December 06, 2005
CALL FOR PAPERS: WAVES
Electromagnetic Waves as Material and Medium of Art
w a v e s Electromagnetic Waves as Material and Medium of Art, (Acoustic Space. Issue #6): We are seeking manuscripts for the upcoming Acoustic Space journal, to be published for the 8th international Art+Communication festival that will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Riga Latvia, from August 24-27, 2006. For the first time the festival will be conceived as a large scale exhibition event that focuses on the phenomenon of "electromagnetic waves".
The print journal, Acoustic Space is a forum for net.radio, sound art and creative explorations in the networked electro-acoustic environments. Now in its 6th edition, Acoustic Space WAVES Issue will deal with properties of waves in imaginative ways, exploring, making visible or making us feel waves on a host of different bands of the spectrum.
The main thesis behind the WAVES idea is that when artists take waves seriously as the medium of their artwork, they start questioning the boundaries of what can be done with this medium. Electronic information is a tightly controlled sphere. Yet artists with their electronic DIY kits have found numerous ways of thinking outside the box, making their own waves, creating alternative networks and facilities or creatively abusing existing technology.
The publication seeks to offer a space of exchange for artists, scientists, media theorists, radio activists and new media practitioners who are exploring ideas and notions in relation to electromagnetic waves, spectrum space, and also waves as a universal principle.
* Themes and subthemes:
> scientific/artistic: - radio astronomy - radio cryptography - spectrum
mapping - radio oceanography - climate change research - visualisation and sonification - ...
> alternative communication systems: - ad-hoc networking - wireless - ...
> wave philosophy: - wave-particle duality - wave sculpture -
signal-to-noise ratio - determinism vs indeterminism - quantum spacetime bubbles - ...
> social movements: - social cycles - Kondratiev - ...
> psycho-esoteric-utopian: - ESP, Raudive, Jirgenson - psycho climate
research - Tesla - Schauberger - ...
We encourage you to submit abstracts first. Proposals and inquiries regarding submissions should be made to Rasa Smite rasa[at]rixc.lv
Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2006 (for abstracts)
(+ for finished texts: April 15, 2006)
* Conceptual background:
Pantha Rei - Everything Flows
By Armin Medosch
Radio waves occur naturally. Society puts the biggest emphasis on the ability of waves to carry signals. Radio, television and mobile telephony are some of the most widely used applications. The worlds fixation on content and its socio-political implications makes us forget the waves themselves. The proposed exhibition takes a look at the physical properties of waves. Waves are considered to be 'immaterial' from the point of view of visual art. However, light is just a specific band in the spectrum of electromagnetic waves. Some of the properties of waves change according to their frequency and wavelength. It is worthwhile looking at those properties and exploring their implications for art. Wave-like phenomena play an important role in various aspects of reality, from the physical consistency of the world (audio-, air-, water-waves) to Kondratiev-cycles and the carbon-cycle (the storage and release of CO2 by oceans and forests).
A materialistic analysis of waves reveals that there is a direct relation between the wavelength and the length of an antenna - the device necessary to receive and send waves. [lambda] = the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave is the result of the speed of light divided by the frequency. For instance, the frequency on which wireless lan operates, is 2.4 Gigahertz. 300 000 / 2400 000 = 0.125 km or 12.5 cm. The length of the antenna needs to be [lambda]/2 = 6.25 cm or multiples of it. Through this formula expresses itself a link between immaterial wave and physical object. The antenna as an object combines sculptural and functional aspects.
We cannot speak about waves without mentioning wave/particle duality. Light and electromagnetic radiation are actually not only waves but also exhibit properties of particles. Wave-particle duality also applies to matter. Thus, the 'building bricks' of matter need to be understood also as waves. The relationships between wavelength, mass, energy and speed offer exciting possibilities for an artistic exploration of the ontological status of affairs. Since 100 years we cannot take the physical status of the world for granted and must live with an understanding of spacetime which is counter-intuitive and hard to visualize. For art, this is an interesting opening, a chance to ask the big questions about fundamentals such as time, space, energy and substances.
It is a basic property of waves to create connections. Through the antenna we get access to Hertzian space. Artists using electromagnetic waves as their medium are creating wave-sculptures, real-time connections in time and space, which allow us to enter another space. Those connections can go both ways from formlessness to form and structure and back -- the materialisation of the inconcrete and its opposite.
Around planet earth a tight information sphere has been formed. Whereas some artists explore this thicket of global communication networks with various probing techniques, it becomes increasingly clear that it does not make much sense to add just another communication channel to this already babilonic mess. Increasingly artists focus on experimenting with their own signals and systems instead of relying on the commodified information infrastructures of the global media sphere. By creating mobile ad-hoc networks or by pointing antennas towards outer space or the depth of oceans artists literally open up the horizons towards the possibilities of a new way of seeing and interacting with the world.
About Acoustic Space: Acoustic.Space.Re-search.Lab aims to re-approach collaborative audio communication tools, to broaden the meaning of "net.radio"--beyond the confusion of streaming media standards and its technical limitations, and to set up new context for research on "data ecology" and co-experiments in the field of networked media, radio and satellite technologies.
* Editorial team: Concept: Armin Medosch armin[at]easynet.co.uk; Editors: Rasa Smite rasa[at]rixc.lv, Armin Medosch, Raitis Smits
* Contact: rixc[at]rixc.lv
The RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture
11. Novembra Krastmala 35 - 201, Riga, LV 1050, Latvia.
Tel. +371-7228478, +371-6546776 (mob.),
Fax: +371-7228477
URL: http://rixc.lv
Posted by jo at December 6, 2005 03:30 PM
