HUMO
HUge and MObile: A mobile platform for the rapid deployment of huge images. Masterclass by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MEX/CDN) and Brian Massumi (USA/CND) at the Ars Electronica Center (AT).
Projection by Harald Schmutzhard, Social Impact (AT)
Humo means "smoke" in Spanish and is the acronym for "Huge and Mobile". Lozano-Hemmer wants to place the world's most powerful projector (axenon bulb with 10,000 W output that produces 40 x 40 meter images) on the back of a pick-up truck together with a diesel generator, a GPS tracker, a pan/tilt platform and an assortment of lenses. The project will consist of rapid deployment of strategic images to transform urban landscapes: logos, emblematic buildings, quotidian spaces, suburban malls, advertising billboards, etc., will be the targets of unannounced, unregulated ephemeral interventions. Documentation of these projects will be an integral part of the class, as the condition of possibility of legal/political/aesthetic viability are a fast, short intervention below the radar of potential regulators.
This standardized platform will be "taken over" by the participants and will actually provide a very diverse output. Since this master class’s theme is "interaction design", HUMO may not seem sufficiently horizontal, but with the time and logistic limitations Lozano-Hammer prefers a very specific, vertical platform that can be transformed rather than an attempt of an exhaustive panorama of strategies.
The workshop will have the following sections, which will be interspersed throughout the week:
1. Theory and precedents. Brief conceptual framework and review of precedents, including shadow theatre, phantasmagorias, Wilfred, situationism, Svoboda, Wodiczko, guerrilla projections and spectacular advertising. Will include an introduction to radical empiricism. Imparted by Lozano-Hemmer and theorist Brian Massumi.
2. City scouting. Surgical strikes through the city of Linz with a fast vehicle. The routes will be prepared by a group of local eccentrics and experts (which may include urbanists, activists, artists, architects, tourist guides, students, etc.).
3. Conception and development. With the help of the Ars Electronica FutureLab participants will prepare their images using digital cameras, visual synths, 3D software, scanning and/or traditional techniques.
4. HUMO Appointments. Participants will book appointments to use the HUMO platform. Each night will be split into six time-slots of 2 hours each. Participants will be able to book the platform multiple times, depending on usage.
5. Documentation and publication.
The workshop will be very focused on generating a body of documentation: each participant will be responsible for providing the descriptive texts, sketches and images for their project. This material will be published in Making Art of Databases, that V2_ will prepare for the Interfacing Realities Master Classes. For this publication Brian Massumi will also write an essay on the results of the HUMO workshop as a whole.
This masterclass will be completely experimental and applied. The only theory used will be a small conceptual framework and review of precedents. What this means is that a large portion of his section in the publication will consist of documentation of the projects: sketches, photos, sequences and some texts including interviews.
The HUMO workshop is limited to 10 participants. We seek to attract a diverse group of professional artists who may have already worked with public space and who are comfortable working with digital imaging. The participants will be selected by evaluating a statement of interest (max 500 words) and a curriculum, which should emphasize previous works that might illustrate technical or conceptual resonance with the HUMO workshop.
Interfacing Realities is a Culture 2000 project initiated by V2_ and realized in collaboration with EncArt. EncArt (European Network for Cyber Arts) is a longterm collaboration between the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica in Linz, C3 in Budapest and V2_ in Rotterdam that started in 1997.
