It has been exciting to participate in thingworld: International Triennial of New Media Art 2014, at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. As the third edition, “thingworld: International Triennial of New Media Art 2014” follows the internationally acclaimed Olympic Cultural Project “Synthetic Times: Media Art China 2008” and “transLife: International Triennial of New Media Art”, which was officially instituted as a triennial of new media art at the National Art Museum of China in 2011. It has been an honor for ZERO1 to participate not only in bringing amazing art to the Triennial through artists Karolina Sobecka and Chris Baker, but also help shape and define the formation of the Triennial as our ED was on the advisory committee.
For just a few more days (until July 7th), thingworld investigates the most current intellectual trends in the discourse of media art and culture and provide a prominent platform for a global presentation and theorization of cutting edge media artwork. If you happen to be in Beijing, there's still time to experience 58 works by 65 artists and artistic collectives from 22 countries. at the National Art Muesum of China. Most of the works in the exhibition are being shown in China for the first time.
As always, ZERO1 is committed to investing in artists by enabling global opportunities to expand their professional practice. American artists Christopher Baker and Karolina Sobecka are representing ZERO1 directly and there are many additional artists particiapting who ZERO1 has worked with directly and have shown either during the ZERO1 Biennial or exhbitions at the ZERO1 Garage. It is breathtaking to see so many artists showcasing works at the nexus of creativity and innovation.
Christopher Baker is an artist whose work engages the rich collection of social, technological and ideological networks present in the urban landscape. He creates artifacts and situations that reveal and generate relationships within and between these networks. For thingworld, Baker is showcasing Murmur Study (seen below), which was presented at the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial, Seeking Silicon Valley. It is an installation that examines the rise of micro-messaging technologies such as Twitter and Facebook’s status update. Murmur Study consists of 30 thermal printers that continuously monitor Twitter for new messages containing variations on common emotional utterances. Messages containing hundreds of variations on words such as argh, meh, grrrr, oooo, ewww, and hmph, are printed as an endless waterfall of text accumulating in tangled piles below. And although one might describe these messages as a type of digital small talk, these fleeting thoughts are accumulated, archived and digitally-indexed by corporations. While we don't know what the future of these archives will be, Baker is comments that the sheer volume of these publicly accesible and frequently emontial expressions, should give us pause.
Karolina Sobecka, who works with animation, design, interactivity, computer games and other media and formats, often engages public space and explores the way we interact with the world we create. At thingworld Sobecka presented Nephologies (pictured above), that was also presented during ZERO1's 2013 BRING IT! summer programing. She explores the question of consturcting and deplying devices that display and probe the knowlede, technology, ethics, and aesthetics of our culture with respec to pressing the envvironmental concerns. Her Cloud Machine is a personal device for weather modification. It consists of cloud-making gear sent up into the atmosphere in a weather-balloon payload. As it reaches specific altitudes it disperses Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN), heat and water vapor. Moisture in the air condenses into cloud droplets around the CCN, forming into small clouds. This method is inspired by a geo-engineering technique proposed to create brighter, more reflective clouds which shield earth from sun’s radiation, and thus partly counteract the climate change. Nephologies engage the issue of climate change in a way that taps into experienced human realities.
Aaajiao | CN, Keith Armstrong | AU, & Lawrence English | AU, Cécile Babiole | FR, Ralf Baecker | DE, Christopher Baker | US, Rosa Barba | DE, Catherine Béchard | CA, Julius von Bismarck | DE & Benjamin Maus | DE, Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti | BR, Chen Shaoxiong | CN, U-Ram Choe | KR, Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen | UK, Jessica Deboer | NL, Noa Dolberg | IL, Zoro Feigl | NL, Ken Feingold | US, Benjamin Gaulon | FR, & Tom Verbruggen | NL, & Gijs Gieskes | NL, Jean-Pierre Gauthier | CA, Petra Gemeinboeck | AT/AU, & Rob Saunders | UK/AU, Michael Joaquin Grey | US, Gustav Hellberg | SE, Hu Jieming | CN, Sabin Hudon | CA, Yunchul Kim | KR, Pe Lang | CH, Margareta Lekic | HR, Marcos Lutyens | UK/US, Chico MacMurtrie | US, Lawrence Malstaf | NO/BE, Wade Marynowsky | AU, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy | US, Ronald van der Meijs | NL, Martin Messier | CA, Erwin Redl | AT/US, Carl-Johan Rosén | SE, Adriana Salazar | CO, Björn Schülke | DE, Karolina Sobecka | US/PL, Saša Spacal | SL, & Mirjan Švagelj | SL & Anil Podgornik | SL, Wolfgang Staehle | DE/US & Jan Gerber | DE, Thomson & Craighead | UK, Jacob Tonski | US, Jonathan Villeneuve | CA, Silvio Vujicic | HR, Wang Chung-Kun | CN/TW, Wang Yuyang | CN, Gail Wight | US, Wu Juehui | CN, Yang Jian | CN, Yang Zhenzhong | CN, Pina Yoldas | TR/DE, Zhang Peili | CN, Zimoun | CH
Christopher Baker, Murmur Study, Install shot from 2014 thingworld: International Triennial of New Media Art
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