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| Register
Wood, steel, plexiglass, projector, 3 flat displays,
4 computers, 2007
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| Missing Letters
Digital Projection; 2005
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| The Open Book
Data Projection; 2001
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| The Wunderblock
Table, Chair, TFT display, Computer; 2000
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| T-Mail
Rear Data Projection, Database, Black Plexiglass; 1999
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| The ReCollection Mechanism,
Data Projection, Circular Wire Screen; 1998
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| The Memory Hall
Data Projection with Plexiglass and Wood Structure, 1998
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| Hypertext Navigation Room
Wooden cube, four computers, eight monitors; 1996
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| Responsa
Six Monochrome Monitors, Wooden Table; 1996
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| Data Wall
Data projection screens, variable size; 1995
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| Register
Wood, steel, plexiglass, projector, 3 flat displays,
4 computers, 2007 |
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At the end of a long darkened corridor, one percieves an oversized card catalog
in black, as one recognizes from libraries and offices. The catalog contains
thirty drawers, each fitted with the shining metal frames and handles which
clearly identify their archival function. Within these frames, where normally
the little paper cards which mark the contents of that drawer would be, the
data is active and continually changing.
In the lower area of this large piece of virtual furniture are three flat LCD
screens, mounted vertically and partially disappearing into the black box. Here,
an endless row of documents “march” head-first into the “machine”
as if they being inputed for further data analysis within the catalog drawers
above. The “entry categories” of the series of documents are written
dynamically on the face of the drawers, letter by letter in a series of “chapters”,
each representing the data structure of a document.
Due to a built-in randomness integrated into the program processes (as to location,
order, and time), the display of the data will never be exactly the same when
the software program repeats its sequence. These entries are derived from the
questionaires and index cards from the recently found archive of the Jewish
Community of Vienna during the Third Reich era. The work was commissioned by
the Jewish Museum of Vienna for the exhibition, “Ordunung Muß Sein”
(“Order must be”), and is a collaboration with the archive of the
Jewish Community of Vienna.
Software Programming: Alexander Krestovsky and Gregor Kö
Production: “Anlaufstelle der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien”
and “Jüdisches Museum Wien"
Exhibited:
Jüdisches Museum Wien, 2007 |
 Original Plan for Installation
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| Missing Letters
Digital Projection; 2005 |
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| One enters a high darkened space in which one percieves a black monolithic
box, approximately 145 cm. high which dominates the space. One is able to move
in a narrow passageway partially on two sides of this block, as one gradually
percieves a rectangular sunken area, 2. x 1.35 meters, from which light emanates.
From specific positions, one might percieve the movement of text on the lower
surface of this depression, but since the “horizon” of the raised floor is almost
chin-level for most observers, the content and use of this “secret” area remains
unknown.
One then ascends a nearby stairwell, arriving at a second level which functions
as a viewing platform. From here, one looks directly down upon this sunken area,
with it’s associations to graves and archaeological diggings. The surface of
the depression in the floor is now fully visible, revealing an active, dynamic
sea of text below, originating from a rear projection inside the block.
Textual fragments from „The Old Jewish Cemetary in Frankfurt am Main“
by Michael Brocke have been chosen which contain no specific names or dates,
but rather speak of the fading content and physical condition of the ancient
tombstones. Additional phrases in Hebrew, selected from common expressions used
in grave inscriptions of the period, create a background of floating letters.
The textual fragments seem to appear from a ‘sea of texts’ only to gradually
deconstruct and disapear again, without end, simulating a palimpsest of broken
stones.
Data Projection by Alexandr Krestovskij
Exhibited:
Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main, 2005
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| The Open Book
Data Projection; 2001 |
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Data projection on black plexiglass, size variable. Database retrieval, texts overwrite and rewrite randomly on line.
The image simulates that of an open book, with facing white pages, which writes itself automatically.
Texts from: Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv, Archiv für Zeitgeschichte, ETH Zürich, Adolf Wölfli, Research Project Albrecht von Haller, Bern.
Exhibited:
Bienale Bern, Freie Akademie, Hochschule für Musik und Theater,
Bern, 2001 |
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| The Wunderblock
Table, Chair, TFT display, Computer; 2000 |
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Table from MDF with internally mounted TFT-Display and Computer, Chair.
In 1925, Freud wrote a text that compares the faculty of memory to a child's toy known as a Wunderblock. It consists of a wax slab stretched with cellophane, upon which a text may be inscribed, and just as readily erased by lifting the cellophane layer up and away from the wax slab.
In contrast to Freud's model, in which the pressure of the act of inscription onto the cellophane surface continues in the direction of the underlying layer of wax, in „The Wunderblock“, the original selection and entry of data has been concluded in the past. The movement originates from ROM and is held in RAM, before travelling up towards the surface.
Quite independently of our own states of presence or absence, the installation searches and inscribes autonomously. One has the impression that the underlying textual sources can never be perceived in their entirety. Because the many texts fragments are inscribed and erased simultaneously, one can read a given fragment only with difficulty before it vanishes. The model of memory demonstrated here is at once highly unstable, fragmentary, incomplete, perishable and ephemeral.
The sentence fragments appearing and disappearing on the screen describe a process of finding and loss, safeguarding and destruction.
Texts from: Sigmund Freud, Notiz über den `Wunderblock´, Wien 1925; A Glossary for Archivists, The Society of American Archivists, Chicago 1992
Software: Alexandr Krestovskij
Exhibited:
Galerie Anselm Dreher, 2000
Art Forum, Berlin, 2000
Gemäldegalerie, 2001
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, 2003
Kunstverein Hannover, 2003
Jewish Museum, Frankfurt am Main, 2005
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Download
 The Wunderblock 2005
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| T-Mail
Rear Data Projection, Database, Black Plexiglass; 1999
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Data projection on plexiglass, sound equipment, size variable.
One thousand documents have been entered into a database which reports the life of T., (b. 1879 Paks, Hungary – d. 1943 Shanghai, China), a forgotten Central European historical figure whose multiple identities span three continents (Europe, North America and Asia) and touch on many of the most important events of the pre-war period. The work is derived from a larger collection of over 4,000 intelligence documents from State Archives in Europe and North America from the inter-war period.
The collection contains daily reports and correspondances between 1915 and 1943, forming a vast communication network in which the official traces and observations of the individual are cross-referenced to historical events, international personalities and geographic locations.
In the interactive display of “T-Mail” new documents are chosen randomly from the database, a scan of the next document gradually slides into view as various thematic categories and cross-links are activated. Text writings are simultaneously emitted sonically as morse code, in five different sine wave frequencies which change with consecutive paragraphs.
Texts from: The Public Record Office and The British Library, London; The National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Bonn, etc.
Exhibited:
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 1999-2000
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, 2003 |
Quicktime Video: Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin
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| The ReCollection Mechanism,
Data Projection, Circular Wire Screen; 1998 |
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Black room, computer data projection, suspended wire mesh, sound equipment. Size variable.
An automated writing and recitation machine is found in a darkened black space. One enters a three dimensional data architecture where the process of searching, sorting and locating words and the overlapping inter-textual linkages of information are simulated optically by metaphors of transparence and complexity. Projected onto a barely visible cylindrical screen are multiple transparent layers of continually flowing historical data, which appear to be suspended in the center of the space, and which delineate the room contours with textual landscapes.
Two computers randomly search and locate thousands of words within an endless virtual page of biographical information in real time. As each word is found, it is highlighted visually and spoken out loud by a male or female voice. The voices gradually cross each other in time, creating a dialog. The viewer participates in a deconstruction of history through a non-linear and associational reading of forgotten archival fragments.
Texts from: Who´s Who in Central & East Europe 1933
Design & Software Development: Luca Ruzza, Architect, Rome
Software Consultant: Alexandr Krestovskij
Sound: Tom Korr
Exhibited:
Felix Meritis Foundation, Amsterdam, 1998
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 1999-2000
Jewish Museum, New York, 2001
Arte in Memoria, Ostia Antica, Rome
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, 2003 |
Quicktime Video Documentation
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| The Memory Hall
Data Projection with Plexiglass and Wood Structure, 1998 |
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Data projection, plasma displays, wood construction, projection panels of black plexiglass, computer network. Black wooden platform, reading tables and archive area, four rear projection panels which continually display live software searches through the Who's Who in Central & East Europe 1933 databases.
Installation was part of the "The Memory Project", Amsterdam, 1998
The Memory Hall consisted of a large central monumental structure which was constructed by a black platform foundation, supporting 4 black transparent screens. This large rectangular structure represents a digital Brain of the installation, containing 15 computers and the central server of the computer network as well as forming the large rear display panels which forms a central focus to the hall.
During the Installation Mode, these panels dynamically and continually display live searches through the Whos Who in Central & East Europe 1933 databases. The panels are constructed of a black Plexiglas material, so that the projected scrolling texts oat suspended in space. On three sides of the Brain, are nine at laying Plasma Data Displays. Here were shown animated texts chosen from Whos Who, statements on Memory and the nature of Archiving, biographical fragments from the accumulating Amsterdam People Network, the T-Mail Communication Database. These texts are decomposed and transformed into one another continually during the opening hours, posing a counterpoint to the large rear projection walls above. The Memory Hall was illuminated by a diffuse blue dark light that will reect on the black PVC oor. During Installation Mode, Guided Tours to the interior of the brain were held at appointed times that were announced beforehand.
Design Development: Luca Ruzza, Architect, Rome
Software: Alexandr Krestovskij
Exhibited:
Felix Meritis Foundation, Amsterdam, 1998 |
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| Hypertext Navigation Room
Wooden cube, four computers, eight monitors; 1996 |
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In association with the Department of Cultural Studies of the University of Lüneburg, Germany.
The Staff (composed of students), assists the visitors in navigating through a hypertext version of Memory Arena and the Who's Who in Central & East Europe 1933. The results of these navigations are visible simultaneously on multiple monitors on the outside walls of a walled cube.
Exhibited:
Arken Museum for Modern Art, Cultural Capital of
Europe, Copenhagen, 1996 |
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| Responsa
Six Monochrome Monitors, Wooden Table; 1996 |
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Texts from: collection of discussions on the Internet between international Archive and Record Managers.
Themes include: decay of archival materials, natural disasters, filing systems, technological advances in record management, the Patron Saint of Archiving, etc.
The discussions are presented as a digital automatic writing. The computer monitors are antique, with an association for an earlier technological era. The texts are fragments of conversations which write themselves as individual voices, simulating a digital conversation.
Exhibited:
Arken Museum for Modern Art, Cultural Capital of
Europe, Copenhagen, 1996 |
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| Data Wall
Data projection screens, variable size; 1995 |
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12 projection windows; live text scrolling from database. Random live access of text. Software by Alexandr Krestovskij, Prague
An enormous screen fills up with a random writing of material from a historical database, overwriting itself in realtime.
Texts from: Who's Who In Central & East Europe 1933
Exhibited:
Arken Museum for Modern Art, Cultural Capital of
Europe, Copenhagen, 1996
Kulturfabrik Kampnagel, Hamburg, 1995
Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel; Marstall, Munich, 1995 |
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