A web documentary of all the virtual persons I created.
Web capture and edition by Stephanie Boisset.

Re-locating the public commission Ooit somewhere else in Groningen in another university building.

The chosen location should be this building of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences called EnTranCe
Right now the work is in a storage. It had to be taken down because the building where it was doesn’t belong to the Groningen University any more.
The small bubbles and the big bubble face against the wall
4 men are needed to move it slightly away from the wall.
Once it was moved away from the wall I could get inside and see the state of the printed picture: totalled discoloured!
Discoloured! the big bubble was on top of the roof and caught direct sunlight and lost all its colours….

NEON WEKA is the company dealing with the possibility of the relocation, the same company that build the work 25 years ago.

Cultural Matter: Martine Neddam

The history of fake identities is tightly interwoven with the rise of the internet – the free and open space where you could be anyone you wanted to be. What role did – and do – artists play in this? How do they develop and manifest characters online? Early net artist Martine Neddam has been creating online  fake personas that work with public feedback since 1996, far before the establishment of social media. Mouchette, David Still, Xiao Qian are all characters that she created anonymously. This edition of Cultural Matter 2019-20, the audience will get to know the online curator Madja Edelstein-Gomez. The work of Neddam and Edelstein-Gomez will act as a starting point for further reflection on online identity and user feedback – and will be placed in an art historical and socio-political context. 

Madja Edelstein-Gomez 
Madja Edelstein-Gomez (1960, Montevideo, Uruguay) is an independent curator who has curated several large thematic exhibitions (Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Prague, Tbilisi, Toronto). Edelstein-Gomez currently lives in Kuala Lumpur and Paris. She is also an activist working with several NGOs. Edelstein-Gomez created a manifesto and a group exhibition that revolves around the Recombinant, a concept where artificial intelligence and artists meet. Madja Edelstein-Gomez is the collaborative creation of Martine Neddam, Emmanuel Guez and Zombectro.

Martine Neddam
Martine Neddam is an artist, researcher and teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. She uses language as raw material for her art, and many of her works center on the phenomena of speech acts, approaches to communication as well as to language and writing in public space. She has been working with virtual characters since 1996, the first and most famous one being Mouchette, a fictive thirteen-year-old that has meanwhile acquired cult status. Neddam’s virtual personae function as communications tools such that they have already facilitated the exchange between human beings via the medium of the artistic figure, and thereby anticipated the functionality of social media.

Cultural Matter
Cultural Matter is a series of exhibitions and events that provide a platform for the international discussion of digital art and aims to develop new strategies for the presentation and preservation of these artworks.
Also part of the Cultural Matter series: JODI, Jonas Lund, Thomson & Craighead, Amalia Ulman.
Curated by: Sanneke Huisman and Jan Robert Leegte.

Event
Cultural Matter: Martine Neddam in conversation with Elvia Wilk (Pt.I)
Wednesday February 19, 8.00 PM

7,50 / 5 / Free with Cineville
TICKETS

Exhibition
February 19 – April 5, 2020
Every day from 12 – 23
LIMA (in the basement of LAB111)
Arie Biemondstraat 111, Amsterdam
Entrance is free

Design by Pablo Bardinet

There Is No Copyright On Laws
Public Commission for the Rechtbank Roermond

Article 11 of the Dutch Copyright Act states that, under the law, once a text has been edited, it enters the public domain. On the basis of this, a text can be altered as long as the spirit of the wording remains intact. A fact of which the art works created for the court rooms of the new court building of Roermond District Court take full advantage. Stripped of their formal legal language, legislative texts engage in a dialogue with the public and the users of the space.

The Judging Machine, perspex and shadow

Installations of meaning

Here, light and language are the materials that reveal the spirit of the space and restore this meaning to the legal texts in a very unusual way. The art works are installations of meaning that call upon all the interpretative faculties: the wording of the legislation is interpreted by using other forms of language but also through widely diverse graphic styles that serve the meaning of the work. The light itself “interprets’ the visual aspect of the work and projects its shadow on the wall.

Commissioned by:Rijksgebouwendienst
Completed:January 1994
Constructed byRob Nolte, Neon Weka, Holland
Toneelopvoering van art. 338
Toneelopvoering van art. 338
Welk Recht…?
Welk Recht…?
Berecht Me Maar
De Wet Word Gebruikt…
In ZKM fat the exhibition “Writing the History of the future” MyDesktopLife is presented on a screen.

MyDesktopLife is presented inside this exhibition of the collection of ZKM

I have been supported by ZKM in their program Art on Your Screen.
Here is my contribution

More photos of the work in the news of MyDesktopLife

The collection of the ZKM | Karlsruhe ranks among the largest media art collections in the world. It exemplifies the transformation of art in the face of changing technologies of production, reception, and distribution. Artists react to changes in media  and sometimes anticipate developments that only years later will be taken for granted by society as a whole: they write the history of the future.

Media determine to a great extent how we express our thoughts and feelings, how we communicate, and how we remember the past. Johannes Gutenberg’s movable metal letters fundamentally changed Europe’s culture of knowledge in the middle of the 15th century, just as photography changed the fine arts in the middle of the 19th century, and the Internet transformed our entire private and public communication at the end of the 20th century. The development of art went from moving letters to moving images and moving viewers; from the book page to the website, from the canvas to the screen.

“Writing the History of the Future. Part I” looks at art from the middle of the 20th century onwards. The exhibition shows aesthetic experiments with script and language that engage with different media. It presents the first attempts at computer-generated graphics and poetry as well as contemporary works dedicated to the automation of the creative act. It also addresses the material conditions of individual and cultural memory – between erasing and forgetting, storing and remembering.

New technologies provide the individual with ever new means to create images, texts, and sounds. They expand her or his scope for action. The exhibition provides a precise insight into the history of viewer activation – from Op-Art to physical interventions in variable pictorial objects to the instructions for action of the art of the »performative turn«.

Here is my artist’s page on their site

Ooit, which in English means something like ‘ever’, was designed for the newly built faculty of Economics of the Hanzehogeschool in the City of Groningen. The shape of the work was inspired by the bubbles used by cartoonists to show an idea taking shape. The oval and round shapes contain a digitally manipulated image of the Wadden area (a flat stretch of coast subjected to the continuous cycle of high and low tides). The word ‘Ooit’ or ‘ever’ has no set meaning – it refers to an indefinite, undefined time. Hence its connection with the marshy landscape which, with its vast spaces, summons up similar connotations. The landscape shown in the image seems to be hinged onto the horizon, reflecting clouds in the water’s surface.

The work seems to rise up out of the central hall of the building. The last oval is on the roof and forms a point of contact with the world outside the faculty building, also at night when the work lights up. Ooit’s contemplative character and its correlation with the advanced technology of which it is made, refer to the scholarly activities of the economics faculty.

The digitally manipulated images have been sprayed by airbrush technique onto canvas through which light can pass. The canvas is spanned on an aluminium construction within which neon lights have been attached. The image is visible on both sides of the ovals. The large oval is 300 cm wide, the other three shapes are round with a diameter of 160 cm, 120 cm and 90 cm respectively.

The newly built Faculty of Economics of the Hanzehogeschool is situated on the outskirts of the City of Groningen. Ooit’s is located in the central hall of the building.

Idee & execution: Martine Neddam
Commissioned by: Hanzehogeschool, Groningen
Completion 1995
Construction: Neon Weka, Holland

Welkom Sign

“these are a few of my favourite things…” is the title of this show.As part of the event Home Sequence, I have invited Michelle Son and Maartje Smits to exhibit in my house on 27/28/29/30 june 2019. I’m also showing some (text) objects in my house which I consider art, signed or unsigned.

Thursday 27 June 19/21:00 OPENING HOME SEQUENCE
Friday 28 June 14/19:00
Saturday 29 June 14/19:00
Sunday 30 June 14/19:00

Here is my favourite version of this famous song. In the lyrics it says that the mere thought of the things you like makes you feel better. And I add: provided you can summon a beautiful list of them from your memory… or inside your own house.
Added to my list of favourite things normally present in my house, are the works of Maartje Smits and Michelle Son.

Maartje Smits

The matter of mothers and mud
An installation and intimate chatbot performance about motherhood and what happens if a writer or artist creates a baby. This performance will be taking place in the safe space of a spare bedroom. For optimal experience a smartphone is handy but it’s no necessity. 

Performances on:
Thursday the 27 th of June (time: 20:00)
Friday the 28th of June (time: 18:00)
Saturday the 29th of June (time:15:00)
Max. 12 – 15 people per performance.

Maartje Smits is a poet in image and language. She investigates topics like ‘girliness’ and ‘nature’  by observing and infiltrating, operating in the limbo between art and literature. Her work consists of films, performances, texts and intimate confessions. Her books of (visual) poetry When you’re a girl and How I started a forest in my bathroom were published by publishing house De Harmonie. 

www.maartjesmits.nl

Michelle Son

like a luminous animal

“oh, na, na, na”
M’s largest room
skylight
cathedral height
“oh, na, na, na”
marmoleum movements
sticks that look like sketches of sticks
“bom bomm!… bom bomm!”
blipped portal
rolling companion

Scripting spaces is an activity that shapes Michelle Son’s artistic practice. Her interest in the paradox of language has developed into visual and experiential practices. This forms the structure for multiple media to activate a space, through sound, performance interventions, video, object-making or hybrid writing practices. Other subjects of interest stretch across notions of self-care, suburbia, cinema, flâneury, womanhood, wildness, diaspora and (in)direct communication. 

www.michelleson.co.za

Martine Neddam

“these are a few of my favourite things…”
Your own house has something comforting and familiar, just like a song you might hum to yourself. It hosts some of your favourite things. They might happen to be works of art, made by others or by yourself, or not even works of art, but just things or objects that you like having around. Things that bring you warmth, just by thinking of them.
I’m inviting Maartje Smits and Michelle Son to show their art in my house, to mingle with the space, shake off the dust, or blow it away with new words or new things.

floor plan of my home/studio with “my favourite things”

Martine Neddam is an artist who uses language as raw material.  Speech acts, modes of address, words in the public space were always her favourite subjects by which she had several museum and gallery exhibitions and large scale public commissions. Since 1996 she has created virtual characters on the internet who lead an autonomous artistic existence in which the real author remains invisible, Mouchette among others. She has also built several online participatory interfaces. To obtain my address, and the hours of the show, follow the rules of the Home Sequence project:
To receive the list of home addresses and the events schedule please RSVP to the email address: homesequenceadam@gmail.com
We kindly ask you not to circulate this document in order to keep overview of who obtained the list of private addresses of the participating artists. The list will be distributed few days before the opening.
Home Sequence was initiated by Sascha Pohle and Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec in 2018

Views of the opening at my place on 27 june

M. & M. & M. photo by Michelle Son

Les Recombinants”, une exposition d’art en ligne

Commissaire d’exposition : Madja Edelstein-Gomez

Une exposition peut-elle être conçue par une intelligence artificielle ?

Ce défi a été relevé par Madja Edelstein-Gomez pour son exposition “Les Recombinants”. Des algorithmes ont choisi des œuvres parmi les centaines de propositions recueillies au cours d’un appel à projet international.

Conçue en temps réel, l’exposition propose un mix hypnotique d’images, de vidéos, de sons et de textes proposés par les artistes et qui se recombinent perpétuellement à l’écran.

Bienvenue chez Les Recombinants, l’exposition du futur.

Autant que leurs œuvres d’art, la personnalité des artistes, leur biographie, la manière dont ils se décrivent eux-mêmes, dont ils montrent leur visage ainsi que leur travail, fait elle-même l’objet d’une recombinance. À l’écran des perspectives diverses s’offrent au visiteur et sur un clic, leur apparence se révèlent lentement, mettant au jour l’arrière-plan de la scène. Sur un clic encore, leurs mots génèrent de nouveaux discours sur l’art et sur l’oeuvre.

Sur le web, vous pourrez expérimenter le traitement des données en temps réel par les algorithmes de l’intelligence artificielle.

Cette découverte individuelle est offerte à votre patience, curiosité et sagacité. En ligne, chaque visiteur verra un spectacle différent, parcourra divers espaces et perspectives des artistes invités par l’intelligence artificielle. Vous pourrez aussi consulter leur présentation individuelle. Assistez à l’oeuvre de ces incroyables robots et découvrez leur pouvoir de calcul instantané ! Devinez leurs mouvements, repérez les œuvres et anticipez leurs combinaisons ! Attention, cela pourrait secouer le navigateur de votre ordinateur et faire fondre votre processeur !

http://lesrecombinants.fr

Ce que l’intelligence artificielle démontre est l’extrême compatibilité des artistes. Tous les styles, tous les médias, tous les genres artistiques ont été sollicités et sélectionnés pour être recombinés. Aucune œuvre n’a été jugée trop singulière, exceptionnelle ou hors norme. Aucune n’a été jugée trop démodée, trop laide, trop médiocre ou trop inauthentique. La “sagesse” de l’intelligence artificielle est de rejeter les catégories esthétiques attendues avec leur surcharge historique et sociale et de faire resurgir l’intuition et la sensibilité. Elle réconcilie les spectateurs avec la perception pure. Elle invite les institutions artistiques à s’ouvrir au nouveau monde de l’art, à remettre en question leurs préjugés sur l’art et à repenser ce que peut être une exposition à l’ère du web.

Pour la présentation d’Art-O-Rama Madja Edelstein-Gomez a choisi d’enregistrer trois captures d’écran de quinze minutes chacune. Ces vidéos vous invitent à créer votre propre visite et à découvrir et à expérimenter votre propre spectacle sur votre ordinateur.

Madja Edelstein-Gomez (née en 1960 à Montevideo, Uruguay) est une commissaire d’exposition indépendante , qui a réalisé plusieurs expositions internationales (Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Prague, Tbilisi, Toronto…). Elle vit actuellement à Kuala Lumpur et Paris. Elle est aussi une militante reconnue et engagée auprès de plusieurs associations humanitaires. Site personnel: http://madja.net

L’exposition en ligne est produite par Zinc (Marseilles), avec le soutien financier de : Dicréam-CNC, Château Ephémère (Carrières-sous-Poissy), Espace Gantner (Belfort), Rhizome (New York).

Proud to have Mouchette in this archive!

The Digital Canon (1960–2000) of the Netherlands. Experts from the field of digital culture selected twenty of the most prominent and influential works made on Dutch soil by artists who lived or worked here over a long period of time. The works and their makers are not all equally well known, yet this does not detract from their lasting influence on digital art and culture. Each of the works makes use of or responds to digital culture’s increasing impact on art and society. Discover these exceptional works of art here.

Read here why Li-Ma created the Digital Canon

The project has been carried out by a core group (‘the expert group’) and in collaboration with numerous experts from the field. The core team consisted of Josephine Bosma (researcher and critic), Martijn van Boven (artist and tutor), Annet Dekker (researcher and curator), Sandra Fauconnier (art historian) and Jan Robert Leegte (artist and tutor). The project was coordinated by LIMA and supervised by Gaby Wijers (director) and Sanneke Huisman (curator). Additional national and international experts were involved in various international meetings. Together with them, a broadly supported selection was made, while the often authoritarian selection procedures that lie at the basis of canonization were critically reflected upon.

The result can be seen on a website dedicated to the project: www.digitalcanon.nl. The twenty canonical works here each have their own page with images, excerpts, videos, quotes from the artists and texts. The works have been researched for this purpose. In addition, the website also contains clear insight into the development of the selection presented and some critical texts about canonizing digital art. The design emphasizes this dual nature by dividing the website into a front and back. This innovative design is made by Yehwan Song. Song is a South Korean designer, web designer and web developer. She designs and develops experimental websites and interactive graphical interfaces. Song is known for her playful design in which she reverses and challenges the general understanding of web design both conceptually and visually.

Follow-up
The canon is by no means an endpoint, but is the starting point for further investigation of the selected works. The first follow-up steps are already being taken. In addition to the website, an exhibition concept will be developed, which involves various relevant issues. For some of the selected works, for example, only documentation material is left and for other works restoration is needed. The canon is also a starting point for discussion and critical reflection, whereby canon formation and the selection procedure are critically examined. The title of the conversation between Josephine Bosma, Martijn van Boven, Annet Dekker, Sandra Fauconnier, Jan Robert Leegte and Gaby Wijers is significant from this point of view: “Canonization as an Activist Act”. The traditional form of canonization is used to open a conversation. The expert group invites the field to make its voice heard. The first external text has already been published on the website: Re-writing the Present: To Inhabit the Inhabitable by Willem van Weelden looks critically and philosophically at (the lack of) historical awareness in the field of canonization and preservation of digital art.