In this dialogue Greg Sidal talks to app-art.org about his network and
digital artworks. Greg is author of Drive Scroll, a screen saver that
copies the contents of your hard drive to your monitor.
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Q: Could you explain a little the idea behind DriveScroll? What was it
about scrolling a disk's content across the screen that appealed to you?
Greg Sidal: The program takes the data from the drive in the native
format of the drive hardware and puts it on the monitor in the native
format of the monitor hardware. The display is set to slowly scroll
because that is just a practical way to allow the human visual cortex to
absorb the data. The program does not rely on layers of software
interpretation to organize the data, nor is there an attempt to
reinterpret the data either.
Q: DriveScroll doesn't make any decisions based on the data it is
reading–it displays everything, regardless of the format. Was the
decision to do that an aesthetic one, or are you exploring ideas behind
the storage and representation of human-readable data?
Greg Sidal: DriveScroll does not attempt to organize the data, but must
accept that some sort of structure is unavoidable in order to place the
data into human perception. Data that can not be perceived in some way
does not really exist in any practical sense. For example, the existence
of cosmic radiation was discovered by accident as a byproduct of the
development of the radio medium. The 'static' the device was detecting
was unexpected because there was no previous way of placing that data
into human perception. DriveScroll's operation is related to radio and
television interference.
Q: Why is DriveScroll a screen saver? Some people have pointed out that
a lot of "generative" visual software falls into the trap of being best-
suited as a passive entertainment device (think Cthugtha, Apple iTunes,
etc). How does DriveScroll avoid this cliche?
Greg Sidal: Yes, the corporate screen saver as a type of art is a
cliche. To employ this kind of envelope to show unprocessed data, or
essentially remove the corporate controlled layers of software
interpretation, is disruptive to some extent (perhaps like Holzer's
advertising display disruptions). DriveScroll avoids software
interpretation but is also a specific type of software itself, which is
an unavoidable contradiction. The screen saver also has an interesting
relationship with the user–a screen saver won't run while the user is
at the computer, so it is not exactly passive. Like all application
software, a screen saver is something that people install on the private
space of their PC and make thier own. As everyone knows, access to and
control of this space has become very politicized.
Q: You recently open sourced Drive Scroll. Was this a politically
motivated gesture? (If yes, how does it relate to DriveScroll being a
piece of art?)
Greg Sidal: First, providing the source code allows users to customize
DriveScroll in any way they choose. The idea that this makes authorship
fuzzy doesn't bother me because the license ("terms of use") mandates
that modifications be published and clearly marked. I've always thought
that software has much in common with architecture, and it is common for
buildings to be designed and extended by different architects. Software
and architecture are both functional, interactive, and technology
intensive.
Greg Sidal: Second, the source code is part of the curatorial package,
like a statement. The source code can help to reveal what the author(s)
were thinking about, etc.
Q: What is the most valuable aspect of Open Source software to you?
Greg Sidal: Probably the most valuable aspect of the open source
movement is its recognition of the importance of public space. The
movement may not be successful in replacing Windows, for example, but
its existence as a powerful force indicates a strong resistance to
closed (private) systems and decision controlled by concentrated powers.
I am very positive about peer to peer approaches, and I see the open
source movement as one possible P2P approach to organizing labor,
production, and distribution. It's interesting to see that P2P
approaches have won out consistently on the net. Chat rooms, email list
communities, Usenet, messaging, auctions, person to person money
transfers, and file sharing are all examples of P2P, many of which trace
their heritage to BBS systems.
Q: You've also got a couple of other projects at your web site, one of
which is your "AE Generator" from 1992. As you've been writing artistic
software for such a long time, have you developed a critical theory
about art and software which runs throughout your work? Are we
witnessing these same theories in play with your "Illicit images," which
appears to stand apart from your software?
Greg Sidal: In 1992 much of the computer art works I was aware of were
mostly demonstrations of technical prowess (like fractal generators), so
I started playing with stuff that was more conceptual. Like drip
paintings, AE Generator is technically trivial, and intentionally so.
"Illicit images" isn't software, but was created with some customized
software, so it is similar in that respect. I like the way "Illicit
images" doesn't fit nicely into any genre, it might be net art,
generative art, or just old-fashioned still image manipulation. Like
DriveScroll, "Illicit images" also directly aestheticizes data, but
there is more of a deliberate confusion between data and image since
images make up the source material. It is very interesting to take a
digital image and operate on it with dataspace algorithms. To accomplish
these kinds of disruptions you must be prepared to write or customize
software.
When creating "Illicit images," I adopted the modus operandi of the
underground pornography publisher, not the commercial purveyers, but the
covert community who have a passion for the material and a belief that
they are performing a valued public service. I sometimes also adopt MOs
of the hacker and other marginal groups that owe thier existence to this
technology. Also, when creating this piece I played a cat and mouse game
with the law, which is another kind of program.
I don't really have a critical theory per se, but I do try to locate and
distill the really important issues, both aesthetically and
conceptually. I am interested in the patterns of behaviour and
production that form the technosocial reality, and in the relationship
between perception and class dynamics.
