Missed Connections — by Cristobal Mendoza — is a 2-channel Internet-aware software piece that continuously fetches the latest posts in the “missed connections” section of Craigslist.org. Each post is presented one at a time, and is filtered by looking for so-called stopwords. Computer Scientists define stopwords as those words that do not convey the meaning of a message. In essence, they are considered signal noise in the stream of potential information. Continue reading

Upgrade! Berlin presents: Mader | Stublic | Wiermann :: April 25, 2008; 8 pm :: Redesign Deutschland, aka System Lüftung, Torstrasse 94 in Berlin-Mitte (U Rosenthaler Platz oder Rosa Luxemburg Platz).

Heike Wiermann, Holger Mader and Alexander Stublic focus on video art installations, media facades and art in the public sphere. Their latest projects cover for example the spectacular media facade design (”twists and turns”) of the Uniqua tower in Vienna, where they have managed to transform the structure of the architecture into an ever-changing, fluid state of transition. Furthermore, they co-initiated OSRAM’s new light platform Seven Screens, which they launched with their LED-piece Reprojected. This installation focuses on the shadows of computer-simulated people. Continue reading

International Guerrilla Video Festival :: Milan :: July 12-14, 2008 :: Open Call - Deadline: June 9, 2008.

The International Guerrilla Video Festival (IGVFest) is a mobile festival integrating video art with the urban and social environment. The festival removes the technologically complex medium of video out of the institutional situation re-positioning it as open and reflexive in the public domain. The artworks have site-specific thematic relations to the space where they are shown, engaging and reflecting upon the unique architectural, historical, and interpersonal context of each area the festival travels to. Continue reading

SPACE :: April 26, 2008; 7:30 pm :: Monkeytown 58N 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY :: $5/door $10/minimum.

This show will feature new and experimental works in dance, music, and video art. Each artist/team came up with a work based on meditations on the word “SPACE.” The artists with works being shown are:

Nina Barnett & Robyn Nesbitt, Jessica Feldman, David Jensenius, Hiram Navarrete, Jessica Noe & Kate March, Blithe Riley, Kathleen Stanard, Carl Testa.

You don’t need to be a videogame fan or being a teenager in the seventies / eighties to know videogame classics like Space Invaders, Pacman or Tetris. Their iconic power is still intact in the public imagination, also thanks to many reinterpretations and updates. Their patterns are often used by game artists as metaphors to create new connected sense: Mario Bros. can be restyled with a new graphic, so you can take your cue from it to discuss immigrant labor conditions, Space Invaders can be used to represent the never ending battle among Linux and the proprietary operating systems and so on. Sometimes the action’s target is the algorithm itself. Continue reading

Visual Foreign Correspondents: Magav in Weimar by Ronen Eidelman - In the old town of Weimar, Ronen Eidelman built an armoured jeep, commonly used by the Israeli border police (magav). A closer look betrays that it is a two-dimensional model, a fake, similar to the historic buildings of Weimar, which through historical manipulations try to recreate the town as the romantic Disneyland of the East, devoid of its questionable World War II past. Like the touristy postcard perfection of Weimar, the ubiquity of security and control mechanisms works as a façade. Both function as cover-ups for what is really underneath…. Continue reading

Urban Screens Melbourne 08: Conference: Mobile Publics; October 3-5, 2008 :: Multimedia exhibition; October 3 – 8, 2008 :: Calls for film&video, multimedia projects and poster presentations :: Deadline for poster presentations: May 24, 2008 :: Deadline for film&video / multimedia projects: May 31, 2008.

Urban Screens Melbourne 08 is the third, ground-breaking international conference and multimedia exhibition in a series of worldwide events around the redefinition of a growing digital infrastructure of moving images in public space. It will mark the official launch of the International Urban Screens Association and will take place at Federation Square, Melbourne. Federation Square is a unique cultural and community oriented multimedia precinct, centred around a significant 38m2 public LED screen. Continue reading

Major B - Live Video Art Performance :: April 11, 2008 3:00 pm :: Digital Convent Seminar Room, School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand.

“One man, vocals, maracas and a stripped pulsating showcase of obscure sounds and visuals.”

Major B cuts up analogue, obscure audio samples from all over the world and merges them in his own audio visual recordings or found footage. This shuffle results in rhythmic, surreal pieces that tell about people, animals and their bizarre encounters. These sounds and visuals form basis and background for his vocals and maraca on stage, where the projection works alternately as a spotlight or camouflage kit.

Invisible Threads by Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg :: April 15, 2008; 8 -10 pm :: Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, 540 West 21st (between 10th & 11th) :: Free event + performances by current Eyebeam artists.

Think virtually. Buy locally. Invisible Threads - a virtual sweatshop - will be operating live from Second Life and Eyebeam as part of the Synthetic Times Beijing Media Arts Symposium closing reception. The mixed reality performance explores the politics of virtual labor through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the online, 3-dimensional world of Second Life. Continue reading

Upgrade! Munich: Andrea Faciu and Tim Wolff: transreport :: April 20, 2008; 8:00 pm :: i-camp / Neues Theater, Entenbachstrasse 37, 81541 Munich [MVV: U-Bahn: U1, U2, U7 or U8, Kolumbusplatz]

“The first main focus of the project is framed by the contextual emergence of diverse positions in multimedia works, and consequently, by the intended positioning of each artistic point of view within the aimed grain of characters, attitudes and statements. On this note, there is no topical preset or a certain thematic field to be outlined. It is much more about the confrontation of the participating artists with the self-chosen issues and fields of activity, the dialogue among them, and the intensive preoccupation with the different venues, contexts and working processes. Continue reading