[spectre] V2_Newsletter July/August 2009
V2_ Newsletter: July/August 2009 http://www.v2.nl V2_Events: Test_Lab: What Crisis?! July 9, 8–11pm, V2_Ground floor, Eendrachtstraat 10, Rotterdam Web: http://www.v2.nl/events/test_lab-what-crisis Admission: free Crisis or no, we’ll engage in artistic reflection on the current state of the world with a new generation of artists in this edition of Test_Lab. V2_’s international selection of five of the most promising graduation projects from European art academies shows that crisis can also lead to new opportunities and insights. With: David Hahlbrock (DE), Academy of Media Arts Cologne; Cesar Harada (FR); Dot Mancando (TH); Thomas Thwaites (UK), Royal College of Art; Sander Veenhof (NL), Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Opening: Mieke Gerritzen, respondent: Koert van Mensvoort. Followed by a live performance from TokTek. --- V2_Lab: Summer Sessions The V2_Lab has invited three artists for a brief summer residence during July and August. In these Summer Sessions, artists Melissa Coleman, Tarik Barri and David de Buyser will work on projects in the respective areas of wearable technology, augmented reality and ecology. The Summer Sessions were created to make technology developed at the V2_Lab available to rising young talents and to stimulate their artistic development with the help of the expertise present at the V2_Lab. --- V2_Archive: Media Culture Education Program V2_Archive is currently working to compile a database of sources that will provide a basis for media culture education at Dutch secondary schools. Various museums and institutions have provided documents and fragments of media artworks that will be included in teaching packs focusing on themes such as identity, privacy and the body. Students in the teacher training programs at AHK and Artez will use the packs in lessons. Follow the project’s progress on the blog at http://projectmediaculture.web-log.nl/. --- V2_Events: Sharewear at 5daysoff Di Mainstone and V2_Lab’s successful 2008 wearable project Sharewear can be seen on July 16 at the Netherlands Media Art Institute in Amsterdam during the 5daysoff festival. Former V2_ staffer Nicky Assmann’s Circuit Dress will also be on view in the festival’s extensive wearables program. For the full program, see “wearables” at http://www.5daysoff.nl. --- V2_Events: September 2009 Much of the V2_ team will be away on vacation in August. Nonetheless, we will be working steadily on a number of productions planned for September and October 2009. Coming up at V2_: Sept. 1 (provisional date): The Ecology of Design: Everything is Made of Something. A LifeArt discussion night devoted to Lars Spuybroek’s book The Architecture of Continuity, published last year by V2_. Sept. 11, 12, 13: Festival Wereld van Witte de With. V2_ will of course again be present at the three-day festival in and around Rotterdam’s Witte de Withstraat. We will soon announce our program on the website. Oct. 16 – Nov. 22: V2_ presents Bernie Lubell: A Theory of Entanglement. The first big Dutch exhibition of the fascinating installations of American artist Bernie Lubell. Produced in collaboration with FACT of Manchester. And, of course, there’ll be a new Test_Lab every other month, and the continuation of the LifeArt series. Our next newsletter goes out at the end of August. See you next season! __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_: 10 juli 2008 Test_Lab: Happiness
V2_ presents: *Test_Lab: Happiness* July 10th, 2008, 20:00h, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam. www.v2.nl This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl Test_Lab is a bi-monthly public event organised by V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media that provides an informal setting for the presentation, demonstration, testing, and discussion of artistic research and development (aRtD). *Test_lab: Happiness* will showcase a selection of 2008’s most outstanding graduation projects from some of the finest European art academies and universities. Together, the demonstrated works will broaden our horizons regarding a young generation’s utopian, esoteric, and psychedelic views on our technology-driven world of mediated intimacy, ubiquitous interaction, and extended bodies. Prepare for an evening full of electronic artworks dealing with today’s notions of peace, love, and happiness! For the complete program description please go to www.v2.nl Opening: Bas Haring (University of Leiden) Demonstrations: 'Deranged' by Bogomir Doringer (Gerrit Rietveld Academy) 'Schiedam Schnapps'by Salvador L. d'Souza (Piet Zwart Institute) 'Taiknam hat'by Ricardo de Oliviera Nascimento (Kunstuniversität Linz, Interface Culture) 'PlaySureVeillance'by Gordan Savicic (Piet Zwart Institute) 'Designing Social Cohesion'by Nynke Tromp (TU Delft) 'Diceman, Breaking Conventions with a Die' by Michiel Waaijer/ (University of Leiden) 'm/e/m/e 2.0' by Danja Vasiliev (Piet Zwart Institute) Performances: By STEIM with Byungjun Kwon and dj sniff Preceding Test_Lab: Happiness on the 10th of July, 'Six years of creative research' will open in the former 'Nederlands Fotomuseum' on the Witte de Withstraat. The exhibition will feature selected works by students from the Media Technology programme; a joined initiative by Leiden University's computer science institute (LIACS) and the Faculty of Creative and Performing Arts. (Exhibition opening: July 10, from 17h to 18.30h (opening lecture at 15h), Witte de Withstraat 63) For more information, please contact Michel van Dartel Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel +31 (0)10 206 7273 __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_ book Interact or Die! wins Prix Ars Electronica
sorry for cross-posting V2_ Book Interact or Die! Wins Prix Ars Electronica 2008 * http://www.aec.at/en/prix/winners_lbi.asp The book Interact or Die!, published in 2007 by V2_, has won the Prix Ars Electronica in the Media Art Research category. The Prix Ars Electronica, founded in 1987, is awarded by the Ars Electronica Center and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, both of Linz, Austria. Media Art Research is a new category established to recognize distinguished theoretical work in the area of interactive art forms. A €5,000 award is attached to the prize. Interact or Die! concerns interaction at every level. The book is about communication between molecules, between humans and animals, between trees and the sun. Artists play an important part in the interviews and essays in Interact or Die! They are the ones who test material, stretch it, extend it, twist it and recombine it into artistic forms and structures. The jury report on Interact or Die!: Ultimately, interaction is an essential precondition for every social organization. (...) Interactivity, in turn, is the method of bringing such behavior into a specific form and, at the same time, a particular approach to dealing with it, whereby attention is focused in equal measure on human activity as well as processes taking place in nature and technology. V2_ is delighted to have won the prize and views the bestowing of the Prix Ars Electronica as a recognition of its efforts to help develop a theory of electronic art. V2_’s books are used in art education and at universities in the Netherlands and abroad. --- V2_’s New Online Store Is Open!* http://store.v2.nl V2_ has launched its new online store, where all V2_’s new publications and available past titles can easily be ordered. The site offers a clear overview and a detailed description of all the books. You can order a copy of Interact or Die! at http://store.v2.nl, or follow the link on V2_’s home page. V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media Eendrachtsstraat 10 3012 XL Rotterdam, The Netherlands +31 (0)10 206 7272 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ### __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_ Reminder: Artist-in-Residence - 3D Augmented Realities
This is a reminder, sorry for crossposting. V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media (NL): Call for proposals artist in residence 3D and Visual Aspects of Mixed/Augmented Realities As part of the ‘Better than Reality’ project V2_Lab will host an artist in residence focusing on 3D and various other visual aspects within the topic of Augmented Reality environments. This residency will take place in the summer of 2008. Deadline for proposals: May 22, 2008 Project manager: Jan Misker, [EMAIL PROTECTED], +31 (0)10-2067273 General info: www.v2.nl Print version: http://files.v2.nl/portal/V2_CfP_Better_than_Reality.pdf Application form: http://files.v2.nl/portal/Application_Form_Better_than_Reality-1.pdf Background Past Research During the past years V2_Lab has been working on a number of aRtD projects that involve Augmented Reality. The most recent project involved a collaboration with artist Marnix de Nijs (NL) that resulted in the first public user test of a project called Exercise in Immersion 4 during the Dutch Electronic Art Festival 2007 (DEAF07). Augmented Reality is an umbrella term for a range of techniques that make it possible to add virtual elements to the physical world; for example, overlayed visuals or spatialised sounds. The technologies needed to create Augmented Reality environments are, however, still very experimental and therefore often inaccessible to artists. To enable more artists to create augmented reality artworks, V2_Lab has developed a software/hardware platform called VGE (V2_ Game Engine), that is based on Ogre3D, OpenAL, Blender, ultrasound positioning and SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System). The latter was also developed at V2_Lab. In VGE, the user wears a set of stereo video displays that show a mix of 3D visuals and real world video that is received from a head mounted stereo camera. The position in space and orientation of the head are tracked. Additionally, the geometry of the real space is modelled in the virtual space. The tracking makes it possible to fix the virtual world relative to the real world. For example, a virtual object can disappear behind a real wall. The aim of V2_Lab is to extend VGE into an accessible authoring environment for Augmented Reality environments. The project The ‘Better than Reality’ project comprises a series of three residencies focused on Augmented Reality. Within each residency a specific artistic aspect of Augmented Reality will be researched, leading to part of an augmented reality installation. The topic for this residency is 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality experiences; adding virtual objects to a real environment. The topics for the other two residencies (with pre-selected artists) in the ‘Better than Reality’ project are: • Spatial audio, Boris Debackere (BE) • User experience/immersion, Marnix de Nijs (NL) Within ‘Better than Reality’ we encourage artistic experiments and knowledge exchange, multidisciplinary collaboration and public user testing. While each residency covers a specific, the overarching and shared goal is to reach a deeper understanding of artistic possibilities of Augmented Reality environments. In addition to a shared technical foundation, we expect a continuous collaboration, and knowledge exchange, between the artists involved. Moreover, as the project will include collective work, the residencies will partially overlap in time. The three residencies will be concluded with a public presentation; a large scale informal user test for artistic Augmented Reality experiments of all three subprojects. Additional to the presentation, the dissemination of the knowledge to other artists and art students in workshops and lectures, as well as a symposium is another major goal of the overall project. The residency We invite an artist to explore the 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality. We are eager to collaborate with an experienced artist on the visual aspects of VGE, focusing on creating a visually convincing experience. Specific attention will be directed towards using techniques that make virtual objects appear ‘as if they belong’ in the real world environment. For example: • Lighting; • blending and mixing, specifically at the borders of real and virtual; and • (simulated) physical interaction between the virtual and real world. The other artists involved in the project have set part of the boundaries of this residence with their plans, and vice versa, the objectives for this residency will influence the boundaries of their work. The plans of the other residencies are available upon request. This residency is intended for an in-depth exploration of 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality, which is why we require the artist to have an excellent working knowledge of the following techniques: 3D modelling, real-time 3D and texturing (e.g. shading, light mapping, photo mapping and texture baking). Experience in computer generated animation, physics modelling, and Blender is desired. The required
[spectre] V2_: Call for proposals artists in residence
V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media (NL): Call for proposals artist in residence 3D and Visual Aspects of Mixed/Augmented Realities As part of the ‘Better than Reality’ project V2_Lab will host an artist in residence focusing on 3D and various other visual aspects within the topic of Augmented Reality environments. This residency will take place in the summer of 2008. Deadline for proposals: May 22, 2008 Project manager: Jan Misker, [EMAIL PROTECTED], +31 (0)10-2067273 General info: www.v2.nl Print version: http://files.v2.nl/portal/V2_CfP_Better_than_Reality.pdf Application form: http://files.v2.nl/portal/Application_Form_Better_than_Reality-1.pdf Background Past Research During the past years V2_Lab has been working on a number of aRtD projects that involve Augmented Reality. The most recent project involved a collaboration with artist Marnix de Nijs (NL) that resulted in the first public user test of a project called Exercise in Immersion 4 during the Dutch Electronic Art Festival 2007 (DEAF07). Augmented Reality is an umbrella term for a range of techniques that make it possible to add virtual elements to the physical world; for example, overlayed visuals or spatialised sounds. The technologies needed to create Augmented Reality environments are, however, still very experimental and therefore often inaccessible to artists. To enable more artists to create augmented reality artworks, V2_Lab has developed a software/hardware platform called VGE (V2_ Game Engine), that is based on Ogre3D, OpenAL, Blender, ultrasound positioning and SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System). The latter was also developed at V2_Lab. In VGE, the user wears a set of stereo video displays that show a mix of 3D visuals and real world video that is received from a head mounted stereo camera. The position in space and orientation of the head are tracked. Additionally, the geometry of the real space is modelled in the virtual space. The tracking makes it possible to fix the virtual world relative to the real world. For example, a virtual object can disappear behind a real wall. The aim of V2_Lab is to extend VGE into an accessible authoring environment for Augmented Reality environments. The project The ‘Better than Reality’ project comprises a series of three residencies focused on Augmented Reality. Within each residency a specific artistic aspect of Augmented Reality will be researched, leading to part of an augmented reality installation. The topic for this residency is 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality experiences; adding virtual objects to a real environment. The topics for the other two residencies (with pre-selected artists) in the ‘Better than Reality’ project are: • Spatial audio, Boris Debackere (BE) • User experience/immersion, Marnix de Nijs (NL) Within ‘Better than Reality’ we encourage artistic experiments and knowledge exchange, multidisciplinary collaboration and public user testing. While each residency covers a specific, the overarching and shared goal is to reach a deeper understanding of artistic possibilities of Augmented Reality environments. In addition to a shared technical foundation, we expect a continuous collaboration, and knowledge exchange, between the artists involved. Moreover, as the project will include collective work, the residencies will partially overlap in time. The three residencies will be concluded with a public presentation; a large scale informal user test for artistic Augmented Reality experiments of all three subprojects. Additional to the presentation, the dissemination of the knowledge to other artists and art students in workshops and lectures, as well as a symposium is another major goal of the overall project. The residency We invite an artist to explore the 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality. We are eager to collaborate with an experienced artist on the visual aspects of VGE, focusing on creating a visually convincing experience. Specific attention will be directed towards using techniques that make virtual objects appear ‘as if they belong’ in the real world environment. For example: • Lighting; • blending and mixing, specifically at the borders of real and virtual; and • (simulated) physical interaction between the virtual and real world. The other artists involved in the project have set part of the boundaries of this residence with their plans, and vice versa, the objectives for this residency will influence the boundaries of their work. The plans of the other residencies are available upon request. This residency is intended for an in-depth exploration of 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality, which is why we require the artist to have an excellent working knowledge of the following techniques: 3D modelling, real-time 3D and texturing (e.g. shading, light mapping, photo mapping and texture baking). Experience in computer generated animation, physics modelling, and Blender is desired. The required activities of the residency include: • a
[spectre] Reminder | Space Time Play, may 2, 2008, NAi Rotterdam
[Reminder] V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, presents: *Space Time Play: Gaming in Urban Space * Friday May 2, location: NAi, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl An evening dedicated to computer games, architecture, art activism and urbanism as theorized and practiced by artists, architects and game designers, organized by V2_ in cooperation with Workspace Unlimited. Featuring:** /Matt Adams (UK), Mary Flanagan (US), Workspace Unlimited (BE), Steffen P. Walz (D) and Matthias Böttger (D), //Petr Kazil (NL), Theodore Watson (US), The C-men (NL) with Jeroen Tel a.k.a. Maniacs of Noise (NL)/ www.v2.nl www.workspace-unlimited.org http://happening.nai.nl For more information, please contact Michel van Dartel E [EMAIL PROTECTED] T +31 (0)10 2067272 __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_Reminder | Test_Lab: Topology | April 17
| Reminder | V2_ presents: Test_Lab: Topology April 17, 2008 8 – 12 p.m. V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam. Participate in: Revealing censored areas on Google Maps A sonic navigation walk Mapping your personal economy A fashionable artist intervention Featuring: /Tiziana Terranova (IT), Christoph Wachter (DE), Mathias Jud (CH), Yolande Harris (UK), Bureau d'etudes (FR), and Di Mainstone (UK)./ For program information go to http://www.v2.nl/section/events and click on Test_Lab: Topology This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl. __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_ANNOUNCEMENT | Space Time Play, may 2 2008, NAi Rotterdam
V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, presents: SPACE TIME PLAY: Gaming in Urban Space Friday May 2, location: NAi, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam SPACE TIME PLAY is part of the NAi Happening program http://happening.nai.nl This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl Featuring: Matt Adams (UK), Mary Flanagan (US), Workspace Unlimited (BE), Steffen P. Walz (D) and Matthias Böttger (D), Petr Kazil (NL), Theodore Watson (US) Simon jones (UK), The C-men (NL) with Jeroen Tel a.k.a. Maniacs of Noise (NL) An evening dedicated to computer games, architecture, art activism and urbanism as theorized and practiced by artists, architects and game designers, organized by V2_ in cooperation with Workspace Unlimited. The starting point for the evening will be the book Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level, published in late 2007 by Birkhauser Verlag and edited by Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz and Matthias Böttger, who run the organization Raumtaktik, the “Agentur für räumliche Aufklärung und Intervention.” At this event, a range of contemporary virtual and physical game spaces in and around the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam will be discussed and explored. These spaces offer options for social and cultural interaction in urban space and are often characterized by the superimposition of physical space (the city) and virtual space. Continuing from where the book Space Time Play and its themes leave off, the evening will cover topics ranging from gaming strategies of the Situationists to gaming strategies for social interaction in contemporary urban space. Artists, architects and activists will present projects and strategies for critical game design alongside theorists who will discuss the fundamentals on which such practice is based. The audience will be encouraged to play an active role in this event and explore the physical and virtual space-time-play dungeons of Rotterdam! www.v2.nl www.workspace-unlimited.org http://happening.nai.nl For more information, please contact Michel van Dartel E [EMAIL PROTECTED] T +31 (0)10 2067272 __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_ANNOUNCEMENT | Test_Lab: Topology April 17, 2008, 20:00h, V2_
)))TEST_LAB: TOPOLOGY((( --- April 17, 2008, 8 p.m., V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam. This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl. Featuring: Tiziana Terranova (IT), Christoph Wachter (DE), Mathias Jud (CH), Yolande Harris (UK), Bureau d'etudes (FR), and Di Mainstone (UK). Test_Lab is a bimonthly public event organized by V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, that provides an informal setting for the demonstration, testing, presentation, and discussion of artistic research and development (aRtD). --- Topology is often mentioned as an ultimate example of the same subject being studied in parallel within various branches of science and art, each branch approaching the subject from its own background and with its own methodologies. Today, there are numerous initiatives on the radar in which representatives of the various branches of topology explicitly state a desire to exchange ideas and methodologies related to the topic. But do all these diverse branches even share a common understanding of what topology is? In practice, it seems that there is still a fair amount of confusion surrounding the notion of topology, and that its definition is a matter of debate rather than consensus, with a single commonly agreed-on defining characteristic: topology deals with the qualitative properties of geometrical structures. Should the confusion surrounding the notion of topology discourage topologists from trying to unify the field? Or could it perhaps serve as a commonly shared ground for collaboration and exchange? This topology edition of Test_Lab will feature several new and exciting artistic Research and Development (aRtD) projects within the artistic topology tradition and will investigate the common understanding of the notion of topology in the arts. Audience members are invited to actively involve themselves in the practices of topological aRtD and, on the basis of this involvement, discuss what defines the field and whether the proposed exchange and collaboration with other topology branches is justified. Test_Lab: Topology will reveal censored areas on Google maps and the true networks of the world’s power structures, and will include a sonic navigation walk and a fashionable artist intervention. The different branches dealing with topology will be represented by international experts participating in the project A Topological Approach to Cultural Dynamics (ATACD). --- // Preceding this edition of Test_Lab, the Piet Zwart Institute will organize a seminar on mapping as a medium of cultural reflection and critique with presentations by artists, activists, and theorists, titled: The Map is not the Territory?! April 16, 2008, 19.30.- 21.30, Mauritsstraat 36, Rotterdam.Presenters: Bureau d'Etudes, Theo Deutinger, Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud, with an introduction and moderation by Florian Cramer. pzwart.wdka.hro.nl // www.v2.nl www.atacd.net __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
[spectre] V2_ANNOUNCEMENT | Test_Lab: Topology April 17, 2008, 20:00h, V2_
)))TEST_LAB: TOPOLOGY((( --- April 17, 2008, 8 p.m., V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam. This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl. Featuring: Tiziana Terranova (IT), Christoph Wachter (DE), Mathias Jud (CH), Yolande Harris (UK), Bureau d'etudes (FR), and Di Mainstone (UK). Test_Lab is a bimonthly public event organized by V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, that provides an informal setting for the demonstration, testing, presentation, and discussion of artistic research and development (aRtD). --- Topology is often mentioned as an ultimate example of the same subject being studied in parallel within various branches of science and art, each branch approaching the subject from its own background and with its own methodologies. Today, there are numerous initiatives on the radar in which representatives of the various branches of topology explicitly state a desire to exchange ideas and methodologies related to the topic. But do all these diverse branches even share a common understanding of what topology is? In practice, it seems that there is still a fair amount of confusion surrounding the notion of topology, and that its definition is a matter of debate rather than consensus, with a single commonly agreed-on defining characteristic: topology deals with the qualitative properties of geometrical structures. Should the confusion surrounding the notion of topology discourage topologists from trying to unify the field? Or could it perhaps serve as a commonly shared ground for collaboration and exchange? This topology edition of Test_Lab will feature several new and exciting artistic Research and Development (aRtD) projects within the artistic topology tradition and will investigate the common understanding of the notion of topology in the arts. Audience members are invited to actively involve themselves in the practices of topological aRtD and, on the basis of this involvement, discuss what defines the field and whether the proposed exchange and collaboration with other topology branches is justified. Test_Lab: Topology will reveal censored areas on Google maps and the true networks of the world’s power structures, and will include a sonic navigation walk and a fashionable artist intervention. The different branches dealing with topology will be represented by international experts participating in the project A Topological Approach to Cultural Dynamics (ATACD). --- // Preceding this edition of Test_Lab, the Piet Zwart Institute will organize a seminar on mapping as a medium of cultural reflection and critique with presentations by artists, activists, and theorists, titled: The Map is not the Territory?! April 16, 2008, 19.30.- 21.30, Mauritsstraat 36, Rotterdam.Presenters: Bureau d'Etudes, Theo Deutinger, Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud, with an introduction and moderation by Florian Cramer. pzwart.wdka.hro.nl // www.v2.nl www.atacd.net __ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
