This year, the Interactive Art category drew 507 entries from around the world, and the MILK project stood out from the crowd to receive the Golden Nica (the grand prix).

The project tracked milk produced at a Latvian ranch as it journeyed to Dutch consumers. In the exhibit, a map, a projected image and a GPS monitor revealed the video documentation of the ranch owner, the workers carrying the milk, the machine that processes the milk into cheese, the transporters who ship it all the way to Holland, the vendors at a Dutch market selling the cheese, and the consumers themselves. Showing photos, text, and voice as well, the film progresses lightly.

What the project organizer did was give each person a GPS tracker, and as the wagons they moved around in were projected onto a stylish wooden-framed monitor. In the exhibit space, little enhancements like a cool lampshade and the bench used to squeeze milk helped to create the mood.

The exhibit displayed lives of all these people connected by milk, but I thought if it was told by video instead of photography, you would get a sense of their everyday lives.

Also, the nationalities of the 3 people interviewed are Latvian with person in the center being Dutch. You can also experience this exhibit on the web. Take a look at the beautiful photos and all the warmhearted people connected by milk.
...MILKproject’s Site

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This was exhibited in Linz's Central Station. I pushed my way through a crowd of people to find a kid sleeping under a blanket. The thing is, the blanket was wiggling and squiggling furiously. Apparently, the blanket tries to wrap around the sleeping person when they move, and this helps them sleep better... Wow, huh?

What was interesting is that they used a station as the exhibition space. The exhibit made you feel like you were at a stall which sold these bizarre "moving blankets", rather than an "exhibition space" as such. You could test the blanket out in the testing space, and if you liked it you could buy it on the spot.

Exhibitions that feature "fake" media artworks such as this are interesting, and they work. ARS took this particular work into the public realm because they saw its potential to attract people and engage with its environment. Very impressive.

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My first recommendation. This is the thing I wanted to show you all the most. It was a giant dinosaur-skeleton-like thing that appeared in Haupt Square, which is in the center of town and features a huge statue of the Holy Trinity. Just when you think it's standing still, it suddenly starts moving with this whooshing noise! When you look at it closely you can see that it's made of countless yellow plastic tubes connected together. There isn't a single nail in the whole thing, and the joints are fastened together using wooden poles and stuff. What powers it isn't electricity, but air... When it moves its wings, an air compressor made out of plastic bottles draws in air, and when that air is released, the joints move. Basically, the wings are its gills and the plastic bottles are its lungs. It was seriously well made. And the size of it was astounding.

The artist who made it was a cool-looking older guy. Theo Jansen was born and raised on the coast of Holland, and spent fourteen years making Strandbeest. This is definitely what you'd call a "life work." With this and Marnix's "Run Motherfucker Run," it seems like I tend to be drawn to things made by Dutch artists. Same goes for soccer and architecture...

Strandbeest's Site
http://www.strandbeest.com/

Enjoy this artwork.