STUDIO(dys)TOPIA

!brute_force – Soft Resilience

Maja Smrekar (SI), Jonas Jørgensen (DK)

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Mittwoch, 7. September 2022, 16:00 - 17:30
Donnerstag, 8. September 2022, 16:00 - 17:30
Freitag, 9. September 2022, 15:30 - 17:00
Samstag, 10. September 2022, 15:30 - 17:00
Sonntag, 11. September 2022, 15:30 - 17:00
Alle Termine werden in der Mitteleuropäischen Sommerzeit (MESZ / UTC+2) angegeben.
KEPLER'S GARDENS, Kepler Hall

!brute_force ist ein Übertitel für eine laufende Forschungsplattform, die die Prämisse hinterfragt, dass Menschen und Nichtmenschen nicht mehr in einen dualistischen Rahmen eingebettet sind, sondern stattdessen innerhalb der globalen Infrastruktur der Marktwirtschaft und der techno-kapitalistischen Kommodifizierung des Lebens nivelliert werden.

Die Arbeit besteht aus einem Raster, in dem ein Mensch und ein Hund durch eine Kachellandschaft klettern, während ihre physiologischen Daten von einer KI erfasst und klassifiziert werden. Mittels eines generativen Verfahrens wurden die erfassten Daten in strukturelle Netzmuster übersetzt, die in weiche Robotermorphologien eingebettet sind. Die Roboter setzen die Performativität eines evolutionären Algorithmus um, der Daten in Vektoren umwandelt und neue Abweichungen erzeugt, indem er eine Methode anwendet, die kontinuierlich so viele Unterschiede wie möglich in das System einführt. Durch eine Erweiterung der mutierten Werte werden die Daten schließlich zu einer unabhängigen Entität, die die Softroboter in Richtung des transformativen Potenzials des algorithmischen Unbekannten drängt.

Biographies

Jonas Jørgensen is an artist and researcher based in Copenhagen (DK). His practice and interests span the fields of robotic art, technical soft robotics research, human-robot interaction, and media art histories. Jonas’ collaborative media art projects have been exhibited widely at institutions including Chronus Art Center, Science Gallery Dublin, BOZAR, Forum Box, Kunsthal Grenland, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Centre for Contemporary Art Laznia, and Cluj Cultural Centre. He currently holds a position as Assistant Professor at the Center for Soft Robotics at the Biorobotics section of the University of Southern Denmark.
Smrekar’s work combines practice-based artistic research exploring the potentials of current technologically and scientifically rooted processes and materials. She has been using her artistic voice to speak on ecofeminism, inter-species relationships, posthumanism, and many radical worlds in society. Her practice has allowed her to lead strong collaborations in developing productions that include cross-conceptual staging of hybrid art, performance, installations, site-specific art, performative photography, drawing and video as well as contributions to knowledge exchanged within lectures, talks and texts. Smrekar was the recipient of the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica 2017 in the Hybrid Arts Category (Linz/Austria) and Prešeren Foundation Award 2018, the highest award of the Republic of Slovenia (Ljubljana/Slovenia). In 2020 and 2021, she was the Science Breakthrough of the Year finalist within the Science in the Arts category of the Falling Walls Foundation/Berlin Science Week (Germany).

Credits

Installation
Design: Maja Smrekar (SI)
Design process research: Dongwook Jang (KR/NL)
Planning and technical solutions: Miloš Vujković (RS/DE)
Architecture: Aljaž Rudolf (SI)

Soft Robotics
Design: Jonas Jørgensen (DK), Mads Bering Christiansen (DK)
Soft robotics fabrication: Mads Bering Christiansen (DK)
Microcontroller programming: Daniel Mauricio Fernandez Gonzalez (CO/ES), Jonas Jørgensen (DK)
Algorithm programming: Daniel Mauricio Fernandez Gonzalez (CO/ES)
Mechanical parts design and fabrication: Cao Danh Do (DK)
Electronics: Jeppe Rahbæk Mosgaard (DK)
Tile design and production: Miloš Vujković (RS/DE)

AI
Alen Balja (SI), Miran Lončarič (SI), Naveen Agula (IN), dr. Primož Ravbar (US)
Interface design: Dongwook Jang (KR/NL)

K-9
Mia Zahariaš (SI), Tina Šolar (SI)
Dogs: Boogie (SI), Ada (SI)

The project is supported by:
The first in the series of projects (2019- 2020) under the title !brute_force: Feeding the Algorithm was executed by Maja Smrekar and produced by Quo Artis Foundation (ES), co-produced by Kapelica Gallery/Kersnikova Institute (SI), The Culture Yard/CLICK Festival (DK). The project was part of the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab and was supported by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (SI), Municipality of Ljubljana – Department for Culture (SI), Danish Art Council (DK).

The soft robotic tile prototype (2020–2021) was realized in co-authorship between Maja Smrekar and Jonas Jørgensen within the framework of the STUDIOTOPIA program at Ars Electronica Linz GmbH & Co KG (A) with support of the Creative Europe Culture Program of the European Union in collaboration with Center for Soft Robotics, SDU Biorobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark (DK)

The final robotic performance installation (2022) was realized in co-authorship between Maja Smrekar and Jonas Jørgensen and produced by PiNA Association (SI); co-produced by TROP — Institute for artistic research (SI) in collaboration with Center for Soft Robotics, SDU Biorobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark (DK) and RPS Company (SI). Funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (SI).

Thanks to
RPS Company, Ljubljana (SI)

STUDIOTOPIA is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.