Urs Hofer
[CH]
"Stereo Types"
Installation, 2015.
Banknotes and supermarkets, weapons, masks, naked bodies, archival footage, and lonely people — these are some of the recurring topics and visual motifs spanning some 2,000 music and video clips from 70 countries Norient received from its network. 26 of them are the heart of the "Seismographic Sounds" exhibition. Swiss media artist Urs Hofer took on the rest, creating "Stereo Types". In his installation, Hofer uses an algorithm to detect thematic and formal relations between the clips, generating an endlessly moving and changing audiovisual experience. The machine becomes the curator, and, by stepping onto a highlighted spot to change the track, the audience becomes the selector.
Urs Hofer, born in Switzerland in 1976, holds a M.A. in media-, film- and computer science from the University of Zurich. He lives and works in Berlin and Zurich as a freelance programmer. Hofer’s works center on collaborations with graphic designers or artists, focusing on combining computer technologies with other arts, design or literature. He has received numerous grants and held several residencies, and his installations and performances have been shown at Ars Electronica, the Bauhaus Dessau, ZKM and various theatres in Germany and Switzerland.
