While doing research for his film THE NET, Lutz Dammbeck came across the groundbreaking exhibition “Software – Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art”, which took place at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1970. Curated by Jack Burnham, this exhibition presented the symbiosis of conceptual and media art with what were then new technologies developed for the American military. One of the central exhibits was the installation Seek by the Architecture Machine Group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In this cybernetic model of the world, a computer system interacted with a group of 25 Mongolian gerbils, whereby the computer tried to organize the chaotic behavior of the animals and make it predictable. Fascinated by this experiment, Dammbeck decided in 2006 to reconstruct the installation, titled “Seek II,” together with a team. This reinterpretation was presented in 2023 as part of the “Renaissance 3.0” exhibition at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. Dammbeck's film documentation THE NETZ: SEEK II sheds light on both the scientific-historical context of the original and the challenges and insights of the reenactment. The film reflects on the relationship between art and technology and addresses the human desire to control chaos through technological means. Lutz Dammbeck's film THE NETZ: SEEK II has been presented at renowned festivals, including the Documentary Film Festival Munich and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and has received acclaim for its profound examination of the intersections of art, science and technology. The film invites the audience to reflect on the historical and current implications of the fusion of humans, animals and machines, and to question the limits and possibilities of cybernetic systems.
Icons & Media Art
29min
12
DE
A film about the relationship between art and technology and the human desire to control chaos through technological means.
While doing research for his film THE NET, Lutz Dammbeck came across the groundbreaking exhibition “Software – Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art”, which took place at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1970. Curated by Jack Burnham, this exhibition presented the symbiosis of conceptual and media art with what were then new technologies developed for the American military. One of the central exhibits was the installation Seek by the Architecture Machine Group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In this cybernetic model of the world, a computer system interacted with a group of 25 Mongolian gerbils, whereby the computer tried to organize the chaotic behavior of the animals and make it predictable.
Fascinated by this experiment, Dammbeck decided in 2006 to reconstruct the installation, titled “Seek II,” together with a team. This reinterpretation was presented in 2023 as part of the “Renaissance 3.0” exhibition at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. Dammbeck's film documentation THE NETZ: SEEK II sheds light on both the scientific-historical context of the original and the challenges and insights of the reenactment. The film reflects on the relationship between art and technology and addresses the human desire to control chaos through technological means.
Lutz Dammbeck's film THE NETZ: SEEK II has been presented at renowned festivals, including the Documentary Film Festival Munich and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and has received acclaim for its profound examination of the intersections of art, science and technology. The film invites the audience to reflect on the historical and current implications of the fusion of humans, animals and machines, and to question the limits and possibilities of cybernetic systems.