Lukas Truniger and Ali Tnani

http://www.lukastruniger.net/, http://www.alitnani.com Crackling Data Machine, 2014 “We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed. We are at a moment. I believe, when our experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of a network that connects points and intersects with its own skein.” Michel Foucault, Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias.

Due to the concepts of networks, we are also in an epoch of total surveillance, information overflow and hyped up economic betting. We want to confront this reality with our absurd DIY experiments and artistic hacking. We are searching for the net’s potential of creating its particular imagery and sounds, reusing its questionable techniques. Sound has been crucial for the Internet ever since. Data was actually transferred via sound signals back in the era of modems. And still, data are waves, surrounding us as electromagnetic fields or are rhythmically transmitted as light sequences. We sonify the invisible melodies and rhythms of data and hence make it perceivable. To achieve this, we created a machine, which is driven by data. It executes three different tasks: Firstly, it is harvesting data from the public as well as the surrounding wireless networks. Secondly, it visualizes the data by printing it and transfers it to sound by different means of sonification. The sound is reproduced on the metallic structure of the installation. Thirdly, it has a specific shape and acoustics, which interacts with its surrounding space and the public. Its production is orchestrated an restaged in the exhibition. – Ali Tnani and Lukas Truniger Video documentation of the installation at ESAV Marrakech, Official Parallel Project of Marrakech Biennale 5 Crackling Data Machine (2014). Lukas Truniger is a Swiss sound artist, musician and composer. Born in Zürich in 1986, he obtained a music degree from the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media in Düsseldorf (D) and is currently undergoing his postgraduate studies at Le Fresnoy – studio national des arts contemporains in Tourcoing (F). He works in the areas of live music, performance, multimedia installations and the creation of new instruments. Fascinated by network processes and concepts of multidimensionalism, self-made code and circuits, hacked instruments and misused tools; these components have become crucial to his work. His installations have been shown in Germany and Tunisia. He participated in various musical projects in an experimental, improvised but also club-orientated framework performing as an electronic musician and bass player in England, France and Germany. He received residencies at the Cité International des Arts in Paris (2011/2012, F) and the Kolleg für Musik und Kunst in Montepulciano (2011, I) as well as a project scholarship from ON – Netzwerk Neue Musik in Cologne (2013, D). Ali Tnani (1982, Tunisia). Lives and works in Tunis, Paris and Brussels. He is a multimedia artist. Photography, drawing and installation are the most used mediums in his works. He is interested in matters such as memory, utopia and error. He graduated from Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis and he took part in digital arts workshops. He received residencies in Cité Internationale des arts in Paris (F), Transcultures (BE) and in Villa Sebastian (TN). A.T. exhibited his works in solo shows in Tunis, 2013, Paris, 2012 and belonged to group shows at the National Museum of Carthage (2012, TU) as well as festivals such as City sonic in the Museum of fine arts in Mons (2010, BE). In 2013, he obtained the Visual Arts Grant from Arab Fund for Arts and Culture AFAC (LB). An overview of his installation work is published in Musiques & Cultures Digitales (MCD) #71, Digitale Afrique, Paris, 2013.