Rekall & Co

48 Stunden Neukölln

7th June 2019NewsBreathearth, Rekall & Co

The art festival 48 Stunden Neukölln takes place under the theme “Futur III” from 14 to 16 June 2019.
Since it was founded in 1999, 48 Stunden Neukölln has developed into an event that serves as a role model for countless others. It is the largest independent festival of the arts in Berlin. The district of Neukölln is transformed, for 48 hours, into a place where artistic experimentation is fostered. Art projects are presented that were conceived specifically with Neukölln in mind, inspired by or dealing with local realities of life, the diversity to be found here and the special demographics of the area. Open-ended, process-orientated endeavours that foster creative discourse are carried out without limitations, and in the process, the innovative character of the festival is intensified. Works of art that were realised for the festival have an impact beyond the district of Berlin-Neukölln: many of these projects take a strong stance on societal issues and support lasting exchanges of ideas on the international art scene. (Source: 48-stunden-neukoelln.de/en/page/mission-statement)

Maria Korporal takes part in the festival with two projects that are specifically related to Neukölln.

1. Rekall Ubik @Neukölln

A screen shows a video of a small wind-up toy robot constantly crossing the roads of Neukölln: this is Rekall, the robot that guides you around the world and creates artificial travel memories. In the upper corner, the names of 165 countries flash in succession, just as many as the nationalities of the population in Neukölln. You can always click on a button in the bottom corner of the screen: click here to rekall the future. Rekall will stop and you will find your own face in the middle of the street: a postcard, like a memory of an imaginary future in another country, far and yet so close.
The postcards will be shown during the exhibition on a second screen as a slideshow.
Rekall Ubik @Neukölln is part of The Rekall Project. The project is a work in progress. Several versions have already been created, with different interactive elements, like a webcam or a keyboard. Each version is represented by a new robot, as if the previous one has been reassembled.

Location and dates:
PAS-11 – Polymedialer Ponyhof – Kienitzer Str. 11 – 12053 Berlin
Fri 19:00 to Sat 02:00 – Sat 14:00 to Sun 02:00 – Sun 14:00 to 19:00
See also 48-stunden-neukoelln.de/en/event/rekall-ubik-neukölln

2. Breathearth Rebuilding

Breathearth is an interactive installation made with a Raspberry Pi, a small earth globe with built-in microphone and a beamer. People are invited to breathe on the small globe. With every breath, flowers and leaves are projected onto a surface or object until it is covered with color and life. At each new session, other combinations of vegetation appear – it is always a surprise which flowers are created by breathing. When the breathing stops, the vegetation disappears after a short time: the earth needs our breath to stay alive …The future of the earth is in our hands!
For 48 Stunden Neukölln Maria Korporal has created a special version of the project: Breathearth Rebuilding. As a background for the vegetation projection, various photos of construction sites in Neukölln have been used. At each session a different background appears, randomly determined. When breathing on the globe, grass and flowers grow on the construction site.

Location and dates:
PAS-22 – Leises Rixdorf – Kirchgasse 7, Eing. Wanzlikpfad 3 – 12043 Berlin
Fri 20:30 to 23:30 – Sat 16:30 to 23:30 – Sun 16:30 to 19:00
See also 48-stunden-neukoelln.de/en/event/rekall-ubik-neukölln

Rekall Ubik @Neukölln

16th April 2019Installations, Interactive works, The Rekall Project, WorksRekall & Co

A screen shows a video of a small wind-up toy robot constantly crossing the roads of Neukölln: this is Rekall, the robot that guides you around the world and creates artificial travel memories. In the upper corner, the names of 165 countries flash in succession, just as many as the nationalities of the population in Neukölln. You can always click on a button in the bottom corner of the screen: click here to rekall the future. Rekall will stop and you will find your own face in the middle of the street: a postcard, like a memory of an imaginary future in another country, far and yet so close.
The postcards were shown during the exhibition on a second screen as a slideshow.
Rekall Ubik @Neukölln is part of The Rekall Project. The project is a work in progress. Several versions have already been created, with different interactive elements, like a webcam or a keyboard. Each version is represented by a new robot, as if the previous one has been reassembled.

The work is inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dick, in which people who want to travel, but due to various circumstances cannot go, ask Rekall Inc. for help. Rekall promises its customers to implant artificial memories that are indistinguishable from real ones. Although the customer is informed in advance that the “experienced” is not real, the “memories” evoke the same emotions as real experiences.
The work emphasizes the absurdity of mass tourism, the superficiality of the short long-distance trips and hasty weekend city trips, which sometimes seem to have the only goal of getting a palpable proof “that one has been there” – while the ecosystem is destroyed and the original culture is lost.

Rekall Ubik @ Neukölln made his first appearance at the festival 48 Stunden Neukölln, 14-16 June 2019, in Polymedialer Ponyhof – Kienitzer Str. 11 – 12053 Berlin.
See also 48-stunden-neukoelln.de/en/event/rekall-ubik-neukölln

Rekall Golem @Praha

19th March 2019Between Golem and Robot, Installations, Interactive works, The Rekall Project, WorksRekall & Co

Rekall Golem @Praha has been shown in the exhibition ZEITVERSCHIEBUNG, 1-14 April 2019 in Gallery VBK in Berlin.

Rekall Golem @Praha is a 2019 continuation of Rekall Ubik @Berlin, the first city trip of Rekall, travelling in the streets of Berlin. The work has been exposed in Prague on occasion of the exhibition POSUN V ČASE in May 2018. During the stay in the Czech capital, Rekall took inspiration for his next city trip, which resulted in this new installation.
While the interactive element of the first Rekall versions was a webcam with which people could make a selfie-postcard in the country or the street of their choice, Rekall Golem @Praha deals with language: people are invited to type a text on a round keyboard, which does not have all the letters of the alphabet. It is not easy to express what you mean – like being in a foreign country knowing only a few words of the language. Rekall however is willing to learn every word, reading it out loud and repeating it endlessly on the screen, among all the other texts which were typed before: a Babylonian non-sense.

The project started in 2016 with the first installation Rekall travelling around the world. The work is inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dick, in which people who want to travel, but due to various circumstances cannot go, ask Rekall Inc. for help. Rekall promises its customers to implant artificial memories that are indistinguishable from real ones. Although the customer is informed in advance that the “experienced” is not real, the “memories” evoke the same emotions as real experiences.
The work emphasizes the absurdity of mass tourism, the superficiality of the short long-distance trips and hasty weekend city trips, which sometimes seem to have the only goal of getting a palpable proof “that one has been there” – while the ecosystem is destroyed and the original culture is lost.
The robot “Rekall” is a small wind-up toy robot. While the first “Rekall” ran on a small globe and made the earth spin around under its feet, letting the visitors select a country from a list of all countries in the world, “Rekall Ubik” is a city traveller, continuously running in the streets. The visitors can click any time on a button in the right corner of the screen: “click here to rekall a memory”. Rekall will stop and the visitor will find his or her own face in the middle of the street. Like in the previous version, a virtual postcard will be sent to the system. All stored postcards are printed by the artist and collected in THE REKALL BOOK, which can be seen during the exhibitions of the work, or in the artist’s studio.

Rekall Ubik @Berlin

13th May 2018Between Golem and Robot, Installations, Interactive works, The Rekall Project, WorksBerlin, Rekall & Co

Rekall Ubik @Berlin is a 2018 continuation of the interactive work Rekall, started in 2016. The work is inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dick, in which people who want to travel, but due to various circumstances cannot go, ask Rekall Inc. for help. Rekall promises its customers to implant artificial memories that are indistinguishable from real ones. Although the customer is informed in advance that the “experienced” is not real, the “memories” evoke the same emotions as real experiences.
The work emphasizes the absurdity of mass tourism, the superficiality of the short long-distance trips and hasty weekend city trips, which sometimes seem to have the only goal of getting a palpable proof “that one has been there” – while the ecosystem is destroyed and the original culture is lost.
The robot “Rekall” is a small wind-up toy robot. While the first “Rekall” ran on a small globe and made the earth spin around under its feet, letting the visitors select a country from a list of all countries in the world, “Rekall Ubik” is a city traveller, continuously running in the streets. The visitors can click any time on a button in the right corner of the screen: “click here to rekall a memory”. Rekall will stop and the visitor will find his or her own face in the middle of the street. Like in the previous version, a virtual postcard will be sent to the system. All stored postcards are printed by the artist and collected in THE REKALL BOOK, which can be seen during the exhibitions of the work, or in the artist’s studio.

“Rekall Ubik @Berlin” is the first city trip of Rekall travelling in the streets of Berlin. The work has been exposed in Prague on occasion of the exhibition POSUN V ČASE in May 2018. During the stay in the Czech capital, Rekall took inspiration for his next city trip “Rekall Golem @Praha”, which will be exposed in Berlin in 2019.

Eight seven-second teasers

Rekall

30th April 2018Installations, Interactive works, Recent Works & Highlights, The Rekall ProjectRekall & Co

REKALL – an interactive installation by Maria Korporal. The work has been inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dick, in which people who want to travel, but due to various circumstances cannot go, ask Rekall Inc. for help. Rekall promises its customers to implant artificial memories that are indistinguishable from real ones. Although the customer is informed in advance that the “experienced” is not real, the “memories” evoke the same emotions as real experiences.
The robot “Rekall” is a small wind-up toy robot which runs on a small globe, and makes the earth spin around under its feet. The artist has created an interactive computer application, with which the visitors of the exhibition can interact. In the initial screen, you can select a country from a list of all 240 countries in the world, click on “go!”, and off you go! At the end you will find your own face in the middle of a view of the selected country. A virtual postcard will be sent to the system. All stored postcards are printed by the artist, and hung on the wall above the table in the exhibition. The work emphasizes the absurdity of mass tourism, the superficiality of the short long-distance trips, which sometimes seem to have the only goal of getting a palpable proof “that one has been there” – while the ecosystem is destroyed and the original culture is lost.

REKALL has had a large success in Group Global 3000 – Art and Other Sustainabilities, as part of the exhibition “Reisen / Traveling”, from 15.01 to 11.03.2016.
All virtual postcards – the selfies made by the visitors in their holiday country – have been printed and collected in THE REKALL BOOK, which can be seen on demand in the gallery or in the artist’s studio.