédric
Huchet, digital program curator, our perspectives should lead us to develop broader
fields of work and discussion. It’s about
establishing a true digital platform.
This year, several Scopitone initiatives
went in this direction. An encounter
between companies and artists brought
up, among other topics, regenerated creativity in companies associated with digital arts, for example, Samuel Bianchini’s
interactive installation Valeurs Croisées,
produced during an external research contract with Orange Labs, a global network
of research centers initiated by Groupe
France Telecom Orange.
The theme of Art and Robotics was featured in a lecture presenting contemporary issues surrounding the human-robot
relationship and certain induced social
learning experiences (for example,
through the functions of the NAO robot),
as well as in a workshop hosted by American artist Jason Cook, who is also responsible for Digitalarti’s Artlab. Cook presented his recent work Touch Sensitive, a
feathered sculpture manipulated in real
time by an Arduino-equipped glove.
Sensible 1.0,
Bram Snijders
+ collectif
Deframe.
Stereolux, creative platform for media art
Poetic mapping
If Scopitone always enjoys being spread
out over several venues, the festival now
has a dedicated space: Stereolux, named
after the structure that headlines it, itself
part of a “new media” cluster on the edge
of the island of Nantes (alongside other
venues such as La Fabrique and Trampolino). This research partnership has
allowed them to move several activities off
site, including residencies, through digital
labs that are spearheading the current
trend of festivals integrating these technological and artistic platforms into their
programs.
As to video mapping, an art that is
increasingly grabbing the spotlight
through architectural mapping performances popularized by several French
artists and collectives (1024 Architecture,
Anti VJ), Scopitone seemed to suggest the
artists’ desire to return to more intimate, if
not minimalist, mapping. Such is the case
with Sensible 1.0 by Bram Snijders and the
collective Deframe, which maps the
human figure in pure lines of body art.
Or Re:, by Snijders and Carolien Teunisse,
where the mapped projection surface is
the video projector itself. The piece
reflects upon itself both literally and figuratively: on one hand, very suggestive
geometric figures are projected on the
mirrors surrounding the installation; on
the other, the installation epitomizes technology representing itself.
After Laurent La Torpille this year, it’s
Murcof and Simon Gelfus of Anti VJ, as
well as YroYto and Transforma—for the
long-awaited follow-up to their Asynthome
project, Bsynthome—and the augmented-
© PHOTOS COLLECTIF BELLAVIEZA / R.R.
Mécaniques
Discursives,
Fred Penelle
& Yannick
Jacquet.
Re :,
Bram Snijders
& Carolien
Teunisse.
In La Friche Electro Alstom, Joanie
Lemercier’s Eyjafjallajökull, a double panel angled against the walls and mapped to
the contours of the Islandic volcano that
paralyzed air traffic last year, re-awakened
after its showing at the Mapping Festival
in Geneva. Its refined decor used a rather
sensual reverse mapping technique, where
the painted visual was “augmented” by
fleeting veils of light. This poetic finesse
could also be found in other pieces,
whose artisanal connotations sometimes
extended to a smaller scale.
"Cinétose" menace
Fred Penelle and Yannick Jacquet’s
Mécaniques Discursives juxtaposed wall
drawings and digital animated images on
the top floor of Stereolux, creating very
dadaist collages that were fun to watch
and follow.
Despite these more stylized approaches
and finer arrangements, many other
installations at Scopitone engaged in more
massive and immersive formats, in the
great tradition of destabilizing pieces by
pioneers such as Granular Synthesis and
Kurt Hentschläger.
Kristin & Davy McGuire’s more confined
miniature multimedia theater piece The
Icebook was sensitive on a very small
scale. Inside a minuscule room, small
groups of visitors watched a short digital
fairy tale (in which a princess draws a boy
into the forest in order to warm her frozen
heart) in the form of a screen-supported
pop-up book, whose paper scenery provided the visual backdrops to these tiny
embedded sketches.
In this context, the installation Cinétose,
created by the Québécois team Projet
EVA, won the prize for most oppresive art
piece. As an imposing electro-mechanical
installation, Cinétose—referring to motion
sickness—consisted of large steel plaques
suspended from a mobile grid above the
audience, which descended upon them
menacingly and inflexibly, each plaque
vibrating with a din of frenetic percussion.
At first, the audience observed this fantastic ballet of restless, resonant tiles with a
certain distance, but as the metallic mass
came closer, the experience became
increasingly claustrophobic.
In Montreal, where the piece was presented at the Elektra festival last May, safety
regulations authorized the grid to go
Eyjafjallajökull,
Joanie Lemercier.
Cinétose,
Projet EVA.
down to 1.20 meters above the ground; in
Nantes, however, viewers had to lie down
to avoid being crushed by a descent culminating at 40 centimeters above ground.
This unprecedented performance for all
involved—Projet EVA included—proved
that the concept of experience and performing improvisation remained all the
more relevant in a digital context open to
both trending genres and modulating
projects.
LAURENT CATALA
EVENTS COMING SOON
(AGENDA)
>>>
SOUND ART. SOUND AS
MEDIUM OF FINE ART
Exhibition at ZKM
Karlsruhe, Germany
Until January 6th, 2013
< www.zkm.de >
THOMAS ISRAEL,
À LA LISIÈRE DU BOIS
Exhibition at Galerie Charlot
Paris, France
Until October 13th
< www.galeriecharlot.com >
FORM@TS
Exhibition at virtual space of Jeu de
Paume
Paris, France
Until October 22nd
< http://espacevirtuel.jeudepaume.org >
SCHÖFFER IN THE WORLD
Exhibition at Institut hongrois
Paris, France
Until October 25th
< www.instituthongrois.fr >
LAURENT PERNOD,
LE PROCÈS DU SINGE
Exhibition at Galerie Odile Ouizeman
Paris, France
Until October 27th
< www.galerieouizeman.com >
ZERO1 BIENNIAL
San Jose, USA
Until December 8th
< www.zero1biennial.org >
RANDOM INTERNATIONAL,
BEFORE THE RAIN
CarpentersWorkshopGallery
Paris, France
Until December 21st
< http://carpentersworkshopgallery.com >
>>>
RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER,
VOICE ARRAY
Exhibition in Bitforms gallery, NY, USA
Until October 13th
< www.bitforms.com >
CASEY REAS, CENTURY
Exhibition at galerie [DAM]
Berlin, Germany
Until November 27th
< http://dam-berlin.de >
ZIMOUN, WOODWORMS, WOOD,
MICROPHONE, SOUND SYSTEM
Exhibition at CentQuatre
Paris, France
Until March 17th
< www.104.fr >
>>>
ELECTRONI[K]
Rennes, France
October 8th to 14th
< www.electroni-k.org >
TEMPS D’IMAGES
Paris & Île de France, France
October 9th to 21st
< www.tempsdimages.eu >
ACCÈS(S)
Pau, France
October 10th to 20th
< www.acces-s.org >
KONTRASTE
Krems, Austria
< www.kontraste.at >
MUTEK.MX
Mexico, Mexico
October 1st to 14th
< www.mutek.mx >
RIAM
Marseille, France
< www.riam.info >
SERENDIP
Paris, France
October 5th to 14th
< www.serendip-arts.org >
MAL AU PIXEL
Paris, France
October 26th to December 8th
< www.malaupixel.org >
FANTASTIC
Lille, France
October 6th to January 13th
< www.fantastic2012.com >
MUNTADAS, BETWEEN / ENTRE
Exhibition in Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
October 16th to January 20th
< www.jeudepaume.org >
NOVELA 2012
Toulouse, France
October 6th to 20th
< http://bellegarde.toulouse.fr >
GAMERZ
Aix-en-Provence, France
< www.festival-gamerz.com >
>>>
>>>
NEMO FESTIVAL
Paris, France
November 27th to december 16th
< www.arcadi.fr >
3D PRINTSHOW
London, UK
October 19th to 21st
< http://3dprintshow.com >
>>>
ELEVATE
Graz, Austria
< http://2012.elevate.at >
M!RA
Barcelona, Spain
November 10th
< http://www.mirabcn.cat >
LAB.30
Augsburg, Germany
< www.lab30.de >
FESTIVAL OFNI
Poitiers, France
November 14th to 18th
< www.ofni.biz >
SHIFT
Basel, Switzerland
< www.shiftfestival.ch >
CYNETART
Dresde, Germany
November 15th to 21st
< www.cynetart.de >
SHARE FESTIVAL
Torino, Italy
October 30th to November 11th
< www.toshare.it >
MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
Aarhus, Denmark
< www.mediaarchitecture.org >
ICELAND AIRWAVES
Reykjavík, Island
October 31st to November 4th
< http://icelandairwaves.is >
AAF, AUDIO ART FESTIVAL
Krakow, Poland
< www.audio.art.pl >
LES INSTANTS VIDÉOS
Marseille, France
< www.instantsvideo.com >
PIKSEL[X]
Bergen, Norway
November 22nd to 25th
< www.piksel.no
RENCONTRE DES ARTS
NUMÉRIQUES, ÉLECTRONIQUES
ET MÉDIATIQUES
Le Vigan, France
December 7th to 15th
< www.oudeis.fr >
FESTIVAL HTMLLES 10
Montreal, Canada
< www.htmlles.net >
CYBERFEST
St Petersburg, Russia
November 23rd to 28th
< http://cylandfest.com >
IXEM
Palerma, Italy
December 8th to 9th
< www.ixem.it >
SIGGRAPH
Singapore
November 28th to december 1st
< www.siggraph.org >
RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES
PARIS / BERLIN / MADRID
Paris, France
< www.art-action.org >
CITY SONIC
Mons, Brussels, Belgium
August 31st to September 15th
< www.citysonics.be >
CLOCKENFLAP
Hong Kong, China
December 1st & 2nd
< www.clockenflap.com >
LAB[AU], S/N & BINARY WAVES
Exhibition at Ososphère, Strasbourg, France
From December 6th to 18th
< www.ososphere.org >
WHO’S
Digitalarti Mag
Digitalarti is published by
Digital Art International.
CHIEF EDITOR:
Anne-Cécile Worms < [email protected] >
ASSISTANT EDITORS:
Julie Miguirditchian < [email protected] >
Malo Girod de l’Ain < [email protected] >
EDITORIAL SECRETARY:
Laurent Diouf < [email protected] >
EDITORS:
Anne-Cécile Worms < [email protected] >
Cherise Fong < [email protected] >
Dominique Moulon
<[email protected]>
Laurent Catala < [email protected] >
Laurent Diouf < [email protected] >
Louis Montagne < [email protected] >
Maxence Grugier
< [email protected] >
René Barsalo < [email protected] >
Véronique Godé < [email protected] >
Sarah Taurinya < [email protected] >
TRANSLATOR:
Cherise Fong (Français > English)
Valérie Vivancos (English > Français)
MARKETING & ADVERTISING:
Julie Miguirditchian < [email protected] >
COMMUNICATION:
Sarah Taurinya < [email protected] >
ORIGINAL LAYOUT:
Autrement le Design, Antoine Leroux,
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS:
Yann Lobry < [email protected] >
ADDRESS:
Digital Art International,
13 rue des Écluses Saint Martin,
75010 Paris, France.
Represented by Anne-Cecile Worms,
CEO, publishing editor.
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.digitalarti.com
Cover © rAndom International, 2010, courtesy
Carpenters Workshop Gallery, R.R.
Digitalarti is dedicated to digital arts and innovation,
with four main activities:
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arts and innovation, with an online community, mobile applications
and a newsletter distributed to more than 65,000 subscribers.
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