bram.org

"Interview with Annie Abrahams" by Béatrice Bonfanti. 02 2006

> _ what is your background? your studies, etc.

I have a solid background in science and in art. I studied biology at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands (doctoral diploma in 1980) and Art at the Art Academy of Arnhem (diploma 1986).

> _ when you create ?

I do spend all my time on my artistic work. (which doesn't mean I am creating all the time)

> _ what inspire your work ?

My own experience of life.

> _ what do you think about art ?

' iamanartwork/jesuisuneoeuvredart ' a perl script for FRACLR, an official art institution in France. Am I an artwork? Yes, no, maybe, why? Because......... visitors contributions are traced on ip number and used in the lay out. (perl) (please, note that the "I" in the title takes different forms : the artist, the visitor, the page, the computer and the piece itself all figure as "I" somewhere in the text.)

> _ how do you use internet in your work ?

In very different ways.
When studying biology I had to observe a colony of monkeys in a zoo. I found this very interesting because I learned something about human communities by watching the apes. In a certain way I watch the internet with the same appetite and interest. I consider it to be a universe where I can observe some aspects of human attitudes and behaviour without interfering. (for instance in ViolenceS http://bram.org/indexviolence.html ) I am also interested in providing a situation in which the visitors, by leaving a personal trace, collaborate in revealing a collective voice, participate in the emergence of a staggering beginning for a language of the multitude. I am convinced these collections contain a revelation of actual tendencies in society (our contemporary being) and procure us a kind of cartography of the other. (I am looking for ways to introduce the web-created-text objects in real space, to inseminate these collections with physical energy, I want to give "flesh and bones" to what exist as potential in a computer and what appears as only light on a screen)

> _ which are your projects for the future ?

- Autumn : a performance (an art battle/speakers-corner) based on the text of "iamanartwork/jesuisuneoeuvredart"
- December 15 th 2006, operra internettikka , "Protection et Sécurité" with Igor Stromajer . (live internet audio broadcasting, libretto based on internet text objects) Info : english / français
- Summer 2006 http://webflaneur.net with Clément Charmet : The Webflaneur; "a Data Dandy trip", is meant to be a web-wandering device, that turns the web into a leisurely tool, very near to
television. It will present the visitor with a phenomenological view of the web. The Webflaneur will proceed automatically from one web address to another, it will return on it's steps when reaching a dead alley, will find other bifurcations and will lead us on and on in the chaos of cyberspace. (compare BramTV http://www.bram.org/bramtv multiplatform, no bugs)

>

> Have you ever exhibited in italy ?

No

> How could you image your work in a city-space ?

*For some time already I would like to use single line LED Signs (or other electronic text displays) to present some of the text objects in public space. (Wishes or SollitudeS). This could be accompanied by a performance ( a reading).