The kinetic sound installation consists of 104 recycled floppy disk drives and by combining obsolete technology of the 1980s and 1990s with the technological means and aesthetics of the 21st century, completely new sonorous universes arise which sing with 104 different machine voices.

The BITS AND BYTES exhibition opening by the Finnish artist Marko Timlin will take place at the RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2 on Thursday, December 1 at 18:00.  BITS AND BYTES is a kinetic sound installation consisting of 104 recycled floppy disk drives. By combining obsolete technology of the 1980s and 1990s with the technological means and aesthetics of the 21st century, completely new sonorous universes arise which sing with 104 different machine voices. The exhibition takes place as part of the RIXC Baltic-Nordic residency, during which the artist developed the artwork for the exhibition and is creating a sensor-based digital instrument for live performances and concerts, which he will present in a performance at the RIXC Gallery, on December 14 at 20:00.

BITS AND BYTES is a kinetic sound installation consisting of 104 recycled floppy disk drives. By combining obsolete technology of the 1980s and 1990s with the technological means and aesthetics of the 21st century, completely new sonorous universes arise.

BITS AND BYTES combines the everyday, the mechanical, but also the broken, discarded, the machine scrap with highly complex computer controls and introduces us to an unknown sound world. It resembles a living organism that sings with 104 different machine voices inviting visitors to immerse themselves in complex spatial sound phenomena that move around them. 

BITS AND BYTES aims to reveal the hidden poetry of the machine world by singing songs beyond humankind.

The performance by Marko Timlin at the RIXC Gallery on December 14 at 20:00 will feature the demonstration of the sensor-based digital instrument for live performances and concerts developed during the residency. This instrument connects the physical world with the digital world. A combination of ultra-sonic sensors, solar panels, infrared sensors and microcontrollers receives information from the physical world and transmits this data to a computer where it is used to generate and control digital audio feedbacks. This instrument offers listeners a new kind of digital sound aesthetic and explores the question ”how purely digital music” can sound like.

Marko Timlin creates artworks that link science with art, technology with nature and the past with the present. His artistic work centers on the development of kinetic sound installations and performances with self-made sound machines.

His approach is part of a broader perspective of a peaceful coexistence between the human and the machine. With his artistic inventions he proves that both can work together to create experiences that transcend them. 

In the recently published anthology covering Finnish media art´s last century (“Suomalaisen mediataiteen ensimmäinen vuosisata”) Timlin is named as a successor of inventive genius Erkki Kurenniemi.

Timlin’s works have been exhibited and performed world-wide including at Whitebox New York (USA), Sight & Sound Festival Montréal (CA), Fylkingen Stockholm (SE), Kiasma Helsinki (FI), EOF gallery Paris (FR), E:vent gallery London (UK), Piksel Festival (NO) and Neues Museum Nürnberg (DE). 
www.timlin.de  

The exhibition is on view at the RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2 until February 3, 2024, from Wednesday to Saturday, 12:00-18:00.

Contact us: rixc@rixc.org,  +371-67228478 (office), +371 25358541 (Līva Siliņa)

Supported by the Nordic Culture Point, Riga city council, State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.

RIXC Center for New Media Culture has received mobility funding from the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture to establish RIXC Art Science Residencies