#01 on Floatation / Floater Magazine suggests an inventory of floatation mechanisms within architecture; Without Stability, Without Foundation / Flip is an ocean research platform that capsizes in order to maintain its stability. Yannikos Vassiloulis presents the mechanism of this paradoxical stability / Armin Linke’s images of astronauts and divers project the realities of a utopian body equipped with prosthetics that provide the ability to exist in conditions of No Gravitation / Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi and Meduseabloo by b. are performative, highly intelligent environments capable of collecting and administrating data / In 1968, Takis invented Oscillation of the Sea; a device that translates the motion of the sea surface into kinetic energy / Dimitris Antonakakis describes the chronicle of an unusual project commissioned to Atelier66; redesigning the cruiser Libra Y the parameters of instability and non foundation demarcate a new territory for the architect / Louisa Adam explores architectural strategies and practices within contemporary cultural concerns, commenting on OMA’s Harbour of Ideas / Nikos Navridis cooperated with floater magazine for the production of a digital representation of his recent show Tomorrow will be a Wonderful Day... / Evi Sougara's interactive animation is based on J. Swift's Laputa; a mythical island from the novel Gulliver's Travels / Takis Zenetos’ Electronic Urban Planning Utopia is negotiated in juxtaposition with Maurizio Cattelan’s installation Mise-en-Scene. Nikos Tsimas declares floatation experiences as parameters that can provoke feelings of Pleasure and Awe / Micro-organisations, by Elysa Lozano, reflects the socio-political realities of Sealand's micronation, where the artist explores the potential of registering and developing a not for profit organization / in Floating and Sinking in Psychoanalysis Nikos Sideris analyses the mechanisms of floating and sinking in relation to both psychic structure and spatiality / Giorgos Lagoudakis suggests legal aspects of Floating Territories presenting specific archival cases along with the relative legal texts.

Floater #01 edited by Yannis Arvanitis, Elina Axioti, Yannis Papayannakis, Evi Sougara, Eleni Spiridaki, Yannikos Vassiloulis / Fall 2008.
Meduseabloo
b. interviewed by Floater Magazine


The Meduseabloo, designed by b., evolves around the concept of producing an artificial self sufficient organization, capable of eternal floating under water. This immense structure is wrapped / layered with sensitive skins, large-area flexible arrays of sensors integrated onto its entire surface, attached to a flexible bone structure responsible for its never ending drift. Sensitive skin endows meduseabloo with senses such as proximity, touch, pressure, temperature thus constituting a massive data flow and making possible its use in unstructured and unpredictable environments. Analyzing the translucent data, the surface is capable of transforming itself into the landscape's formulations, thus producing a constant three dimensional diagrammatic representation of the topography.

Sensitive skin endowes meduseabloo with senses such as proximity, touch, pressure, temperature thus constituting a massive data flow and making possible its use in unstructured and unpredictable environments. Analyzing the translucent data, the surface is capable of transforming itself into the landscape's formulations, thus producing a constant three dimensional diagrammatic representation of the topography. Meduseabloo is then, a floating, constantly evolving, cartographer.


Meduseabloo is a data processor. Would you consider it as being operated by someone or as being autonomous in a random mode? In which ways would it function as a portal?

Meduseabloo is not an autonomous system that moves along some random route. It is a smart (intelligent) organization that combines; compares and invents seabed discovery routes. Its autonomy does not suggest a confronted and isolated system but a system that is able to cooperate with a receiver - user - human, to produce ideas and suggest solutions in a smart mode. Since it is not a dubious tool it interacts with the user as an intelligent entity. Its intelligence is based on its being able to criticize and administrate unforeseen situations; on its ability to self amend and time evaluate. Working as an archeologist; a mineralogist; a topographer or as sea plant researcher Meduseabloo performs a multiple layer research and mapping in the sea bed.


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Images: Courtesy b.