Alphabeths ghetto plinths and…
is a publication platform created by Raoul Zoullner and Sophia Holst. It is setup to investigate the act of publishing and the act of editing itself. The editing of every issue will happen on a designed day together with a small group of specifically chosen contributors. From site to site the content of the issue is spoken out loud and documented, which later on will be translated in an actual document, a publication, a website to make public.
— Introduction to Issue 1
introduction to Structure and Summary
A self-storage-space in Amsterdam sets the scenograhic settings for the staged textreading of Issue 1 at various stations in a Self-Storage Space.
— 2 AVIS transporters take a handful of participants to the parking lot for the reading of textpart 1, textpart 2 is staged in the entrance hall of the self storage space, and textpart 3 is setted in the self-storage unit 1C-22
The entire transscript comes in the form of 7 installation views :
Installation view 1 is setted infront of the — ‘industrial-sliding-gate of the storage space complex’,
install ation view 2 depicts the — ‘exterior of industrial self-storage steel building’ – A brand new 2-level state-of-the-art-steel-building with hi-gloss currogated iron on the exterior, and its not until installation view 3, that the reading actually starts …in between — ‘transporters parked in the middle of parking facilities’.
‘2 transporters in stop & store-drive-thru-indoor-loading area’ is installation view 4 and the second part of the Maxwell´s poem, afterwards some stuff gets moved up in installation view 5 — ‘elevator and hallway’.
Installation view 6 is setted in the actual — ‘self-storage unit 1C-22’ amongst the subtle buzzzing and hummming of a ceiling-mounted climate-controll-ventilation-system, and finally at installation view 7 — ‘parking facilities’ — the crowd leaves and the gate closes
Maxwell Simmer is a poet and visual artist currently based in Berlin.
‘Luck or Guts’ of Maxwell Simmer is based on a key-note speech of Apple CEO Steve Jobbs, hacked into fragments and recomposed.
— brief narrative of background of what the service assingment could potentially be
For Issue 1 the scenario is the following:
The piece is based on a storage-service for an Amsterdam based client – a Corporate Collection seeking for intermediate storage solution for some wooden structures. The CEO just aqcuired these recently during a studio visit seeking to buy structures which weren´t finnished so far for sth like a collection of unfinnished structures.
Issue 1
Alphabets, Ghetto Plinths and…
‘we wish, we could, sell more’ or ‘there’s nothing, unlearn, it all just works’
script based on a scenario for a
staged-textreading that takes place in a self-storage-space
of ‚luck or guts‘,
— a poem by Maxwell Simmer
Installation view
1
— industrial-sliding-gate of storage space complex
2 AVIS Transporters come to full stop, lined up behind each other infront of a heavy industrial-sliding-gate
china-fabricated, powder coated in industrial-yellow with anti-ultraviolet radiation.
In both AVIS Transporters each co-driver slides down the electric-window-lifts of his passenger-window and enters Individual Access-Code ‘06061’ on a digital keypad for zone coded access.
A mechanism pulls in the gate from its mounting point sliding above ground with a counter balance on the side to provide smooth motion
Inside the 2 AVIS Transporters the co-drivers switch on the CD-player and insert a ripped-mp3 of ‘Crocket´s Theme’ — the synthesized instrumental opening theme of Miami Vice (and does sth with white plastic cups and 2 cup holders).
Both white AVIS Transporters enter the parking facilities of the Storage-Space-Complex.
Installation view
2
installation view 2
— exterior of industrial self-storage steel building
The commercially operated on-demand storage-service for private self-storage solutions offers 240 storage units, 24.000 sqm, 30 monitoring security cameras, 20 parking slots, 24/7 access.
A Brand new 2-level state-of-the-art-steel-building with hi-gloss currogated iron on the exterior, shades of grey and a significant industrial yellow highlighting all the rails, gates and single-swing-doors.
Inside this state-of-the-art-self-storage-complex could be anything, a vast outpost of a private collection, 40m3 full of white plastic cups, units stashed with 200 new models of a regular 5-liter water dispenser.
Installation view
3
— transporters parked in the middle of parking facilities
Both drivers park the 2 AVIS Transporters right next to each other in the middle of the parking lot — just their fronts facing opposite directions, back-to-face.
Both sliding-side-doors and front-cabin-doors open, so the transporters act as partition walls that create a provisional corridor as a speaker´s corner in between.
Just enough in-between-space for participants to take position on some wooden structures unloaded from the cargo-bay of the 2 AVIS Tranporters.
after 04:22 min/sec. ‘Crocket´s Theme’ stops playing and Maxwell starts reading:
We‘ve got an awesome morning together
Thank you for coming
so much
this
is the biggest
we can get
and i’m sorry
to all the people
who can’t make it
we whish
we could
sell more’
‘Fifty sessions hands-on
take your code
to the engineers;
engineers / here to help
there‘s a lot of folks floating around,
grab them,
make use of them,
and we hope
you have
a great week
Installation view
4
— 2 transporters in stop & store-drive-thru-indoor-entrance-hall (loading area)
The participants get the wooden structures they were sitting on together to load them in the transporters again, then they enter the transporters.
Both transporters head towards the entrance to the self-storage complex and face another set of 2 other gates providing access to the Covered stop & store Drive-thru-entracnce-hall (Loading Area) and some easy-access units.
The first is a kind of sectional gate with P.V.C. coated finish. The other one is an electrically operated industrial-roller-shutter that lifts up vertically. Both gates are equipped with a Safety Brake & Hold-to-Run mechanisms and Standard-Keyswitch-Push-Button-controls.
The co-driver enters Individual Access-Code ‘06061’ on another digital keypad again to open the second set of industrial roller shutter gates.
The 2 white Tranporters back inn halfway on the indoor drive-inn lane into the loading area, manouvering slow and safe, rolling into the enclosed, air-conditioned stop & store bay to load and unload.
Both accustic warning signals for rear parking mode keep beeping.
After both cars are parked in the indoor loading area the cargo-bay doors of the 2 Tranporters are opened, lifting up, the participants start to unload the freight once more and arrange them as support structures to take position on for the next part of the reading.
Stop & store Drive-thru entrance hall. 2 white Transporters parked halfway indoors. Their backside and open cargo-bay doors reaching into the loading area. Spatial units in another spatial unit. One units exterior becomes part of the other units interior. Wooden structures scattered across the entire entrance hall.
There is a subtle buzzzing and hummming of 3 rotating ceiling-mounted-industrial-ventilators in the interior.
Carrying a stapled set of A4 papersheets Maxwell Simmer walks up and down the entrance-hall and pick´s up reading from where he stopped before:
hardware is the brain,
the sinew
and software is our soul.
and today,
we‘re going to talk
about software.
i want to ask my colleagues
talk the line
the digital hub
has broken down
we have to synch
and
to keep
in synch
move the hub/
the centre
of your life
to the cloud
they
can talk to the cloud
whenever they want,
the cloud
is just a hard disk
in the sky,
right?’
Installation view
5
— elevator and hallway
The participants move to the elevator. Again somebody enters the Individual Access-Code on a third keypad-panel — the metal elevator-doors close and the elevator lifts up to the second-level units.
Arraving at Level 2, taking the first right, next one right as well all the way down some 20 metres the
participants walk through storage space hallways towards Self-Storage unit 1C-22.
The long hallway corridors with clean streamline look sports a glossy white flush-panel system. Waterproof coated PVC flooring with slide prevention and shock absorption. Clean coated flooring minimizing dust – just like the floor at a retail store
Arriving at self-storage unit 1C-22 somebody unlocks a pre-painted steel door with single-swing-configuration.
Installation view
6
— self-storage unit 1C-22
The participants enter self-storage unit 1C-22 and provisionally stash-and-store the wooden-support-structure-props somewhere in the space.
Inside there´s still a subtle buzzzing and hummming of a rotating ceiling-mounted-climate-controlling ventilation-systems. The air-cooled Storage Units incorporate a number of eco-friendly features. A Humidity Control keeps humidity down to 55% and safeguards the stored stuff.
The participants take position on the wooden-support-structures.
Somebody plugs a spotlight to the power socket to switch it on.
The black metal Par-spotlight is mounted on a tripod projecting 75 Watt of intense pure-whiteness on Maxwell.
Maxwell is taking position next to a wooden-structure-prop and continues reading:
‘There‘s nothing/
unlearn
it all
just
works.
the core
we‘ve thrown them away,
we‘ve rearchitected
and rebuilt them
from the ground
up
to cloud
our devices
the truth
is on the cloud,
automatically
in
synch.
we build
what we want
for ourselves
as of today,
this product
ceases
to exist
you‘ve bought a lot
so far
we‘ve brought you
into
the universe
and you‘ve bought it
directly
and maybe
and now ,
what you want
we want you
to see
it isn‘t here
but what
about
the future?
it all
just
works.
i‘d love to tell you
i create
we think
you‘re going to like it
alot.’
this is the first time
we‘ve seen this
we want every advantage
a competitor
can never do this –
they can never
Somebody unpluggs the spotlight to turn it off.
Installation view
7
— parking facilities
The participants move out and exit the steel-building in order to arrive at only one of the transporters.
Everybody gets into one and the same transporter in which Maxwell starts reading the last text-part:
today
we ship
we‘re going
to offer
a third way
in maiden
ask us
for help’
Inside the car somebody switches on the CD-player starting to play over ‘Crocket´s Theme’ again in repeat-mode. Both transporters are set in motion towards the powdercoated industrial-sliding-gate, it opens automatically
The 2 AVIS Tranporters pull off to leave the self storage complex while Jan Hammers ‘Crocket´s Theme’ keeps on playing.
Behind them the heavy industrial-sliding-gate closes.
i.c.w. Sophia Holst
text and reading by Maxwell Simmer
kindly supported by the Dirty Art Department of the Sandberg Institute
scripted by Raoul Zoellner
produced by the pleasure of having a rich family
Amsterdam / Berlin
2012