JODI - Exhibition at Electrohype - ROM - Malmö

[Lars Gustav Midboe]

On Saturday may 24th Electrohype will open a small permanent 
exhibition space for computer based art in Malmö. The exhibition 
space called Electrohype-ROM is a new addition to the Electrohype 
Center that was established in September 2002. Electrohype-ROM will 
from September this years also include a archive and library that 
will be open for people seeking more information on computer based 
and high technological art.  

The opening exhibition will be an "open hardware" installation by the 
artists known as JODI.

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10 Programs written in BASIC  ©1984
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Instruction sets in BASIC for vintage ZX Spectrum computer
and for the user to edit

As the title implies the exhibition will present ten programs in 
BASIC that the visitor can add and change things to. The programs 
will be presented in an installation consisting of eight, vintage, 
Spectrum ZX computers in complete setup with cassette player and TV. 
Visitors with knowledge of the once popular but now obsolete 
programming language BASIC will be encouraged to modify these 
programs and through this make their addition to the exhibition.

In 1982 the Spectrum ZX represented the dawn of the European home 
computing era. Finally everyone could get their hands on this 
technological wonder called a computer. In the late 1970s and early 
80s the word computer was, for most people, still associated with 
Sci-Fi movies, huge corporate mainframes and huge price tags. By 
providing a relatively inexpensive computer that could be connected 
to a standard TV and Cassette player the Sinclair Corp. struck gold. 
Sinclair laid the foundation a whole new community of enthusiasts 
eager to learn how to utilize the marvelous 48K of memory that 
resided in side the small black box with the characteristic Spectrum 
rainbow colours.

To access and use the computer the user had to learn the computers 
language BASIC.  The main difference between a computer running BASIC 
and today's "point and click" systems is that BASIC was used both to 
create the programs and to operate the computer itself. So if the 
user wanted to start a computer game he or she would have to type in 
several commands to do so. On the other hand the beauty of the system 
was that the user could easily modify or even create new programs,- 
just by typing lines of code.

By utilizing old hardware and software JODI creates a computer based 
art installation where the "user" is encouraged to interact with the 
software or code. Hardware without software is just hardware,- like a 
hammer. JODI often makes art that refers to code, visually or by 
feeding your browser with code that generates strange behaviour. JODI 
never makes art that is obvious or light. In the exhibition *10 
Programs written in BASIC  ©1984* you can do the coding yourself,- 
through "open hardware". The installation also reflects on the 
connection between hardware and software, and the fact that 
yesterdays new media rapidly transforms into today's dead media. What 
is new media? What is old new media and what is new new media? Where 
and how will we be able to experience and se today's new media ten 
years from today? Well right now, or at least from 24th - June 19 
you can come to Malmö and visit Electrohype-ROM.

Opening Saturday 24th, 12-17

  Note: there will also be a presentation by JODI at LAB in Copenhagen 
on May 25th, Komponent #43. More information will soon be available.

Electrohype -ROM
S. Förstadsgatan 18, 2 floor (entry phone)
Malmö, Sweden

http://www.electrohype.org
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Lars Gustav Midboe  <lars.midboe at electrohype.org> www.electrohype.org
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