P R E S S   R E L E A S E

International interactive art in Rotterdam
during Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF04)

Rotterdam, Thursday 9 September 2004

The seventh edition of the biannual Dutch Electronic Art Festival is taking place in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), from Tuesday 9 until Sunday 21 November 2004. DEAF04 presents a large international exhibition, events, conferences, music performances and workshops. Participating artists are the Chinese-American artist Zhang Ga, Seiko Mikami and Sota Ichikawa from Japan, British artist Luke Jerram, American architect Lebbeus Woods, and many others.

Interactive art in the exhibition and in the public space
The festival is a presentation platform for new media art – some of it commissioned by DEAF04 – and as a forum for critical debate and art education. Dozens of artists from all over the world present their work in the exhibition on the festival location Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek and in the public space throughout Rotterdam. People's Portrait, conceived by the Chinese-American artist Zhang Ga, is an ambitious public art project on two interrelated levels: video wall display and web portal exhibition. It is presented as a public project on a central square in Rotterdam during DEAF04 and as a large projection on the facade of the Museum of the Future of Ars Electronica Center, Linz (Austria). It also uses the Reuters Headquarters' massive video and data display screen on Times Square in New York. Peoples' Portrait uses the Internet as the underlying mechanism to create a global portrait of people. Passers-by can make a photograph of themselves in photo booths located in cities such as Rotterdam, New York, Brisbane, Barcelona and Singapore. These pictures will be rendered in real time and displayed instantly and simultaneously on various museum websites and grand video walls in these and other cosmopolitan urban centers.

In Gravicells – Gravity and Resistance by the Japanese artists Seiko Mikami and Sota Ichikawa the computer constantly measures weight, movements and speed of the participants who are themselves inside the installation. Through all kinds of calculations and analyses the computer causes the participants to perceive gravitation with all senses.

The interaction between the visitor and the installation Run Motherfucker Run of the Rotterdam-based media artist Marnix de Nijs is exceptionally immediate. While running on a conveyor belt, the visitor has to find his way through a city which is projected on a large projection screen in front of him. By diving into unexpected side lanes and streets, the visitor can partly determine the course of this thriller-like film, but not altogether... Some other examples of artwork expected at the exhibition are Ohrwurmbeschleuniger by the Austrian Roman Kirschner is a magnetron which makes melodies that will never leave your head again, so-called 'earwigs'. The British artist Luke Jerram presents his installation Tide, an acoustic sculpture which reacts upon the attraction of the moon. In Mobile Feelings, by the international duo Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, information about the body, such as pulsation and body fragrance are passed on from one participant to the other using mobile telephony.

Press release continues at the reverse side →

Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems
The interactivity of the artworks directly refers to the theme of DEAF04 – Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems, a theme that concerns feeling as a vital factor for interaction. Feeling is the driving force behind our actions. Recently it has become known that we never do anything purely rational. That applies to almost every human operation. Without your feeling or intuition to rely on, you can take no decision whatsoever. Open systems are continuously in interaction with their surroundings and are therefore partly shaped by human activities. Each interactive artwork is an open system, which tries to seduce the visitor to participate in certain operations, hoping that the work itself will reorganise itself into an unforeseen consistency. The artists participating in the exhibition have been selected on the basis of their congruence with the theme.

The American avant-garde architect Lebbeus Woods will compile a full evening's program that showcases his personal outlook on DEAF04's theme. Japanese curator Yukiko Shikata and Slovenian artist Marko Peljhan were commissioned by DEAF04 as well to compile a full evening. The academic symposium Feelings are Always Local (12–13 November) brings together a high profile and interdisciplinary group of scientists, theorists, artists and architects around the theme of DEAF04. Among the eight speakers are Arjun Appadurai, Mike Davis, Loretta Napoleoni, and Alex Galloway.

About Dutch Electronic Art Festival
The Dutch Electronic Art Festival is a biannual international festival for electronic art. It is a presentation platform for new media art – some of it commissioned by the festival – as well as a forum for interdisciplinary co-operation and critical debate. DEAF04 is the seventh edition of this festival hosted in Rotterdam since 1994 by V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media.

The DEAF04 exhibition takes place in the spacious Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek building and in the public space of Rotterdam during the entire festival. Apart from the exhibition, DEAF04 offers live (music) performances, evening programs, seminars and workshops, discussions and presentations, an academic symposium with a book publication, educational programs and an informative festival website which also functions as a platform for several on-line activities.

DEAF04 - Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems
Date: Tuesday 9 November – Sunday 21 November 2004
Central location: Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek, Van Nelleweg 1, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Festival website: www.deaf04.nl

Contact:
DEAF04 – Dutch Electronic Art Festival
P.O. Box 19049, 3001 BA Rotterdam
Tel. + 31 (0)10 – 206 72 72
Fax + 31 (0)10 – 206 72 71
E-mail: deaf@v2.nl

Note for members of the press:
For further information, image material and/or press accreditation requests, contact Richard de Boer (communication & PR), direct tel. + 31 10 – 206 72 77 or e-mail richard@v2.nl. Press releases of DEAF04 can be received by e-mail and will remain receivable through the press section on the festival website www.deaf04.nl.