our first audible/ profitable exhibition/ economy
In "our audible/profitable economy/exhibition" financial microtransactions are transformed into extratonal soundstructures. The project consists of several machines - many of them alternative applications of existing technology - that visitors can activate by inserting a coin. This triggers the machines to become performers, carrying out a specific task, either mechanically, electrically, pneumatically, kinetically or imaginary, in order to create an unique sonic event. When an investment is made in all machines at the same time, they will perform one superior composition. By doing this they form a micro economy that supports both their manufacturers (empty) pockets and, thereby, themselves. By emphasizing this aspect of the machine as a performer, earning its own income, we hope to examine both the conditions of mechanized labour within the cultural industry, and the ethics involved for the artists that built the machines that execute it.
27/09/2017 - 1/10/2017
PlanD, Zagreb, Croatia07/09/2017 - 11/09/2017
Ars Electronica 2017, Linz, Austria21/07/2017 - 22/07/2017
Republic of Kugelmugel, Vienna, Austria28/04/2017 - 01/05/2017
Zentrale, Vienna, Austria
composition
Glissando
This automaton was the first one that "Nothing More" built and it is called Glissando. It whistles over a bottle through an artificial airstream. The frequency of the whistling changes according to the water level of the bottle. Pay attention to the intrinsic resonance of the bottle, originating at 2/3 level of the water.
Signal
After the insertion of a coin a soap bubble machine is turned on for 2 minutes. The soap bubbles that are created drift off in the direction of a bed of nails, attached to a circuit. During the explosion of the soap bubbles, the nails of the circuit will be short-circuit, therefore pure electricity flows to the speaker and produces a short crack.
Sirene
In exchange for a coin this machine will perform a simple, repetitive melody, luring unwary visitors towards speculation on the performative function and danger of certain household appliances, such as the smoke alarm. Its performance traverses the realm of pure aesthetics, through the simple removal of its inital purpose.
UNI
UNI(Universale Notation Ideal) prints standardized graphical scores for conceptual music according to a new system that is created to help conceptual composers in developing and exchanging conceptual music within one uniform language. The actual printing of the thermal paper is a stochastic performance in itself.
"Our audible/profitable economy/exhibition" is initiated by "nothing more", a loosely connected group sharing an interest in working together, FLOSS approaches for artistic production and questioning technologies and economies. A git repository is available here. Currently involved are:
Niek Hilkmann is a twenty-first century polymath, hailing from Rotterdam, with a background in art history, media design, musicology and natural history. He conducted the first amateur avant-garde orchestra, created the first moving panorama since the nineteenth century and curated events such as "Will VHS Save The Universe?" and "Floppy Totaal”.
Joseph Oliver Anton Knierzinger (JoaK); an artist, composer and dilettantish engineer. His artistic output exists of compositions, performances, installations, interventions, wearable devices and non-differentiated forms of media. At the moment he works on different alogisms and manages his presence in Vienna, Guangzhou and Wartberg.
Michael J. Muik; who was born in 1984 near the Hungarian border in Oberwart/Austria. After a fundamental education in trumpet and electronic engineering, he moved to Vienna and studied at the University of Applied Arts, where he graduated with high honour in 2014. He lives and works in Vienna and Unterlimbach.