Sad Sad Planet. Madrice Imbujo

An Sms, a phone call & an e-mail. Madrice Imbujo lost his life in the killing fields of Kinshasa: traffic.

Articles in Congolese media:
- L’Institut national des arts pleure Madrice Imbujo
- Hommage à Madrice Imbujo, chorégraphe inlassable

Physical computing

This x-med-k workshop took place from nov 01 till nov 04 at okno, Brussels. It was given by Johannes Taelman who focussed at the artistic exploration of the possibilities of physical computing, of connecting the physical world to the realm of the computer in order to create artworks.

By using sensors and the Arduino interface board (15-20€), we created individually a sound device consisting of different sensors responding to touch and gesture. In fact we made a flat variable resistor made with some wood, plastic, tape and coppertape, connected it to the arduino board wich transformed the analog signals into digital ones which where communicated to PureData or Max/Msp via a USB-cable.

Wiz'n wise Wendy Van Wynsberghe explains how to make the resistor here

The Arduino software is an open-source environment which makes it easy to write code and upload it to the i/o board. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on Processing.

Although both workshops got into the unavoidable universe of electricity and electronics, the approach was quite different in the atelier given by Emmanuel Lestienne at iMAL's 'Ateliers Numériques' last summer. The focus here was rather on programming in Arduino and Processing for control of all kinds of devices such as leds and stepper motors. http://www.imal.org/AteliersArtNum/#st06

As in most of the workshops where you have to cut and solder wires and try to predict future behaviour of the tiny bits inside of them, it's good to have such a faithfull companion as the manual Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims hanging around your neck. In no time it gets extremely popular amongst the colleagues and it transforms you into a civil servant from the local public library.

As a direct consequence of the workshop I put my teeth in The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing by Steven W. Smith in order to find out more about what really goes on in the digibrain. It's a recover operation of knowledge of math and stats, lost a long time ago. You can find the PDF-book here.

Info .X-Med-K. --> www.xmedk.be

Leaving Kigali (and the weaver birds)

The Jungled Urban Sprawl aka Kinshasa

After almost 3 months still in this kaleidoscopic town of extremes Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A lot of intersections of which one led to a collaboration with Thérèse Muyumba Odito, sculptress, for an installation created for "Maturité", a contemporary dance piece of choreographer Madrice Imbujo. It was presented at the "Centre Wallonie Bruxelles" in Kinshasa on the 25/04. The work consisted of knotted/overtorsed cords mixed with clay and other components hung in the entrance hall (see pictures) + 2 video projections in the theatre (no picts and video footage (as they are lost)).

Also, I've been busy with the organisation ('mise en scène' and co-ordination) of a photo exhibition for Doctors Without Borders & photo agency VII (NYC).


www.flickr.com/photos/msfvii_expo_photos_kinshasa/
www.viiphoto.com/exhibitions.html

okno public01 - May 24-26

event:

okno public01 - May 24-26

24/5: Experimental media art in belgium: a focus on the media arts in belgium
With: Guy van Belle (Society of Algorithm, mxHz.org), Auriea Harvey (Tale of Tales), Lawrence Malstaf and Bartaku.
Moderators: Maja Kuzmanovic (FoAM) and Michael Samyn (Tale of Tales)

Beauty in the age of digital art
Let's talk about aesthetics - a term that became a taboo in many contemporary arts circles for nearly a decade. Swept away as the frilly fluff that adorns much of the mainstream entertainment, in the 'media arts', beauty became subordinate to elaborate concepts, social context, critical theory and technological functionality. However, we are quite sure that even the most rigorous of media artists like to see, hear, touch, wear and immerse themselves in an atmosphere which resonates with their aesthetic sensibilities. We would like to know what are these sensibilities and how people incorporate them in their artistic adventures. How does aesthetics relate to the technologies we use and develop? Is it dictated by the tools, or can we bend the tools to make something we consider beautiful? When we work on collaborative projects, do people make compromises, or do they give each other a 'carte-blanche'? Is there such a thing as 'democratic aesthetics'? Can different people's aesthetics connect or disconnect a piece together in distributed, networked, realtime performances? And finally, how do we talk about it, without offending anyone's most intimate sensibilities?

wednesday may 24, 2006 3pm
matrix art project, brussels

WIND UP: Performance / installation at openLAB, Brussels

The openLAB archives are on line with images and more then 30 minutes video. www.imal.org/OpenLabProjects/

During this lab-environment we created the installation:

Wind Up

turn left/right

forward/backward

the clouds have silver linings

until they too, snap

Max/MSP/Jitter, cords and drills, 2 cameras

Many tx to Bart Vandeput (Napoleontic)
who - patiently- did the MAX/Jitter programming.

Watch the video:

"Threaded" performance at Z33's "Nr11" opening

Stills of video made at 'Threaded' performance at the opening night of art centre Z33's NR.11 at in Hasselt (B), September 2005.
Performance by sofiesaufage, Sarah Gerats, Ellen Zoete and Bartaku.
Video by Gosie Vervloesem.

No- / never thing

swirl


a drill to kill


built to spin

ReCords at MéTissages Art & Textile Biennale, Ghent

ReCords is presented at 'Métissages', Art & Textile Biennale, from March 26th till May 16th 2005 at the Museum of Industrial Archeology and Textiles (Miat) in Ghent, Belgium.

The Biennale is a group exhibition of contemporary textile art with the works of 30 young and reputated international and Belgian artists.

The name ‘Métissages’ originates from the French ‘tissage’, which litteraly means ‘the weaving’ or ‘the weaving’. MéTissages refers to the weaving, to the hybridization. MéTissages interweaves art and textile, art and textile industries on different levels.

At the opening reception of Métissages Sofiesaufage, Ellen Z., & Sarah D. did a small intervention... see some picts of the preparation. This intimate intervention -'Threaded'- also took place during the opening of the "Nr11" exhibtion at Z33 art center (Hasselt, Be).

Participating artists:
Ghada Amer (Eg), Rozemarijn Anseeuw (B), Bartaku & Sofiesaufage (B), Alighiero Boetti (I), Louis Decordier (B) + Sarah Pillen (B), Wim Delvoye (B), Berlinde De Bruyckere (B), Goele De Bruyn (B), Jan Fabre (B), Gudny-Rosa Ingimarsdottir, Mike Kelley (US), Fransje Killaars (NL), Annette Messager (F), Ernesto Neto (BR), Everlyn Nicodemus (TZ), Louisa Maria Ponseele (B), Riet Proot (B), Beverly Semmes (US), Annelies Slabbinck (B), Jelle Spruyt (B), Berend Strik (NL), Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (B), Didier Vé (B), Loreta Visic (HR), Shane Waltener (GB), Hilde Windels (B).
Curator: Isabelle De Baets

Press review: De Standaard, April 6 2005, p.24 - read full article here (Dutch)
EN/ ES/ NL

EN/
This “Biennale on art and textile” brings together Belgian and international artists, presenting their works against the background of impressive samples of industrial archeology. Métissages is a successful exhibition that explores the boundaries between handicraft and art.
[...] Nevertheless the top work of this exhibition is the nomad tent by bartaku and sofiesaufage: a space in which multicoloured, knotted and entangled ropes are hanging down, while Peruvian sounds instantly transport the visitor to another world.”
Veerle Windels, in De Standaard 06/04/2005, p.24.

ES/
Esta "Bienal sobre arte y textiles" reúne a diversos artistas belgas e internacionales, y sus obras se presentan en el impresionante marco del museo que contiene algunas muestras de arqueología industrial. "Metissages" es una exhibición de gran éxito que explora los límites entre el arte y la artesanía. (...) No obstante, la mejor obra de esta exhibición es la carpa nómada de bartaku y sofiesaufage (Recuerdas): un espacio en el que cuelgan cuerdas multicolores, con nudos, enredadas, mientras que sonidos peruanos transportan al visitante, instantáneamente, a "otro mundo".

por Veerle Windels, periódico "De Standaard", publicado el 6 de Abril del 2005 (Pág.24).

NE/
"Deze ,,Biënnale rond kunst en textiel'' brengt Belgische kunstenaars samen met internationale, en toont hun werken tegen een achtergrond van indrukwekkende staaltjes industriële archeologie. Mé-tissages is een geslaagde tentoonstelling over grenzen aftasten tussen metier en kunst.
Het topwerk van deze expo is echter de nomadentent van Bartaku & Sofiesaufage, waarin striemen van veelkleurige touwen hangen, geknoopt en verstrengeld, in een ruimte waarin Peruviaanse geluiden ons meteen naar een andere wereld brengen."
Veerle Windels, in De Standaard 06/04/2005, p.24.


Site Miat

Generative Art 2004, Milan (I)

RondHangen ReCords Recuerdas was presented at Generative Art 2004 , Milan, Politecnico di Milano University (Dec. 14-16).

It was impossible to exhibit the whole installation in the expo area of the Politecnico's Architecture Department, so we only mounted the cords and screens hereby creating a space reflecting the ground surface of the tent.
On the second day of the event we gave a detailed demonstration of the background and functioning of the installation.

THE GA 2004 PROGRAM
Records Recuerdas Abstract

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