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Variablemedia Press Release 15 Rhizomatic Landscapes Started 9th January 2005 at http://www.variablemedia.org Variablemedia is pleased to announce it's latest residency project 'Rhizomatic Landscapes'* by Pierre Larauza. Beginning 9th January 2005 this project will be updated regularly at www.variablemedia.org. Larauza's current research project Rhizomatic Landscapes is a complex graphical urban analysis system which considers 'The City' as multiple interconnected and interdependent elements. In it's present form, the project looks specifically at Hong Kong, China. 'Rhizomatic Landscapes' uses a bar code interface through which the user can access Larauza's particular graphical and textual analysis of Hong Kong. He divides his research into separate categories which together give a complex overview of this constantly mutating city. One category, 'flux and movement', presents selected statistics of activities, for example: "Everyday, 1307000 journeys are made in Hong Kong using 18138 taxis" indicating the huge scale of the population's activities. With 'Rhizomatic Landscapes', Larauza analyses Hong Kong from the perspective of it being a de-centered landscape in constant flux. It is a living system wheremultiple networks, visible and invisible, develop at different rates. This project maps and layers various strata of the city; parts which grow, self organize and cross contaminate. Larauza views 'The City' as a living entity, continually assembling and reassembling over time, taking directions that cannot be anticipated or directed. During the residency at variablemedia.org, Larauza will develop and add audio to his urban analysis system, translating elements of his graphical and textual work by combining field recordings, manipulated and found sounds. As the project develops Larauza will also add personal texts and will provide a platform for users comments and discussions related to the project. Rhizomatic Landscapes includes texts written in French and English language. Larauza works as a digital media artist, an architect, video artist, photographer and set designer. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions and was artist in residence in autumn 2003 at Videotage in Hong Kong. He was a Research Assistant at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and worked on the Pearl River Delta Project as an assistant with Map Office, a project that received the prestigious Inspiration Award of the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam in May 2003. Other ongoing projects by Larauza include a visual essay on prostitution spaces for HK lab 2 guest edited by Laura Ruggeri (Hong Kong: Map Book Publishers). His project Micro-silences has been nominated for the Minimaousse competition organized by the French Institute of Architecture (IFA). * A rhizome is a horizontal, usually underground, stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizome is also a figurative term used by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to describe non-hierarchical networks. For more information go to: -- Related Links Pierre Larauza's personal site: An interview with Pierre Larauza (French language only):
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