Martin Backes - Offical Website

Google-Searches for Art

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:17:28 +0000

I will track all my Google-Searches for one week as part of Johannes P. Osterhoff`s project Google™ One Week Performance-Piece for Transmediale 2k + 12.

About

“We shall do an one-week performance piece. The piece is called “Google” and documents all searches we perform with the search engine of the same name. The performance shall take place during transmediale 2012 and shall start on Monday, January 30 and shall end on Sunday, February 5, 2012. We shall not use undocumented ways to use the search engine Google during this time. Each of our search queries shall create a web page that is indexed by this search engine and thus makes our searches publicly available as search results for everybody.” Source

For more info:

Google™ One Week Performance-Piece
Johannes P. Osterhoff`s
Transmediale 2k + 12

UKI viral live performance @ Berghain

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:29:33 +0000

As part of the Berlin Porn Film Festival closing night I will perform live at Berghain with Shu Lea Cheang and a bunch of other sound artists on Sunday, October 30, 2011.

Join us on a LIVE CODE LIVE SPAM viral trip!

During this very special night Shu Lea Cheang’s experimental film UKI, a sequel to her much acclaimed cyberpunk cult movie I.K.U. from 2001, will be shown at Berghain Kantine. The performance video in its edited version is further processed during the live performance. While Shu Lea Cheang is processing the video, sound artists from Berlin (complete listing below) and I will create the sound live on stage as a non-stop hyper-jam session collective performance during the whole screening (running time 70 minutes).

When & Where:

October 30, 23:30am
Berghain Kantine
Am Wriezener Bahnhof
10243 Berlin Friedrichshain

About UKI:

UKI is conceived as a sequel to my cyberpunk feature I.K.U. (2000, premiered at Sundance Film Festival). I.K.U. tells the story of GENOM Corp, an internet porn enterprise who dispatches I.K.U. coders to collect orgasm data. Made into mobilephone chip, GENOM introduces orgasm on the go and makes a huge profit. In post-netcrash UKI, the data deprived I.K.U. coders are dumped on the Etrashscape where coders, twitters, networkers crush and crashed. Exchanging sex for code, code sexing code, UKI as virus emerge while GENOM retreats to BioNet. Taking human body hostage, GENOM reformats blood cells into microcomputing ORGANISMO (organic orgasm). UKI, the virus, enacted to infect a city, propagated, mobilized to infiltrate BIONET, sabotage ORGANISMO and reclaim the lost orgasm data. (Text by Shu Lea Cheang)

About I.K.U.:

I.K.U. (pronounced ai-kei-ju, abbreviated as iku) is a 2001 independent film directed by Taiwanese-American experimental filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang. It was marketed as “a Japanese Sci-Fi Porn Feature”. The film was partially inspired by Blade Runner (1982). I.K.U.’s premise involves a futuristic corporation sending shapeshifting cyborgs out into New Tokyo to collect “orgasm data” by means of sexual intercourse. The title is a pun on the Japanese word iku which, in sexual slang, is used to express an orgasm. (Text taken from Wikipedia)

For more info:

www.u-k-i.co
www.pornfilmfestivalberlin.de

Documentation:

UKI viral live performance @ Berghain
(Live-Recording)

Music by…

Brendan Howell
João Pais
Domestic Violence (Tikul and Andrzej Wojtas)
Jodi Rose
Peter Newman
Servando Barreiro
Christopher Fröhlich
Malte Steiner
Martin Backes

You can also watch a short clip here!

THE LEO Nomination

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:30:53 +0000

I am very happy to announce that my Sound Direction for “Six Easy Pieces” is nominated for THE LEO at this year`s 25th Braunschweig International film festival.

“Six Easy Pieces” is a cooperation with director and artist Reynold Reynolds. I was responsible for the whole sound and music on this project.

”The Leo“ is the Braunschweig International Film Festival’s short film music competition. A minimum of 14 short movies are in competition for the prize for the most successful combination of image and music or sound. A four-member jury consisting of representatives from the film and music business selects the winner. The composer or sound designer receives “The Leo”, the prize money of € 2000 is divided equally between the director and the composer or sound designer. (Text by www.filmfest-braunschweig.de)

About Six Easy Pieces:

Germany, 2010
3 channels of HD video transferred from 16 mm and photo stills

“Six Easy Pieces” is the last part of the Secrets Trilogy; a three-part cycle exploring the imperceptible conditions that frame life and is preceded by Secret Life, 2008 (won the 2008 EMAF Festival Award at the European Media Art Festival Osnabrueck, Germany) and Secret Machine, 2009 (3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art 2009, Russia)

Here`s the cinema version of “Six Easy Pieces”:

For more info:

www.filmfest-braunschweig.de
www.reynold-reynolds.com

Sound for Video Installation

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:28:06 +0000

I cooperated with australian artist Petrina Hicks to work on her new video installation “Hippy and the Snake”.

I did all the recording, processing and sound design for the two-channel video installation.

Here are some video stills:

Video Excerpt – Channel 1

Video Excerpt – Channel 2

Video Excerpt – 4-Channel (3 min excerpt)

For more info:

www.petrinahicks.com

Deutsche Welle Radio Interview

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:48:40 +0000

Last week I was interviewed by Deutsche Welle Germany in the context of the networking platform launch ARTCONNECT BERLIN.

We talked a lot about of the problems in finding the right collaborators for project-based work within the art & design scene Berlin without loosing too much time and how ARTCONNECT BERLIN could help to interconnect with other members of the scene very quickly.

For more info:

Radio report – Audio-on-Demand
Online article

DJ-Set @ ARTCONNECT BERLIN Launching Party

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:03:54 +0000

I will perform as a DJ at the ARTCONNECT BERLIN Launching Party on Friday, July 15, 2011.

LAUNCHING PARTY ARTCONNECT BERLIN @ LEAP

Friday 15th of July from 22h
@ LEAP
(Berlin Carré, 1. Floor)
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 13
10178 Berlin

DJs
BOKONON aka RYAN HAYS
CARLOS ARROYO GALAXIA
MARTIN BACKES
MINE&HERS
SLK N’ THR aka FELISA FUNES
VJ CYLIXE

VIDEO PROJECTIONS from a handful of Berlin’s best talents!

HULA HOOP PERFORMANCE BY BEKA HOOP

A human size ART – CONNECT4, an ARTCONNECT TWISTER, a BLACK LIGHT PAINTING ROOM, a ROCKET CAKE and much more..!

From 20h to 22h
EURIZENTRIKA’S FINISSAGE PARTY
with a performative lecture
and music by Mascha Jacobs & Chris Steininger

LEAP is an independent project space supporting the advancement of experimental artistic practice and production in the area of emerging technologies and performance.

EUROZENTRIKA is a young art & theory group reflecting on current theories, discourses, medial and political polemics on the concept of “European Identity” www.eurozentrik.net

For more info:
ARTCONNECT BERLIN LAUNCHING PARTY

What is ARTCONNECT BERLIN?

Artist Feature QUOTATION Magazine No.11

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:19:52 +0000

In it’s actual issue No. 11 the QUOTATION Magazine published a portrait of mine under “Artist Feature”.

Here`s the artist feature:

Photos by DE:BUG and Martin Backes / Article by QUOTATION Magazine.

Download the artist feature above as PDF file:
QUOTATION Magazine artist feature – japanese version

Exhibition Cadavre Exquis

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:33:18 +0000

I will be part of the groupshow “Cadavre Exquis” where I will show my artwork “Pixelhead”.

The exhibition takes place at former Sparkassenfiliale Rupprechtstr. 35 in Berlin from Friday, 10 June 2011 to Friday, 2 July 2011.

Cadavre Exquis

On four consecutive opening nights the exhibition space is filled with art works. The concept aims to set in motion a process, during which the individual contributions continuously evolve to an overall ensemble.

June 10th 2011 – 19 :00 till open end:

Kaj Osterloh, Lydia Hamann, Martin Backes, Tonic Mundry, Lars Künstler, Andrea Stahl, Philipp Menzel, Roswitha Schaab, Charlotte Iwaniuk, Torsten Prothmann, Ulrich Grüter

Music/Sound: Michael Freerix, Martin Backes

June 17th 2011 – 19:00 till open end:

Andrea Golla, Annette Erlenwein, Sybille Waldhausen, Lydia Möst, Mattias Härenstam, Marie-Leena Räihälä, Susanne Sous, Julia Sand, Manuel Bonik, Manfred Pernice, Almut Müller

Music/Sound: Manuel Bonik, Michael Freerix

June 24th 2011 – 19:00 till open end:

Helmut Menzel, Nina Sidow, Alena Meier, Uwe Jenas, Regina Dold, Kai Schiemenz, Ingeborg Lockemann, Elke Mohr, Agnes Sioda de Vita

Music/Sound : Michael Freerix

July 2nd 2011 – 14:00 till open end:

Isabelle Krieg, Verena Klette

Music/Sound : Michael Freerix, Martin Backes

Adresse:

former Sparkasse branch office
Rupprechtstr. 3
10317 Berlin-Lichtenberg
S-Bahn S5/S7/S75 Nöldnerplatz

The exhibition is part of Lange Nacht der Bilder

Sound Direction “The Lost”

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:56:28 +0000

In my role as Sound Director for Reynolds Reynolds new work “The Lost” I will be responsible for the whole sound and music of the entire movie.

Following our successful collaboration “Six Easy Pieces”, I am really looking forward to the new collaboration.

About “The Lost”:

“Die Verlorenen” is an unfinished feature film from the 1930′s shot in the underground night club “Troika” in Berlin, a venue for avante-garde cabaret and performance similar to Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. The film captured some of the most shocking performances and characters from the 1930′s Berlin performance scene. “Troika” is being re-constructed in Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and will be open to the general public. Therefore the entire studio of Reynold Reynolds has moved into the HKW, producing the new film-works live to the audience. During the exhibition the activity of setting up and shooting become film-performances within an evolving set installation. The live construction of the image destroys the illusion of film, revealing the whole studio process as art.

Please find all details here:

Live Film-Performances

For more info about Reynold Reynolds:

www.reynold-reynolds.com

De:Bug Pixelhead Review

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:12:14 +0000

There will be a review of my latest artwork Pixelhead in the next DE:BUG issue 150 which will be out on February 25, 2011.

Here`s the DE:BUG review:

Photos, cover and article by DE:BUG. Thank you DE:BUG!

Download the review above as PDF file:
De:Bug Review – german version

For more info:
Pixelhead

Martin Backes - Offical Website

Google-Searches for Art

About

For more info: Google™ One Week Performance-Piece Johannes P. Osterhoff`s Transmediale 2k + 12

UKI viral live performance @ Berghain

When & Where:

About UKI:

About I.K.U.:

For more info:

Documentation:

UKI viral live performance @ Berghain (Live-Recording)

THE LEO Nomination

About Six Easy Pieces:

Here`s the cinema version of “Six Easy Pieces”:

For more info:

Sound for Video Installation

Here are some video stills:

Video Excerpt – Channel 1

Video Excerpt – Channel 2

Video Excerpt – 4-Channel (3 min excerpt)

For more info:

Deutsche Welle Radio Interview

For more info:

DJ-Set @ ARTCONNECT BERLIN Launching Party

LAUNCHING PARTY ARTCONNECT BERLIN @ LEAP

Artist Feature QUOTATION Magazine No.11

Exhibition Cadavre Exquis

Cadavre Exquis

Sound Direction “The Lost”

About “The Lost”:

Please find all details here:

For more info about Reynold Reynolds:

De:Bug Pixelhead Review

For more info:

Google™ One Week Performance-Piece
Johannes P. Osterhoff`s
Transmediale 2k + 12

UKI viral live performance @ Berghain
(Live-Recording)