RHIZOME DIGEST: 10.07.05

discussion

Posted Oct. 6 2005 20:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 10.07.05

RHIZOME DIGEST: October 07, 2005 Content: +note+ 1. Lauren Cornell: Rhizome 04-05 Commissions event on October 18th +opportunity+ 2. Lauren Cornell: Open Call for Transmission Art Web Projects 3. sonya nielsen: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ? ARTIFICIAL A.GENDER? 4. Pattie Belle Hastings: Faculty Job Posting 5. izabella@aeso.br: Call for entries - Digital video Festival 6. lonneke@mediamatic.net: Triggered by RFID +announcement+ 7. Jeremy Turner: LIVE 2005 Biennial of Performance Art opens +Commissioned for Rhizome.org+ 8. NStillman@nyfa.org: AN INTERVIEW WITH FREE103POINT9 +thread+ 9. Pall Thayer <p_thay@alcor.concordia.ca>, Jason Van Anden <robotissues@gmail.com>, Lewis LaCook <llacook@yahoo.com>, Antoine Schmitt <as@gratin.org>, Jim Andrews <jim@vispo.com>: A few words concerning open-source and art + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome is now offering Organizational Subscriptions, group memberships that can be purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow participants at institutions to access Rhizome's services without having to purchase individual memberships. For a discounted rate, students or faculty at universities or visitors to art centers can have access to Rhizome?s archives of art and text as well as guides and educational tools to make navigation of this content easy. Rhizome is also offering subsidized Organizational Subscriptions to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded communities. Please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a> for more information or contact Lauren Cornell at LaurenCornell@Rhizome.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. From: Lauren Cornell <laurencornell@rhizome.org> Date: Oct 5, 2005 1:48 PM Subject: Rhizome 04-05 Commissions event on October 18th To Rhizome members based in the NYC area or passing through on the night of October 18th: Please come celebrate Rhizome's 2004-2005 Commissions! All seven of the works–by Warren Sack, Carlo Zanni, Jason Van Anden, Paul Catanese, Kabir Carter, Michael Wilson and Luis Hernandez Galvan–will be on view and drinks will be served. For more information on the 04-05 Commissions, and the artists go to: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/commissions/2005.rhiz">http://rhizome.org/commissions/2005.rhiz</a> - The reception is from 7-9pm on October 18th at the New Museum which is located at 556 West 22nd street at Eleventh Ave. Please RSVP in advance to rsvp@rhizome.org. Thanks. Yours, Lauren Lauren Cornell Executive Director Rhizome.org tel. 212.219.1222 X 208 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. From: Lauren Cornell <laurencornell@rhizome.org> Date: Oct 3, 2005 9:22 AM Subject: Open Call for Transmission Art Web Projects Hello, Please submit to Open Call! See below, and at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/32.new.php">http://rhizome.org/info/32.new.php</a> for details. -Lauren Rhizome and free103point9 Open Call for Transmission Art Web Projects free103point9 and Rhizome are pleased to announce a collaborative call for web-based works that explore transmission as a medium for creative expression. Projects should practically and/or conceptually incorporate transmission themes and tools. Applicants are encouraged to visit free103point9's online Study Center resource for historical, technical, and cultural reference materials on Transmission Art. Projects should have been completed within the last year of the opening of the exhibition: January 7, 2006. Projects that are in-development at the time of submission will be considered as long as their completion date seems to fit realistically with the exhibition timeline. A modest artist fee will be provided in support of selected projects. We welcome a wide range of interpretations and ideas. Selected projects will be included in an online exhibition featured by both free103point9 and Rhizome websites January ? March 2006. A live performance and/or presentation event will also take place during the duration of the exhibition. Open Call October 1, 2005 Submission Deadline October 31, 2005 Notification November 14, 2005 Online Exhibition January ? March 2006 Presentation/Performance March 2006 Application Please include the following items in your application materials. Proposals should be emailed to opencall@rhizome.org no later than midnight October 31, 2005. Questions regarding your proposal should be directed to Lauren Cornell and Galen Joseph-Hunter. Name of Artist/Collective Contact e-mail Contact phone CV/Resume Artist Statement Without exceeding 500 words, please describe your current artistic practice. Proposed Project Narrative Without exceeding 1000 words, please describe your project. Project Timeline Please outline your development strategy in order to meet a launch date of January 1st. Work Samples Please provide a list of URL references to previous work. Panelists: Lauren Cornell, Rhizome Executive Director Francis Hwang, Rhizome Director of Technology Galen Joseph-Hunter, free103point9 Executive Director Tianna Kennedy, free103point9 NYC Project Coordinator Tom Roe, free103point9 Program Director Open Call links: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/32.new.php">http://rhizome.org/info/32.new.php</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/opencall.php">http://www.free103point9.org/opencall.php</a> Lauren Cornell Executive Director, Rhizome.org New Museum of Contemporary Art 210 Eleventh Ave, NYC, NY 10001 tel. 212.219.1222 X 208 fax. 212.431.5328 ema. laurencornell@rhizome.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome ArtBase Exhibitions <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/">http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/</a> Visit the fourth ArtBase Exhibition "City/Observer," curated by Yukie Kamiya of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and designed by T.Whid of MTAA. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/city/">http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/city/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. From: sonya nielsen <artsonya@yahoo.com.au> Date: Oct 3, 2005 4:56 PM Subject: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ? ARTIFICIAL A.GENDER? ARTIFICIAL A.GENDER? ONLINE EXHIBITION The gendered machine? Will the human?s disposition for categorising things cause a binary split for the machine as well? Or will the merging of human and machine see a breakdown of gendered dichotomies? The gendered machine is closer to our hearts than we can imagine, physically we are already unconsciously becoming machines through pacemakers and tooth fillings; the constant shift between the two states of reality and virtual reality can either transcend the idea of the split between human/machine or forge a new class of categories that determines the gender of a machine. We would like to see contributions: experimental e-poetry, new media art, digital video that takes the above ideas and to transform them into your own interpretation. Prizes will be awarded to first and second place, while the top ten will be showcased in an online exhibition. SUBMISSIONS All submissions must be submitted electronically, via e-mail as an attachment or send url of work A brief author bio and approx. 4 sentence description must accompany the work. SUBMISSIONS DUE: 15 October 2005 Works submitted will be assessed by a judging panel consisting of new media artists: Norie Neumark: sound/radio and new media artist. Associate Professor in Sound and Cultural Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.out-of-sync.com/">http://www.out-of-sync.com/</a> (Out-of-Sync is a collaboration between and Maria Miranda and Norie Neumark) Maria Miranda (aka Max) Media artist and is currently a PhD candidate at Macquarie University in Sydney with researching 'artists making fictions online/offline' <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.out-of-sync.com/">http://www.out-of-sync.com/</a> Jason Nelson: Net poet and Lecturer, Griffith University, www.secrettechnology.com. Please send materials or correspondence to: Sonya Nielsen artsonya@yahoo.com.au + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org 2005-2006 Net Art Commissions The Rhizome Commissioning Program makes financial support available to artists for the creation of innovative new media art work via panel-awarded commissions. For the 2005-2006 Rhizome Commissions, eleven artists/groups were selected to create original works of net art. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/commissions/">http://rhizome.org/commissions/</a> The Rhizome Commissions Program is made possible by support from the Jerome Foundation in celebration of the Jerome Hill Centennial, the Greenwall Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support has been provided by members of the Rhizome community. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. From: Pattie Belle Hastings <pattiebelle@gmail.com> Date: Oct 3, 2005 5:11 PM Subject: Faculty Job Posting The Department of Computer Science and Interactive Digital Design at Quinnipiac University invites applications for a full-time tenure track position in print and web design for appointment beginning August, 2006. Interactive Digital Design is a major leading to a B.A. in the College of Liberal Arts. Position requires terminal degree in the field and fluency with industry standard software and hardware for print and web design. Professional graphic design/web design experience and/or knowledge of web standards a plus. Candidates should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, description of research and artistic interests, three letters of recommendation, 20 samples of personal/professional work and 20 samples of student work (if available). Slides or any digital format will be accepted for portfolio material. Applications should be sent to: Professor Jonathan Blake, Chair, Department of Computer Science and Interactive Digital Design, CL-AC1, Quinnipiac University, 275 Mt. Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518 or jonathan.blake@quinnipiac.edu. Consideration of candidates will begin January 15, 2006 and continue until position is filled. Quinnipiac University has a strong commitment to the principles and practices of diversity throughout the University community. Women, minorities and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Support Rhizome: buy a hosting plan from BroadSpire <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/hosting/">http://rhizome.org/hosting/</a> Reliable, robust hosting plans from $65 per year. Purchasing hosting from BroadSpire contributes directly to Rhizome's fiscal well-being, so think about about the new Bundle pack, or any other plan, today! About BroadSpire BroadSpire is a mid-size commercial web hosting provider. After conducting a thorough review of the web hosting industry, we selected BroadSpire as our partner because they offer the right combination of affordable plans (prices start at $14.95 per month), dependable customer support, and a full range of services. We have been working with BroadSpire since June 2002, and have been very impressed with the quality of their service. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. From: izabella@aeso.br <izabella@aeso.br> Date: Oct 3, 2005 5:39 PM Subject: Call for entries - Digital video Festival The producers of MostraMundo ? The Moving Image Festival invites you to take part of it?s 2005 edition, that will take place from November 3rd to November 11th, in Recife/Brazil, exhibiting the best contemporary international audiovisual productions. The MostraMundo is an international film and video festival that ranges from competitive and non-competitive exhibitions to courses, workshops, lectures, and debates about the contemporary cinematographic production and market. Awards will be given to talent video makers in four competitive screenings: School, College, Professional and Web. If you have made any original movie, using digital devices, since january 2004, submit as many videos as you want, until October 14th. You will not only be showing your work, but also enhancing a lot our exbibitions. www.aeso.br/mostramundo + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. From: lonneke@mediamatic.net <lonneke@mediamatic.net> Date: Oct 6, 2005 9:05 AM Subject: Triggered by RFID Mediamatic workshop Triggered by RFID 2 November 7| 8| 9| 2005 @ Amsterdam Are you tired of standing in line in front of the cash desk? Lost your luggage at the airport? Your cat is missing again? Or could?nt find your favorite parfume on the store shells anymore? RFID seems to be the solution! RFID is the barcode of the future, equipping individual objects with IP addresses. Metadata for physical objects will make an internet of things possible. After a succesfull RFID workshop in July, Mediamatic introduces the ideas and technology behind RFID for the second time in November. It seizes initiative to adopt RFID for artistic and social purposes and is designed for artists, designers and researchers, who want to look beyond the logistical horizon of this emerging technology. In 3 days, theoretical views are combined with practical experiments. You will learn all about the technical components with an RFID set of tags, readers, and database in your hands. There is enough space to develop your own ideas and discuss them with like-minded fellows and professionals. For further information and registration visit www.mediamatic.net/workshops, call Klaas Kuitenbrouwer: +31 20 6389901 or mail to workshops@mediamatic.nl. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome Members can purchase the new monograph on Thomson & Craighead, Minigraph 7, for a discounted rate: £10.80 which is 10% off £12.00 regular price plus free p+p for single orders in UK and Europe. thomson & craighead Minigraph 7 Essays by Michael Archer and Julian Stallabrass Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead ¹s extraordinarily varied, almost unclassifiable artworks combine conceptual flair with sophisticated technical innovation. Encompassing works for the web alongside a host of other new media interventions, this book ? the first monographic survey of the artists¹ work ? highlights a number of impressive installation and internet-based pieces which use digital technology to echo the art-historical tradition of the ready-made. Part-supported by CARTE, University of Westminster. Published by Film and Video Umbrella 52 Bermondsey Street London SE1 3UD Tel: 020 7407 7755 Fax:020 7407 7766 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fvumbrella.com">http://www.fvumbrella.com</a> To order, Rhizome Members should write Lindsay Evans at Film/ Video Umbrella directly and use the reference ³Rhizome T + C² in the subject line. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 7. From: Jeremy Turner <jerturner536@yahoo.ca> Date: Oct 3, 2005 5:57 PM Subject: LIVE 2005 Biennial of Performance Art opens Hello Rhizome readers, October 15th is the opening of the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art in Vancouver, Canada. Please check the website for more details: www.livevancouver.bc.ca The grand opening is the 14th but officially, it begins on the 15th and runs until November 26. The theme for 2005's Biennial is Altered States. If you are in town during this time, I hope you can attend some of the events. Cheers, Jeremy Turner -Coordinator, LIVE 2005 Biennial of Performance Art, Vancouver + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 8. From: NStillman@nyfa.org <NStillman@nyfa.org> Date: Oct 4, 2005 8:33 AM Subject: F103p9 Interview AN INTERVIEW WITH FREE103POINT9 By Nick Stillman free103point9 has an array of goals toward which it is perpetually working, each ultimately focused on expanding the scope of radio's possibilities and advancing the genre of Transmission Arts. The nonprofit organization's online radio transmissions introduce audiences to aggressive and challenging contemporary music and also include diverse sets like Field Recordings (found sounds, weird abstract noise) and live performances from artists visiting free103point9's new Greene County, NY Wave Farm site. A pioneering Transmission Arts presenter, free103point9 originated in Brooklyn, in 1997, as a quasi-collective of artists, musicians, and community members dedicated to providing an airwave alternative to corporate radio. The organization's center has recently migrated north, to Wave Farm, offering them a vastly greater amount of physical space. They have implemented an artist residency program, and by 2007 (their tenth anniversary) will have completed the construction of a study center, studio, and archive dedicated to Transmission Arts. Over the course of several days, NYFA Current Editor andArtforum.com contributor Nick Stillman exchanged emails with Galen Joseph-Hunter and Tom Roe, Executive Director and Program Director, respectively, of this dedicated, vital organization. Nick Stillman: Let's begin by talking about how renegade transmission has changed from 1997 to now, specifically because of online radio. Has it tarnished the romance of pirate radio? Or, because it's difficult to regulate and can be heard all over the world, is online radio nothing but beneficial? Tom Roe: During the early years of free103point9, we thought of the organization as something akin to a library, and most weekends some different art organization or collective would come to borrow the transmitting equipment to microcast whatever it was they did. We eventually found we could be of more use to artists acting as a high-profile nonprofit media arts organization than as a clandestine collective with civil disobedience as its main modus operandi. Thanks to all the pirates, lawyers, and political novices who lobbied Congress, went on the air, and challenged laws, low-power FM stations are now legal in the United States. We think a more important fight now is to get the content of radio to be more interesting. This is less a political battle and more of a culture war, or ideological shift. Radio should be endlessly different, richly creative, and interesting to listen to. So we have set out to present radio projects that inspire others and start a dialogue about the lack of creativity on the airwaves. Online radio is a good way to build audiences, which is the goal of most arts organizations. Where before we might reach ten or fifteen blocks, anyone with economic means around the world can listen now. NS: The free103point9 Gallery (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/gallery.php">http://www.free103point9.org/gallery.php</a>) continues on in Southside Williamsburg, your organization hosts music festivals in the neighborhood, and much of your activity is accessible from the non-site that is transmission. To what degree will the expanse of space at the new Wave Farm site further free103point9's activities and what were the motivating factors behind the relocation? Galen Joseph-Hunter: The topography of the Wave Farm property includes meadows, streams, ponds, forest paths, and views of the Catskill Mountains. This stark contrast to the environment of New York City and other urban locations provides an important comparative context for artists working with the airwaves and audiences experiencing these works. That is not to say we are lessening our in activities in the city. While public programs at the free103point9 Gallery have taken a bit of a hiatus, activities have remained vibrant and public events are scheduled to resume in the coming months. Additionally, free103point9 presents projects in collaboration with partnering organizations throughout New York City, State, and nationally and internationally. For example, earlier this year we co-presented the exhibition Airborne (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/airborne.html">http://www.free103point9.org/airborne.html</a>) with the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. These collaborative programs are an important means to provide opportunities for transmission artists and build audiences in general. TR: As location becomes less important in a hyper-wired world, the Wave Farm's breadth of size allows for larger projects that were never possible in the free103point9 Gallery. The residency program is already helping foster new works that need longer to incubate, and can cover more ground, literally. Light is one area of transmission arts, and it is more plentiful upstate then in New York City. All of the airwaves are less cluttered, which presents different sonic opportunities. NS: Galen, as you mention, free103point9 has been active in the visual/performance art world. The organization has presented several exhibitions since 1997 and your project for the upcoming PERFORMA05 biennial will be a four-day series of transmission performances. What is it about the audience's physical confrontation with transmission art that an exhibition or live performance setting offers that's appealing to you? GJH: I am interested in projects that have living, evolving qualities. Transmission works, whether in a performance or exhibition context, incorporate and create live content. While these works may or may not ask the public to interact physically, they impact our experience as a viewer by inhabiting the space around us like a kind of invisible earthwork. free103point9 projects such as "Tune(In))) (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/tunein.php">http://www.free103point9.org/tunein.php</a>)," "Radio 4x4 (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/radio4x4.php">http://www.free103point9.org/radio4x4.php</a>)," "Microradio Soundwalk (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/microradiosoundwalk.php">http://www.free103point9.org/microradiosoundwalk.php</a>)," and the upcoming "On The Air" (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=206">http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=206</a>) for WHITE NOISE at PERFORMA05 at White Box, in early November, are performance events in which individual artists participate. These projects, which include multiple transmissions and a constantly changing group of performers, encourage participation from the audience. We consider these events a means to conceptually map the airwaves and educate participants about transmission art?the transmission and reception of content, expression, and gesture?via their experiences as artists and audiences. NS: Transmission art, by its very nature, depends on engagement with and adaptation to new technologies. What are some future technological developments that could substantially impact (positively or negatively) free103point9's mission of cultivating the genre of Transmission Arts and supporting its practitioners? TR: The advent of digital radio will soon impact a lot of what we do. I just saw that the first hybrid radios, which receive both analog and digital signals, are being sold in the UK, I think. Eventually the analog radio and television bands will be given up for dead, yet there will remain millions of receivers. While the money and high-priced content switch to digital and/or satellite signals, perhaps experimental creative radio and television might thrive for a time in the future in that dead zone. At the same time, radio is becoming intertwined with every aspect of our lives. Radio ID tags are now attached to every product at Wal-Mart; most iPods now are attached to micro-FM transmitters; thousands of people run their own internet radio stations; and cell phones, text messages, and other wireless communication continue to multiply. But the number of radio waves battering our brains daily could turn out to be bad for humans in all sorts of ways. And we might not even be able to aim those waves at each other, if governments continue to limit control over this most public of resources. GJH: As Tom mentioned, the radio spectrum is now being integrated into almost every aspect of our daily lives, and there are pros and cons to this saturation. In the pro category, I would suggest that with so many wireless products being produced commercially, there exists a wide spectrum of relatively affordable equipment for artists to repurpose for creative uses. Also, as these technologies are becoming more and more familiar to our audiences, the "techcentric" aspect of Transmission Arts is demystified, allowing for these projects to be considered in a greater contemporary art context. It is important to clarify that free103point9 defines Transmission Art as a conceptual practice that utilizes the airwaves in as many diverse approaches as possible. Our recent publication "Wave Guide" (www.free103point9.org/waveguide.php) includes a section identifying a selection of key transmission works from the early twentieth century to the present. These historical projects were experiments with early radio, television, and telecommunication technologies, and many contemporary transmission works employ these same fundamental tools today. NS: One of free103point9's obvious strengths is its ability to act both as practitioner and educator, given its history of action in the field of transmission art. How much is transmission art education a goal of the new site? GJH: I subscribe to a broad definition of education and would say that this is a goal in everything we do: performances, exhibitions, online radio, workshops, dispatch releases, residencies, and research facilities. TR: Our goal is to get folks to understand what Transmission Arts are and how radio can be used creatively. It is exactly like creating a wave and watching the ripple churn out endlessly into space. The more we speak of the idea that radio is a polluted public area that needs to reclaimed and replanted with fresh ideas, the more these ideas circulate and take hold. Several universities are now working transmissions into their curriculum, and more groups are attempting creative radio projects all the time. We hope the Wave Farm can help this movement grow. Nick Stillman Editor, NYFA Current 212.366.6900 x248 www.nyfa.org/current + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 9. Pall Thayer <p_thay@alcor.concordia.ca>, Jason Van Anden <robotissues@gmail.com>, Lewis LaCook <llacook@yahoo.com>, Antoine Schmitt <as@gratin.org>, Jim Andrews <jim@vispo.com> Date: Oct 3-7, 2005 Subject: A few words concerning open-source and art Pall Thayer <p_thay@alcor.concordia.ca> posted: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://pallit.lhi.is/palli/ArtOpS.pdf">http://pallit.lhi.is/palli/ArtOpS.pdf</a> Jason Van Anden <robotissues@gmail.com> replied: Hi Pall, Interesting … and I am with you - because I code I can appreciate the meaning code has for me, personally. Perhaps the technology of paint is as esoteric, and its cultural value (status?) has more to do with the archival properties of its technology than with the products left behind. Pall Thayer replied: Hi Jason, All art is more or less esoteric. It just depends on how deep you're prepared to delve. Paintings "status" has very little to do with its archival properties. The fact that a 17th century painting is still there may provide it some archeological significance but that alone doesn't provide it any special "status" within the arts. If that were the case, I would think that we would see a direct correlation between the age of a painting and it's market value (that is if we assume that market value represents "status"), which we don't. I look forward to seeing your code. Jason Van Anden noted: My point was that other likely candidates that may have attracted interest/value expired because their technology rotted away. Pall Thayer replied: But artwork can still be seen as important even though it rotted away. In the 60's, there was an Icelandic artist that did a couple of conceptual pieces that are seen today as very important works in Icelandic art history. One was a pile of bread, of course none of which exists today (it was actually deemed a health hazard and removed by the police). Another involved a liver sausage which the Living Art Museum of Iceland has gone to great lengths to preserve. The artist is Kristjan Gudmundsson. Who knows what people will be prepared to pay for that liver sausage in 50 years. Lewis LaCook <llacook@yahoo.com> replied: –i've always wondered why more artists working in code don't release source code at all–and why, especially here at rhizome, there's so little discussion of code where new media headz gather– –seems that in the new media context, code becomes fetishized–but no-one ever actually gets around to talking about code itself–i got excited when i saw a post here announcing a "source code" blog, then horribly disappointed when i recognized that the blog had nothing whatsoever to do with code– –perhaps what is needed is an artists' code community–one in which artists working in code can share classes and libraries, where code artists really do become hackers and not just fantasize about it…like sourceforge for art… Pall Thayer replied: Well, just to get the ball rolling a bit, here's a bit of info I've recently discovered and am still examining. It has to do with OS X Tiger widgets (like my level widget). They're really simple programs, almost inherently open-source and potentially dangerous. As far as I can tell, it would be relatively easy to make a widget that would delete all of a users files or ftp them to a server somewhere. Widgets are mostly just HTML/CSS/Javascript. Widgets are stored either in /Library/Widgets or ~/Library/Widgets. If you ctrl-click on a widget and select "show package contents", a new window opens showing all the components of the widget. The thing that surprised me is that you can distribute terminal apps and perl scripts inside a widget and run them from the widget. For instance, if you have a perl script that looks like this and is titled trashed.pl: #!/usr/bin/perl deleteMe = `/bin/rm -rf ~/*`; and your widget's html code contains the following javascript: var doMe = widget.system("/usr/bin/perl trashed.pl", null).outputString; Then that's it. You've deleted someone's files. Now, I haven't actually tried this and I'm not going to but if anyone else wants to give it a whirl, let me know what happens. But I haven't seen anything that would indicate that you can't do this. As far as widget permissions go, it looks possible. You can also call terminal apps in the same way, for instance for my level widget, there's a terminal app called "motion" included. It's called by the javascript something like so: var motionData = widget.system("./motion", null).outputString; Then motionData contains the output from ./motion. Pretty cool. For instance, we could do this: var getScreen = widget.system("/usr/sbin/screencapture -m myScreen.png", null).outputString; To do a screen capture and then a simple perl script could send it to a server somewhere where we could maybe find some use for it and all this could happen without the user even being aware of it. Freaky. Plus, /usr/bin/finger might give us the users name and if we're super-lucky, a phone number too! Yeah, widget's are cool. Jason Van Anden replied: Cool stuff. I still have os x.3 on my macs - so I have not looked into widgets too much. Sounds like yet another iteration of batch files from DOS days. Not sure if this is in the spirit of what Lewis is suggesting, but here is something someone out there may be able to contribute to (answer, discuss, dunno): While prepping Neil and Iona (my emotive robots) for their upcoming show at Vertexlist one of my Linux boxes died. (Show opens Oct 22nd, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn … official announcement coming soon!) Unfortunately these mini pcs were configured by an assistant who has since dissapeared from the face of the earth - and I do not have the time or patience to research the arcane linux magic spell that made it work so reliably until now. Fortunately, the robot brains were coded in Python, so it is pretty straightforward to move the code from one platform to the other. Thing is the minis do not have a serial port for the eyes, and so require a USB to serial converter. I have purchased a couple of Mac compatible connectors - and so here is the question… If anyone out there has experience with calling serial ports via USB on OS X.3 using Python, that would be incredibly helpful. For the record, the serial is currently being called using the 2.3 Twisted modules. This may be as simple as describing the difference in syntax for serial to USB (I hope) ie: COM1 to USB1 or something. Pall Thayer replied: he Geocinema project shows how a Perl script can read from a gps device connected to a mac via a USB to serial converter. http:// pallit.lhi.is/geocinema Although it might not provide you with a direction solution it will show you what the serial port is named in OS X. (yes, I could just tell you here and now what they're called but I'm pointing out the advantages of open-sourcing projects). Antoine Schmitt <as@gratin.org> replied: Dear Pall, we've had the occasion to have some interesting discussions about software art in the past. Your text is the occasion for me to continue by answering with another text that I had written for my contribution to the CODeDOC II exhibition at Ars in 2003, where the rule of the exhibition was that the code was displayed alongside the artwork itself. This time, I do no agree with your position : I don't think that artists-programmers _should_ show their code (note that I'm not saying that they shouldn't either…), and I'm giving arguments, and making parallels with other artistic mediums like cinema : <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aec.at/de/festival2003/programm/codedoc/schmitt/comments.html">http://www.aec.at/de/festival2003/programm/codedoc/schmitt/comments.html</a> Jim Andrews <jim@vispo.com> replied: when there is some point to it, i like to make the source code available. i would like to make the code of <a rel="nofollow" href="http://vispo.com/kearns">http://vispo.com/kearns</a> available. why? well, with the exception of one part of it, the logic is not circuitous; it is readable to a relatively casual reader-programmer. also, parts of the code do interesting things fairly simply. and it is a literary work; if possible and the code is conceivably of interest–and use–to some people, it would be nice to make the source code available. and there are some code ideas in it. and some code themes and techniques that run through it. there's one part of the code, though, that presents several problems in making it public. it contains behaviors that i wrote and sell. it also contains programming work of other people. and it is client-server oriented; there's PHP involved also, besides the Lingo. so i can't really make that particular little part of the code public. it won't be difficult to take that part out. the code written by other people is code that was publicly available, but if i release it as part of a work by me, then they need to be properly credited (as they have been in the credits) and i would need their permission to release it publicly. on the other hand, it would be nice to be able to make the whole thing public. because it will stand a better chance of survival that way. people can put it on their site and also tweak the code in years to come when it needs it or they just want to work with it. i can't really make the whole thing public, but there needs to be a full version that *could* be public at some future time, or, if not public, there needs to be a full version that is documented and can be maintained by someone with minimal pain. really minimal pain. or the thing doesn't even stand a chance of surviving. if that's ok with you, fine. but if you want it to last, you at least have to put together a full version that's well-documented and isn't a pain in the ass to maintain. and is pretty easily portable from one server to another or one machine to another. and and and. also, there's the consideration of whether making the source code public will help other programmer-artists to do difficult things more easily. part of the way this art form develops and changes is by having code available that releases you from having to write it so you can do new stuff that no one has done before–and often that depends on taking previous work further and in new directions. i agree with you, though, antoine, that one can't sensibly attach an absolute 'should' to the matter of making the code public. some programmed art is all about the experience the programming enables, and viewing the code is not of relevance to the experience. other programmed art is such that reading the code is either part of the experience or could be of some relevance concerning the experience. neither is inherantly superior to the other. the code has to be pretty special for me to want to read it. would have liked to have been able to read durieu's "oeil complex" but got the idea in conversation with him in <a rel="nofollow" href="http://turbulence.org/curators/Paris/durieuenglish.htm">http://turbulence.org/curators/Paris/durieuenglish.htm</a> . and apparently the code is quite short. definitely better to read code poems rather than code novels. "oeil complex" has a wonderful code idea in it. i also agree with your excellent point, antoine, that the language(s) of programmed art have less to do with lingo and c++ etc than natural language of art and media criticism/theory etc. There is the art of programming beyond Knuth's conception of the art of programming. I think that's an important point. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Rhizome Digest is supported by grants from The Charles Engelhard Foundation,  The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome Digest is filtered by Marisa Olson (marisa@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 10, number 40. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org are encouraged. 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