On Friday the 21 of July will be the opening of the final station of crash test dummy. For ten days there will be performances, workshops and lectures on the Bordeauxplatz in Munich- Haidhausen. Please check the programm and come to take part.

Only a few days are left to the opening of Crash test dummy in Ljubljana. The “static” program consists of the Cocobello, the Video installation of Du Zhenjun as well as Marko Peljhans Spectral System/UAV device which is actually at home here, in Ljubljana. There is also a massive “dynamic” program scheduled which names as international speakers Konrad Becker, Olaf Arndt and Christian Nold and has a lot of local workshops and project presentations like the one of DEMOKINO going on. Highlights of this version of the crash test will surely be the music performances by Frank Bretschneider, Olaf Bender and guests as well as the Dj Set by the infamous Belgradeyard Sound System. It all takes place on Argentinski Square in Ljubljana / Slovenia. Please check her for the full program!

The last 10 days the Archa Theatre in Prague has been hosting crash test dummy. As Archa had chosen to focus on the subject of surveillance in their share of CTD, there have also been new artists presenting their work. Dominik Rinnhofer and David Kleinl were exhibiting their audio visual installations alongside with Marko Peljhans S-77ccr device for private counter surveillance. When I arrived to Prague on wednesday last week I attended a discussion on security and surveillance which was organized by the weekly paper RESPEKT. Also of course it was nice to meet Ivan, a friend from the czech art magazine Umelec who is just moving his office to a great art space called Karlin Studios…there we also found some installations concerned with biometrics, surveillance and control… As the head of Archa, Ondrej Hrab said. We have only started to get into this issues yet… but there is more to come….see the interview with Mike Baugh of Archa theatre.

Finally on Friday the opening of Crash Test dummy Budapest has taken place. As you can tell by me only now finding time to post a message, there has been some celebrating going on….After an opening speech the great dance performance Crash from Marguerite Donlon und Helena Waldmann took place and completed the parcours of installations on the Erszebet Square. From now until next Saturday everyday there will be the possibility to experience the Crash Test yourself in the Bodyspin, to see how a privat surveillance drone is flying over territory, to play with the crash test videowall or participate in the debates going on in the Cocobello/Mobile Studio.

On Saturday and Sunday there were presentation done by Time’s up and Marko Peljhan. Sunday Olaf Arndt from BBM hold a lecture about non-lethal weapon technology. Today there will be a hungarian panel on surveillance in the socialist past. The week will go on with disscussions and screenings till we strike on the weekend and move  to the Archatheatre in Prague.

As I arrived yesterday on the Erszebet Square in Budapest and was happy to find the Cocobello standing there and in one piece. So than the first Domeconstruction for the Bodyspin had to be set up. Today the weather has gone mad and the rain is pouring down, while the second Dome is prepared. Times up have arrived and install the Bodyspin inside the Dome.

This is the place where Crash test dummy will open on May 5th 2006 at 6 pm. Come and see!

von Time’s up

Time`s Up beschäftigt sich seit seiner Gründung 1996 mit den Funktionen des menschlichen Körpers. Wesentlich im Zentrum des Arbeitsinteresses stehen dabei die Begrifflichkeiten Biomechanik, Kontrolle und Wahrnehmung. Wir konstruieren seit mehreren Jahren intuitive, eigens konstruierte Interfaces, die Besucherinnen dazu anhalten sollen selbst aktiv gestalterisch tätig zu werden. Dabei definiert sich die inhaltliche Entwicklung über das Verhalten der Anwenderin. Installationen von Time`s Up werden sozusagen von Besucherinnen und Akteurinnen zum Leben erweckt.

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This are the brandnew images of the spectral system which will be hosted by one of the domes of CTD. A democratic vision of satellite surveillance….

As part of my personal preparation for the crash test dummy tour I watched an excellent czech film yesterday. cesky sen (czech dream) is a documentary about an advertising campaingn for the opening of a hypermarket that does not exist. A crash test in the field of consumer culture.