One bag too far

Designacademy students figured that the layers of protection of the local Mediamarket were overdoing it.

First the revolving doors that can be electronically stopped, second the entrance gates, third RFID on all items, four camera’s everywhere (eight camera’s on an eight meters wide glass window), fifth the guards and then when you enter the have to put your bag into a locker!

Talking about trust. Talking about guarding some items as if it was the long lost heart of gold.

So they went in with lots of bags.

They did it. That is for now the most important act, to do it. To do theatre not in the theatre, perform not only in a play, but to create a in between space in real life where all kinds of sensations- however slighly- get exagerrated or somewhat distorted.

I recall some things very well, very sharp, but have forgoten others completely.

They did not create so much disturbance to actually cause a debate on the security issues because they could somehow cope with our bags ( the tools to create the debate, our ‘arguments’ as you can say) but this did cause the system to overconcentrate on some part of the security ( the frontend) which allowed some of them to go into the store not only with small rucksas but also a huge suitcase!

Thought I was going to walk to Mediamatic

and I ended up in Sao Paulo, 10000 kilometers away. In the Mediamatic workshop on RFID I get a call from Paulo Hartmann that my funding by the Mondriaan Foundation for Mobilefest has come through. I fly the next day and just back in Ghent I’m warmed by the sense of urgency and the negociated agency in what one might truly call oppportunistic environments. Good meetings every day, with Bronac Ferran being there – out of the true blue!

And look what we saw at Prestes Maia: the biggest squat in town. How organized, so clean and such brave people making do.

Distorted Faces

Saskia Schreven visually essayed Vertrokken Gezichten.