Exploring technology’s dark side / Natalie Holmes, New Scientist Blog, 2012

http://newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/02/exploring-the-dark-side-of-technology.html

(…)As the new tech-startup capital of Europe, Berlin plays perfect host to the event. This year’s title in/compatible draws inspiration from current social and political turmoil – the economic crisis, Occupy movement and online ‘hacktivism’, as well as technological developments and the resulting cultures – both real-world and virtual – that emerge.

Transmediale’s flagship exhibition Dark Drives: Uneasy Energy in Technological Times, curated by Jacob Lillemose, sets out to explore the price we pay for the conveniences we enjoy as a result of technological progress.

As the storm over intellectual property in the digital age continues to rage, his simple image of a (hard drive) box on a plinth manages to set the bendy reeds of technological dynamism in stark contrast to the static old oak of human institutions.

Lillemose led a tour of his exhibition, explaining how and why he selected the 35 works of art, which consist mostly of videos (Transmediale started life as a video festival), but also include photographs, slideshows and even full music albums.

Entering the exhibition hall, his obsession with obscurity is immediately apparent. Almost pitch black, the cavernous space is lit only by the works of art, which draw you in with flickering, glitchy allure.(…)

(…)Meanwhile, in the background, the sounds of Marcelina Wellmer’s work can be heard. Entitled 502, 404, 410, the installation is a cross-section of three working hard disk units. Each unit is named after one of those server responses and has a contact microphone attached. When the drive spins we are confronted with the sound of the error and are encouraged to think of it differently, as a material rather than an invisible, abstract event.(…)