[rohrpost] Fwd: Jodi-Opening, BLN, 01.02.03

[Krystian Woznicki <kw@berlinergazette.de>]

Invitation to the opening of the exhibition Jodi:INSTALL.EXE

Opening: Saturday, February 1st, 2003, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m
Arch 54

Computer crashes, error messages and viruses; computer programs dissolving 
into an endless labyrinth of lines and spaces: the nightmare of every 
computer user.  They push us to the border of our ability to use machines 
gone awry.
They transform into media no longer intelligible, a colorful screen full of 
cryptic characters. Exactly this horror is that with which Jodi confronts 
the viewer. Is this where machines have begun lives of their own?

The Dutch-Belgian artist couple Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans, whose 
first names form Jodi, are among the pioneers of net-art. At first they 
presented their work exclusively in the Internet, and later, CDs came as 
supplemts to publications.  Through the CD-ROM, the immaterial took on a 
concrete form.With their work, Jodi has set measures and standards against 
which all other work in the genre is compared.  Incontestably, they are the 
central figures of net-art.

The first 'real-space' work for the artistic duo, the 
exhibition-installation INSTALL.EXE finds itself in a more concrete setting 
- BüroFriedrich. In INSTALL.EXE, whose title reminds one of a general 
software installation command, the artistic term 'installation' is removed 
and replaced by a computing term.  Here, one sees recordings of regular 
'desktop activities' and of irregular reactions by common desktop programs. 
The exhibition contains early computer games as well, also with the 
artists' manipulations. On laptop-computers in the exhibition room, the 
visitor can view the artist's work online.

INSTALL.EXE includes two new works. One of them - JET SET WILLY Variations 
(2002) - is a throwback to the 48 K ZX Spectrum Computer of 1984, one of 
the first home computers, from the year to which Orwell projected his 
frightening future visions. With this original Spectrum Computer, which is 
connected to a 1980s TV and receives its data from an audiotape, the 
visitor can look at the project, which is based on an old video game. Thus, 
the user of the 21st century can take himself back to the Stone Age of 
great expectations one more time. This retroactive work was developed on a 
ZX Spectrum Emulator which has the same capacity of computers at the 
beginning of the 1980s, and can be seen on modern computers only with this 
emulator. JET SET WILLY Variations shows the gulf between a deserted 
digital medium and a simulation in the presence. The second work, 
INSTALL.EXE, "The First Time You Start Your Computer", consists of 
recordings of Jodi's screen which show irregular activities of everyday 
programs; the cursor is portrayed as the main protagonist.

This Jodi exhibition deals with the relationship between modern digital 
technology in its historical dimension and the (in)ability of man to adapt 
to this; this can be experienced in their work visually, and sometimes also 
quite annoyingly. INSTALL.EXE is an important step out of the web-art crisis.

Last year, the exhibition was seen at [plug in] in Basel, Switzerland, 
and  after its current stay in Berlin, will be traveling further.

For the exhibitions at [plug in] and BüroFriedrich, the publication 
INSTALL.EXE/Jodi, in cooperation with Tilman Baumgärtel, has been 
produced.  This is the first monography for the genre of web-art.
-- 
Jodi: INSTALL.EXE
3.02.2003 - 8.03.2003


Lebendige Archive
7.12.2002 - 15.02.2003

*********************
BüroFriedrich
Holzmarktstrasse 15 - 18
S-Bahnbögen 53-54
10179 Berlin
Germany


tel: +49 30 201 65115
fax: +49 30 201 65114
office@buerofriedrich.org

url:www.buerofriedrich.org

____________________________


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