Premiere of LoveLetters installation in the UK

Dear friends and colleagues,

this is to announce the first show of the

LoveLetters_1.0 installation in the UK!

It will take place at

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Arnolfini in Bristol,

Sat 25 Sept - Sun 21 Nov (exc Mon) 11am - 6pm,
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in the context of the exhibition

"Fun with Software".

Opening will be on the 24th, in the evening. I would be most happy to 
see you there, please contact me in case you need further information,

with kind regards,

David

More info:

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/details/732

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 From August 1953 to May 1954 strange love-letters appeared on the 
notice board of Manchester University's Computer Department:

DARLING SWEETHEART
YOU ARE MY AVID FELLOW FEELING. MY AFFECTION CURIOUSLY CLINGS TO YOUR 
PASSIONATE WISH. MY LIKING YEARNS FOR YOUR HEART. YOU ARE MY WISTFUL 
SYMPATHY: MY TENDER LIKING.
YOURS BEAUTIFULLY
M. U. C.

The acronym M.U.C. stood for "Manchester University Computer", the 
earliest electronic, programmable and universal calculating machine 
worldwide; the fully functional prototype was completed in June 1948 and 
was based on Williams tubes as means of volatile storage. One of the 
very first software developers, Christopher Strachey (1916--1975), had 
used the built-in random generator of the Ferranti Mark I, the first 
industrially produced computer of this kind, to generate texts that are 
intended to express and arouse emotions.

The "LoveLetters_1.0" exhibit consists of two parts. In the exhibition 
hall, the visitors are confronted with a functional replica of the 
Ferranti Mark I, which shows the functionality and also the potential 
risks of the first computer. If the visitor employs the right switches 
of the reconstructed user interface console, it executes the original 
code of Strachey's software. A loveletter is then generated and 
projected outside on a huge surface in a public building, where 
everybody can read it.

If the visitor does manage to type his or her name in Baudot code on the 
computer's type-writer buttons, the love letter will carry this 
signature. "LoveLetters_1.0" allows people to publicly address 
algorithmically generated love letters to each other.

Pushing an illuminated button copies the poem onto the visitor's USB 
stick. Additionally, it can be downloaded from the project's website. 
Once a day, at a randomly selected moment, the machine automatically 
prints a love letter on the restored Creed 7 teleprinter from 1931. 
(This communication device helped organise the British response to 
Hitler's threats.) When the printout is complete, the Mark 1 plays "God 
Save the Queen" on the "hooter" (loudspeaker).

On the electronic tabloid display, the visitor can investigate the 
historical background of the first computer by studying authentic 
documents and photos of the time. The lab notebook of one of its main 
constructors, Geoff Tootill, is presented alongside the maintenance 
engineers' logbook from July 1951, all the manuals for the machine 
(Turing 1952, Prinz 1952) and several sets of photos.
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-- 
Prof. Dr. David Link

Experimental Technologies in the Art Context
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig

Alpha 60 technologies
/Systems/ Development