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Laptop Reflections, 2010
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An installation by Conditional Design for the exhibition INFODECODATA, at the Graphic Design Museum Breda, Feb - Aug 2010. We wrote a script that captured our portraits via our webcams and screenshots of our desktops every 5 minutes during one year.
It consists of 5 videos, each lasting 3 hours 27 mins, a wall print, a newspaper and the website www.laptopreflections.org.
I am being watched. The gaze comes through the laptop screen, focusing on what is happening on the other side. It sees a picture of a face being formed behind the screen. An open mouth, a laugh, eyes screwed up, sleepy, concentrating hard, irritation and anxiety, teeth, nostrils, bags under the eyes, wrinkles on the forehead, minimal differences in an unchanging gaze. I never look my best, like I really want to have my portrait done.

The screen sees me the whole time while I am looking at it, I am not embarrassed by it, it is neutral, invisible even, I don’t register its existence, it is just a glowing surface.

The screen is inextricably connected to my life. It is a door that I pull shut behind me, which gives me access to a space where I can disappear. It is my gateway to information, it is my space for communication, it is a space where I carry out my work and enjoy myself. I entered into this connection and I am addicted to it. I seek it out, at all times of the day. I am no longer surprised by this phenomenon, instead I invite it into my daily life. The screen travels with me to the most diverse locations in the world, it is opened and closed, once a day, ten times a day, or sometimes it stays on.

Even if the journey that takes place in my head while I sit and watch, read, write or research is an eventful one, I might actually be sitting there motionless for hours on end. The images analyse my individual codes of behaviour and my characteristics. It is not just my facial expression that is being observed, but also the context in which it occurs: how is my hair sitting today, how am I holding my body, which clothes am I wearing (again), which other people, friends, supporters, students are hiding behind my screen? In what surroundings have I opened my screen? And the gaze keeps storing the image – every five minutes – in its memory.

The gaze is not only directed at me, but also at what exactly I am doing onscreen. Am I emailing or on Skype, am I looking for distraction, do I change application frequently – or even do I swap between active windows frequently? Is it text, images, video or sound that accompanies me throughout the day? Does my portrait match what is happening onscreen? If I am watching a film, does my expression fit the images in the film? Are there big differences between the four of us?

We can only discover the patterns and details when the enormous number of images are arranged and displayed in an accessible manner.

We captured the images for a whole year, starting in January 2009. Every five minutes during the day a portrait was taken by the built-in webcam and a screenshot taken, whenever we were using our laptops. The gaze was inescapable. To an extent we got used to this gaze that we had turned upon ourselves. However we often felt we were on show and under observation. Sometimes we were followed by the feeling of being watched at times where there was no computer screen nearby, for example while watching television. It even happened when we were looking at shop windows or a magazine: suddenly you were overcome by the oppressive feeling that we got when the green light next to the webcam flashed, as a sign that it was storing yet another image in its huge memory. We came to terms with it. The desire to discover patterns was greater than the inconvenience of the gaze. We also enjoyed the experiment, studying your self -portrait is fascinating. The sometimes claustrophobic feeling, the confrontation with our own daily routine alternated with the pleasure of knowing we have been recorded and being able to observe ourselves. We are thus more concerned with personal, subjective, even sensitive feelings: layers which will reveal themselves beyond the objective and concrete facts in the large number of images. We are looking for extraordinary connections and unpredictable arrangements, for series of images that no-one would put together.

Link to this project:
poly-luna.com/laptop-reflections
Vitruvian Paint Machine, 2009
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For Take on me (take me on), an alternative production factory, 17-25 october 2009, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. In collaboration with Edo Paulus.
PZI Graduation Catalogue, 2009
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Huh? Oops... Fuck! Oh... Oh, no! Wait... Again...
A social computation experiment.
Catalogue for the graduation 2009 Media Design, PZI - Piet Zwart Institute WDKA
In collaboration with Roel Wouters.
STEIM, Performing Interior, 2009
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Interior design for Steim (Center for research & development of instruments & tools for performers in the electronic performance arts in Amsterdam)
Skycatcher, 2005-2009
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Wallpaper detail
www.sky-catcher.nl – online archive, wallprint, poster, movie...
The skycatcher archive gives access to an online archive of photographs of the sky above Amsterdam sinds 2005.
Jan Wolkers, Levend Archief, 2009
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Video frame
Levend Archief (Living Archive) – video installation and digital platform as an homage to Jan Wolkers. Commissioned by Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal Leiden. In collaboration with Roel Wouters.
Website: www.levendarchief.nl
Tape is made from trees, 2009
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Short movie comissioned by Urban Screen Festival, CASZuidas, Amsterdam
In collaboration with Roel Wouters
Spoken Annual Report, 2009
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An online sound work in spoken form: Listen to the annual report. We developed this work for the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, and made use of the crowd-sourcing technique. In collaboration with Jonathan Puckey.
Zee naar Harderwijk, 2009
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'De Zee naar Harderwijk' (The Sea to Harderwijk) is a camera and sound installation at the Oosterscheldekering in Zeeland (Dutch coast) for St Jansdal hospital in Harderwijk, The Netherlands, commissioned by SKOR Foundation Art and Public Space. www.dezeenaarharderwijk.nl
Dynamic Manifestos, 2008
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Discussion - game - fantasy trip - Luna Maurers contribution within B.A.S. Berlin 26 Oct - 9 Nov 2009
Blue Fungus, 2009
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Blue Fungus is a project developed for Deep Screen, Art in Digital Culture, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 30 May - 30 Sept 2008.
Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Milen en Joes gaan trouwen, 2009
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Wedding invitation for Joes & Milen. The poster design is constructed with one long line. Jonathan Puckey modified his Ribbon Tool for this purpose.