I went yesterday to the “Victorian Circus” exhibition at the Brakke Grond. Artistically disappointing, technologically highly interesting. Worth a visit, if you can get there before it closes midnight Saturday (it’s free, which helps). The Brakke Grond is also recommended — selection of fine Belgian beers, good atmosphere, biljarts table, and an art gallery thrown in! (Thanks to Erik for the headsup.)

new media: art vs. technology

The exhibition intends to showcase a number of new media projects (some very much still “works in progress”) and suffers a classic new media difficulty: almost nothing I saw was both artistically satisfying and technologically interesting, while several were one or the other (the occasional piece was neither). I’m not really qualified to judge artistic merit in a consciously modern musical composition (to pick on my anti-favourite example), especially as I made a quiet exit before it had finished, so it may be that I’m missing some deep and significant contribution here. It might also be that my impression was correct, and it was pure self-indulgent pretentious nonsense.

But enough of the bad and ugly, most was good. The exhibition includes a number of installations, but also “performances” in the evenings that range from the afore-mentioned nonsense to the sort of demonstration you might expect at a technology fair. One installation consists of a number of balloons fitted with fan motors for altitute control and steering, all controlled from a central computer. We were given a demonstration of one of these airships (an easy 1.5m tall, not your simple birthday party toy) which was technically pretty neat, and a bright-eyed enthusiastic discussion of the potential for a full installation (balloons reacting to the movements of visitors through the space, flocking, and so on) as well as some video footage of previous events, which was sadly much less impressive than the balloons “in person”.

“ik wil fliegen, als een vogel”

My favourite, though, was easily the virtual reality flying simulation. This was very much a technological work-in-progress, with no sign yet of artistic content (although the potential is definitely there). The idea is to combine a depth-perception virtual reality headset with a climbing harness (yes, you heard me correctly) and elbow-mounted motion sensors, to give a realistic flying experience. You hang horizontally in the harness, and when you flap your arms, your simulated wings propel you through the air.

There were of course technical difficulties. The biggest is that your orientation in the harness affects your simulated body, but not vice versa. So if you simply stop flapping, your simulated body plummets to the ground and ends up lying on its side (the view in the headset twists ninety degrees, so the horizon is vertical) but you’re still hanging comfortably in the harness. Serious cognitive dissonance, and a conceptual problem that has not yet been solved.

A second problem concerns basic human laziness. The original idea was to flap your whole arm, sort of majestically (think albatrosses, or eagles). But this turns out to be very tiring, and the sensors are mounted just above the elbow, so you can get away with tucking your hands into your armpits and making little shoulder-twitches (think chicken, or the “birdy dance” for those with a Kiwi high-school upbringing). Rather spoils the solemnity of the experience…

over de sfeer

Somehow this seemed entirely appropriate, however. The occasional pretension aside, most of the exhibition has a fresh, open and slightly incomplete feel that is very relaxing. There’s lots of work-in-progress, and the discussions focus on further potential for development. The Flemish accents help this atmosphere (much of the work was supported by Flemish cultural grants), as does the evident enthusiasm and unfamiliarity with public speaking of some of the artists. It’s the real thing, go see it and enjoy.