[ISEA2010] Curators Statement: Ulrike Gabriel & Martin Stiehl — agents 2.0

Curators Statement

Exhibition of the Offenbach University of Art and Design ISEA2010 RUHR. Exhibition duration: 23 to 29 August 2010, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Lütge Brückstraße 16, Dortmund

During ISEA2010 (International Symposium on Electronic Art 2010), students of the Electronic Media department at the Offenbach University of Design operate an exhibition room as an agent center in Dortmund. The artists act and intervene personally and directly in live situations with the urban space. They swarm in teams of agents to explore various aspects of social life and at the same time to intervene in it. The action systems applied are similar to simple programs that are transferred to the urban space, nestle there, expand and open up an interactive scope for action. They evoke self-running processes. Like a viral reproduction, they infect the targeted objects and subjects at least with their message. [source: hfg-offenbach.de]

During ISEA2010 RUHR students from the Department of Electronic Media at Offenbach Academy of Art and Design run an exhibition space as a headquarter for agents. The artists act and intervene personally and immediately in live situations with the urban environment. In teams they disperse into the city to explore and simultaneously act upon different aspects of everyday social life. The performative rule sets applied to the urban context resemble simple programmes, which establish and spread themselves and thereby open up room for maneuver. They evoke autopoietic processes. Like a virus they infect the targeted objects and subjects with their message, if not with the principle of their actions itself.

Agents: Anne Euler, Sandra-Daniela Heinz, Tobias O. Hermann, Shaowei Jia, Hye Joo Jun, Yoonsun Kim, Kyung Min Ko, Johanna Kohler, Myria Nicolaeidou, Tatjana Matvejeva, Anthony Ransome-Jones, Bernardo Schorr, Jessica Sehrt, Martin Stiehl, Dominic Vogel, Sabrina Winter.

In addition, the HfG graduate Verena Friedrich presents her installation “Endo” and “Transducers”.

Support: Martin Ahrens, Stephan Blanchet, Michael Brühl, Alexander Stefas

  • Prof. Ulrike Gabriel & Martin Stiehl, HfG Offenbach, DE, organisers