Monat: Mai 2010

Unsaid from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“Permanent installation, privalite glass, data projections, mirror, 2008

The work was commissioned by- and is installed within the Permanent Exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

One arrives at the site at the end of a journey through German Jewish History representing the last section of the permanent historical exhibition at the museum. This site depicting the “Shoah” is situated at the intersection of pre- and post- war exhibition areas.
Historical documents have been selected from the Museum archives from two sources:
a. Letters from burocratic offices to individuals about preparations for deportation and eventual transports to the east.
b. The last correspondance from Ghettos and extermination camps.

One approaches a glass barrier made up of vertical sections which are either transparent or opaque when data messages begin writing on them. One has the feeling that one cannot proceed further, yet one can see through the panels, revealing a hint of what follows. The visitor is intrigued by the dynamic rhythm of the panels appearing and disapearing, and by the pace of the digital writing on the glass.

Along a line in the floor which transverses the space at an angle (and which represents lines which intersect the original architecture), a glass barrier is built in eight sections, each 1 meter wide and 3 meters high. Four data projectors are mounted from the cieling behind the glass barrier and are connected to a computer.

A section of mirrored glass is mounted on the right diagonal wall, opening up the space and reflecting the wall of glass and the dynamic movement of the displays and changing panels.

The barrier is composed of eight ‘Priva-lite’ glass panels, each 2.5 x 1 meters mounted in steel frames. When electricity is applied to the glass, it is transparent; when the current is turned off, the glass is opaque, thereby functioning as a projection surface.

The glass panels and the projectors are synchronized. There is one projector each for two panels, representing one document fragment. When a document pair are ‘active’, the glass becomes opaque, and the document information (left side) and content information (right side) begin ‘writing’, letter by letter, simultaneously, at eye level.

The four projection pairs are either in an ‘active’ (projection, opaque) or ‘inactive’ (transparent) state. From one to four active states may be happening at any one time. The patterns of active and inactive panels is changing all the time, creating a sense of dynamic rhythm in the space. At the same time, sections of the wall seem to disapear and reappear at other locations. The selection and display of the texts is random. ”

Innocent Questions from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“Permanent installation, sandblasted glass, LED displays, 2006

‘Innocent Questions’ was the winner of a closed competition initiated by the The National Foundation for Art in Public Buildings, Oslo (Utsmykkingsfondet for offentlige bygg) in 2004 for a permanent artistic work in front the Villa Grande, a villa occupied by Vidkun Quisling from 1941-1945. The Villa is currently the site of the “HL Senteret”, The Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities.

In developing a concept for an artistic intervention for the Villa Grande I preferred not be limited by the particular historical circumstances associated with this site. I have chosen rather to focus on the use of the ‘personal questionnaire’ in population registration systems as the defining element that thematically connects the Holocaust in Norway with other genocides of the twentieth century and with the administration of foreigners and other minorities in contemporary society.

The winter snow and the dramatic approach up the hill to the site call for a vertical installation as a transformation of the imposing and grotesque historical building facade. In renovating and reconstructing the ‘Villa Grande,’ fire and safety regulations required an external stairwell to be fixed on the facade to the left of the main entrance. I proposed to utilize the structure of the stairwell in order to physically support the installation of ‘Innocent Questions.’

Attached to the structure of the stairwell is an array of twelve panel-boxes, mounted within a steel frame. These panels are designed to form one unified image (size: 8330 x 4070 cm.), which is perceived in three distinct optical layers:

Non-Reflective Image: Sandblasted onto the hardened surface of the outermost glass layer of each panel is a reconstruction of a historical ‘punch card’ , representing the reduction of the individual to number and category. This image is perceived as non-reflective, creating a heightened contrast to the reflectivity of the underlying mirrored surface.

Reflected Environment: The work functions as a mirrored wall that reflects the natural environment: the trees and sky, and the visiting public. The face of the historical building is thereby opened and partially erased.

Illuminated Texts: Mounted onto the rear of each panel within the punch card image, are words and phrases written in fixed light-emitting diodes (LED’s). This textual content has been derived from historical and contemporary personal questionnaires.

The rear of the work is sealed, and the illuminated red LED texts appear as an ephemeral image, suspended in the reflecting mirror. Only the illuminated LED texts are seen through the mirrored glass, which is otherwise fully reflective of the environment.

The words and phrases appear and disappear within a slow and randomly generated temporal composition perceived within the virtual punch card image. Because the appearance of illuminated words and phrases is continually changing, new combinations of words and phrases arise, igniting unexpected associations from the questionnaire entries as one passes the work.

During the hours of daylight, the mirror glass reflects the trees and sky. The information layers (non-reflective image, reflected environment and illuminated text) are clearly visible. In the hours of darkness, artificial side lighting illuminates the non-reflecting sandblasted surfaces of the outer glass layer, which would otherwise be imperceptible.

In my concept for a permanent installation at the site, a list of ‘Innocent Questions,’ derived from historical and contemporary sources and representing a composite collective questionnaire, is contrasted with the image of a historical ‘punch card.’ Together, this is a representation of the collection, archiving and application of personal data by political systems for administrative and often questionable use. ”

Preferences from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“Created for the Exhibition, Sex Brennt – Magnus Hirschfeld’s Insitute for Sexual Science and the Book Burning, in the Berlin Medical Museum of the Charite

In a room one percieves an oversized card catalog in black, as one recognizes from libraries and offices. The catalog contains thirty drawers, each fitted with the shining metal frames and handles which clearly identify their archival function. Within these frames, where normally the little paper cards which mark the contents of that drawer would be, the data is active and continually changing.

The “card catalog” was also shown with other content at the Jewish Museum in Berlin in 2007.

Sources: Hirschfeld, Magnus: Die objektive Diagnose der Homosexualität. In: Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, Jahrgang 1, 1899, S. 4 – 35 Hirschfeld, Magnus: Psychobiologischer Fragbogen. Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, VI. Auflage, 1925

Construction: Olf Kreisel; Software: Alexandr Krestovskij

Exhibited: Berlin Medical Museum of the Charite; 2008 ”

Inventar from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“Text Source: Versteigerung der kompletten Villeneinrichtung, Wien III, Kopfgasse 1. Besichtung 13., 14., und 15. Juni 1938. Versteigerung: 17., 18., 20., 21. und 22. Juni 1938; Dorotheum – Wien Versteigerungsanstalt. (Residence of Berhard Altmann).

Descriptions of individual items from a list of approximately 1400 auctioned objects are projected as black text on a white wall. The white wall defines a possible space, or room, in a real size. The projection begins at the floor, in order to simulate the scale of an actual room. A series of imagined spaces are displayed in sequence. Within each room type, descriptions of objects scroll (i.e. writing letter by letter) in actual positions in which they might be found in such a room. For instance, at the possible height of a table, a series of table descriptions from the list will begin to scroll. Above the height of the table, text descriptions of objects which might be found sitting on a table will simultaneously begin to scroll.
The spaces are defined as group categories based on usage for a particular space (i.e. objects which might appear in a living room, for example), yet no indication is given as to a particular room name. Rather, one has an association to virtual room through percieved relationships between objects. No attempt is made to historically simuate an actual room based on documention. Rather, we are invited to imagine a virtual space, filled with the associations of ownership, yet no distinction is made as to value.

inventur
A selection from a collection of historical artifacts from the postwar Bernhard Altmann American firm (ladieswear, advertisements, publications, etc.) are projected in sequence onto a white table top which has been placed in the space. Each object is referenced in size with a measure stick. From afar, objects seem to be sit on the table, at close-up one percieves them as virtual images.

These postwar objects are represented as color images, while the ‘pre-war’ auctioned objects are represented as dynamically written black and white text in space.

Exhibited: MAK (Museum of Applied Art), Vienna, 2008 ”

Turntable History from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“media turntable, data projection, slide projection, sound, 2009
Galerie Singuhr, Kleiner Wasserspeicher, Berlin
Produced with support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds

This text, image and sound installation was especially concieved for the circular vaulted brick space of the historical water container in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Specific information content is derived from archival documentation concerning the history of the site. A ‘media turntable’ spins animated text content around the inner and outer spaces of the space. Other sound and image sources are located at fixed locations on the peripheral walls. The text/image and sound material is percievable as fragments which appear and disapear throughout the media environment.

Text and Image
The central turntable contains two data projectors facing outwards which are connected to a computer. The text content is programmed to scroll out of view at a speed corresponding to the speed of rotation in reverse, giving one the impression that the text is standing still. The texts are projected on both the inner and outer circles of the space, at times ‘hugging’ the multiple archways.
Four stationary carousel slide projectors are controlled by computer software. Enlarged sections of original blueprints of the site are projected in black and white negative on the outer walls.

Audio Composition
A 40 minute five channel sound composition was created for five loudspeakers which are positioned throughout the space. The sound content is derived from recordings which Dreyblatt made of MRI Magnetic Resonance medical scanning..

Research, Collection and Projection
The project considers historical research and the collection of archival documentation an integral aspect of the project preparation. Under the direction of the artist, a research assistant collected historical materials from archives and official agencies. ”

Artificial Memory from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“This archive about archives questions the permanence of data storage, presented as discussions between professional archivists and in institutional reports, most of which were collected in the internet. The archive becomes a metaphor for a resistance against forgetting and loss.

The work is presented in a darkened room which is illuminated by the antique form of an enormous paper scroll, seemingly without a beginning or an end, representing a sacred object with biblical overtones. The scroll is mounted on a wooden base containing florescent tubes, with a glass surface.

Each line of text extends to 18 meters, flowing on to the beginning of the next line. The eye follows this stream of content, until one loses one’s horizontal location – resulting in a shifting of one’s visual attention as one springs vertically to a new starting position

997 text fragments and thumbnail images from various digital and archival sources, collected 1993 – 1999. All entries are time-stamped from the moment of collection.

Exhibited:
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 1999-2000
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, 2003 ”

T-Mail from Arnold Dreyblatt on Vimeo.

“One thousand documents have been entered into a database which reports the life of T., (b. 1879 Paks, Hungary – d. 1943 Shanghai, China), a forgotten Central European historical figure whose multiple identities span three continents (Europe, North America and Asia) and touch on many of the most important events of the pre-war period. The work is derived from a larger collection of over 4,000 intelligence documents from State Archives in Europe and North America from the inter-war period.

The collection contains daily reports and correspondances between 1915 and 1943, forming a vast communication network in which the official traces and observations of the individual are cross-referenced to historical events, international personalities and geographic locations.

In the interactive display of ‘T-Mail’ new documents are chosen randomly from the database, a scan of the next document gradually slides into view as various thematic categories and cross-links are activated. Text writings are simultaneously emitted sonically as morse code, in five different sine wave frequencies which change with consecutive paragraphs.

Texts from: The Public Record Office and The British Library, London; The National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Bonn, etc.
Exhibited:
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 1999-2000
Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, 2003 “