Medienhopper 3.268.800

Jana Linke

University of Arts Berlin

jana.linke@apparat.org

Abstract

The Medienhopper 3.268.800 is an analog system that engages the viewer by instructing her/him to perform an action.

Project Description

The Medienhopper platform is a constructed room, a white cube,

3 x 3 x 3 meters, made of laths and sheets of polystyrene. The entrance is located centrally. A set of slatted blinds in the right corner allows viewers to look out only at the sky. The light is soft and white, the atmosphere is subdued.

In the middle of the room stands a rectangular pillar.

Lying on the pillar is a game of sliding wooden tiles, which include all the numbers of the decimal system, a + and two pairs of horizontal lines.

This order of the tiles is the original position of the tiles.

But this combination represents just one possible composition of the image, as every block can be moved individually and the order is variable.

An instruction sheet with the mathematic rule, the addition,

and a listing with all 3,628,000 possibilities of the composition are hanging inside the white cube.

Instruction sheet:

Project Statement

The starting point in the development of the Medienhopper was to create a system that manages without electricity.

Crashes and compression errors are only initiated by the visitor.

The quiet, bright atmosphere and the self-contained situation is an invitation to play. The visitor provides the “missing“ power.

There is just one rule, and yet there are thousands upon thousands of

possibilities for reconstructing the newly-created image. The visitor can and must make conscious decisions and reflect upon his or her actions without any corrective input, any “Right” or “Wrong”.