O O
Federico, you have just returned from the opening of the new exhibition ‘Die Algorithmische Revolution’ in the world digital technologies centre ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany. Perhaps I am a little skeptical towards revolutions, but does this mean that we have another revolution before us?
F D
Peter Weibel, the principal curator of the exhibition, tried to chart the development of revolutionary methods in the visual arts, kinetic art, photo‐kinetic art, and interactive art, architecture and music. The entire development since 1929. From the photokinetism of our Zdeněk Pešánek and Moholy Nagy in Hungary, through Kiesler in architecture, the contemporary Greg Lynn and Asymptote, to the youngest generation represented by studio Smart or our E AREA team. The aim was not just to show the current revolution, but the whole cross‐section, including the historical foundations. Famous revolutions of the past were visible and had a clear leader. Today’s revolution is net‐based and fluid. We can visualize it as a multi‐dimensional membrane vibrating between people. With the aid of this, one works with thoughts as a material that generates space. A kind of thought sculpture.
O O
The world of digital technologies is closely connected to the development of computers. What influence does the rapid increase in computer performance have?
F D
Sometimes I wonder whether digitalization isn’t the self‐regulating process of our planet as a system, which has its ‘space’ limitations. Digitalization enables a greater concentration and reduction; this is its great advantage. Any living, physical system requires space.
Sembion
O O
What does Sembion represent? What is this project about?
F D
The combination of semantics and bionics. Hence Sembion. Can the system recognize the meaning of individual words and sentences?
The version which is being exhibited in Karlsruhe does not work with content yet. It is based on a morpho‐syntactical analysis of text. It enables the visualization of the inner logical structure of a given text with the help of the SLS method, which is a member of the rapid prototyping family of technologies. Physical matter represents the intangible sensation of a text. This approach is different to simple 3D modeling which is analogous to our physical environment. It comes close to materialization purely with the help of thoughts. We have also created a materialized version of Sembion with the aid of the SLS method, which is a laser technology of the rapid prototyping family of technologies. Physical matter represents the intangible sensation of a text. It is possible to touch software and this is very interesting.
Blob Architecture
O O
Does blob structure and logic have the potential to be used in the creation of real dwelling places? How might architecture and construction of the future look? In what way is blob architecture unique? Do interaction and dynamic change of systems have any advantages?
F D
The basis of space and the functioning of living structures is movement. Movement of blood in arteries and veins is blob‐like. It is chaotic, yet it follows a route which has a certain logic. That which does not have energy, some kind of frequency, is dead or inanimate. Humans search for some order within this chaos. When we return home or return to our family, we seek stability. But people also need that chaos, so they go out or to nature again. It can be the movement of clouds or changes in light intensity. People need change in light levels; when people are exposed to stable light for a longer period of time, they become ill. It is important to find a balance between stability and calm. So the advantage of blob architecture is that it is interactive, that it is fluid, that it responds directly to one’s feelings. It responds to the need to find harmony between animate and inanimate structures.
O O
Blob architecture absorbs characteristics of living matter. Should not such materials rather be of a biological nature?
F D
Federico Díaz:
Yes, they should be intelligent. They should adapt to something or on the contrary initiate something. They should be ecological and be closely connected to nature. People outside cities in effect live in a beast, be it under trees or in an igloo, everything is in a way living matter. And there is not such a great difference between a tree and an animal.
O O
However, biotechnologies are somewhat different to digital technologies…
F D
Biotechnologies are closer to analogue technologies than to digital technologies. They are living, continuous structures.
O O
And are not biotechnologies closer to human beings?
F D
That is why they are being developed. I would say that they are also closer in essence, in terms of humans. The body will become hybrid, it will change. The hierarchy of society will also change.
Visions of the Future
O O
In what way do current visions differ from the Utopian projects of the 1960s, from the time before the great oil crisis?
F D
The end of fossil oil technologies is approaching. Within the next 30 years, at most, the nature of the aeronautical industry, cars, medicine, protection of the body, everything which is connected with oil, will undergo a fundamental change. This concerns up to 90 % of the technological foundations of society. Previously, these were astonishing visions, marching cities. Today’s visions must be much more realistic, and this will not please investors who are expecting to make a profit. The current vision must take into account risk capital, which will be invested into completely new technologies, which will be able to support the whole social mechanism of inhabitants dependent on electricity and the urban system. Natural peoples will be surprised by an invasion of people from cities at the time of the greatest crisis. These aren’t catastrophic visions, but absolute reality, which all of us must respond to. In our way of life and in our values. This is also a priority in art.
About Beauty
O O
What about traditional cultural values such as the need to settle, stability, and the home? Do you think that digital technologies can replace this, or on the contrary have such values lost their significance, or has their significance changed?
F D
Their significance has changed a lot. Digital technologies are changing the structure of the family, just as radiators changed the structure of the family. Instead of a joint fireplace we have heat delivered to individual rooms. Water pipes also changed the structure of the family. Imagine that you have one hundred thousand people in a stadium and you need to speak to someone. The Internet is also a stadium for one hundred thousand people, and yet you still have the privacy to talk to anyone without interruption. This completely changes the structure of communication. But there is still room for improvement, for example, sitting at a keyboard. Keyboards and monitors will disappear within the next 10 years, that is for certain. It would be comical to say something like this to the people of Papua New Guinea or Brazil because they live in true union with nature. As soon as you begin thinking about it, you cease to live like this. If you live like this, you don’t think about it. I have observed this on myself. All visualization technologies only create illusions. Soon the line between artificial and natural will disappear. This is the subject of my latest project Sakura, which we presented in the summer at the Kampa Museum in Sova’s Mills at the Com Bi Nacion exhibition. There a completely new direction is emerging and I begin to be very technocritical. A fixation with things and a confused mind are the breeding ground of social engineers, advertising agencies and sects. Through propaganda they manipulate and create scenarios of a ‘happy life’ based on illusion and deceit. That is what I am thinking about.
O O
For what reason?
F D
The more I learn, the more I penetrate the structure of artificial reality and illusion, I do not find beauty there. By this I mean the beauty of life. Part of the current social revolution involves modifying the body into hybrid systems. Various artificial systems will enter into living systems. And all of this stems from a fear of loss, a fear of nature, just as city ramparts were built. A fear for the human body. That is why genetic modification is taking place. The Sakura project contains the thoughts of the Samurai, who suppress this fear and even in extreme situations are able to continue being humans and live life to the full.
Prague, first published in Era 21, April 2005