Description of our work and intentions

Basically we have a strong interest in teamwork, it creates the most dynamic processes, increases know how and forces towards self-positioning. Historically we are coming from different fields of interests, but since long we were working a lot with today's technologies, so our artistic interests focused on these fields areas. For to analyse and to understand contemporary systems and techniques in terms of society and philosophy, we believe it is necessary to deconstruct and/or rebuild these systems and to face them in a direct way to the own mind and to the public.

In 1996 the free artist Gwendolin Taube, the graduated engineer Lars Vaupel and the free artist Stefan Doepner founded the Institute for art, information and technology – f18 in Hamburg. f18 institute is a pool of artists and technicians, a lab and research centre for the artistic field of today's technologies. One of our focuses is on the development of tools which enable artists to create their own positions in high tech environments. Since the foundation of f18 the realisation of own artistic projects as well as commissioned artworks produced an extensive network of experts in different branches. Based on this we create a platform for to enhance the exchange and co-operation in art, electronic media, information and technology, so the products and results of different approaches could be merged into new projects. A further aspect of our work is the human perception of the daily routine, as well as resulting from this, projections of request. The everyday life is characterised according to its common meaning by an uniform flow. The man is part of this daily routine which is subjected to an organised and experienced system. Psychic processes, like the perception of daily situations - leisure time, work, religious rituals and accustomed living spaces, pass subconscious and get independent themselves based on repeated experience.

Also we read the daily routine as a type of machinery in which the public is integrated. An undisturbed, regulated and uniform flow within a system is usually prevented in our work. Confident situations are interrupted, reliable objects ripped out of its actual context and will be entrusted with new tasks. An unambiguous and therefore automatically perception on side of the spectator is nearly impeded.

The group f18 has acquired since 1996 most various projects and products in the areas robotic, installation and electronic media. We work with utmost transparency in technology and structure, profane the technological glorification and mystic and try to make and to grasp the relation between people and technology understandable.

Out of the artistic point of view, the intercourse with the present and society is also always to investigate in the up-to-date common means – pictures and tools.So we have approached the present biases for example in that we develop systems, which work with modern media, e.g. digital controls, sensors, camera supervision and just autonomous robots. f18 constructs for several years such technology-implemented sculptures, installations and products. By this way of learning we realised concrete possibilities of abstraction and conversion.