Ruler # 2

Rules and standards

Darius Mikšys Diego Bruno Nicholas O’Brien Karl Holmqvist reinaart vanhoeAeron Bergman & Alejandra Salinas Valentinas Klimašauskas

Darius Mikšys

Untitled

2012

Diego Bruno

A collective improvisation for linked rooms (Document)

2011

Karl Holmqvist

That Was Then

2012

SCHWERBELASTUNGSKÖRPER

‘-SPEER ME YOUR

RUBBISH... ‘

‘-SPREE ME YOUR

DOUCHES... ‘

TWEENTY LITER OF BEER

LATER

IN THE PLEEASURE QUARTIER

LITTLE THEATRE OF GESTURES

FLOWING WORDS

Nicholas O’Brien

Waiting for the Drop

2012

Waiting for the Drop (2012)

When Richard Dawkins created his definition of the passing of cultural traits from one generation to another in a similar process akin to genetics, he was not aware that such a process would become the dominant mode of communication in digital technologies. Memes – Dawkins’ now ubiquitous term applied to image macros, youtube parodies, and general internet pop – describe dominant patterns and emergent cultural tendencies that pass between social groups in various media and formats.1 Although initially used to critique and analyze the ways in which religion spreads in evolutionary patterns, memes now stand-in as the goto grouping of cultural phenomenon that seem to become pervasive almost overnight. Contemporary memes infiltrate a mainstream vocabulary so rapidly that culture’s adaptation of these trends takes on all forms of engagement. These participatory acts most often take the form of parody and pastiche, but they can also manifest as sincere recapitulations of recent cultural history as well as introspective investigations of community and communication.

One such recent meme that has grabbed mass attention since 2010 has been the proliferation of Dubstep. This musical genre is loosely defined as somewhat catch-all grouping of contemporary faux-fringe club dance music, taking the place of IDM and House from the early 2000s and the 90s respectively. If House made every suburban kid want to be a DJ, Dubstep has made that same demographic want to become a producer. Although an argument for Dubstep’s proliferation could be articulated through the cheapening of real-time desktop MIDI-instruments/samplers, or through the popularity of the social-media presence of the giants within this genre (the twitter feeds of Deadmau5 and Skrillex, for example), it’s hard to directly pin-point how this music became a dominant force within popular culture.

As an experiment to understand the tropes and limitations within this genre that have developed over the past several years, Nicholas O’Brien listened to over four hours of Dubstep in one sitting compiled by the Reddit group dedicated to this music/subculture. During this time, he recorded his reactions to the “drop” of each song – the point in a song when the biting bass line that defines this genre first comes in (usually following a temporary isolation of a lyric sample). The following images document his listening session as a gesture of both academic performance, and meme unpacking.

1 Detailed in The Selfish Gene, published by Oxford University Press, 19762 http://www.reddit.com/r/dubstep

Eminem - Lose Yourself (Cry Wolf Remix)

Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch (Prime Remix)

Eminem - Lose Yourself (Cry Wolf Remix)

Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch (Prime Remix)

Meg & Dia - Monster (DotEXE Dubstep Remix)

Muse - Knights of Cydonia (Nostalgia Dubstep Remix)

Sublime - Santeria (JPOD Remix)

T-Pain ft. Joey Galaxy - Booty Wurk (One Cheek at a Time)

Sublime - Santeria (JPOD Remix)

T-Pain ft. Joey Galaxy - Booty Wurk (One Cheek at a Time)

Calvin Harris - Feel So Close (Nero Remix)

The Beatles - Come Together (Omega Remix)

Dev & The Cataracs - Bass Down Low (Proper Villains Remix)

Dr. Dre ft. Eminem - Forgot About Dre (Dubba Johnny Remix)

Dev & The Cataracs - Bass Down Low (Proper Villains Remix)

Dr. Dre ft. Eminem - Forgot About Dre (Dubba Johnny Remix)

The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby [MXWL Remix]

Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)

Pretty Lights - Fly Like An Eagle (Remix) [Unreleased 2010 Remixes]

Skorge - Sail (AWOLNATION DUBSTEP RMX)

Coldplay - Paradise (System Dubstep Remix)

Fun ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young (Dubstep)

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (Bombs Away Dubstep Remix)

Avicii - Super Mario World Levels (Full Version)

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (Bombs Away Dubstep Remix)

Avicii - Super Mario World Levels (Full Version)

Snoop Dogg ft. Wiz Khalifa & Bruno Mars - Young Wild & Free (Karetus Remix)

Wiz Khalifa - Rooftops (Sango Dubstep Remix)

reinaart vanhoe

(some notes)

Visual

2012

Thinking of the following words:What if we critical European want China to become a democratic country.Democratic in the way we, consider to have, capitalistic democracy.Are we able to take the consequences of that idea? Do we know what it does mean?Do we want China to fall apart, not for them but for our own comfort?

Photo by Annaïk Lou Pitteloud

Aeron Bergman & Alejandra Salinas

Magic Numbers

2012

Valentinas Klimašauskas

Set

2012

An Exhibition Proposal

SET

in Futura1, 2.DEZ.1976

by Valentinas Klimašauskas

with

“It all starts with an ending, and then it ends again”2

A poem that produces pace and space

A dialogue which is also a soundtrack

A parasitical language masqueraded in an already familiar font

A quasi-object which is transforming into a subject or into a phrase that presents a new concept of the show every time it misrecognises itself as a

subject or a phrase

An avatar of a moment which is also representing the borders of the known, not mentioning the show

Jacque Tati, the architect of the exhibition spacetime

Ms. and Mr. Einsteins calling an emissary from La Jetée by Chris Marker

(“The aim of the experiments was to send an emissary into time to summon the past and future to the aid of the present”).

A spectator who makes the exhibition

“Fin”3

…in chronological order

1 Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. Particularly during the 1950s it was used extensively by the publishing industry as a general purpose font. For example, the commemorative plaque left on the Moon in July 1969 features text set in Futura.2 Daniel Birnbaum, “Chronology”;3 As found on the palms of Alberto Greco after he committed suicide in 1965 thus transforming his life into another of his works;

Compiled by

Mikko Kuorinki

November 2012