Editing Ubermorgen

{{short description|Swiss-Austrian-American artist duo}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = UBERMORGEN.COM
| image         = UBERMORGEN.COM lizvlx & Hans Bernhard with Guantanamo Bay Prison Guard Chris Arendt.png
| caption       = UBERMORGEN.COM lizvlx & Luzius Bernhard with Guantanamo Bay Prison Guard Chris Arendt
| birth_date    = Established 1995
| birth_place   =
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| nationality   = AT/CH/USA
| known_for     = [[Installation art|Installation]], [[Internet Art]], Video, Photography, Performance
| training      = [[University of Applied Arts Vienna]], [[Vienna University of Economics and Business]]
| movement      = Media Hacking,<ref>[http://www.westfaelischer-kunstverein.de/index.php?page=publikationen_2008] Carina Plath, Westfälischer Kunstverein (ed), Futurologischer Kongress, Frankfurt am Main 2006 ({{ISBN|978-3-86588-468-8}})</ref> [[Conceptual Art]]
| notable_works = [[Voteauction]], Nazi~Line, EKMRZ-Trilogy, Generator Tetralogy, CLICKISTAN, Asylabwehramt, Superenhanced, WOPPOW
| patrons       =
| awards        = [[ARCO]] Beep, Ars Electronica, IBM, Swiss Art Award
}}
[[File:Vote-Auction Seal.jpg|thumb|Vote-Auction Seal, 200 x 200 cm, digital print on canvas, 2000]]
[[File:GWEI Installation The Premises Gallery Johannesburg.jpg|thumb|GWEI – Google Will Eat Itself – Installation, The Premises Gallery, Johannensburg, 2005]]
[[File:TORTURE CLASSICS Installation, Basel, June 2011.png|thumb|TORTURE CLASSICS Installation Basel, mixed media, 2011]]
[[File:Lizvlx & Billie-Ada from UBERMORGEN.COM during a performance in Damascus, Syria.png|thumb|Lizvlx & Billie-Ada from UBERMORGEN.COM during a performance in Damascus, Syria]]
[[File:Hans Bernhard inside Sound of eBay Installation, Madrid, 2009.png|thumb|Luzius Bernhard inside Sound of eBay Installation, Madrid, 2009]]

'''UBERMORGEN.COM''' is a Swiss-Austrian-American artist duo founded in 1995 and consisting of lizvlx and Luzius Bernhard.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0066210763] Adam Wishart, Regula Bochsler, Leaving Reality Behind: etoy vs eToys.com & other battles to control cyberspace, Ecco, 2003 ({{ISBN|978-0066210766}})</ref> They live and work in [[Basel]], [[S-chanf]] near [[St. Moritz]] and in [[Vienna]], where both are professors at the [[University of Applied Arts Vienna]].<ref>[https://www.dieangewandte.at/jart/prj3/angewandte-2016/main.jart?rel=en&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1458930944469&Pe-Id=9169 Haas, Liz Univ.-Prof. Mag. rer. soc. oec. - Contact - dieAngewandte]</ref><ref>[https://www.dieangewandte.at/jart/prj3/angewandte-2016/main.jart?rel=en&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1458930944469&Pe-Id=9170 Bernhard, Luzius Univ.-Prof. Mag.art. - Contact - dieAngewandte]</ref>

== Work ==
Their main body of work consists of [[internet art]]/[[net.art]], [[Installation art|installation]], video art,<ref>[http://newmediafix.net/daily/?p=958 Gamescenes: the book], M. Bittanti, D. Quaranta (eds), GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames, Milan, Johan & Levi Editore, Milano 2006 ({{ISBN|978-8860100108}})</ref><ref>Domenico Quaranta, Yves Bernard (eds), Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, FPEditions, Brescia 2008 ({{ISBN|978-8890330865}})</ref>{{citation needed|reason=See Talk page "Bad Citation / ISBN"|date=June 2015}} photography, [[software art]],<ref>Olga Goriunova, Alexei Shulgin (eds), THE READ_ME Software Art & Cultures, Aarhus 2004 ({{ISBN|978-87-988440-4-4}})</ref> performance and uses the convergence of [[Digital data|digital]] media<ref>[http://cre.fm/cre132-ubermorgen-com UBERMORGEN.COM at CRE/Chaos Radio with Tim Pritlove] (German)</ref> to produce and publish [[online]] and offline.<ref>[http://we-make-money-not-art.com/the_first_panel_of_positions_1/ WMMNA/we-make-money-not-art UBERMORGEN.COM Interview]</ref><ref>Christine Böhler, Literatur im Netz, Triton Verlag, Wien 2001 ({{ISBN|3-85486-103-6}}), p92, Interview with UBERMORGEN.COM</ref>

Their early works were ''media hacking''<ref>Lentos Museum of Modern Art (ed), Just do it!, Edition Selene, Vienna 2005 ({{ISBN|3-85266-267-2}})</ref><ref>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/89006/Armin-Medosch-Janko-Rottgers-Netzpiraten-Die-Kultur-des-elektronischen-Verbrechens "Netzpiraten. Die Kultur des elektronischen Verbrechens"], Armin Medosch and Janko Röttgers, Heise / Telepolis, [V]ote-auction, Ars Electronica Jury-Hack and etoy, p. 69-88 ({{ISBN|388229-188-5}})</ref> projects using low-tech tools to reach very large audiences. During the work on their best known project [[Voteauction]] (2000) [[CNN]].com called them "Maverick Austrian Businessmen".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/24/internet.vote/index.html |title=Vote-selling Web site to be revived, possibly offshore |website=CNN.com |date=August 2000 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023231003/http://transcripts.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/24/internet.vote/index.html |archivedate=October 23, 2012 }}</ref> The project resulted in an onslaught of lawsuits issued by Illinois, Texas, Arizona, California, Missouri, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Steinberg|first=Monica|date=2021-07-03|title=Coercive Disobedience: Art and Simulated Transgression|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|journal=Art Journal|volume=80|issue=3|pages=78–99|doi=10.1080/00043249.2021.1920288|s2cid=237576098 |issn=0004-3249|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 2001, they started a collaboration with [[Christoph Schlingensief]] for the development and staging of a [[Hamlet]] project in Zurich: NAZI~LINE, a bigger than life fake neo-Nazi helpline and exit strategy finding agency.

In 2005 they started the EKMRZ Trilogy, a series of conceptual hacks (GWEI<ref>Slavo Krekovic, [http://www.springerin.at/dyn/heft.php?id=47&pos=1&textid=1756&lang=en Will Google Eat Itself?], Springerin.at</ref><ref>[http://www.culture-jamming.de/interviewIe.html Culture Jamming – Interview with Hans Bernhard]</ref> – [[Google]] Will Eat Itself, [[Amazon.com|Amazon]] Noir and The Sound of [[eBay]]).

Between 2007–2011 their focus went into research-based productions (Superenhanced, WOPPOW, KRAFT Series)<ref>[http://ubermorgen.com/manifesto UBERMORGEN.COM Manifesto], RC1 (release-copy 1) presented at "Positions in Flux" Symposium, The Netherlands Media Art Institute Amsterdam, 8.5.2009, published online Vienna, 28.7.2009</ref> and Rock Art productions such as TORTURE CLASSICS<ref>[http://tortureclassics.com TORTURE CLASSICS PROJECT 2010], UBERMORGEN.COM feat. James Powderly</ref> and CLICKISTAN (commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art).<ref>[http://clickistan.org CLICKISTAN PROJECT 2010]</ref> They started to work extensively with video during this period.

Since 1999 their work has been shown in museums and galleries in Europe, [[United States|America]], Africa, Australia and Asia and include venues such as [[SFMOMA]], [[Centre Pompidou]], Konsthall Malmoe, NTT ICC Museum Tokyo, Gwangju Design Biennale, [[ZKM]] Karlsruhe, [[MUMOK]] Vienna, [[Ars Electronica]] Linz, WRO Media Art Biennale [[Wrocław]], [[MoCA Taipei]], [[Witte de With]] Rotterdam, [[Lentos Art Museum]] Linz, [[Biennale of Sydney]], [[ARCO]] Madrid and the [[New Museum]] New York.<ref>[http://ubermorgen.com/books/UBERMORGEN_highres.pdf][https://www.amazon.de/dp/385616460X] Alessandro Ludovico (ed), UBERMORGEN.COM – MEDIA HACKING VS. CONCEPTUAL ART, Christoph Merian Verlag, [[Basel]] 2009 ({{ISBN|978-3856164607}}), p.198-299</ref>

They have been represented by Fabio Paris [[Brescia]], [DAM] Berlin and Carroll / Fletcher London.

===Injunction generator===
The '''Injunction Generator''' is an [[Internet art|artistic]] [[software]] module by Ubermorgen which claims to generate on request legal [[injunction]]s and personalized documentation in .rtf/.pdf format to force a website into taking its contents offline.

Carrying on with their principles of "radical corporative marketing strategy" ([[media hacking]]), the artists produced an effective and credible interface which helps creating one's own documented [[cease-and-desist]] request, which is then automatically sent to the [[Domain Name System|DNS]] administrators, to the site's owner and to some journalists to trick them into supporting the "public trial".

The project is published at ''ipnic.org'', an acronym which mimics the official protocols ([[Internet Protocol]] - [[Network Information Center]]), revisited as "Internet Partnership for No Internet Content".

This sarcastic provocation (a "public shutdown service") was conceived after experiencing a similar mishap during the [[Voteauction]] art project, which in 2000 invited American citizens to put up their vote for auction. At the time an email injunction by an American court was sent to the Swiss [[internet service provider]] hosting the site, who immediately took them offline even though emailed documents aren't legally considered official and even though [[Switzerland]] is outside of American jurisdiction.

==Life and career==

Lizvlx and Luzius Bernhard are an artist duo<ref>[http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=32348&int_modo=1] Art Daily "Artist Duo Ubermorgen.com Celebrate Tenth Anniversary with New Book"</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JV5tmI1u3acC&q=AG+Borderline-Kongress+BORDERLINE+Strategien] AG Borderline-Kongress (ed), BORDERLINE – Strategien u. Taktiken f. Kunst u. soziale Praxis, Wiesbaden 2002, p.21-32 ({{ISBN|3-8311-3775-7}})</ref> but also a couple in private life.<ref>[http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artist/ubermorgen.com/biography/] Media Art Net / Medienkunstnetz, artist biography UBERMORGEN.COM</ref> They are engaged and have two children, Billie-Ada (2003) and Lola Mae (2007).

Lizvlx was born in Linz (AT) and grew up in [[Wels]], Salzburg and [[Elmira, New York|Elmira]] (Upstate New York). Luzius Bernhard was born at the Yale University Hospital in [[New Haven]] (USA), grew up in New Haven and [[Basel]] (CH) and moved to [[Vienna]] (AT) to study with Prof. [[Peter Weibel]], and later on with Prof. [[Lev Manovich]] (UCSD), Prof. [[Peter Lunenfeld]] ([[Art Center College of Design]]) [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] and Prof. Bazon Brock (emeritus) [[:de:Bazon Brock]] ([[Wuppertal]]) and completed his studies in 1999.

Due to his drug abuse and a [[mania|manic]] episode in [[Cape Town]] 2002, Luzius Bernhard was diagnosed [[bipolar disorder|bipolar]].<ref>[http://www.imal.org/HolyFire/en/?page_id=42] HOLY FIRE, Art at the digital age, Psych|OS project, Courtesy Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia</ref><ref>[http://www.ubermorgen.com/lectures/univ_applied_art_09_2004/psychosx.html] Scriptum, first UM.COM/Hans Bernhard lecture on "Drugs&Art" after the manic episode 2002, [[University of Applied Arts Vienna]]</ref><ref>[http://ubermorgen.com/psychos/] Psych|OS Cycle by UBERMORGEN.COM, 2001–2010</ref>

Their earliest works were part of the avantgarde [[Net.art]] movement ([[etoy]],<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/14/firstchapters.reviews] The Guardian, Excerpted from Leaving Reality Behind by Adam Wishart and Regula Bochsler (Fourth Estate)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JV5tmI1u3acC&q=AG+Borderline-Kongress+BORDERLINE+Strategien] AG Borderline-Kongress (ed), BORDERLINE – Strategien u. Taktiken f. Kunst u. soziale Praxis, Wiesbaden 2002, p.33-42, Reinhold Grether on"Wie die [[etoy]] Kampagne gefuehrt wurde – ein Agentenbericht" ({{ISBN|3-8311-3775-7}})</ref> 1994–1998, 194.152.164.137,<ref>[http://www.ubermorgen.com/194/000.html] Authorized copy of 194.152.164.137, a collaborative project by lizvlx and Andrea Mayr</ref> 1996) and were exclusively shown online ([[World Wide Web]]/WWW).<ref>[http://www.transmediale.de/content/book-launch-interface-criticism-aesthetics-beyond-buttons-s%C3%B8ren-pold-christian-ulrik-2011] Christian Ulrik Andersen, Soeren Bro Pold (eds), Interface Criticism. Aesthetics Beyond Buttons, Aarhus University Press, Aarhus 2011 ({{ISBN|978-8779345041}})</ref><ref>[ftp://afrolinux.org/books/ConnessioniLeggendarie.pdf]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Exhibition Catalogue Connessioni Leggendarie, Net.Art 1995–2005, ready+made publisher, online version, PDF, [http://www.digicult.it/digimag/article.asp?id=259]  Digimag09/NOV05, Review by Marco Mancuso</ref> This work became part of the [[Internet art]] and [[Digital art]] history and is researched at universities ([[dissertation]]s, thesis)<ref>[http://whitney.org/Membership/AnnualFund/2010/Artists] [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], 2010 Annual Fund Project, About the artists</ref><ref>[[Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft]] Inga Reimers writes in her masters thesis "(Selbst-)Inszenierung – Praxis – Kunst. Eine kulturwissenschaftliche Annäherung an das „hybrid Gesamtkunstwerk ubermorgen.com“ about the relation of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" and Richard Wagner "Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft" [http://www.ubermorgen.com/2010/pdfs/Selbstinszenierung-Praxis-Kunst_I.Reimers.pdf], Universität [[Hamburg]], 2009</ref> and taught in ([[Art history]]).<ref>[http://www.art-in-berlin.de/incbmeld.php?id=565&-DAMDAM] Interview with Wolf Lieser about: "WOLF LIESER – DIGITAL ART – NEUE WEGE IN DER KUNST/THE WORLD OF DIGITAL ART", h.f. ullmann publisher /  DAM Berlin – Galerie für Digitale Kunst, 2010</ref>

The collaboration with both their children (Superenhanced<ref>[http://ipnic.org/superenhanced] Superenhanced project, [http://www.superenhanced.com] Superenhanced Generator</ref><ref>[http://www.isea2009.org/images/catalogue2.pdf] Keynote & Superenhanced Installation at [ISEA]09 in [Belfast], [Northern Ireland]</ref> & Spielendes Baby – Schlafendes Baby (original title)<ref>[http://ubermorgen.com/baby/] [http://www.ubermorgen.com/exhibitions/installations/spielendes_baby/bilder_folge/index1.html] Project website and images, Installation exhibited 18.2. – 29.2.2004 at [Kunsthaus Graz]</ref>), the inclusion of Luzius's mental illness and the merger of private and public life led some critics and academics to consider UBERMORGEN.COM as a [[Gesamtkunstwerk]].<ref>[http://artwarez.org/uploads/media/UBERMORGEN-Sollfrank_01.pdf] Cornelia Sollfrank, 2009, "Das Genie von übermorgen"</ref>

Important personal and artistic influences were early meetings with [[Jean Tinguely]], [[Joseph Beuys]], [[Daniel Spoerri]] and Eberhard W. Kornfeld in the Basel art scene of the 1980s and with [[Niki de Saint Phalle]]<ref>[http://www.g26.ch/bern_gaeste_niki_saint_phalle.html] Niki de Saint Phalle 29.10.1930 Neuilly – 21.5.2002 San Diego</ref> in St. Moritz, and the long-time relationship (going back to 1916 during the first world war and the purchase of a [[Giovanni Giacometti]] painting by the grand-grandfather of Luzius Bernhard) with the Giacometti family (Giovanni Giacometti, [[Alberto Giacometti]]) in the nearby mountain valleys [[Val Bregaglia]] and [[Engadin]] in the canton [[Grisons]] in Switzerland.<ref>Letters, photos, sales contract and the painting are in the ownership of the Bernhard/Pernisch/Plattner family, archived in S-Chanf and Basel/Switzerland</ref>

==Network==
Over the last 15 years UBERMORGEN.COM has been part of the global contemporary technology art scene. Some mentionable connections and collaborations from this period: Net.Artists [[Alexei Shulgin]],<ref>[http://www.m-cult.org/read_me/text/hans_interview.htm] Bringing Capitalism and Democracy Closer Together, HANS BERNHARD / Ubermorgen Interviewed by Olga Goriunova and Alexei Shulgin</ref> [[Heath Bunting]],<ref>[http://rhizome.org/editorial/2006/jun/12/heath-bunting-ubermorgencom/] OVERGADEN Institute of Contemporary Art in collaboration with Artnode, parallel solo exhibitions Heath Bunting/UBERMORGEN.COM</ref> [[Olia Lialina]], [[Vuk Ćosić]] and with contemporary artists [[Aram Bartholl]], [[Paolo Cirio]], [[James Powderly]]<ref>[http://tortureclassics.com/] TORTURECLASSICS.COM, UBERMORGEN.COM feat. James Powderly, Korea music torture performance 2010 and Beerboarding Performance Ars Electronica Linz [http://fffff.at/the-legendary-night-at-roter-krebs-2010/]</ref> and [[Evan Roth]] from [[Free Art and Technology Lab]] and [[Graffiti Research Lab]], Franco and Eva Mattes ([[0100101110101101.org]]), [[IRWIN]], [[Franz West]], [[Janez Janša (performance artist)|Janez Janša]], [[Johannes Grenzfurthner]] ([[monochrom]]), [[Carsten Nicolai]], [[Minerva Cuevas]], [[The Yes Men]],<ref>[http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/salzburg] Funding and collaboration "Salzburg" WTO/GATT.ORG Stunt, 2000</ref> [[Zhang Peili (artist)|Zhang Peili]], [[Jodi (art collective)|Jodi]], [[Miltos Manetas]], [[Rafael Lozano-Hemmer]], [[Trevor Paglen]], [[Douglas Rushkoff]], [[Lev Manovich]], Olga Goriunova and [[Nicolas Bourriaud]].

==Publications==

* Domenico Quaranta (ed), UBERMORGEN.COM, FPEditions, [[Brescia]] 2009 ({{ISBN|978-8890330858}})
* [[Alessandro Ludovico]] (ed), UBERMORGEN.COM – MEDIA HACKING VS. CONCEPTUAL ART, Christoph Merian Verlag, [[Basel]] 2009 ({{ISBN|978-3856164607}})
* Coded Cultures – New Creative Practices out of Diversity", Series: Edition Angewandte, Russegger, Georg; Tarasiewicz, Matthias; Wlodkowski, Michal (Eds.), SpringerWienNewYork Publisher, 1st Edition., 2011, 384 p.&nbsp;50 illus, Softcover, {{ISBN|978-3-7091-0457-6}}, p.&nbsp;334–355, "From Somebody's Desire to Everyone's Responsibility", Yukiko Shikata/UBERMORGEN.COM,
* [[This is a magazine]], Pink Laser Beam, Compendium #6, [http://www.thisisamagazine.com/pinklaserbeam/compendium.html] [http://www.thisisamagazine.com] [http://www.pinklaserbeam.com], "Pink Laser Beam" Paper, Plastic, Glue, Thread, Metal-foil, Edition of 666, 2009, "Amazon Noir project" (with Alessandro Ludovico and Paolo Cirio).

==Awards==

* [[Pax Art Awards|Pax Art Award]] 2023<ref>[[Art Foundation Pax]], “Award Winners”.[https://www.artfoundationpax.ch/preistrager-2/#ubermorgen] [[HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste)]], Münchenstein/Basel, “PAX Art Awards 2023”.[https://hek.ch/en/projects/pax-art-awards-2023]</ref>
* [[Swiss Art Awards|Swiss Art Award]] 2011,<ref>[http://www.news.admin.ch/NSBSubscriber/message/attachments/23301.pdf], [http://www.news.admin.ch/message/index.html?lang=de&msg-] [http://www.bak.admin.ch/aktuelles/01832/02332/03973/index.html?lang=de] Oldest and most prestigious Award for Swiss Artists, exhibition and award ceremony during ART Basel</ref> TORTURE CLASSICS [http://tortureclassics.com]
* [[ARCO]] Beep Award 2009,<ref>.NewArt { foundation;}, “ARCO – BEEP Electronic Art Award”, Fourth edition.[https://www.newartfoundation.art/award] „Am Kunstmarkt von Übermorgen“, in: ''Der Standard,'' 15.05.2009.[https://www.derstandard.at/story/1234507092752/neue-medien-preis-am-kunstmarkt-von-uebermorgen]</ref> EKMRZ-Trilogy [https://www.ubermorgen.com/EKMRZ_Trilogy/]
* [[IBM]] AWARD FOR NEW MEDIA/Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 2007, Amazon Noir{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
* [[Ars Electronica]] 2005, Award of Distinction for Vote-Auction{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
* [[Ars Electronica]], Honorary Mentions for Injunction Generator (2003) and GWEI – Google Will Eat Itself (2005){{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
* [[Ars Electronica]] 1996, Golden Nica for [[etoy]]/digital hijack (Luzius Bernhard){{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

==References and notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ubermorgen.com UBERMORGEN.COM]
* [http://www.ipnic.org/ Injunction Generator]

[[Category:Swiss contemporary artists]]
[[Category:Internet activists]]
[[Category:Art duos]]
[[Category:Hacker culture]]
[[Category:Austrian contemporary artists]]
[[Category:European artist groups and collectives]]