"Rock 'N' Scroll" – Performance in the city center of Oldenburg
Venues:
2 pm: Loft, Baumgartenstr. 2
4 pm: Woyton, Haarenstr. 56
Rock 'N' Scroll - Throw your mouse up in the air and wave it all around like you just don't care!
Rüst: Rock 'N' Scroll
Mobile wireless computing is usually a rather immobile affair: people working on laptop computers commonly stare transfixedly at the device's screen, typing, and occasionally clicking the mouse: computer work does not usually require much physical involvement.
Imagine walking into a coffee shop or another semi-public wifi-equipped place where people normally congregate quietly with their laptops: instead of working unbudgingly on their computers, they are shaking their office equipment and wildly tapping their cell phones. Joysticks and old mechanical mice serve as maracca-type rhythmic instruments or optical mice are used for DJ-like scratching motions, manipulated using fancier gyro mice, computer keyboards used as drumkits. Both mobile phones and computers are connected using Skype voice-over-IP telephony (VOIP) software. This creates delay effects depending on how good the network connection is. The sound itself is a combination of standard macintosh and windows sounds, as well as sounds that included in the Skype software, and pre-made drumloops.
Rock N' Scroll is a software infrastructure for interventions into wifi-equipped public space. More Info you can find here:
Annina Rüst was born in Switzerland. She holds a diploma in New Media from the School of Art and Design in Zurich and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from the University of California San Diego. Currently, she is a research assistant in the Computing Culture Group at MIT Media Lab. In 2006 she received the scholarship of Edith-Russ-Site for Media Art.
The user instructions for Annina Rüst's software “Rock 'N' Scroll” have been printed on a mouse pad. Of this first edition 30 copies, hand-signed by the artist, have been issued. They are available at the Edith Russ Site for Media Art for the price of 25,- € per piece.
Edition Nr.1
Annina Rüst "Rock 'N' Scroll"
Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg