Featuring: The People Speak (UK)
Witnessing the largest cuts in state spending since World War II, everyone in the Netherlands seems to have a strong opinion on what tax money should, or should not, be spent on. As a result, large public protests have been organized in response to the proposed public expenditure reductions in education, healthcare, and culture. None of these demonstrations seemed to bear fruit however, giving rise to a feeling among Dutch citizens that their voices are not being heard. But what would happen when everyone got a say in how public money is distributed? Would education, healthcare and culture really benefit from such a democratic model? And would the end result be a solid public spending policy or a poor compromise?
Test_Lab: Who Wants to Be…? is a social experiment in the form of a raucous game show developed by art collective The People Speak. All visitors chip in 10 EUR in advance to enter the game, after which they brainstorm, argue, and vote on how to spend the collective money. Questions around value, worth and common ideals simmer under the surface of this ‘direct democratic game show’. A past performance of Who Wants To Be…? resulted in the collective purchase of a woodland, but participants have also proposed to fire the host and to simply get their money back. Everything is possible in Who Wants To Be…? What is certain is that you will have a say in it.
*Not an entrance fee: you all decide how to spend the money!
"..a hugely liberating and spontaneous night of audience autonomy."
- The Guardian
http://thepeoplespeak.org.uk/blog/category/who-wants-to-be
Related event: Blowup: Show Me The Money
December 2, 2011, 20:00 - 23:00
Featuring: Saul Albert (UK), Hans Abbing (NL) and Diane Ragsdale (US/NL)
What price tag do you put on priceless experiences and objects? Join us in a discussion getting to the root of notions of "value" and "culture" with cultural economist Diane Ragsdale, electrical scientist Saul Albert, and artist Christian Nold.
Admission: Free if you attended Test_Lab: Who Wants to Be…?
Free for students (college card). 5 EUR for everyone else.
Critical respondent: Hicham Khalidi (artistic director, TAG)
Music: AFTA-1 with Gifted & Blessed
Every year, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media invites a small group of up-and-coming artists to spend their summer at V2_Lab for an intense short-term residency. During these so-called Summer Sessions, the selected artists are given the opportunity to develop an artwork in close collaboration with V2_'s expert developers, curators and project managers.
This year’s Summer Sessions welcomed three individual artists and two collectives into V2_Lab to realize projects in the fields of augmented reality, wearable technology, and ecology - the three current research themes of V2_Lab. By holding the Summer Sessions residencies in parallel, V2_ aimed to promote a creative synergy between the selected artists. The outcome of this process will be presented during Test_Lab: Summer Sessions 2011. In the Test_Lab tradition, the projects will be demonstrated live and the audience will be invited to ‘test’ the artworks hands-on.
The evening will be closed with summer cocktails and live music by acclaimed Los Angeles based producer AFTA-1.
Test_Lab is a bimonthly public event organized by V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media that provides an informal setting for the presentation, demonstration, testing and discussion of artistic research and development (aRt&D).
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Critical respondent: Alex Adriaansens (Director, V2_)
Young people are the innovators and change agents of society, revealing the future to us by creating it. Therefore, this edition of Test_Lab takes a close look at a selection of outstanding art and design work created by young artists and designers currently exhibiting in graduation shows across Europe. Which topics are being addressed by this new generation of artists and designers? What are their motives, positions, methodologies and media of choice? And how are these new professionals planning to shape their careers as artists and designers in today’s cultural climate in flux? As it is custom to V2_’s Test_Lab events, the audience will be invited to examine each graduation project 'hands-on'.
Following the live demonstrations and discussions, you are cordially invited to our Diskohedron party that celebrates the artists’ and designers’ graduation, as well as the 25th edition in the Test_Lab event series. The Diskohedron, a laser-cut light installation by Philipp Lammer, Gordan Savicic and Selena Savic has 32 individually controlled light bulbs that respond to sound; in this case that of V2_’s resident DJ’s.
Also available at http://live.v2.nl/v2/2009/2011/testlab/20110714-Test_Lab+The-Graduation-Edition.mov
]]>Material culture in clothing and fashion has always been linked to technology - from looms to sewing machines to the processes of harvesting raw materials and transforming them into 'cloth'. However, the concept and materiality of textile is being contested with new technical practices which subvert conventional expectations of what cloth should be.
Increasingly, material research in clothing and fashion is leading us down the path of synthetic and organic explorations to enhance garments by means of novel manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing, rapid prototyping and bio-couture, by reconsidering harvesting philosophies such as local production, and by implementing scientific novelties such as carbon nanotubes and shape memory alloys.
What is more, many of these innovations at the textile substrate have transformed the relationship between our bodies and clothing - presenting us with a varied field of material expression and somatic experience. This event seeks to ask questions about new materialities for clothing, investigates the crossover between fashion and applied uses, and probes towards a future of clothing without “cloth”.
In this edition of Test_Lab you will witness Emily Crane prepare molecular cuisine 'garments' in front of your very eyes; probe the speculative designs of Central Saint Martins’ Textile Futures ateliers with MA course director Carole Collet; join Christien Meindertsma to question what happens when you harvest wool from your own flock of sheep to then computationally knit your sweater; test out high-tech laboratory-developed garments from Grado Zero Espace and experience what it feels like to walk in Pauline van Dongen’s 'printed' shoes made in collaboration with Freedom of Creation.
Send us your tweets during the event: #V2_
Your pictures of this event tagged with the keyword 'V2_' will be published at www.v2.nl
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People often think of augmented reality (AR) as a single technology, but a wide range of technologies (markers, tracking, mapping, etc.) can create augmented realities. This set of tools offers artists a rich variety of creative possibilities, yet relatively few artists seem aware of AR’s potential for their art practice. Every AR technology can give rise to a different experience; learning about each type’s properties helps an artist to determine which best suits his or her aims. An artist also needs to know where to access AR tools if he or she is to employ AR as a medium.
At Test_Lab: Tools for ARt, we will open the AR toolbox and look closely at the diverse technologies inside. Through live demonstrations of AR technologies and artworks, we will show which AR tools are available to artists and where. We will also shine light on the relationships between these technologies and the kinds of artistic experiences they can give rise to. As it is customary at Test_Lab, we will invite audience members to personally test all the demonstrated artworks and AR technologies.
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Every year, V2_ invites a small group of up-and-coming artists to spend their summer in the V2_Lab for an intense short-term residency. During these so-called Summer Sessions, the selected artists are given the opportunity to (further) develop an artwork in close collaboration with V2_'s expert developers, curator and project managers.
This year’s Summer Sessions welcomed artists Anouk Wipprecht, Joachim Rotteveel, Mark Shepard and Ivan Henriques into the V2_Lab to work on projects in the fields of augmented reality, wearable technology, and ecology - the three central research themes of the V2_Lab. By holding the residencies in parallel, V2_ aimed to promote a creative synergy between these up-and-coming artists. The outcome of this synergy was showcased in this special summer edition of Test_Lab. As it is custom to V2_’s Test_Lab, the four residency projects were demonstrated live and the audience was invited to assess the works hands-on.
Also available at: http://live.v2.nl/v2/2010/testlab/20100902-testlab_summer-sessions-2010.mov
]]>V2_Lab presented the outcome of the 2010 Summer Sessions at The International Symposium on Electronic Art. ISEA2010 RUHR is one of the most prestigious festivals for digital and electronic art. Being one of the projects of RUHR.2010 European Capital of Culture, the symposium was be held in Germany for the first time! At several venues in the cities of Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg, the festival presented current works and debates in Media Art worldwide.
Every year, V2_ invites a small group of up-and-coming artists to spend their summer in the V2_Lab for an intense short-term residency. During these so-called Summer Sessions, the selected artists are given the opportunity to develop an artwork in close collaboration with V2_'s expert developers, curator and project managers.
This year’s Summer Sessions welcomed artists Anouk Wipprecht, Joachim Rotteveel, Mark Shepard and Ivan Henriques into the V2_Lab to work on projects in the fields of augmented reality, wearable technology, and ecology - the three central research themes of the V2_Lab. As it is custom to V2_’s Test_Lab format, the four residency projects were demonstrated live and the audience was invited to assess the works hands-on.
Demonstrations: Selena Savic (SRB), Piet Zwart Institute | David Benque (FR), Royal College of Art | Michael Dotolo (US), Frank Mohr Institute | Renee Hulshoff (NL), Royal Art Academy | Gabriel Vanegas (CO), Academy of Media Arts Cologne | Oliver Goodhall (UK), Royal College of Art
Performance: Joram Kroon, a.k.a. Prace (NL), Utrecht School of the Arts
As Italo Calvino illustrates in his classic novel Invisible Cities, the notion of ‘city’ extends far beyond its visible physical architecture. A city is characterized as much by the ways in which its urban life is organized, the problems and threats it faces and the memories, desires and fears of its inhabitants, as by the buildings and spaces that define its physical form. Due to the rapid and ongoing process of urbanization - resulting in half of humanity now living in urban environments - we are forced to radically rethink our cities. While we can see our physical urban environments transforming at a rapid pace however, who is rethinking the ‘invisible’ counterparts that Calvino wrote about almost forty years ago?
Artists, architects, and designers play an important role in revealing ‘invisible’ aspects of cities, often providing new insights into how our cities function and develop. To rethink the ‘invisible city’ under the pressure of rapid urbanization, this edition of Test_Lab featured a selection of freshly graduated artists, architects, and designers from European art and design academies whose projects explore the invisible aspects of our contemporary urban environments. The selected projects range from artistic representations of invisible cities, to simulations of urban economy and concrete scenarios for urban production and energy development. As it is custom to the Test_Lab event series, the audience forms the critical test panel for the demonstrated works and was invited to examine each graduation project 'hands-on'.
The evening kicked off with an introduction by the Rotterdam-based urban mapping expert Theo Deutinger, featured a special opening of Disrupting Systems (see inset), and closed with a live music set about one of the world’s most conflict-ridden places.
Also available at: http://live.v2.nl/v2/2010/testlab/20100708_testlab-the-invisible-city.mov
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The increased accessibility and affordability of contemporary media technologies has greatly expanded possibilities for the dissemination of independent and grassroots information. At the same time, these developments have also greatly increased the opportunities for (mis)use of media technologies as powerful and effective tools for political and commercial propaganda. Although many theorists, artists, and activists have addressed the latter perspective on contemporary media technologies, critical debates have rarely relied on concrete demonstrations to prove their point. This edition of Test_Lab will therefore investigate the face of propaganda in the digital age by means of live artistic demonstrations, and will allow the audience to test hands-on how new media technologies can be applied as effective tools for propaganda.
How does Google determine which website shows up first and which one on page 2.480.133 of a search? Does a photograph only represent its own reality? How does social tagging affect the meaning of an online image? Why is spam persuasive and profitable? Is Uncyclopedia perhaps the true Wikipedia? What would the world look like if all advertisements were covered with artworks? And can Google’s Street View be a stage for artistic intervention?
Test_Lab: Tools for Propaganda allows you to experience and test for yourself how new media technologies can be (mis)used to direct, divert, distract and manipulate your gaze on the world.
Subvertr.com and streetwithaview.com are screened with kind permission of the artists, Les Liens Invisibles, and Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley, respectively.
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An intimate relationship consists of a private world shared by an individual and his/her significant other(s). According to sociologist David Cheal, this private world is defined by its need to be continuously maintained. From flowers and letters to emails and text messages, throughout history people have used a wide range of artefacts and interfaces to remind significant others of their significance. The design of those artefacts and interfaces, however, has focused almost exclusively on the mediation of symbolic and verbal acts of intimacy – and yet physical intimacy and presence are among our strongest expressions of significance. Given the abundance of communication and tangible interface technologies currently available, it is striking that none of these have fully succeeded in the mediation of physical intimate acts.
Artists and designers have steadily addressed this issue in the recent past by redesigning network and communication technologies for the mediation of physical intimate acts. However, these have at best succeeded in replacing existing forms of physical intimacy with poorly fulfilling technological simulations and substitutes, such as cybersex and telepresence. Ultimately, this only strengthened the general view that true mediated physical intimacy is science fiction. Due to a shift in focus from trying to model existing forms of physical intimacy to designing truly new physical intimate acts, more recent artistic explorations – especially in the realm of tangible interfaces – have proven to be much more promising. In these explorations, intimacy evolves out of complex systems, where new technologies, innovative materials, and the human body coalesce to initiate and inspire hitherto unimaginable types of interpersonal engagement.
This edition of Test_Lab presented the outcome of these artistic ventures into technology-mediated bodily intimacy. In demonstrating their works, artists and designers have shown and tested their radical reconsiderations of the ways in which body, material, and technology together shape our intimate lives. Exemplified in demonstrations of the innovative Bare Skin Safe Conductive Ink, Karen Lancel and Hermen Maat's Tele_Trust data veil, and a preview of Studio Roosegaarde's project Intimacy, the topic was further elaborated upon by 'body architect' and artist Lucy McRae, and philosopher and media theorist Franco Berardi. As it is custom to Test_Lab, the audience was invited to try out the presented works. Can these explorations lead to truly intimate interfaces?
For the preview of "Intimacy", the model was Kimora - Jimmy Model Management, make up: Joyce Kern
Also available at http://live.v2.nl/v2/2009/testlab/091210-intimate-interfaces.mov
]]>Featuring: Melissa Coleman (NL) | Tarik Barri (NL) | David de Buyser (BE) | Introduction: Boris Debackere (BE) | Respondent: Angela Plohman (CA)
For most people summertime means beaches and barbecues, but at V2_, three up-and-coming young artists have spent the summer developing their art practice. During the intensive working period entitled Summer Sessions, each of them has collaborated with V2_’s expert developers, project managers and curators to produce new work. The outcome of these residencies was the focus of a special summer edition of Test_Lab.
In the 2009 Summer Sessions, artists Tarik Barri, Melissa Coleman and David de Buyser respectively developed projects in the fields of augmented reality, wearable technology, and interactive organic environments. By holding the three residencies in parallel, V2_ aimed to promote a creative synergy between these young artists.
Test_Lab: Summer Sessions showed the results of this synergy through demonstrations of the works created during the residencies and discussion of the artists’ experiences of these intensive working periods. As usual in V2_’s Test_Labs, the audience was invited to critically test the works through hands-on engagement.
Also available at http://live.v2.nl/v2/2009/testlab/090917-summer-sessions.mov
Test_Lab is a bi-monthly public event organized by V2_Institute for the Unstable Media, that provides an informal setting for the presentation, demonstration, testing, and discussion of artistic Research and Development (aRt&D).
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V2_Lab is a place for artistic Research and Development (aRt&D). Here, generic technical solutions relevant to the fields of art and culture are developed and made available under open-source licenses whenever possible. V2_ projects involve artists, technicians, and scientists, working together to develop technology and tools for specific artworks. V2_Lab also offers technical and production support to artists. The V2_ artist-in-residence program is one instrument for accomplishing this.
For the 2009 summer residencies, we selected artists Tarik Barri, Melissa Coleman, and David de Buyser, who did projects in the respective fields of augmented reality, wearable technology, and interactive organic environments during July and August. By running these three residencies in parallel, V2_ aimed to promote a creative productive synergy between these enthusiastic young artists and their project teams over the summer. At the Festival Ars Electronica, Test_Lab: Summer Sessions revealed the results of this synergy. The program presented the projects born of the summer residencies and conducted debate on the artists’ experiences during this intensive working period. As is customary in V2_’s Test_Labs, the audience was invited to critically engage with the works in a hands-on way.
The presentation and the public testing of the works in this edition of Test_Lab will led to a discussion on the role of media labs today. V2_ has served as a laboratory since the early 1980s; its structure and approaches have developed and seen great changes over the last 25 years. Which approaches have turned out to be particularly successful – and which have dramatically failed? Which themes have recurred in the aRt&D carried out at V2_, and how have they contributed to the field? How have other labs developed? And which new strategies for media labs are out there at the moment? Festival Ars Electronica served as an ideal context for addressing these questions in the presence of experts and representatives of other international labs.
A second edition of this Test_Lab: SummerSessions takes place at the V2_ on September 17 in Rotterdam.
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Opening: Mieke Gerritzen
Respondent: Koert van Mensvoort
Performance: TokTek vs VJ MNK
Newspaper headlines report that our world is in crisis, but while the front page illustrates how bad the global situation is, a few pages down, positive tongues claim that the current global crisis provides us with unprecedented opportunities for creative technological innovation, social transformation, revisions of financial systems, environmental change, and entrepreneurship. But did we really need this crisis to generate these opportunities?! We think not. Our world is continuously in crisis, and therefore constantly requires critical reflection and rethinking. However, as the world’s future is said to be in the hands of the truly creative and critical thinkers, we are more than willing to soothe away any worries about the crisis by revealing a whole new generation of artists’ and designers’ views on the current state of affairs.
While elsewhere the crisis is being tackled by young scientists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs, through initiatives such as think tanks and campaigns, in this edition of Test_Lab, V2_ will create its own special think tank for young artists to address issues of a world in crisis with artistic reflection and creative vision. In order to do so, V2_ has made a selection of several outstanding graduation projects from this past academic year, that were proposed for the program by teachers and coordinators from various European art and design academies. The demonstrated works will lay out a young generation’s artistic view on our current conditions and ways of living: Featuring a truly objective coin-flipper, a revolutionary strategy for urban gardening, the first ever open source international ocean station, toast from a toaster made from scratch, and an interactively controlled greenhouse for growing graduation bouquets.
As is custom to Test_Lab, the audience is invited to assess these young artists’ reflections by testing the demonstrated artworks and designs themselves. So prepare for an evening of trying thought provoking electronic art and design that deals with urgent (and less urgent) aspects of a world in crisis. If after this any worries about the crises should remain, then TokTek vs. VJ MNK will soothe your cares away by performing live at Test_Lab: What Crisis?!
Academies:
Academy of Media Arts, Cologne
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
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