Henning Lüdeke: Fluidity in Creativity

Ariane

Henning Lüdeke experiences the digital world as something that has the potential to be tangible, something in which we could interact in a more physical and natural way. He links creativity and technology in his efforts to produce differently and to bridge the gap between electronic and print media.



He first distinguishes between digital and electronic media, one of the main tenets of his recent show Unnatural Selection. He believes that letters from the Roman alphabet, for example, are digital and have the same meaning, regardless of whether they are hand written, printed or sculptured. In other words, digital systems need not be binary or electronic. Lüdeke believes that “Electronic, binary media has become synonymous with the concept 'digital' since it’s easy to accurately transmit and reproduce 0’s and 1’s through electronic circuits and has thus become ubiquitous. The exciting aspect of electronic media is that it’s computable. Media can, therefore, be transformed and disseminated in new and organic ways. Online media runs on inorganic machinery, but the software platforms and processes of creating media on, for example, social networks become organic in nature.”

Lüdeke sees print media as Dry Digital media and electronic digital media as Wet Electronics. The dry, tangible nature of print media gives it the quality of being Dry Digital media. In Lüdeke's view, once we disseminate Dry Digital media, information and meaning may become illegible or even lost. Electronic digital media, on the other hand, is fluid, travelling quickly. Information in this form remains intact and meaning does not deteriorate once it has been disseminated. “Fluidity also means that the creation and processing of digital media becomes easy,” says Lüdeke. “When we manipulate these digital electronic images, not only does information become fluid, but wet as well. The shine and glossiness of tangible prints become wet again.”

Arnoldoa

Through his unrelenting fascination with technology and its potential to go further, he creates images that are at once fluid and static; both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’. He works with virtual spaces, traditionally seen as intangible, and tries to create what he calls Tangible Virtual Space Interfaces by transforming its fluid, electronic digital nature to the dry digital nature of printed media.

Unnatural Selection is a collection of organic images that resemble butterflies, but are, in fact, digital collages of images of shoes collected from a variety of commercial online shoe advertisements. “It needed to be a product that’s easily accessible and varied in form, texture and colour, as to provide enough material to satisfy the collage process,” says Lüdeke. He believes that the collaged images should be arranged in patterns that form digital signatures, so that their meaning would be transferred not only from the glossy screen to the glossy prints, but also from glossy prints to photographs and subsequent reproductions. “Each shoe fly could by likened to a character, and whole arrangements as pages from a sci-fi novel,” says Lüdeke. “The patterns of the butterflies signify their digital nature, but through the collages being printed on organic material, they may fade and degrade again, ultimately experiencing the death associated with organic entities.”

Greenleaf Canvas

“Form and function are intrinsically linked. There’s ample evidence of people’s sentiments embedded in the acquisition, use and customisation of their possessions. Yet underneath all the veneer, the underlying functions remain. In my view, technology is about solving important problems and, therefore, creativity needs to be employed in a serious manner. Whimsical technology is backwardly created and serves its own purpose. Creativity employed in finding truly great designs serves a higher purpose in my view. After important solutions are designed, we can worry about playing with the surface aesthetic.”

 

“Unnatural Selection refers to the fact that electronic platforms are driven by humans, not computers,” says Lüdeke. “When buying shoes online, you engage with a virtual interface that connects the whole supply chain, with its accompanying environmental impact.” It is in this way that Lüdeke tries to find ways of transporting online commercial media into tangible, tactile spaces within the context of consumerism. Although he was aware of the ‘skoenlapper’ concept, it was not Lüdeke's intention to connect with the Afrikaans. It is incidental and unavoidable.



During the first stage of this evolutionary process, the digital prints remind us to re-integrate our online experiences with everyday life; we need to remain or become grounded again. “During the project I was concerned with the environmentalist buzz saturating the media. I needed an industrially produced product that serves as a metaphor for the way people create their identities via consumerism.” Lüdeke chose to digitally collage shoes as they provide a “container identity” the moment you step into them, yet they also physically separate you from the earth. The result is a symbolic “Cyberian” species that hints at the transformation of earth as a nurturer into a Femme Fatale.

A second phase finds us interacting with these forms through an interactive digital projection - tangible, but still virtual. Currently, Lüdeke is considering transforming the two dimensional designs into autonomous flying sculptures.

"Computers and the internet in particular, provide a global democratic platform. But only for those that are both literate and computer literate. My work attempts to convey some of the magical qualities inherent in communicating via virtual spaces, especially for people who don’t intimately know the possibilities of electronic communication. Concepts of the exchange of knowledge and products are integral in my collages. The prints provide only a glimpse into online realties, but stimulate conversation about the politics of being/becoming engaged in electronic space.” During his first show at the Association of Arts, he had an interactive projection where people could interact with projected butterflies that would respond to touch. These types of ‘physical computing’ spaces, according to Lüdeke, mediate between the illiterate/uninitiated and virtual space. “Without any foreknowledge of how computers work, one can engage with elements of virtual worlds by the wave of a hand. I intend to develop more such portals for future shows.”



Greenleaf

Thereafter, he spent two years at the Cape Town-based Studio 2666 art collective. He also crossed over into the theatrical, winning a Fleur du Cap award for best props made for Lara Foot-Newton's award winning Karoo Moose in 2008.

Unnatural Selection is Lüdeke's debut solo exhibition. It made its first appearance at the Association of Arts Pretoria in April 2010. The exhibition opened at Artspace Warehouse in Johannesburg on 5 September 2010 and ended 2 October 2010. “I’m happy with the positive response. This show provides a decent platform from which future works will evolve.”

Based in Melkbosstrand, Lüdeke studied at three different institutions. He first studied a specialised year course in 3D animation at Allenby Campus, followed by a course in Visual Communication at Open Window Art Academy, including modules in 3D Animation, Layout, Web Design, Drawing, Painting and Photography. He finally graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Stellenbosch in 2006. During his university studies, he did stop-frame experiments and learnt much from Rosalin Burr, a lecturer in animation, social theory/art history and drawing.

Thereafter, he spent two years at the Cape Town-based Studio 2666 art collective. He also crossed over into the theatrical, winning a Fleur du Cap award for best props made for Lara Foot-Newton's award winning Karoo Moose in 2008.

Unnatural Selection is Lüdeke's debut solo exhibition. It made its first appearance at the Association of Arts Pretoria in April 2010. The exhibition opened at Artspace Warehouse in Johannesburg on 5 September 2010 and ended 2 October 2010. “I’m happy with the positive response. This show provides a decent platform from which future works will evolve.”