<nettime-ann> [event] ZKM/Exhibition Opening/"Resonances. The electromagnetic bodies project"

["Irina Koutoudis" <koutoudis@zkm.de>]

ZKM | Zentrum f=FCr Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
July 2005


Exhibition Opening

R e s o n a n c e s .   T h e   e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c   b o d 

i e s   p r o j e c t
(28 July =96 9 October 2005)

A ZKM guest exhibition at the St=E4dtische Galerie Karlsruhe

Opening Wednesday, 27 July at 7 pm at the St=E4dtische Galerie Karlsruhe

The exhibition features a selection of works by Canadian artists who 
have immersed themselves in the phenomenon of electromagnetism. Like 
other living organisms, the human body functions as a source, echo, 
transmitter and resistance to electromagnetic waves. The exhibition 
examines the differences and similarities between =93organic=94 sensors 
and man-made constructs as well as the impact of the invisible yet 
measurable forces on our sensory perception.
Many of the artworks in the exhibition relate to the work of the 
physicist and inventor, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943). Tesla=92s scientific 
research, together with his visionary concepts for wireless 
communication and robots and his anticipation of a telepresence, 
provide the starting point for the artists=92 response to the effects 
of electromagnetism. Tesla also spent many years examining the 
involvement of the observer in the construction of reality (thus 
anticipating virtual reality) as well as the magnetism of bodies.
In analogy to Tesla=92s work, the artists represented in the exhibition 
deal primarily with electromagnetic phenomena and their impact on 
organic bodies. The artworks on display reflect every aspect of 
electromagnetism from visualisations and sonifications of the 
electromagnetic field that surrounds us to physical examinations of 
its influences and possible effects.

The original exhibition concept has been broadened in Karlsruhe to 
include works by international artists from the ZKM Collection. In 
view of the prominent position Karlsruhe occupies in the discovery of 
electromagnetic phenomena, the exhibition also examines the 
historical scientific background to electromagnetism. The physicist, 
Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), discovered the existence of 
electromagnetic waves and was the first to transfer them from a 
transmitter to a receiver in 1886. Hertz performed the bulk of his 
creative work and research between 1885 and 1889 when he was a 
lecturer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The exhibition 
uses documents and experimental setups to illustrate his work, 
propositions and studies, thus providing a graphic explanation of the 
phenomenon of electromagnetism. The University of Karlsruhe and the 
Heinrich Hertz Society were involved in the selection and 
presentation of Hertz=92 research work.

Arti
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