Speculative Evolution, Prototype 1

FILE 2024 | Installations
International Electronic Language Festival
Speculative experiment on a future ecosystem under strict control. The narrative takes place in a simulation, 30 years in the future, where artificial intelligence and synthetic biology collaborate to optimize an environment for cultivated species. An AI-powered simulator helps visitors generate new species to balance the ecosystem. Inspiration comes from the book Under the White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert and artists’ stories about life on a damaged planet.

Bio

Marc Lee is a Swiss artist focused on real-time rendered audiovisual installations, AR, VR and mobile applications, critically exploring creative, cultural, social, ecological, political and speculative themes. His work has been exhibited in important museums and new media art spaces. Shervin Saremi is an Iranian musician and audio engineer specializing in sonic computing, procedural sound design and production. Currently researching immersive audio at UdK Berlin.

NNY 43 – New York 43

FILE 2024 | Aesthetic Synthetics
International Electronic Language Festival
Arnaud Weber – NNY 43 – Nouvelle New-York 43 – Switzerland

In this short created with Midjourney, Runway and DaVinci Resolve, a futuristic megacity sprawls across an exoplanet, reflecting humanity’s limitless expansion. This fascinating and immense city of tomorrow explores the challenges and wonders of a civilization that goes beyond the limits of human habitation. The work offers a captivating reflection on the future of our societies and the impact of our growth in new and unexplored worlds.

Bio

Arnaud Weber, creative director and founder of Le Village Design has been a pioneer in generative digital art since the 2000s. Educated at École Boulle, his work ranges from Parisian design agencies to international recognition, especially through art and films generated by AI. His projects exemplify the fusion between technology and creativity, questioning the future of organic creativity in the digital age.

ADAD
This installation is a mechanism that serves as a kind of interface between planetary processes and an audience. It consists of 12 transparent piezocrystals, grown especially for the project, and 12 motorized hammers that strike them. The installation is connected to the internet. Its core algorithm is controlled by data from a meteorological site which shows lightning strikes in real time (on average, 10~200 lightning flashes occur on the planet every minute). Each time the installation receives information about a lightning strike, a hammer strikes one of the crystals, resulting in a small electrical discharge produced by the crystal under mechanical stress. Each of these charges activates a powerful lamp and sound effects.

Elements
Elements is an experimental art film by Maxim Zhestkov about nature, physics, art and love. More than 2 billion elements / particles governed by tensions and forces of nature were used to tell stories and show emotions through the motion of collective behavior.
The film is a trial to explore the idea that everything around us and inside us is made from simple elements / blocks which can be arranged in complex relationships and become compound structures. We could project this idea into emotions, behaviours, thought processes, relationships, life, planets and the 23.

MIMA

Aniara

“Early in the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a woman (Emelie Jonsson) who works on a kind of “attraction” of the spaceship called MIMA, which, at first, is not very popular. It is a technology capable of capturing people’s emotions. and turn them into images, or rather into a kind of vivid dream in their minds. As the ship wanders aimlessly through space, while it is not yet known if it is possible to return to the correct route, days become weeks, weeks become it takes months and the demand for MIMA increases. Aniara explores very well what makes us human as a race and also the importance of having a place to call her own. What was supposed to be a simple transport, over time becomes, in fact, a kind of “mini-planet”.” Marcio Melo

Nixon in China
During his rise to power, Richard Nixon became known as a leading anti-communist. After he became president  in 1969, Nixon saw advantages in improving relations with China and the Soviet Union; he hoped that détente would put pressure on the North Vietnamese to end the Vietnam War, and he might be able to manipulate the two main communist powers to the benefit of the United States.”There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation.”Richard Nixon

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opera full

The Megastructure Compendium
Science & Futurism
In the future humanity may build enormous structures, feats of mega-engineering that may rival planets or even be of greater scope. This episode catalogs roughly 100 major types of Megastructure, from those that are cities in space to those that rival galaxies.

DARK DISTORTIONS
‘Dark Distortions’ – was inspired by Euclid, a forthcoming ESA mission to study the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy, which is due to launch in mid-2022. Dark matter is thought to account for 85% of the matter in the universe. Visible stuff within galaxies – such as stars and planets and dust – has insufficient gravitational pull to prevent galaxies from disintegrating as they rotate. But galaxies don’t fly apart in this way, so astrophysicists proposed that they must contain “dark” matter that has sufficient mass to keep galaxies intact – but which has never been seen directly.

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ТЕМНЫЕ ИСКАЖЕНИЯ
«Dark Distortions» – был вдохновлен Евклидом, предстоящей миссией ЕКА по изучению загадочной природы темной материи и темной энергии, запуск которой запланирован на середину 2022 года. Считается, что темная материя составляет 85% материи во Вселенной. Видимое вещество внутри галактик – например, звезды, планеты и пыль – обладает недостаточным гравитационным притяжением, чтобы предотвратить распад галактик при их вращении. Но галактики не разлетаются таким образом, поэтому астрофизики предположили, что они должны содержать «темную» материю, обладающую достаточной массой, чтобы сохранить галактики в целости, но которую никогда не видели напрямую.

Decimal Clock
dans Decimal Clock (White and Pink), les instincts rationalistes de Höller se tournent vers la division du temps. L’horloge fonctionnelle, qui représente 10 heures, 100 minutes et 100 secondes, nous rappelle que l’homogénéisation globale du temps n’a eu lieu que récemment en réponse au degré sans précédent d’interconnexion planétaire. Decimal Clock (White and Pink) fait signe aux expériences avec le temps décimal pendant la Révolution française et rend hommage aux efforts visant à la comparabilité et à la régularité temporelles. Pourtant, il reconnaît également diverses manières non occidentales de mesurer le temps et, plutôt que de les voir comme une menace pour l’empire de la raison , les célèbre comme une expression enrichissante de la diversité de notre existence dans le temps.

Doppelgänger
Wenn ein Raumschiff seine Reise antritt, wird gleichzeitig ein anderes in einer parallelen Realität gestartet. Alice, eine einsame Astronautin, wird auf einen fernen Planeten teleportiert, ebenso wie ihr Doppelgänger. Als Alice und ihr Schiff zurückkehren, geht sie davon aus, dass ihre Mission gescheitert ist und sie irgendwie nach Hause zurückgekehrt ist. Aber sie ist tatsächlich in einer Welt angekommen, in der alles das Gegenteil von dem ist, was sie einst wusste. Doppelgänger präsentiert ein nuanciertes und vielschichtiges Gleichnis, das den schlüpfrigen Begriff der objektiven Wahrheit und die Position des “Anderen” in der heutigen Gesellschaft kraftvoll anspricht.

UK Pavillion
THE POEM PAVILION FEATURES A BREATHTAKING ILLUMINATED ‘MESSAGE TO SPACE’ TO WHICH EACH OF THE EXPO’S ANTICIPATED 25 MILLION VISITORS WILL BE INVITED TO CONTRIBUTE. “THE IDEA DRAWS DIRECTLY ON ONE OF STEPHEN HAWKING’S FINAL PROJECTS, ‘BREAKTHROUGH MESSAGE’, A GLOBAL COMPETITION THAT HAWKING AND HIS COLLEAGUES CONCEIVED IN 2015 INVITING PEOPLE WORLDWIDE TO CONSIDER WHAT MESSAGE WE WOULD COMMUNICATE TO EXPRESS OURSELVES AS A PLANET, SHOULD WE ONE DAY ENCOUNTER OTHER ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS IN SPACE. WHAT IF THE UK PAVILION AT EXPO 2020 BECOMES A PLACE WHERE VISITORS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TAKE PART IN A COLLECTIVE GLOBAL PROJECT THAT SHOWCASES BRITISH EXPERTISE IN A.I. TECHNOLOGIES AND POETRY WHILE TRANSCENDING NATIONAL IDENTITIES?” Es Devlin

As above
As Above is a short film exploring the tight link between the microscopic world and immensity of the universe. Illustrating our universe’s never ending dance of destruction and creation, in which life can emerge. As Above was made of one single shot filmed on the 8mm2 (0.3 square inch) surface of a chemical reaction. The environment in which we live, is at the constant mercy of the ever changing flow of planets, stars and galaxies… As well as the composition of the microscopic world. “As Above” is an invitation to contemplate the beauty of this perpetual movement of which we are part of… And perhaps invite the viewer to reflect on his position in the universe and the preciosity of life.

Terraforming
The video work “terraforming” focusses on the transformation of a natural environment through energy input. The underpinning idea is that of three phase system change. This begins with the stage of equilibrium where a system is in a certain balance and not changing at all. In the next stage an evolving system enters a state of motion and change where it moves away from equilibrium. The third and final stage is the phase of transformation in which the original system becomes something else. The key element in this transformation process is the sun. This process is called terraforming, whereby a hostile environment, i.e. a planet that is too cold, too hot, or has an unbreathable atmosphere, can be altered to make it suitable for human life. Such a process is not merely a futuristic scenario but represents exactly what is happening on Earth at this moment as the process of atmospheric change brought about by increasing CO2 emissions heats up our planet and speeds up the process of climate change.
video

FILE SAO PAULO 2017
OVERVIEW

Astronauts who were able to observe planet Earth from outer space for the first time, all experienced a strong emotional reaction later called the overview effect. A euphoric feeling of oneness with the planet and all living beings as a collective biotope where ‘my molecules are yours’ and vice versa and individuality seems an illusion.
The Overview-installation consists of a motorized video screen that can slowly pan, tilt and lift. The screen is 3m x 4m wide and has LED light on the backside. An abstracted globe is projected on the front.

Bernie Krause

Bernie Krause is one of the world’s experts in natural sound, and here we listen through Krause’s ears as he collects the sounds of purring jaguars, snapping shrimp, cracking glaciers–and the roar of the wild. It is an intensely personal narrative of life as it hits the ears, and of the planet‘s deeply connected natural sounds and music.

SONNTAG aus LICHT

Sonntag aus Licht takes as its subject our solar system and the relationships of all the planets that orbit the sun. In this opera, the earth and life on it is represented as the result of the union of light and water. These two elements are presented in the first scene, and the rest of the opera celebrates the evolution of life, of plants, animals, humans, and above all this the planets, moons, and heavenly constellations. The opera has a pronounced ritualistic and meditative character, with very little that can be described as dramatic action.

Everything
FILE GAMES 2017
Everything is an interactive experience where everything you see is a thing you can be, from animals to planets to galaxies and beyond. Travel between outer and inner space, and explore a vast, interconnected universe of things without enforced goals, scores, or tasks to complete. Everything is a procedural, AI-driven simulation of the systems of nature, seen from the points of view of everything in the Universe.

Positions of the Unknown
At the very beginning of space exploration the infrastructure to monitor the whole sky was not yet developed. So in order to find out whether foreign countries launched objects, the US government started to train citizens to observe and detect possible artificial satellites. Scattered over the allied world, these amateur scientists played a crucial part in keeping track of all men-made technology orbiting earth, until “Operation Moonwatch” was discontinued in 1975 […] “Positions of the Unknown” locates the current whereabouts of these mysterious objects by simply pointing at them as they revolve around Earth. Missing the legal proof, those unidentified artefacts remain entities of pure speculation, secret companions of us and our planet. Even so they have been sighted several times and their ubiquitous presence is therefore somehow validated, they linger in a state between existence and non-existence. Quadrature’s 52 small machines constantly follow their paths and serve as silent witnesses of the unknown.

Melita
FILE FESTIVAL 2019
A 20’ (minutes) animated real-time VR (Virtual Reality) short film about Anaaya, a brilliant scientist working to find a new planet for humanity while the world that we know dies slowly due to extreme climate change; and Melita, an AI designed to help her on her herculean task. This is the first part of a much bigger tale, that will take us into Melita’s journey to find Aurora, the next cradle for humanity.

when you are close to me i shiver
sound design: Alexander Martinz
“when you are close to me I shiver” is an algorithmically controlled live simulation, a real-time generated virtual reality that takes place in a version of the future in which humans, out of desperation, gather in masses on the last remaining piece of land. Inspired by the walrus scene in the documentary “Our Planet” narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, the project proposes an intense scenario encompassing our environmental and personal crises. It reflects on how we identify and connect ourselves in different realities while addressing the human condition in a world in ecological and therefore social crisis. On the tablets, virtual cameras scan the environment from various point of views, like surveillance drones. On the main screen, a similar camera randomly targets and focuses on different situations while a familiar voice-over narrates the tragic story.

Янис Ксенакис
ヤニス·クセナキス
ANTIKHTHON
In 1971, Iannis Xenakis composed a work called Antikhthon. Commissioned by Balanchine for the New York City Ballet, this overwhelming composition refers to a hypothetical planet, proposed in the 5th century BC. by the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus. “Antichthon” is the name that the Greeks gave to a hypothetical celestial object, the Counter-Earth, located between the Earth and the center of the Universe to prevent man from looking directly at Zeus, who had his throne there.

Дэвид Линч
ديفيد لينش
大卫·林奇
デビッドリンチ
데이비드 린치
Дэвид Линч
Eraserhead
The Man in the Planet (Jack Fisk) pulls levers in his home in space, while the head of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) floats in the sky. A giant spermatozoon-like creature emerges from Spencer’s mouth, floating into the void. The Man in the Planet appears to control the creature with his levers, eventually making it fall into a pool of water.
cinema

Roland Emmerich
In 1994, Egyptologist and linguist Daniel Jackson, Ph.D., is invited by Catherine Langford to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs on cover stones, also known as casing stones, that her father had unearthed in Giza, Egypt, in 1928. Jackson is taken to a U.S. Air Force installation and told by its commander, Special Operations Colonel Jack O’Neil, that the project is classified information. Jackson determines that the hieroglyphs refer to a “stargate” which uses constellations as spatial coordinates. On this revelation, Jackson is shown that the base has this Stargate, also discovered by Langford’s father. They use Jackson’s coordinates to align the Stargate’s metal ring with markings along its outside, and once all seven are locked in, a wormhole opens, connecting the Stargate with a distant planet. Jackson joins O’Neil and his team, consisting of Reilly, Porro, Freeman, Brown, Ferretti, and Kawalsky, as they pass through the wormhole.
CINEMA

21 Swings

L’installation 21 balançoires est de retour dans le Quartier des spectacles. L’oeuvre interactive et musicale permet aux passants de s’unir pour créer une mélodie unique. Derrière ce projet, maintes fois primé, se cachent deux artistes québécoises, Mouna Andraos et Melissa Mongiat. Les deux jeunes femmes viennent d’ailleurs de remporter le concours d’art public pour le nouveau Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan. Avec l’ouverture d’un bureau à New York et un nouveau contrat au Minnesota, les deux Montréalaises se préparent tranquillement à prendre la planète d’assaut.Pour la troisième année consécutive, les gens pourront se balancer sur la Promenade des artistes tout en composant une symphonie originale. L’installation 21 balançoires, d’une superficie de 30 000 pi2, est une création du studio Daily tous les jours, fondé par Mouna Andraos et Melissa Mongiat, en 2010.Si la musique produite par ces balançoires est éphémère, l’installation ne l’est pas, ce qui oblige ses créatrices à poser un regard critique sur leur oeuvre chaque printemps. «Il y a des bons et des mauvais côtés à notre forme d’art, avoue Melissa Mongiat. On peut prendre un certain recul, une fois le projet démonté.»

UNKNOWN PLANET
The Latvian sound artists collective “Clausthome” (Lauris Vorslavs, Girts Radzins) and video artist Martins Ratniks will present a sound and video modulation performance unclosing saturated sound landscapes and collages of the electromagnetic waves, created by scanning and retranslating a real-time audio and video signal modulations. In their daily practices “Clausthome” collective is engaged in experiments with modulations and sound feedback as well as in collecting diverse radioa signals and scanning of radio frequences. Martins Ratniks is one of most renowned Latvian video artists, whose experiments in the field of art and technologies has been acknowledged both in Latvia and abroad. This will not be the first collaboration between “ Clausthome” and Martins Ratniks, previously they have been working togeher on such projects as “ Spectrosphere” (2006) and “ Unknown Planet” (2012).

РЕЙНАЛЬД ДРУХИН
LANDSCAPE MONOLITH

MONOLITH is the title of French multimedia artist Reynald Drouhin’s latest art project which consists of a series of digitally manipulated images of stunning natural landscapes. In the middle of picturesque sunsets and serene Arctic landscapes, Drouhin pastes a mysterious prismatic shape and then flips it, thus creating a mind-boggling visual effect of an otherworldly transparent object hovering in desolate locations. The entire project is an ingenious appropriation of the famous monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s film ”2001: A Space Odyssey” where mysterious dark rectangular objects (dubbed as monoliths) were scattered across the solar system by an unknown alien civilisation which seemed to guide humans along a risky interplanetary journey. Reynald Drouhin’s MONOLITH series captures exactly the double nature of Kubrick’s monoliths: the inverted shapes in the photographs seem to be a window to another dimension, a physical anomaly which distorts the nature around it, and is both menacing and inviting.

“Baraka is a documentary that starts from an old word with meanings in several languages. It can be translated as a blessing, breath or essence of life, from where the process of world evolution is triggered. The film reveals how much humanity is interconnected, despite the differences in religion, culture and language of the peoples. A true visual poem without narration or caption, only images and sounds carefully captured and articulated through an expressive montage, which makes each take add the next other meaning, whose theme is… After all, what is Baraka about? I believe that each viewer of the film sees a different theme. It can be about the strength of planet Earth. It may be about the multiple diversities that unite us. It can be a lot. Baraka is a visual reproduction of the human connection with the Earth ”

Flash Gordon
The Greatest Adventure of All

Flash Gordon is the hero of an adventure and science fiction newspaper strip (planetary novel) originally designed by Alex Raymond. First published on January 7, 1934
In 1979, Filmation produced a cartoon series based on comic books (“The New Adventures of Flash Gordon”), and its first season is remembered as one of the studio’s best works. Although this series was first released, the Gordon Flash TV movie, the Greatest Adventure of Them All, was produced earlier.