Works

RE:

Sofia Bustorff — 2010-11-03T14:30:00Z

RE: (NL, 2010) is a 360 projection-mapping installation that uses mirrors to enable a projector to project on every side of its own surface. Most art installations use the projector as a mere tool, often hiding it from view. By contrast, RE: makes it the central object of attention as both the sender and receiver of projected light.

Installation with projector, mirrors, computer, and tripod.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

RE: by Carolien Teunisse and Bram Snijders (Sitd) (2010) from V2_ on Vimeo.

Exhibitions:

Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visions Tokyo (JP), 10.-26.02.2012
STRP Festival, Eindhoven (NL), 17.-27.11.2011
WRO Biennale, Wroclaw (PL), 10.05.2011-19.06.2011: Winner of the Audience Prize

Mirror Piece

Sofia Bustorff — 2010-11-03T15:10:00Z

Mirror Piece is a mirror version of Marnix de Nijs’ previous work Physiognomic Scrutinizer. Equipped with biometric video analyzing software, the installation scans facial features and characteristics of anyone looking into its mirror, and compares them to those of more than 250 preselected people in a database. The database includes a variety of famous individuals and contributors to our contemporary culture, all chosen because of their controversial or infamous acts. A computerized voice publicly announces the name of the person each viewer has been identified as, in a confrontational reminder that the steady increase in the use of biometric technology in public space should be viewed with a healthy skepticism.

Mirror Piece can also be ordered as a customized version or in a multiple system. It is not restricted to the design, size or the materials as shown in the above image. For example it could also be presented in a public space, using shopping or OTHER windows and mirror foil.

Co-produced by V2_Lab.

Interactive installation with custom hardware and software, mirror, aluminium frame.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

Mirror Piece by Marnix de Nijs (2010) from V2_ on Vimeo.

also on Vimeo, Mirror Piece by Marnix de Nijs

Exhibitions:

Bouillants Festival, France, 21.04.2012-22.05.2012
Mois Multi 13, Quebec (CA), 01.02.2012-29.02.2012
Sonar OFFFmatica, Barcelona (ES), 10.06.2011-19.06.2011
Donaufestival, Krems Donau (AT), 28.04.2011-07.05.2011
Clash, Groningen (NL), 24.04.2011

Solace

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-07-05T07:20:00Z

Solace is a cinematic installation that investigates the mental process and physical activity of seeing. At regular intervals a handcrafted apparatus creates a soap film as a spatial intervention. Through precise lighting the inner movement of the soap film is revealed, showing a turbulent choreography of iridescent color and fluid motion. As gravity slowly gets a hold of the membrane the viewer can be fascinated with the phenomenon, until inevitably the fragile film bursts.

http://nickyassmann.net

Solace by Nicky Assmann (2011) from V2_ on Vimeo.

Exhibitions:

MAC Creteil, Exit and Via Festival (FR/BE), 08.03.2012-01.04.2012
Hello Worlds, ISMAR, Basel (CH), 26.-29.10.2011

Ideophone 1

Sofia Bustorff — 2012-01-18T10:25:00Z

Ideophone 1 is an ensemble of 36 identically functioning speakers built into a chrome-plated metal case of about five by five by one foot. This case is part of a chrome-plated metal frame of about ten by six by two and a half feet, in which the case can slowly swing and revolve on an axis within a 90-degree angle. The case's two extreme positions are horizontal (like a tabletop) and vertical (like a blackboard). The frame’s pipe diameter is five inches.

A foot-long glass pipe about an inch in diameter is attached to each speaker cone at a right angle. Inside each pipe is a small steel ball less than an inch in diameter. Each pipe sticks out about ten inches past the cone. Inside the pipe, at the spot where it is attached to the cone by a small plastic plate, is a small spring-steel "fork," on which the ball sits when at rest. The two prongs of the fork are connected to the two poles of the battery, one making a detour via the normal loudspeaker connection.

When the ball touches the fork, the speaker cone jolts forwards and forcefully propels it away. The ball rolls back inside the pipe, depending on the angle, and is kicked away again. This process is repeated as long as the battery remains connected. The steeper the angle of the pipe, the faster the series of kicks from the speaker. If the case has reached the tabletop position and all the glass pipes are standing upright, the balls will be bouncing up and down at top speed inside them.

The sound produced by this contraption is a statistical addition of 36 more or less periodic series of impulses (which can be compared to a hailstorm). The greatest total impulse density is about 300 per second (the storm is at its climax), the lowest about ten per second (the hailstorm is drifting away).

text from Dick Raaymakers: A Monograph.

probe

admin — 2009-11-27T14:20:00Z

probe (noun); an unmanned exploratory spacecraft designed to transmit information about its environment

sound & image design: Boris Debackere
software design: vvvv, Sebastian Gregor
sensor application: V2_

generative software, color, no language
interactive installation

Cinema is a virtual capsule with a projection screen as a window, which gives access to an audiovisual trip through time and space. As soon as the film starts the projection surface becomes invisible. It becomes the magic window of the cinema capsule that engages the whole body through the eyes and ears, and abducts it to another time and space. The film machine transforms reality by generating mental activity in the viewer: cinema as a dream machine for condensed experiences and emotions. probe is an interactive installation in which the relationship between the viewer and the screen is central. The position of the viewer determines the creation of generative sound and image that physically take the viewer on an audiovisual trip.

probe is an Auguste Orts Production and is produced with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual FundBelgium, 2008

probe deals with the medium of cinema, trying to reproduce the cinematic experience in an abstract way:

says Boris Debackere: probe is a metaphor of cinema: cinema as a space shuttle, or a probe you enter and you are completely separated from the external world. Suddenly, the huge screen you have in front of you disappears and becomes a sort of window to travel in time and space. And you sit in this vehicle, but the whole trip takes place in your brain: you concentrate with your mind with the screen that becomes invisible and everything that is projected on the screen puts your mind and imagination into action. The setting of the film is in your brain, not on the screen: it is part of the same dynamics of cinema, which stimulate your brain, the mechanism of your perceptive abilities.

more of the interview by Lucrezia Cippitelli: http://www.digicult.it/digimag/article.asp?id=1212

presentations:
Sonic Acts, Amsterdam (NE) Feb 21–Mar 22 2008
Almost Cinema, Vooruit, Ghent (BE) Oct 7–18 2008
VIA, Maubeuge (FR) Mar 12-22 2009
Exit, Créteil (FR) Mar 26–Apr 05 2009
STRP, Eindhoven (NE) Apr 02–13 2009
V2_, Rotterdam (NE) Sept 11-13 2009
Medialab Enschede (NE) Sept 03-20 2009
Gare Saint Sauveur Lille Lille (FR), Sep 18–Nov 8, 2009
Tabakalera Center San Sebastian (ES), Feb 7–Mar 21, 2010
Zebrastraat Gent (BE), Apr 16–Jun 20, 2010
Tweakfest Zurich (CH), Apr 23-24, 2010
New Freaks Saint-Nazaire (FR), Jun 17–Aug 17, 2010
Nouveaux Monstres Toulouse (FR), Feb 24–Mar 10, 2011
Media Art Forum, Moscow, 2012

award nomination:
http://www.bamart.be/pages/detail/nl/4213

Rechnender Raum

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-01-21T13:05:00Z

Rechnender Raum (Calculating Space) is a lightweight sculpture made of sticks, strings and small weights; at the same time, it is a fully functional, logically precise neural network. When the machine starts up, it tries to resolve spatial differences in its mechanical logical structure. Every attempt, however, generates new variations, capturing the machine in an infinite contemplative loop. Thanks to its strictly geometrical and intricate construction, the observer is able to track the processing logic in its entirety from any point around the machine. The visibility of the machine’s core is reinforced by the unusual distribution of its components: a nine-angled architectural body forms a torus. In contrast to the ordinary alignment of a hidden logic and an external user-facing display, here the geometric basis is turned inside out. The core of the machine, with all its computational elements, is shifted outward to the surface, while the "display" showing the results of the operations is displaced to the heart of the system. Without either depending on or requesting interaction, the machine turns away from the visitor and carries out its computations for itself alone.

Kinetic sculpture with beechwood, Dyneema strings, rubber band, lead weights, servo motors, switches and custom electronics.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

http://www.no-surprises.de/rechnender_raum/

Rechnender Raum by Ralf Baecker (2007) from V2_ on Vimeo.

also here: Rechnender Raum from Ralf Baecker on Vimeo.

12_Series

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-01-21T12:45:00Z

In a pitch-black room, twelve screens and twelve speakers make up the audiovisual horizon, revealing the dynamics of twelve identical image and sound-generating machines. Inspired by the principles of evolution and decentralized autonomous decision making, 12_Series implements forms of audiovisual imitation, mutation and recombination, aiming for the emergence of a captivating complexity out of a vocabulary of rudimentary shapes, sounds and logic.

Despite their identical binary DNA, the twelve machines develop into individuals by reacting to their neighbors and adapting to centrally organized environmental variables. The installation thus focuses on the tension between the individual and the group, between the machine-specific development and the group dynamics that determine the ever-evolving abstract horizon.

The imitative interaction establishes a more complex group behavior, steering groups of machines into similar audiovisual directions. Mutation initiates variation by injecting errors into the imitative process. Recombination enables the interchange and reinterpretation of output material among the twelve machines, adding another layer of coherency.

Apart from developing building blocks that assemble into complex generative individuals, the aim is to investigate the boundaries of their mutative behavior, allowing the results to surpass our imagination.

Generative multichannel installation with screens, speakers, computer and software.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

http://www.telcosystems.net/index.php/projects/2009-12_series/

12_series by Telcosystems (2009) from V2_ on Vimeo.

or see 12_Series preview from Telcosystems on Vimeo.

Exhibitions:

STRP Festival, Eindhoven (NL), 17.-27.11.2011
Sensxperiment Festival, Lucena (ES), 20.10.-12.11.2011

Dear Steve

Sofia Bustorff — 2010-05-10T14:10:00Z

Dear Steve is a video letter addressed to Steve Jobs in which a new MacBook Pro is meticulously dismantled, allowing us a look inside this complex device that for most cultural workers is almost as familiar as a pet. This machine that is often deemed miraculous for modern-day work efficiency looks bare, naked and dysfunctional in its dismantled state, yet it remains a fascinating object.

In his laptop autopsy, Herman Asselberghs combines the dismantling performance with an ideological critique, voiced through the reading of the letter. Rather than directing the viewer toward a specific point of view, Dear Steve presents a subjective cartography of the contemporary globalized world, and of the state of mind in which contemporary society finds itself. The final image in Dear Steve – an overhead shot of all of the laptop’s components arranged on a table – could be seen as a kind of new world map.

Performer: Stan Wannet
Image and editing: Fairuz
Text: Herman Asselberghs
Producer: V2_Lab
Coproducer/Codistributor: Auguste Orts, www.augusteorts.be

Video, color, 16:9, sound (Dutch spoken, English subtitles), 45'. An English spoken version is also available.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

http://www.augusteorts.be/projects/project/48

Video excerpt

Dear Steve by Herman Asselberghs (2010) from V2_ on Vimeo.

15 Minutes of Biometric Fame

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-07-13T09:10:00Z

The design of the installation 15 Minutes of Biometric Fame is inspired by the camera dollies employed in the television and cinema industries. A camera crane moves autonomously over a large circular track and points the camera at visitors in the exhibition space. The installation scans each visitor’s facial features, using biometric video analysis software, and compares them to those of a vast array of preselected persons in a database. The database features “celebrities” harvested from the Internet through online searches performed in all the world’s major languages.

The comparison process is visualized on an LCD monitor at the back of the camera dolly. The faces of visitors who match preselected persons in the database are displayed on a large public screen and added to the database – elevating ordinary visitors to the status of newborn celebrities.

In the installation 15 Minutes of Biometric Fame, artist Marnix de Nijs ironically deconstructs the processes by which stardom and fame are created by the modern entertainment industry, as well as by ordinary Internet users through various Web 2.0 applications. In our contemporary Internet-driven culture, celebrities include not only glamorous actors and pop singers but also ordinary people who achieve their 15 minutes of fame through participating in reality shows or uploading videos that become YouTube hits.

15 minutes of Biometric Fame can also be ordered with adjusted track-size or shape.

15 minutes of Biometric Fame by Marnix de Nijs (2011) from V2_ on Vimeo.

Interactive installation with camera robot (custom camera, camera dolly and software), LCD screen and projection.

15 Minutes of Biometric Fame developed out of the Artist-in-Residence pilot project for the Tsinghua Media Arts Research Laboratory, which opened in 2010. The work is co-produced by V2_Lab.

http://www.marnixdenijs.nl/15-minutes-of-biometric-fame.htm

Evolving Spark Network

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-01-17T16:50:00Z

The installation Evolving Spark Network consists of a grid of electric spark bridges that traverses an exhibition space. Together, they form a plane about ten feet above the floor. The movements of visitors in the installation space are detected by means of radio frequency motion detectors and used as input for the network. Just as neurons form networks in our bodies, the spark bridges form an interconnected network in the exhibition space. This network serves as a metaphor for the electrical impulses by which our nerves communicate information, activated by input from the physical world.

The electric sparks produce both sound and light, and the patterns generated have distinct visual and sonic qualities. The visitors find themselves in the middle of an installation that addresses the whole space that it occupies.

For Edwin van der Heide electric sparks represent beauty, purity and simplicity. In fact, an electric spark is one of the most elementary forms of light generation, while the impulse produced produces the shortest imaginable sound. Composing with these impulses can therefore be seen as one of the most fundamental forms of composition in time and space.

"...a stunning installation" - The New York Times

Produced in collaboration with V2_Lab. (Simon de Bakker and Stan Wannet)

Evolving Spark Network by Edwin van der Heide (2011) from V2_ on Vimeo.

Interactive installation with spark bridges, electromagnetic movement sensors, spark and sensor interfaces, computer, and custom software.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

http://www.evdh.net/evolving_spark_network/

Hostage

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-10-25T09:30:00Z

The artwork consists of an ultra dark nano engineered material that absorbs all visible light and some invisible like infrared light. Ultra black nano engineered material represented as a black square, framed within a bigger square of white painted anodized aluminum and covered by a piece of Claryl Glass.

The artwork (of a series of four) makes reference to the works of painters like Yves Klein, Malevich, Reinhardt, et al. In contradiction to traditional paintings these artworks are made from atomic size particles using chemical vapor disposition, hence creating a Vertigo-esque black 'forest' of loosely vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. This bottom up technique is quite novel and reflects upon the transition from pigments to structural color, the spectral behavior and geometry of the nano object. Thinking out of the box (read art and the art world), one could equally think of these artworks as icons (attempts) for the 'dark' times we are currently facing (economics, social, ecological, et al) while on the other hand presenting a radical new constructive and (still) Utopic model to face the challenges of our time e.g. building our world anew atom by atom.

In general one could notice also a correlation between the limits of our perception and of space (interstellar space, our mind, et al) and what we currently can perceive (mediated through technology or not) and what we cannot perceive. This is the liminal point. The point where we only can imagine what lies beyond the black canvas or space; the unknown (also psychological intended). This is the true point where art & science collide and it is the passion to discover that binds both - seemingly different - worlds.

Hostage won the Ars Electronica [The Next Idea] Award 2010, and the Best European Collaboration Award 2011.

Carbon Nanotubes, Claryl Glass, wood, 2 Neon tubes with cable and sockets; (57cm x 57cm x 5cm).

Hostage 1.0 is a Nano Painting by artist Frederik De Wilde (BE), co-produced by Prof. Pulickel, Rice University, Houston, Texas and financially supported by the Flemish Ministry of Culture.

http://frederik-de-wilde.com/projects/nano-painting

Physiognomic Scrutinizer

admin — 2009-11-27T12:40:00Z

The design of the Physiognomic Scrutinizer is based on principles employed in security gates seen at airports, shopping malls, football stadiums and other protected public spaces. A barrier guides visitors towards a brightly lit entrance, where a mounted camera records each individual’s image and projects it on an LCD monitor at the back of the gate. A speaker on a stand, positioned immediately behind the gate, symbolizes and acts as a security guard. The installation scans facial features and characteristics by using biometric video analysis software, and compares them to those of more than 250 preselected people in a database. The database includes a variety of famous individuals and contributors to our contemporary culture, all chosen because of their controversial or infamous acts. A computerized voice publicly announces the name of the person each viewer has been identified as, in a confrontational reminder that the steady increase in the use of biometric technology in public space should be viewed with a healthy skepticism.

Physiognomic Scrutinizer can also be ordered as a customized version or in a multiple system. It is not restricted to the design, size or the materials as shown in the above image. For example the gate could also be presented in a site-specific design to fit to the architecture of a building or site.

Co-produced by Kontejner, bureau of contemporary art practice
Biometric software implementation, V2_Lab, Rotterdam
Process visualisation, Brecht Debackere, Antwerp
Thanks to Hans Beekmans

http://www.marnixdenijs.nl/physiognomic_scrutinizer.htm

Interactive installation with custom hardware and software, speakers, stainless steel gate, and neon tube lights.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

Exhibitions:

Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (US), 27.04.2012-17.06.2012
Gogbot Festival, Enschede, 08.-11.09.2011
Paranoia tour:
EXIT Festival, MAC Creteil, Lille (FR), 10.03.2011-20.03.2011
VIA festival, Maubeuge - Mons (FR/BE), 24.03.–03.04.2011
Lille3000, Lille (FR), 13.04.-14.08.2011

God's Browser

Sofia Bustorff — 2011-01-21T13:10:00Z

God’s Browser is a generative interactive installation that features a film whose every frame is an image taken from the Internet. Specially developed image recognition software sorts images available on the World Wide Web and places them in sequence, resulting in a generative film made up of thousands of online images.

God’s Browser is inspired by the basic principle of cinematic illusion: a rapid sequence of individual images, each just slightly different then the next one, creates an impression of continuous motion in the viewer. A narrative is created by means of such images with the addition of sound. Instead of making a movie in the usual way, Geert Mul takes thousands of images available on the Internet as frames for an abstract generative film created by means of software. The soundtrack is also generated with image recognition software, which assigns similar notes to images that resemble each other. Visitors can influence the narrative by using a theremin connected to the installation. Though the visitor cannot generate sounds, he or she can interact with the sequence of images in the film and influence its structure.

In God’s Browser, Geert Mul reflects on the Internet as a repository of innumerable terabytes of information, an archive (or dump) of users’ knowledge, thoughts, daily experiences, desires and fears.

Programmer: Carlo Prelz. God's Browser 01 was developed at BALTAN Labs Eindhoven

Generative interactive installation with projector, projection screen, theremin, computer, and custom software.
Contact us for more information on pricing and for the technical requirements of the work.
Detailed information is available on installation, space requirements and shipping.

Video

God's Browser 01 from Geert Mul on Vimeo.

Exhibitions:

STRP Festival, Eindhoven (NL), 17.-27.11.2011
iBeta, Heerlen (NL), 12-13.05.2011

Palm Top Theater

Joris van Ballegooijen — 2011-07-13T13:50:00Z

Placing in a new context the old Pepper's ghost technique of placing a half-silvered mirror at a 45-degree angle in front of an image, the project represents a timely critique of the popular memes of 3D displays and iPhones. As a gadget peripheral, PTT supports a wide range of applications and media formats, from simple videos and animations to interactive works that use the device’s sensor technology.

The device with the three mirrors, the basis for the Palm Top Theater experience, lets the spectator enjoy 3D moving images in the palm of its hand without glasses or other gear. The Smartphone becomes a private mini-theater, connected to an online community of producers both amateur and professional.

Palm Top Theater is invented by Jitsuro Mase, a media artist, and produced by V2_ and Tom Nagae / DIRECTIONS Inc, a Japanese media production company. It has won the Ars Electronica Festival 2010 Honorary Mention. V2_ organized the Palm Top Theater Exhibition curated by Maki Ueda and workshops to create new content for the device in 2011. Since then the devices have been presented at various art festivals and exhibitions around the world.

See this brochure for information on exhibiting Palm Top Theater and/or in setting up a workshop to produce new artworks or animations.

Exhibitions (selection):

STRP Festival, Eindhoven (NL), 17.-27.11.2011
Cinekid Festival, Amsterdam (NL), 13.-21.10.2011
Japan Media Arts Festival, Dortmund U (DE), 10.09.-02.10.2011
EMAF, Osnabrück (DE), 27.04.-29.05.2011

Exploded Views 2.0

Sofia Bustorff — 2012-01-18T10:50:00Z

Exploded Views 2.0 is an immersive installation in which visitors physically navigate through a surreal and dreamlike atmosphere of audiovisual 3D cityscapes.

Playing with the possibilities offered by the combination of movement and 3D interactive imagery, the installation purposefully places the viewer in a strongly absorptive experience, but what is actually offered contradicts this positioning by mediating a disconnected experience of the city.

Exploded Views 2.0 investigates the representation of global urban environments and comments on the prominent role the World Wide Web has assumed in constructing our view of the world and ultimately, on what we perceive as reality. In contrast to the previous version of the installation from 2008, the content for 3D city landscapes is provided by users of social media platforms. The work analyzes GPS tags of all the pictures available on photo-sharing community websites (such as Flickr) and reconstructs the top 400 most photographed locations into 3D. The work represents the world according to the way it is photographically represented on the web.

With Exploded Views 2.0 de Nijs remarks on how the ever-growing amount of digital images available on the Internet is rapidly substituting reality as the prime source for shaping our view of the world. Online visual content, shared pictures of city landscapes and events, are simulacra – as defined in Jean Baudrillard's seminal work Simulation and Simulacra – wherein that which is being simulated is presented and received not as a simulation but as an original. The originals may no longer exist, may never have existed, or their significance has been dwarfed in comparison to the simulacra, which attains a level of primacy and authenticity that traditionally had been the exclusive province of the original. (Shanken, Edward Art and Electronic Media, London: Phaidon Press, 2009)

Producer/artist: Marnix de Nijs
Co-producer: V2_Institute for the Unstable Media
Software development: V2_Lab
Scene-reconstruction: Michael Goesele, TU Darmstadt

Interactive installation with custom software, projectors, screen, soundsystem.

Exhibitions:

STRP Festival, Eindhoven (NL), 17.-27.11.2011: Première