BEN VAN BERKEL
AND THE THEATRE OF IMMANENCE
PORTIKUS, FRANKFURT/M., GERMANY
25 NOVEMBER 2007 – 13 JANUARY 2008

»On Things Of(f) Things On« is an irritainment device between architecture, communication and distribution. It’s virtually drawn on things, choreographed with off-flavour, taking one’s mind off things.
O.T.O.T.O is also a very ambitious case study in augmented architecture, an attempt to create a reactive surface of extraordinary spatial complexity.
The built structure inside the Portikus is illuminated by multiple precisely matched digital projections that both enhance and obscure the physical objects, adding information and desinformation, atmosphere and detail, playing on topics of presence, absence, body, and volume.
The interactive live-feed is the instantaneous connection between the World Wide Web and the exhibition space. A video stream shows the exhibition space with the multiple precisely matched digital projections and an interactive overlay an top of the video stream.
Acting as an enhancement of the grounded exhibition space the interface irritates by creating a subtitle break in the communication patterns are obscuring the beveled communication. Communication is set up on pattern, e.g. the text message and will be transformed into another pattern, e.g. a speech synthesis in the Portikus. The only way to keep up the communication for a visitor locally is to use the visual video stream. This provokes an erratic and slightly broken communication base on different media.
Also the virtual character of the visitor on journal03.staedelschule-onlinegroup.org is not selected by the visitor, but is a temporary personality that is choreographed by the multiuser server which assigns a name from a list of famous persons to the visitor and hence throws him in one corner of the communication (boxing) ring.
The project conceived and realized by MESO Web Scapes and MESO Digital Interiors.
www.meso.net
The installation will also be accessible via interactive live-feeds on
www.journal03.staedelschule-onlinegroup.org
www.portikus.de