IVAN TWOHIG

Pecha Kucha -

PKN Dublin #4 - 4/02/10

I did a pecha kucha at the sugarclub in dublin at the start of february which was a really great night with some really interesting people giving their 6 minutes and 40 seconds worth and all in the aid of Haiti Earthquake appeal too!

For those who dont know Pecha Kucha is an event and organisation with a ‘20 slides at 20 seconds each’  presentation format where people get together and talk about things that they are interested in. Its quick and exciting and you have quite a short space of time to get your point accross so it usually ends up being funny and energetic. I wont go into the history of Pecha Kucha or the pronunciation but check out http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ for more info on it and find out who is organising the Pecha Kucha in your city/area because there can only be one official pecha kucha per city.

I gave a talk about some interesting art projects in ireland, abroad (not ireland) and online that I have come accross or worked with in the last while. Probably best to just watch the youtube. I put the talk together with Alison Carey who deserves alot of the credit. The talk is basically a mind map from a brainstorming session we had about art spaces, organisations and funding of art projects.

Hard Drivin @ Exchange Dublin 2010

Hard Drivin’ is a kinetic installation created by Ivan Twohig, Benjamin Gaulon and Brian Solon. The title of the piece references Hard Drivin’ a video game released in 1989. The game featured the first 3D polygon driving environment.

The installation involves radio controlled (R/C) cars that physically react to short messages (‘tweets’) sent through the popular social networking site Twitter. The cars are placed on a 3d-like structure inspired by polygonal modeling. Anyone can participate by telling the cars to begin following another user, by sending a simple command inside a tweet.

This project can be seen as a Media Archeology Installation as well as an exploration of Hardware Hacking Art practices. Media Archeology as defined by Erkki Huhtamo, is “the study of the cyclically recurring elements and motives underlying and guiding the development of media culture,” and “the ‘excavation’ of the ways in which these discursive traditions and formulations have been ‘imprinted’ on specific media machines and systems in different historical contexts, contributing to their identity in terms of socially and ideologically specific webs of signification” (1996).