Red Alert
curated by Nathalie Angles
November 15 > December 31, 2003
Location One
26 Greene street
New York, NY 10013
Sathurday (November 15th) from 4 to 6 pm, Location One inaugurates a
new gallery space, adjacent to our main gallery, which will be known as the
“Test Site.” This is our experimental studio where we will present
work-in-progress by our artists-in-residence, experiments with new technology
and discussions of all types. We are happy to initiate the Test Site with
work-in-progress by Miguel Soares (Portugal), which consists of a whimsical
sculpture, large digital-C Prints and a video piece.
2 prints from the Mosaic series: Hulk and Fighter, 2003
Gustavo v2.0
2003
junk bags, motorized arm, laser pointer.
“Do androids dream of electric sheep?” -Philip K. Dick
Gustavo is a robot that has been discarded in a black garbage bag. Out of this bag extends Gustavo’s motorized arm, with a laser that is carving a drawing on the wall.
Do robots dream of being artists?
Time Zones
2003, 05′28”
video and 3D animation
sound: “Time Zones” Negativland, Escape From Noise album/cd, Seeland Records, 1987
Time Zones is about time and size, United States versus the Soviet Union, the cold war, the use of media as a vehicle for psychological warfare and the use of computers to control the “imperfections” of men.
Time Zones was created in collaboration with Negativland during the last year, based on
their audio work from 1987.
Mosaic
2003
Durst lambda prints
These images are composed from the juxtaposition of 5000 to 8000 smaller images taken from the internet.
The cover of The Hulk magazine is made out of flower and landscape images.
The Jet Fighter droping a bomb is made out of internet logos and buttons.
In 1994 I made a video for Negativland’s “Crosley Bendix discusses the copyright act” (The letter U and the Numeral Two, 1992).
This video was made without their notice. This was the first video work I ever presented.
By October 2002, Alexandre Estrela (artist and friend living in New York) meets Mark Hosler from Negativland during a presentation of some of their videos at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, and tells him about my old video.
Mark asks me to send the video.
A month later Negativland invites me to make a video from any audio work of my choice. I choose Time Zones.
Time Zones is about time and size, United States versus Soviet Union, the cold war, the use of media as a vehicle
for psychological warfare and the use of computers to control the “imperfections” of men.
transcription of Time Zones
The Autonomous Commie Republic, which is part of the Russian
Federation, is situated in the far northwest of Europe, and spreads up to
the Arctic part of the Ural Mountains. It’s crossed by 9 northern
parallels. Ten fair-sized European states could be placed on its
territory. Besides indigenous residents (that is, the Commie people), there
are also Russians, Ukranians, Nenetzes, Tchubashis, and Tartars.
And now, let’s go back into history a little bit. (CLICK)
A boy lying on skins behind our backs was turning the knobs of a
small transistor radio.
(”…..making efforts to use radios as vehicles of a
psychological warfare. And subversive….”)
And the tent was suddenly filled with an announcer’s voice speaking Commie.
(Jam….Jam…Jam…Jam..)
Then, with music from Moscow, followed by English and French speech.
(”The recording was made at the Moscow Theater of Musical Miniatures.”)
Now, back to modern times.
<BEEP>
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. AT THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL
TIME BUREAU, COMMENCING AT TWENTY-THREE (23) HOURS, FIFTY-NINE (59)
MINUTES, SIXTY (60) SECONDS UTC, AN EXTRA SECOND WILL BE INSERTED INTO THE
NVS TIME SCALE. THIS ADJUSTMENT IS REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN INTERNATIONALLY
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME AS BROADCAST FROM THESE STATIONS, IN CLOSE
AGREEMENT WITH UT1, OR ASTRONOMICAL TIME.
(”WA6ODB….with…a question….”)
“and, uh …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“and about power …”
“d’you kn–”
“we got so much power now …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“we got so much power now, that it’s ridiculous.”
“d’you kn– do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“power, and all that, that’s power, we got so much power, that it’s
ridiculous.”
“We have–”
“power, power, power, power, power, power now, it’s ridiculous. We
got so much power now …”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you kn–”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many–”
“That’s, that’s ridiculous.”
“Do you know how many time–”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D–”
“It’s not even funny.”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“It’s not even funny. How many time zones?”
“Yeah. We have, we have four in this country, right?” (Hello?)
“How many time zones?”
“Yeah.” (Hello? Yes.)
“1, 2, 3 …”
“Four in this country, right?” (Hello? Yes.)
“Uh, yessir.”
“Mm hm.” (I need language assistance)
“Uh, four … 1, 2, 3 … yessir.”
“Right.” (O.K., we’re
calling from a radio
station for Radio
Moscow)
“1, 2, 3 … yessir.”
“Mm hm.”
“Uh, four … time zones?” (And we want to speak
to Mr. C. Eliot
Friday.)
“Yeah. We have four in this country, right?”
“Uh, nosir.”
“We have, we have–”
“Uh, yessir.”
“Mm hm.”
“And, uh …”
“Do you know how many time zones they have?”
“Uh, yessir. Uh, four … uh, nosir. I never really studied that up.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. It’s not even funny.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. That’s, that’s ridiculous.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven. Well, that’s what we can do. We can go anywhere, because
we live here, we–”
“Yeah, but–”
“–anywhere else.”
“But, not only, not only the right of free travel, I’m saying…eleven.”
“Eleven. 1, 2, 3 … yessir.” (Hello?)
“Mm hm. Eleven.”
“Eleven.”
“That’s how big they are.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Eleven.” (What happened to my call?)
“That’s how big they are.” (I keep on telling you…)
“Yeah. Yeah. I, I can believe that, I’m a firm believer in that.”
“Alright.”
“1, 2, 3 … uh, four … yessir. 1, 2 … yessir. Yessir.”
“Mm hm.” (I need…Radio Moscow, 215 2101)
“The Soviet Union’s the whole half side of the world.”
(And I need language
assistance.)
“Yeah.”
“And we’re just a little, one little tenth of the globe.”
“Yeah.”
“They, uh, when you talk about fightin’, we’re a country that, uh,
we’re a firm believer on pride, and it’s called help thy neighbor,
do not kill, do not, you know, steal, cheat, lie from everybody.
That’s why we have to have computers, because man, nobody is
perfect. You know.”
“Mm hm.”
“It’s not even funny.”
“D’you–”
“and about power, man, nobody is perfect. You know.”
“So what is your point?”
“Nobody is perfect. You know.”
“So what is your point, Glen?”
“There’s, there’s, there’s two things you don’t talk about, one’s
politics, the other one’s religion.
“D’you–”
“The reason you don’t talk about ‘em is because they combine in
each other. You know what I’m saying?”
“Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?”
“You know what I’m saying?”
“Don’t you kid yourself. Thanks, Glen, for the uh… well, just
thanks for the, the good thoughts.”
THIS CONCLUDES OUR TRANSMISSION TO OCEANIA. HOWEVER, LISTENERS IN
EAST ASIA MAY CONTINUE LISTENING ON THE FOLLOWING SHORTWAVE FREQUENCIES:
6110, 7230, 9565, 9760, 15160, AND 15425 KILOHERTZ.
<CLICK><CLICK<CLICK>
Separate them <CLICK>
Damned if I know<CLICK>
Here it comes<CLICK>
-
end
-
“dolo”, the audio track, was released on ZOOG, my 2006 audio CD, and was later sampled by Negativland and
is featured, entirely, on their 2006 album “It’s all in Your Head FM”, ed. Seeland.
Sparky is a 3d animation made for Sparky, the music included in the audio cd migso002.
It tells the story of mr. A, that was going on the street one day and is mistakenly identified as someone called Sparky by Mr. B.
Mr.B shouts: -Sparky?
Mr. A replies: No sir.
The pursuit begins. Mr. A takes a taxi to an airport, then a plane to a desert island. Followed by Mr B.
Mr. B spots Mr.A in the island: -Sparky?!
-No sir.
Mr. A takes a plane to another continent, then a taxi to the Space Agency, then takes a rocket to the moon.
Followed by Mr.B that lands on the moon seconds after Mr.A.
Mr.B: -Sparky?
Mr. A: No sir.
Zoom out. two lunar modules on the surface of the moon, facing each other. lunar mountains and behind, the earth. end.
-
04′42”
2001
audio: (monaural) NASA, mission Apollo 11 to the moon, 1969
SpaceJunk beta 1.0 is a 3d animation about the ring of man-made debris that orbits our planet and has been growing since the early 1950’s.
The Sound used, astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon describing the objects inside the spaceship is now transposed to the objects outside in space.
More than 2000 3d model objects were collected from the internet in order to compose the animation, thus describing a virtual orbit around the earth and into my computer.
.
“L’homme pense que les cieux qui entourent sa demeure sont un endroit paisible, proche du néant.
Cette idée est terriblement fausse, car l’espace est tout sauf vide.
Des débris de toutes tailles flottent partout, en orbite autour de la Terre.
Avec l’exploration de l’espace, la multiplication des satellites représente un risque calculé dans la
mesure où ceux qui les envoient là-haut calculent les probabilités pour que le satellite ne rentre
pas en collision avec quelque chose dássez gros pour l’abîmer, voire le détruire.
La vidéo SpaceJunk beta 1.0, réalisée par le jeune artiste portugais Miguel Soares, met en scène
dans des images de synthèse un anneau virtuel composé de satellites et d’objects divers
(canettes de coca-cola, bijoux, etc)”.
Nicolas Trembley. In Abstraction, surface, Air.
Bureau des Videos/Georges/Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, June 2002
03′40”
1999-2001
video projection, stereo sound
Music: “Expecting to Fly” Buffalo Springfield
footage: 1999, edit: 2001
Da janela de sua casa, segurando a câmara de vídeo na mão, Miguel Soares registou situações violentas que vieram
sobressaltar noites passadas frente ao computador: a agressão entre um casal; um carro capotado na avenida
deserta, que surpreende uma pessoa durante o seu jogging matinal; e um homem que tenta desesperadamente,
e em vão, apagar um incêndio.
Com base nestes registos, em tudo semelhantes aos vídeos amadores que as televisões exibem para dar conta de
acontecimentos chocantes, o artista realiza três obras em que a crueza da realidade se abre à ficção e ao delírio poético.
Miguel Wandschneider, SlowMotion, 2001
04′00”
2001
music: “Rackrailway to…” Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta, 1987
voice: poems from Interstate ‘76 computer game, 1997.
See also GT (prints)
Para este trabalho, Miguel Soares inspirou-se no jogo de computador Interstate 76, relacionado com corridas
de automóveis entre bandos rivais, no qual a voz de um personagem, chamado Stampede, declama poemas sobre a estrada.
Recorrendo, como nas peças anteriores, a programas de animação em três dimensões para a construção dos
ambientes e das figuras, o artista conta a história muito simples de três carros que dialogam entre si durante
o percurso que os leva ao encontro de uma rapariga. Cada vez que Stampede debita um dos seus poemas, é
simulada a passagem da imagem em três dimensões a imagem em película de cinema.
Miguel Wandschneider