Picknick am Feldrand

A collection of found objects and sounds from the edge of perception. Fragments of maps with shifted coordinates point the way to the place where the fulfillment of desires is suspected. Flickering images, CutUps of news from areas that surround this place. Minimum signals, amplified electronically.They tell of the restlessness of people looking for orientation and safety, and the tradition of folklore, which is maintained at non-existent places.

The performance is a real-time composition in a laboratory in which the materials are dissected, scanned, probed and reconnected. At the boundaries between reality and fiction, shows a line of speculation about the origins and construction of identities.

One never gets there, they say. We do have a fragment of a map, which unfortunately does not tell us much, and have received some significant information. Based on that we are confident to find our way to this place.

We set out on our journey well equipped and well trained, convinced that we will succeed.

The field seems to be quite large …

Part of the performance is a computer network which sometime shows self deciding activities. The system, based on MAX/MSP is controlling the live processing of sound and video and the activities of the Scan Table.

The Scan Table is a computer controlled ‘turntable’ equipped with a Fire-I cam + a USB-microscope. A stepper motor is controlled by a max patch using an arduino board and a stepper driver to scan small objects. The images are live processed by a jitter patch and projected. All three patches for motor control, video and sound are exchanging control data and influencing each other creating an unstable situation.

Performance:
Elke Utermöhlen: voice, melodica, field recordings, video, live processing
Martin Slawig: objects, field recordings, video, live processing,
Programming: Martin Slawig
Produced by blackhole-factory

Premiere: March 16 2012 Kunstmühle Braunschweig

Picknick am FeldRand was funded by Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Stiftung Niedersachsen, Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz.

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