BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) is a worldwide series of DIY one-night-exhibitions,
exploring the medium of projection.
The next edition happens tomorrow night in London and I hope to see you there.

Susanna Davies Crook wrote a feature about the BYOB idea on Dazed Digital.

BYOB London, curated by Kernel
February 25, 2011, from 18.30 to 22.00
The Woodmill, Neckinger Depot, Neckinger, London, SE16 3QN

Participating Artists:
Amalia Ulman, Anne de Vries, Aristide Antonas, Arran Ridley, Ben Vickers, Carl Burgess, Daniel Swan, Emily Jones, Harry Sanderson, Helen Marten & Fran Edgerley, Hyo Myoung Kim, Iain Ball, Jeremy Bailey & Kristen Schaffer, Jimmy Merris, Katja Novitskova, KERNEL (Pegy Zali, Petros Moris, Theodoros Giannakis), L_A_N, LuckyPDF (James Early, John Hill, Oliver Hogan, Yuri Pattison), Luke Barcelona Cano, Marc Kremers, Martin Cole, Matthew Stone, Theo Michael & George Tsioutsias, Mike Ruiz, Nicolas Roope, No New Info (Lauren Elder, Andre and Evan Lenox, Arend deGruyter-Helfer, Micah Schippa, Brian Khek), Paul B Davis, Poka-Yio, Rafaël Rozendaal, Richard Sides, Sascha Pohflepp, Tim Steer, Yuri Pattison.

Damir Sadullaev asks: why you answering these questions?

Hello Damir, thank you for your question.

We live in the information age. We are free to share anything that comes to mind. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. However, blogging is not easy. You don’t do it once a year, you have to do it all the time. I kept thinking about my next text. What should I write about? In my mind I kept contradicting myself. I wanted to write about Art, but that is impossible since Art is an irrational endeavor.
I decided to start an open source interview called Ask Anything. The idea is simple; it’s an ongoing interview, and anyone can ask me anything. I try to answer as many questions as I can. You can send me questions by email, or on my Facebook Page. I’m curious to find out what you will ask.

I also have a blog called One Question Interview, which is the opposite of Ask Anything.

Thomas Lynn asks: what is the combo to closedshut.com?

Hello Thomas, thank you for your question.

Many people have asked me and the answer is simple:
I will never, ever, ever, ever, disclose the combination to closed shut .com.
Not in this universe or any other.

This post is part of “Ask Anything”.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook Page.

A new print in my Shop: limited edition of 40, signed silkscreen on heavy matte paper: Broken Self

You’re business is always greatly appreciated.

Hello Jonathan, thank you for your question.

Does “after the internet” imply that the internet will end? What will we do when we run out of internet?
Or are you curious what the next big thing might be?
The stone age, the industrial age, the information age, and then…

The funny thing is, the future is usually not what we think it will be. 50 years ago, people imagined a future of flying cars and meals-in-a-pill. Instead, today we have budget airlines and organic food.
(More…)

I was lucky to be part of the DLD 2011 conference. DLD (Digital-Life-Design) is an annual gathering of leading figures in technology, science, business and culture. I showed work on touchscreens, VJ-ed at the party, and observed.

Flying business class is nice, staying at a 5-star hotel is even nicer. The skylight pool was the best.

There is a lot of money in tech.
I overheard a conversation between 2 investors: “Thanks for that tip, you saved me 40 million.”

30 year old CEO Andrew Mason spoke about turning down Google’s 6 billion dollar offer for Groupon.com. Computing power is very cheap nowadays so startups can scale easily. I wonder if the same will happen to engineering. In the near future, creating a web service could be as easy as sending an email.

A presentation on space tourism; tickets range from 200K (suborbital flight) to 150 million (flight around the moon). “It might seem hard to believe but for some people 200,000 USD is not within their means, we’re working on cutting the prices even further.”

Sean Parker (Napster, Facebook, Spotify) spoke about The Social Network: “It’s a great movie but also a complete work of fiction.” Later that night I saw him in the hotel elevator, drunk with 2 hot girls in his arms, looked like the movie to me.

Wellness expert Deepak Chopra spoke about spiritual wealth: “Truly rich people don’t spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”

Poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger spoke about the term cloud computing: “It is in interesting choice… most IT words are very dull. Clouds stimulate the imagination. However, clouds are very unpredictable, you should not be surprised if they leak and it starts to rain.”

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt (photo above) spoke about self-driving cars and realtime voice translation. Our present is very futuristic. Geeks rule the world and the future looks even nerdier. “Your kids are either asleep or online.” I wonder how long it takes till we let Google into our dreams.

New piece: Tennis, released on JST CHILLIN, curated by Caitlin Denny & Parker Ito.

Kate Ellen Murphy asks: Do you ever feel uninspired? If so, what do you do about it?

Hi Kate, thank you very much for our questions.

You first question: If I answer “yes”, it would mean I believe I am almost constantly inspired. I don’t know if I ever was truly inspired. I have lots of ideas, and I’m happy about where I’m headed, but it’s just a beginning, and hopefully I will grow all the time. I don’t think I have been truly inspired yet.

The second question: I noticed I get ideas when I’m bored. Solitude and boredom help me focus. Sitting in a train, walking on the beach, riding my bike. Being bored is quite painful, I naturally try to fill my time with things to do; meeting people, checking email, facebook, reading, museums, movies, concerts. But I need boredom to get ideas. Computers need a lot of attention, you are never really alone when the internet is near. I try to go out on my own as much as I can. Solitude is uncomfortable yet necessary.

This question is part of “Ask Anything”.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook page.

I will be part of the DLD conference, Feb 23 – 25, Munich, Germany.

DLD (Digital – Life – Design) is a global conference network on innovation, digital media, science and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration. Chairmen of DLD are publisher Hubert Burda and serial digital investor Yossi Vardi. DLD has been founded by Stephanie Czerny and Marcel Reichart in 2005.

Lots of interesting participants, hope to see you there!

Emanuele Marcuccio asks: What is the meaning of life?

Hello Emanuele, thank you very much for your question.

I never understood why this question is so important to everyone. Do people wonder about the purpose of life? A prime directive to guide them? Or are they looking for meaning in things that seem too straightforward? What does this tree mean? What do pumpkins mean? What do roads mean? What does school mean? What does love mean? What does war mean?
I honestly do not understand the question. I don’t really understand the word meaning. As if objects behave as aliases, insignificant by themselves, to guide you to a bigger mental platform.

I think meaning is speculation more than anything else.

A new chapter in the BYOB saga:
BYOB Austin at Wurhaus, Friday January 21, 8 – 11 pm.

Wurhaus is proud to present BYOB AUSTIN, a one-night event in which several artists will bring a beamer (projector) and display video works in a gloriously cataclysmic group setting. This marks the 6th BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) event, part of a worldwide series of similar events originally initiated by Anne de Vries & Rafaël Rozendaal.

Participating artists: Amanda Joy, BLACKMAGIC ROLLERCOASTER, Chad A, Daniel Hipolito, Drew Liverman, Dylan Reece, Juan Cisneros, Kyle Dixon, Lili Navarro, Mario Zoots, Melanie Clemmons, Nora Frank, Ryan Beltrán, Ryan Lauderdale, Scott Gelber, Stephen Fishman, Tommy “Boy” Blackburn, Zak Loyd.
Curated by Ben Aqua

Claire Billingsley asks: what do you think about before you fall asleep?

Hello Claire, thank you for your question.
I usually fall asleep immediately. I lay down, close my eyes, and I’m gone.

Sometimes it takes a while. I enjoy those moments. Laying in bed with fresh sheets and a nice pillow after a hot bath… it is the most comfortable moment of the day, the most comfortable anything I can think of. I try to be aware of the comfort, to enjoy it and to take it in fully. Lately I have also been trying to be aware of the falling asleep process. This is quite difficult. I have not yet succeeded and I wonder if it’s possible. I close my eyes, and I can feel the sleep state getting close. I can feel a warm comfortable numbness, slowly moving towards my mind. But just before I fall asleep, I am no longer aware of it. I lose consciousness. How else could I fall asleep?

This question is part of “Ask Anything”, a new category on this blog.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook page.

I made a new piece: Burning My Time .com, commisioned by Kunsthalle Athena.

Thank you to everyone for hanging out and helping me in 2010,
family, friends, programmers, gallerists, curators, press.
Thank you everyone for visiting my websites in 2010, every 11,712,084 of you!
I wish you a very happy 2011 full of love and appreciation.

I am happy to announce a new doublesided poster in my shop.
One side is printed in six color offset to get the best result for the gradients. The other side is printed in four colors and silver foil. You can see more detailed photos here.

doublesided signed poster by rafaël rozendaal 4 color offset + silver foil on glossy paper, 96 x 66 cm. (36 x 26 inches) shipped via regular mail in a cardboard tube Price: $58.99 / €44.99

Front side:

Back side:

Red Light Radio is an online radio station broadcasting from a former prostitution window in the red light district of Amsterdam. I will be DJ-ing tonight from 8 to 9 PM CET. You will be able to stream the live broadcast from redlightradio.net. If you want to check it later find the broadcast archive on soundcloud.

Tonight!!! BYOB Portland
Curated by Brenna Murphy and Christian “Megazord” Oldham.
Sunday, December 19, 7-10 PM
New American Art Union
922 SE Ankeny Street, Portland, OR 97214

BYOB is an open exhibition format I created to enable anyone to make a huge exhibition without any budget:
It’s very simple:
– find a space
– invite many artists
– ask them to bring their projectors
Please read the BYOB FAQ if you want to organize your own BYOB.

Thank you Ewoudt Boonstra for purchasing this drawing and making a nice photo of it. Peace!

The fourth BYOB took place at the Gayle & Ed Roski MFA Gallery at USC
on November 19, 2010. It was curated by Chris Coy and Guthrie Lonergan.

If you would ask me “What kind of exhibition would you really like to see?”, it would be a thorough survey of original artwork used on metal album covers. I know very little about the artists and how these images were made. I wonder if it would be a disappointment to see the originals. After all, they were created to be reproduced. But I have a feeling seeing them together would be wonderful and unique experience.

InterAccess is pleased to present Oath of the Homunculi, a group exhibition examining the use of scale in electronic and digital media, featuring the work of Robert Hengeveld, Rafaël Rozendaal, Paul Slocum, and Soft Turns, curated by Alex Snukal and Jennifer Cherniack.

Saturday, November 27, 2010 – Saturday, January 22, 2011
Opening reception: Friday, November 26, 7pm
9 Ossington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6J 2Y8, Canada

BYOB is a series of one-night-exhibitions inviting artists to ring their own projecting equipment. This one happened on November 12, 2010 at Spencer Brownstone Gallery in New York.
Curated by Rafaël Rozendaal, participating artists: Agnes Bolt, Artie Vierkant, Billy Rennekamp, Britta Thie, Brian Close, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, Charles Broskoski, Damon Zucconi, Duncan Malashock, Daniel Chew, Dena Yago, Hayley Silverman, Jeremy Bailey, Jesse England, Joel Holmberg, John Michael Boling, Joyce Jordan, Kari Altmann, Krist Wood, Mai Ueda, Marlous Borm, Michelle Ceja, Mike Ruiz, Rene Abythe, Riley Harmon, Ryder Ripps, Sarah Weis & Arturo Cubacub, Tom Moody, Travess Smalley, Travis Hallenbeck, Wojciech Kosma.

This Thursday, I will participate in an art show in an internet cafe in Hong Kong:

SPEED SHOW HK – PEEP SHOW!
Curated by Hitomi Hasegawa
Date: 18 November 2010 (Thur)
Time: 7pm-10pm
Venue: Fresh Cyber Café
Address: Flat C, Floor 2, King Tao Building, 94-100 Lockhart Road, Wanchai (Press 2C for Entry)

Photos from BYOB Athens curated by Angelo Plessas.

BYOB (bring your own beamer) curated by Angelo Plessas.
Tonight at Kunsthalle Athena.
Saturday, 23rd of October 2010
from 8pm – until it lasts
Kerameikou 28 Str, Kerameikos – Metaxourgeio, Athens

BYOB is a DIY style night of projections. Over 35 artists will get together and bring their own projecting equipment to create a huge one-night-exhibition for zero budget.

Participating artists: Alexandros Georgiou, Alexandros Psychoulis, Aliki Panagiotopoulou, Andreas Angelidakis, Angelo Plessas, Billy Rennekamp, Dimitris Foutris, Dimitris Papadatos, Dionisis Kavallieratos, Eftihis Patsourakis, Emile Zile, Irini Karayannopoulou, Ioanna Myrka, Georgia Sagri, Katerina Kana, Kostis Velonis, Lakis & Aris Ionas/The Callas, Mai Ueda, Makis Faros, Mano Plizzi, Maria Papadimitriou, Natasha Papadopoulou, Pantelis Pantelopoulos, Pegy Zali, Petros Moris, Poka-yio, RafaËl Rozendaal, Sifis Lykakis, Spiros Hadjidjanos, The Erasers, Theo Michael, Theodoros D Giannakis, This Is Amateur, Vassilis Patmios Karouk.

a sketch for much better than this .com from 2006

Shown above is a still from Harm van den Dorpel’s Ethereal Self .com.
This website is an interactive depiction of a diamond.

It is a depiction because it looks like a diamond, but it is not a diamond, it is a representation of a diamond in 2-dimensional space.

It is interactive because it uses your webcam to create the illusion of light reflecting through a diamond.
When you move, the image changes.

Interactive depiction has been thoroughly explored in video games. Mario starts running when you press a button, and he runs faster when you hold 2 buttons. But video games are always goal oriented.

Interactivity is usually a means to an end. What if it is a destination?

When we look into the world, we are not distant observers, we are involved. Interactivity is an important dimension of representation, and an important part of our perception. Interactive depiction is an area that has hardly been explored in art. Hopefully we have only seen the beginning of it. There are many gestures and subjects still untouched.