"GIMM"- the device for the exploration of interaction and communication
structures of man and machine, project for an interactive installation, 2009
The GIMM was realised at Uferhallen Berlin June 3rd/4th 2010.
See the exhibition review here >>
GIMM – a BEEP OFF project 2009
Florian Merkel and Jasmin Schwarz have been collaborating as an interdisciplinary team under the name of BEEP OFF since 2008.
They focus on the socially determined cross-linking of cerebral social performances in the context of Rancièrian emancipation theories.
Together they have developed GIMM – a device for the research of interaction and communication structures between man and machine.GIMM consists of two parts: a test module and a projection space.
The visitor first enters the test module.
Here his reaction span, weight, body temperature and the sulphur content of the breath are measured. The visitor also gives his dialling code and answers a personality question via interculturally readable symbols.
From this physiological and sociological data a user specific projection is calculated in real time by using an algorithm based on fuzzy logic.
This projection creates avatars who, according to the calculation, show discreet behavioural patterns of characteristic colouring, order and framing.
The gender differentiated avatars are based on existing human examples.
The sum of data won in the test module results in a final colour in the projection, which relates to the specific state of the visitor´s personality.
The test person is given a badge of this colour. He is then able to judge other participants and establish contact with them.
This opportunity to interact enables the viewer to recognize and influence the relationship between personal activity and passivity and to position himself in a social context.BEEP OFF examines the manipulability of democratizing tendencies in media aesthetics.
Their experiment questions the purpose of and motivation for socio-psychological grading which is based on differently perceived individual power.
Power follows identity.
At this moment, historical processes are going on in the tension field of identity versus medial levelling that have a high risk of being irreversible.Making discreet media phenomenon visible opens up the chance to meet the challenges that modern man is facing – such as the breaking down of traditional value systems and the ecological scenario connected to this.
Translation: Karen Witthuhn
stills fom projection, six c-prints behind acrylic glass, 80 cm x 100 cm
