Ana de Almeida

Uniforma

“This program is presented in the new PALPlus panoramic format, supported by the European Union”.  

In 1997 RTP, the Portuguese public broadcaster started to include a few programs featured in a 16:9 format. Two white arrows would stretch the image in the television screen and the stars of the European Union flag would appear whirling, meanwhile a strong male voice off briefly presented the new format and the Union as its supporter. Afterwards the show would start.

Following the presentation of the new 16:9 analogical PALPlus format at the International Consumer Electronics Exhibition in Berlin, in 1993, the European Union approved a plan to support the production and broadcast of 16:9 programs. This standardization process was considered mainly to be an attempt of approximation to the cinematographic wide screen format.

Standardization processes are something that we are used to and that we easily relate to the European Union, quality and safety and yet uniformazation is a negatively connoted term binded with a (constantly updated) collective memory of totalitarianism.

At the Mz.Baltazar’s display I will present the first outcomes of an artistic research about the historical, political and practical aspects of image formatting.

The main question of my research is the one of in which way did the conversion to the 16:9 wide screen format, agreed upon by the European Union and the United States constituted a fundamental piece for the construction of an European identity?

The first stage of this project leads to a reflection upon the relation between image formatting decisions and the audiovisual market. Are these also practical decisions that have in view an internationalization and democratization of the image, or do they only serve economic purposes, as the production of new devices and equipments?

The power of uniformization and standardization always belonged to the biggest economical powers and 4:3 to 16:9 is a global process that shapes the production and reception of the moving image.

About the artist:

Ana de Almeida is from Lisbon, Portugal.

She lives and works in Vienna.

www.anadealmeida.com

About Windowshop project & Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory

The mission of the Luftsteuer Exhibition Project (2013) is to encourage and support solo exhibition projects by artists who call themselves women or trans. The exhibition program is a Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory project, currently based in a ground-floor atelier at Sechshauserstraße 28, in 15^th district, Vienna. Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory is non-profit organization that playfully demystifies technology by opening up a world where learning new technological tools is fearless, interesting and clear for creative women of all ages. Mz. Baltazar’s participants and organizers come from different backgrounds and mindsets to exchange equipment, knowledge, build circuits, play with DIY electronics and interactive art. We encourage each other to learn new tools and collaborate in theory and art groups, workshops and meetings, therefore creating a tech women community.

Ein Luftsteuer – show window Projekt

Uniforma

“This program is presented in the new PALPlus panoramic format, supported by the European Union”.

1997 begann die öffentlich-rechtliche Fernsehanstalt in Portugal einige Sendungen im neuen 16:9 Format zu lancieren. Auf dem Bildschirm erschienen zwei weiße Pfeile die das Fernsehbild auseinanderziehen und die Sterne der EU-Flagge zu kreisen beginnen. Aus dem Off ertönt eine markante Männerstimme, die in kurzen Sätzen das neue Format und die EU als dessen Unterstützerin vorstellt. Danach beginnt die Show.

Die portugiesische Künstlerin Ana de Almeida erforscht in ihrer künstlerischen Arbeit Uniforma, anhand des oben beschriebenen Ereignisses im Portugiesischen Fernsehen, inwieweit Standardisierungsprozesse dazu beitragen eine gemeinsame europäische Identität zu formen. Dabei lotet sie den schmalen Grat zwischen Qualitätssicherung, Vereinfachung und Einheitlichkeit einerseits und der im Kollektiven Gedächtnis als negativ und erschreckend konnotierten Erfahrungen von Gleichmacherei und Totalitarismus aus.

Die Künstlerin

Ana de Almeida, geboren in Lissabon / PT, Studierte Mixed Media Art und Malerei am Lahti Institute of Fine Arts, Finland und Lissabon Faculty of Fine Arts, Portugal.
2011 absolvierte sie einen Master of Critical Studies an der Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien.
Ana de Ameida lebt und arbeitet in Wien.

Please bring a laptop and textiles!

Material costs: 5 EUR

The second workshop taking place at Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory as part of the festival Fest.spielen organised by the ÖH.Monday April 22nd 2013, 4 pm till 8 pm with

An introdution into Pure Data (Pd).
Please take your notebooks with you!

Pure Data (Abgekürzt: Pd) ist eine Programmiersprache die visuelle Programmierung benutzt. Wie auch Max/Msp wurde sie von Miller Puckette entwickelt, ist aber im Gegensatz zu Max/Msp frei erhältlich, und besitzt eine aktive Entwicklergemeinschaft.

In diesem Workshop werden wir Pd installieren und für unser Audiosystem konfigurieren,
grundlegende Funktionen und Hilfestellungen des Programms durchgehen und ein paar einfache Patches zur Audiobearbeitung erstellen.
Ziel des Workshop ist es, einen Einblick in die Arbeitsweise mit Pd zu erhalten um in weiterer Folge selbständig damit arbeiten zu können.

Unbedingt Notebooks mitnehmen!

In einer interaktiven Schaufenster Show reflektiert Rania Mleihi ihre private Situation in Bezug auf den derzeitigen Krieg in Syrien. Ausgehend von ihrer persönlichen Erfahrung beschreibt sie einen sehr spezifischen mentalen Zustand. Sie fragt, wie stark die Intensität des Erlebens und die persönliche Involviertheit vom INNEN oder AUSSEN abhängt. Wie funktioniert der menschliche Geist in Phasen der Isolation und im Ausnahmezustand? Wenn wir nur noch Eindrücke und Bilder aus der Vergangenheit zur Verfügung haben?

Die Schnittstelle zwischen ZuschauerIn und Performerin wird durch Rania Mleihis partizipative Taktik zur eigentlichen Plattform des gemeinsamen Erlebens.

Sie spielt bewusst mit der Reduktion der Mittel bei gleichzeitig starkem Fokus auf minimalste Handlungen, um eine intensive kollaborative Performance zu generieren.

Die Künstlerin hat das Projekt speziell für diesen Raum entwickelt. Die reaktive Installation thematisiert Angst und Otherness, um mit den anwesenden ZuschauerInnen eine Geschichte zu erzählen, die sich aus den Erlebnissen aller zusammensetzt.

“Glaubst du” handelt von uns allen an unterschiedlichen Standpunkten

Über die Künstlerin

Rania Mleihi wurde 1983 in Damaskus (Syrien) geboren, wo sie Theaterwissenschaft studierte. Ab 2003 war sie als Dramaturgin, Regiesseurin und Produzentin am syrischen National Theater tätig. 2008 gründete sie ihre Performing Arts Company, mit der sie an zahlreichen Festivals teilnahm, nicht nur im Nahen Osten, sondern weltweit, unter anderem dem OutGame Festival in Dänemark, dem Edinburgh Festival in Schottland und dem Luminato Festival in Canada.

In ihrem jüngsten Projekt InSight Syria, in dem Rania Mleihi selbst als Schauspielerin auftritt, thematisiert sie die syrische Revolution. 2012 wurde dieses dokumentarisches Theaterstück in München (Deutschland) uraufgeführt.

Ihrer Überzeugung nach birgt der menschlichen Körper und dessen Bewegung die Möglichkeit, Themen zu behandeln, denen Worte nicht gerecht werden können. Daher spielen verborgene menschliche Gefühle eine wichtige Rolle in ihren Arbeiten. Dabei vermeidet sie jedoch verallgemeinbare Aussagen. Indem sie dem Publikum ein Puzzle von Bildern anbietet, kann der/die ZuseherIn diese individuell in unterschiedlichen Formen  zusammenfügen.

The Syrian artist Rania Mleihi will be opening her first solo exhibition on the 13^th April in Vienna at the new Viennese exhibition hall, Luftsteuer – showwindow project at Sechshauserstraße, 28 . 1150 Wien.

First show in Vienna by Syrian artist Rania Mleihi in  “Luftsteuer . show window project by Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory, titled “Glaubst du?”

Rania Mleihi proposes an interactive performance in the window shop room reflecting a very personal situation focusing on a specific emotional state.

Based on her personal experience of the ongoing conflict in Syria, she is asking the question of how much being “IN or OUT” affects the quality of personal involvement.

How does the mind function when we feel isolated and disabled? When all we have got are impressions and images from the past?

Through its participatory approach the show turns into a shared experience between performer and audience.

By reducing the amount of materials and prolonging her actions, Rania Mleihi consciously makes use of restricted resources to create an intense collaborative performance.

The artist`s piece is a site-specific and reactive installation dealing with issues of anxiety and otherness. Together with the audience she will create a story that touches upon everyone’s experiences.

“Glaubst du”.. is about all of us in different layers.

About the artist:

Rania Mleihi was born in Damascus, 1983.

She studied theater studies in Damascus/ Syria. She started presenting her work with the National Theater in Syria since 2003. She worked as a dramaturge/ director/ and as a producer.

In 2008 she established her performing arts company in Damascus and she performed and took a part in different festivals in the Middle East and worldwide such as OutGame festival in Denmark, Edinburgh festival in Scotland and Luminato festival in Canada.

Her latest project was “InSight Syria” a documentary theater play about the Syrian revolution which was performed in Munich/Germany 2012 where she participated as an actress.

She believes that body and motion express what words can’t tell. In her works she focuses on the inner feelings of the human being. She creates her work in the form of a puzzle giving the audience images to put together the way they want, avoiding pre-made conclusions.

About Windowshop project & Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory

The mission of the Luftsteuer Exhibition Project (2013) is to encourage and support solo exhibition projects by artists who call themselves women or trans. The exhibition program is a Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory project, currently based in a ground-floor atelier at Sechshauserstraße 28, in 15^th district, Vienna. Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory is non-profit organization that playfully demystifies technology by opening up a world where learning new technological tools is fearless, interesting and clear for creative women of all ages. Mz. Baltazar’s participants and organizers come from different backgrounds and mindsets to exchange equipment, knowledge, build circuits, play with DIY electronics and interactive art. We encourage each other to learn new tools and collaborate in theory and art groups, workshops and meetings, therefore creating a tech women community.

Notes for editors:

Exhibition dates 23th March – 7th April

Exhibition (inside) space, open during the exhibition and other days by appointment to mbl-orga@lists.metalab.at.

High resolution images and logos are available on request.

Contact detail/ enquires:

Lale Rodgarkia Dara, Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory. Tel: 06505425253 Email: lale@speis.net

Web: www.mzbaltazarslaboratory.org/

In a three-day workshop we will hack hardware, make noise and produce stencils with open-source software. We will ask a lot of “dumb” questions and also develop technology together to accomplish an artistic project. No expert is required for participants. We want to share our knowledge and equipment and use the opensource tools of technology to express ouservelves in a new way. Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory offers to women and trans the opportunity to acquire skills in electronics and programing to realize interactive projects. The workshops will be held on Fridays at 15h in Maelkeboetten/ Christiania.

Please sign in or ask questions in on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/536755569708933/

Price per workshop: material costs

Artists & Workshops

Maria Hera “Ma soer cent têtes” Stencil workshop

12.04.2013 at 15h

Ma soeur cent têtes is a gender-feminist street-art project. Maria Hera collected biographies of women who did interesting things in the past/future, made stencils out of their portraits and sprayed it in public space. Every stencil is basically provided with a bar- or QR-code witch leads to the wiki- or website of the shown woman.

The workshop is structured in the following way: depending to possibilities a viewing of the stencils on location or online is intended. Hereby the intention and concept are presented. In the second part the participants can learn the technic, according to individual interests, by creating self-chosen females or by cutting all ready existing stencils and spray them. The workshop empowers the participants to realize individual ideas or participate as a multiplicator in the process of publishing the women heroes.

Patrícia J. Reis - Electronics & Arduino Introduction Workshop

19.04.2013 at 15h

This workshop aims to introduce the basics of electronics, focusing on what is essential for exploiting the open source Arduino platform and therefore to build things using different kinds of in and out-puts. We propose a relaxed approach and we aim to provide a pleasant environment for exploring, playing with the tools and above all having fun!

Christine Schörkhuber – The beauty of distorsion visual generation without laptop

26.04.2013 at 15h

This workshop provides features to create visuals without the use of a laptop. In a playful way the powerful technical “magic box” is demystified and hacked.

Electric disturbance signals generated by Audio Signals are used to create abstract video landscapes. To open up cables and learn how to modify the signals is a first insight into the operating mode of signal transmission and basic electronics.

“Beauty of distorsion” is a glitch art project on the intersection of Video Art, Sound Art and Literature.

With thanks to our Founding Partners: Statens Kunstrad Danish Arts Council & Osterreichische Botschaft in Copenhagen who have made this workshop series possible.

we now proudly present the work developed during the week

on FRIDAY, March 29th at 7pm

Sankt Hans Gade  26

Science Friction

for women and trans

with stefanie wuschitz (A) and lesley flanigan (USA) 

Workshop: March 22nd, 23rd, and 24th

Open Lab: March 25th, 26th, and 27th

10am to 9pm

at LABITAT – A MAKERSPACE IN COPENHAGEN

entry: 400 danish krone | number of participants: 15

In this art-technology workshop, Stefanie Wuschitz (Vienna) teams up with Lesley Flanigan (New York) to playfully demystify technology and open up an atmosphere where learning new technological tools is fearless, interesting and clear for women and trans artists.

Using a grab bag of materials that include graphite, plexiglass, conductive thread, recycled electronics, microcontrollers and various sensors, participants learn to create simple systems for interactive art by merging both digital and analog materials in fluid, poetic ways.

While participants are free to explore the tools and technologies at their own pace, we encourage them to ask many questions and share their knowledge with other workshop participants. We expect our participant’s energy to be equally spent on exploring new outlets for self expression as well as learning the basic technical skills used in making interactive technology.

We invite creative and curious women and trans ages 16 and up to join us for an intensive workshop this March at Labitat (H. C. Ørsteds Vej 5, 1879 Frederiksberg, CPH), an independent makerspace working with diverse individuals to bridge interactive technology with design and art. While previous programming experience is helpful, it is not required! The workshop will take place on March 22, 23, 24 all day. Participants are asked to commit their time fully on all three worshop days in order to contribute to the focused, creative working environment the experience fosters. Starting on the 24th you will be supported in making your own project for the exhibition.

On the evening of March 29th we will present all projects in small a public event. The freshly developed pieces will be on display to the public until the 31st of March 2013 at Science Friction (Sankt Hans Gade 26 a kld, 2200, CPH).

MORE PHOTOS HERE

Please register by sending an email introducing yourself and your interest in the workshop to: stefanie.wuschitz@gmail.com