Les 3 & 4 février 1999 se tiendra à Munich une série de conférences intitulée [ENVISIONING KNOWLEDGE: KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY & THE NEW MEDIA] organisée par l'Académie du Troisième Millénaire. Le propos de ces conférences est de tenter de questionner les enjeux de la connaissance dans la relation qu'elle entretient avec les nouveaux moyens de communication disponibles à l'aube du XXIe siècle.
Les plus grands scientifiques et chercheurs venant d'horizons [event] les plus divers seront ici invités à faire part de leurs positions dans leurs domaines respectifs [ex: Ernest Pöppel, Brain Research; Ramana Rao, Computer science and visualisation; Derrick de Kerckhove, Litterature and sociology of art; Luc Steels, Artificial intelligence; Tomaso Poggio, Vision science, biophysics and cognitive science...] afin de tenter de dégager une réflexion collective.
Aujourd'hui, cliquer sur une souris est censé rendre n'importe quel savoir accessible à quiconcque quelque soit l'endroit ou le meoment. Ce n'est plus l'accumulation des connaissances dans les étagères qui garantirait désormais le savoir, mais, semble-t'il, la capacité à utiliser interlligement les nouveaux médias.
La place prise par la recherche scientifique dans ce siècle a poussé les chercheurs à se spécialiser tant et si bien qu'il nous apparait aujourd'hui parfois impossible d'en saisir les enjeux, tant les centres d'intérêts et de recherches de chacun de ces acteurs se sont concentrés de manière inévitable sur des questions infinitésimales [L'homme qui rétrécit].
Ces zones de réflexxions, devenues hermétiques les unes des autres, en générant des espaces cavants [The Gap], favorisent alors la genèse d'idées ou d'objets mutants difficilement manipulables par d'autres que ceux-là même qui les ont crées. Les zones d'échanges atrophiées provoquent alors peu à peu l'asphixie et l'isolement de ces cultures en bouillon [Maggi-Maggi].
La position du graphic designer, à la croisée d'enjeux divers et d'activités contradictoires, lui donne la possibilité d'intervenir tel un véritable connecteur pluri-pénétrable et omni-pénétrant [hub-hub]. Par conséquent, la chance vous est donnée dans cet atelier d'établir le contact [Jodie Foster] et deprovoquer des rencontres du IV type [Cinquième élement].
Pour celà, nous vous proposons de diffuser lors de cette conférences vos commentaires, observations ou points de vues sur ces nouveaux paysages inexplorés. À l'issue de cette semaine d'atelier, l'ensemble des recherches linguistico-graphiques que vous aurez produit donnera lieu à une séléction par les trois spécialistes que nous sommes [Jacques Vabre & Co]. Les productions retenues seront alors encapsulées dans un container en plastique transparent de format 24x32cm intégrant également les information "officielles" de cette conférence [communiqué de presse, programme, invitations, etc.]. Ces capsules post-scriptes [plug-ins, additions, xtensions, inits, cdev, control panels, cookies, alias, etc.], distribuées lors de la conférence, constitueront le parfait kit nécéssaire à la survie des participants.
----------------------------------------------------------------
[2] E-MAIL AS SEND BY M/M TO HANS ULRICH OBRIST ON THE 8TH OF DECEMBER 1998,
ONE WEEK AFTER COMPLETING THE WORKSHOP
Dear HUO,
We've been back from Lausanne from on week now and as we already told you very briefly on the phone, we have spend an very exciting week with the students. The workshop was open to all years and was a massive success: we had much more students than the previous years, around 30. The results went beyond all our expectations, and after reviewing all of their productions, we managed to get 15 strong projects. Here is a list and a brief description about each of them:
PROJECT 1 < SCIENCE, FICTIONS >
MICHELLE VUILLEMIER
Michelle has collected from all her friends some shorts resumé of science fiction movies. Then using a translator software she converted all those stories into french, english, german and spanish. Losing during the process part of the meanings, she compiled these stories of ultra universal science fictions stories into a fold-out sheet that looks both like a medecine notice and/or a sheet of psalms excerpt from the Bible.
FINAL FORMAT: 210x371mm fold-out black and white
PROJECT 2 < UNIVERSAL [LET'S PUSH IT] >
JULIEN GAILLARDOT
Julien has designed a universal object for hand relaxing purpose. It is a kind of anti-mouse, of which he did a real prototype and took pictures of. It is the positive version of Duchamps' Coin de chasteté.
FINAL FORMAT: 297x320mm miniposter color
PROJECT 3 < DONT DO IT: PAPER BUGS >
GREGOR SCHONBORN, LAURIS PAULUS AND LAURENCE JACCOTTET
Laurence, Gregor and Paulus have invented a series of 6 "paper bugs" just using 10 x 15 cm pieces of papers: Don't speak, Don't write, Don't grab, Don't be serious, Don't see, Don't stink. Each one of this actions is explained and illustrated by a 10x15 postcard that is the bug itself.
FINAL FORMAT: 6 postcards 100x150mm color
PROJECT 4 < B2 [BE SQUARE] >
CORINNE SAUTEBIN
Corinne has realised a series of portraits using only the outline of a square as a pattern. The she superimposed all the differents faces to find out about a universal appearance made only of squares, which lookss simultaneously like a mad diagram and le Saint Suaire.
FINAL FORMAT: 490x335 miniposter black and white
PROJECT 5 < BRICLONAGE/INTERPASSIV/INDIVIRTUAL >
RACHEL IMBODEN & LEO FABRIZIO
Rachel & Leo have defined some impossible neologisms through photography.
FINAL FORMAT: 100x245mm postcard color
PROJECT 6 < CLOSE ENCOUNTERS [LET'S DANCE] >
MARIE LUSA, ANNE CATHERINE MARILLEY & ROMAIN ROUSSET
This trio has described through a color diagram the exact method in order to meet somebody for a cuddle.
FINAL FORMAT: 495x120mm fold out color
PROJECT 7 < OMELETTE = PROGRES >
LOIC DELCROIX
Loic has set a visual equation between an egg and un oeuf au plat with a cubic yulk.
FINAL FORMAT: 297x420 fold out black and white
PROJECT 8 < PHONOMORPHISM DIY >
ANA LUGUWERSKI, SANDRINE PERNET & DANILO PIEROTTI
This is an audio project that takes the form of a CD booklet without any CD. They use as a tracklisting some illustrated descriptions of actions that create sounds involving objects you can find in a congress.
FINAL FORMAT: 120x120mm 12 pages booklet
PROJECT 9 < POLLY POCKET BEDROOM >
SANDRINE PERNET
Sandrine drew as a diagram a subjective cartography of her bedroom.
FINAL FORMAT: 105x150mm postcard black and white
PROJECT 10 < CHAIN REACTION >
ALEXANDRE BETTLER & IVAN LIECHTI
Alex and Ivan have designed a relational headphone system suitable for networks users.
FINAL FORMAT: 100x150mm postcard color
PROJECT 11 < DIGITAL ANALOGIES >
JEAN-MARIE DELAFONTAINE
Jean-Marie has set visual relationships between interface conventions and the original objects: ex: clipboard = presse papier
FINAL FORMAT: 3 postscard 100x150mm color
PROJECT 12 < SOFT CELLS >
ALEXANDRA RUIZ, PHILIPPE CUENDET & SARA BOCHICCHIO
A 3D representation of a fashionable new molecular structure made out of McDonalds straws and Marshmallows that then turns into an trendy outfit.
FINAL FORMAT: 210x297mm color
PROJECT 13 < FROM MUNICH WITH LOVE >
ALEXANDRA RUIZ, PHILIPPE CUENDET & SARA BOCHICCHIO
A picture of Alexandra wearing the molecular outfit as a new icon for a technological Venus
FINAL FORMAT: 100x150mm postcard color
PROJECT 14 < RENDEZVOUS>
HUGO TENDON , LAURE JORDAN, SOPHIE ROSSET & JEROME NGUYEN-THE
A series of invitations for virtual rendezvous all around the congress hall during the conference.
FINAL FORMAT: 5 invitation cards 100x75mm black and white
PROJECT 15 < AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MIN.>
JEAN-MARIE DELAFONTAINE
Jean Marie has captured the tracks of the movement of the mouse/arrow on his screen/window during a world tour he did on the internet for 80 minutes.
FINAL FORMAT: black silkscreen over the plastic enveloppe
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+ BONUS PROJECT On top of all these projects, Xavier Veilhan has submitted us with pictures he has produced with his students during his workshop that took place at the same time. As he was aware of what we were doing, he invited his students to mix their works with ours. We selected together 2 pictures that could work as 2 color postcards, a portrait of a human being with a circular face, and a cow with a square body. Both of them looks really good.
To make the whole thing more cohesive, each one of the piece produced by the students, bears a little "cartouche" with a similar design containing the following information: <Name of the project> - <Name of the students> @ M/M [Paris] + Cornel Windlin Workshop. Made in écal, école cantonale d'art de Lausanne, for the Academy of the Third Millenium, Feb. 1999. Comissioned by Hans-Ulrich Obrist.
back