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

After being mentioned by several professors, most recently by Jun Sassa, I visited Zakka Corp. at 147 Grand Street, between Lafayette and Crosby (google map). The rumors are true about this being a place for inspiration, after a much too short visit I can now say that I have a new favorite store in NYC (did I have a favorite store before?).

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.

… a personality test administered by Jun Sassa.

Imagine you are walking through a forest, what animal are you? What animal comes to mind first? You come across another animal, what is it? You approach a dwelling, what type is it? You enter the dwelling and there is a table, how many legs does it have? On the table is a vase, how much water is in it? How many flowers are held inside?

I am walking through a forest with thick vegetation, abundant flora and fauna much like a rain forest or jungle. I am a black panther, stealthy, calm, curious and I come across a gecko, the gecko from Geicko, who is also curious and is swift. The dwelling I approach is a thatched hut made of grass that looks like it belongs in the forest. It is a modest, circular structure that is flooded with warmth and filtered sun. It is a comfortable place which emanates a sense of calm serenity. The table inside looks as if it sprouted from the floor or hewn from a single, mammoth tree. It has four legs. On top of the table rests a vase who’s water has dried up and which holds a single dried flower.

Apparently this means that I see myself as the black panther, stealthy, calm, and curious. My ideal mate is like the gecko, swift and curious. My current situation in life is represented by the dwelling. Simple and modest, circular with no corners, and made of natural materials. The four legs of the table represent stability. My creative well is reflected by the amount of water in the vase, uh oh. I’m all out of ideas? or is this evident of the space for new ideas waiting to come about? As for the single, dried flower, this is my love life?!? Am I dead inside romantically? or am I simply happy in my current relationship and am simply not on the look out for someone else?

And seriously, what does this have to do with digital motion?

Some good motion graphics resources brought up in class:
www.pleix.net
www.kentanabe.com

and one more for good measure:
videos.antville.org (rss)

Our first project will involve compositing text or imaginary objects into a physical space in a manner which looks convincing. I asked Jun if I could submit something that I am working on outside of class, the LOONER music video that I shot over winter break. This would do double duty and make my life easier but I also have some other ideas …

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.

Today we discussed the definition of ‘new media art’ and named names of its forefathers. For next week we need to buy Digital Art by Christiane Paul and read the introduction and read Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction and write a response to either reading. Some links to the Benjamin article are below:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

http://bid.berkeley.edu/bidclass/readings/benjamin.html

http://www.lilithgallery.com/articles/walter_benjamin.html

…and Adam Chapman is tall.

This class is going to provide me with the chance to do some great-looking video to be projected behind the band LUCKY (http://www.myluckyband.com). I have often winced in pain at the poor quality video projected in conjunction with live music and while I am somewhat concerned by this more scripted presentation style compared to the performative / improvisational method of live mixing I think that the results will create a more holistic audio / visual experience. An added bonus is that this class won’t be taught like a collab, rather the class will be an extension of the existing company Art for Music (http://www.artformusic.org)

The blog that has been setup for this course lives here: http://artformusic.blogspot.com

While every aspect of this class interests me, I think that I would like to try out the role of a producer in the event that the 2nd years don’t want the job. I have done a fair amount of video / event production and have helped organize many of the events that I have mixed for such as Microsoft’s Game Developer Conference XBox release party, SFMoMA, and at the Experience Music Project for bands such as George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, DJ Spooky, Mudhoney, and others. I have also used several video mixers, mostly the Panasonic MX-50 but have also used mixers by Videonics and Edirol. I gladly offer myself as a video junkie and techie for the class.

My experience with video mixing has led me to the believe that 99% of it is bad and does not contribute to the musical experience. I would like to work on this project to create an encompassing, conceptual, symbiotic relationship between music and video, possibly leaving room for interactivity and/or improvisation. If not working in a producer role I would happily work as an After Effects animator, in fact I hope to do some AE work regardless of any other position I might be in.

In my first listen of LUCKY, the song 444 stuck out at me. I love the beat and the lyrics:

“living in cars, picking up stars, on our way to the rodeo
(pick up the phone)?, we ain’t goin’ home, until the cowboys do their show …”

Here are some links to suppliers of things that might come in handy while physical computing.

microEngineering Labs
www.melabs.com

All Electronics
www.allelectronics.com
Digi-Key
www.digikey.com
Mouser Electronics
www.mouser.com
American Science & Surplus
www.sciplus.com

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

Last semester I posted all of my notes on my blog. Many of these posts don’t make any sense to me now and I’m sure they’ll mean even less to anyone else. This semester I will attempt to post notes in a more complete form and will only post when necessary, not necessarily a post every class.