Reading 24

Fiona Raby “Project #26765: Flirt”

http://a.parsons.edu/~srance/fall05/major_studio1/readings/flirt.pdf

This article

Reading 33

Matt Locke “Being here – some moving stories about mobile technology” (Receiver Issue 05)

http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/05/articles/inner03a.html

In this article Matt Locke addresses the changing notion of location and how mobile technologies affect our idea of space. While our present state of always connectedness makes place less significant there is still an importance placed on location and how it relates to our “signal strength” or connection to the omnipresent “network”. Locke also gives two examples of mobile projects; one which attempts to change the user’s location by adding a fictional hazard to their physical location as seen by the network, the other rewards users for maintaining a constant daily routine with consequences for deviation.

I find the idea of eddies and shadows of information and signal and how they relate to physical architecture very interesting. This unseen data stream, influenced like the flow of water or air, creates a new topography defined by the information which keeps us connected and lifts the physical barriers of location. It sounds like a great mapping project to visualize the information as it travels around us.

Reading 34

Mizuko Ito “Mobiles and the appropriation of space,” (Receiver Issue 08)

http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/08/articles/index07.html

In this essay Mizuko Ito examines the way in which the mobile phone has changed the methods of communication between Japanese youth in co-presence, or “flesh meet” / “meet space” interactions. She and her researchers examine how the events prior to, during, and following a physical meeting are affected by the new modes of communication offered by the cell phone. The main differences that she identifies are how physical meetings are made more fluid and are subject to less rigid times and locations of meeting, enable for extended social interactions by including friends that are separated by space, and allow for more immediate access to information pertinent to the meeting and quicker post-meeting follow up. It is this immediacy and casualness that are facilitated by the use of the cell phone as a mobile communication device, always keeping the user up to date and constantly adjusting to new circumstances.

While her essay focuses on the habits of Japanese youth, I think that many of the same conclusions and methods of communication are true of many younger generation cell phone users. One of the most interesting things for me is that in this always-on/connected youth culture there seems to be a desire to eradicate any sort of downtime and instead fill it with short messages or seemingly frivolous communication. I also believe that the internet and its constantly updating and responding to changing information has largely shaped this sort of communication while MTV and videogames have furthered this short attention span wielding user that craves constant entertainment or other mediated engagement. Personally I like to turn my phone off every once and awhile and become unreachable.

Today in class a few of my classmates presented their “superstars” as part of the class’ “Superstar Smackdown” assignment. While I knew two of the four superstars presented, I picked up a ton of great links. Links which follow a superstar do not necessarily correspond to them but were merely mentioned during the presentation.

Superstars:

Daniel Brown
www.play-create.com
www.danielbrowns.com

Gary Hill
Titles by Gary Hill at Electronic Arts Intermix

Bruce Mau
www.experimentaljetset.nl
Transmaterial (website) (book)

Nando Costa
Linn Olofsdottier Costa
Modernista!

Some other links mentioned in class:
Josh Davis / Praystation
James Patterson / PRESSTUBE
John Maeda
Plumb Design (now Thinkmap)
aesthetics + computation group
karlssonwilker inc.’s TELLMEWHY : The First 24 Months of a New York Design Company

Some other artists that I’m considering as my “superstar” (I threw a design firm and artist collective in for good measure):
Tomato
Blast Theory
Marina Zurkow
Camille Utterback
Anthony McCall

For my field guide I would like to focus on security / surveillance cameras. Here are some related links:
Institue for Applied Autonomy
New York Surveillance Camera Players

I went to go see Jennifer Crowe and Scott Paterson’s piece Follow Through at the Whitney last night and was reminded of how unpleasant a trip to the Whitney can be. I like Scott’s piece, don’t get me wrong, but some of the people at the Whitney are downright snotty. I’m not fond of the trek up to the UES, in fact it’s a place I rarely like to go, and once inside the doors at the self-important, venerable institution during Friday’s pay-what-you-wish plebe-friendly night I proceeded to the ticket counter and was proudly able to come up with $6 for my girlfriend and I. Now I was only there to see Scott’s piece and sure, I checked out the Ed Ruscha exhibit too, but when greeted with a snotty “Six dollars for the both of you?” from the museum’s “guest services associate” and his accompanying snide look of disdain I was questioning whether it was worth the trip, and my $6. If you’re not willing to except the meager and modest donations from students and struggling artists, why have a pay-what-you-wish night at all.

Once I had my $3 sticker applied to my coat (that’s right, you’re not getting coat check money too…) I set off with a very nice looking Toshiba Pocket PC to the 5th floor to experience Follow Through. Once upstairs with my headphones on I immediately felt part of a lower caste of museum goer, those who use the audio guides. I put this feeling behind me though and proceeded to get to know my Pcoket PC. My first reaction to interactive pieces is to figure out the interactivity, how does it work and what are the operating principles. I quickly determined that each room of the Whitney’s permanent collection had its own set of behaviors that were displayed seemingly at random when the number of the audio tour was punched into my PDA. My next inclination was not to experience the piece but determine the number of different codified behaviors. I found the most interesting aspect of the piece were the behaviors that Jennifer and Scott identified. Each audio guide number entered into the PDA resulted in not only the audio for the tour but a corresponding behavioral instruction specific to museum goers. My favorite was (I took a photo of the screen with my phone but can’t seem to find it so I”ll try to paraphrase) “Raise two fingers to your neck and check your pulse”. I have actually seen museum visitors do this and on more than one occasion. Is this a test to determine their emotional reaction to the piece? Are museum goes so geriatric that they need to check to see if they are still alive?

While I enjoyed Follow Through’s identification and codification of behaviors specific to the museum setting I can’t say that it furthered the museum experience for me, perhaps that wasn’t the point. The project, I feel, did not take itself too seriously and poked fun at the stuffiness of the museum environment and predicible actions of museum visitors. This lightheartedness I feel I can learn from as I often begin to take myself and my work a bit too seriously.

I also dug the the Ed Ruscha exhibit during my speed walk through it, it’s a good example of that geometric formalism that I seem so drawn toward.

One of the most interesting things I came across though was downstairs in the Whitney’s bathroom.  There was a fire alarm which was emitting a regular series of buzzing tones.  I recorded the audio with my phone and have tried to increase the volume.  You can hear it here.

Scott Paterson says go see this show: Andrea Zittel: Critical Space at the New Museum

His show, Follow Through, at the Whitney is closing this weekend.

In Scott’s Major Studio class we must choose a figure working in art, media, design, etc. and record aspects of their work, thinking, etc. that is inspirational. My first inclination is to focus on Vito Acconci. Who are other possible people? : Marina Zurkow, Camille Utterback, diller & scofidio, ???

We also have to choose two projects which represent us and our current work. BarTalk, Max final project?, a DM1 piece?

One area I would like to explore in this course is interactive architecture and video.
Augmented Reality Kitchen: http://web.media.mit.edu/~jackylee/kitchen.htm