Aram Bartholl – Blog

The success of Nintendo Wii shows very well how classic Media Art of the last 20 years has arrived in everyday consumer products. I am curious how the connection of physical body and digital space will evolve in day to day life in the future. This Wii Fit Parody is quite funny. Sure, you better would go out to play real soccer but the way Nintendo integrates the body as a game interface is for most people new and a striking experience. Next step is then to emancipate from the screen and to go for the physical interaction again. ;-)

The concept for the performance piece “Sociial” which won me the Video Award Bremen last year also involves physical Wii action. It’ll be shown in December 2008 in Bremen. Hmm, should I try to include the Wii Fit balance now?

Main music act during Futuresonic was RZA as Bobby Digital. It’s a long time that I’ve been to a “big” concert and I found it amazing how many people in the audience perceived the show through their digi cams. We are so used to watch at all kinds of screens all day that a live concert appears to be more real on your digicam. Three kids in front of me went through the last clip in fast forward mode after each track. I couldn’t believe …

(found during Futuresonic, Manchester, UK)

Warren Neidich solo exhibtion at Magnus Mueller
Exhibition dates: April 4th – May 17th, 2008

Infinite Regress, 2008
Steel, colored glass, infrared motion detectors, 3 x 3 x 2,6 cm/
Stahl, gefärbtes Glas, Infrarot Bewegungsmelder, 3 x 3 x 2,6 cm

It’s fun to walk through this pavillion. There is a constant movement of the doors while passing by or hanging out within 2-3 meters. Nice piece.

One of my favorite projects at Futuresonic 2008 “CD-Recycled 45rpm” by Aleks Kolkowski. The audience was invited to bring their old CDs and have on them something live recorded in vinyl-cutter-style.
And it really does work! Wow nice!

Hmm, is it possible to have a real vinyl record tweaked in a way that it’ll play in a CD player? ;-)

If Berlin was just Toscana …
(Rosenthaler Platz)

WoW workshop and performance at Contact Theater Futuresonic was great fun yesterday.

[Btw, Eyebeam R&D fellow Geraldine Juarez a.k.a Jerry does nice work. Check out http://chocolaterobot.com/ !]

New project “Friends” started today at Futuresonic. Finally the workshop is up and running. If you are in Manchester drop by CUBE gallery and get your own Friends book.

All recent posts on “Friends”.

Friends

The project Friends is a workshop which translates the so-called social web – online services such as Facebook, Myspace, etc. – into a paper-based form in physical space.All workshop participants contribute a profile page to the big Friends Book and make their own personal friends booklet in which to collect as many friends as possible. With their own hand-made profile photo stamp and a large amount of prefabricated web 2.0 service stamps, users trade among each other information about their favorite online services and web activities. In order to be recognized as Friends workshop participants, users can wear a button with their own profile photo or display their Web 2.0 preferences on Friends Tattoos.

Social networks in the internet, which have become hugely popular over the last few years, have given the term “friend” a completely new meaning. In contrast to the usually restricted and time-consuming circle of friends in everyday life, in the internet it is possible to find a large number of friends quickly with just a few clicks.And only a few of these friends are actually personally known by the user. Without a great deal of effort it is possible to have hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of friends in the Internet. Who has the most friends? Who is the best-known and the most often to be seen? The development of the internet in recent years enables the individual to gratify his/her desire for recognition and attention in quite a new way.

With reference to the classic German poetry album or the friendship book in the USA, the Friends workshop takes this development as the central theme and opens a debate over the many-layered types from friendship. The time-honored paper-based technology and tools used in the workshop as well as the handicraft skills of its participants contrast with the screen-limited but highly efficient online world of the social networks. In contrast to the obvious open contact with private information in the social web, the classic paper document conceals a high degree of obligation and protects privacy.The data from the web services documented on paper during the Friends workshop pose anew the question of the private and public nature of web identities.

Who is my friend? How well do we know each other? Where do we meet?
How does the Social Web effect inter-personal relationships?

Aram Bartholl 2008