PLUGIN BEACHBALL SUCCESS is a PREPARED DESKTOP performance developed by Jon Satrom for TRANSMEDIALE 2K+12.
The interruption happened during the festival introduction, when Gansing was about to do a slideshow of images. Satrom’s laptop screen locked on him and so did the presentation. He jumped up to resolve the situation, which evolved/devolved into the performance. Satrom designed the beginning of the performance as a troubleshooting phase to reflect what really happens when one is presented with a problem like this. Throughout the performance, he downloaded assets, packages, and programs for the performance and proceeded to install them, execute them, and improvise with them.
“THE IN/COMPATIBLE CONCERN OF YEAR’S TRANSMEDIALE WAS ALSO AT THE CENTER OF A HIGHLY IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE OF JON.SATROM ON THE OPENING NIGHT IN THE LARGE AUDITORIUM: STARTING WITH A LOGIN PROBLEM ON THE LAPTOP KRISTOFFER GANSING WAS USING, THE CHICAGO ARTIST HAD TO INSTALL A PLUGIN, RESULTING IN A RHYTHMICALLY CHOREOGRAPHED DOWNLOAD WINDOW.
THE SYSTEM REQUESTS, REJECTIONS, AND INSTALLATION FILE LOCATIONS GREW INTO A COMPREHENSIVE AUDIO-VISUAL PERFORMANCE. A PERFORMANCE THAT BEGAN WITH THE MOST COMMONPLACE EVERYDAY COMPATIBILITY ISSUES, SUDDENLY THE AESTHETIC EXCEEDED MERE CLICKS, OPENING AND CLOSING CONVERTED THE ENTIRE AREA OF THE DESKTOP IN A SYNCOPATED RHYTHM GAME OF PROCESSES AND TERRIFYING TRANSFORMATIONS.”
JON.SATROM SUCCEEDED IN CAPTURING AN AUDIENCE OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE THROUGH THE PROJECTION OF A DESKTOP–SOME WERE CARRIED AWAY BY SHOUTING CHEERS. A REAL SURPRISE.
- TEXTE ZUR KUNST (TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN TO ENGLISH)
Sparked by an interrupt, Plugin Beachball Success uses in/compatibility as a compositional and conceptual framework for a realtime troubleshooting and trouble-creating… PLUGIN BEACHBALL SUCCESS PARALLELS THE PROCESS OF INSTALLING SPECULATIVE SOFTWARE WITHIN AN IN/COMPATIBLE SYSTEM. What begins as a missing plugin for Open Office devolves into a playful psychedelic mess.
