ICC




"FragMental Storm 02"
2002
exonemo
This is an installation version of the software called "FragMental Storm 02", which randomly displays images and texts from multiple sites on the Web, via a search engine, for an arbitrary keyword entered by the user. Please feel free to type in any word you like! The title of this work consists of "Fragment", "Mental," and "Storm". Based on the concept that data on the Web is a kind of "brain" that spreads around the world and that dispersed fragments could be collected for a keyword and cross each other like a storm, the artist unit "exonemo" created version 1 of this piece in 2000, followed by version 2 "FMS02". As this work uses the ever-changing data on the Web and a random display function, you will get a different result every time刔ven for the same keyword. This software remixes existing data, which is an automatic and dynamic representation of the spirit of making collages from the chance arrangement of items in the early 20th century, and DJ and VJ of today. While quite a few artworks depend on the expression of "content", "FMS02" is about a "system" that dynamically manipulates existing data, demonstrating how information can be shared and how new creations can be made in this network age. The artist unit appreciates it if users utilize this software flexibly with freewheeling thinking, such as by connecting it with other devices.
exonemo is the artist unit of AKAIWA Yae and SEMBO Kensuke, based in Tokyo, and on their Web site: HYPERLINK "www.exonemo.com". They started an experimental project on the Web in 1996, and have since been expanding their media to include software, installation, live performance, and self-produced devices with their witty hacking spirit, greatly stimulating the art scene.
Web
Web, or more formally, the World Wide Web (WWW), is a system that enables users to access data on server computers all over the world with the click of a computer key. Artists were among the first to explore the possibilities of the Web that accelerated the popularization of the Internet and developed a global information space. As a consequence, "Net Art" was born by the mid-1990s, followed by "Software Art." After 2000, in particular, many artworks and projects have been released, taking advantage of the always-on connectivity of the Internet.