unleashed. Newly Revealed: Early Explorations of Interactive Media in Visual Communication

3 - 20 October 2024

An exhibition on the occasion of AGI Open at the Museum Tinguely

The exhibition unleashed at Museum Tinguely invites visitors to rediscover the origins of interactive media in visual communication in Switzerland. It connects these early explorations with contemporary artistic experiments in technologies such as generative AI and virtual reality. The exhibition reveals surprising parallels with Jean Tinguely’s work and showcases a diverse array of experimental examples in the artistic and creative use of interactive media from the 1990s to today, featuring works by Demian Conrad, Ted Davis, Esther Hunziker, Dirk Koy, Jürg Lehni, and Pipilotti Rist, among others.

unleashed focuses on outstanding historical projects that were long inaccessible due to technological changes. These projects are seen as precursors to game design, generative AI, and virtual reality. Using modern media archaeological methods, they have been restored and are now accessible for the first time on contemporary computer systems.

This exhibition bridges a significant gap and facilitates an exploration of the aesthetic, cultural, and social characteristics of early interactive media within the context of current developments.

In contrast to the ‹objective› communication of the 1950s, unleashed highlights the shift towards an experimental approach to technology. The so-called authoring programs of the early 1990s allowed designers to engage with interaction design without extensive computer science knowledge, enabling them to question the interface between user and computer and to critique both the technologies and the market-driven intentions behind them. This shift away from utility led to a poetic effect that parallels Tinguely’s work.

Jürg Lehni, Otto, 2014. Brushless DC motors, sprung steel reels, chalk tool head, cables, custom-made controller and software interface, based on the open-source Paper.js software framework, also created by the artist. © A Taxonomy of Communication, Jürg Lehni & Jenny Hirons, 2016, Photograph from the exhibition: OK Computer – Sprachen der Ordnung, Sitterwerk, 30 October 2022 – 5 February 2023, Jürg Lehni

Examining contemporary technologies such as generative AI and virtual reality raises the question of whether there is still room for such creative deviations today, or if standardized programmes and social media filters are flattening visual expression and erasing originality.

The selection of works is based on media archaeological methods as proposed by Jussi Parrika. Curators Annette Schindler and Michael Renner employ this approach to study historical media practices, offering insights into contemporary and future trends and media outcomes.

Esther Hunziker, TV, 1996, S-VHS (transferred to DV Pal). Screenshot by Curators

Thematic Focus and Examples:

Precursors of Interactive Media: Early works on display include Pipilotti Rist’s video Ich bin nicht das Mädchen, das viel vermisst (1986) and Frederick Burbach’s experimental 16mm stop-motion animation Lux (1982).

Basic Interaction: Insights into early experiments that introduced coding, featuring works focused on human-computer interaction, alongside Esther Hunziker’s TV project in which the interaction between the European PAL and the American NTSC video format is used artistically.

Interactive Tools: Various tools enabling creative work on screens, including drawing, animation, programming, and sound tools.

Exploring Interfaces: Investigation of interfaces that make information accessible, with examples from exhibitions on Verner Panton, Luis Barragan, Marcel Duchamp, as well as Esther Hunziker's multi-award-winning work Nord, which is based on a novel by Felix Zbinden.

Physical Computing: works that utilise the computer spatially, such as Jürg Lehni's Hektor, a drawing robot, as well as interactive installations.

Today: Generative AI and Virtual Reality: Critical analyses by Claudia Colombo, Korina Galika, and Alper Yagcioglu, who generate images through language prompts, as well as Ted Davis’s work, which created abstract images through data disturbances (glitches). Dirk Koy’s VR project Insel will also be featured, viewable with 3D glasses.

Performances «Otto», Chalk Drawing Machine by Jürg Lehni

A chalk designed for the human hand is guided across the blackboard by a machine. Patiently and in a cumbersome way, the machine writes and draws the information suggested by the computer programme: a leisurely yet mesmerising spectacle.

Wednesday, 2 October, 6-8 pm (opening) in presence of the artist
Thursday, 3 October, 6-8 pm in presence of the artist
Thursday, 10 October, 6-7 pm
Thursday, 17 October, 6-7 pm
Friday, 18 October, 2-3 pm in presence of the artist

The exhibition will be accompanied by an e-publication catalogue from electrfd.net, featuring texts by Stefanie Bräuer, Teresa Dillon, Gilles Rouffineau, and Zach Lieberman, with an introduction by editors Annette Schindler and Michael Renner.

With works by Nathan Aebi, Thomas Bircher, Frederick Jon Burbach, Claudia Colombo, Demian Conrad, Ted Davis, Anna Dippert, Korina Gallika, Martina Gees, David Héritier, Andreas Hidber, Christian Heusser, Esther Hunziker, Roland John, Dirk Koy, Renée Labek, Jürg Lehni, Samuel Lüscher, Nicholas Paredes, Travis Purrington, Tobias Rall, Michael Renner, Pipilotti Rist, Matthias Rohrbach, Roman Schnyder, David Schwarz, Vines Gregory, Andres Wanner, Danilo Wanner, Gabriel Weiss, Alper Yagcioglu, Sangye Zahn.

Curators: Annette Schindler, Michael Renner

The exhibition unleashed is being hosted by Museum Tinguely in conjunction with AGI Congress and AGI Open, curated by Annette Schindler (art historian and archivist, Basel) and Michael Renner (Head of the Institute of Digital Communication Environments IDCE, HGK Basel FHNW). AGI Open, the leading international conference for communication design, will return after 70 years to its founding city, Basel, and will be held at the Stadtcasino on October 3 and 4.