Performance

Description (in English)

As a programmable writing project, Letters from the Archiverse can be considered both a visual poem and an application. Its most current version was composed (and continues to be developed) with architectural modeling space software AutoCAD. Combining methods and techniques drawn from traditional lineages of concrete poetry and ―open-field‖ composition with 3D image modeling, the poem offers writers and viewers alike the opportunity to engage in the materiality of screen-based writing, while exploring new directions and theories in visual language art. In the current phase of the project, readers are able to explore and manipulate the poem on the iPad, using a commercial architectural drafting app.

Our demo of the app will emphasize the Archiverse project as a working model as well as a critical interrogation of the general future of digital composition tools – in a manner not dissimilar to Microsoft Word’s current technological augmentation and extension of the typewriter. Within the Archiverse, writing re-emerges as a boundary-less, multidimensional, networked field, inviting the reader to assume a position of constant ―field‖ exploration. Here, she becomes something more than a mere text producer or consumer; she takes on the roles and responsibilities of a collaborator and co-creator of a vast multimedia, intertextual cosmos.

(Source: Authors' abstract from HASTAC 2013)

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Corposcopio is an experimental collaborative performance that associates circle dance and mobile technologies. The purpose of the interactive performance is to stimulate, simultaneously, the perception of the media in contemporary reality and the collective body emergence. Corposcopio departs from the experience of circle dance, a very ancient group activity, present in different cultures in the world, and aggregates real time image manipulation, software art, VJ, and remix aesthetics.

The transparent, ubiquitous and pervasive presence of computer systems in contemporary spaces is a quotidian fact. Nevertheless, the emergence of digital communities demonstrated the power of human factor in the disruptive use of technologies. Human beings are social beings. Our depart point is to bring an ancient practice, the circle dance, to the scenery of real time image manipulation, ubiquitous computing and mixed reality. The performance itself deals with co-creation development and uncertainty. Each performance has peculiar characteristics hence it is an open system, open to receive the group interaction and participation.

The circle is probably the oldest known dance formation. Ancient circle dances movements are cultural manifestations present in different countries around the world, including Greece, African, Eastern European, Irish Celtic, Catalan, South American, Central American and North American. They have a great power of community integration. The experience stimulates an extended consciousness, a simultaneously perception of the individual body and the collective body. Our hypothesis is that each group will catalyze the emergence of an embodied consciousness of our mediated situation in a different way. As Bernhard Wosien, one of the pioneer researchers on circle dance, has said, dance is a path to totality. In Wosien's view, circle dance has deep ritual characteristics and evokes a tremendous collective enthusiasm. In Corposcopio experience, we observed a great vibration produced by the group movement in harmony with the music. In Brazil, there is a lot of amazing circle dance and one of the most popular is called “ciranda”, whose movements are inspired by sea waves. Ciranda is performed by hundreds of people and some participants fall into trance.

The music has a fundamental role in Corposcopio project. The songs have been chosen by Andrea Leoncine and Andrea Soares, based on their research on folk music and Brazilian music. Dudu Tsuda has created new versions of traditional and folkloric songs, introducing unexpected accords and transformations on form. Tsuda's compositions are open systems that dialogue with enthusiasm and energy with the participants of the circle.

Corposcopio Project comprehends three different systems: the technological, the musical and the interactive arena, that is the place for the circle dance. The technological system is composed by systems of input and output. Two computers receive the images sent by mobile and unmovable devices. Wi-fi cameras, allocated in the dancers' bodies and cell phones transmit the images from the movable point of view. Three fixed cameras, situated around the circle and another one hanged on the ceiling provide the images from the unmoving angle. The camera situated on the ceiling transmits a design that reassembles different and dynamic mandalic patterns. The images received are manipulated in real time using Randox, software developed by Nacho Duran. The projection of images follows a script that has different levels and narrative elements.

(author description/statement)

Description (in original language)

O projeto Corposcopio é uma instalação cíbrida que integra dois mundos. Por um lado, os participantes são convidados a vivenciar uma atividade muito antiga e presente em diversas culturas do mundo: as danças circulares. A proposta é estimular a experiência da riqueza ritual presente nas danças realizadas em círculo, de mãos dadas. Tais danças têm uma grande capacidade de agregar pessoas em grupos colaborativos. Por outro lado, questões referentes ao cotidiano tecnológico são propostas a partir da utilização de imagens midiatizadas, bancos de dados e remixagens. Nesse sentido, Corposcopio utiliza elementos tais como câmeras de vigilância, tecnologias móveis, aparelhos de telefone celular, estética do banco de dados, projeções e manipulações de imagens em tempo real.

O projeto é composto por três sistemas que se integram na atividade. O primeiro, composto pelos sistemas de captação e manipulação de imagens em tempo real, evoca o mundo dos VJs, da software arte e das tecnologias móveis. Nesse mundo de imagens, todo o grupo dialoga e se integra em remixagens, releituras e fragmentos. O segundo compõe a paisagem sonora, ambiente vibracional que interage com os participantes, em um diálogo co-criatvo. O terceiro mundo é criado pela interação das coreografias e os corpos dinâmicos. Nas versões que realizamos, foi evidente a importância da presença das coreógrafas na interação inicial com os participantes, na maneira de abrir o convite e conduzir as explicações dos passos. Os diálogos vivenciados extrapolam os níveis verbais e alcançam níveis sutis, de olhares, posições dos membros, bem como movimentos respiratórios.

O projeto Corposcopio conjuga três níveis de relações. No primeiro, buscou-se trabalhar com a percepção e o estímulo dos sentidos. A vivência da dança circular é altamente poderosa no sentido de gerar uma percepção do corpo como elemento dinâmico dentro de um corpo maior, o corpo do grupo. A escolha de músicas também teve por objetivo gerar integração entre os participantes. A seleção envolveu: músicas tradicionais brasileiras (cirandas, jongos e cocos): e músicas tradicionais de várias culturas (grega, israelense, nórdicas, escocesas, colombianas, entre outras). A experiência também se reforça a partir da projeção das imagens de corpos dos participantes e da criação de um corpo colagem, composto por fragmentos de corpos e interferências gráficas relacionadas a narrativas pessoais. Todos esses aspectos compõem o nível estético.

O segundo nível corresponde aos atos vivenciados nas possíveis interações. O projeto parte de uma asserção de repudio à espetacularização e assim, o caráter interativo é incentivado e constituinte da proposta. Logo no início da atividade, os participantes são convidados a se aproximarem do espaço integrador e compor a roda. Várias vezes, as pessoas que não aceitam o convite acabam participando num segundo momento, ao perceberem o envolvimento dos demais. Uma outra possibilidade de ação diz respeito à atividade de registrar imagens dos corpos em movimento e enviar por Bluetooth para a mesa de imagens, onde operam os VJs.

O terceiro nível compreende as relações lógicas que os participantes estabelecem com o processo. A proposta tem por objetivo instigar a percepção das múltiplas dimensões nas quais nossos próprios corpos transitam e uma reflexão sobre a atual condição cíbrida em que vivemos. Em outras palavras, o projeto evoca o corpo como um índice nos bancos de dados dos sistemas de vigilâncias e nos sistemas de informação e, ao mesmo tempo, o corpo em movimento e como um elemento ativo na constituição do grupo. Nessa zona de interstício, nessa vivência nômade e cambiante, o projeto se realiza como um discurso de expansão de consciência, pois, por mais paradoxal que pareça, somos, ao mesmo tempo, agentes determinantes nos grupos que compartilhamos e peças duplicadas, corpos sem órgãos nos sistemas informacionais.

(descrição da artista)

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Das erste SMS Literatur-Projekt in der Geschichte der Mobilfunk-Kommunikation. Mit: Ulrich Bauer-Staeb, Karl Bruckmaier, Ulrike Draesner, Markus Epha, Costas Gianacacos, Florian Hammerl, Katja Huber, Gisela Müller, Andreas Neumeister, Fabienne Pakleppa, Thomas Palzer, Nancy du Plessis, Carl-Ludwig Reichert, Zé do Rock, Valeri Scherstjanoi, Franz-Maria Sonner. Künstlerische Leitung: Horst Konietzny, Gisela Müller Erstmals in der Geschichte der Mobilfunk-Kommunikation wurde mit "SMServices" das literarische Potential des ShortMessage-Formats erkundet. Vier Wochen lang ließen sich im Juni 2000 eine Anzahl deutschsprachiger Autorinnen und Autoren auf die unmittelbare Rückkopplung mit ihren Lesern ein. Zu bestimmten Zeiten schickten sie auf Anforderung Textbotschaften im SMS-Format. Die Texte konnten 'worldwide' und im Rahmen einer Ausstellung gelesen werden. Aus einem Geflecht von Short Messages enstand ein literarisches Bezugssystem zwischen Schreibenden und Lesenden. Die von den AutorInnen abgesendeten Zeilen konnten unmittelbar in der Rathausgalerie per Videopreojektion gelesen werden. Auf der Webpage des Projekts wurden die Texte automatisch nach Absender geordnet abgelegt. In der Abfolge und im möglichen Zusammenspiel der Texte ergibt sich so ein literarischer Zustands- und Bewegungsbericht, in dem Besucher surfen und schmökern können.

Description in original language
Description (in English)

50 years ago a calculator generated a literary text for the first time ever. And this was in Stuttgart my hometown.
Theo Lutz wrote 1959 a program for Zuse Z22 to create stochastic texts. On the advice of the Stuttgardian philosopher Max Bense, he took sixteen nouns and adjectives out of Kafka’s “Schloss,” which the calculator then formed into sentences, following certain patterns. Thus every sentence began with “ein” or “jeder” (“one” or “each”) or the corresponding negative form “kein” or “nicht jeder” (“no” or “not every”). Then the noun, selected arbitrarily from the pool of sixteen, was linked through the verb “ist” (“is”) with the likewise arbitrarily chosen adjective. Then the whole assembly was linked up through “und,” “oder,” “so gilt” (“and,” “either,” “thus”) or given a full stop. Following these calculation instructions, by means of this algorithm, the machine was able to construct such sentences as:

EIN TAG IST TIEF UND JEDES HAUS IST FERN
(A day is deep and every house is distant)
JEDES DORF IST DUNKEL; SO GILT KEIN GAST IST GROSS
(Every village is dark, thus no guest is large)

For the performance of “free lutz!” I use a web conversion of Theo Lutz’s program which I wrote in PHP. The Web interface generates stochastic texts on the basis of Lutz’s algorithm but permit additional word input. The nouns and adjectives of the original vocabulary can be replaced by the audience at the performance through a terminal.
In 1959, computer texts were connotated as literary texts twice over, firstly through the “Kafka” vocabulary, and secondly through corrections carried out by Theo Lutz. In an edited print out of a selection of stochastic texts, Theo Lutz corrected minor grammar errors and punctuation omissions by hand, and thus, out of keeping with the programming, he acted as a “traditional” author. In the performance, reference is made to these literary features (or one could almost say “human failings”) of the first computer-generated texts in two ways. The first is through the co-authorship of the listeners, the second is the literary production of the computer texts by a professional speaker reading off the screen and performing them as they were generated.

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Description (in English)

A project by Johannes Auer for the ORF Kunstradio, Vienna. With: Reinhard Doehl, Sylvia Egger, Oliver Gassner, Martina Kieninger, Beat Suter und René Bauer Performer: Christiane Maschajechi, Stuttgart Peter Gorges, Stuttgart6 net authors generate a text on the others' web projects. 2 narrators/announcers perform the texts in form of a collage, remix, dialogue and (white) noise. 6 net authors form a new netart projects using the texts of the others. The radio version of this net project consists of four parts which add up to a radio play that represents different grades of (human) control: Part 1 is a kind of hand-made collage of the complete written material and, thus, is controlled "by human". For Part 2, the text modules of this collage were re-assembled by the computer (randomly "generated") - human control was abandoned. In Part 3, the announcers comment on this computer-generated collage - bringing human control back in (but at the same time infiltrating the meaning of authorship). In Part 4, finally, the announcers themselves lose control due to t heir being under the influence of alcohol ...

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Description (in English)

searchSongs captures the stream of words of Lycos' live search. This stream of words might be understood as an expression of collective desire, as the net's melody of yearning, which is played by thousands of people, who at any moment try to reach the desired by means of a search engine. This melody of yearning is made audible by searchSongs. Words contain playable tones of the musical notation system (c, d, e, f, g, a, h, c, fis, ces ...). On one side searchSongs' web interface shows the stream of words of the live search, on the other side there are lines of musical notes below which transform playable letters in musical notes. Non-playable letters define the length of a tone. In ancient Greece there already was a notation system of letters which was used for indicating the pitch of a tone, and the length of a tone was marked with a symbol written above the letter. A traditioned example is the Seikilos epitaph dated from the second century B.C. The most well known example of a word set to music by a letter notation system is the B-A-C-H motif, which Johann Sebastian Bach repeatedly used in his compositions. searchSongs refers to traditional letter notation systems like the Seikilos epitaph and the B-A-C-H motif. searchSongs accentuates the correlation between letters and notes in a more determined and concrete way. Furthermore the theme of musical improvisation is juxtaposed by a random generator, and the strict rules of the musical notation system is antagonized by algorithme. In this respect at the end the subjective search is being objectivized by the melody of the searchSongs. However the searchSongs keep their personal momentum by making it possible for visitors and listeners to interactively insert own words into the stream of words and take part in playing music. SearchSong is a highly complex mesh of language and music interaction between human being, machine and net communication, between text input, musical notation, programming and a real-time stream of words of a live search.

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Description (in English)

More than 50 years ago a calculator generated a literary text for the first time ever. This happened in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1959 Theo Lutz wrote a programme for Zuse Z22 to create stochastic texts. Following Max Bense’s (Stuttgardian philosopher) advice, he took sixteen nouns and adjectives out of Kafka’s "Schloss," which the calculator then formed into sentences, following certain patterns. Thus, every sentence began with either "ein" or "jeder" ("one" or "each") or the corresponding negative form "kein" or "nicht jeder" ("no" or "not everybody"). Then the noun, selected arbitrarily from the pool of sixteen given nouns, was linked through the verb "ist" ("is") with the likewise arbitrarily chosen adjective. Last, the whole construction was linked up through "und," "oder," "so gilt" ("and," "either," "thus") or given a full stop. Following these calculation instructions and by means of this algorithm, the machine was able to construct sentences like: EIN TAG IST TIEF UND JEDES HAUS IST FERN(A day is deep and every house is distant)JEDES DORF IST DUNKEL, SO GILT KEIN GAST IST GROSS(Every village is dark, thus no guest is large) For the performance of "searchLutz!" I use a web conversion of Theo Lutz’s programme that I wrote in PHP. The web interface generates stochastic texts on the basis of Lutz’s algorithm but permits additional word input. The nouns and adjectives of the original vocabulary can be replaced by the audience during the performance by using a terminal. Furthermore words from the live search of the search engine could infiltrate the text generation process. In 1959, computer texts were connotated as literary texts in two ways: Firstly through the "Kafka" vocabulary used, and secondly through corrections carried out by Theo Lutz. In a printed copy of a selection of stochastic texts he had edited, Theo Lutz corrected little grammar mistakes and missing punctuation marks by hand, and thus, contrary to programming acted as a "traditional" author. During the performance we refer to these literary features (or one could almost say there is no escaping from one’s humanity) of the first computer-generated texts in two ways: First we do so through the co-authorship of the audience, secondly we have a professional speaker who is reading the so produced computer texts directly off the screen and is thus performing them as they were generated.

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Notes on the Voyage of Owl and Girl is a work of digital fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, places or texts is entirely intentional. Details from many a high sea story have been netted by this net-worked work. The combinatorial powers of computer-generated narrative conflate and confabulate characters, facts, and forms of narrative accounts of sea voyages into the unknown North undertaken over the past 2340 years. At the furthest edge of this assemblage floats the fantastical classical island of Ultima Thule and the strange phenomenon known to the Romans as sea lung. Sprung from Edward Leer’s Victorian nonsense poem, a lazy and somewhat laconic owl and a girl most serious, most adventurous, most determined, have set sail toward this strange sea in a boat of pea-, bottle-, lima-bean- or similar shade of green. The cartographic collage they voyage through collects the particularities of a number of fluid floating places - as described or imagined in sources as diverse as Hakluyt’s Voyages and Discoveries and the children’s poem Wynken, Blynken and Nod - and reacontextualizes them in an obviously awkward assemblage of discontinuous surfaces pitted with points of departure, escape routes, lines of flight.

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Pull Quotes

"An owl and a girl most studious set sail in a lima-bean-green tub; a ship shape sieve, certainly, though a good deal too ill-equiped to suit the two of them. They took a barrel of cod liver oil and a almanac of dubious usefullness. The owl was basically along for the ride. The girl sought to gain further traces of Ultima Thule."

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The work presented a remix of academic texts devoted to creative cannibalism championed by scholars such as Roberto Simanowski and Chris Funkhouser; another scholarly topic remixed was remixology in reference to Mark Amerika. All textual sources together with lyrics by Grace Jones ("Digital Cannibal") were cannibalized into a poem written by the author. It was performed timely filling Jones' refrain, while a number of minimized browser-windows scattered over the projected wall screened the music-video upon deferred-activation.

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