A couple of days ago, I posted the invite to experiment02, my second duo show – and third, large-scale collaboration – with marcus neustetter. My half of the show, the beginning of a new body of work, has now been added to this site, as well as launched its own! For more information on Compressionism, you can head on over to http://compressionism.net, or just use the "concepts" link on my top, flash menu (above), to see it in relation to the rest of my work. There will be video documentation on the main Compressionism site by this Thursday, so keep an eye out. Yes, it’s cheeky. Hee. Anywho, here’s a press release about the show, which opens (with free drinks) next Friday (22 April) @ Franchise, in Johannesburg. Hope it gets you excited….
experiment02 at franchise
nathaniel stern | marcus neustetter 
22 April 2005 – 14 May 2005 Opening: 18h00 Friday 22 April by Stephen Hobbs Walkabout: 10h30 Saturday 30 April http://onair.co.za/mn | http://nathanielstern.com | http://compressionism.net *********************************************** In their second duo show, marcus neustetter and nathaniel stern will use simple technologies to explore different ways of looking. With experiment02, Neustetter continues on his Digital Frottage track, while Stern embarks on what he has been ironically calling Compressionism. Both artists are using various capture and display modes, sending physical objects and bodies, over time, through digital and analogical mediations. The work is intended to ask us all to "look again". This dialogue developed out of their first exhibition, The Getaway Experiment, at The Artspace, and getawayexperiment.net, a commissioned project for Turbulence ( http://www.turbulence.org ). ***********************************************
neustetter’s experiments
Continuing experimentation with his Digital Frottage, scanning, photocopying and photographically exposing his laptop screen, Marcus Neustetter is exploring the concept of "scanning" space without the use of digital technology. What could the analogue equivalent be for the capturing of light and space? Using sensitized paper and a development process with ammonia fumes, Neustetter’s site-specific work is scanning physical space at Franchise. This visual outcome continues to explore his interest in the aesthetic translation and abstraction of experimental digital and analogue inputs and outputs. 
Compressionism
Compressionism is a digital performance, and an analog archive; it utilizes various "perform and capture," "edit and exhibit" modes, and the resulting art-objects-as-evidence ask viewers to explore different ways of looking. The first Compressionist studies use the reflective beam of a moving digital scanner, over time, to compress large spaces or objects into images the size of a small sheet of paper. Once a performance is digitized and compressed, the computer acts as multiple frames for its subject; it’s used to process, clarify, and unpack the study – both literally, and metaphorically. The resulting prints are intended to provoke a complex conversation between artist, performance, mediation tool, art-object(s) and viewer.
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about the artists
marcus neustetter has been developing projects addressing the relationship between art and technology. These take the form of mobile, installation, and web artworks tackling the translation of data through different online and offline platforms. In this process he has been exploring the digital and analogue ways of representing virtual experiences. Marcus Neustetter has exhibited and has been actively involved in developing opportunities and platforms for local digital art through projects in South Africa and Europe, these include ARS Electronica (Austria), Transmediale.03 (Germany) and E-tester (Spain). As director (with Stephen Hobbs) of The Trinity Session and sanman (southern african new media art network) and The Gallery PREMISES, Marcus Neustetter is actively involved in developing cultural strategies through a range of projects. Currently he is consulting to UNESCO DigiArts Africa. http://onair.co.za/mn nathaniel stern is an internationally exhibited installation artist, net.artist and performance poet. His interactive installations have won awards in New York, South Africa and Australia, and his net.art, recently commissioned by turbulence.org, has been featured in festivals all over Europe, Asia and the US. nathaniel’s collaborative physical theatre and multimedia performance work has won three FNB Vita Awards – including Best Presentation of a New Contemporary Work – and has been featured on the main stage at the Grahamstown Festival (South Africa). His poetry repertoire includes the US National Poetry Slam competition and the RSA HIV/AIDS Arts, Media & Film Festival. http://nathanielstern.com
