Self-Projector
One of the pieces that I had missed earlier on in the festival that I was really glad I finally got around to seeing was a self-reflexive projector – sitting on a tripod and surrounded by mirrors, it reprojected a grid of its own dimensions back onto its own body. Unfortunately, I forgot the artists name, thinking that I could look it up online, but have not been able to find it anywhere on the TM site… and I barely found it in the venue; I needed to have someone expressly show it to me, as it was off in some side room.
Immediated Autodocumentary
I managed to sneak into the roughcut screening of the Future Of Art by KS12/emergence collective, who produce what they call ‘immediated autodocumentaries’ at festivals and other events. This one focused on new ways of working, the digital avant-garde, and the crowd-sourcing of the content itself, all harvested, shot, and edited during the course of the festival. They raised some really fascinating questions (and crowd-sourced the answers), and I think are really leading the way in collaborative filmmaking.
Facebook Resistance
A huge theme all Festival.. Seppukkoo.com, a ritual virtual suicide, shut down. Face to Facebook, served a cease and desist letter from Herr Zuckerberg’s lawyers during the Festival. 4chan and their decentralized meme madness. Wikipedia Art (ok, not facebook, but same idea) almost getting shut down for a virtual project that had become real. FFFFFAT Labs and their Facebook Resistance workshop (hot tip: dislike button and multiple partners coming soon!). I guess that’s why he was person of the year… but it was a bit much.
CineChamber
I was a little disappointed in this. For those of you who don’t know, the CineChamber was a permanent immersive a/v theatre in San Francisco for the last few years, made by RML, and Club Transmediale was the first time in what promises to be a lengthy tour of the infrastructure. From the looks of it, they need to iron out some kinks. There were way too many shows (and expensive at that), which from what I heard, really affected the tech schedule, and negatively impacted a lot of live acts rehearsal time, and subsequent performance. The edge blending on the projectors could have used a few more tries as well. But the performances themselves were good. Jeffers Egan and Mimicof was really nice, even with the technical difficulties. But the prerecorded After Effects videos being played as part of the really expensive live programme ….???…. not so into that.
CTM needs a squat
Because I’m sick of going to see really important DJ’s and live acts and not being able to even move because the mega-clubs are full of 19-year old British tourists and drunk, chachi Russians (?! did I just write that?!). There’s enough space in this city to find a special, secret location, so that people who are here for the festival can actually pay attention, or even dance if they wanted to.
Awards Fiasco
One more thing… I’m not Evan Roth. I’ve been saying this since 2008, at Nuit Blanche. Now immabout ready to gets me a shirt madeup, because I had to go onstage during the awards ceremony and accept the Graffiti Markup Language award, read his speech, and hold an iPad with his picture on it in front of my face during the press photos. I wish it was an Android tablet… sorry Evan… blame Mozilla. But you should definitely check out thimbl and Booki, the other two projects nominated for that award… great stuff.
I was a little surprised that the House of Natural Fibers won the main award – they brew bacteria then make music with it, and then drink it ! – mainly because I didn’t see any theoretical framework about their work coming from them, but it seemed that everyone supplied it for them. Not to demean the project at all, I think it’s great, but it just came as a surprise. And the ginger bacteria tasted great. Not sure if that qualifies as Veganer, as they say over here, but some things we just have to try…
Again, I don’t know that anyone had any idea about the work nominated for the Flusser Theory award – why can’t they make this stuff readable on an internet terminal, or a reading room at the festival? – but I’m sure Jordan Crandall’s was very dense and forward-thinking. I mean, it must have been, he won right? EDIT: my bad. he read it live on Wednesday.
Ok ok ok… I promise to add weblinks and some pictures in the next day or two… time to sleep, and eat some real food.
Tags: Berlin, Field Trip, Transmediale