Project +49 157 362 961 96 / 2018

The Project +49 157 362 961 96 (2017) by Marcelina Wellmer is an interactive installation operating in the complex environment of telematic and mobile communication, on the edge of generative art and e-literature, with some features of a kinetic sound sculpture. Sending a text message to a given phone number initiates data processing, while customized software and plotter hardware turn each SMS into a line of manuscript. The result of the plotter’s movement imitates human handwriting, although the written content is neither imitated nor artificial. It is the result of the voluntary contributions of the participants. While the collaboratively created text as a whole is the result of a random flow of messages, the process reveals the hidden curriculum of transforming a raw thought into a coherent verbal statement. During the writing process, the plotter emits sounds reminiscent of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Operating within the given affordances, it evokes not an artificial but a collective intelligence, contributed to by both human and software-based agents. Although the idea may seem to echo the pioneering experiments in cyberarts, there is a contemporary approach that involves critical engineering and analysis of the creative process. While examining the Human-Computer Interactivity (HCI) paradigm, the project focuses on reinventing the rudiments of the communication process by reinterpreting technology and questioning its primary characteristics.

Text: Ewa Wojtowicz PhD, Media Art Researcher and Professor at the University of Arts in Poznań, Poland

2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages) / 2017-2018

Plotter printed messages / random senders / 2017

2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages) / 2017-2018

Project +49 157 362 961 96 / 2018

Copyright © Marcelina Wellmer