club.ware - infrasemantic sensory modulation: sampling and re-associating (s)language
club.ware - infrasemantic sensory modulation: a digital visual of hybrid
format, between software art and club visuals. the project deals with techno- and sex-culture. we are motivated by issues like 'free speech' and 'sexual diversity and freedom as indication for the openness of society'.
club.ware is a project by electronic media artists christina goestl and boris kopeinig
club.ware - infrasemantic sensory modulation: when explaining what club.ware is about, we prefer to first contextualize it in a general way: club.ware is a project between (software) art and club visuals. and: club.ware is about techno- and sex-culture. apart from mere personal interest, it is the greater concepts touched by the project that motivate us. topics like „free speech and way of life“ or „treatment of sexuality as a indication of openness in a society“ are central to our work.
club.ware tries to find a digital aesthetic outside of generally accepted and fully developed ways of putting images in motion. the attempt is of a hybrid nature, being placed in the context of both club visuals as well as generative forms of art. in both contexts, however, our main interest lies in the performative potential and not in the imaging strategy itself.
people sometimes are surprised when they hear us talking about „visuals“ and see that we don't use conventional pictures or images. instead, we project word streams. the visual dynamics are musical. on first sight, we produce anti-visuals. we play words.
our fixation with words and texts stems from a longstanding interest in net art and the internet in general.
our topics are communication, transgression of boundaries, alterations in perception, after-images. the primary concern is mental images – those that form within the observer; not pictures projected onto walls.
the decisive elements of our work are repetitions, speed, modulations, reduction, and redundancy, much as in mind machines and electronic dance music.
we work with word frequencies between two seconds and up to 150 words per minute. a rate of about three words per second is close to the „trance inducing 125 beats per minute of house music“ (genesis p-orridge).
each presentation of club.ware has more in common with the performance of a musical piece or a dj-mix than with a picture or video in an exhibition. the basic layout remains unchanged with the exception of minor adaptions to certain parameters, tailoring the project to the precise requirements of a specific room, e.g. the font size with respect to the size of a room. a selection of words from a pool as well as (un)logical algorithms generate different outcomes. club.ware is a mix that is different each time it is played.
„loops“ von boris kopeinig
zeichnet sich die software-version, die für grossflächige projektionen verwendung findet, durch wortfülle aus, so handelt es sich bei den im zusammenhang und als weiterentwicklung von club.ware entstehenden „loops“ von boris kopeinig um teilmengen an begriffen aus der wortsammlung und um minimalistische wortspiele, die wie ein durchgängiger beat eine ganze nacht/ ausstellung definieren und beleben.
der loop „electric muscle stimulation, electric nerve stimulation“, spielt selbstreferentiel mit dem kontext der präsentation auf einer tanzparty, reflektiert funktion und wirkung der „impulse patterns“ bild/ ton und hinterfragt gleichzeitig die cyborgsche verfasstheit der körper im raum.
um „multiple reality checks“ dreht sich auch der loop „consensual hallucination, collective hallucination“. ausgangspunkt ist eine falsch erinnerte textzeile von william gibson, in der cyberspace als „consensual hallucination“ bezeichnet wird.
multipliziert der loop „x-static, now/here“ das rauschen intensiver, elektronisch verstärkter gegenwärtigkeit, repetiert das monoton blinkende „virus emails“ die paranoia vor einer infektion des (eigenen) computersystems.