Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, in partnership with the reSource for transmedial culture presents: Telekommunisten: Miscommunication Technologies - R15N, the first international partner event of the reSource after transmediale 2K12.

The exhibition takes place at the Aksioma | Project Space, Komenskega 18, Ljubljana from 19 March to 6 April 2012. The artist's presentation and exhibition opening is scheduled on 19 March at 7 pm (free entrance). The event is organised as part of the framework of the reSource for transmedial culture, in the context of which the project R15N was initially launched.


At the exhibition opening Dmytri Kleiner will present the Telekomunisten Manifesto section "P2P Communism vs Client-Server Capitalism". The presentation is introduced by Tatiana Bazzichelli, curator of the reSource for transmedial culture.
 
"The most significant challenge the open web will need to overcome is not technical, it is political".  —  Telekommunisten
 
Miscommunication Technologies is an ongoing project of the Telekommunisten Network that employs satire and emphasizes simplicity and human interactions over technological sophistication, creating platforms that don't work as expected or work in unexpected ways. They uncover the social relations embedded in network topologies and communications platforms and it comprises works such as the R15N project, deadSwap offline file sharing system, and Thimbl, a distributed social network based on the finger protocol from the 1970s. They operate as a form of performative, interactive, social-economic fiction that presents an experimental technology, engaging its users and confronting them with the social relations embedded in communication platforms.

For the R15N project Telekommunisten Network adopts a retro aesthetics in order to bring through a story about the prevalence of digital divide in most local environments, and call into question the newness or hype surrounding contemporary communication platforms. They attempt to fill in the gap between the connected and the disconnected by employing an old technology like telephones.

R15N is an experimental phone service which counters the pervasive social networks. R15N implements a variation on the random phone call broadcast model to enable a community to share information. The system works by arbitrarily determining who in the community will be responsible for passing on a message, setting up an ad-hoc telephone tree that allows the community to distribute messages.



For more information and registration details see: http://r15n.net

Telekommunisten is a Berlin-based collective whose work investigates the political economy of communications technology. Core themes include the incompatibility of capitalism with free networks and free culture, and the increasing centralisation and enclosure that results, as well as the potential for distributed producers employing a collective stock of productive assets to provide an alternative economic basis for a free society.

Dmytri Kleiner is a software developer working on practical and symbolic artistic projects investigating the political economy of the Internet. He develops miscommunication technologies that uncover the social relations embedded in communication platforms. He is a co-founder and an active member of the Telekommunisten Network, and the author of the Telekommunist Manifesto published by the Institute of Network Cultures. At transmediale.11 he was nominated for the Open Web Award with Thimbl.

Production: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2012

Artistic Director: Janez Janša
Executive Producer: Marcela Okretič
Assistant Production: Sonja Grdina
Public Relations: Mojca Zupanič
Technical Supervisor: Valter Udovičić

Exhibition design: Jonas Frankki

The programme of Aksioma Institute is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
Sponsor: Datacenter d.o.o.

Contact:

Aksioma - Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana

Photo credits: © Genz, Lindner / transmediale