designtransfer: Transmediale Vorspiel 2015

With increasing amounts of data available, the quantified reality seems hard to contest, yet is far from representing the truth. Although technology allows us to measure, record and represent data seemingly objectively, the choices of how and what to measure intimately embody an attitude and a bias. In the context of Transmediale Vorspiel 2015, designtransfer takes a look at objects and stories that emerge when data is measured, represented and made tangible.

Exhibition Opening: Tuesday, 27 January 2015, 6pm

Talk & Presentation Domestic Data Streamers: 7pm

Exhibition: 28 January – 5 February 2015; Tue-Fri, 10am – 6pm

The exhibition shows results of MEASURING INSTRUMENTS and TECHNOLEGACY, two projects of the Digitale Klasse at the Berlin University of the Arts led by Prof. Joachim Sauter and Prof. Jussi Ängeslevä. MEASURING INSTRUMENTS deals with the meanings that emerge in the act of measuring. An instrument is a tool through which actions are performed. They can be highly expressive and serve as an extension of the human body. The narratives that come up when the human meets the technological tell us something about ourselves far beyond numbers. Sometimes, the intended use of a technology is even turned upside down. Who could have foreseen that a protocol intended to send status diagnostics of a network would become an omnipresent cultural phenomenon called SMS? TECHNOLEGACY presents “old“ technologies and their original purpose, then turns to look at them from the present, re-appropriating them anew.

A talk by the new media design collective Domestic Data Streamers from Barcelona will complement the exhibition. Visual representations of data grab our attention and affect us emotionally in ways that text alone usually can‘t. By transforming raw data into interactive systems, Domestic Data Streamers develop new data languages between arts, sociology and science. Their installations have been shown at several museums and cultural institutions including the Qatar Foundation, Design Hub Barcelona and SWAB. At designtransfer, they will explain how to turn excel forms into erotic lyrics. In addition, the exhibition will display the output of their workshop DATA SCULPTING, where students of the University of the Arts push the boundaries between data visualization and metal sculpting to create micro-data based stories.

Also on display are works produced in the workshop STATE OF MATTER by Stefan Schwabe, Jannis Hülsen and Clemens Winkler, dealing with the hands-on experimental exploration of abstract materials. Starting with the basic materials flour and water, participants cultivate tools and develop a consistent language. With more ingredients added in the course of it, the workshop becomes an intense examination of materials, their particular composition as well as their interaction among each other.

The talk by Domestic Data Streamers will be given in English. Free admission.

Ann-Katrin Krenz
David Friedrich
Florian Born
Hye Joo Jun
Iohanna Nicenboim
Lorenz Raab
Maja Dika
Michael Burk
Valerian Blos