MYPOCKET included in the After The Net exhibition at Observatori 2008 in Valencia. The show is open at Centre del Carme from 5 to 29 June 2008. It is curated by KURATOR and presenting a selection of online works from an open call by Joasia Krysa (KURATOR), Manuela Moscoso (LaAgencia), Marta Rupérez (TheArtOrganisation), Luís Silva (Rhizome / Lisboa 2.0 Arte Contemporanea).

After The Net is a deliberately ambiguous title: implying that somehow the Net is over in terms of its utopian promises and also making a reference to the documentary film The Net by Lutz Dammbeck (2003). Like the film, the exhibition explores systems of technological control and presents works that draw attention to historical shifts of network power: from cybernetics to free and open source software, and in turn to social networking platforms.

Artists and Contributors: Caen Botto (Universomente), Wayne Clements, Geff Cox (for project.arnolfini), Lutz Dammbeck, Jeff Gompertz, Rui Guerra, Linda Hilfling, Chun Lee, Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk (GOTO10), José Antonio Orts, and selected artists from openKURATOR: Burak Arikan, Bestiario, Carlos Katastrofsky, Abe Linkoln, Jimpunk and Mrtamale, Joseph Nechvatal, Cyril de Vroom and Jos Wabeke.

Pictures and documentation will be available at the Kurator website by next week.

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Call for Art

Urban Jealousy
The 1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran
30th May - 6th July 2008
Curated by Serhat Koksal and Amirali Ghasemi

http://www.biennialtehran.com

Download the Application in WORD documents here (Choose Your Language)
Farsi, French, English and Turkish

Deadline: April 21st, 2008

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Lots happening these days in NYC.

Casey Reas is in town, leading to two exhibitions today at Bitforms and the Pratt Gallery. His new work from the Process series are really nice. Both shows are open through the first week in April.

ABSOLUT QUARTET, an interactive robotic musical installation by Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska is currently on display until April 25th at 186 Orchard Street, Lower East Side (map). You can enter a melody through the absolutmachines website, initiating an original and unique piece of music to be played live by the machine in its lower Manhattan home. A short lo-res movie of the piece in action can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e9AJVtuCKc

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“Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition opens February 24th, 2008 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The Real Time Rome project is included in the exhibition catalogue. The exhibition, curated by Paola Antonelli, focuses on designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.

The exhibition highlights examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation, examples based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future responsibilities of design. If you are around NYC, you don’t want to miss it!

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I am participating in the Connect the Dots exhibition (Feb 16, Saturday) with a piece from the Meta-Control set. The exhibition will take place at Hafriyat in Karaköy, Istanbul. Hafriyat, the name of an independent civilian group movement and the name of their space, means “excavation” in English.

I’ve first been to Hafriyat for a poster exhibition titled Allah Korkusu (”The Fear of God”) in November 2007. It was the most radical taboo breaking group of work I’ve seen in Turkey (video from the show). By putting a critique of Islam and Ataturk out, the artists put their lives at risk. This may not mean much in the so called western world (critique != life thread), but in the Hafriyat opening I was worried that the place will be bombed by some radical islamists in a second or so. After some time we got the police force “in” the gallery. They came to “secure” the gallery they said, however the police themselves were aroused by the show.

Connect the Dots show is about drawing, not a big thread for status quo it seems. Here is the announcement:

Connect the Dots at Hafriyat Karaköy.
February 16 - March 9, 2008
Opening at 18:30

Organized by Koray Kantarcioglu, the exhibition brings together 16 artists and contains work which departs from the idea of understanding the line as an independent visual unit and manipulating it as a unique form of expression. The exhibition also displays a varied and laid-back attitude in the production and exhibition of the works: from the use of fabric, paper, screens, walls and wallpaper to paint, ink, the pixel and the biro.The same attitude pervades the conceptual framework of the exhibition: open-ended, these works are not preoccupied with completeness, they have no singular destination.

The opening of the exhibition will feature a performance by Nazim Dikbas But It Doesn’t Look Like Me. A sentiment often expressed by people when their portrait is made by aspiring illustrators, Dikbas will attempt to draw attention to further aspects of the act and product of drawing.

Participants:

Aksel Zeydan Göz
Alina Viola Grumiller
Bora Baskan, http://borabaskan.blogspot.com
Burak Arikan, http://burak-arikan.com
Cem Dinlenmis, http://cemdinlenmis.deviantart.com
Erlea Maneros
Ekin Saçlioglu
Erkin Gören, http://erkingoren.com
Erdem Ergaz
Gözen Atila
Günes Terkol
Inci Furni, Bio
Klaustro, http://myspace.com/klasor
Koray Kantarcioglu, http://www.koraykantarcioglu.com
Mihda Koray, http://myspace.com/mihdakoray
Nazim Dikbas, http://www.extramucadele.com

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I am back in NYC. I put up the documentation of Terms & Conditions, which was exhibited at the Tobacco Warehouse during the Amber Festival in Istanbul.

Terms & Conditions are often written for legal regulations but they are never read by consumers, as a result consumers are often exploited by agreeing on these unreadable terms. You know the “I agree” phenomenon. In this piece, terms & conditions of five social web services are re-written using a custom typeface. The resulting images are generated by three processes: me typing the words, the program deciding on the size of each letter each time I hit the key, and the instructions for the fonts. With this piece we both recycle unread terms & conditions text and point to the moment where people give away their rights to the capital.

If you want to try it, here is the first version of the program written in 2005.

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“Eigenvekil” (”eigen deputy”) is a new piece by Ali Miharbi, now on show at Karsi Art gallery in Istanbul. Eigenvekil is the statistical average of the pictures of all the 550 congressmen in the current Turkish Parliament. A camera-PC-screen installation, where you can see the statistical reflection of all the congressmen on your face. To create this image Ali used the eigenface technique, which is commonly used by security officers for face recognition.

Ali says that “political representation, mathematical representation, or artistic representation, like all others, blur the properties of the subject that is represented. Eigenvekil uses these three representation techniques together to point the problem of representative democracy.”

More about Ali Miharbi
http://rhizome.org/member.php?user_id=1005051

The image below shows the top eigenfaces from the Ali’s program.

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Image from the Bored-er series, 2005

10th International Istanbul Biennial kicks off tomorrow (Sep 7). Biennial’s conceptual framework is set by the curator Hou Hanru:

“Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary: Optimism in the Age of Global War”

I contribute to the exhibitions with a series of blur photographs I call Bored-er (2005). It will be shown at the Tershane Parallel Exhibition curated by Devrim Kadirbeyoglu. I made up the word “bored-er” by combining “bored” and “border”. Like most of you, I am sick of the visa controls, security checks, and all that constructed paranoia at the physically distinct but politically blurry borders between nations.

If you are around in Istanbul, here is the exhibition info:

Opening 7pm Friday, September 7
Bogazkesen Caddesi
Bostanici Sokak, No 5
Tophane, Istanbul
map

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A Search for the Urban Edge
Wall Street Journal, New York - Sep 14, 2006

MIT Project Maps Wireless Usage In Rome
Information Week, New York - Sep 7, 2006

MIT Real Time Rome project to debut at Venice Biennale
Innovations Report, Germany - Sep 5, 2006

Tracking those roaming around Rome
CNet, CA - Sep 8, 2006

Researchers use mobile phone, GPS data to map populations
PC World Magazine, Australia - Sep 11, 2006

When in Rome, you might be tracked
ZDNet, CA - Sep 8, 2006

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NPR (National Public Radio) features the Real Time Rome project on the Mixed Signals blog by JJ Sutherland on September 19, 2006. It says:

“OK, not sure if you can make it to the Venice Biennale before it closes Nov. 19, but those crazy guys at MIT have produced an exhibit, which uses data from wireless devices, to show how people interact with a city in real time.”

Thanks JJ!

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