TELEMATIC SCULPTURE 4 (T.S.4)
T.S.4 transports a railway track. a computer monitor is anchored
to the end of the track. via modem T.S.4 is linked up with the
internet whose different data flows cause the sculpture to move.
each log-in to T.S.4 brings the sculpture to a standstill. all
the data flows and, thus, the actual movement of the sculpture
across the austrian biennale pavilion is displayed as status information
on the said monitor.
T.S.4 is, so to speak, the self-expression of the information environment
where the power of technology is transgressing, transforming and transcending
traditional value systems where the cultures have become the only forces
which still resist an overwhelming technological liquidation.
the driving force of T.S.4 is information only.
1. materiality
an industrially manufactured conveyor belt at eye level with a
railway track on it. a computer monitor is anchored on the screen
side to the end of the track. the dimension of the sculpture corresponds
in length to the length of the austrian pavilion.
2. information
the monitor anchored to the railway track displays the spatial
and temporal status information of T.S.4.
3. telematics
T.S.4 is a sculpture whose railway track is transported. the sculpture
is linked up with the internet via modem. the different data flows
of the world-wide web accelerate or slow down the sculpture's
movement. each log-in to T.S.4 momentarily brings the sculpture
to a standstill. in this way data flows, deprived of their original
information, cause the movement of the sculpture across the austrian
biennale pavilion.
4. duration
in accordance with the data flow, T.S.4 is kept in a state of
continuous movement. this permanent movement - the central informational
paradigm - on the one hand is determined by the movement of the
information as an approximation of the absolute speed of light
visible on the screen and, on the other hand, as a movement of
the railway track as an approximation of motionlessness.
5. space
while the speed of the information flow shrinks space down to
a point, the information stored in T.S.4 breaks the bonds of space,
respectively the architecture surrounding it.