RHIZOME DIGEST: 4.14.02

discussion

Posted April 13 2002 20:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 4.14.02

RHIZOME DIGEST: April 14, 2002 Content: +editor's note+ 1. Mary West: Net Art Commissions Announcement 2. Mary West: Rhizome Remix in Toronto on 4/16 +opportunity+ 3. Trace Reddell: calls for submissions–Digital Salvage v.1 +work+ 4. unbehagen.com: The Google AdWords Happening +feature+ 5. Lev Manovich: Generation Flash (Part 1) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 4.10.02 From: Mary West (mary@rhizome.org) Subject: Net Art Commissions Announcement Rhizome.org is pleased to announce that five artists/groups have been awarded commissions to assist them in creating original works of net art through our new Commissioning Program. We received 135 proposals by the February 15, 2002 deadline, many of which were very strong. A panel of five jurors–Steve Dietz of The Walker Art Center, Alex Galloway of Rhizome.org, Ken Goldberg of U.C. Berkeley, Christiane Paul of The Whitney Museum of American Art, and Mark Tribe of Rhizome.org–selected the winners. Christopher Fahey, the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA)/Hactivist.com, and John Klima were will receive awards of $5,000 each. Additional commissions of $2,500 will be awarded to Nungu and Lisa Jevbratt. Ten proposals have been awarded Honorable Mention. You can read more about the process and the proposals at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/commissions">http://rhizome.org/commissions</a> This program is made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Challenge Program, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and by members of the Rhizome community. The chosen projects will be publicly exhibited on the Rhizome.org web site starting October 2002. They will also be preserved in the Rhizome ArtBase archive, and presented at a public event in New York City. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/commissions">http://rhizome.org/commissions</a> + + + **$5000 Awards:** RHIZOMEBOT by Christopher Fahey (Brooklyn/New York/US) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.graphpaper.com/rhizomebot/">http://www.graphpaper.com/rhizomebot/</a> Using instant messenger channels, Rhizomebot will be a unique new virtual/artificial personality that will provide an alternative gateway to the Rhizome ArtBase, Rhizome's online database of art. Christopher Fahey has been making computer games and graphics since childhood, and he continues to experiment with new ideas in computer art and design. He is the creative force behind the art and design laboratories graphpaper.com and askrom.com. Christopher is a founding partner of Behavior, a New York-based interaction design firm, where he serves as the Information Architecture practice lead. MAPTIVIST 2.0 by Institute for Applied Autonomy and Hactivist.com (Troy&Brooklyn/NY/US) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hactivist.com/proposals/proposal_rhizome.html">http://www.hactivist.com/proposals/proposal_rhizome.html</a> Maptivist 2.0 is a shared mapping application that will enable political activists using wireless Internet devices to share information about surveillance and police activities in real time. The Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization concerned with individual and collective self-determination. Their mission is to study the forces and structures which effect self-determination; to create cultural artifacts which address these forces; and to develop technologies which serve social and human needs. Hactivist.com is a collective of media artists, technologists, activists and critical theorists working to explore the intersection between radical theory, traditional activism, and technology subversion through the creation of tactical media projects utilizing communication system technologies primarily. CONTEXT BREEDER by John Klima (New York/NY/US) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.cityarts.com/rhizome/">http://www.cityarts.com/rhizome/</a> Context Breeder is a browser-based Java applet and standalone java application for the collection and dynamic display of Artbase objects on the viewer's home computer. Circa 1978, Brooklyn-based Klima (b. 1965) attempted to code a 3D maze on a TRS-80 with 4k RAM and failed miserably. He has been obsessed with 3D ever since. Fascinated by the first primitive flight simulators and CAD programs, he began to build 3D graphics environments, and to write source code. Since 1998, he has consistently exhibited in major institutions both nationally and internationally. + + + **$2,500 Awards:** TELEMATIC SURVEILLANCE by Nungu (Bombay & London/Maharashtra/India & UK) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nungu.com/[mrs.%20jeevam%20jham]/proposal.html">http://www.nungu.com/[mrs.%20jeevam%20jham]/proposal.html</a> The project proposes an exploration of forms of 'hypercontrol' present in societies infused with communication and information technology networks through an investigation of the logic and aesthetics of telematic surveillance. Currently based in Bombay India, Nungu is a fluid collective of national and international media artists working together towards the creation of networked art. TROIKA by Lisa Jevbratt (San Jose/CA/US) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://cadre.sjsu.edu/jevbratt/troika/">http://cadre.sjsu.edu/jevbratt/troika/</a> The Troika interfaces display each object in the Rhizome database as one pixel, accessible by clicking on the pixel. The pixel's color represents keywords associated with the object and people that have requested it. Lisa Jevbratt is a systems/network artist working primarily with the Internet. Her work has been exhibited and presented in venues such as The New Museum, SFMOMA, The Walker Art Center, Ars Electronica, Transmediale and the 2002 Whitney Biennial. She is a member of the Silicon Valley collaboration/corporation C5, and a board member of the New Langton Arts Gallery in San Francisco where she is curating the Net Work program. She currently teaches at the digital media program (former CADRE) at San Jose State University. + + + **Honorable Mention:** Bubble Browser by Golan Levin & Jonathan Feinberg <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flong.com/bubba/">http://www.flong.com/bubba/</a> Common Reference Point by Mark Daggett and Jonah Brucker-Cohen <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flavoredthunder.com/dev/crp/">http://www.flavoredthunder.com/dev/crp/</a> Common Sense by Brian Gillette [Hexstream Media] <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hexstream.com/rhizome/">http://www.hexstream.com/rhizome/</a> Grayspace by MULTIPOLY (Paul Biedrzycki, Keith Riley) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.neutralcoastline.com/rhizome/">http://www.neutralcoastline.com/rhizome/</a> Groundnut as Butter by Keith & Mendi Obadike PDPal by Marina Zurkow + Scott Paterson <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sgp-7.net/proj/pr/index.shtm">http://www.sgp-7.net/proj/pr/index.shtm</a> Pick by Kurt Baumann <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.artware-software.com/1/rhizome/submission.html">http://www.artware-software.com/1/rhizome/submission.html</a> Relate by Lucas Kuzma <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.machinatus.net/rhizome/iface/">http://www.machinatus.net/rhizome/iface/</a> Sociotopic by Boris Mueller <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.esono.com/sociotopic/">http://www.esono.com/sociotopic/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 4.11.02 From: Mary West (mary@rhizome.org) Subject: Rhizome Remix in Toronto on 4/16 What: A Rhizome Remix event celebrating the the web launch of dataland, an online exhibition of participatory data driven art sites, and Life During Wartime, a Trinity Square Video Web Residency (details at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/events/remix_apr.php3">http://rhizome.org/events/remix_apr.php3</a>). Where: SpaHa, 66 Harbord (at Spadina), Toronto, Canada When: Tuesday, April 16. Artist presentations at 8:30pm, party at 10:30pm. Context: This Rhizome Remix is part of flow: an exhibition of video, film and new media installations. For a full flow exhibition listing and events schedule please visit www.imagesfestival.com/flow. For further information, call +1 416 971 8405 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/events/remix_apr.php3">http://rhizome.org/events/remix_apr.php3</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: 4.12.02 From: Trace Reddell (treddell@du.edu) Subject: calls for submissions–Digital Salvage v.1 DIGITAL SALVAGE v.1: a response to Salvaggio's Six Rules Towards a New Internet Art Please create a Web-based digital project that adheres to the six rules towards a new internet art that Eryk Salvaggion recently posted on Rhizome.org: 1. No Flash 2. No introduction pages 3. No more art for the sake of error 4. Images must be unique to the sitemaker 5. Technology is not a subject; the Internet is not a subject 6. The work stands alone Details on each rule are provided in the Rhizome posting (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?3236">http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?3236</a>). Any form of artistic project is acceptable, as long as it exists on the Web and fulfills each rule. Rather than viewing Salvaggio's rules in the manner of a manifesto, this competition takes the game-playing spin: rules not as part of a revolutionary command ("out with old, in with the new!") but as a guideline around which strategies can form within a localized and temporary setting. Contributions must be available on the Internet by May 31, 2002. Please send a URL by that deadline to: treddell@du.edu. One entry per participant. A panel of peer reviewers will help select the top three works, and all entries will be featured in a new net.art and media theory site launched this summer at the University of Denver's Digital Media Studies program. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?3236">http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?3236</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ IT IS necessary to buy "Not Necessarily 'English Music,'" Leonardo Music Journal Volume 11. Not only is it curated by David Toop, but it includes a double CD. Tune in and turn on to the LMJ website at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/">http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 4.13.02 From: unbehagen.com (chris@unbehagen.com) Subject: The Google AdWords Happening The "debate" about how to earn money with net art, suggested to me an answer to an easier problem: how to spend money with my art. A few days ago, I decided to launch a happening on the web, consisting in a poetry advertisement campaign on Google AdWords. I opened an account for $5 and began to buy some keywords. For each keyword you can write a little ad and, instead of the usual ad, I decided to write little "poems," non-sensical or funny or a bit provocative. In 24 hours, 12,000 people saw my "poems" before I was censored by Google. You can see the results on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.iterature.com/adwords">http://www.iterature.com/adwords</a> If you ever had a similar experience, I would be glad to compare your results to mine <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.iterature.com/adwords">http://www.iterature.com/adwords</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 4.12.2002 From: Lev Manovich (manovich@ucsd.edu) Subject: GENERATION FLASH (1/3) Keywords: language, software, programming SUMMARY–"Generation Flash" looks at the phenomenon of Flash graphics on the Web that attracted a lot of creative energy in the last few years. More than just a result of a particular software / hardware situation (low bandwidth leading to the use of vector graphics), Flash aesthetics exemplifies cultural sensibility of a new generation [1]. This generation does not care if their work is called art or design. This generation is no longer is interested in "media critique" which preoccupied media artists of the last two decades; instead it is engaged in software critique. This generation writes its own software code to create their own cultural systems, instead of using samples of commercial media [2]. The result is the new modernism of data visualizations, vector nets, pixel-thin grids and arrows: Bauhaus design in the service of information design. Instead the Baroque assault of commercial media, Flash generation serves us the modernist aesthetics and rationality of software. Information design is used as tool to make sense of reality while programming becomes a tool of empowerment [3]. + + + (1/3): Turntable and Flash Remixing [for www.whitneybiennial.com] [Turntable is a web-based software that allows the user to mix in real- time up to 6 different Flash animations, in addition manipulating color palette, size of individual animations and other parameters. For www.whitneybiennial.com, the participating artists were asked to submit short Flash animations that were exhibited on the site both separately and as part of Turntable remixes. Some remixes consisted from animations of the same artists while others used animations by different artists.] It became a cliché to announce that "we live in remix culture." Yes, we do. But is it possible to go beyond this simple statement of fact? For instances, can we distinguish between different kinds of remix aesthetics? What is the relationship between our remixes made with electronic and computer tools and such earlier forms as collage and montage? What are the similarities and differences between audio remixes and visual remixes? Think loop. The basic building block of an electronic sound track, the loop also conquered surprisingly strong position in contemporary visual culture. Left to their own devices, Flash animations, QuickTime movies, the characters in computer games loop endlessly - until the human user intervenes by clicking. As I have shown elsewhere, all nineteenth century pre-cinematic visual devices also relied on loops. Throughout the nineteenth century, these loops kept getting longer and longer - eventually turning into a feature narrative. Today, we witness the opposite movement - artists sampling short segments of feature films or TV shows, arranging them as loops, and exhibiting these loops as "video installations." The loop thus becomes the new default method to "critique" media culture, replacing a still photograph of post-modern critique of the 1980s. At the same time, it also replaces the still photograph as the new index of the real: since everybody knows that a still photography can be digitally manipulated, a short moving sequence arranged in a loop becomes a better way to represent reality - for the time being.) Think Internet. What was referred in post-modern times as quoting, appropriation, and pastiche no longer needs any special name. Now this is simply the basic logic of cultural production: download images, code, shapes, scripts, etc.; modify them, and then paste the new works online - send them into circulation. (Note: with Internet, the always-existing loop of cultural production runs much faster: a new trend or style may spread overnight like a plague.) When I ask my students to create their own images by making photographs or by shooting video, they have a revelation: images do not have to come from Internet! Shall I also reveal to them that images do not have to come from a technological device that record reality - that instead they can be drawn or painted? Think image. Compare it to sound. It seems possible to layer many many many sounds and tracks together while maintaining legibility. The result just keep getting more complex, more interesting. Vision seems to be working differently. Of course commercial images we see everyday on TV and in cinema are often made from layers as well, sometimes as many as thousands - but these layers work together to create a single illusionistic (or super-illusionistic) space. In other words, they are not being heard as separate sounds. When we start mixing arbitrary images together, we quickly destroy any meaning. (If you need proof, just go and play with the classic The Digital Landfill [4]) How many separate image tracks can be mixed together before the composite becomes nothing but noise? Six seems to be a good number - which is exactly the number of image tracks one can load onto Turntable. Think sample versus the whole work. If we are indeed living in a remix culture does it still make sense to create whole works - if these works will be taken apart and turned into samples by others anyway? Indeed, why painstakingly adjust separate tracks of Director movie or After Effects composition getting it just right if the "public" will "open source" them into their individual tracks for their own use using some free software? Of course, the answer is yes: we still need art. We still want to say something about the world and our lives in it; we still need our own "mirror standing in the middle of a dirty road," as Stendahl called art in the nineteenth century. Yet we also need to accept that for others our work will be just a set of samples, or maybe just one sample. Turntable is the visual software that makes this new aesthetic condition painfully obvious. It invites us to play with the dialectic of the sample and the composite, of our own works and the works of others. Welcome to visual remixing Flash style. Think Turntable. [PART 2 and PART 3 will be posted shortly.] NOTES: 1. I should make it clear that many of the sites which inspired me to think of "Flash aesthetics" are not necessaraly made with Flash; they use Shockwave, DHTML, Quicktime and other Web multimedia formats. Thus the qualities I describe below as specefic to "Flash aesthetics" are not unique to Flash sites. 2. For instance, the work of Lisa Jevbratt, John Simon, and Golan Levin. 3. GENERATION FLASH consists from three parts. First part was comissioned for www.whitneybiennial.com; third part was comissioned by Tirana Biennale 01 Internet section (www.electronicorphanage.com/biennale). Both exibitions were organised by Miltos Manetas / Electronic Orphanage. "On UTOPIA" was commissioned by Futurefarmers. 4. See <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.potatoland.org/landfill/">http://www.potatoland.org/landfill/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.potatoland.org/landfill/">http://www.potatoland.org/landfill/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.whitneybiennial.com">http://www.whitneybiennial.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.electronicorphanage.com/biennale">http://www.electronicorphanage.com/biennale</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. Contributors are gratefully acknowledged on our web site at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/10.php3">http://rhizome.org/info/10.php3</a>. 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 Alex Galloway (alex@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 7, number 15. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org are encouraged. Submissions should relate to the theme of new media art and be less than 1500 words. For information on advertising in Rhizome Digest, please contact info@rhizome.org. To unsubscribe from this list, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/subscribe.rhiz">http://rhizome.org/subscribe.rhiz</a>. 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