Matthias Jäger & GUKUBI MATO
Exercises in art and neighborhood #3
Friday, September 17th, 2021
Metahofspitz, Graz Austria
The entrance to the car park at Metahofspitz was transformed into a large projection canvas and used to send encrypted messages towards Annenstrasse. Studio Asynchrome’s work on site deals with the Arecibo message that was sent to the Andromeda Nebula in 1974.
The fifth paragraph of this message was a rough sketch of the human form. This figure served Matthias Jäger and GUKUBI MATO as the basis for the creation of 26 graphics in the standardized positions of the winker alphabet. The winker alphabet is used for the optical transmission of messages in seafaring. A person with two flags is able to transmit messages over long distances.
A self-written software takes over entered messages and translates them as an animated sequence of graphics. Visitors had the opportunity to send their own messages with the software.
Curated by < rotor > center for contemporary art, with funding from BMKÖS program „Frischluft – Kunst im Freien“ and support from Graz Kulturjahr 2020
Cover image: Alex Krischner