Ballettikka Internettikka Norddikka

Ballettikka Internettikka: Norddikka
by Igor Stromajer & Brane Zorman

Arctic Internet Ballet

Live Internet Broadcast from Svalbard, Arctic Ocean
31 December 2008 at 23:55 Central European Time (GMT/UTC+1)

– authors: Igor Štromajer & Brane Zorman
– sound edited by MC Brane vs. BeitThroN
– theoretical adviser: Bojana Kunst, Ljubljana
– executants: Nils Are Mohn & Åsmund Njøs, Svalbard

+ informacija v slovenščini (PDF)

+ higher quality: watch BI Norddikka on Vimeo Video

Ballettikka Internettikka is a series of tactical art projects which began in 2001 with the exploration of internet ballet. It explores wireless internet ballet performances combined with guerrilla tactics and mobile live internet broadcasting strategies. After invading The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (2002), La Scala in Milan (2004), The National Theatre in Belgrade (2005), Volksbühne in Berlin (2006), City Hall and Lippo Centre in Hong Kong (2007), construction site in Seoul (2008) and other institutions and their concepts, Stromajer and Zorman — with the help of two executants on the spot — prepared a new arctic / midnight / New Year’s Eve internet ballet — Ballettikka Internettikka Norddikka, broadcasting live from the Olav V Land glacier (78N, 17E; more than 4,000 m2) on Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway, Arctic Ocean.

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[Map of Arctic islands – source: Wikipedia]

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Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe, about midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, and forms the northernmost part of Norway and the northernmost lands of Europe.

The largest island is Spitsbergen (37,673 km2 or 14,550 square miles), and the largest settlement is Longyearbyen (approximately 2,075 inhabitants, the administrative centre of Svalbard, located on Spitsbergen).

Svalbard lies far north of the Arctic Circle. In Longyearbyen, the polar night lasts from October 26 to February 15. From November 12 to the end of January there is civil polar night, a continuous period without any twilight bright enough to permit outdoor activities in the absence of artificial light.

[source: Wikipedia]

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Robots often cry — why shouldn’t you?

Stromajer and Zorman controlled and monitored the complex operation of leaving, jilting the robot in the deep snow of the white spaciousness of the Arctic glacier (Olav V Land, Svalbard) on New Year’s Eve. They were located in their Control Center in Ljubljana (CCL), Slovenia.

Receiving instructions from CCL, two executants, Nils Are Mohn and Åsmund Njøs, keepers of the Indian research base on Svalbard (NCAOR – Indian National Research Centre; opened in July 2008 in collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute, as one of the twelve international permanent research bases in Svalbard), executed the intimate act of jilting the robot at the glacier.

Mohn and Njøs started their journey to the foothills of the Olav V Land glacier ten minutes before midnight. They were in permanent video contact (UMTS webcam) with the CCL. Exactly at midnight (Central European Time / also local Svalbard time), when the year 2008  turned into 2009, they reached Point Zero (78N, 17E) and prepared a platform for the robot, using a small snow shovel. They also thrusted the Slovenian national flag into the snow next to the robot. The action was performed in the complete dark (civil polar night).

Live broadcast lasted 10 minutes, starting 31 December 2008 at 23:55, ending 1 January 2009 at 00:05 — www.intima.org/bi/nord

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[Svalbard location – source: Wikipedia]

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The act of jilting is one of the most intimate, personal and merciless deed, which is at the same time purifying, direct and even reconciliating. Jilting activates many emotions, traumas and frustrations, both for the one who jilts and for the one who is jilted. Jilting is the act of liberation: if you love something, set it free! Stromajer and Zorman therefore jilted their favourite Silverlit R/C Program-a-BOT robot (€36 in retail) in the loneliness of the Arctic ice.

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Point Zero, Olav V Land, Svalbard (GoogleEarth satellite image)

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# Produced by Intima Virtual Base – Institute for Contemporary Arts, Slovenia, December 2008 / in collaboration with BeitThroN vs. Thronus Sound System, Ljubljana / Cona, Ljubljana

Ballettikka Internettikka is an ongoing artistic study of the internet guerrilla performance.

“We shall fight them on the beaches. We shall fight them on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
(W. Churchill)