Attended the opening exhibition at the new home of the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4 in Berlin and met with Ruth Schnell from Vienna.
The light installation "Mission of Art" on the façade of the Akademie der Künste's new building originates from Ruth Schnell and was curated by Cathrin Pichler.
The official opening of the building will take place later this month. The location and the view from the club lounge's terrace are superb ;-). The architecture is also very well done - however keeping in mind that the room will be used as exhibition space, I find the concept lukewarm ...

For given reasons ... what does the world not offer for 5 Euros in bill/coin/transfer format.
On the one hand it would be the mistake to not pay for parking at the payed parking meters in Berlin (that explains the given reasons), on the other hand the fee for getting out money at a rival bank's ATM (another given reason) and on the better side of life also a fat fantastic burrito including all the extras at Dolores. The decision is tough to make and I wonder, what else can't be had for 5 Euros ...

For five weeks the restoration of the server data has been a major undertaking.

Cause
During a software upgrade and subsequent system restore on January 17, 2005 by the web hosting provider, not only the operating data but also the backup on another hard drive were sent into Nirvana!

Getting the Server Back to Normal
From various backups some of the data could be restored. The hosting service provider was changed and the data was transferred. The location was also at this time changed from the USA to Germany.

Recovery Attempts
The backup hard drive from the original server was sent to me from the USA and was then immediately analyzed for possible data recovery. Without success. The HD was then sent to the data recovery experts at Ontrack. Even there, no further data could be restored!

The data loss primarily affected the picture content and numerous components of the o0oo system(!), which has been developed by me for many years parallel to creative work.

Blessing in Disguise
Luckily the system was able to be somewhat patched in the last few days using old data, distributed in different places in various temporary directories. In the meantime, much - if not all - has been again reconstructed and is functional ;-)

These five weeks have certainly further shifted current project work and means (and meant) a lot of stress and little sleep.

Currently some important festivals, fairs and further events are again taking place in and around Berlin. Some of these are/were to be found in my schedule as guest/audience/workshop participant.

Transmediale - Feb. 4-8, 2005
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

Transmediale is the biggest and most significant festival for art and the creative usage of digital media in Germany. Once a year the festival presents new and outstanding projects in the field of digital culture and provides reflections on the role of digital technologies in contemporary society. It is a forum of communication for artists, media workers and a broad public interested in arts of vital and still increasing international importance.

The theme of this year's Transmediale: BASICS
Participating in workshops and the conference.

http://www.transmediale.de

Adobe Acrobat Tour - Feb. 8, 2005
BBC Berliner Congress Center - an update presentation.

Retrospective comment April 2005: this event was unfortunately very superficial and wasn't on the same level as other Adobe update presentations. The broadcast/video collection events from Adobe are in any case recommended also to professionals (except for the first two hours).

Berlinale - Int. Film Festival Berlin Feb. 10-20, 2005
A new visitor record at this year's 55th Berlinale: 400,000 cinema guests during the ten-day festival. 17,000 accredited visitors came representing 120 countries.

CeBIT Hannover - Mar. 10-16, 2005
Technology Research at the world's largest IT fair.

ADC Kreativschau - Mar. 19-21, 2005
Berlin Tempelhof

On 6,000 square meters visitors from all over the world will for three days be presented with more than 7,000 exhibits in print, film, radio, photography, illustration, digital media, text, installations, marketing, music videos and media.

On view from Sep. 12, 2004 to Jan. 31, 2005 in Berlin Mitte. GC 85. Auguststr. 85, 10117 Berlin/Germany.

UNISEX - a series of mixed media montages on canvas, produced in 2003 and 2004.

When often working for months on one and the same complex media work, it feels good to work on paintings, too, in order to keep breathing. In this manner, I can let my energy out in spontaneous and sensitive forms of expression. A very important balance to the large projects that continuously demand strength and endurance ...

Whenever possible I like to let my art speak for itself and leave open room for interpretation on the part of the viewer.

The fashion of the 20th century was determined by new interpretations of gender differences - even though Ernest Michahelles designed the first unisex article of clothing in 1919. The contrasts between the constructions of gender will no longer be clear in the series UNISEX. UNISEX doesn't make any distinction between mannequins and people. The total aesthetic determines charisma, character and action and allows the mannequins to turn into flesh. The shopping window becomes the stage of everyday life.

You - our heroes, rules of attraction, instruments of seduction - are finally taking over the world and we can appear in these cozy and rather warmly lit display cases in order to take your places. Aren't they beautiful? Our appetizers of sleepless shopping adventures take over reality - better than we ever could have; your wishes are our commands. Finally our prayers are answered - WE are the fashions, WE are now pop. Slowly their facades disintegrate, finally everything is new.
Now you are the life, we are the beauty - the fiction is history!

Exhibition UNISEX Series

Opening

Thu, Dec. 9, 2004, 8 PM - Galerie Café 85, Auguststr. 85, 10117 Berlin/D

Finally the complete new website v-a-m-p.com is going for a test run! The upgrading will continue until then all sections and contents are accessible.

Currently the site is still mostly a work in progress, a lot has already been worked on. I.e. smaller problems are still likely to show up in certain browsers and platforms and the technology behind the site is still subject to change.

What's New
As should in part already be evident: redesign.
But this is also in progress.

Unfortunately not yet available: complete current and intensely expanded content.

The Old Site
The old site and its content are still accessible for a limited time under the following url: http://old.v-a-m-p.com

Browser Optimized
For the new site, modern web standards will mostly be used, for which current browsers are required. The idea of a complete layout without tables and with CSS only was dropped at the last minute for greater compatibility. The standards for regular screen output: XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS.

The new site is currently tested with the following browsers and platforms and is optimized for these:

Safari 1.0.2 (v85,7) / Mac OSX Version 10.2.8
Internet Explorer 5.2.2 (5010.1) / Mac OSX Version 10.2.8
Mozilla Firefox 1.0 / Win XP Prof. V.2002 SP2
Mozilla 1.8a2 / Win XP Prof. V.2002 SP1
Opera 7.53 (3850) / Win XP Prof. V.2002 SP1
Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp2.031208-2000 / Win XP Prof. V.2002 SP1
NetFront 3.1 (Revision 2.0.26en) / PalmOS 5 PEG-TJ37

Browsers not listed here will certainly show the site's content but in wrong layouts. During further development some of the browsers listed here may also have problems. If there are any complications with the site please contact me!

On September 3, the beginning of a five-week tour of California and its adjacent states and one week in NYC. In the personal travels section the trip can be followed.

A trip for inspiration and conception.
Logbook entries should be published in stages along the way.

Schedule
This area is expected to be completely functional in late 2005.

Expectations
In the field of media art, research always plays a comparatively important roll. This section of the website therefore becomes progressively more important. Trends, tutorials, theoretical works and link accumulations will be introduced and maintained here. Technical and material related experiments will also be documented in the GERGER Lab section.

Deluxeware Navigator
The sponsorship from Deluxeware pertains to Navigator for PalmOS - the unique and number one navigation system for America on Palm OS devices.
The Navigator came to use especially for the planning of the USA tour 2004.

http://www.deluxeware.com

PDAapps VeriChat
The sponsorship from PDAapps consists of a VeriChat license for PalmOS handhelds. The use of VeriChat means an even better accessibility and more efficiency in communication (ICQ).

http://www.pdaapps.com

Sponsoring from CSE HTML Validator Pro/AI Internet Solutions, which provides excellent services for all web projects!

The sponsoring enables professional validating of various web technologies. The product finds its use in current web projects as well as in the development of the o0oo system.

The Validator is without doubt the best tool of its kind and can definitely be further recommended.

http://www.htmlvalidator.com/

Having begun with an inspirational kickoff of a new year in London, I look forward to the already fixed projects and cooperations and also to hopefully spend a lot of time with the realization of my remaining ideas!

The redesign of the website is also in queue.

Tomorrow on January 30, 2003, the project Always ON! will once again be presented. At 6:30 PM ONE Smart Space will be opened and presented to the press and public.

Wipplingerstraße 30, Dachgeschoß, 1010 Wien

v-a-m-p.com should experience a major relaunch by the end of 2003. The online system o0oo will be further developed and new artistic work will come into being. However larger activities for the ambitious film project "Kartonage" should not be expected before 2004.

"Dem deutschen Volke", a contracted work for the JMB.

Ger Ger undertakes the development/production of the accompanying CD-ROM for the next big special exhibition in the Jewish Museum Berlin. The title of the exhibition is "Dem Deutschen Volke" ("To The German People").

Exhibition Opening
The opening of the exhibition occurs on March 20, 2003 at 7:00 PM in the museum.

About the Museum
Note April 2005: in the year 2004 alone 703,143 visitors attended the museum, which is one of the most important of its kind worldwide.

http://www.jmberlin.de

Always ON! will be presented again.

The presentation of "EuroPrix" in MuseumsQuartier on December 3, 2002 will include Always ON! The TOPTALENT FESTIVAL runs December 2-4. These projects will be shown out of competition.

http://www.europrix.org/europrix/EuroPrix.htm

Heute wurde '7 days/week' an der UdK in Berlin präsentiert.

Das Experimental-Projekt ist somit nach 3 Monaten Entwicklungs- und Arbeitszeit zu einem Ende gekommen. Einzelne Konzepte und Performances werden aber noch weiter verfolgt werden.

Mehr dazu direkt unter: 7 days / week

Kunsthalle Wien - Karlsplatz Project Space

Do, 26.Sep. 2002 Pressegespräch und Preview
Fr, 27.Sep. 2002 die Arbeiten sind öffentlich zugänglich

Die dazu von Christof Priglinger, Ger Ger und Monica Singer entstandene Arbeit zum Themenkomplex family: [MT] Mittagstisch

http://one.v-a-m-p.com

Der Einladung von ONE (Connect Austria, eines der größten Telekommunikationsunternehmen Österreichs) gefolgt, arbeitet Ger Ger zusammen mit acht weiteren Künstlern und Designern und der Unterstützung der Mobile Living Abteilung, der Future One Abteilung und section.a an Visionen der Zukunft.
Strategische Vorhaben div. Projekte und neue Ausrichtungen des Unternehmens können die Folge sein.
07.-17. März Prephase
18.-20. März Think Tank, Wien.
danach Ausarbeitung der ausgewählten Projekte.

Move from Vienna to Berlin: Feb/March 2002.

I continue to work on o0oo respectively the first o0oo long film production 'Kartonage' as well as other artistic projects in Berlin – as well as the experimental studies of Digital Arts/Media Design (Peter Weibel, Thomas Fuerstner, Karel Dudesek) through a scholarship from the University of Arts (UdK/HdK) Berlin (Visual Communication, Joachim Sauter).

Presumed length of stay: 3 years.

Diverse project/workshop/work relationships in Vienna remain in tact ...