portal

SLOW HOUSE

To either side of the “picture window” are two antenna-like stacks: the chimney is to the right, the video apparatus to the left. At the summit of the left stack sits a live video camera directed at the water view and feeding the monitor in front of the picture window. The electronic view is operable; the camera can pan or zoom by remote control. When recorded, the view may be deferred— day played back at night, fair weather played back in foul. The composite view formed by the screen in front of the picture window is always out of register, collapsing the opposition between the authentic and mediated.

WiFi Impressionist
Wifi Impressionist is a field installation that draws electromagnetic landscapes inspired by the cityscapes of William Turner. The work consists of a directional antenna on a pan-tilt mechanism that listens for WiFi signals and builds a three dimensional model of the signals around it. From this model a viewport is selected that defines the perspective and the frame. Signals that are picked up within the frame are visualised as waves emitted from a specific origin and drawn using a mobile plotter. The antenna and the plotter are both mounted on a tripod and can be placed in the field much like a painter would set up his easel. Once positioned and oriented a drawing becomes denser over time depending on the density of networks around it. Wherever there is a WiFi signal, the drawing will eventually fill the frame.

Supraspettivi
Nel processo di creazione di Supraspectives, il duo di artisti Quadrature ha raccolto i dati di 590 satelliti spia (recenti e precedenti), la cui traiettoria segue l’installazione. Un terzo di loro può essere considerato spazzatura spaziale, poiché sono obsoleti o danneggiati, ma continuano comunque a sorvolare noi. L’installazione calcola in tempo reale i percorsi di tutti quei satelliti e ricostruisce speculativamente la vista che stanno catturando, offrendo immagini intervenute artisticamente di ciò che i satelliti potrebbero osservare. Vengono selezionati principalmente i satelliti che transitano nei pressi della sede espositiva, abbinati ad altre immagini satellitari particolarmente interessanti o suggestive. Inoltre, un’antenna motorizzata appositamente costruita sul tetto si collega in diretta con i satelliti che sorvolano Tabakalera, trasformando i loro veri segnali radio in suono. Ogni volta che l’installazione si collega con un satellite, lo schermo mostra i dati ad esso relativi, come paese di origine o anno di lancio.

Supraspectives
In the process of creating Supraspectives, the artist duo Quadrature has gathered the data of 590 (recent & former) spy satellites, whose trajectory the installation follows. A third of them can be considered space trash, as they are obsolete or damaged, but still, they continue overflying us. The installation calculates the paths of all those satellites in real time and speculatively reconstructs the view they are capturing, offering artistically intervened images of what the satellites could be observing. Mainly satellites passing near the exhibition venue are selected, combined with other specially interesting or suggestive satellite images. Additionally, a specifically built motorized antenna on the roof connects live with the satellites overflying Tabakalera, transforming their real radio signals into sound. Everytime the installation connects with a satellite, the screen shows the data relative to it, such as country of origin or year of launch.

ELECTRIC SKIN

The Electric Skin explores the possibility of creating a wearable that extends the functionality of the skin to sense electromagnetic fields (mostly within the radio spectrum) and translate that information into touch sensation. The wearable consists of two main functional parts: 1) A matrix of omnidirectional antennas that act as sensors and probes and 2) corresponding electrodes that stimulate the skin of the wearer. Through this artificial “skin” or “exoskeleton”, the wearable changes our experience, perception, and understanding of space and movement, and in doing so, our interactions. The project speculates on the possible co-evolution of man and technology and draws attention to the role of environmental influence on our own bodily development and behavior.

МАРИ ШУИНАР
Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge
“My source has always been the body itself, and especially the silence and the breath which make up the “invisible” stuff of life. At the root of each new work there is always what I call the “mystery”, an unknown wavelength that calls out to me in an almost obsessive manner. My work consists of capturing this primordial wavelength, of “tuning” it in a sense, and of arranging it in space and time with a structure and form proper to it. Since 1978, this is what I have been doing: listening attentively to the vital pulsation of the body to the point of crystallising it in a new order. Each time, I start afresh from zero. Each time, I focus and re-direct my “antennae[…]”

Field and Loops

Loops and Fields, is a collection of drawings that resonate sympathetically to the electromagnetic fields within the gallery. These graphite drawings function as graphic antennas and explore the qualities and inherent nature of a combination of hand-drawn and mathematically generated forms. Delving into algorithmic structures, fractals and the chaotic nature of the hand drawn line, these drawings are an exploration of conductive materials and the possibilities for drawing electronic components. When connected to a sound system they make audible their interior activity and reveal the energy that exists in the immediate environment.Relying on the basic principles of the directional loop antenna, the drawings in Loops and Fields, like any receiving antenna, convert an electromagnetic wave into a voltage; the loop antenna is particularly sensitive to magnetic fields and outputs a voltage proportional to that field. Monitoring this activity allows us to experience the local fields and generates a site-specific and dynamic aural landscape.The different shapes and line qualities that make up the algorithmically generated and stencilled drawings come from thinking about the possibilities of extending a line. Fractal mathematics and the research into fractal antennas has focused on reducing the overall size and space an antenna needs to occupy. My interest is in the frequency range at the lower regions of the spectrum, where the wavelength is large; so my interpretation of recent antenna design research has led me to explore the possibilities for drawing antennas that can receive large wavelengths, on something the size of a standard piece of fine art paper.

ליאון טרמין
레온 테레민
Лев Термен
théremin

he invented an electronic device known as the theremin, which was a unique musical instrument that could be played without physical contact. Rather than plucking strings or pressing keys, the musician need only move their hands around antennas located on the device.The device became a popular curiosity and he proceeded to tour Europe in order to demonstrate it. In 1928, he moved to New York City in the United States, where he played a theremin in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1928. In 1929, he was granted a patent for the device by the United States. He decided to give RCA the rights to manufacture and sell the theremin for a lump sum payment and a percentage of the sales.In the early 1930s, Theremin purchased a laboratory in New York that he used for experimenting with electronic musical instruments. One of the products of his lab was the Rhythmicon, which was purchased by Henry Cowell, a composer. In 1930, a group of ten “thereminists” performed at Carnegie Hall.Theremin also began researching a method to cause lights and sound to respond to the movement of dancers. His system became popular with ballet and dance clubs throughout the country.

조니 레인저
ジョニーレンジャー
ג’וני ריינג’ר
约翰尼游侠
جوني الحارس
Six Mil Antennas
SIX MIL ANTENNAS is a 360 degree immersive film that employs a range of visual and audio codes to bring a surrealist perspective to the forefront. Framing shifting communication processes in a fictional setting, the whimsical, open-ended work re-imagines different states of the world in a futuristic timeframe. Through a series of events, the piece alternates its tone between deconstructed gravity, aesthetic sensuality and satirical humor. Inserting filmed actors in faux designed landscapes, the film creates non-linear narratives of a personal, social and political nature and expresses a complex intertwining multiverse, in which the characters and abstract landscapes evolve.