______________
Michael Sailstorfer Forst (2012)
_____________
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu Old Persons Home (2007)
‘In Old Persons Home, Sun and Peng’s satirical models of decrepit OAPS look suspiciously familiar to world leaders, long crippled and impotent, left to battle it out in true geriatric style. Placed in electric wheelchairs, the withered, toothless, senile and drooling, are set on a collision course for international conflict as they roll about the gallery at snails pace, crashing into each other at random in a grizzly parody of the U.N. dead.’
_____________
Peter Keene et Piet.sO L’ENTRÉE OUVERTE AU PALAIS FERMÉ DU ROI (2017)
_____________
Alan Rath Yet Again (2017)
_____________
Peter Keene Raoul Hausmann revisited (2004)
‘In a letter to Henri Chopin dated 23 June 1963, Raoul Hausmann wrote: “I would like attract your attention to the fact that since 1922 I have been developing the theory of the optophone, an apparatus that transforms visible forms into sound, and vice versa. I had an English patent, “Procedure for combining numbers on the photoelectric base” which was a variant on this apparatus, and at the same time the first robot. The only thing that kept me from constructing an optophone was money.”
‘The optophone is an instrument imagined and devised by Hausmann, and several versions of it were created a few years later. If the artist did not invent the computer, he did come pretty close to it in his efforts to broaden the frontiers of art by converting sounds into forms and vice versa. Art critic Jacques Donguy, who specialises in sound poetry, and artist Peter Keene, tracked down the patent filed by Hausmann in 1934 and set about turning the robot he conceived into a reality.’
_____________
Tim Lewis Pony (2012)
_____________
Seiko Mikami Desire of Codes (2011)
‘A matrix of sensors, small lights and surveillance cameras spans the space and follows the movements of visitors. Each movement sets off a response from a whole swarm of small surveillance units, using their lights to point at the body of the visitor. An uneasy dialogue on the ambivalent trust in surveillance systems evolves.’
_____________
Giles Walker Peepshow (2008)
‘The project is called Peepshow and consists of two “pole dancing” figures and a DJ. They are all built from scrap with windscreen wiper motors and controlled by wizard boards. At the time of building Peepshow there was a lot of news coverage encouraging the British public to readily accept the huge increase in surveillance cameras. They were everywhere. I wanted to build a piece as a reaction against these mechanical “Peeping Toms” that were appearing on every street corner. Serious research has actually found that better street lighting has a higher chance of reducing crime than CCTV. I chose pole dancers as a subject and gave them CCTV cameras as heads — playing with the concepts of voyeurism and its relationship with power. I also was interested in the challenge of whether I could make a pile of old scrap, sitting in the middle of my workshop, into something sexy.’
_____________
David Fried Self Organizing Still-Life [sos] (1998)
______________
Mischa Kuball five planets (2019)
______________
Limee Young Bird (2018)
‘One time, a bird got in through a crack in our roof. I could hear the fluttering of its wings in the cramped rooftop space. Although it was a narrow crack in the roof formed by age, the bird continued flapping its wings for several days, perhaps still believing it could fly. After a few days, I could not hear the bird’s wings any longer. Did the bird die? Or did it survive and escape? I hear the sounds of a struggle to live.’
______________
Ben Tardif Marble Mountain (2016)
‘Marble Mountain is a large marble machine still under construction. It consists of 25 sections that mesh together to form one kinetic sculpture. Every element is themed (or will be upon completion) to an aspect of my life or to something that I find interesting. Some of the elements include a roller coaster, ski jump, Times Square, Lombard Street, and a skatepark. It took 3 years to get to this point of being able to turn it on and watch it go, and I will continue to work on it and get it fully completed.’
______________
David Bowen tele-present water (2011)
‘This installation draws information from the intensity and movement of the water in a remote location. Wave data is being collected and updated from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data buoy station 51003. This station was originally moored 205 nautical miles Southwest of Honolulu on the Pacific. It went adrift and the last report from its moored position was around 04/25/2011. It is still transmitting valid observation data but its exact location is unknown. The wave intensity and frequency collected from the buoy is scaled and transferred to the mechanical grid structure, resulting in a simulation of the physical effects caused by the movement of water from this distant unknown location. This work physically replicates a remote experience and makes observation of the activity of an isolated object, otherwise lost at sea, possible through direct communication.’
_______________
John Armleder Voltes IV (2004)
_______________
Daniel Wurtzel Various (2009 – 2014)
_______________
Christian Moeller Eclipse (2017)
_______________
LAb[au] Signal To Noise (2012)
”Signal To Noise’ is a kinetic installation immersing the spectator in patterns of sonic motion, based on generative principles executed by 512 mechanical split-flaps. The expression ‘signal-to-noise’ is a measure used to quantify how much a signal has been lost to noise; it’s a ratio of useful to un-useful information in a data exchange. The works consists of a 3.40 m circular structure, containing 4 horizontal rows of 128 split-flaps at eye height. The external surface exposes the stripped back technology of the split-flaps and driver boards, while the internal surfaces reveal the characters of the split-flaps. The circular installation invites the visitor to plunge into a kinetic composition in the midst of the eternal calculation process of an auto-poetic machine. The split-flaps are constantly spinning on a variable speed/rhythm which is dependent upon on the underlying algorithm, analyzing in the maze of information the appearance of a word-equal-meaning.’
________________
Stefan Radu Cretu Fake Ghost (2019)
________________
Meridith Pingree Raindrop (2010)
‘The shape has nine links. Each link has a turquoise blue transparent plastic reversible motor and two motion sensors. It hangs from the ceiling by its power cord. The wires are fastened together with snappy barrettes.’
________________
Gianni Colombo Spazio elastico (1967)
‘The cubic space of Spazio elastico is completely dark inside: as a result the six planes that define it are completely suppressed. Elastic cords cross this space from ceiling to floor and from one wall to the other, creating a cubic grid. The elastic cords are dyed in a fluorescent color and lit by UV light. They take a minimal part of the space in comparison with the empty space. This orthogonal grid of luminous rays in an otherwise completely dark space prevents the perception of all the other elements in the room. The whole structure moves through the electromechanical action of motors installed outside the environment: they create slow-moving tensions in several points of the grid, with different time cycles. These tensions continuously deform the cubes drawn in space by the cords.’
_____________
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Wavefunction (2007)
______________
Wilfredo Prieto Tied Up to the Table Leg (2011)
‘Tied Up to the Table Leg consists of a helicopter standing still over the roof of the museum during one hour. A rope has been hung from it and, after going down the floors by the stairs, it has been tied up to the leg of a table located on the ground floor.’
______________
Petr Válek ASMR GRAMOPHONE (2019)
______________
Alex Allmont Various (2012 – 2019)
‘Until recently I’ve been doing a part time PhD about improvising with polyrhythms and phased rhythms but it’s on hold for lack of funds. In some senses this is for the best as it’s loosened me to focus on my projects including modular synths, performance, LEGO musical machines and installation work.’
______________
Rebecca Horn Untitled (2011)
______________
Hans Haacke Blue Sail (1965)
______________
U-Ram Choe Una Lumino Portentum (2008)
stainless steel, motors, light-emitting diodes, acrylic casting, circuits, custom software, CPU board, motors
______________
Arthur Ganson Thinking Chair (2001)
______________
Benjamin Forster Drawing Machine (Output = Plotter) (2008 – 2012)
‘This is not an investigation of any specific style of drawing, but simply drawing as the act of making marks on a surface; how these marks are made in relation to one another and, most importantly, what knowledge is necessary in order to make such marks. This investigation centres around his attempt to program a computer to draw in a way that is distinctly human, rather than stylistically digital or mechanistic. It is important that his program simulates the human characteristics of drawing because it is exactly the human quality of drawing that he has been attempting to understand. Note: This machine will never produce the same drawing twice.’
______________
William Forsythe Black Flags (2014)
‘Readymade industrial robots, nylon flags, carbon fiber flagpoles, and steel plates, dimensions variable.’
______________
Theo Jansen Strandbeests (2011 – 2018)
‘Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his “Strandbeests” is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen’s vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves.
‘His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures’ many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machine’s direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck.’
*
p.s. Hey. ** kyler, Hi, K. Thank you a lot for the beautiful story. I hope you’ve woken up perkily. ** Corey Heiferman, Hi. Hm, yes, about that distinction. I have an instinctive wariness mechanism that is triggered by the word literary. In the common usage it too often describes prose with erudite window dressing. It is awfully nice not to have the slightest thought of logistics cross one’s mind when making something in writing. And yet the whole rigamarole around filmmaking can be refreshing in a weird way when one is used to be an artist loner. Hm. Good that you got good stuff from that lyric. Pleasure is better than not. ** David Ehrenstein, I agree about ‘Providence’ as you know. That’s the thing about those ‘full movie’ youtube postings. When I make the movie based blog posts, I always have to think about whether to include them because they’re a blessing, but I also know that 90% of them will be taken down, leaving an ugly grey dead embed in the posts where they used to be. For instance, pretty much all of your old Petit MacMahon posts are dead and un-restorable now, sadly. ** Bill, Cool. ‘Bumbling along in my distracted way’: you just described my past 5 weeks in a nutshell. That House of Automata link is strangely prescient given the blog’s entertainment for today. Huh. Thank you! And for the David Grubbs hook up. Grubbs is a goodie. He almost collaborated with Gisele/ Stephen/ us on the score for one of our pieces. I don’t remember why that didn’t end up happening. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yes, I know. Well, there are a few art things out there that haven’t given up on reality yet, like that LA show with the haunted attraction. But we will see. Galleries should be able to come back in a pretty normal way assuming they survive the financial destruction of the quarantine. They’re never that crowded except for opening events, which will surely stop happening. I think the galleries here are supposed to start reopening on the 11th, but don’t quote me. Zac flew to Nice yesterday morning. There’s only one flight a day, and he had to grab it. He told them his mom was sick — she isn’t — and he had to go take care of her, and that worked. He said the airport — CDG 1 — was all but deserted, and there were only 3 flights that day, 2 of them bringing French people back from other countries and his flight to Nice. He said the plane was completely packed with masked people and it was horrifying. Anyway, he made it. Oh, you like Roger Chapman’s voice! How cool! I love his voice. I makes the hairs stand up on my neck. A bitchy day, I hear you. I did my walk/shopping trip, worked more on the email interview, started setting up a PGL screening in Copenhagen for the post-lockdown future, watched a couple of films — Leslie Thornton’s new one ‘Ground’ and Tzuan Wu’s new one ‘This Shore’ and … not much else? Did today surprise you, and, if so, how, and, if not, how? Ha. Love like a gigantic hot fudge banana split sundae, Dennis. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Lovely to see you anytime much less in this lonely present. You good? How’s stuff? What is stuff? Love, me. ** Misanthrope, Why wouldn’t I be cheerful? It’s all in how you look at everything. I’m just accessing the ‘what a lucky guy I am to experience this terrible, strange thing’ part of me. Over here, we’re kind of past the scared, glaring people thing and onto the shared communal shared victims’ smile thing. Mostly. ** QuinnR, Hi, Quinn! Mm, I don’t know about full length recordings. Some of those videos of productions of the play were full length, I think. There might be something in the links, I can’t remember. Writing about one’s own emotional state is really tricky for sure. My new novel is all and only about that, but it’s first time I’ve ever tried to make that a fictional subject, and it was, yeah, tricky. I’m sorry you’re in a low, but, yes, if there was ever a time. And the thing with the guy you were hooking up with is a mess. Desire can be so manipulative, and in an innocent way sometimes. Desire can make the desiring feel and believe things they know aren’t true but want badly enough that they fool themselves. And others. I don’t know. I’m sorry for that. We’ve pretty much assumed for a while that the ‘TIHYWD’ performance almost for sure wouldn’t happen. I don’t think France is going to let outsiders visit for at least another month or two or longer. We’re totally locked down. You can’t get in, you can’t get out, unless you’re French and stuck elsewhere and need to come home. Overall, I’m pretty fine really. Used to all of this. But if I didn’t know we’ll be reopening a bit in two and a half weeks, I would be less fine. Ha ha, ‘Madame Bovary’ and ‘Hogg’ are such a funny combo. I like it. Are you writing? Do find ways to give yourself as much pleasure as you can, man. See you soon. ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Huh, sounds curious. That Herz film. Car Seat Headrest … so you’re saying it’s interesting enough to try getting into? I can’t say that they’ve interested me one bit thus far. Did you manage to get your parents to figure out how to watch TV series in a 21st century style? That would obviously fill their agenda. ** Okay. Today I’m giving you a bunch of fun. Well, fun if you like this kind of fun. Here’s hoping. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 