v2_ – Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies

[up]Loaded Bodies exhibitions / Curatorial statement

Posted: 17/03/2024 by teks

[up]Loaded Bodies exhibitions

Curatorial statement

Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst, Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst, TEKS.studio , V2_
Curators: Zane Cerpina, Boris Debackere, Espen Gangvik, Florian Weigl.

Grand narratives of escapes into digital wonderlands hit us time and again. What does the journey beyond the screen promise us today? Is it a one-way ticket to a boundless experience inside the perfect avatar body? A utopian fantasy of an eternal party in cyberspace? What can we truly expect from this virtual tourism? Will it live up to its promises? How high are your digital expectations? And are you prepared to leave your physical confines at the departure hall, while your mind embarks on a spectacular voyage into virtual realms?

The [up]Loaded Bodies exhibitions of Meta.Morf 2024 present artists who explore the technological body caught between virtual ecstasy and digital obesity. Reflecting on the biennale theme, the featured artworks probe the complexities of identity, embodiment, and experience in the digital era, offering a myriad of perspectives that span from the hopeful to the critical. In a joint effort, the curators of TEKS and V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, devised the conceptual framework and selection of works. The [up]Loaded Bodies exhibitions unfold across four venues: first at three galleries in Trondheim: i) K-U-K – Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst, ii) Trøndelag senter for samtidskunst, and iii) TEKS.studio, then iv) in Rotterdam at V2_, Lab for Unstable Media.

Why stay within your physical confines? Digital technologies can help you to become anyone. How about embodying an everyday object? The interactive installation, “Unconventional Self” (2023), lets you see and act as furniture. Werner van der Zwan and Charl Linssen’s project invites you to explore the world from the perspective of a folding chair. Put on the VR headset and traverse the world through your new body.

How would AI act in the world if it had a physical body? In “PL’AI” (2020), Špela Petrič lends AI physical body parts so that it can interact with cucumber plants. The living artwork and its video documentation let you witness the playful encounter between these two non-human entities.

And what if AI was in control of human body extensions? “7 Configurations: The Cycle” (2015-2019) by Marco Donnarumma features robotic AI prostheses that have minds of their own. Whether it is the “Amygdala” —a skin-cutting robot— or “Rei” —which blocks the wearer’s gaze with a mechanical arm— these robotic objects operate beyond human needs or demands.

Have you pondered the parallels between the coding of our DNA to that of machines? The robotic installation “Requiem for an Exit” (2024) by Frode Oldereid and Thomas Kvam delivers a monologue about the intricate programming intrinsic to our genetic inheritance. This uncanny machine-human hybrid depicts evil as something deeply embedded within the human genome.

The ontological gap between humans and machines is further examined by Tim Høibjerg, in his narrative-based installation “Ejector” (2023/2024). This contemplative work explores the sense of self from the perspective of virtual entities, such as AI. Can you now sense the pulse of life within the digital?

Humans seek the familiar in everything around them. Digital technologies accelerate this pursuit further. In “Pareidolia” (2019), Driessens & Verstappen apply face detection software to individual sand particles in search of human portraits. Is anyone familiar?

Meanwhile, the video installation “Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome” (2024), by Martinus Suijkerbuijk featuring Øystein Fjeldbo, makes you sympathize with a Non-Playable Character as he adapts to extreme weather events. Will climate change ever reach the virtual landscapes? Is this dark tourism gone digital?

What becomes of our corporeal confines while we indulge in virtual tourism? Marnix de Nijs’ “Gravitational Bodies” (2024) presents an anti-gravity installation that allows users to abandon the constraints of their physical bodies. Will your body ever feel the same after the return from the digital realm?

As we navigate these virtual spaces, the body is put into the bargain. Your personal data and free labor are harvested online to power machine learning. Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules disrupts this in her work “I’m not a Robot” (2021) by feeding thousands of cat images to an AI model designed to identify cars. The resulting images are unrecognizable to both bots and humans. Test your own luck to tell the difference in this interactive installation.

Digital technologies melt the horizon between virtual and real, yet all bodies stick with their materialities. In “Hotspot” (2023), Marlot Meyer links all audience members to an interactive AI-based system. Enter the installation, and upload your biosignals to the hotspot.

Paula Strunden invites you to become a performer in her immersive mixed-reality installation “Rhetorical Bodies” (2024). Enter the dancefloor to expand your physical constraints and try on fluid digital identities. The movements transform the sounds and visuals, creating a captivating theatrical spectacle.

While we immerse ourselves in the digital cloud, Marie-Luce Nadal’s installation “Vie d’ailleur” (2022) showcases a real cloud harvested from the skies in Cambodia. In her second work, “Making the Clouds Cry” (2015), she shoots a crossbow into the sky. Inspired by the practice of cloud seeding, this literally makes the sky cry.

On- or offline, our turbulent digital travel schedules continue to affect bodies and shape identities. Fasten your digital extensions and prepare for the Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies exhibitions to take you on a joyride, exploring the liminal space between the virtual and physical. The featured artists will take you through a rollercoaster of experiences from the perspective of both humans and machines, encouraging us to reconsider our next destination.

Whether you are a human longing to be uploaded into a new virtual body or an AI looking to interact with physical reality, this is no holiday. This is life as we know it in the 21st century.

Zane Cerpina / Boris Debackere / Espen Gangvik / Florian Weigl, 2024

K-U-K | TSSK | v2_

Gravitational Bodies

Posted: 16/03/2024 by teks

Marnix de Nijs

Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies / V2_ / September 19 – October 13 /
Curators: Zane Cerpina, Boris Debackere, Espen Gangvik, Florian Weigl.

Gravitational Bodies (2024)

Gravitational Bodies delivers a deeply absorbing VR experience by combining the physical sensation of floating mid-air on an emergency stretcher with visuals of a perpetually evolving AI-generated landscape. In this experience, you escape gravity, leave your body behind, and lose yourself in digital infinity, only to discover that your physical body’s proprioception constraints hinder a total escape into virtuality. However, it’s not just the information derived from our muscles and nerves that we are tempted to ignore; with rapidly advancing AI technologies, we no longer have to rely on our cognitive capacities either. “Gravitational Bodies” seductively utilizes these specific technologies that led to our current state of emergency, playfully and critically examining their impact on our present condition.

The interface of this interactive work is a customized emergency stretcher, typically used to evacuate individuals from challenging locations like ships, ski slopes, and, for example, caves. This installation cradles your vulnerable VR body, wearing VR glasses, hanging above the floor of the exhibition space. The stretcher’s X, Y, and Z positions and orientations are dynamically adjusted using a motorized flying rig. The trajectory of the stretcher initially correlates with the movement of the virtual camera, transitioning from a standing to a reclining position, shifting your balance and sensation of gravity. Over time, the stretcher’s motions intensify and become increasingly challenging to endure.

The imagery develops from augmented to virtual reality and from a street-level point of view to an AI-generated bird’s-eye view. Hoovering over a landscape surrounded by undulating mountains, you drift through turns and fly over a meditative but slightly uncanny synthetic AI-generated infinite landscape. The progression of the experience will be directly linked to various render styles, digital glitches, fluid perspective shifts, and dynamic warping with effects that are loosely inspired by gravitational sci-fi concepts such as the O’Neill cylinder and the von Braun wheel.

The work’s soundtrack is generated in real-time and mainly focuses on supporting the physical experience. Dynamic parameters like speed and orientation are directly altering the game sounds. The ambient sound layers will evolve, correlating with the 3D world. The composition also includes audible and inaudible frequencies that drive surface transducers for tactile feedback and simultaneously transform the emergency stretcher into a therapeutic singing bowl.

Whether you’re feeling bored in your VR isolation or can no longer tolerate the physical misalignment and get nauseous, when you choose to re-enter the augmented state, you discover yourself securely strapped onto the stretcher, rescued, and reconnected with the physical world of the exhibition space surrounding you.

Marnix de Nijs (NL) b. 1970, is a Rotterdam-based installation artist. After graduating as a sculptor in 1992, he focused his early career on sculpture, public space, and architecture. Since the mid 90’s, he has been a pioneer in researching the experimental use of media and technologies in Art. His works include mainly interactively experienced machines that play with the perception and control of image and sound, but also radical and humorous pieces such as his Bullet Proof Tent and the Physiognomic Scrutinizer belong to his oeuvre.

Impelled by the idea that technology acts as a driving force behind cultural change and is therefore capable of generating new experiences where societal habits and communication are rethought, his work thrives on the creative possibilities offered by new media, while critically examining their impact on contemporary society and human perception. To create his technologically complex installations, de Nijs often relies on close collaborations with media labs, universities, developers, engineers, and professionals from the film and game industry.

De Nijs’ works have been widely exhibited at international art institutes, museums, and festivals. He won the Art Future Award (Taipei 2000) and received honorable mentions at the Transmediale award ( Berlin 2000), the Vida 5.0 award (Madrid 2002), and Prix Ars Electronica ( Linz 2013, 2005 & 2001). In 2005, he collected the prestigious Dutch Witteveen & Bos Art and Technology Price 2005, for his entire oeuvre.

marnixdenijs.nll

Header Graphics: “Gravitational Bodies”, courtesy of the artist / Portrait photo: Joey Kennedy.

v2_

Rhetorical Bodies: An XR Dance Performance

Posted: 16/03/2024 by teks

Paula Strunden

Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies / V2_ / September 19 – October 13 /
Curators: Zane Cerpina, Boris Debackere, Espen Gangvik, Florian Weigl.

Rhetorical Bodies: An XR Dance Performance (2023)

Rhetorical Bodies is a collaborative extended reality (XR) installation by Paula Strunden that transcends the boundaries of physical and virtual reality. Through the use of inflatable wearables tracked in real-time, it bridges the gap between two dancing bodies, translating their movements into sounds and transforming their physical forms into interactive embodied synthesizers. This fusion of physical movements with auditory expression invites immersants to explore the profound impact of sensing their material bodies in the virtual realm.

Drawing from Strunden’s research in embodied virtuality dating back to the 1990s and inspired by numerous female pioneers in the field, including Brenda Laurel, Char Davies, and Rebecca Allen, “Rhetorical Bodies” challenges conventional notions of bodily boundaries, inviting immersants to navigate the fluidity of identity and venture into the realm of their virtual selves.

Thirty years ago, the American architectural theorist Karen A. Franck asked, “When I enter Virtual Reality, what Body will I leave behind?” Her essay, published in the Architectural Design Magazine Architects in Cyberspace (1995), starts with a detailed depiction of how it feels to place a virtual reality (VR) headset on her head, slip a pair of gloves over her fingers, put on a motion capture suit, take a first step, and reach into virtual space. To act in virtual space and interact with virtual objects is disclosed by Franck as an inherently physical undertaking. Franck insists on needing her “eyes and ears to do the seeing and hearing; my arms, hands, legs, and feet, (…) to do the moving.” It is not the physical body, she explains, that is left behind, as “without it, I am in no world at all.” Rather, her body’s capacities to interact, respond, and attune to a new environment with different sets of laws enable her to experience new ways of “being-in-the-world”. Instead of detaching from her body, Franck speculates how her embodied self would feel in an immersive virtual environment freed from the limitations and physical constraints of the material world.

In the same vein, the American literary critic N. Katherine Hayles proclaims in her essay “Embodied Virtuality: Or How to Put the Body Back into the Picture” published in Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments (1996): “If it is obvious that we can see, hear, feel, and interact with virtual worlds only because we are embodied, why is there so much noise about the perception of cyberspace as a disembodied medium?”

Building on this notion of embodied virtuality, Strunden’s work fosters a profound sense of connection and cultivates new forms of intimacy, enabling immersants to engage with each other’s bodies and gestures in real-time while being physically apart. As immersants immerse themselves in this networked XR experience, their movements are augmented and made visible to one another in real-time while their bodies take the shape of fluid, flowing, soft blobs, blurring the lines between their visually perceived and felt bodies. Through the use of hand and full-body motion tracking, the installation creates a dynamic interplay of movements and sounds, in which immersants can merge and bind with their surrounding spaces and bodies, blurring the distinction between self and other and revealing the inherent ambiguity and dynamic plasticity of bodily boundaries.

The intimate act of stepping into each other’s bodies, touching, moving, and merging with each other’s fluid shapes evokes the paradoxical sensation of feeling without feeling, sensing without being able to understand the sensation. Instead of experiencing the physical within the virtual, this XR installation allows immersants to experience and enact their virtual selves physically – with and through their bodies. While experiencing being “you” and “me” simultaneously – not as a static middle, but as a fluid and dynamic link between the realms – “Rhetorical Bodies” invites immersants to embrace the interconnectedness of self and otherhood and embrace the fluidity of identity.

Credits
Sound Design: Daniel Helmer; Soft Bodies: Ivan Isakov; Networking: Joelle Galloni (Studio VRij); Inflatables: Schultes Wien; Dance & Choreography: Tu Hoang.

“Rhetorical Bodies” has been collaboratively developed within the framework of “No Dancing Allowed” (22.06.2022-20.11.2022), curated by Bogomir Doringer at Q21 MQ Vienna and “Hybrid Tales for Hybrid Times” (05.05.2023-27.08.2023), curated by Angelique Spaninks at MU Artspace Eindhoven. The installation is part of Paula Strunden’s design-led Ph.D. research, supervised by Angelika Schnell at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, as part of the project ‘Communities of Tacit Knowledge (TACK): Architecture and its Ways of Knowing’, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860413.

Paula Strunden (DE/NL) is a transdisciplinary XR artist with a background in architecture. She studied in Vienna, Paris, and London and worked at Raumlabor Berlin and Herzog & de Meuron Basel. Since 2020, she has been conducting her design-led PhD as part of the Horizon 2020 European research network “TACK: Communities of Tacit Knowledge – Architecture and Its Ways of Knowing” at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Her work specializes in embodied and multisensory virtuality, exploring the intersection of architecture, spatial computing, and human experience. Her performative XR installations have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts London, Nieuwe Insituut Rotterdam, MU Art House Eindhoven, and Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam, as well as nominated for the Dutch Film Award “Gouden Calf” in 2020 and 2023. Paula is co-founder of the educational initiative Virtual Fruits and leads workshops and summer schools at public universities and cultural institutions as part of her associate position at Store Projects. Through her internet platform, www.xr-atlas.org, she advocates for an interdisciplinary historiography of virtual technologies and furthers the recognition of female pioneers in the history of VR, and thought at the Architectural Association London, Bauhaus University Weimar, Academy von Bouwkunst Amsterdam and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

www.paulastrunden.com | www.xr-atlas.org

Header graphics: “Online”, courtesy of the artist / Portrait photo: Caendia Wijnbelt.

v2_

Making the Clouds Cry

Posted: 15/03/2022 by teks

Marie-Luce Nadal

Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies /
Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst, April 17 – June 9 / V2_, September 19 – October 13 /
Curators: Zane Cerpina, Boris Debackere, Espen Gangvik, Florian Weigl.

Making the Clouds Cry (2015)

Madeleine Crossbow (from the “Making the Clouds Cry” outdoor performance) is a sculpture and instrument crafted by Marie-Luce Nadal. With welded metal, electric components, and repurposed bra wire, this weapon houses handmade cartridges that, when released into the sky, beckon the clouds to share their emotions. A poetic exploration of human connection to nature, this creation expresses the artist’s profound intention to merge art with the world’s emotions.

Vie d’Ailleurs (2022)

Vie d’Ailleurs is an artwork that embodies the harvesting and manifestation of pure cloud essence. This essence is extracted by Marie-Luce Nadal, an artist passionate about capturing natural phenomena.

Through regular practice, she collects this essence and redistributes it in enclosed environments, giving rise to a series of works called “Eoloriums.” The artwork “Vie d’Ailleurs” presented here is a captivating depiction of the collection of soil and a cloud, both harvested in Cambodia in 2022.

This evolving sculpture contains a captive cloud in perpetual motion. Under the watchful eye of the overhanging machine, the cloud appears and disappears, following an orchestrated movement. The contained atmosphere oxidizes, clouds, or clears, influenced by its surroundings.

The term “Eolorium” is a neologism coined by the artist, combining “Aeolus,” the god of winds in Greek mythology, with the Latin suffix “arium.”

This sculpture, reminiscent of a cloud aquarium, houses a captive fragment of land, a microcosm subject to the random will of air masses condensing into wisps.

Like an archivist, Marie-Luce Nadal collects the ephemeral to preserve it from the imprint of time.

Marie-Luce Nadal (FR) is a Franco-Catalan artist and researcher, born in 1984. Nadal draws inspiration from her viticultural roots and the land of Perpignan, where she grew up, to explore the intersection of myths, art, and science. Descended from a lineage of winemakers, she brings a poetic and scientific perspective to the mastery of the sky, inheriting the ancestral struggle of her grandfather against the elements. Nadal’s artistic endeavors transcend conventional boundaries. She is renowned for her performative machinic works, a fusion of plastic singularity, scientific inquiry, and technical viability. Her intention is not merely to create art but to provide objects that the audience can actively engage with or deploy. Nadal’s work is haunted by the direct impact of climatic phenomena, leading to a captivating exploration of meteorology and art within her creative universe.

marielucenadal.com
Header Graphics: “Making the Clouds Cry”, courtesy of the artist / Portrait photo: Andrew Brooke

TSSK | v2_

Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome

Posted: 15/03/2022 by teks

Martinus Suijkerbuijk, featuring Øystein Fjeldbo

Meta.Morf 2024 – [up]Loaded Bodies /
Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst, April 18 – August 18 / V2_, September 19 – October 13 /
Curators: Zane Cerpina, Boris Debackere, Espen Gangvik, Florian Weigl.

Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome (2024)

The Turing Gaia artistic research project is presented in three chapters during Meta.Morf Biennale 2024. “Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome” unfolds during the whole exhibition period and acts as the foundational model of the successive performance: “Composing the ((Non)Human)” and the VR installation “Markov’s Umwelt.”

“Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome” emerges as a creative amalgamation of technology, art, and virtual ecology, a speculative Zero-Player Game, that offers a grounded yet imaginative perspective on a world actively confronting the impacts of climate change. It manifests as a digital environment where an AI-driven Non-Playable Character (NPC), named Markov-NPC, endeavors to make sense of a rapidly changing and heat-dominated ecosystem.

Markov-NPC, crafted as an advanced cognitive architecture, is not just an occupant of this evolving world but an active participant. Its behavior, influenced by varying environmental heat levels, provides insights into the diverse strategies life might employ to endure the challenges posed by a shifting climate. This narrative, a testament to survival and adaptability, illustrates the innate resilience of life. In this virtual setting, Markov-NPC and the ecosystem interact in a dynamic exchange, adapting to new climatic realities amidst the backdrop of extreme weather events that evoke a sense of the Sublime.

The narrative of “Turing Gaia” is a fluid, evolving cycle, showcasing the interplay between artificial intelligence, human experience, and virtual ecology. This synergy offers a unique view into a world experimenting with new forms of existence.

A key feature of this project is its emphasis on ‘heat’ as a central aesthetic parameter. This is not merely a visual aspect but an experiential one for Markov. The environment, alive with heat-induced phenomena like mirages and heatwaves, is depicted in a vibrant spectrum of colors, signifying temperature changes. This interactive interpretation of heat brings the virtual environment to life.

The visual landscape of “Turing Gaia” is a blend of diverse futuristic visions—space colonization, solarpunk, thermofuturism—styled through generative AI technologies and meticulously designed in 3D. The world is in constant flux, driven by procedural algorithms that ensure a unique experience for each visitor, a journey through a world that is perpetually reinventing itself.

Enhancing this visual journey is an AI-generated soundscape, intricately woven to enhance the narrative. Composed of digitally crafted natural sounds, it forms a symphony that reflects the altered reality of our environment. Within this soundscape, a meta-narrator, powered by advanced Language Models like GPT-4 and PALM 2, offers first-person reflections on Markov’s computational experiences. This narrative layer bridges individual struggles with broader contemplations of global climate dynamics, creating a story that echoes the virtual experience and mirrors our own world’s evolving story.

Norwegian sound artist Øystein Fjeldbo collaborates on this project, shaping the AI-generated sound material and integrating data from both Markov and the virtual ecology into the generative soundscape.

“Turing Gaia I” is a cultural and existential exploration into thermofuturism—a cultural concept that acknowledges the complexity of entropy at the heart of all exchanges, not only in environmental dynamics in the earth’s atmosphere, but also in our cultural, economic and political systems.

The project “Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome” stretches the capabilities of AI to their creative zenith, threading a narrative of ecosystems, plant and animal life, and abstract vistas that represent a world grappling with the realities of climate change. More than just a display of potential future scenarios, this installation is an interactive exploration that prompts visitors to ponder our current trajectory. It functions as an illustrative canvas, vividly portraying the journey of a computational entity as it navigates the complexities of an evolving world. In this way, the project not only showcases what might be but also actively engages with the present, encouraging a deeper understanding and consideration of the paths we choose.

Supported by BEK – Bergen senter for elektronisk kunst.

Martinus Suijkerbuijk’s (NL/NO) diverse background forms the blueprint of his artistic practice. He holds a degree in Automation Engineering and Industrial Design. In 2017, he graduated from the International MFA program at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts, where he is also currently a PhD candidate. His work is best understood as an experimental practice that connects, translates, and operates across the borders of different media, artistic genres, and disciplines. Within his practice, he explores the fringes of art, technology, and philosophy through the potential of alliances and collaborations. His technical background has enabled him to work across industries. He has been invited to present his research and work at art institutions (ZKM, Sónar+D Barcelona, Meta.Morf 2020) as well as technology conferences (CHI 2018, Philips Trend Event). Presently, his artistic research centers around the possibilities of Artificial Aesthetic Agents through AI technologies and gaming engines.

martinussuijkerbuijk.net

Øystein Fjeldbo (NO) is a Trondheim-based sound artist. He holds a master’s degree in music technology from NTNU (2017). His work primarily aims to shape android auditory expressions. On one hand, he transforms synthetic starting points into something more organic, while on the other hand, he utilizes “organic” sound materials, such as field recordings and acoustic instruments, abstracting them into something more synthetic-sounding.

With the group Future Daughter, he has released music on labels like Orange Milk Records, #FEELINGS, and Kropp Uten Grenser. His projects and collaborations, both in music and installation, have been presented at institutions such as Landmark and BIT Teatergarasjen Bergen, Høstscena Ålesund, Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art, Sónar+D Barcelona, and ArtScience Museum Singapore.

fjeldbo.works

Header graphics: “Turing Gaia: Entering Thermodome” / Video-still courtesy of the artists.

K-U-K | v2_

Category: v2_