I found these three videos in my workshop from Niklas Roy on Vimeo.

I’ve seen these strange things in my garden from Niklas Roy on Vimeo.

Germany is currently witnessing a weird debate about Google’s upcoming Street View launch.

Formerly unknown citizens Ludwig Hillesheim, Konrad Richter, Anne and Erich Jeschkowski from Düsseldorf declare in public, that they don’t want their houses to be shown in Googles service, while they don’t mind to appear in the online edition of the Rheinische Post, posing in front of their homes. [ via ]

Bielefeld doesn’t want to be represented at all in Google’s virtual Street View. Thus feeding already existing doubts if that city actually exists in reality. [ via ]

Google offers right now an online tool to eliminate your house in their database. And on the other side, activists from a group called “Verschollene Häuser” plan to take georeferenced pictures of all those deleted houses, which they want to upload again.

Personally, I do like the idea of a virtual representation of my house. What I like even more is a slightly altered version of my home in the Internet. Google recently launched “Building Maker”, a tool which offers an easy way to produce 3D models of your house. You can submit those models to Google, and there a jury (it seems that this is still done by humans and not by an algorithm!) decides, whether this model becomes part of Google Earth’s 3D layer or not. Besides a few technical criteria, this decision is mainly based on realism. In other words, Google wants you to produce realistic models of existing buildings for their virtual world. The significance of this 3D database will obviously rise in close future, as Google also implemented an “Earth” function in Google Maps, where those 3D models are displayed. Almost the whole inner city of Berlin is already available in 3D, but as soon as you go outside the S-Bahn circle line, only a few 3D buildings exist.
I just live 300 meters outside the circle line and my house wasn’t part of this 3D layer, which made me decide to sneak in with a slightly altered version of my building. I didn’t go too far, as I wanted this sinister Google jury to believe that this is a realistic representation of my house. This strategy seemed to work. My 3D virtual house is now part of Google Earths 3D database. I have made a few screenshots and a video where you can see it. But of course, you can also navigate yourself around an in it with Google Maps Earth function, or with Google Earth. Just search for “Scheffelstraße 9, Berlin”.

The dog peeing in front of my door is the only realistic detail in this picture.

After this success, I modeled my whole neighbourhood. Stuffed with little stories, fake graffiti, hidden messages and other Easter eggs. Those models have not been accepted by Google, yet. So let’s see what happens in the next days. For the moment, you can watch my neighbourhood in the video below, or you download the models from my profile in Google’s 3D Warehouse, which also gives you the opportunity to stroll around the buildings in Google Earth.

Burning records instead of CD’s – with a laser! – This is what Jari and me tried out a few weeks ago in timelab’s fablab. The result is an eight track loop record, made out of plexi. It looks cool and sounds unexpected.

So how did we do it exactly? – First, we used a vector program to draw the record. With different line colours we could modulate the laser’s intensity. Because the hole in the middle of the record had to be burnt through the plexi, while for the grooves, just the surface had to be burnt. As you can see on the pictures above, we also experimented with different depths of the groove within one loop (track 6).
Track 2 was something like a random noise experiment where the needle would jump in a different way over the grooves, each time the track is played. So every track has a different idea. It was an experiment.

If you’ve never seen a laser cutter in action – here’s a video which shows how this technology looks like, accompanied by some very nice tunes:

But here’s the far more interesting video: Jari filmed an interactive presentation of the record where he explains in his words how we’ve made the record and where you can listen to all the tracks. Enjoy!

As announced, on Thursday evening the exhibition “Dancing Machine” opened in Lille St Sauveur. Martine Aubry (behind me on the picture), major of Lille and boss of the French socialist party (this is the reason why everyone thinks she might have the opportunity to beat Sarkozy at the next elections) said some warm words to the huge crowd which came to see the show. I didn’t really understand what she was talking about, but eventually I could take over the microphone and also have a little speech.

Below, there are two short videos of the IDP, which I shot during the opening. The first clip features the inofficial team of bouncers that protectet the dancefloor. And the second video shows the sophisticated transforming mechanisms of that party-in-a-box thing.

The openig tomorrow is for free and open for everyone. It will involve the consumption of alcohol in addition to the presentation of some really nice artworks. So I can definitely recommend you to come and to rock the International Dance Party!

In depth info

Timelab has invited Andreas Zingerle, Paolo Cirio, Wouter Decorte, Frederik De Wilde, Maria Lucia Cruz Correia, Geraldine Juarez, Yannick Franck, Naomi Kerkhove, Jari Suominen, Juan Duque and me to turn the beautyful city of Gent during the next days into an electric arty paradise. I’m quite up to it and so I’m working already on some waterwheels with which I want to get some electricity out of the enormous power of the fountain in the King Albert park. Next Saturday will be a presentation of all the projects in the King Albertpark. Would be nice to see you there (if you want to escape the vuvuzelas).

Ok, I was lazy with posting. Or let’s say, I really didn’t have the time up to now, yet. Last Friday opened a very nice exhibition about air machines. Arno Scheper has invited Der Wexel, Ronald van der Meijs, Neon & Landa and me to the Hague, where we have turned an old shop into a blowing, plopping and whistling machinery. You still have the chance to visit this really nice show next weekend (Fr/Sa/Su, from 12 to 6) in the Boekhorstsrtaat 139 in The Hague. Have Fun!

For the show, I’ve built an architectural intervention – a special entrance situation, where visitors have to pass a wind tunnel before they can enter the exhibition space.

For more pictures, click here.

So you missed my show “Maschinen”, that finished last Sunday in Zürich? No problem! Here’s an interactive walkthrough, where I explain the exhibited pieces and where you decide where you want to go:

Have fun! And here’s a map to help with the navigation:

At the last day of my show “Maschinen” at Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zürich, we carried out an “Eat Shit Duchamp!” tournament. The visitors were invited to drive the racingtrack in the exhibition as fast as possible with a remote controlled urinal. Raphael, the organizer of the exhibition had hard fights with Tobi, who documented the show. Soon it turned out that this will be a battle amongst two serious pros. At the end, Raphael made the course 40 milliseconds faster than Tobi and received the E.S.D. Champion Trophy.

Here’s a video of one of Raphaels highly concentrated speedruns:

And here are some pictures:

“Eat Shit Duchamp!” – Trophy (filled with beer, can play “The Final Countdown”, blinks and congratulates on a LED display)

Raphaels run

Tobi is a hard competitor

We have a winner!

I’ve just uploaded a video of the “Surprise Control!” workshop, that I gave last week in Zürich and Basel. If your screen is too small, hit the fullscreen button of the player.

If you want to find out more about the workshop, click here.

The exhibition is open and the first weekend was already quite a success! Millions of people came to see the show and I tell you, on Saturday and Sunday it all looked like a second Woodstock. Just better. Of course, the local Zürich press has sent their most profiled writers to report about the event:

Read an online version of the article here

Check also the digital brainstorming podcast and blog about the opening.

Opening is on April 30th / 6PM. You are invited. Here you go.

At the beginning of May, I’ll be in Switzerland for my solo exhibition at the Kunstraum Walcheturm (more info will follow soon). And as part of the package, I’ll also give three workshops there. Here are the dates:

• Wednesday, May 5th, 2PM & 8PM at Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich
• Thursday, May 6th, 7PM, [plug.in], Basel

The idea will be to build little electronic machines, based on the “surprise controller”. Depending on where the participants attach what kind of peripherials, the controller will always behave in a different way. And the outcome will be many little funny machines which are all special!

So now, please don’t ask me where to enroll for those workshops. I have actually no idea. I guess, this research will be the first part of the surprise. But maybe you start your quest here: http://www.digitalbrainstorming.ch/

Sometimes, I need to listen to some strange zoundz.
That’s what I made the “Vektron modular” for:

Higher resolution:

http://tinyurl.com/yz2w3gf
http://tinyurl.com/yjmfzft
http://tinyurl.com/yka8853
http://tinyurl.com/ycy8gyg

Ultra high resolution on request.

The International Dance Party is currently shown in Paris – to be more precise, it is at the Ladie’s toilet of the “Maison des Arts Créteil”. As you can see, the Ladie’s really seem to enjoy it! If you want to see the show (it’s really good), it ends next Sunday. So be quick!

Btw.: On the lowest picture, in the back on the right, Peter William Holden is lurking at the young girls. Peter has three super beatiful installations in the exhibition: Arabesque, AutoGene and SoleNoid. Here’s a video of “Arabesque”: