08.02.2012 Ars Electronica: Impetus + Movement

Floor (2007) / Cantoni/Crescenti

Cool happenings by ARS Electronica and the Volkswagen Automobil forum in Berlin.

The spotlight is focused on a balancing act between self-determination and disenfranchisement. In it, the cityscape as an example of a living situation that is as real as it is construed becomes a laboratory for the development and testing of innovative strategies and approaches. Here, prizewinning works of art open up spheres of association ranging from philosophical reflection to the real life pursuit of self awareness.

Save YourSelf!!! (2007) / Junji Watanabe, Tomofumi Yoshida und Hideyuki Ando

This was strange. I felt like I wanted to hurl afterwards, and all I did was try to walk in a straight line. Here, you hold a glass bowl half full of water and float a little raft with a sensor on it in the water. Then, the sensors register the motion of floating on water and converts it into electrical impulses and sends it through a cable to the headphone electrodes attached to the head. The signals are conveyed to the inner ear, which is the body's balance mechanism and as the water sways, the raft sways, and as you try to walk in a straight line.. well, you barely can. www.junji.org/saveyourself

 

1. Title,                                                                       2. Floor,                                      3. Tipp-Kicker (2012) / Joseph Herscher (US), video

Daisuke Ishida, Acoustic Octahedral Geometry, 2012. 

When you enter the space, you interfere with acoustic boundaries, that are invisible yet exist between the ceiling, floor, and walls. You can hear yourself interrupt it when you notice that you are reflecting or redirecting sound within in the space and the interference makes new invisible lines of sound around you. link

Melonia Shoes (2010) / Naim Josefi

These shoes are 3D printed. So when the wearer doesn’t like them anymore, they can be melted down to provide the raw material for a new pair. Just don't step on any gum.

Ryota Kuwakubo, The Tenth Sentiment, 2010. A shadow town made from everyday objects. link

Martin Frey, CabBoots, 2005

A pedestrian guidance system. The concept stems from the topography of a well trampled hiking trail. The soles of the shoes tilt to the outside or inside of the foot and steer the wearer in a particular direction. This way, virtual routes can be navigated without a map, and just feet. link

Some stuff, unnoted, was this other thing called "Transitions" by Julius Stahl (2012) Where two participants go on a soundwalk in which each person ears the other person's sounds instead of their own. http://www.juliusstahl.de/transitions.html

Made a stop at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe at night.

Berlin, 2012