TRACE
__________________________________________________________________
featuring works
capacitive body II
by Martin Hesselmeier Andreas Muxel
Armadillo
by Felix Thorn
Welcome to Europe
by Abraham Hurtado
Leaving Traces-Performance
by Brina Stinehelfer
__________________________________________________________________
Opening 29. April 2011
Exhibition 30. April 2011 (15.00-24.00)
__________________________________________________________________
With the exhibition TRACE we examined the role of the “body” both digital and physical and its ability to change the architecture of the landscape and our perceptions of space. What is the role of the body and what resistance can it offer against digital reproduction? Living in a cross-linked world we have to cope with the permanent interaction between reality and its overlaying digital world, without knowing where these impulses start or end. TRACE mirrors this phenomenon of permanent interactive influence, of action and re-action – starting by rearranging the word “react” to “TRACE”.
__________________________________________________________________
Capacitive body is a modular light system that reacts to the sound of urban spaces. Each custom built module consists of a piezoelectric sensor, a high bright electroluminescent wire and a microcontroller. The sensor is used to measure the vibration of a solid body. This data is transformed to the luminance of the wire. Modules of the system were installed at LEAP and outside on the street. One module is attached to each side of the glass shell, whose vibrations are triggered by the traffic noise of its environment. With the electroluminescent wires a new dynamic space is built inside the rigid body. In this setup the sensor data is used to trigger the on/off rhythm of each light wire. Thereby a visual feedback of the aural activity of the LEAP’s environment is given to the observer of the system.
__________________________________________________________________
The work „Armadillo“ by Felix Thorn (Felix’s Machines) is a compact device built to function as a standalone music box. Armadillo was built with materials including a bathroom rack, guitar case and various piano mechanisms. The majority of sounds are delicate and resemble light percussion of a cymbal. There are two motors that scrape springs at adjustable velocities. In standalone mode a sonar sensor triggers a programmed or random sequence. The nearer an observer stands, the faster the sequence becomes.
__________________________________________________________________
As a form of resistance to these works Abraham Hurtado in his work „Welcome to Europe“ asks in an age of consumer culture and over stimulation, what has become of our reality? Which actions, mental states, emotions and symptoms does it produce? With the live installation Welcome to Europe, Abraham Hurtado creates an extended time frame to focus on these questions and experience their resonances. Welcome to Europe is a live installation focusing on the mental state of European people; a state that has been influenced by over stimulation. What did we lose as Europeans? It is the main question. As the installation develops our attention is called to the emotional state that causes our reality as Europeans. The body and emotion have become consumer‘s products: statements and actions that are irreversible, disposable.
Welcome to Europe, Live Installation
Concept by Abraham Hurtado
Live Music: Jan Ferreira
Voice Over: Thomas Conway
Executed by: Zohar Frank, Sofía Verástegui
Video DPO: Anders Bigum
__________________________________________________________________
Theatre + Performance Artist Brina Stinehelfer created a new site-specific durational performance piece in response to the installations of TRACE and the architecture of LEAP. What traces are left when the human body and the digital one overlap, intertwine, collide? What happens in the spaces where we co-exist? Where is the divide where one body ends and another begins?
__________________________________________________________________
Martin Hesselmeier & Andreas Muxel
Felix Thorn
Abraham Hurtado
