It's time to proudly announce the launch of this totally redesigned website gerger.com. A very ambitious rethinking and development of a clean and very reduced design. Content and structure are further refined and backed by the greatly enhanced, self developed o0oo System V6. This content management system has tons of new innovations on board, greatly enhanced speed, and moved into the cloud (AWS). More about the tight Flickr and Lightroom integration and some groundbreaking workflows in a future blog entry. At the same time the research area is moving to a new home with another upcoming launch of the studio's LA K50 website.

As much as I love design, it still turned out to disrupt artistic works and content on this site again and again. It's a balancing act between silence, aesthetics, expressions, emotions, statements, character, and beauty. I think, for the first time i really nailed my own hopes and expectations with a relaunch of this portfolio and platform. Only time will tell, but surprisingly I'm contented and not so restless which is quite unique.

I'm very excited to unwrap a new sponsor partnership with X-Rite. It's important to say that partnerships are only established with companies producing or offering very high class products/services I'm absolutely convinced of their quality and value for demanding productions.

You really can't go better than X-Rite if it comes to professional color control. X-Rite, which now includes color industry leader Pantone, is the global leader in color science and technology. Besides its use in photo productions, an i1Photo/Publish Pro will be also used in a new project in a pretty uncommon way.

A huge number of works of the last years are now available to the public for the first time.
These unseen photo works are all part of larger series and can be seen in four different categories in the photography section of this website.
It's about series, stories, characters, and moments in between.

'The process or period of changing from one state or condition to another ...'

Website updates have become less frequent as the last year has been emotional yet very productive.
I relocated from Berlin to Los Angeles at the beginning of 2011. Several side projects and international collaborations arose behind the scenes, tons of important platform migrations and decisions have been made. On the whole, my work is still getting more personal and sensitive. Emotions drive me to very specific aesthetics, new ways of thinking ... colors are about to fade away, other details arise.
New ambitious works are currently in development and will be ready to be published bit by bit over the coming months. The new photography portfolio is making progress, too.

Finally, it will be a pleasure to announce new sponsor partnerships with some of the biggest names in business soon ...

SOUND NOMADS was also introduced at the Kyoto Art Center this September. It represented the feature program for the Japan Media Arts Festival's art division.

From Jul 29 to Sep 23 2010 the new series midsummer * one night * a dream will be on display at the Berlin exhibition space kultpur. The work shown has been created in the framework of '1 month project' and in regards to the current two monthly theme of the venue.

So Fresh! juried exhibitions were open to the public at the Mestna Galerija di Nova Gorica in Slovenia last month as well as at the Galleria Medusa of Koper-Capodistria in Italy back in January.

The jury committee of the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival has recommended SOUND NOMADS as excellent work in the art division 'Visual Image'.

The Festival and exhibition is held from Feb 3 to Feb 14 2010 at The National Art Center, Tokyo. The NACT is one of the largest art exhibition facilities in Japan.

Visions in New York City will be presenting SOUND NOMADS at Art Basel Miami Beach from Dec 3-6 2009. Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas. As the sister event of Switzerland's Art Basel, the most prestigious art show worldwide for the past 40 years, Art Basel Miami Beach combines an international selection of top galleries with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events featuring music, film, architecture and design.

SOUND NOMADS as part of So Fresh! will also be shown at Art-Kino Croatia of Rijeka in Croatia Dec 7-13 2009.

The work 'Black Balloons' has been selected for competition at the international section of MADATAC, Madrid Festival of Contemporary Audio-Visual Arts. Screenings taking place at the Academia De Cine in Madrid Dec 10-12 2009.

Pantheon Xperimental Film/Animation Festival, Nicosia/Cyprus. Nov 27-28 2009
So Fresh!, Stazione Rogers, Trieste/Italy. Nov 17-29 2009
Borders+Segments, International ArtExpo, Baia Mare/Romania. Nov 13-14 2009
Visions in New York City, New York/USA. Nov 2-13 2009
Visionaria 18, Intl. Toscana Video Festival, Piombino/Italy. Oct 24-31 2009
So Fresh!, Gradisca d'Isonzo/Italy. Oct 10 2009
Electrofringe 09, Electronic Arts, Newcastle/Australia. Oct 1-5 2009
Split Film Festival, Split/Croatia. Sep 12-19 2009
So Fresh!, Galleria Comunale, Monfalcone/Italy. Sep 4-6 2009
BuSho Film Festival, Budapest/Hungary. Sep 1-6 2009

People's Choice Award: 'So Fresh!' / Ger Ger

One of the works finished in Tel Aviv earlier this year was part of VIDEOKILLS International Video Arts Festival 2009 (V:InVAF) in Berlin last week (Aug 26 - 30 2009). Amazing location: Stattbad.

The following exhibits have been extended: The highly successful show at LACDA has been extend to be open on Thursday September 10 for the upcoming LA Downtown ArtWalk. FILE 2009 in São Paulo has been extended to Sep 20. The Factory Exhibition at MoBY in Israel runs until Oct 10 2009.

SOUND NOMADS works are on display at LACDA (Los Angeles Center for Digital Art) as the central part of DigitalArt.LA, the multi-site international digital art expo. This exhibit - juried by Rita Gonzalez, curator of contemporary art, LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art) - will run through September 5 2009. Reception: today 7PM.

Furthermore, the work 'Lantern Dogs' is on show at this year's Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles. It's part of the program 'Digital Arts Shorts'.

Screengrab, an exciting collection of screenbased works from across the globe at the eMerge Media Space. The exhibition including 'Luxor 22.145' runs until Aug 21, 2009. The reception took place on Aug 7.

Side note: A recent radio show by Somaya Langley on ABC Classic FM Australia featured audio pieces from SOUND NOMADS among other media art works, since I've been selected for Electrofringe's residences program (taking place this fall). It's still possible to listen to it online. The broadcast will be available until mid-August. Direct links: Real Audio | Windows Media

SOUND NOMADS works will be part of the FILE Media Art 2009 Exhibition in São Paulo/Brazil from Jul 28 to Aug 30 2009. FILE - Electronic Language International Festival - is one of the most renowned events for art and technology in the world.

Luxor 22.145 Screenings at the CON-CAN Movie Festival in Tokyo/Japan will start on Jul 31 2009.

SOUND NOMADS works are part of the exhibition Istanbul-Off-Spaces at the Kunstraum Bethanien in Berlin. Opening tomorrow Fri, Jul 3 at 7 PM. The show runs from Jul 4 through Aug 16 2009.

MAY 28	Art Performance: 'Still Evidence of Water'
Location	Parking Garage Complex, Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Timeframe	0:00-1:30 AM [1h 30min] | 2:15 min. Video Runtime
Preparation	MAY 28. sound recordings, composing, sensor calibrations, software adjustments
Guest Nomad	Mangara aka Matthias Cermak

Deserts, dry landscapes, signs of water, but rarely evidence, no proof. Access to water in the Middle East, a sensitive and critical issue. Catalyzing the peace process or inhibiting it. Screaming out loud - water - drinking - no heartbeat. Images looming beyond the horizon. Silence - drought - blood - alive?

In a nightly action a hotel parking garage turns into an imaginary water hole. A performance work in the frame of 'Factory' invited by MoBY (Museums of Bat Yam).

Technology: A microphone as an acoustic sensor hanging down from the roof. Screaming provokes crossfading from ECG monitor sounds to slurping noises. Silence brings the heartbeat back.

MAY 25-27	Art Performance: 'Evidence of Water'
Location	Hangar, Industrial Area (Factory Exhibition), Bat Yam, ISRAEL
Timeframe	3x 7:00-11:00 PM [4h] | 5:34 min. Video Runtime
Preparation	MAY 14-25. sound recordings, composing, sensor calibrations, assembling, hardware/software development/adjustments
Challenges	Light sensor calibrations, Platform Transition
Guest Nomad	Mangara aka Matthias Cermak

Nearly 20,000 known species of bees. Millions have simply vanished recently, lost their sense of orientation, no way back to their hives. An Israeli bee virus is strongly tied to the samples taken from keepers who reported the collapse disorder. The definition of colony collapse disorder - a soft one, made by people who define the syndrome, somewhat like chronic fatigue syndrome in people.
In parallel, Israel's history, fundamentals of land and sense of home. In contrast an ever growing population with voids remaining all over the world. Strong cohesion and ties to the land of milk and honey. Climate and water ressources: essential.
Deserts, dry landscapes, signs of water, but rarely evidence, no proof. Silence, introversive.
'If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.'

An abandoned factory hall, buzz, sprinklers, slurping noises. Emergency Room Tel Aviv after a delayed bee sting allergic reaction. Within 30 seconds of exposure to a chemical agent, a colony of bees will change the sound it produces. All the frequencies shift and change. And so does this performance work in the frame of 'Factory' invited by MoBY (Museums of Bat Yam).

Technology: Glowing water/ing cans as instruments, metaphorical watering of sounds that trickle away, triggers, frequency shifts and delay rhythms. Ventilators as time signatures. Doorways of the hangar connected. Powered by light/distance/pressure sensors.

DAY 8-11: May 21-24. Technical development, artistic process, props, assembling, artists/MoBY gatherings - things come together.
DAY 12-14: May 25-27. Opening and Factory Performances in this major three day event at the Industrial Area of Bat Yam. 2 takes of the SOUND NOMADS live performance 'Evidence of Water' at the hangar each night. In parallel, SOUND NOMADS video works as part of the MoBY Factory exhibition in the Bat Yam Museum of Contemporary Art as projections and installations May 25 - Sep 26 2009.
DAY 15: May 28. Post production. Last night: A different secret performance took place in Tel Aviv around midnight. 'Evidence of Water II'.

See some Tel Aviv and Bat Yam impressions in the pictures. Detailed blog entries for performance actions will follow.

Late May/Early June Participations:
SOUND NOMADS work Black Ballons screened as part of the Berlin Shorts Program at Street Fest 09 in London on May 24.
In Istanbul video works are part of several Performance Screening Programs at the Kurye International Video Festival Jun 2-12 2009.
In Bochum a SOUND NOMADS installation will be part of this year's 19th edition of the International Videofestival Bochum Jun 18-20.