features 10

Stadt am Rande [beijing]
NETinSPACE [rome]
On the Edge of the World [Edinburgh]
E-volve [cologne]
Process as Paradigm [gijón]
Real Snail Mail Education [gijón]
ARCO [madrid]

RealSnailMail (2008)

Wish (2007)

more artwork

Vicky Isley & Paul Smith
aka boredomresearch is represented by [DAM]Berlin

t: +44 (0) 23 80844095
e: info at boredomresearch dot net

Isley & Smith are Research Lecturers in the Computer Animation Research Centre at
NCCA, Bournemouth University

Exhibition catalogue
Real Snail Mail catalogue is on sale for 7 euros + P&P to purchase contact [DAM]Berlin

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Stadt am Rande
boredomresearch exhibit their Real Snail Mail installation in the Stadt am Rande exhibition, Today Art Museum Beijing (16th-28th August 2010)

Real Snail Mail (2009)

"Today Art Museum Beijing will host the exhibition Stadt am Rande, curated by Pierre Wolter and Melanie Zagrean, Arts Claims Impulse. Initiated by the Goethe Institute Beijing and Transmediale, it mostly presents Berlin-based artists working – in extraordinary ways – on 'urban topology'. Materialistic and virtual topologies are the topics of transmediale Award 2010 winner Michelle Teran and Boredomresearch whereas Bengt Sjölén, Adam Somlai Fischer and Matthias Fitz as well as Maria Vedder, Tudor Bratu and Martin Howse work with invisible and immaterialistic topologic structures. Julian Oliver, Dave Ball and Julius von Bismarck sabotage existing structures, Mader | Stublic | Wiermann und Marcellvs L. re-interpret them and Miles Chalcraft discovers long established topolgies anew. Niklas Goldbach und Marc Aschenbrenner critically reflect on the interplay between society and the complexity of structures." Text source: Caosmos

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NETinSPACE
boredomresearch are showing their online forum environment Forest of Imagined Beginnings (2007) in the exhibition NETinSPACE (30 May 2010 – 23 January 2011)

A detail from Forest of Imagined Beginnings (2007)

NETinSpace is dedicated to net art and its relation to the broader context of contemporary art. It is hosted and promoted by MAXXI, National Museum of the Arts of the XXIst Century in Rome. The exhibition includes the artists Katja Loher, Miltos Manetas, Bianco-Valente, Bestiario, David Crawford. Dr. Hugo Heyrman, Les Liens Invisibles, Stephen Vitiello; all exhibiting artworks which investigate the borders between virtual and physical space. This exhibition is curated by Elena Giulia Rossi.

In the Forest of Imagined Beginnings (FOIB) you can navigate through a forest and embed your own messages on selected trees. This online navigatiable environment creates a spatially oriented approach to allow alternatives to our established data navigation that respond more intimately to our inherent ability to return to and navigate a remembered space.

FOIB is an online artwork co-commissioned by Folly, Digital Arts Organisation, Lancaster UK & Enter_Unknown Territories, International Festival & Conference for New Technology Art, Cambridge UK (25 – 29 April 2007).

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On the Edge of the World
boredomresearch present their work at the British Council symposium, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (14-17 June 2010)

A Whirligig Study, 2010

In a symposium organised by the British Council we revealed a secret obsession. The symposium took place during the first On the Edge of the World exhibition at the John Hope Gateway Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. The exhibition and accompanying publication follow the British Council initiated Darwin Now program investigating Darwin's influence on our society today. In fact, Darwin maybe, in part, responsible for our obsession, for it is his exploration of natures diversity which is reflected in our obsession for collecting artificial life forms created by our digital artworks. The symposium gave us the opportunity to talk about our recent work Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs and we included a number of studies of Whirligigs collected from the work, one of which is pictured above.

The On the Edge of the World exhibition includes a selection of specimens and rare archival material from the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, alongside Contemporary British Art drawn from the British Council collection. Selected works included among others Michael Landy's life size prints of weeds, Dalziel and Scullion's Unknown Pines and Anya Gallaccio's Preserve Beauty. Also included is our Ornamental Bug Garden and it was lovely seeing parents lifting up their toddlers to watch the bugs going about their business. The On the Edge of the World exhibition continues until the 18th July 2010.

related links
PDF of boredomresearchs' presentation
On the Edge of the World Blog
British Council Exhibition Information
Royal Botanic Gardens Information
Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs - image documentation
Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs - video documentation
Info on boredomresearchs' exhibit 'Ornamental Bug Garden 001' in exhibition

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E-volve
Wolf Lieser opened a new gallery [DAM]Cologne on the 24th April 2010. boredomresearch are exhibiting their computational systems Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs in the first exhibition ‘E-volve’ at the gallery.

Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs (view 2, right & left), 2010

“E-volve brings together computer generated artworks of different artists, which are software based and develop continuously or come as an animation created by the artist. The artworks are presented as wall objects, on screens or as projections. The exhibition brings together the conceptual position of Manfred Mohr with his series “Klangfarben” and the minimalism of C. E. B. Reas with the artificial life-forms of the English couple boredomresearch. Eelco Brand presents a new two-channel animation. Marius Watz uses his software in combination with modern music of the Norwegian composer Rishaug to create a tapestry of light.” Text source: [DAM]Cologne

related links
Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs - video documentation
Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs - image documentation
[DAM]Cologne

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Process as Paradigm
boredomresearch are exhibiting a large installation version of Real Snail Mail at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial in Gijón, Spain (23 April - 30 August 2010)

Real Snail Mail installation at LABoral, 2010

We are very pleased that Real Snail Mail is being shown in this group exhibition Process as Paradigm which is showing artwork that is continually evolving and in a state of flux. There are some fantastic artworks on show including works by Ralf Baecker, Gregory Chatonsky, Peter Flemming, Roman Kirschner, C.E.B. Reas, Antoine Schmitt and Ralf Schreiber.

Our installation version of Real Snail Mail consists of an open top table which is nearly 5 x 1.5 metres. We are hoping with the new Spanish snail population (additional 34 Agents) the Real Snail Mail bandwidth should increase to help the 11,000+ backlog of emails still waiting in the queue. With four collection and despatch readers the new recruits have plenty of delivery options.

It was great to watch people studying the snails at the opening on the 23rd April 2010 and we are keen to follow the progress of the new Agents over the four month exhibition. Many thanks to LABoral and the Artsway Associates Programme for supporting us with this exhibition version of Real Snail Mail.

Real Snail Mail Education
boredomresearch launch a Real Snail Mail educational version at Gloria Fuertes Infant School in Gijón, Spain (18th February 2010)

When we was invited to exhibit Real Snail Mail at Laboral, Gijón Asturias for the Process as Paradigm exhibition (23 April - 30 August 2010) we started a discussion with the educational team about the potential of a smaller enclosure being hosted in a local school. Laboral seized the opportunity and in just a week a school was on board, Gloria Fuertes Infant School in Gijón, for 3 to 6 years old children.

Real Snail Mail enclosure at Gloria Fuertes Infant School, 2010

We went to the school for two days over February to install a Real Snail Mail enclosure, present the work and run workshops with the children. Each class was presented with a snail to look after in the school’s enclosure and they all voted on the best class name and drawing to represent their snail. The school has found the project very stimulating and since our visit have develop lots of lesson plans and activities with the snails. You can see what the children have been creating on the Gloria Fuertes Infant School's Blog.

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ARCO, Madrid
boredomresearchs' solo exhibition in the [DAM]Berlin, Expanded Box section in ARCO

It was a great boost to get such a positive response to our latest view of Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs at this years ARCO in Madrid (17th-21st February 2010). [DAM]Berlin presented the work alongside may of our other generative works in the Expanded Box section (which focuses on exhibiting new media and video art) curated by Domenico Quaranta.

Lost Calls of Cloud Mountain Whirligigs (view 2, left & right), 2010

We also exhibited Real Snail Mail with ten temporary agents increasing the bandwidth of the service for the duration of the show. We arrived to find our snails safely refrigerated in the hotel. We soon had them chipped before easing them out of hibernation. Agents Manuel, Alfonso, Javier, Esmeralda, Frida, and Pablo delivered 78 emails in total while agents Federico Enrica, Madalena, and Catalina took it as a holiday failing to deliver a single message between them.

related links
http://www.ifema.es/ferias/arco/in.html
http://dam-berlin.de
http://www.realsnailmail.net

TV coverage on ARCO (boredomresearchs work featured after 8mins) - http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/todos/abecedario/Z.html#701979