Yukiko Shikata on 22 Sep 2000 17:41:39 -0000 |
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<nettime> ARTLAB10: "polar" Carsten Nicolai-Marko Peljhan |
ARTLAB10 "polar" Artists: Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan Date: October 28(sat)-November 6(mon) 11:00-21:00(till 19:00 on the last day) *reservation needed. call ARTLAB(03-5410-3611) (8 participants can interact in one hour) Location: Hillside Plaza(29-10 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) ????*basement of the parking lot of Hillside Terrace, Daikanyama http://www.canon.co.jp/cast/("polar"info. appears in early October) Organized by: ARTLAB, Canon Inc. Special support: Ministry of Culture, Republic of Slovenia Support: Embassy of Republic of Slovenia Goethe Institut Tokyo Special co-operation: twosuns GmbH, Berlin Co-operation: Hillside Plaza Sponsorship: Fast Net, Inc., *Artists' lecture: November 2(thu) 19:00-21:00 at ARTLAB in Roppongi (in English with Japanese translation). Reservation needed. -For further information, please contact: Canon ARTLAB, DK Bldg.5F, 7-18-23 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Japan e-mail: polar@cast.canon.co.jp, Tel: 81-3-5410-3611, Fax: 5410-3615 ARTLAB* presents "polar," a new work collaborated by Carsten Nicolai (Germany) and Marko Peljhan(Slovenia), and ARTLAB for the 10th Original Exhibition. - A collaboration of Nicolai and Peljhan, both attracting attention worldwide "Polar" is a new work done in collaboration by Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan with ARTLAB. Nicolai has been active working worldwide on "sound" as wave-shaped data, sound installation through crystallized structures produced by the natural ecosystems, objects, paintings, live performances and CD. Peljhan is an artist pioneering the field of research into telecommunication environments, such as intercepting/dispatching electric or signal waves and their mapping, reflection. In the case of "polar," it is the first time that "Nicolai-Peljhan" collaborates on a full-scale media art project. - What are unknown poles in information space? The word "polar" defines primarily two opposite ends, +(plus) and -(minus). However, in the case of this new work, the question about a research method and their materialization in today's information environment are the primary field of interest; how humans can approach unknown environment as in a polar probe. The aim of "polar" is to have inquirers themselves trying to find out how the following fields are interrelated: sensory visible information(such as microorganism), formation and changing process of invisible information(such as sound), and collecting keywords related to the "polar" knowledge base from the Internet(we name it "dictionary," an intelligent information search system*) which is totally different from the former two types of information. In this work, each participant is expected to individually investigate the unknown and seamless environment by relating to each visible, tactile and audible element in the space/time. - One of the starting ideas of "polar" by Nicolai-Peljhan comes from "Solaris" (196l) by the Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem, and "Solaris" (1972), a film adapted from the original book and directed by Andrey Tarkovsky in the former Soviet Union. There Ocean (sea-like substance) of an unknown planet Solaris reflects human emotions, desires, and thoughts, and the paradox described is that probing into the unknown is after all making inquiries to discover facts about ourselves. This issue is related to human ability to form ideas and modes of information, if it is interpreted as an aspect in today's human studies. In "polar," the idea described in the original book of Lem, "what is reflected has a geometrically crystallized pattern," is in focus in terms of a mystery of information. - Intelligent Information Search System** in a space-integrated installation In "polar," the whole space is integrated as the artwork. Participants, two persons in a pair, get into the space, each with an interface device named "POL" developed for this project, and they collect sensory information (images, sounds, temperature, and acceleration of gravity in the surroundings) for a presicely set amount of time. When the collection is finished, information of each POL is analyzed, and seven keywords (concepts) corresponding to the qualities of information through an algorithmic calculation are displayed on each of two monitors-interfaces placed in the room. When one of the keywords is chosen, a specially developed intelligent information search system begins to operate, and newly linked concepts of the keyword are collected from various databases and websites on the Internet. Thus a database is recomposed each time as a new "dictionary." In the interaction with the dictionary, the participant can collect and construct his/her own ideas or concepts that are different from the text-data input, categorized by the artists and initial dictionary knowledge base builders, as the starting point of this intellectual information system. In the "dictionary," Solaris's ideas are reflected through the inclusion of the whole book of "Solaris" into the knowledge base. In the installation there are real time projections of wave-shaped movements which are calculated and visualized trace routes, and various other reflected and processed analogue-digital information and images. The whole room space responds, in the combination of sensory outputs, to the characteristics of information data collected by two pairs of participants and their constructed and discovered conceptual system. Consequently, the whole space goes through a change and transformation in a dynamic process and ends on a different platform as when it started. This new platform is the starting situation for the next pair of participants. *ARTLAB, Canon Inc., vehicle for cultural support activities, was initiated in 1991. The objectives are to create, promote and support a new digital media-realm, including collaborations between artists and Canon's computer engineers. **Advanced intelligent information retrieval, consisted of Document classification, Information filtering, Summarization, Agent, etc., developed by Canon Inc. is used in an original application. <Artists profile> - Carsten Nicolai-Marko Peljhan Nicolai and Peljhan have presented several live performances, such as "Wardenclyffe situation no.2" in Bauhaus Dessau(at Ostranenie, 1997), "solar" in Linz(at Ars Electronica, 1998), etc. This is the first full-scale media installation by them. - Carsten Nicolai aka noto Born in Karl Marx Stadt (present Chemnitz) in 1965, lives in Chemnitz and Berlin. Worked as a gardener, 1985-90 studied Landscape Design in Dresden. In 1992 co-founded 'Voxxx.Kultur und Kommunikationszentrum' in Chemnitz, then founded 'noton archiv fuer ton und nichtton' in 1994. He is active worldwide in different areas ranging from contemporary art, sound art to media art. A motif of organic forms appears in his paintings, objet d'art, and sound installations, which sensitively recognize and present both visible and invisible information environment, and are directed to the introduction of computer complex system research. He is also known as a sound performer, releasing CDs in the name of "noto." Selected group exhibitions include Documenta X(Kassel, 1997), Liverpool Biennale(Liverpool, 1999), "Audible Light"(The Museum of Modern Art Oxford, 1999), "Empty Garden"(Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1999), "Sound Art"(NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, 2000), and others. Nicolai has received "Golden Nica" Prize in the category of Digital Music at Prix Ars Electronica 2000 with CD series "20' to 2000"(twelve releases about the cutting edge of the millennium). - Marko Peljhan Born in Sempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia in 1969, lives in Ljubljana. Studied theater and radio directing at the University of Ljubljana. Concerning information environment including telecommunications, he has developed his original media art projects, such as performances, installations, film, video and sound works since the first half of 1990. In 1992, he established an organisation 'PROJEKT ATOL' for his creative activities. MAKROLAB, an information base and self sustained environment, realized at Documenta X (Kassel, 1997), Rottnest Island near Perth (2000) is set up as a project to research telecommunications, weather systems and migrations from an isolated/insulated reflective environment. MAKROLAB will be set up around the world up until 2007, when it will be placed in the Antarctic as a permanent art/science station. In December 1999, Projekt Atol produced a work by the slovene director Zivadinov "Biomehanika Noordung," a performance in zero-gravity conditions performed during parabolic flights in the skies over Russia. Selected group exhibitons include Documenta X(Kassel, 1997), "L'autre moite de l'Europe"(Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2000), "World-information.org"(Brussels, 2000), and others. He is the recepient of the Media Art Prize of ZKM Karlsruhe(Germany) this year. "polar" is the first project introducing Peljhan in Japan. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net