~IT’S OK TO MAKE MISTAKES/RIVIERA/opens SAT/up-date
‘IT’S OK To MAKE MISTAKES’
OPENS To-NITE – SAT JUNE 16, 2007 – 6-10PM
THE SHOW RUNS FROM: SAT JUNE 16 – SAT JULY 1, 2007
RIVIERA GALLERY – 103 METROPOLITAN AVE – WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
GALLERY HOURS:
Thursday and Friday: 2 – 8PM
Saturday and Sunday: 12noon – 6PM
(or by private appointment 1-718-599-5589)
‘IT’S OK TO MAKE MISTAKES’
JUERG LEHNI AND LAURENZ BRUNNER PRESENT:
– HEKTOR – A PORTABLE SPRAY-PAINT OUTPUT DEVICE !!!
“HEKTOR is a portable Spray-paint Output Device for laptop computers. It was created in close collaboration with engineer Uli Franke for Jurg Lehni’s diploma project at ecal (ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne) in 2002.
Hektor’s light and fragile installation consists of only two motors, toothed belts and a can holder that handles regular spray cans. The can is moved along drawing paths just as the human hand or old plotters would. During operation, the mechanism sometimes trembles and wobbles, and the paint often drips. The contrasts between these low-tech aspects and the high-tech touch of the construction hold ambiguous and poetic qualities and make Hektor enjoyable to watch in action. . .”
websites of interest:
www.hektor.ch/
www.scratchdisk.com
www.lineto.com
www.scriptographer.com
www.vectorama.org
www.laurenzbrunner.com
RIVIERA GALLERY
DIRECTIONS: 103 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, BROOKLY.
Take the L train to BEDFORD AVENUE stop.
Walk south 5 blocks and take right on to METROPOLITAN AVENUE.
Walk 2 blocks to corner of WYTHE and METROPOLITAN.
UP-DATE: TUES JUNE 19, 2007
from left: JUERG LEHNI, HEKTOR’S creator, CHLOE DERDERIAN, RIVIERA’S new Managing Director, LAURENZ BRUNNER, guest collaborator – graphics/content, and MATT OWEN, one of the founding Directors, RIVIERA GALLERY, at the opening.
‘IT’S OK TO MAKE MISTAKES’ – JUERG LEHNI and LAURENZ BRUNNER PRESENT:
HEKTOR – A PORTABLE SPRAY-PAINT OUTPUT DEVICE,
RIVIERA GALLERY, Williamsburg, BROOKLYN, June 16, 2007
PHOTO: Nancy Smith
YEP, HEKTOR was a “light and fragile” low-fi production, and it was fascinating to watch the little machine that could, decorate the gallery walls. the designs were text driven,
but the choice of fonts, tone, (graphics & message), and the spray paint hue made for a very visual and poetic experience. The designs were pre-programmed into a laptop computer, and sent to HEKTOR, which just seemed to be jerry rigged on 2 lines, actually 2 “toothed belts”, connected to 2 pulleys at the top of the wall. it was fascinating to watch the designs evolve.
HEKTOR had to re-claim its “balance” by making a little circle after each complete letter or design glyph, and as the design moved down the wall, and the tether lines became longer, the control of the spray can became more fragile and tenuous – but never really, losing it, all together, for a moment. it basically wobbled and wavered, as the press release rightly stated, and the line became less focused, but it was very much a fun thing. it was like HEKTOR became animate and human, given a little “more rope”. the contrast between the hi-tech, as in the pre-programmed computer directions, and the low-tech messenger, was indeed fun to watch. it was definitely an out-put device that was poetic, as compared to a hi-end printer that spits out clean computer designs, to the dot, and yes, HEKTOR – therefore “conveys the abstract geometries contained in these graphics in a different way than normal printers do.”
JUERG LEHNI, who is a graphic design artist himself, created HEKTOR and apparently invites other artists to collaborate with him, to create exhibitions featuring HEKTOR’S spray paint possibilities . . In this New York HEKTOR debut, he has invited the graphic design artist, LAURENZ BRUNNER to in-put visual “content”. Both artists are Swiss Germans, who are currently in NYC living in the downtown Manhattan area, on a temporary residency grant (GRAPHIC DESIGN) funded by the
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT of ZURICH.
the show is up for 2 weeks, don’t believe there will be any more live demonstrations, but HEKTOR will be there, and the designs in themselves, as finished product are
fascinating enough to stand on their own, though just why they are so compelling in their simplicity – is hard to put into words. must be that special HEKTOR touch, not to mention the a-head of the curve sensibilites of JUERG LEHNI and LAURENZ BRUNNER.
VIEW HEKTOR In ACTION
there’s a link to live action clips of HEKTOR here:
RIVIERA GALLERY – HEKTOR: http://seeyouattheriviera.com/hektor
RIVIERA GALLERY – http://seeyouattheriviera.com