In the last two weeks of August 2010, will be held the 3rd Überspass Submaterial Congress.
As we, being an interscandinavian/european virtual/physical collective, are not geographic determined, this site has the very simple yet complex job to coordinate (do not read "order") the great possibilities and potentials related to our geographic in-determinism.
The day before exhibition - still everything is immaterial - even the material that serve as a springboard for the immaterial.
This day was the day we had to cancel our dinner at Natasha's for the first and only time. Instead we locked our selves in to our little room, and started to edit film, sound and publications. The expectations was up high but it was also in the air that if we didn't manage to get the films right and make our experiments in adorable, there wouldn't be any exhibition at all. Silence, murmuring, half sentences as usually when humans dives into the computational forces of RAM and processor powers. Status - the dust part of the film played out quite well. People, for a moment detached from the computer symbiosis, started to believe that the film would come out very successful in the end. Publications almost finished, the print team not knowing of all the trouble they ran into at the print shop at Brick Lane.
Its around 800pm: the film is getting there, the sounds as well, the publication finally printed on standard paper after realizing that the acid free paper bought earlier didn't work out with the printer. As Jakob and Anders left Bethnal Green to clean up the mess and fix the installation at Platform One Gallery, there was a dull feeling that the publication wouldn't be as tempting and well crafted as we hoped for.
As we (JI and AK) arrives at Balham Station (around 900pm), we set out for a little detour to try out Waitrose for their envelope variety. We get away with a bunch of nice and clean brown envelopes exactly the size that fits our pictures. With 6 beers, 75 envelopes and 1 antiperspirant deodorant for the exhibition day we follow our instincts to find our way. Apparently we were walking 30 min in wrong directions ending up somewhere in a huge crowd that was going to the Notting Hill Carneval. It took the taxi driver 15 min to get us back to the gallery.
Cleaning up and preparing the installation didn't cause any trouble. We left the gallery at 0.30, and arrived at the underground just as the last train had left the station. In the middle of the 2.5 hours travel to get home our mobile phones received this message; "Reporting everything done at Bethnal Green, Magnus". Arriving at Bethnal Green we noticed that everything actually was done except from a 30 min export session. While waiting for the final films to come out we spray painted our logo on the freshly acquired envelopes - gold and black, small and large. A feeling arose that the publication after all was going to be a good piece for people to bring home.
Finally after showing the film on the wall testing the quality of the projector, we refurnished our little space into sleeping facilities again.
After a late night of browsing through our captured material, three works were sent to print in the early morning, to be used in a publication for sale during the exhibition. Discussions of which and how many works to print had kept us up late, and maybe the misty late hours kept us from getting all the way in the decisions . A vague feeling of incomplete argumentation has followed the group throughout the day.
However, the idea of doing a more complete publication after the exhibtion, including both printed material and video, emerged.
During dinner at Natasha’s, Marta joined the group, giving us even more strings to use in our investigations. Her presence as someone coming from outside the group is having a healthy impact in both making us explain what this is all about, and by that also sharpen our senses. Throughout the day recording sessions of her violin interpretations of our investigations has been added as a new layer to our common works.
As the day went on, all ongoing projects were collectively pushed to new heights as our emperic knowledge is constantly increasing and with the fact that our deadline is approaching.
Post-production, publication making, installation building as well as the last investigations are now taking place simultanously. With the void, full powers.
This day of production and pleasure divides into 5 parts; I) Finding a metal plate sized 40x40 cm. II) Challenging the idea of dust-voids, III) Dining at Natasha's IV) Urbanizing the 'light weight indicator of potential space shaped by the wind' (formerly know as the Windicator) V) Editing at Bethnal Green, Barnet House
I) After yesterdays metal plate hunt, tile harvest and lessons i physics (described by Magnus), our hunt for a proper sized metal plate continues in the area around Brick Lane. London seems to be a mecca of steel and yet steel seems to be quite a difficult material to acquire. Finally a back yard near Brick Lane shows promising signs. With the help of a helpful guard we manage to get away with a 100x70 cm metal plate and get it cut into 40x40 cm for the cost of 6 Carlsberg at a MC repair shop. This success is a vitamin injection to the group.
II) A new dust canon was made during yesterdays preparation. Filled with 6 kg of self raising flour from the local store, it is pulled up 10 m in a solitaire tree in the park behind the Wandsworth Common St. All most wind still, the flour exposed to gravity creates a falling dust column which quickly turns into a huge dust cloud as the particles hits the ground and covers the grass with a potential self raising doug.
The experiment is later done in another environment between three 20m trees. This time pulled up more than 12 m the flour creates tremendous clouds filtered by the leafs as it is carried away by the wind. All team members on site filming the performance.
III) Splendid again Carlos. gaspaccio, meatballs and rice, salad, water, beers and coffee for the whole team: £50
IV) As a part of the idea of indicating, is the idea of changing environments. By this we will change the perception of the immaterial space and the public will become a part of the story. Children's bedtime postponed as the 36m2 sheet hovers above expensive cars and frames the view of £100.000 villas.
V) As we arrive at Barnet Grove, Bethnal Green; red wine in blue bags, its obvious that postproduction in late hours is quite often more post than production. 3 photos are chosen for the publication as early bedders will get up early in the morning to print them. The rest of the crowd will rest and arrive at the gallery full powers with expectations hovering above the platform.
i) Substance When exposed to both extreme heat and extreme cold: a. ceramic tile will crack b. skifer rock will break in equal parts c. glass will shatter in multiple
When ones intentions is to expose a material to these extreme conditions, only one material will suffice: Metal. This material is scarce, harvesting it can be a difficult task. The keyword is endurance.
ii) Fahrenheit When moisture in the atmosphere is condensed, water vapor into drops heavy enough to fall to the Earth. This might interfere with any activity involving the great outdoors, in particular experimentation with small dust particles which, when exposed to water, will increase its volume and transform into something generally undesirable.
Under these conditions one may find it best to stay indoors. A good way to spend this time is to prepare for better days, and focus on your immediate interior space. When that sunny day comes around, you'll be glad you did.
iii) Relativity Counting by the Gregorian calendar, a full week has passed since Überspaß again has teamed up. As these logs are testament to, many discussions has taken place, many decisions has been made, many dinners have been consumed, and some work has even been done. It is sadly too complicated and unnecessary to discuss Albert Einstein in this paragraph, but one thing has been proven for a fact. Time is relative.
Leaving the apartment this morning , there was something in the air. After the initial days of calibrating our investigations, now was the time for production. A quick stop to get some fresh java and trusty ropes, and off we went for the gallery.
Reaching the gallery a schedule was made to get a grip of what to do. This could be some sign of us getting control of our work. When you are able to make a schedule you know what you have, what to do and perhaps how to get there.
The group split in half to get more efficient. The last preparations was made with the PFKAW (Project Formerly Known As the Windicator), invitations/posters was printed and arrangements outside our safe territorium was made. We have for some days discussed if it wouldn´t be a god thing to challenge ourself when realizing our ideas. If a hovering plastic screen could reach is full potential in an urban setting between two buildings, then it´s just to ask the owners of the building for a permission to use their property.
A new attempt in de(find)ing voids with our own bodies took place. Now in the local park, recording it from a scaffolding high above to get the right frame. Movement of the body and a recorder (camera) making us to move freely in a non-linear way through the spacetime in our search of the void.
After dinner, when the feeling was great and our expectations reached it´s peak, we met reality. Dustclouds not dusty enough, wind not windy enough and people with to much pennies invested in the same space as wanted to use. This means back to the gallery, experimenting with new materials and waiting for the right conditions.
As it turns out, the day of production became the day of improved preparations.
But as we moving towards christmas, something is soon to be fully released.
Homemade breakfast at our basecamp in Bethnal Green. Porridge and baked beans was served.
The natural change in process, made the start of the day a bit different. Going from the colorcode (cm)ykb, changing into studies of immaterial impacts on spatial insight, made a excursion to the local artshop to find material that could help us express our interest in representing the immaterial. During the previous days of the Submaterial Congress workshop, we had through discussions in random pubs, and on site, realised, that our focal point in this workshop, has not really concerned the color blue, but rather the urge to experience Yves Kleins immaterial sensibility in realising the void through wind.
A dust bomb was created and studies of how a windpainting could be constructed was discussed and tested in small mock-ups.
The divingboard phenomenon, seeing Yves Klein as the board and Überspaß’s process as the dive, has been clear throughout the past days. When being in the jump, one does not grasp the time and change, before the other element embrasses and draws you in.
Sending out invitation and making posters was started. The printshop behind the gallery was attacked, and we forced them to make a good deal…
Breakfast. Talk about introducing the wind / materialize the void
Sketch of the installation “3 conditions Ice/Water/Steam”
Preparing “windicater”
Trial and Error on the platform
Conversation with Merlin about risk assessment/ curator, art, risks, roles, gallery, attitudes
Beef Stew at NATASHAS
The Windicator in the Park
Back to London
In a bar. Uberspaß is structuring the exhibition.
In the Kitchen, discussing the organizational practice and ambitions of Uberspaß
Yesterday was the day of playing with the boundaries of the void using the space of the gallery. Today is the day of expanding our field of investigation. Expanding our investigations to the outside of the Gallery, and Expanding our sensibility to the immaterial forces of the void. The air. The wind. The atmosphere.
We are imagining four different investigations of the air.
The Windicator; The Air Attractor; The Fall of Dust; The Windpaint
Outside the gallery the trains are frequently passing by. The idea of focusing on the air pressure created by the speed, and body of the trains, seems potential.
Introducing these ideas to the authorities of the gallery everything becomes complicated. The combination of art and trains can be a dangerous cocktail and we do not fill motivated for writing “risk assessments” of our ideas. (Phillipe Petit did not ask for permission to entering the void between the twin towers). Maybe we will re-introduce the platform as one of our playgrounds, but right now the energy is not for permissions. On the other hand, a part of interfering with other territories is to knock on people doors in the search of permissions. It’s productive to think of permissions as a positive aspect of making your stuff relevant.
After a well made Beef Stew from Natashas we find our selves in a picturesque park next to the platform filled with a euphoric joy. We managed to hang up a 42 square meters of thin plastic eight meters over the green lane. The wind is blowing softly and is constantly changing the shape of the canvas in duration that seems to be slower than real time. We now believe in the meditative joy of extracting movement from the wind. Tomorrow, we will double up the size of the plastic canvas and try again.
With the void, full powers During the breakfast at Natasha's the discussions came to circle around voids – how they are defined and their relation to the solid. Later while organizing the gallery space, filled up with tools and equipment, the urge for void emerged. The gallery space was cleaned out, giving us the feeling of an empty canvas ready to be loaded with content.
Further more the discussions came to center around immateriality, leading us to the desire of investigating the immaterial void. Could the void be defined over time, only existing by overlaying a spatial memory?
After a range of technical trials and errors, the first immaterial void was defined through a looping circular one person movement in the gallery space. The act, becoming ritual and almost meditative, defined a void through the contrast between the space of flux and the static space in the center, similar to the tornadoes turbulent vortex and its calmness of its eye.
A second void was defined by a five person's repetitive linear movements through the gallery. The solid human mass filled up the space and defined a narrow linear void through it. As we kept on going back on forth, the voids halo emerged, almost becoming tangible.
At this point, we started to discuss memory in relation to space, and how and if to represent what we have just investigated. The discussions continued over a delicious Paella at Natasha's, where the idea of also documenting the void in sound was presented.
Back in the gallery, a double-stereo recording of a rubber ball, bouncing at the gallery's edges was made. The ball's contact with the different surfaces, the velocity of the ball decreasing while the frequency of the bounces increased defined a spatial audio representation of the empty space.
A third visual investigation of a void was made, this time the representational recording equipment left the plan view in favor for the eye perspective, to boost the three dimensionality of the void production.
Today was the day of arrivals. Arriving to the gallery Platform 1, the arrival of Sune Rieper (as the last tutor and participant of Überspass 3rd subMaterial Congress), but also the arrival of the first group-conscious experience of (CM)YKB 98,84,0,0. So what do we want to tell our selves and what do we want to tell in a wider picture? I guess arrivals always asks a lot of questions and so does this evening leave us with a lot questions posed.
As always you can dig into questions and characterize them as either extensive or intensive ones. Extensive questions would concern everything, that divided into two would always become two half; 1L of water divided into two becomes 2x 0.5L whereas intensive questions would concern the cup of 90 degrees water, that divided into two wouldn't become two cups of 45 degrees water.
If these thing were to travel into the realm or our life, appearance and arrival at the gallery these intensive and extensive questions would, bend in neon be; 'how many m2 do we have at the gallery' and 'what do want to do when we want to do this at this place for 10 days'.
Having the fact in mind, that none of us went here without arriving at some point, it would be reasonably fair to mark this critical point where arriving is no longer to be part of the picture. From this very moment we are appearing until our departure. This is not a count down. This is not a revisit. Neither is it a extensive reformulation of Yves Klein and his works. What we aim to do is to dive into the beliefs that filled his young mind in his active years, go trough the bottleneck and into our own landscape of aesthetic detours investigating our own beliefs in his optics.
We have earlier stated these 10 days as a workshop with 6 participants and 6 tutors; all of these roles played out by of selves. We are intensively discussing how to structure our 10 days here at the platform gallery, and it would be a journalistic crime to say that everything is sorted out by now.
To get as close as possible, with out saying too much, we could present the strategy as and interpretation of the french cheese dish… the aware reader would say; 'But this just sounds like a description of Überspass in general.' Yeah not bad… in this case the Comte would be earth wind and fire, the Brie would be simple blue and the Chevre could be the void - who knows?
What you can quote for truth is that Überspass will have fun for 10 days!
This summary proposes a workshop based on the before mentioned concept, 6+6=6, which actively is being used for building and structuring the workshops proces and outcome.
"A constructed situation must be collectively prepared and developed. It would seem, however, that, at least during the initial period of rough experiments, a situation requires one individual to play a sort of “director” role. If we imagine a particular situation project in which, for example, a research team has arranged an emotionally moving gathering of a few people for an evening, we would no doubt have to distinguish: a director or producer responsible for coordinating the basic elements necessary for the construction of the decor and for working out certain interventions in the events (alternatively, several people could work out their own interventions while being more or less unaware of each other’s plans); the direct agents living the situation, who have taken part in creating the collective project and worked on the practical composition of the ambiance; and finally, a few passive spectators who have not participated in the constructive work, who should be forced into action.
This relation between the director and the “livers” of the situation must naturally never become a permanent specialization. It’s only a matter of a temporary subordination of a team of situationists to the person responsible for a particular project."
Refering to a conversation between Krogdal, Haraldsdottir and Ingemansson on using a flower as a architectural generator we distinguished between seeing the flower as a shape and the flower as a program, where the later intrigued us more since the investigation and process appeared more open-ended. Could this be the case for YK:s work with the color blue as well?
Reading about International Klein Blue, this caught my attention: "While it is often said that the method for creating International Klein Blue was patented by the artist, this is not entirely true. Klein's patent had little to do with the chemical composition of the color, instead describing a method by which Klein was able to distance himself from the physical creation of his paintings by remotely directing models covered in the color."
Even thought YK "structured" these paintings (the color), he was in a way, similar to how we talk about involving the flow of people and trains, letting the context, in his way the models, control the work.
Between 20th and 30th of August 2010 Überspaß - no RSS architecture - will territorialize at Platform 1 Gallery in London.A workshop, made up of 6 tutors and 6 participants will be held, let’s call it the 6 + 6 = 6 concept. The workshop’s starting point is coined to (CM)YKB 98,84,0,0, referring to Yves Kleins immaterialarchitecture, leaps into the void and last but not least, the colour blue.
However, as Yves Klein Blue is out of the CMYK gamut, as implied in the title, it is not a question of a revisit, rather use Yves Klein’s work as a starting point of a number of detours referring back and forth.
On Sunday the 29th of August 2010, the process andresult of the workshop will be presented at theGallery, food and drinks will be served from 2 pm.
Überspaß is a geographicly indetermed platform forarchitectural detox. Überspaß was founded as a collective in Interscandinavia in 2006. However, in december 2009 the collective as well as the geographical determinisme wasdissolved, a new logo was released and the platform was established.Ever since, the mission has been to investigate how to structure geographically indetermed collective creative processes.Contact: +44(07)546232800 / uberspass(alphakrull)gmail.com
Platform 1 Gallery is located Wansworth Common Station(Trains from Victoria, London Bridge & ClaphamJunction or Bus 319). www.platform1gallery.com
From a public square in Krakow, I'm thinking a little bit about how we could include people in our proces or in the final exhibition, if such a thing will ever exist.
The recording was done because I found my self with a completely shitty blue pen at a sidewalk café trying to capture the idea of people flow in a small narrative as a means of including time - quite impossible and rather stressful it felt. save link as to LISTEN
This proposal is a continuation of Jakobs previous sketch. When the door opens the light is turned off. The void is revealed through the objects hanging, leaning etc. in the room. When the door closes, the ultra violet (Blue) is turned on and the objects melts together and creates a "unified" blue space. These object could be seen as paintings, sculpures, pics, food etc. within the space. When the door is again closed, the lightings are the only objects standing out, thereby creating a connection beween the two worlds. the world of void and the world of blue
The proposal named; 98,84,0,0 is reffering to the CMYK.
On behalf of Sune Rieper, Anders Krogdal & Jakob Ingemansson from now on referred to as; RAI
Dear friends and members of Überspass. Friday was held a press conference at 2300 Superior Studios, about the Überspass 3rd subMaterial Congress 2010.
As our workshop in London is approaching, we felt that a common denominator was needed; A umbrella structure that could host and kick-start a range of investigations as well as a theoretical fond.
Since we are 6 people in a very small room during 10 days (/m2/day), we will have to take into consideration that its hard for all of us to be in the room and work at the same time. However we find it most interesting to use the gallery in- and exterior as our main territory. By this meaning to take advantage of the gallery and center the experience of what we do in this place.
Our main idea is not braking news; its about finding a frame in which we will be able to work all of us at the same time with the same main goal, but still retain the possibilities to group up in different constellations and collaborations during the stint. Lets call it THE UMBRELLA STRUCTURE!
As Yves Klein had been discussed on the blog, he came to center a discussion between RAI, on how to frame the investigations. Also since we all are more or less aware of his work, but none of us being an expert, it would also frame a study of his work. On one hand its as simple as blue, on the other hand its dealing with tendencies in the post war/modern society in the 60s. There is a lot of stuff to study.
YK was a part of Nouveau Realisme, a group that he founded with 8 other french artists 2 years before he died (34yo) in 1962. The group was dissolved in 1970. Is there a some group dynamics that we also are a part of there?
Picking up YK, we will have to read some stuff all of us, and maybe even start every morning with introductions prepared individually - nothing like a few well chosen words and a juice to quicken the blood and start the day!
98,84,0,0 is the CMYK code for a color similar to Yves Klein Blue, however YKB is outside the gamut of computer displays (and printers...?). Hereby, already the title of the pressconference is implying that it's not a matter of revisiting Yves Klein, rather to use his work as a starting point of a number of detours referring back and forth.
Yves Klein did through sketches, photography and sculpture investigate what he called Air Architecture, an architecture of the meeting of the elements. Further more he investigated The Void.
Klein's Void is a nirvana-like state that is void of worldly influences; a neutral zone where one is inspired to pay attention to ones own sensibilities, and to "reality" as opposed to "representation". Klein presented his work in forms that were recognized as art—paintings, a book, a musical composition—but then would take away the expected content of that form (paintings without pictures, a book without words, a musical composition without in fact composition) leaving only a shell, as it were. In this way he tried to create for the audience his "Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility". Instead of representing objects in a subjective, artistic way, Klein wanted his subjects to be represented by their imprint: the image of their absence. Klein's work strongly refers to a theoretical/arthistorical context as well as to philosophy/metaphysics and with his work he aimed to combine these. He tried to make his audience experience a state where an idea could simultaneously be "felt" as well as "understood" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein.
We feel that it is a lot of material and potential for an umbrella structure within this. One example:
The Malmö Experiments During a few sunny days in Malmö AI developed a tiny first relationship to the YKB. The first prototypes made in Malmö circles around an idea of a bleeding building, and was not from the beginning meant to be related to Yves Klein but rather rather to a kind of Andy Goldsworthy gone URBAN. Later conversations on YK made the link to one of his happenings in an empty gallery - only serving drinks. People were wondering what it was all about, but realized the day after, when discovering their blue urine, that they were porters of the artwork.
“I had left the visible, physical blue at the door, outside, in the street. The real blue was inside, the blue of the profundity of space, the blue of my kingdom, of our kingdom! ... the immaterialisation of blue, the coloured space that cannot be seen but which we impregnate ourselves with ... A space of blue sensibility within the frame of the white walls of the gallery.” - YK
Can we exhibit an empty gallery, but load the rain gutters with blue color that will be released when the first rain hits London? Just like the next day urine that the drinks caused. This is just one idea, and we are sure that we will have many more great ideas, and that we will be able to turn many of the prev posted ideas into a beautiful brick in the 98,84,0,0 framework.
We hope you like the ideas. We believe that it will give us a good possibility to bring our 10-days group dynamic into something interesting. LET’S HAVE FUN!
Thursday 13 March 1952 A day is space and so is a year and an hour and a second and a life. Should we live by the year? or the hour? or the day? or the second? I love space and I feel immense when I dream of the infinitely great and the infinitely small. Equilibrium doesn’t exist in space and yet it isn’t chaos! That’s right, I feel it, it’s right I want space. - YK
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