(niij, or) the portfolio ofMichael Zeltner

Concerning Transitive Closure (Partial)

While it has been exhibited statically, Concerning Transitive Closure finds its purpose in the performative, personalised and hyperconscious act of sharing its pieces.

Cross-processed photographs of the artist's mentors Johannes Grenzfurthner and Andreas Leo Findeisen placed into the physical and psychogeographical entity that is mo.ë, as well as MRI scans of the artist's heart and brain, are printed on perforated blotting paper imitating sheets that would more commonly be laced with LSD.

Lending the First-Order Logic related concept of Transitive Closure, the question is posed whether expanding world views induced by human interaction (as opposed to the intake of chemicals) can be actively distributed within a decentralised graph such as a social network.

(MRI scans of heart and brain are yet to be done.)

Photography by Kerstin Kollmann

April 2010 – Present

mo.ë

mo.ë is a ~1000m2 big art space comprising several multifunctional rooms, studios, offices, a workshop as well as an Artist in Residence programme. Located in the 17th district of Vienna, the facility was originally used as metal works factory, which was prominently featured in the semi-biographical yet fictional novel from 1984 'Ewigkeitsgasse' ('The Forever Street') by Frederic Morton.

Having changed owners several times since its inception in 1888, mo.ë extends the already present realities, rather than applying the tabula rasa approach of a white cube setting.

Collaboration with Rashid Badreldin, Daniel Benedek, Valerie Bosse, Julia Huber, Karin Meisel, Hannah Menne, Ari Moumeni, Martin Nimmervoll, Agnes Peschta, David Postl, Horacio Reyes, Diane Sittinger, Agnes Wächter, Michael Weidhofer

February 2010 – March 2011

Shifts (Partial)

Shifts exists in three parts: one, a sound-piece, two, permanent tattoos of the sound-piece's waveform, and three, a photograph combined with an audio-kinetic installation presenting the relation between one and two.

On all of these layers the work is based on the premise of "shifting" the (artists) body closer to the mind and emotion. It forms a self-portrait, communicating a self-reflective sonically based visual reminder of the process of moving onwards.

Tattoo by Franz-Nikolaus Scheichenost at Happy Needles. Photography by Audrey Penven. Mechanical consulting by Jonathan Moore, Amir Hassan and Stefanie Wuschitz. Engineering by Daniel Schatzmayr.

March 2009 – Present

Touch, Don't Touch

Touch, Don't Touch is an interdisciplinary exploration of participatory artworks and tangible interfaces. It aims to create various instruments that tie in with the human propensity for multi-modal experience.

The current project 'Featherbox' was created by Wajid Yaseen as part of his M.A. thesis at Middlesex University's Sonic Arts course.

Collaboration with Wajid Yasseen and Charles Matthews

October 2008 – Present

Ear Cinema

Ear Cinema is a collaborative multi-platform installation and performance piece, incorporating animation and film footage on 4 screens, sonic art techniques on 8 speakers arranged as a cube, and live performance in the enclosed space. Its focus lies in the ability to deliver a story through "Immersive Theatre", blurring boundaries between all incorporated media.

Collaboration primarily with Wajid Yaseen, Gadi Sassoon and Dave Hunt. Full credits.

October 2008 – Present

Graffiti Research Lab

The Graffiti Research Lab (G.R.L.) was founded 2006 in New York City and is dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication.

Following a lose collaboration with Florian Hufsky and Florian Frühauf in which we reinterpreted the work of the G.R.L. mother cell as well as implemented a hostile takeover of the quartier21, Kunsthalle Wien and MUMOK, we founded G.R.L. Vienna due to an invitation to Ars Electronica in September later that year.

Collaboration with Florian Hufsky, Florian Frühauf, Evan Roth, James Powderly, Theo Watson and the G.R.L.'s greater collective.

July 2007 – December 2009

NetzNetz

NetzNetz was the self-organised funding pool for New Media Art, Activism and Culture, supported by the MA 7 (Vienna's arts and culture council), department for film and new media. It has been awarding €500.000 annually from 2006 to 2009.

The involved communities and free agents were not only able to influence the grants handed out by the government, but also the course of NetzNetz itself. Through coming up with and participating in different models of application and voting in conferences, plenary sessions and other meetings, the participants developed and tested democractic decision making processes that bypassed boundaries of governmental funding structures.

Collaboration primarily with Agnes Peschta, Andreas Leo Findeisen, Joanna Pianka, Florian Lauber, Manfred Krejcik. The NetzNetz community consists of more than 400 validated members.

December 2007 – December 2008

Archive

A collection of smaller projects with photographic documentation.

More projects can be found in my resumé. Listed in no particular order.

Many many more.

2002 – Present

Contact

(Timezone: GMT+1)

Resumé

This is a collection of the work that I've done, the categorisation is a rough outline to make it better readable. A PDF version is also available.

Biography

As a product of modern fast paced culture, Michael Zeltner pursues an attention-deficit-disorder driven autodidact lifestyle after having dropped out of institutionalised education at the age of 15.

Following his re-socialisation by the art-group monochrom and its wider community, he contributed to numerous multinational large scale Open Source and business projects, amongst others Plone, an enterprise level content management system, and Maestro Headquaters, the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab's community for the Mars robots "Spirit" and "Opportunity".

Since then, he rediscovered his roots, now exploring the spaces in technical possibilities of humanistic storytelling. After co-founding the localised cell of Graffiti Research Lab (G.R.L.) in Vienna, he helped distribute the €500.000 of the first self-organised government funding pool NetzNetz as part of its coordination team.

Michael is currently based between London and Vienna, focusing on his solo work while still contributing to projects such as Touch, Don't Touch and Ear Cinema, as well as helping build new spaces for creative endeavours with mo.ë. As of summer 2010, Michael is a Master of Fine Arts student at the Transart Institute.

Group Exhibitions

  • 'Ouch!', Color Print Graphics, Production – Quo Vadis Logo (Vienna, 03)
  • 'Wohnstrasse', Interactive Object – From the Street to the Box (Vienna, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Powerthief', Video – 2 Years INOPERAbLE (Vienna, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. & Ape', Video Installation, Ink on Paper – Sioseh (Vienna, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna & London: 'G.R.L. vs. Memory9', Outdoor Installation, Ink on Cardboard, Open Workspace – subvision. kunst. festival. off. (Hamburg, 09)
  • 'Concerning Transitive Closure' (Partial), Cross-processed Photography, Prepared Blotting Paper — Repurpose. - mo.ë Pre-Opening (Vienna, 10)

Performances

Installations

  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – Institute for Contemporary Arts (London, 08)
  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – Arnolfini (Bristol, 08)
  • Touch, Don't Touch: 'Featherbox' – Middlesex University (London, 08)
  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – Salisbury Arts Centre (Salisbury, 09)
  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – Shunt (London, 09)
  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – Colchester Arts Centre (Colchester, 09)
  • 'Shifts' – Kinetica Art Fair at P3 (invited but not participated due to time constraints) (London, 10)
  • Entrance – Repurpose. - mo.ë Pre-Opening. (Vienna, 10)
  • Ear Cinema: 'Late Noon Sun' – School of Music & Performing Arts at Bath Spa University (Bath, 10)

Lectures

  • 'Social Engineering and the Art Community' – Ars Electronica (Linz, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – Ars Electronica (Linz, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – m-cult (Helsinki, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Graffiti Research' – DigiTaika (Helsinki, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – Akademie der bildenden Künste (Vienna, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – FH Joanneum (Graz, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. = D.Y.I.' – net culture lab: Make Your Own Thing (Vienna, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – Hackers on Planet Earth (NYC, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – ARGEKultur Salzburg: Guerilla Convention (Salzburg, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – tazkongress 2009, 30 Jahre taz (Berlin, 09)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'G.R.L. at Work' – Slade Technology Fayre at Slade School of Fine Art (London, 09)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Freedom of Speech and DIY according to the Graffiti Research Lab' – 100 Stunden Open Museum, 100 Jahre Technisches Museum Wien (Vienna, 09)
  • NetzNetz: 'Erstprojektförderung Intro' – Digitale Kunst, Die Angewandte (Vienna, 10)
  • On Interactivity – Metropolitan State College of Denver (Denver, 10)

Workshops

  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'LED-Throwies' – Metalab (Vienna, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Graffiti Research' – DigiTaika (Helsinki, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' – Chaos Communication Congress (Berlin, 07)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Graffiti Research' – FH Joanneum (Graz, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Graffiti Research' – Make Your Own Thing (Vienna, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'Mobile Broadcast Unit' – MuseumsQuartier (Vienna, 08)
  • G.R.L. Vienna: 'LED-Throwies & L.A.S.E.R. Tag' – Hackers on Planet Earth (NYC, 08)
  • 'openFrameworks Introduction' – Metalab (Vienna, 10)
  • 'openFrameworks' (with Arturo Castro) – Linux Wochen Linz (Linz, 10)

Press

  • Slashdot, Article on 'Massively Multiplayer Thumbwrestling' (Vienna, 04)
  • BoingBoing, Article on 'Massively Multiplayer Thumbwrestling' (Vienna, 04)
  • Heise Online on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' at the Chaos Communication Camp (Finowfurt, 07)
  • Ö1 Matrix, discussing Metalab and 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' at MuseumsQuartier (Vienna, 07)
  • Puls TV, Various interviews on streetart and 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' (Vienna, 07)
  • Okto, Multiple interviews on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' (Vienna, 07)
  • FM4, live radio interview on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' (Linz, 07)
  • Kurier, Article on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' & Paraflows (Vienna, 07)
  • YLE TV2, Live TV interview on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' and LED-Throwies (Helsinki, 07)
  • Various Finnish newspapers, articles on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag', 1 frontpage (Helsinki, 07)
  • Make Magazine, Interview on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' (mentioned on Wired, BoingBoing) (Berlin, 08)
  • Press conference for the opening of 'Raum D' (Vienna, 08)
  • Die Presse, Article on 'QDK' and young media art (Vienna, 08)
  • Futurezone, Interview on 'NetzNetz' (Vienna, 08)
  • Various British Newspapers, Articles on 'Ear Cinema' (London, 08)
  • Numerous Spanish Newspapers, Articles on 'L.A.S.E.R. Tag' (A Coruña, 08)
  • Big frontpage, 2 page interview/portrait for the 'Sonntaz' edition of the German taz (Berlin, 09)
  • ORF1 ZIB24, TV Interview for the 100 Years Technical Museum 'Night of Art' (Vienna, 09)
  • Various German newspapers reporting on subvision. kunst. festival. off. featuring Graffiti Research Lab & L.A.S.E.R. Tag (Hamburg, 09)
  • Wired's Underwire featured Shifts as part of Kinetica Art Fair (London, 10)

Residenc(i)es

Other

  • Undocumented performances and projects as part of the group monochrom (Vienna, 03 - 08)
  • Part of the Metroblogging network (Vienna & Berlin, 05-06)
  • Built, maintained and curated the G.R.L. Vienna Mobile Broadcast Unit (Vienna, 08-10)
  • Exhibition production of 'Skin Is Longing for a Cream' at freiraum / quartier21 (Vienna, 08)
  • Exhibition production of 'New Archetypes / Naked Adventures in Hypotopia Pt. 2' at AiR-Base / quartier21 (Vienna, 08)
  • Organisation of various NetzNetz related events (Vienna, 08)
  • Trustee for 'Vergabewahl' 2009-1 (London & Vienna, 09)
  • subvision Festival edition 'GUDBERG #08', publication at Verlag Gudberg (Hamburg, 09)
  • taz-Kongress collection 'Alphabet der Möglichkeiten' publication at oekom-Verlag (Berlin, 09)
  • Micro-Curator for New Media Art at the temporary outdoor gallery GAZEBO, showing 'Luciolinae' by Damian Stewart & Lia (Vienna, 10)
  • Co-organiser of Metalab's Squad of Awesome at TELE-INTERNET / Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, 10)
  • Organisation of the NetzNetz Vergabewahl 2010 at mo.ë (Vienna, 10)
  • Supported numerous UBERMORGEN.COM projects (Vienna, 11)
  • Various technical realisations for mischer'traxler (Vienna, Perugia, Basel, 11)
  • Part of the 'Geeks and Depression Panel' at 28C3 (Berlin, 11)

Acknowledgements

A list of those who deserve thanks.

Possibly you.

Mailing List

I maintain a low-traffic (1 message per month) announce mailing list to keep anyone who is interested up to date with my work, as well as occasionally bringing up issues of interest pertaining to my practice. No need to be shy, it doesn't bite!

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