In 2002, pioneering locative media art project AmsterdamREALTIME playfully showcased how GPS technology would revolutionise human orientation and spatial memory, years before the smartphone era. A session during this year’s Transformation Digital Art symposium will discuss what does it mean to bring an experiential work into the present.
Reactivating AmsterdamREALTIME, 23 Years Later
Ahead of Transformation Digital Art 2025, LI-MA and Esther Polak revisited AmsterdamREALTIME
LI-MA; living media art; febuary 2025
In 2002, pioneering locative media art project AmsterdamREALTIME playfully showcased how GPS technology would revolutionise human orientation and spatial memory, years before the smartphone era.
In the two decades since, AmsterdamREALTIME has grounded artist Esther Polak’s work on mobility and landscape, and has been a beacon for many artists and art historians fascinated by the experience of space. Now, this Flash-based animation requires restoration. During Transformation Digital Art 2025, Polak, alongside creative coder Bente van Bourgondiën, who designed and programmed the interactive animation of the original data, will discuss the challenges and relevance of preserving this artwork, in the two decades since it was created.
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