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Science and Technology in Cultural Context

Sister Cities Project

Last update: October 04, 2008, at 01:10 AM

SISTER CITIES PROJECT (China Gates Version for Shanghai & Basel)

Participating Artists: Erratum Ensemble (INT)

Outside Performance: “Sister Cities”

Location Basel: Messeplatz → more info
Dates Friday, 26, September, 4 pm, 5 pm & (6 pm)

Location Basel: Münsterplatz → more info
Dates Saturday, 27, September, 2 pm, 3 pm & 4.30 pm

Location Shanghai: In front of the Science & Technology Museum → more info
Dates: 23 May at 1 pm, 2 pm, & 3pm
Dates: 24 May at 2 pm, 3 pm, 4, pm & 5 pm

Computer Visuals: “Off Cloud Nine”
[Location: Zum Isaak → more info
Dates: 27 September 2pm to 6pm

Inside Projection: “Just Around the Corner”
Location Shanghai: Zendai Museum of Modern Art → more info
Dates: 18 May to 25 May, 9 am & 5 pm

About the Sister Cities Project (background info)

„In Shanghai on 19 November 2007, Basel’s Governing Council member Carlo Conti and Deputy Mayor Tengjie TANG signed the city twinning agreement between Basel and Shanghai. The two cities are keen to promote reciprocal exchange and co-operation in various fields of business, in particular life sciences and finance, science, culture and location marketing.The city twinning arrangement between Basel and Shanghai was formally signed within the framework of a formal ceremony in Shanghai. In his address on the occasion of the signing of the agreement, Deputy Mayor Tengjie TANG underscored Shanghai’s interest in a co-operative partnership with Basel.While there is certainly a striking disparity between the size of the two cities, they also have similar interests: both cities are amongst the world’s most important centres for the life sciences, have tremendous economic power and are seen as cultural metropolises.“ → more

Sister Cities Performance Art Clay, Dennis Majoe & Erratum Ensemble Shanghai-Basel (INT) The work China Gates is technically based on possibilities of synchronizing a group of performers using the clock pulse emitted from GPS satellites. Aesthetically, China Gates is rooted in works for open public space and belongs to a series of works, which celebrate the use of innovative mobile technologies to explore public space and public audience. The performance takes place in a city area such as a park, a parking area, or any other open space. A series of tuned gongs equal to the performers participating are used to perform the work. Tuned to an Eastern musical scale, these gongs give the piece a touch of the orient on the horizontal, melodic side and a western type dissonance on the vertical, chordal side. In addition to having the gong and beater to create the music, each player wears a custom built GPS interface on the wrist. The interface acts as a “conductor”, indicating when the gongs are to be hit. By using a delay between the satellite clock pulse and the LED that indicates when to strike the gong, a harmolodic effect is obtained as the players gradually shift from a chordal to a melodic structure (and vice versa) dependent on geographical coordinates. The performances of the “Sister Cities” version of China Gates will take place in Shanghai and in Basle. After undergoing a short briefing and demonstration of how the Wrist-Conductor works and the composition is to be performed, it is possible for the public (up to twenty persons) to participate as an ensemble members.

Off Cloud Nine Matthias Schrag & Jürg Gutknecht Location: Zum Isaak → more info Viewing Hours: Saturday, 2pm to 6pm Some say that new media art had it real roots in the video hacker scene from the 1970’s and 80 when games like Super Mario were hacked and made subject to code modifications to create behaviors that deviated from the program’s expected ones. Looking back at the graphic style of the times, it becomes clear that highly aesthetic graphics were created despite limitations in resolution and color palette. The project >On Cloud Nine< was developed to track players in the work >China Gates> for gong ensemble and satellites by Art Clay in a unique way, so that the elements of a video piece -a work of art on its own- could be controlled dynamically. The visualization, at least in terms of its aesthetics, also adopts the principle that more is less. O The project is in cooperation with the ETH Computer Science Department, who have in part since the time of Nicolas Wirth (Inventor of Pascal) practiced in part a “lean” approach to computer systems design and application development. So, following in this tradtion, a visualization was created using 8-bit motives that interact with google earth -keeping up with the trend of being trend.

Projection Just Around the Corner Art Clay & Erratum Ensemble Shanghai-Basel (INT) Both performances will be recorded on videotape and be played back in synch in the MoMa Shanghai. The synchronization will take place by a common pulse clock running the videotape playback speed. The pulse clock, which will either be the GPS TimeMark or will be an internal computer clock, will be integrated into the software application that will be used to playback the videos. The actual area used for the projection is the corner of an exhibition space in the MoMa Shanghai. One projection is to the left and one is to the right of the corner. Both projections meet seamlessly at the corner and on this account of the performers from both the Basle and the Shanghai performances will seem to walk from one screen into the other. Basle and Shanghai are in planning to become sister cities. The concept of “Sister Cities” takes on a very plastic character through the projections.

!!SISTER CITIES → grant information?

Copyright @ ETH Zürich

Page last modified on October 04, 2008, at 01:10 AM