[rohrpost] Berliner Gazette, 29.11.[english version]

[krystian@snafu.de]

4 1/2 Minutes
or: >>The average time it takes a Tokyo resident to reach a convenience=20
store.<<

[ ] Protocol: Sean Snyder, artist [1]

The one hour and forty minute ride from Narita airport displaces any=20
preconceptions a western visitor may have about Japanese culture. A=20
cognitive placelessness occurs due to overlapping visual references from=20
elsewhere. The basis of my project during a four month residency in Japan=20
is to construct a sampled composite (an impossible task?) of hybrid and=20
non-Japanese aspects of the built environment and cultural landscape of=20
Tokyo and its periphery.

Tokyo is constantly transforming and dissolving in photographic, animated,=
=20
and virtual representations. The most dominant characteristics of the city=
=20
are not it=B4s copied landmarks, but interconnected flows of electricity,=20
communication and transportation. Profuse above ground utility lines,=20
elevated subway, urban rail, high-speed train and the Metropolitan=20
Expressway connect Tokyo with the rest of Japan. Auto navigation technology=
=20
[2] orients the vast expanses around the city through an endless network of=
=20
transaction points; convenience stores, fast food restaurants, gas stations=
=20
and shopping centers.

Tama New Town, Play Station A5, and the DIY Architecture of Tokyo

In 1971 Denise Scott asked the question >>in fact, where did the McDonald's=
=20
parabola and the split-level ranch come from in the first place? << The=20
same year McDonald's opened their first restaurant in Japan. An examination=
=20
of the roof angles of traditional Japanese architecture could provide a=20
hypothetical answer. So where did Tokyo come from?

Fantastic architecture is everywhere: Pachinko Parlors, Love Hotels, and=20
Theme Parks. But the rooftops of the anonymous expanses of Tokyo's=20
periphery hold the most unusual examples. The depictions of cities around=20
the world with no commentary on late-night Japanese television and free=20
tourist brochures with collaged continents merge with aspects of Tokyo's=20
environment. Tama New Town/ Tama Center in suburban Tokyo combines=20
futuristic urban design and architecture with stylized urban symbols from=20
the great civilizations of the world.

The Play Station video game A5 [3], intended for the Japanese market,=20
follows a similar logic as Tama New Town. Using simplified CAD=20
architectural renderings, the game begins with a topographic view of an=20
undeveloped natural landscape with a monument (the Houses of Parliament,=20
the Arc de Triomphe, the Pyramids of Giza, Tokyo Tower, etc.) as the focal=
=20
point. The goal of the game is to develop a prosperous infrastructure=20
around the monument with the given vocabulary of non-spectacular components=
=20
of the contemporary city. The elevated transportation network is the one=20
distinctively Japanese aspect of the resulting city. For Japanese=20
architects and individuals there are numerous references for sampling=20
architectural styles available. For practicing architects there are=20
extensive guides to non-Japanese architecture, picture books, exterior=20
details, dictionaries of western architectural terminology, etc. For=20
amateur architects home design software [4] is available. Using a=20
vocabulary prefabricated elements, individuals can create their own=20
'fantasy' environment [5]. This sort of 'do it yourself' approach [6] can=20
begin to explain the origin of the unusual architectural varieties.

Project

I have constructed a narrative guide in printed form, creating a composite=
=20
of the city's surface through an excavation of ephemeral everyday visual=20
data (printed material, television and computer software) juxtaposed=20
against my own digital material. The material has been condensed at=20
low-resolution, re-assembled, categorized, clipped, scanned, ordered and=20
placed into a magnified random grid structure interpreted from Japanese=20
publications and cartoons. One focus of the research, through a process of=
=20
scanning the city and its surroundings from rail lines with digital media,=
=20
is to construct a sample archive of typological approximations and pseudo-=
=20
classifications of the obscure architectural variants found in the region.=
 [7]

1. mailto: seansnyder@altavista.net
2. http://www.zenrin.co.jp
3. http://www.artdink.co.jp/japanese/title/a6/index.html
4. http://www.megasoft.co.jp
5. http://www.pophome.com/index.shtml
6. http://www.doityourself.com/
7. http://itools.mac.com [open public folder with member name: seansnyder ]

And here some Berlin dates for your schedule:

Wed  29.11.

W o r k s h o p : The workshop on Mobile Multimedia Communications=20
[http://mcp.fantastic.ch] will provide an international forum to discuss=20
innovative techniques to tackle the lack of resources by implementing=20
special optimization and coordination techniques, which support the=20
provisioning of particularly valuable services to users on the move and=20
especially in the vehicular environment=20
[http://www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de/~drive]. The scope includes optimized=20
interworking of mobile telecommunication and radio broadcast networks and=20
the layered interworking of network elements with adaptive applications in=
=20
order to exploit the scarce radio resources in the most efficient and=20
demand-oriented way. Above all the workshop will provide a road map for the=
=20
provisioning of the future mobile internet in the car. Place:=20
Heinrich-Hertz-Institut Berlin [http://www.hhi.de], Einsteinufer 37, 9 a.m.=
=20
- 6 p.m.

B o o k r e l e a s e : Friedrich Kittler presents his new book >>Eine=20
Kulturgeschichte der Kulturwissenschaft<< [ISBN: 3-7705-3418-2] which=20
traces the founders of cultural studies from Vico to writers as Flaubert=20
and cultural scientists like Victor Hehn to Nietzsche and his followers.=20
Place: Kiepert, Georgenstrasse 2, Stadtbahnbogen 182, 8 p.m.

Thu  30.11.

L e c t u r e : Berlin based theoretician Knut Ebeling (born in 1970), who=
=20
studied under Gilles Deleuze and Friedrich Kittler will approach >>Madame=20
Edwarda<< by Georges Batailles from two different angles: By taking one of=
=20
the most scandalous and mysterious pieces Batailles ever produced Ebeling=20
sheds light on his way of reading and positions his philosophy between=20
Hegel and Nietzsche. Place: Juliettes Literatursalon, Gormannstrasse 25,=20
8.30 p.m.

Sat  02.12.

O p e n i n g : Berlin based artist Hanayo [http://www.hanayo.com]=20
transforms the former Club 69 space at Kunst Werke=20
[http://www.kw-berlin.de] into a winter-style Kindergarten. The playful=20
fantasy area for parents and kids reflects the recent baby boom in=20
Berlin-Mitte and its new, growing social networks: As the artist herself=20
puts it >>Hanachambre is the room where u can feel free: a baby becomes a=20
worm; a man becomes a butterfly; a child becomes an alien<<. The indoor=20
playground by Hanayo opens daily between 10a.m. - 6p.m.; for the opening a=
=20
special performance has been announced. Place: Kunst Werke, Auguststrasse.=
=20
69, 8 p.m.

Best wishes,

Krystian Woznicki
mailto:krystian@snafu.de

PS: >>Dreams on the path to reality<< pumps up first when you enter the=20
site of the people's project [http://www.thepeoplesproject.com]. Founded by=
=20
Axel Lapp, its intention is to stimulate and motivate people to create=20
public space with their own ideas: Public areas like streets, parks or=20
buildings are mostly perceived in their functional idea and less as a=20
creative or democratic space. The people's project wants to open this space=
=20
for projects that transform places of our everyday life into places of=20
recreation and new ideas. There are several concepts being realized at the=
=20
moment not only in Berlin.

PPS: Im Zeitalter globaler E-Speed-Kommunikation ist vorallem Sprache=20
(Language) ein Medium, das die Globalisierung verlangsamt. Mit dem=20
Internet-Translator Systransoft [http://www.systranet.com] lassen sich=20
Dokumente automatisch uebersetzen, wobei die Moeglichkeit besteht, mit 21=20
spezialisierten Woerterbuechern zu arbeiten und damit eine hohe=20
Uebersetzungs-Qualitaet zu erreichen. In Wirklichkeit kann die vermeintlich=
=20
unuebertreffliche Intelligenz der Software Sprache zu neuer Komik und=20
Poesie verhelfen. Um Sean Snyders Werkstattbericht aus Toyko auch fuer=20
deutsch-only LeserInnen verstaendlich zu machen, haben wir ihn mit so einer=
=20
Uebersetzungskanone beschossen=20
[http://www.kulturserver.de/cgi-bin/view_korrespondent?id=3D420&layout=3D],=
=20
raten allerdings kuerzere Abschnitte in den DIY - Uebersetzungsreisswolf zu=
=20
werfen.

[ ] Berliner Gazette

The weekly E-Mailzine is published by http://www.kulturserver.de

[ ] Editors

Klaas Glenewinkel
Ulrike Rogler
Anne Schreiber
Krystian Woznicki

[ ] Subscriptions

http://www.kulturserver.de/cgi-bin/newsletter



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