On Thursday March 31st, a – dare we say- legendary night took place at the Stedelijk Museum: Move It! Highlighted by the 24-hours performance of Belgian artist Kamagurka (a.k.a. Luc Zeebroek, 1956) that lasted until noon the next day, the entire evening had the visitors of the Temporary Stedelijk a lot to offer. Lectures, performances, demonstrations and mini-exhibitions all had the same theme: the challenging relationship between mobile technology, the museum and contemporary art.
The day started in the afternoon with the kick off of the Kamagurka performance at 12 o’clock. A lot of press and exciting visitors gathered to witness the start of this a 24-hour process in which Kamagurks experimented with a new medium, an iPad, to create artworks that would be shredded at the end of the day. The crowd also had a part in this process: not only as a source of energy for Kamagurka who had to work for 24 hours straight, but also as a source of inspiration. Some of the visitors actually ended up on the artworks: their pictures were taken and ‘decorated’ by Kamagurka, only to be shredded at the end of the process. The performance challenged the transient character of art and exhibitions, or as the text one of Kamagurka’s artworks said: “How do we remember exhibitions and how do exhibitions remember themselves?” (Reesa Greenberg, 2009) Part of the artworks were published by media partned NRC Handelsblad the next day, others will never be seen expect for those who witnessed their making in the museum or by the live streaming online….
Kamagurka
The shredded paintings will be burned in the garden of the Nationaal Glasmuseum (National Glassmuseum) in Leerdam and their ashes will end up in eight urns, designed by Kamagurka, that are part of art project Het Transparante Lichaam (The Transparant Body). Kamagurka experiments with the idea of transformation but also questions the role of digital technology in the art and museum world as well as the status of (contemporary) art. How will artists and museums deal with this digitalization of art and how will museum visitors and art lovers response in this revolution? This particular night, responses were enthusiastic and positive, from both visitors, artists and press.
While Kamagurka was not even halfway down his performance, lectures took place in the auditorium next to the room the 24-hour performance was taking place in. These lectures had the same common theme: the relationship between contemporary art, museums and mobile technology. Partly motivated by the ARtours project of the Stedelijk Museum, the museum invited professionals in this field to share their views. After the opening by Hein Wils, projectmanager of ARtours, and Margriet Schavemaker (Head Collections and Research, Stedelijk Museum), founding manager of Layar Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald, gave his future vision. As he said: “Augmented Reality makes space non-exclusive and democratic and artists will be the first to see this”.
Spacial Sound Sculpture
This nice lecture was followed by Loïc Tallon, writer of the book Pocket-Proof and expert in the field of mobile technology, who gave his view on the future of technology in museums. Tallon also shared his enthusiasm on technologies of the past and showed the introduction of audio tours in the Stedelijk Museum, who revolutionized the museum experience of visitors in 1952 the way Augmented Reality does today. Artist Sander Veenhof inspired the gathered crowd with his presentation of planned projects developed in Augmented Reality, after which Els Ottenhof (director Cobra Museum) interviewed Kamagurka about his project. While the artist rushed back to his iPad to continue his performance, Willem de Ridder launched the new ‘secret’ Augmented Reality tour he created for the Stedelijk Museum. This legendary Dutch artist was the perfect choice to be the voice of this fun and innovative tour. It can be found to first of all download the JUNAIO app from the App store on your Android or iPhone, then search for the Willem de Ridder ARtours. This is all it takes to be drawn into this personal tour that will no doubt change the museum experience of participating visitors. Also part of the ARtours of the Stedelijk Museum is the exhibition Jan Rothuizen created especially for this project in Augmented Reality. A new version of this work was launched during this Move It! night.
V2's Palm Top Theater
After the lectures visitors could experience some projects in this field of mobile technology and art, like the Spacial Sound Sculpture: an artwork that responds on sound and visible only on a special created laptop screen. Also shown at the Temporary Restaurant were V2’s Palm Top Theater: a device to watch 3D clips on an iPhone or iPad and the FrustratAR developed by Sander Veenhof, as well as the Paradiso Phone Expo, Tele-trust and Fliter.org.
The entire night was a great success and hopefully an eye-opener for its visitors. And in the end it’s like Willem de Ridder said: “It is not about the new technique, but the feeling that comes along with it.”
