Wood Street Galleries Present MACHINE IMPROVISATIONS 4/24 - 6/20

Wood Street Galleries, a project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, presents “Machine Improvisations,” with world-premiere performances and installations by Telcosystems of the Netherlands and other international artists. This special exhibition, guest curated by Telcosystems and Martijn van Boven, features three components: live improvisational performances on Friday, April 24, 2009; the world premiere of the installation “12_Series” by Telcosystems; and video screenings by 10 international artists. The exhibition runs Friday, April 24, 2009, through Saturday, June 20, 2009.
 
“Machine Improvisations” brings together a body of work created by an international group of artists, musicians, designers and filmmakers who share a common interest in exploring unseen and unheard audiovisual territories and immersive environments. The presented works of “Machine Improvisations” are at times visually violent, sonically extreme and physically intimidating, but most of all they give intriguing insights into the machines and the omnipresent digital environments with which we interact on a daily basis. Participating artists are Telcosystems, Martijn van Boven, Tez, Gert-Jan Prins & Bas van Koolwijk, Karl Klomp, LUST, Billy Roisz, reMi and Meta.
 
The show opens on Friday, April 24, 2009, as a marquee event of One Night Stand--an evening of art, performance and music in the Cultural District, from 7:30-11:30 p.m. The one-night-only performance schedule at Wood Street Galleries is:
 
8:30 “Point Line Cube Cloud” by Martijn van Boven
9:15 “PV868” by Tez
10:00 “Mortals Electric” by Telcoystems
10:45 “Synchronator” by Gert-Jan Prins & Bas van Koolwijk
 
The performances will be recorded and screened alongside the videos of the “Machine Improvisations” throughout the run of the show.
 
As part of “Machine Improvisations,” Wood Street Galleries will present the world premiere of “12_Series,” a new generative multichannel installation by the Dutch art collective Telcosystems. The installation, located on the third floor of the gallery, is an audiovisual horizon comprised of twelve identical image and sound generating machines.
 
12_Series is produced by Spatial Media Laboratories, in collaboration with Baltan Laboratories, and Woodstreet Galleries, and is made possible with the generous support of Fonds BKVB, Mondriaan Foundation, The Netherlands Film Fund and DKC Rotterdam.
 
Located at 601 Wood Street above the T-Station in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, the Galleries are free and open to the public Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. For more information, call Wood Street Galleries at (412) 471-5605 or visit www.woodstreetgalleries.org.
 
Support for Wood Street Galleries has been provided by the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Additional support provided by the Port Authority of Allegheny County and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
 
Telcosystems
Gideon Kiers, David Kiers and Lucas van der Velden are the founding members of Telcosystems. Lucas van der Velden (1976, Eindhoven) lives and works in Rotterdam. Gideon Kiers (1975, Amsterdam) lives and works in Rotterdam. Both studied at the Interfaculty Image and Sound, a department at the Royal Conservatory and the Royal Academy in The Hague. David Kiers (1977, Amsterdam) studied Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He works and lives in The Netherlands and Iceland.
 
Telcosystems researches the relation between the behavior of programmed numerical logic and the perception of a conversion of this behavior into the physical world, seeking for its own narrative in the world of abstract spatial image and sound. The hallmark of their work is its lucid and restrained aestheticism, which is closely related to the technology they use.
 
They produce films, video clips, live performances, installations, software, soundtracks, and prints. Their work has been shown at musea, film- and new media festivals such as Ars Electronica (Linz), IFFR (Rotterdam), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), .MOV festival (Tokyo), EMAF (Osnabrück), Transmediale (Berlin), Sonar (Barcelona), Elektra (Montreal), Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam), NEMO (Paris) and 25FPS (Zagreb).
 
Martijn van Boven
The work of Martijn van Boven (1977, the Netherlands) lies in the ?eld of experimental film and computer art. He combines the techniques and possibilities of modern image processing and creation within the context of the experimental film and early computer generated films. The abstract films of Stan Brakhage and computer art have had an influence on his work and thoughts about the creation of abstract images in relation to film.
 
Martijn van Boven studied at the Royal Art Academy in The Hague (Holland), at the Image and Sound Department. His work comes in a wide variety of video-installations, films, collaborations with composers and Live Cinema performances. His work has been shown at numerous festivals world-wide such as: IFF Rotterdam, State X New Forms, Sonic Acts, Holland Festival, Five Days Off, FICCO (Mexico City, Mexico), RIKZ (Riga, Latvia), SKIF-9 (St. Petersburg, Russia) and Transmediale (Berlin, Germany).
 
Since 2000 Martijn van Boven works as a free-lance film and video curator. Focusing on the avant-garde ?lm and abstract cinema, Martijn van Boven teaches audio-visual Design at the Art Academy of Arnhem (the Netherlands). In 2003 he co-founded the new media art center (the Hague, the Netherlands). He lives and works in Amsterdam, Holland.
 
TeZ
Maurizio Martinucci (aka TeZ) is an Italian multimedia artist and producer, living and working in Amsterdam (NL) since January 2002. In 1995 he established the multimedia research laboratory "SUb" in Rome involved in audio-visual experimentations with digital media for interactive applications and artworks. He has always been interested in using technology as a means for exploring synesthesia and, in particular, the relationship between sound and images. In 1990 he attended a school for Computer Music Programmers with many of Italy's most renowned specialists in electronic and contemporary music. He participated in workshops at the "Centro di Sonologia Computazionale" of the University of Padova, and at the "Tempo Reale" institute in Florence directed by Luciano Berio. Since the late eighties TeZ has been composing electronic music. He released several records with various projects (M.S.B., DoseZero, Nukleus, TeZ). His live-electronics performances have always included visual support realized with different original digital techniques. His work is now focusing on generative compositions and various experimental audiovisual projects, including Generative Live Cinema, FilmWare, video scenographies and sound installations.
 
With Philps ReSearch and SUbMultimedia Lab TeZ is now conducting a research project for an interactive generative painting as a follow-up to the "Protoquadro". Tez's most recent works include collaborations with international artists Scanner, Kim Cascone, Taylor Deupree, Luca Spagnoletti and Francisco Lopez.
 
Gert-Jan Prins (www.gjp.info)
Prins has created an electronic system with circuits from radio, TV and transmitter techniques, which produces feedback sounds and TV signals. He regularly cooperates with E-RAX, The Flirts with Cor Fuhler, and MIMEO.

Bas van Koolwijk    (www.basvankoolwijk.com)
The video of Van Koolwijk can be seen as an attack on the illusion of video itself. Through a rigorous and formalistic approach, Van Koolwijk exposes the face of the machine which lives behind the often-placating veil of the televised image.
 
Karl Klomp (www.karlklomp.nl)
The research of Karl Klomp, media-artist  (Netherlands), focuses on live audiovisual expressions and interfacing, particularly the fascination with glitch-art, visual glitch, video interruption or hyperkinetic audio visuals, as well as video circuit bending, frame grabbing, hardware interfacing, and max programming.
 
Lust (www.lust.nl)
Lust is a Dutch graphic and interactive design studio based in The Hague (Den Haag), Netherlands. Their design philosophy revolves around Process-based and Generative-based Design. Lust explores new pathways for design at the precarious edge where new media and information technologies, architecture and urban planning and graphic design overlap.
 
Billy Roisz (http://billyroisz.klingt.org/)
Billy Roisz currently works with video and sound experiments in the context of performance, installation and cinema. He specializes in feedback video and video/ sound interaction. He employs monitors, cameras, video mixing desks, a self-built videosynth, computer and turntables for video and sound generating. He is also a member of notthesamecolor (/w dieb13), avva (/w toshimaru nakamura) and efzeg. He lives and works in Vienna.
 
ReMi (http://remi.mur.at)
ReMi are Renate Oblak (visuals) and Michael Pinter (sound) they produce mainly short abstract films and soundcompositions. They live and work in Austria and Holland.  
 
Meta (http://meta.am/)

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