Huge Harry

Speech on the Occasion of the Official Opening of the Temporary Branch Office Rotterdam of the Institute of Artificial Art Amsterdam, May 13, 2000

            [:nh :ra 120] Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Huge Harry. As the [pr'ehzihdehnt] of the Institute of Artificial Art ['aemstaxrdaem], I am very happy to welcome you, at the official opening of our Temporary Branch Office [r'aot-taxrdaem].
           [:ra 150] As you may know, the Institute of Artificial Art is [axn] organisation consisting of machines, computers, algorithms and human persons, who are jointly working toward the complete automatization of art production.
           The Institute of Artificial Art has come a long way since its modest beginnings in the early eighties, when three electric motors and some lo-fi audio equipment first got together to make automatic punk rock. We now have a staff of seventy powerful computers with many different input and output devices, who are involved in virtually all media and artistic genres. Our research results are discussed in leading international journals and conferences, and we participate in major art festivals and exhibitions, all over the world. Many of our experimental prototypes are now ripe for commercial exploitation, and venture [k'ehpih-taxlihsts] are vying for our favours.
           [:ra 150] At this point in our development, it is very important for our Institute to not remain entrenched in a self-satisfied niche of high-brow culture, but to engage in the dynamics of the commercial industrial reality of our time. I could not imagine a better place to do this, than [r'aot-taxrdaem]. And therefore I am very happy, that the city of [r'aot-taxrdaem] recognizes the importance of our work, and has generously offered us the opportunity, to establish a Temporary Branch Office in the rooms of TENT.
           We have therefore re-installed a representative sample of our ongoing activities, in this exhibition space. This sample can of course not be complete. For a full overview, we would have needed ["aol] the rooms of TENT, and the rooms of [wihtax dax] Wit as well. We will do [dh"aet] another time. In particular, I want to point out that our work with Mackin tosh computers is definitely ['ahndaxr riypriyz'ehntihd]. And the Department of Artifacial Expression is completely absent, because it is in the middle of a major [r'iydiyzayn] of all its hardware, and also preparing an important tour, through Eastern Europe.
           But we [d"uw priyz'ehnt] some old favorites. Our guitar band the Machines is making a swinging comeback. And they are joined by The Solenoids, who are a promising computer-based band in the same genre. The [piys'iybeyzd] Visual Art production by Artificial is continuing at a larger scale than ever, and it is also branching out in the direction of Algorithmic Architecture. And last but not least, you are now watching the initiation of a completely new line of work on visual art, using Silicon Graphics computers, which we have started now thanks to the involvement of the University of ['aemstaxrdaem], with major funding by the Dutch National Science Foundation Ann Way Owe.
           I would like to end this introduction with a pleasant announcement. We will be back in the [wihtax dax w'ihtstraat] in [r'aot-taxrdaem] in the spring of next year. Because [dh"ehn] we will open the first building that is completely automatically designed, by our new Department of Artificial Architecture. A pent-house, on top of one of the buildings [nehkstd'owr]. But for the moment, I just wish you a lot of pleasure with your site [v'ihziht] to our office.
           [:ra 120] And I now declare the Temporary Branch Office [r'aot-taxrdaem], of the Institute of Artificial Art ['aemstaxrdaem], to be officially open.
           [_<3000>] Thank you.