July 19, 2004
Turbulence Commission: "Memoryflesh 2.0: a Micro Media Record" by Diane
Ludin
http://turbulence.org/works/ludin
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"Memoryflesh 2.0" is an assemblage of media montages–driven by live
"fake suturing" performances–that tells a variety of stories about the
human genome's emergence as a voice of scientific authority. The
project's purpose is to generate a concrete, bodily response to this
disembodied, public process.

"Memoryflesh 2.0" records the social drama surrounding the completion of
the Human Genome Project and brings sciences' focus on DNA
sequencing–the ultimate data body–to the fore. While little is
understood about the practical labor and procedures used in the
sequencing of DNA, the authority it wields is seen in the public
imaginary everywhere.

Ludin challenges the notion that DNA is the kernel that determines our
individual selves, from body to mind. She records live motion–through
bend sensors interfacing with MAX–in order to generate a combination of
events that trigger, assemble, and mix media from an online database.
Ludin's fake suture assembly sessions will be broadcast via streaming
audio and video, and then archived with the online database of collected
source material. Stay tuned for performances.

"Memoryflesh 2.0: a Micro Media Record" is a 2004 commission of New
Radio and Performing Arts, (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site.
It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.

BIOGRAPHY

Diane Ludin is an artist and writer who has used the Internet as a
material resource since 1996. She recycles existing Internet news media
to collage a series of automated records of contemporary communication.
Her collages focus on framing the Virtual Body as an "almost reality"
and the core of "embodiment."

Ludin has exhibited both her solo and collaborative works in the US and
abroad. Commissioned works include Internet projects for The Walker Art
Center, Franklin Furnace, Turbulence.org and The Alternative Museum.
Collaborative performances and broadcasts with The Electronic
Disturbance Theater, FAKESHOP, Las Fantasmas, Prema Murthy, Francesca
DiRimini, Ricardo Dominguez, and Agnese Trocchi.

For more information about Turbulence please visit http://turbulence.org