selbst, wenn und und*

elffriede.transforming freedom (biberbau VII.)
liegt, sitzt, steht im zeichen nicht abbrechenden (auf-)zeichnens,
raumdurchmessend, -aufrauhend, -abrundend, -durchforstend...
eine zigfache raumzeichnung mit schwebezuständen in lindenbaum, akustischem elch, zeicheniglu undundund

*elffriede.seismograph, edition ch, wien 2007

Abschlussveranstaltung:
Montag, 15. Juni 2009 / 20 Uhr
elffriede.freedom transformed
(seismographischer epilog)

+

die entstehung des nichts III.
ein abgezirkeltes universum, das nichts darstellt:
sabine maier + jörg piringer + elffriede
(keine performance, ein wunder)


-------------------------------------------------------
Kuratorin: charlotte zott aka sari piechart / network glimpse
Presse: http://diestandard.at/?url=/?id=1242316869527

The scope of artistic interventions that become possible with Twitter is probably immeasurable. At Transforming Freedom  we're trying to get our fingers dirty as well and have set up a very, very low tech installation at the Quarter for Digital Culture (QDK) that also involves Twitter.
But it also involves human technology, or rather, the human-as-technology, which is one of the least reliable technological systems available to date. Think Seveso, think Tchernobyl, think the current economic crisis, of course (the upside of this miserable technology that is mankind: the perfect simulation of our flaw-ridden world is impossible, we will therefore never be fed into the matrix, as the matrix wouldn't be nor progess without us).

 

Our installation, the working title of which I hereby proclaim as "Clouds for Bad Bankers", is thus not only based on the magic that is the Twitter API in conjunction with hashtags, it also requires that we, the enablers at Transforming Freedom, regularly jump into action, that we examine our dedication to the project. It is, however, already apparent that we will fail miserably.

Here is the layout of the installation: We have set up an ugly, bulky CRT monitor on which a twitterwall is running, searching for tweets tagged with #tfeet (as in: Transforming Freedom + tweet). In the same room, there is a ladder at the top of which the cloud of unfathomable wisdom, which also serves as TF's logo, is attached. At the bottom of the ladder, there is cardboard figure, a banker man who seeks to drink from the cloud.

But he needs to be fed to climb the ladder, to ascend towards the cloud, and he lives on the mentioned #tfeet tagged tweets. Since our li'l bad banker is made of cardboard, he relies on us, the enablers, to move further up the ladder - and we will do so whenever a certain number of tfeets have been accumumlated. The Twitterwall is currently at six tfeets - as soon as 20 tfeets have been reached, the enablers will have to leave the place they're at and race towards the QDK, move the man one rung further up the ladder... I guess it's obvious who the weakest link is in this installation.

Notwithstanding this challenge: We've built in a further complication, to bring in some confusion, to egg us on a little, but also to make things a little less no-nonsense. You think you get it, but actually, you don't - just like the economic crisis. So here it goes: After a critical-mass tweet has been posted, we've got three hours to make our banker move - if we stay within the time limit, we get a bonus, but for every minute we miss from these three hours, we lose € 1.000.000,-, so we win what remains of a max of € 180.000.000,- Our currency: a cauldron full of Powerpoint clip art gold.

If you want to see us run - add #tfeet to your tweets often! No worries if it's out if context - the banker will take anything he can to get a taste of the cloud!
Btw, anybody reading this who can show us a way to reliably count hashtagged tweets, allowing us to pinpoint e.g., tweet no. 20 - ideas?
The twinstallation will be activated May 12, and it will continue until March 23. If need be for a second banker, we'll build one.

Within the Coded Cultures festival an exhibition of Mamoru Okuno (JP) takes place in the room of Transforming Freedom between 15 April and 30 April 2009, 10 a.m. - 22 p.m.

The word "etude" is often used to represent small music composition that is designed to gain certain technique of the instruments or also for composers to display certain musical ideas as a sketch. mamoru´s "etude" is a series of works that is related to everyday objects, mostly cheep and easy-to- nd, which would be transformed into something unexpected by a simple idea. The original work is text; however they take various forms to be realized.

Artist statement mamoru okuno (JP): At quartier21, I would like to make sound installation and  performance for "etude no.12 - plastic lm" in two variations. One with glass bottle I found in Austria; joghurt bottle, and the other with white light. At the opening I would do special performance involving the audience and continue to do variations at open studio for 4 days. I hope to see you and make good sound.

Again upon invitation by Transforming Freedom, the internet study group at the graduate centre for social sciences, meets up at Room D on April 1st. This time the topic will be conspiracy theories on the web.

See internetforschung.wordpress.com for more information.

Hosted by Transforming Freedom, the second edition of Geek Girl Dinner Vienna is to take place on 30 March 2009, at 7 p.m., Raum D, MQ. Potential members of “Geek Girl Dinner” are female bloggers, tinkerers with computers, coders, designers and/or other folk who love and live the web. New geek girls welcome anytime – until a sponsor has been found (let us know if you're interested), attendees pay for food and drinks themselves.

See also http://geekgirldinner.pbwiki.com/

Upon the invitation by Transforming Freedom, the internet study group at the graduate centre for social sciences, University of Vienna, meets up at Room D. Their ambitious goal: to develop a mind map of research methods and objects of scrutiny suitable for the study of "The Internet". For further information, visit:
http://internetforschung.wordpress.com/

q/uintessenz and Transforming Freedom present a q/talk by Thomas Länger (Austrian Research Centers Vienna):

Tuesday, 28 October, 2008 – 8 PM (doors open: 7 PM)
Raum D, quartier 21, MQ Vienna

Will our future be quantum?
Quantum cryptography can provide unprecedented security –
Will citizens ever get their hands on it?

Quantum Cryptography, or more exactly Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), is the first application from the next generation technology field of quantum information technologies that is finding its way out of quantum physics laboratories into practical application. The technology claims to yield provably secure distribution of cryptographic keys – a property which could never be asserted for any other key distribution technology before. In this talk we will specifically look at this claim of perfect security and what it means in practice for different user groups.


We will explain the technology giving an account on the historical development of Quantum Cryptography – from the very beginnings in the 1970ies to the most recent achievements in fibre based and free space quantum key distribution. We will analyse the significance of QKD as building block for secure information systems – this while leaving out the very details of quantum physics in favour of concentrating on its high level functionalities and security properties, especially the ‘provable security’ of QKD. In that context, we will also address several common objections that are frequently quoted against the practicability and business value of QKD.

The last part of the talk is dedicated to the practical application of QKD. We will take a look at the market for QKD – which applications are already available today and what can be expected for the future. We will identify prospective user groups from the business, government, and intelligence domains, and evaluate their motivations for using the new technology. Last, but not least, we will raise the question whether QKD will likely be restricted to the aforementioned domains, and how the odds are that it eventually will be used to dependably secure the communication infrastructures of the future information society.

Thomas Länger works at the Austrian Research Centers in Vienna, business unit Quantum Technologies. He was responsible for design and implementation of the ‘Security Certification and Standardisation’ sub project of the EU Integrated Project SECOQC (www.secoqc.net) which was co-ordinated by the Austrian Research Centers. On the occasion of the closing of the SECOQC project the feasibility of integrating Quantum Key Distribution into a common optical fibre network was demonstrated live in Vienna on Oct. 8, 2008. (thomas.laenger at arcs.ac.at)