RHIZOME DIGEST: 3.15.02

discussion

Posted March 14 2002 19:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 3.15.02

RHIZOME DIGEST: March 15, 2002 Content: +work+ 1. kanonmedia.com: <<< new media line >>> open 2. turbulence: new works on turbulence +opportunity+ 3. Lucia Leao: call for artists–Plural maps 4. Thom Kevin Gillespie: INDIANA IDEAS 2002 +announcement+ 5. Jon Ippolito: "Who Controls New Media"–Thu Mar 21 at Guggenheim +interview+ 6. Jeremy Turner: Warmdesk–An Interview With William Selman + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 3.5.2002 From: kanonmedia.com (office@kanonmedia.com) Subject: <<< new media line >>> open Keywords: net art, exhibition visit our new project <<< new media line >>> featuring such interesting net.art pieces as: amorphoscapes by stanza (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/stanza1.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/stanza1.htm</a>) ICOn_Portraits by Carlo Zanni [a.k.a. beta] (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/zanni.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/zanni.htm</a>) merry-go-round by Gudrun Kemsa (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/kemsa.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/kemsa.htm</a>) AfterSherrieLevine.com / AfterWalkerEvans.com by Michael Mandiberg (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/mandi.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/mandi.htm</a>) Berlin by Gudrun Kemsa (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/berlin/berlin.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/berlin/berlin.htm</a>) sPACE, Navigable Music by LAB[au] (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/labau.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/labau.htm</a>) NewZoid by Daniel Young (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/young.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/young.htm</a>) The 12hr-ISBN-JPEG Project by Brad Brace (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/brace.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/brace.htm</a>) Ethnic Software by Yevgeniy Fiks (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/fiks.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/fiks.htm</a>) Heart Time / Time Heat by Valery Grancher (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/grancher.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/grancher.htm</a>) Spawn_Kill by Fakeshop/(jeff gompertz) (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/fake.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/fake.htm</a>) pecker by computer fine arts (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/pecker.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/pecker.htm</a>) vib~ratio~n by Reiner Strasser/ Octavia Davis / Bill Marsh (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/vibration.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/vibration.htm</a>) never wake up by Agricola de Cologne (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola1.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola1.htm</a>) project hope by Reiner Strasser / Annie Abrahams / Alan Sondheim (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hope.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hope.htm</a>) Identity of Colour by Agricola de Cologne (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola2.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola2.htm</a>) Hans - a true story by Agricola de Cologne (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola3.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/agricola3.htm</a>) xena by computer fine arts (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/xena.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/xena.htm</a>) Museum of the Mind by Doctor Hugo (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hugo1.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hugo1.htm</a>) cities by judson (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/judson.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/judson.htm</a>) symbiosis by Eric Deis (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/deis.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/deis.htm</a>) Why did you let them change you by Franklin Joyce & the teens (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/joyce.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/joyce.htm</a>) sitting by Eunji Cho (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/cho.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/cho.htm</a>) line by Melinda Rackham (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/rackham.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/rackham.htm</a>) hollyland by computer fine arts (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hollyland.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/hollyland.htm</a>) 'code scares me' by Jessica Loseby (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/code.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/code.htm</a>) 'wolf' by Jessica Loseby (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/wolf.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/wolf.htm</a>) interactive poem / etkilesimli siir by Genco Gulan (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/gulan.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/gulan.htm</a>) WebArt I by Fransje Jepkes (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/jepkes.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/jepkes.htm</a>) opening day by Red Ed (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/reded.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/reded.htm</a>) Digital Totem Poles by Rick Doble (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/doble.htm">http://www.kanonmedia.com/news/nml/doble.htm</a>) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kanonmedia.com">http://www.kanonmedia.com</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ The time has arrived to pick up the new Leonardo Music Journal, (LMJ), Volume 11, including a double CD titled "Not Necessarily 'English Music.'" The journal and CD feature pieces from pioneering U.K. composers and performers from the late 60s through the mid-70s. Visit the LMJ website at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/">http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 3.10.02 From: turbulence (turbulence.org@verizon.net) Subject: new works on turbulence Turbulence is pleased to announce the launch of "Poetic Dialogues 1.0" by Yusef Merhi, and two short works, "Dervish Flowers" and "Moon Tribe" by Nicolas Clauss with Jean-Jacques Berge, music. "Poetic Dialogues 1.0" is a work comprised of 18 different flash movies made with a high-tech wristwatch camera. Each movie contains images of three people reciting lines of verse by Merhi. The interaction between these "characters" generates new poems. The number of possible different poems or combinations is 216. Yusef Merhi, an Argentinian by birth, now lives permanently in New York City. He has created a number of installations and sculptural works.. His "Poetic Clock" which in the opinion of one reviewer "generates better poetry than Jenny Holzer" was exhibited at Exit Art in 2000. "Poetic Clock" is a machine that converts time into poetry and generates 86.400 different poems daily. "Poetic Dialogues 1.0" was funded with a grant from the Jerome Foundation. "Dervish Flowers" and "Moon Tribe" are shockwave works by French painter Niclolas Clauss and composer Jean-Jaques Berge. Short beautiful and fun, users can interact with the dancers in these works. In "Moon Tribe" they can also create their own version of the music to which the dancers dance. Nicolas Clauss is a Paris-based painter, who has stopped traditional "painting" to use the Internet as his canvas. His website, www.flyingpuppet.com, was a created as a place of experimentation. Interested users will find numerous interactive shockwave pieces that are both beautiful to look at and fun to play with Jean-Jacques Berges is a composer who has created many musical works for film and multimedia works. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://turbulence.org">http://turbulence.org</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ **MUTE MAGAZINE NEW ISSUE** Coco Fusco/Ricardo Dominguez on activism and art; JJ King on the US military's response to asymmetry and Gregor Claude on the digital commons. Matthew Hyland on David Blunkett, Flint Michigan and Brandon Labelle on musique concrete and 'Very Cyberfeminist International'. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.metamute.com/mutemagazine/issue23/index.htm">http://www.metamute.com/mutemagazine/issue23/index.htm</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 3.12.02 From: Lucia Leao (lucleao@yahoo.com) Subject: call for artists–Plural maps Plural maps: lost in Sao Paulo Net art project Plural maps: lost in Sao Paulo is a collaborative project on the WWW that is going to be shown at 25 Sao Paulo Biennial, next March. The idea of Plural maps: lost in Sao Paulo is to use cyberspace to create a multidimensional cartography of Sao Paulo. This cartography will be constructed by the choices sent by netcitizens and some other points like webcams showing traffic avenues and cultural centers. Based on an open structure, Plural maps: lost in Sao Paulo will incorporate the received material in order to create a big rhizomatic labyrinth. Each element sent by the netcitizens will be a knot, a link that will contribute to the creation of this organic, subjective and collective cartography. You are the cartographer: put something on the map! Send what you consider important in Sao Paulo city. You may send images, webcam views, videos, texts, Sounds, urls. Send your material to: labweb@lucialeao.pro.br + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ STATE OF THE ARTS SYMPOSIUM * UCLA APRIL 4-6, 2002 * RHIZOME DISCOUNT * <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eliterature.org/state">http://www.eliterature.org/state</a>> ELO invites Rhizome subscribers to join leading web artists, writers, critics, theorists for the seminal e-lit event of 2002. Rhizome subscribers who register before FEB 15 2002 may register at ELO member rates ($25 discount). + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 3.9.02 From: Thom Kevin Gillespie (thom@indiana.edu) Subject: INDIANA IDEAS 2002 INDIANA IDEAS 2002, interactive Digital Environments, Art & Storytelling an Indiana-wide competition and juried show of interactive entertainment, 3D, 2D, aural, virtual, animated and still creative work April 20 (12 - 3 pm) and 21 (4-7pm) Radio & TV Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana Cash prizes to be awarded in seven categories. Best Interactive/Live Performance (music, theater, VR) Best Game or Simulation Best Digital Environment (3D, worlds, CAVEs, sound installations) Best Gesture (animation, elegance and/or inventiveness ) Best Screenful ( 2D, scientific and/or data visualizations) Best Creative Computer Programming Submissions must be received by April 1, 2002 Opening reception Saturday April 20, 12 noon. For additional information: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mime.indiana.edu/ideas/showtime">http://www.mime.indiana.edu/ideas/showtime</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 3.15.02 From: Jon Ippolito (JIppolito@guggenheim.org) Subject: "Who Controls New Media"–Thu Mar 21 at Guggenheim Who Controls New Media? Open Art in Closed Systems Thursday March 21, 7-9 pm A panel discussion co-organized by the Guggenheim Museum and Goethe- Institut Inter Nationes New York. DESCRIPTION In the 1960s artists and technologists independently laid the groundwork for two parallel forms of democratic expression: the "open artwork" characterized by viewer participation, and a global Internet where ideas and images could be freely circulated. Four decades later, the expansion of copyright has raised questions of public use, interactivity has become a marketing buzzword, and national security and freedom of expression appear unreconcilable. "Who Controls New Media" will examine the historical roots of this shift, from Bertold Brecht's emancipatory theory of radio in the 1920s to Nam June Paik's Participation TV in the 1960s to the rise of Internet art in the 1990s. Following this analysis the participants will present a number of contemporary attempts to reassert open protocols in what many artists see as an increasingly closed society. The discussion will be punctuated by audiovisual documentation of artwork from such historical figures as John Cage as well as cutting-edge artworks from today's Internet. PARTICIPANTS Dieter Daniels is a professor of art history and media theory at Leipzig's Academy of Visual Arts who has written extensively on such topics as Marcel Duchamp, Fluxus, and new media. He conceived and organized Leipzig's media biennale Minima Media, co-founded the Videonale in Bonn, and headed the mediatheque at the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe from 1991-93. Daniels is the editor with Rudolf Frieling of two books and CD-ROMs produced by ZKM and the Goethe- Institut, Media Art Action and Media Art Interaction. Alex Galloway is an artist, computer programmer, and Director of Content and Technology at Rhizome.org, a leading online platform for new media art. He is the producer of Carnivore, a networked art project. Based on the FBI software of the same name, Carnivore uses packet-sniffing technologies to create vivid depictions of raw data; the work is currently on tour to the Princeton Art Museum and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Galloway's first book, PROTOCOL, or, How Control Exists after Decentralization, will appear next year from The MIT Press. Wendy Seltzer is a lawyer, computer programmer, and a Fellow with Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. In collaboration with Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and others, Seltzer is launching three online projects to preserve and strengthen the public domain: Openlaw, an approach to legal argument modeled on the "open source" programming method; Creative Commons, an effort to provide artists and authors with alternatives to traditionally restrictive copyright licenses; and Chilling Effects, a project to identify and respond to ungrounded legal threats that have a "chilling effect" on online activity. Moderator Jon Ippolito is an artist and Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Guggenheim, where he curated the first major museum exhibition of virtual reality, the award-winning CyberAtlas project, and, with John G. Hanhardt, The Worlds of Nam June Paik. His publications include a forthcoming book entitled The Edge of Art. DIRECTIONS Presentation 7-9 pm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Peter B. Lewis Theater 1071 Fifth Avenue at 88th Street Please enter via the sidewalk ramp at 88th Street and Fifth Avenue. Reception 9-10 pm Goethe-Institut, 1014 Fifth Avenue at 83rd Street + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 2.26.2002 From: Jeremy Turner (JERTEMP711@AOL.COM) Subject: Warmdesk–An Interview With William Selman Keywords: electronic music, dance music, composition, audio JEREMY: When I think of the title "Warmdesk" my laptop comes to mind as it gets quite warm on my lap after spending much time on it processing audio files. As you have probably also noticed, the desk gets warm too if one was playing live. Is this the inspiration behind the project's name? WARMDESK: This is part of it certainly. I do most of my work around computers, but also use hardware synthesizers and samplers as well. It does warm up… The name Warmdesk is also a track on a rather obscure early 90s cologne record by a group called 4 squared logos that included Jan Werner (of Mouse on Mars), fx randomiz and the amazing guitarist Joseph Suchy. This was the music I was listening to at the time I started seriously thinking about producing music (circa 1997) and it inspired me to do so…releases on labels like Gefriem, Erfolg, quiet art works, etc. It is intended to be an homage of sorts to this inspiration. JEREMY: Ahhh. I thought I have heard this name somewhere before from around the late nineties. So, you were very actively listening to the German and Austrian scenes around you at that time. I guess the "Third Viennese School" (Mego records) must be a major influence on your work as well. Your bio mentions that you live in Vienna as well as Chicago. What prompted you to live in Vienna? WARMDESK: I do like many of the Mego artists, but I have tried to limit their influence on me. I have been listening to their music for a long time. I think that many of them have their own distinct sound and I don't wish to replicate it - esp. someone like Fennesz or Peter Rehberg who have worked very hard and for years to develop very personal languages of sound. Also, as I said, I have been moving in a much more dance direction for the last two years or so. However, that is not necessarily incongruent because Rehberg is an amazing DJ and listens/plays lots of dance music, so that is not irrelevant to Mego per se. Also, they distribute mostly dance music through their mail-order arm. It has a lot to do with marketing. It's funny that you call it the "third viennese school". I wonder how they would respond to that appellation. To be honest, in the city itself, they are not especially famous. The cognoscenti know what Mego is, but I think they are probably better known outside of Vienna. I think I probably feel most akin to one of their recent signings, Uli Troyer. We played a concert together at the Rhiz with Massimo (he also did an invalidObject) and actually did an improv set with together that was really successful. Uli has a similar approach to me. He is attracted to concrete sounds as well and is also interested in doing something more akin to dance music with them, but with a sense of humor. He is doing a mix of the Guero Variations for me. Also, he has agreed to do a 12" for my label, A Posteriori, some time in the next year. I lived in Vienna because my girlfriend got a Fulbright grant to do research there on Austrian-Jewish history and the Austrian empire in the late 19th century. I quit my job here in Chicago and managed to scrape by on odd jobs and savings there for about six months. I also took German classes to brush up my college-level German. However, it's pretty tough because Austrian German is very different from the German you are taught in college…at first, until I figured out the accent and the different words, it was hard to understand much of what people were saying. It is difficult as a foreigner to find work in the EU unless you have a specific field, so I had to leave. However, I'm working on a master's degree in Computer Science right now at the University of Chicago and I would like to return to live there soon. JEREMY: Have you ever found the rich musical history surrounding Vienna to be a detriment or a burden to your creativity or do you find this legacy inspirational? WARMDESK: I found Vienna and Europe in general very inspirational. There is much more of a supported "scene" and people are more accepting of music as music. All of these issues you hear in the States (and perhaps in Canada) about the lack of a performance aspect in "laptop" music is not really important. When you play a show, people actually LISTEN to the music and don't demand showmanship–at least on the continent. I don't always play with just a laptop, but it is nice to simply play the music without the demand for a visual component. This was simply my observation, but it may be wrong. Also, it is possible simply to hear some much more music. The radio plays interesting shows, there are always concerts going on and they are relatively cheap. I did also hear some great chamber music there by some younger Austrian composers. I do listen to some chamber music (contemporary and classical) and you don't get the impression that people are overburdened by the legacy of the past. People are aware of the past, but a city like Vienna is focused very much on the present, esp. with new construction like the Museumsquartier. The past is often marketed toward tourists really. JEREMY: Do you recall any names of the younger Austrian composers? Also, I was curious to know the kinds of classical music you like and why? Can you give specific examples where listening to a piece of classical music (in any century) has directly inspired your general aesthetic taste and working processes? I understand that there are probably zillions of composers and styles that you listen to so maybe you can just list off some of the more recent ones on your mind. WARMDESK: No, unfortunately, I don't recall the names of the Austrian composers. Sorry. I remember seeing a couple of pieces of organ music and some piano compositions. I think the last piece that inspired me was "guero" which led to the desire to do some variations on it. I picked up a copy of a CD of Lachenmann's piano works in a cut-out bin in Germany and wasn't familiar with those pieces. I heard "guero" and was astounded by it. I loved the emphasis on texture with such a simple means and saw how it was similar to some ideas I had. However, I wanted to translate some of the ideas there into repetitive, grid-based structures with beats to see if I could make it work. I think I started listening to classical music in the late 80s/early 90s. I went to an arts high school and knew lots of young composition students, although I studied painting. They introduced me to lots of composers andI heard many concerts then, even though I was probably more into noisy rock, stuff like Sonic Youth and later Talk-Talk. I remember one night listening to the radio and hearing a retrospective of Penderecki and learned that he was in town for some concerts. We went to go see those performances and I loved them. One of my friends always sent me packages of mix cassettes with musique concrete and serialist composers. He studied with Herbert Brun for awhile and I really loved his stuff in particular. Pieces like "Futility" are still a big inspiration for me. Also, Varese's "Poeme Electronique" and Tod Dockstaedter which my friend introduced me to. Later, I began listening to other composers like Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Parmeghiani and Luc Ferrari, etc. I still listen to these people, but my goals have begun to shift toward more and more rhythmic, almost pop music. In fact, composers like Brun have an almost idolatrous (is that a word?) relationship to the idea of composition. I'm certainly not working along those lines in which I am constantly shifting ideas around and improvising with parameters and arrangements. However, I still hear a bit of the solemnity of their work in mine sometimes. However, I hope my work doesn't come across as so serious. To be honest though, lately I have been listening almost exclusively to dance music and soul records, so it's hard to say. JEREMY: Why do you find the compositions of Herbert Brun to be "almost idolatrous"? Would one not argue that dance-based music or those that appropriate source material via sampling technologies is in fact a form of idolatry? WARMDESK: Mmmm…maybe "idolatrous" was the wrong word. I think maybe "reverent" is probably better. Brun, if you read interviews with him, saw the role of composer as being one that had a very political component. He himself was a Marxist and saw composition through that lens. I think that he viewed jazz and rock and popular musics probably not too far off from Adorno and Horkheimer's account of the culture industry (although not exactly in terms of Adorno's troubling and I think wrong view of jazz). He remarks that it is entertainment and that it is a distraction from the political tasks at hand that the serious composer is somehow equipped to confront. Now, this is of course facing down the old question of the role of the composer and his relationship to the political. I do not intend to make political music. Of course, one can argue that aesthetics and formalism are political statements, but I am not engaged in that from a conscious perspective so that it does become merely an academic question and probably one for criticism. I think that this is really a very 60s sort of question. I think music is an extremely inarticulate medium of expression for a discourse that requires a much more articulate means of expression. You can dress up a recording with all sorts of liner notes and explanations, but it really is not so capable in and of itself of explaining much of anything beyond emotional or direct experience or its relationship to other music. Music of course is not a closed system, it has a social function, but I just don't think it's equipped to bring about radical social or political change. Politics by its very nature requires a leap beyond that. This is walking dangerously close to solipsism though…so you have to think about music's social function, esp. a medium like dance music. I do use recordings of everyday life, but those are really only aesthetic reflections of my life. For instance, I live in the flight path of ohare, so there is a constant drone of air traffic whether I am conscious of it or not. How could that not in one way or another affect my work? I try not to fetishize them, but rather to bring disparate elements together. To answer your second question, it is idolatrous, but it's all about context and use, so these samples can be used well. Musicians also listen to music and it becomes part of their music. There are good uses and bad uses of sampling technology. However, you can only discern the difference when you actually hear it and writing about it or describing it doesn't make it work. It only works within its own context that it creates for itself and how it might expand beyond the source material or bring a new perspective on it. Dance music is really ephemeral and it's a matter of changing tastes. For instance, (this is an old example) there is somewhat of a ban on using samples of James Brown. Not that James Brown is bad (in fact, "hot pants" is probably one of the best records ever made), but I think people just got bored with hearing James Brown samples and it became uninteresting and uncreative. I think it may still be possible to use those samples, but one would have to think of another means to approach them. Art despite its desire for the eternal can never break away from the present. JEREMY: Where do you spend more of your time? Are you also influenced by your regional climate(S) and personal upbringing? Has living in Chicago affected how you view digital signal processing? WARMDESK: This is actually a very astute question. I live in Chicago full time again. I actually didn't grow up here, but rather in Houston, Texas. Despite what people think, Houston is a coastal city and it's very humid and essentially built on top of a swamp. Even though I don't live in Texas anymore, I will say that the sounds and climate of the region do influence my attraction to certain sounds. I can remember the thickness of the air there and also the drone of cicadas and insects at night. I think this does influence my desire to create dense spaces in my mixing and also droning tones in the background. The last set of tracks on the invalidObject release is called "Bolivar" which is the name of a peninsula on the Texas coast where my grandfather and great- grandfather lived. I wanted to capture the feeling and the sounds of the air there which I think are very unique. Also, I do use place names often as titles because afterward the track may evoke it somehow for me. Place is very important for me. Chicago isn't too much of an influence on me. I don't feel so connected to the city as I have only lived here for a few years. I don't plan on staying. It's not that I don't like it…I've grown to appreciate it, but I find the winters difficult and the city itself is often difficult to negotiate and not so inspiring for me. I have met some interesting people here and there are often good concerts worth seeing though. JEREMY: I have not heard Warmdesk's entire repetoire yet but judging from the "Invalid Objects" compilation, your short pieces seem more timbrally focused than rhythmically driven. As I am a drummer like yourself, I have noticed that my compositions have drifted further away from pulse and meter and have gravitated towards timbral complexity and detail. Do you think that this may be a natural progression for percussion-based composers to experience? Or, is it more likely that the general zeitgeist has changed as the 20th century was the age of percussion and therefore the 21st century is being hyped as the new age of timbre? WARMDESK: Well, the short pieces are meant to be more about breaking away from rhythm. In fact, a lot of the pieces on the invalidObject release were attempts to break through "writers block" and frustration that I had started before the Fallt project. However, my other work is very rhythmic and I am definitely working in the vein of dance music…I think (where) you can get a hint of this is the later pieces on the invalidObject. In fact, the most recent tracks I have been working on are almost house music. I am doing a release based on a piece by Helmut Lachenmann called "Guero" that is more or less Musique Concrete with traditional instruments (in this case, a piano). I am taking samples of recordings and my own samples of piano manipulations and basically putting it into loops and using extended improvisations all to a strict 4/4 beat. I haven't actually touched a drum kit in about four years. I just don't have access to one any more, so I can't say that the physical act of playing drums affects me very much these days. From a listening perspective, I learned early on that despite my first impulsive belief that percussion was solely about rhythm, it should be used to carry tonal aspects of a piece of music also. If you listen to some jazz drummers, like Ed Blackwell for instance, you can hear this clearly. I try to incorporate this into my current work. The second part of your question…I think the 20th century was absolutely about timbre. The rise of electronic music and the break away from 18th cent. approaches to composition and playing were all about timbre. I guess you could argue that the first part of the 20th century, in western music, it was about harmony and its discontents. But after the 50s, timbre strikes me as primary. I don't know what the 21st century is about. I think it may be more about rhythm actually. That's just a hunch however. Nevertheless, with the saturation of electronics in every aspect of music-making, I think the primacy of timbre is still there. JEREMY: Given the above, how important is harmony and melody in your work? Do you ever think in terms of line or counterpoint? WARMDESK: I wouldn't say that harmony and melody are that important to me. I think about them, but I was never really trained formally apart from percussion and so they aren't really my strong suits or of strong interest to me, it is more about timbre and how certain sounds fit together. So, harmony is more about the harmonious coexistence of timbres rather than of tones. I do use chords and notes of course, esp. bass which is very important to me, but these seem to be tertiary elements in my music. They are used mostly in a skeletal sense. Counterpoint is also not essential in the classical sense to me either. I tend to think of counterpoint in the relationship of sounds to one another both in how and when they happen both simultaneously and also in terms of rhythm. It isn't about tone or melodic or narrative development. Really, since I have been listening to a lot of dance music lately, I am trying to move away from anything that might seem like "narrative"; or a song. I think other people can pull this off well, but when I listen to it in my own music, I tend to toss it out because it never seems to work. You can hear it on the first track of my single for "static caravan", but that would be the sole exception and I'm not so satisfied with it looking back. JEREMY: The last few movements from your contribution to the "invalidObjects" compilation that were posted on www.fallt.com (the rhythmic ones) remind me a little of Commodore-64 era video-game music. I am now sure why that is because the timbres are not the same as the kind I used to hear in 1983. Maybe it just has the same playful attitude and edge. As you are around the same age I am, I was wondering if you might have some insight into how our generation has been appropriating our influences into our compositions. Did you also grow up with home- computers and video-game music? If so, can you also hear that influence in your rhythmic music? WARMDESK: That is not intentional. A lot of those sounds are from things lying around my desk where my studio sits (pencil sharpeners, coins, boards, etc.), guitar and also synthesizers. I wanted those tracks to be fun and playful, but I didn't have video games in mind. I was a computer geek when I was a kid and aspire to be one now and I did spend way too much time playing video games then. They did have those somewhat irritating and extremely repetitive soundtracks which I heard over and over again. They aren't all annoying though. I still like the soundtrack to "Super Mario Bros." a lot. I'm sure it is floating around inside my head unconsciously. I think the influence of computers has more to do for me with the comfort level as a tool. I simply feel more comfortable working with a computer than I do working with traditional musical tools like keyboards. That is likely because I was never trained on a keyboard and only now am I an extremely bad player! I've been playing with computers since I first got an Apple IIe in 1982, although I did go through periods in which I hated them and found them to be dehumanizing. Now, I realize they are simply just tools. Nevertheless, I feel more comfortable working with a computer-based sequencer than a hardware- based one, although my mpc2000 is a bit like a video game controller. I like the idea of seeing things laid out and often compose with the mouse. It probably isn't much of stretch for most people between a Nintendo and a program like Logic. The visual elements and functions are all there, limited by our capacity to interact with them. I will say that I probably never would have become more serious about music without the aid of a computer. However, I'm not trying to implicate the tool or criticize it with my work. I realize that it can impose limits in the thinking of the user by their design, but I try to think past that. A program like Max is nice for this, but on the other hand, I do sometimes feel paralysed by how open-ended it can be. The tools themselves are like sound and synthesis itself in the sound-making tools we have at present… When most any sound is possible, it is sometimes easier to work within self-defined limits. Otherwise, I think I would be making music that was all over the place. In some ways, it is, but I am in a constant battle to quash that and focus my work. In that way, I try to stick with certain strategies using the limits of the tools at hand until they become hindering or I get bored with them. + + + Warmdesk is the project of Chicago-based producer, William Selman. Warmdesk uses concrete elements to compose rhythmically-based music that includes dense, humid atmospheres grounded by droning backgrounds. Warmdesk has released singles on Fallt, A Posteriori and Static Caravan and appeared on one of the well-known "Bip-Hop" compilation/magazines. Currently, Warmdesk is planning on releasing the "Guero Variations" 12" which is based on a piece by Helmut Lachenmann. This single will include additional mixes by Twine and Uli Troyer. Also in the works are other singles. Warmdesk has performed in the US and in Europe live and on the radio with such artists as Uli Troyer, Designer (Casey Rice), Twine, Marumari, Massimo, Tennis and Kevin Drumm. Jeremy Turner is an inter-disciplinary artist and music composer. He is currently exploring the creative possibilities within the pre-existing software architectures of OnLive Traveler and ActiveWorlds. He is the co- founder of an international artist collective, 536 (www.fivethreesix.com). Turner used to be a regular Arts/Entertainment critic for AOL Canada and website reviewer for Intelligentagent.com in New York. He has recently written interviews and articles for www.ctheory.net www.shift.com and www.extropy.org This interview was conducted by email on November 02-05, 2001. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fallt.com/artists/warmdesk.html">http://www.fallt.com/artists/warmdesk.html</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fallt.com">http://www.fallt.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fivethreesix.com">http://www.fivethreesix.com</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization. If you value this free publication, please consider making a contribution within your means. We accept online credit card contributions at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/support">http://rhizome.org/support</a>. Checks may be sent to Rhizome.org, 115 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10012. Or call us at +1.212.625.3191. 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