Heath Bunting: The Status Project – New Identity Workshop

Heath Bunting: The Status Project – New Identity Workshop

A Hartware MedienKunstVerein workshop with British artist Heath Bunting, to accompany the exhibition Gone to Croatan – Strategies of Disappearance.

HMKV at the Dortmunder U (3rd Floor)
6 + 7 August 2011
11am-6pm
In English

Heath Bunting's Status Project shows how easily almost all of our movements and activities can be traced, whenever we supply seemingly innocuous data such as our name, e-mail or post address, credit card and bank account number etc., be it to apply for a library card or a BahnCard, to enter a mobile phone contract or to shop online. By matching and combining different databases, any person can be attributed with a social status, generated from all data available about that person - usually without the knowledge of the person in question. This status literally determines the person's future freedom of action, off- and online.

The Status Project, initiated in 2004, is an expert system to mutate identities. It consists of a database containing 5.000 entries of different identifying features, available on the website irational.org. From their interconnections in relation to specific topics, Bunting generates maps depicting networks, each of which documents a certain social status – as shown in the exhibition Gone to Croatan – Strategies of Disappearance, HMKV at the Dortmunder U (until 14 August 2011).
The two-day HMKV workshop offers a tutorial on how to construct a new identity. In Great Britain, this is unprohibited – as long as it is not used for illegal purposes.

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Heath Bunting is a co-founder of the artist collective irational.org. In 2006, Hartware MedienKunstVerein showed the first comprehensive display of the collective's work (The Wonderful World of irational.org)

Heath Bunting was born a Buddhist in Wood Green, London, UK and is able to make himself laugh. (currently, reduced to only smile)
He is a co-founder of both net.art and sport-art movements and is banned for life from entering the USA for his anti genetic work. His self taught and authentically independent work is direct and uncomplicated and has never been awarded a prize.
He is both Britain's most important practising artist and The World's most famous computer artist. He aspires to be a skillful member of the public and is producing an expert system for identity mutation. (Quelle: http://www.irational.org/heath/)

Heath Bunting (*1966) emerged from the 1980s committed to building open/democratic communication systems and social contexts. He came from the street up, passing through and often revisiting graffiti, performance, intervention, pirate radio, fax/ mail art and BBS systems to become an active participant in the explosion of the internet. He has produced many internet projects, some highly recognized, and has helped form a strong context for the practice of net.art. He has ventured into the field of genetics proclaiming it to be the next »new media«, and is also developing work in the area of physical network performance. His main ambition is to find a way to give it all up and live outside as God intended (Source: The Wonderful World of irational.org, Frankfurt am Main: Revolver 2006, S. 60).

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Heath Bunting: The Status Project - New Identity Workshop
A Hartware MedienKunstVerein workshop with Heath Bunting (UK)

In English

Saturday and Sunday, 6 + 7 August 2011
11am-6pm

HMKV at the Dortmunder U (3rd Floor)
Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse
44137 Dortmund

Limited to a number of 15 participants. The participation fee is 10€ for 2 days, including refreshments and entrance to the exhibitions Gone to Croatan – Strategies of Disappearance and Proto Anime Cut.

To participate, please register using the form at the top of this page or via email to info@hmkv.de.