VEKTORKOLLEKTOR
Participative installation with Niklas Roy
Dialogfelder residency, Chemnitz / 2021
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR is a participative installation with which people can draw images using a joystick. It is built in the form of a playful hand truck that can be moved around to collect images (“vectors”). The drawing mechanism originates from an 80s A3-size plotter, which we received as a donation from xHain. In addition to the custom hand truck, the plotter received new electronics and a chiptune-style soundtrack curated by Kokoro. Drawings can be made on paper using the joystick and the images are also saved as coordinates on an SD card. While the creators can take the paper versions home, the collected vectors are also published at vektorkollektor.com for anyone to use. On the website you can see how the images were drawn listening to the soundtrack.
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR was made during the Dialogfelder residency program by Klub Solitaer e.V. in Chemnitz. The program addresses urban space, digitalization and participation, with the 2021 theme being “Drag & Drop”. Thus we dragged VEKTORKOLLEKTOR in the city and dropped it to different locations to collect drawings. Additionally, we asked people to give a title for their creation, and noted down this metadata with a Robotron typewriter, a piece of history familiar to many locals.
The open vector archive has already started to evolve in different directions. In Chemnitz we collaborated with Tortuga e.V. and Zietenaugust neighbourhood garden to paint some of the vectors on building walls with Niklas’s big spray can plotter. Meanwhile, Mario Voigt from the local FabLab created an extension for Inkscape for converting the vectors into Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs). Ines Eisinger also made artistic documentation of the vector collection. Lastly, we made together with our local colleagues enigmatic Vectorscope cards (in German). You can try them out at Späti to find out your magic sign based on your birth month, shoe size and number of drunken beverages.
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR has also visited other places and events such the R.o.R. Festival in Nova Gorica / Gorizia / Šempas and the Fliegendes Künstlerzimmer program in Frankfurt am Main.
We thank everyone involved for the great time in Chemnitz. Thank you Ulrike and Robert from Klub Solitaer e.V. for inviting us in the first place and xHain for donating the plotter. Thank you local colleagues and friends, Daniel, Katharina, Anna, Ines, Mario, Babette, Lisa, Octavio, Chaostreff Chemnitz, Luca and Jürgen. Warm thanks also to our wonderful, funny co-artists Sendi, Jurij and Tom (BridA).
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR is a participative installation with which people can draw images using a joystick. It is built in the form of a playful hand truck that can be moved around to collect images (“vectors”). The drawing mechanism originates from an 80s A3-size plotter, which we received as a donation from xHain. In addition to the custom hand truck, the plotter received new electronics and a chiptune-style soundtrack curated by Kokoro. Drawings can be made on paper using the joystick and the images are also saved as coordinates on an SD card. While the creators can take the paper versions home, the collected vectors are also published at vektorkollektor.com for anyone to use. On the website you can see how the images were drawn listening to the soundtrack.
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR was made during the Dialogfelder residency program by Klub Solitaer e.V. in Chemnitz. The program addresses urban space, digitalization and participation, with the 2021 theme being “Drag & Drop”. Thus we dragged VEKTORKOLLEKTOR in the city and dropped it to different locations to collect drawings. Additionally, we asked people to give a title for their creation, and noted down this metadata with a Robotron typewriter, a piece of history familiar to many locals.
The open vector archive has already started to evolve in different directions. In Chemnitz we collaborated with Tortuga e.V. and Zietenaugust neighbourhood garden to paint some of the vectors on building walls with Niklas’s big spray can plotter. Meanwhile, Mario Voigt from the local FabLab created an extension for Inkscape for converting the vectors into Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs). Ines Eisinger also made artistic documentation of the vector collection. Lastly, we made together with our local colleagues enigmatic Vectorscope cards (in German). You can try them out at Späti to find out your magic sign based on your birth month, shoe size and number of drunken beverages.
VEKTORKOLLEKTOR has also visited other places and events such the R.o.R. Festival in Nova Gorica / Gorizia / Šempas and the Fliegendes Künstlerzimmer program in Frankfurt am Main.
We thank everyone involved for the great time in Chemnitz. Thank you Ulrike and Robert from Klub Solitaer e.V. for inviting us in the first place and xHain for donating the plotter. Thank you local colleagues and friends, Daniel, Katharina, Anna, Ines, Mario, Babette, Lisa, Octavio, Chaostreff Chemnitz, Luca and Jürgen. Warm thanks also to our wonderful, funny co-artists Sendi, Jurij and Tom (BridA).
