Mobile Journey
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MOBILE JOURNEY - Collateral Event at the 52nd Venice Biennale
Venice International University
San Servolo Island, Venice
June 7 - 9, 2007 
Mobile Journey, held during the opening of the 52 Art Biennale, was a project to explore the relationship between artistic creativity and technological research.
Venice International University regards contemporary art as a an experimental space to be used to promote innovative forms of research. “MOBILE JOURNEY” represents an important step in this direction, breaking new ground in order to establish a dialogue between artistic research, technological innovation and social sciences. The artist is given the task of exploring new ways of using technologies; the electronic engineer that of identifying and developing various potential forms of artistic expression, by rethinking certain basic aspects of the near future; whilst the researcher has the burden of offering a synthesis of the meeting of these two worlds,” says Stefano Micelli, Dean of Venice International University.
The project fetaured the collaboration among International artists, Vodafone rersearch and development engineers, VIU researchers and curator Lorella Scacco.
During several months before the event took place, visual artists and performers well versed in the use of new technologies dialogued with Vodafone engineers in order to create installations and performances which could go beyond the concept of exclusive art, obtaining something which could be interactive and which used mobile phones as abilitators of the public who could in various ways communicate with artists.
Global Groove (Rome) presented a project to investigate the concept of mobility from the cameraman's point of view, Kalle Laar (Germany) created a mobile phone connection which allowed to listen to the sound of a melting glacier in the Alps, Silver & Hanne Rivrud (Norway) created an interactive work inspired by video games: from a mobile phone the public could guide a real person instead of an avatar, seeing what he was seeing while touring Venice, Peter Callesen (Denmark) attempted at an impossible journey reaching mainland while navigating on a carboard made boat, Crispin Gurnholt (Norway) selected and positioned professional models on a public boat to simulate the variegated population of Venice (noble, managers and ethnic minorities), Empfangshalle (Germany) investigated the behavior of mobile phone users by creating innovative and ironic services, Laura Beloff, Erich Berger and Elina Mitrunen (Finland) created a wearable work enabling the public to register their own heartbeats, Gaston Ramirez Feltrin (Italy/Mexico) invited visitors to produce their own videos of the Mobile Journey event via mobile phone.
Curator: Lorella Scacco
Coordination: Lorenzo Cinotti, Venice International University
Scientific partner: Venice International University
Technology partner: Vodafone and Palm
In collaboration with Artcircolo
