Thursday, December 31, 2009

Harvard Party Links to Whitney,Bute,Fischinger

Looking around for links to my WonderfulWorldof Digital Music Video

Found a site for a demoparty near Harvard coming up next June. There is a section

Related material

A Silent KeyJason Scott describes interviewing an oldskool ham who had an archive of telegraph art.
Oskar Fischinger (Wikipedia)
Mary Ellen Bute (Wikipedia)
John Whitney (Wikipedia)
"Analog Demo Scene: Get Real" (a humorous short film)


Please feel free to suggest additional resources


So Whitney and others could be seen as part of the demoscene. Sounds ok to me but there areother wordsthat are used. More later.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Route


Route
Originally uploaded by hannis_jo
test

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Digital Music Video - Youtube version

In Feb 2010 I will introduce a selection of video at the Phoenix as part of Animated Exeter. This will start with early computer animation, then the demoscene, then music video. There is only space for fifteen seats and the time allowed is now two hours, about twice what I expected. So there should be plenty of scope for discussion.

The event is free and there is no budget so probably there will not be actual video from the early days. Some free download extracts are available online and permission will be asked for. Alternatively there will probably also be discussion of the computer techniques used by John Whitney and comparison with techniques known on the demoscene.

Meanwhile there is much content on YouTube so an idea of the intention comes across from this playlist-



about ten minutes short of an hour at the moment so suggestions are welcome. Also any new stuff from the demoscene or music video. Not sure how much will be shown in Feb but weblinks always possible.

The description being used is "digital music video" as being very general. Also not sure about the rights on other terms such as "visual music", "expanded cinema", "new canvas", others. Need to find a way to describe "early computer animation". demoscene is clear enough. "music video" crops up on YouTube. Generally the early content is not well known as far as I can tell compared with the demoscene. Based on people I meet. So issues around how stuff is distributed will be part of the discussion.

There may be time to look at games. But music video seems to me to be the most interesting direction.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Water Art becoming more abstract

The Artists in Devon site continues to get much interest from bloggers and the income from Google ads is encouraging more work. not at the level of the first interest from Indian blogs but still in the same area as selling a watercolour a month. So something to consider as a model for artists. Previously this blog and other efforts have attempted to promote things but it turns out this site has worked by some sort of chance. The format needs to be intended for online before it can reach much of a scale.

Joanne Poore has used the same approach on her own site with seashells that seem more abstract than the earlier examples. Meanwhile Paul Gillard has added some that are definitely abstract to the Artists in Devon site.

there is something about making a splash in water that appeals. Moving the mouse around is enough. I also recently saw a video of the game flOw that has some of the same appeal. I have not tried the actual game but it seems to involve an avatar in water where the scene changes depending on the moves. I found a trailer on YouTube.



Hope to find out more about this later.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

OK YouTube

There will be a chance to develop links to the demoscene during animated Exeter next February. Last year I started to use "visual music" as well as "new canvas" to describe the early computer animation shown previously. This year I am using the term "digital music video" to describe this and some of the demoscene and those music videos that relate. this is partly because I use Youtube to find examples and most of the people represented in "A new Canvas" now have at least one extract available online. On YouTube "music video" seems to crop up often as a description so "digital music video" is a way to distinguish what interests me. Eventually i would like to do a screening of roughly equal parts of early computer animation, demoscene and music video. Unfortunately the costs of distributing the early work make this difficult. some stills will be used to show what is available. So the Youtube version of the event will make a significant contribution.

This seems appropriate for computer generated content. Distribution through film happened at a time before broadband. The demoscene is intended to be shown as runtime from an original computer. Classic equipment is not always available so emulation is accepted at some parties. I think DVD is ok for a wider audience. My interest is mostly as a viewer.

I think YouTube could be used more for promotion of video. At Spacex till 26th November there is an exhibition by Shaun Gladwell consisting mostly of video. After the curator's tour I asked Tania Doropoulos about policy around putting video online. As I understand it Shaun gladwell intends his video to be seen as controlled in a gallery but accepts that others can make video of each installation and make it available online. There are several clips already on YouTube for example.



From the Spacex exhibition I would like there to be a detail showing the motorcycle in water. This might be compared with the Water Art from Paul Gillard on the artists in Devon website. This has photographs each including water that ripples as the mouse is moved over it. Following interest from bloggers, mostly in India, there has been enough attention ( and clicks on the Google ads) for the pages to be expanded with more examples. I think it is a welcome development for artists to be working on content designed for online. Galleries still have a role though as far as I know the Water Art is still online only. The Shaun Gladwell video is completeely different in a gallery so the YouTube versions are only for people who are not near a current exhibition. They are a way to reach a wider audience, not an alternative to a gallery.

On the 24th October at Spacex "Take Place" will explore issues "surrounding the reclaiming of public space through artist intervention". YouTube is public space. Artist intervention is a choice.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

More Wet Art from Paul Gillard

I like this one from a digital source but the latest Twitter news is about under water.

There is still a lot of interest in India but I cannot find many Devon blogs linking in as yet.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Frogs exemplify art promo from Devon

Paul Gillard has uploaded some more wet art, frogs this time. Apparently the other pages in this series are getting unusual attention following blog links from India. About a million visits in August and 25,000 one day in September as claimed on the site so this is unusual for Artists in Devon or anyone I know. So far I have assumed that Youtube would be the best way of promoting art. But maybe online examples are better, easier to access.

I phoned Paul recently about Animated Exeter. More about this later. Hard to get his attention on video with all the interest in wet art. He claims these pages are now more popular than the Mona Lisa. The logic seems to be based on the rate they can both be viewed. The queue at the Louvre can only go so fast while the web pages can be served up any number of times. I do not see the point of going too far with this. The galleries will want to speed up the queues. But the point is that this form of art is intended to be viewed online.

The Google ads are at least paying the server costs as well. If the level of a few hundreds of pounds continues over more than one month this could work for other pages as well. And the site will get more attention for Devon artists. Paul is now in Cornwall by the way but is still more or less local. Here in Exeter, most people are on the way to somewhere else such as St Ives.

Friday, August 28, 2009

New Exeter Radio Show - image rights continued

I have done a video edit of my own bit on this week's show. More to come on other sections but I want to continue the story on image rights and copyright. A bit obscure so this tends to be interrupted by some other issue on the radio, or some music. I did a report on the Classic Synth event, linked to Analog to Digital. Digital music is the strongets base for relaxed copyright attitudes. I also mention the videos at Spacex and the Sundown demoscene party. This year Sundown are suggesting Creative Commons as something to consider for all the releases. Previously things have been more informal but there have been problems as when tunes reappear on a commercial mix. Creative Commons terms are specific about allowed forms of reuse.

Not sure about a video record of the evening at Spacex next Thursday. Maybe more later. I cannot follow the German but the YouTube video from Frankfurt shows the art video in a window so street interviews are possible. Any translation welcome.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Back to memory

The New Exeter Radio show turns out to be a good development for me. It is a real chat show so it has a focus. So far no problem with video permissions, including when the music is playing. Copyright issues will return around animation before too long.

Current topics are around car boot sales. I was surprised not to be allowed to video the Art Car Boot Fair at the Castle but the policy seems to work out. Two stories in the Express and Echo including a photo from the organisers. So the close control of images can be effective and is clearly one policy option. But this Saturday there is a carboot for Vintage Guitars and Classic Synths. the analogue to Digital event was open to photos and there was an agreed tag - A2D09 - so my stuff on YouTube can be found. Includes performance from the evening.

Search on "new exeter radio show image rights" to find recent views from me. Lighting dreadful but the sound is ok.

Meanwhile things do change and I have been able to record some aspects of Spacex events, including a talk at the cathedral by Simon Pope and an interview with Nick Durnan at Spacex. Simon Pope curated the show based on memories of stone carving that Nick Durnan will recreate. So the four clips below may be a basis for memories or future interviews and comments. The street views done recently. comments welcome on this blog or as video on YouTube.





should link to other ones



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Image Rights continued

Not sure what is happening with the Art Car Boot Sale. the report in the Express and Echo has a photo by Oliver Sanders. there is an Express and Echo reference - EE90809_0S03_03. Wendy brooking is quoted so I doubt that she wrote the story. so i must have got the wrong impression from what I heard on Sunday. Maybe things change as they go along. I don't think there is any other report in print. Perhaps bloggers and photos/video for Flickr and Youtube will be more welcome on the next occasion.

I still wonder if the Express and Echo really benefit from exclusives or if this is something that they seek. The Ice Rink for example. Wider coverage online might have been helpful. They do have stuff on YouTube but it is not as well known as it might be.

I may return to the New Exeter Radio Show this Thursday. Video from last week is on their Ning site and YouTube. Including this about image rights-



The problem is quite a general one, not just about the Art Car Boot Sale. I may try to include Laura Kikauka in the discussion. I could not get permission to video the launch of her show at Spacex. Maybe another context could help. Ask her to do a set design for a disco perhaps. Video would be more easily accepted.

I still think that music and visual images are at different stages of adjustment to Web consequences. Video of live sound performance is often ok. When I get this wrong please let me know. But any form of photo with an art visual image in the shot is taking things back a few years.

Coming up soon another Car Boot Sale, this time for Vintage Guitars and Classic Synths. Previously it was ok to video at the analog to Digital event. Hope lots of people take photos and/or blog. Tags yet to emerge as far as I know.

As it is difficult to get permission to video art I will do more of my own stuff to try things out with. An imagined set of cables joining the buildings around the castle. More photos to come and this stock item on Vimeo. It can be downloaded from there. Also in sections on Flickr where there is a clear Creative commons licence. Variations welcome. I may do a copyrighted version myself later.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Plagiarism, awaiting a swift reply

Oh dear, a bad review for Plagiarismo. Perhaps it is too polished now or something. Worked ok at the Phoenix a while ago.

My takeaway was that most art is a response to something else. So plagiarism is ok. Following a recent conversation I am thinking about doing some photos collage in the style of David Hockney. Not even my idea in the first place. Obviously if there was a budget we would get David Hockney to do it. I have written to Richard to ask if there is any alternative.

Car Boot Sale no easier to access than a gallery..

This seems the right blog as visual art is close enough to animation. Thrown out of the Art Carbootfair today. Letter on facebook group was truncated. I am in rave mood I suppose.

So copy below=

Hello Wendy

I am still thinking about ways to work on photography and video around visual images. More on this later. Meanwhile here are the facts as I see them about earlier today.

I had spoken to you on the phone last night about wanting to video for YouTube and stills for Flickr on the Art Carboot Fair in Exeter. You said that you did not want this to happen as you had your own plans. However I did not think i had explained myself very well so wanted to talk to you in person. Today I paid a pound to get in, asked to speak to you but you were not then available. I spoke to a couple of people with exhibits, then was able to speak to you. I pointed out that I intended to blog in text, reporting what I observed and thought. You asked me to leave as you did not want to encourage such activity. I asked what you would do if the Express and Echo or BBC wished to report the event. You stated that you were yourself the effective reporter for the Express and Echo as you would be writing their story. You then refunded me my pound admission but refused to sign a reciept as proof that I had entered the event with reasonable grounds for the conversations with people also attending. I then left.

If there are nay of the facts above you think are untrue, please let me know as soon as possible.

I am trying to explore ways in which online media can be used to promote local events. I have done video on other occasions at the Castle and other places. I don't do interviews or photograph images unless the people involved give permission.

But I think there are some policy issues that are worth looking at. Many music performers now accept that Youtube video appears of their performances. Visual artists are less relaxed about this. I am not sure whether the artists have the same approach as the management from galleries. The "carbootsale" suggests some informality but my guess is that few galleries would have an image rights policy as controlled as yours. May be wrong about this, photography is quite rare.

I am also quite concerned about the Express and Echo. A few years ago they had exclusive image rights on the Ice Rink in the castle. They did not give permission for others to do video. Some video did appear on YouTube but very casually. As local news adjusts to online technology there may be subsidy for local newspapers that also start to do video. My own view is that this should welcome links between news organisations and other contributions, including YouTube and bloggers. When the Express and Echo makes arrangements for exclusive image rights it may not be moving in a sensible direction. Online, some brands benefit from a more open approach.

Hope you will reconsider your policy on a future occasion.

Will

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Visual Music a topic for Beer At The Castle

Next weekend there will be a sort of chat show during Beer At The Castle. Not sure how this will work but there should be space for animation. I am still thinking about a future show from DVD with a combination of computer animation from the 70s or similar, some from the demoscene, and music video. "Visual Music" is the best way to describe this.

Sundown will happen again at Budleigh Salterton later in the year. Several people involved went to Breakpoint so there could be more connections. I have found some music from Breakpoint on YouTube.



Also one from John Whitney that was not there the last time I looked


One aim for the week will be to try to interest people in watching both of these. So far mostly people go for one or the other.

Previously, post linking several parts of an intro to the demoscene.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

draft story on Korean Film Week in Exeter

This will be a story for OhmyNews later in the week. Any suggestions welcome.

Korean Film Week launched in Exeter, UK
Sound base for future possibilities

The first Korean Film Week in Exeter was held from 11th to 16th May and featured five movies at the University Cinema Society. the openning reception was attended by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Kevin Mitchell, and the free food continued throughout the week. The event was supported by the Korean Students Society and the Korean congregation at the Mint Methodist Church in central Exeter. The Korean Cultural Service in London made a grant of £500 and the Korea National Tourism Organisation supplied books and DVDs. Councillor Mitchell welcomed the awareness of Korean culture that the event made possible and the contribution of the Korean community to local culture.

The university campus is on the edge of Exeter, where I live. Often people in the city centre do not know what is happening there and miss out on specialist film. This event was better publicised than most Cinema Society events though future events may reach a wider audience still. The cinema seemed not to be completely full on the two visits I made, though this is probably a basis to organise another one.

Films included Marathon, A Tale of Two Sisters, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The two I saw were Strokes of Fire, an art movie, and The Host about a monster in Seoul.

more about them

also others if

The Host has a convincing monster and is also very funny. i could not follow all the politics or references but some idea of the technology background is evident. The children are trapped where the monster stores other victims, some dead, but they wait for decent mobile device to turn up. You would think that the local authorities would learn from such an experience but apparently the sequel will be set sometime earlier.

Asian Cultural Centre

possibly China and Japan films

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC0Urhfucos

5th Tailo festival


Exeter is the location for a major UK animation festival - Animated Exeter usually in February each year. This has a solid base in classic forms of animation such as stop frame but there has also been discussion of digital technology and CGI in feature films. The Host is an example of how animation can be central to special effects. The sequel is expected to feature several new monsters and may be release in time for news to be available before Animated Exeter in 2010.

The Korean Cultural Centre in London organised an animation event in 2009 so some of these titles may also reach Exeter.

http://london.korean-culture.org/navigator.do?siteCode=null&langCode=null&menuCode=200903170055&promImg=1198673534460.jpg&menuType=BG&subImg=1198673979402.gif&action=VIEW&seq=18990

The printed material available included a guide to Korean Film Festivals. The Jeonju International Film Festival includes a Digital Project that looks interesting as it could connect with the computer activity on the edges of animation.

Since I started writing for OhmyNews I have attended one International Forum but most of the time I only find out about Korea online. The Korean Film Week has taught me that there is
more hapopening locally than I realised. I hope more will come from blending the local and stories from OhmyNews.

http://www.jiff.or.kr/

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Celebration of Failure Last Week

Still not many photos from Spacex except the official ones. I do think there is some continuity of direction from the everyday object to a new boundary for galleries, probably somewhere online.

Found this from another time and place.

By the way, i think the failure being celebrated is other people's failure, not the artist's. OK so the public have laughable taste. The artist is protected from visual comment by the gallery. Is this reasonable? Will it encourage public support for art?

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Video from virtual worlds, story so far

Another sad consequence of the closure of LifeBytes is that I am unable to visit Twinity or Second Life at the moment. My computer at home needs a complete reinstall I think. Trying to get Twinity to work is hopeless. Also I miss the video editing support. Sometime in the future this will sort out.

So I will not enter the Third Wave experiment today.

However here is a selection and update on some video from previously. I had tried to work out a script for a journey from the Phoenix to Trinity in Bristol. Based around the dance from Pipsi and the island of Prados Azules

The Scratch Second Live material has started to appear on YouTube. Sensible move as Second Life is a bit of a closed world.

Viral Duets by Niki McCretton: a Phoenix Scratch commission




more or less from Bristol

LUKE VIBERT LIVE DROID BRISTOL SECOND LIFE !



tigerkissen77 was the winner of the Spirit competition. Quite right too. TIP NUMBER ONE - don't use the Twinity converter from Ogg for your AVI files. QUESTION, HOW TO EDIT IN OGG? By the way he only mentioned this after the competition had closed, I think us film makers should stick together and share any info. What to think? continues in Black Box.....


Twinity "Spirit" Dawn Patrol

tigerkissen77



I have at least discovered something since my last effort. TIP NUMBER TWO Press F2 to turn off the menu graphics cluttering up the screen. You can also switch to a games device instead of a mouse but this just makes for more wobble in my case.

Humboldt in Twinity



script idea is to start in the Sony Centre with a technology vision and then visit Humboldt for some academic critique. Some sort of project around devices would continue to the nearest coffee space. Someone else would try it, please send a link.

Only kidding tigerkissen. Really thanks for your help.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Maiden and Death tryouts

After a talk at Spacex I am still wondering about image rights and how art is promoted. They are thinking about a blog or other means for more connection with their website but I think the general approach to avoiding mashups and casual photos is a bit of a problem. On the music front there is more acceptance of phone cameras, sampling etc. the net effect seems to help promotion. I am not sure if the artists actually require these limitations. It may be a general gallery policy.

this seems especially relevant for the Laura Kikauka. There is an invitation "to play" and the layout is unusual for a gallery, but the boundaries remain for photography or mixing images with other sources and then making them public. I would like to explore this some more so have done some photos of Fore Street or Bridge Street, not sure which and a couple of combinations.

Background

As long as the art object was conceived as a monument to itself, women shrank before attempting it. Women who modify their environment every hour of every day, whether they are shaping their child's damp hair, or twitching a blind, or choosing wallpaper, or dressing themselves with wit and ingenuity, are unexcited by the self-contained, self-regarding work of art. They are not inspired. The adrenaline doesn't flow. But when art escaped from the frame and descended into the real world, women artists were suddenly in their element. As long as the work was open-ended, as long as life flowed through it, from its conception to its realisation, women could make it as well as anyone. There's hardly any point now in asking if women have to be naked to make it into the Metropolitan Museum (as the Guerrilla Girls did), because the museum is not where it's at
.

Germaine Greer, Guardian 30.3.2009

But getting out of the frame is only a start. Getting out of the gallery and onto the Web could be different again.

Marina Abramovic praguebiennale 3



My pix on Flickr , Creative Commons, reuse as you like or take better photos of street level Exeter.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

MySpace can go off topic

Making new friends to check I havn't loaded too much that maybe should be deleted. Then found this

Snooky Gig 8th March 2008 - Marnie - Wuthering Heights


Marnie was at Sidmouth during folk week a couple of years ago but this is not really folk music. She will be at the Black Horse late in July so this is on the edge. this blog is really just about content. Animation in the winter but live music beckons.

Analogue to Digital - YouTube Links

Please add comments to sort out some info - song titles for example?

weaver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKixQx6vGLk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJXAnDK0us

dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCGFhzNVWdE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7afSnWGeLzc


esteban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ7MG5ZjS54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zzat5rCeA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeROZ2ofyw

Kat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zBwIQD-1ks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGdmH2LULHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak3IAcIPeCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0h3sTSKaTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQAA2nZK38k

Mansons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpKge-YApmM

Craig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXIpFeKQGCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QzM4bXrDk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3r7xGnRIDI

When "visual music" is understood sometime the link to animation and this blog will be clearer. Meanwhile the Sound Gallery publicity machine is in welcome mode re YouTube so this is a positive dynamic. Yes the lighting is terrible, the camera is not the best available - Fuji FinePix S5700, meant for stills not sound recording - but at least this is an indication of what could be possible next time. There are a couple of tapes with a better camera from during the day but editing will take a while.

Suggested tag for other material - A2D09 - future edit for Exeter TV suggest leave copies at sound Gallery, basement of Phoenix.

Sound not that good for Ellie Williams so here is a link, even though the lighting is still an issue. Somone at the Phoenix should have a think about this.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Analogue to Digital - Music aspect

During Vibraphonic the sound Gallery organised a Music Expo to concentrate on Analohue to Digital, workshops and trade show. The animation issues were present as well with some new idents from LifeBytes for example. I took some photos and video some of which will take time to edit. the Prize Draw is the first group of photos to be posted as this is of interest for the organisers. They managed to persuade several companies to contribute prizes so evidence is useful for the scale on which they were valued. It seemed to me to be an excellent form of ceremony. Many prizes and more or less at random. Photos on Flickr, one sample-,



Also short videos, more to follow. Editing and uploading takes a while. Exeter TV may do an edited version of all the video in one extended piece. Meanwhile clips will appear just as chunks. These three are as recorded-






The tape yet to be edited includes a performance by Robert Brian, acoustic contrast with the digital. So here is another link from TouTube



Unfortunately the lighting is not very good. We complain a lot about the lighting in the Phoenix. Never that good for video even with a decent camera. So here is another video properly recorded from long ago. My idea about video blogging is now that most events take a long while to be reported but eventually there will probably be multiple sources. Meanwhile somewhere else with similar content works just as well.


Sunday, March 15, 2009

Flickr Links

Now started to describe photos on Flickr. Two sets, one from Transitions in Exeter, one a walk to find Bargehouse in London.

Video also, scenic route.

Theory and examples please around found art

I am trying to find out more about the modern art approach to found objects, such as piles of wood offcuts or collections of old records. I half listened to a Radio 4 broadcast about rubbish, as linked on Flickr. Not sure if I posted about this before.

A while ago Cory Archangel had a video at Spacex made up of screen shots taken from YouTube. This is ok but what is the art take on images already on YouTube or Flickr for that matter. Could be stills of selected wood from a gallery or more likely as found anyway. The nature of display and distribution may change with the Web, like news and music. If we are invited to play in a gallery and treat it as a community hall the online equivalent is to mash up content. Where are the artists and galleries who are doing this?

I did get permission to photograph the Transition show at Exeter Artspace in the Castle. Simon Egan told me the soundtrack to Fraud will be on the Internet archive, but I cannot find it yet.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Novio


Novio
Originally uploaded by atezrm
Found this through searching on "skull, skulls, folk, art" in Flickr and then adding a "creative commons" filter. Do the same and you should find 41 or so,

So let this be clear. This post is about folk art. Happens to connect with the current celebration of error at Spacex. but no image rights have been infringed.

As it happens I think this is consistent with what Laura Kikauka was saying at the talk on Saturday. She is not much interested in the web but is not too worried about related spinoffs..

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Dmitry Trubin sample

With permission, here is a sample from an exhibition at istorm.



Here is the text of the email it came with



The istorm modern gallery on Exeter Quay is to show the work of
Dmitry Trubin , a Russian artist that has had more than 60 exhibitions around the world.

Dmitry lives in Northern Russia and was a sailor before devoting himself to becoming an artist. He works in different areas of fine art including oils, graphics and mixed media .

His etchings are in a permanent collection at the Pushkin museum in Moscow and his work featured in the very successful “ From Russia” exhibition in the Royal Academy of Art in London in 2007.

His work is shown around the world in many museums and in private collections in Russia, Great Britain , Europe and North America.

In 2008 Dmitry participated in the Charitable Art Exhibition in aid of St Petersburg Hospice in Pushkin House , London.

The show runs from Saturday 7th March until Saturday 4th April .


Click on the image for a larger version. This is encouraging for the idea that useful content can be freely available. I can't see how this would discourage people from visiting the actual gallery.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Checking out Twinity Berlin for galleries


In theory Laura Kikauka may be in Berlin as in Twinity. Some galleries have a version in the Twinity virtual world. My guess is that this changes how people think about them. Earlier today I visited the C/O gallery but there was nobody there.

Posted this on the Facebook page for Twinity-

Has Laura Kikauka been seen in Twinity Berlin or is there any connection with her work? She will be at Spacex in Exeter later this month. I am interested in how Twinity changes the nature of galleries. Content is available online and people can mingle with it. Can this change how the other galleries operate?


There may be no connection bugt this is worth exploring as well as Exeter.

photos from Exeter Castle - Exeter Artspace



Transition video found

Found this


Find more videos like this on artreview.com


follow links from Transition

photo token for museum postcard



This is an attempt to get a similar view to a postcard from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery. "Near the Quay, Exeter" by John White Abbott is not easy to copy unless you can use the select tool to move things around.

As far as I know Exeter City Council do not offer much artwork in high resolution. Some other museums have a different policy. Something to explore. Other links to photos welcome. Larger sizes on Flickr.

"Visual Music" includes stills

The animX blog may appear to go off topic for a while. The main conclusion from the time of Animated Exeter is that "Visual Music" is an alternative description for what I previously thought of as "New Canvas" following the talks by Greg Kurcewitz. However web searches indicate this can include still images such as painting. So the scope will later be specific to visual music that is digital, animated and roughly from the 60s and 70s. Of course the demoscenme is visual music as well, this will be clarified later.

Meanwhile during Vibraphonic as well as music there are images. Laura Kikauka will be celebrating failure at Spacex. The Castle is now home to Exeter Artspaces for Transition, sound and multimedia installations.

One interesting aspect of this is how the content is available online, either direct for the public or through forms of journalism. The music scene seems to have accepted that content will be sampled, copied, mistreated in various ways but some sort of business model continues. Video is also adjusting through YouTube and other sites. Not so sure about galleries, something to discuss over the next few weeks.

Searching Youtube on "Laura Kikauka" finds two, one about music and this one-



Questions arising

How do galleries and artists think about content? How controlled is distribution? Is the audience invited to make derivative work?

Also, what changes with a virtual world such as Twinity Berlin? Images and video can be shown and stills and video can be recorded. So far I have asked permission for this but people seem to think it a strage question. There are Berlin galleries with spaces on Twinity.

So far I have thought about the possibility of a wallpaper, cluttered and decorative, arguably inspired by Spacex. I do not think the Twinity model could cope with much detail for a lot of objects. At Life Bytes in Exeter I am told that Poser might be better for detail so something may turn up later.

By the way, no email reply as yet from Richard DeDomenici. I am thinking of putting the unanswered emails into a book. Thinking about claims of how plagiarism comes about I am currently thinking that coincidence is often a likely explanation. Work on the best available computers in the '60s compares with work on personal computers in the '80s. To be continued.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

animation for music video

Thinking about Vibraphonic as another phase of animation. Not sure how this works, but found this on YouTube. More suggestions please.

Monday, February 23, 2009

demoscene intro on YouTube

Ahead of the next Adventures in Technology I have edited several extracts from a talk by rc55 last year about the demoscene. The examples he chose are all on YouTube so there is just a short sample from the copied versions. Edit of titles and descriptions maybe next week. This is a rough version, comment welcome.



















Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What's Your News?


Some photos now on Flickr from last Saturday. Robert Tygner explained how some of the technology works arround "What's Your News?". Lots of computing involved but all the people involved started with puppets as such. It has set me thinking that this could be a way to do local news reporting.

Too late for Dorkbot, Berlinale photos tomorrow

Not checking email yesterday so missed the news about Dorkbot in Bristol. However there is something Dorkbot happening quite often and I rarely get to Bristol just for an evening. The day of Adventures in Technology on Feb 28th is much more likely.

Tomorrow in Twinity Berlin there will be a show of photos from the Berlinale Film Festival. There are already a selection in the Sony Centre but the new display will be in the C/O Gallery. Requires Twinity of course. Not sure about the actual Sony Centre.

Monday, February 16, 2009

hard copy for questions

I have printed out an A4 sheet with questions for the week. "Imaginary friends" continues as a theme but even with friends it can help to clarify issues-

Press background for animX blog 16th Feb 2009

This is hard copy to clarify earlier email. Response could be a text
comment, or a video interview.

Currently animX is mostly a text blog with video links.
There are some short video tests.

This week the blog will follow the imagined lounge and the DVDs about imagined friends, as the DVDs are distributed the lounge could be
extended.

Stills exist from the Picture House, Life Bytes and Spacex so composites for the imagined lounge are possible. Feedback welcome on permissions and/or suggestions. There have not been any objections to the blog or Flickr or YouTube so far but other versions would be interesting and contribute to the idea of the lounge.

Either as email response, conversation or video the questions are still much the same. So far I think the digital aspect of Animated Exeter has been under represented. The website could be improved with Flash and connect with a lot of online stuff also in Flash. So far as I know Exeter City Council do not support Flash on the computers in council offices.
So YouTube is not possible for example. There has been an investment in Exeter buildings. There could be a blended approach with more
attention for an online presence.

So question number one

When will Exeter City Council look at Flash and YouTube?

One benefit if YouTube was supported would be better awareness of the demoscene and connections with other computer animation. There is the Sundown demoparty at Budleigh Salterton but so far not much
connection with Animated Exeter. Some of the content from A New Canvas is now on YouTube, for example Arabesque by John Whitney. How can this be promoted? The term a “new canvas” is not widely understood. There are Wikipedia pages on “Expanded Cinema” and also on “Visual Music”. From recent conversations it seems the music aspect is most likely to be widely interesting.

Question number two

What tags or words to use to describe computer animation, and generate links starting with John Whitney as an example?

Hunky Mouse in Barcelona

My friend the Hunky Mouse has started the gossip posts from the phone conference in Barcelona. apparently there are not so many people there as usual. So the economic background could be a major issue. This won't stop other news about mobile devices for video.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Trailer for Varmints

wrong weekend for the closing party

There may be less experiment this coming week as I need to recover from mistakes. I got confused about the closing party for example. It was this Saturday, not next Saturday. BennyBen has already loaded the photos. Animated Exeter continues all next week. So the aim of persuading BennyBen to include some virtual worlds into the mix is a bit off the agenda till next time. Unless the timescale is extended round the year. Wifi instant communication is all very well but something stoered from earlier is often more reliable. All it needs is something as data for the event. So next week I will continue some email around next weekend being not too incoherent.

Suggest meeting in Prados Azules as they have a dance environment already established. The Spirit Hall is still in Twinity Berlin and there is dance sometimes.

Music seems a useful direction for the New Canvas thread. "Visual Music" covers a lot, including the Noise Box in the Phoenix, still there for another couple of hours.
More Flickr

Saturday, February 14, 2009

PDF flier ahead of comics tomorrow

I have done a flier to seek links to Spirit the the movie and space in Twinity Berlin.

animxflier09

You should be able to download if you would like to print out some more.

Over the weekend I will be either at Life Bytes as now, or near the Phoenix or somewhere in between.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

For Publication

This post will be copied to local media. During Animated Exeter is a good time to make some links. Topics are in the rest of the blog so far.

Following an interview with Lee Morgan during Two Short Nights it was discovered that actually the Express and Echo do make it possible to link to their video and also have made a start on YouTube. Also the Western Morning News have a blogger page where they link to local bloggers.

So although I think there are still some issues around how print journalism adjusts to the Web, this is a good time to explore current realities. Youtube is a place to start.

Meanwhile as far as I know Exeter City Council still do not support Flash so may not be fully aware of YouTube as an animation resource. Apparently there is a budget constraint so that Animated Exeter or the Summer Festival may have to alternate or cease. The Web is a fairly cheap way to prolong the presence of an event. You could just have an intense online occasion one year or late in the year, combined with Sundown for example. There are many possibilities but I think the Flash issue is a bit of a block in getting to where the web is at for this moment in time.

Maybe the Express and Echo has a view on this.

The Western Morning News has a blogstop page but as memory serves it has not changed much since the launch. The video about creatives as imagined by the RDA is still the top feature. Good to see the RDA involvement. They obviously have access to Flash content. So Exeter as somewhere in the region is another aspect of this.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

YouTube links - Captain Pugwash

Looking up Google for weblinks from the Phoenix galleries. It all seems very illustration based. More Flash online. More later but here is one to start with.

Twitter as Dreamworld

This story makes some sense of Twitter as a dreamworld.

I may try out Twitter a bit more and link up with my imaginary friends.

Third Wave movie tomorrow

On Phonic FM from Third Wave at the Phoenix there will be a program about film making 11th Feb afternoon. Make and edit within 90 minutes, film to be less than two minutes.

So I will be in Life Bytes and try to record video from Twinity Berlin. say the Sony Centre around 3 unless updated on this blog.

I need help about cameras in such situations...to be continued.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Faked photo - International Film Guide in Twinity Berlin



Not sure if this is ok for copyright. I have pasted in the IFG to celebrate the new website for the International Film Guide. This is an event so could be discussed in the Twinity Sony Centre. Books will continue but now coexist with online. Apparently all 45 books will be scanned during this year. More than you could carry around with you.

If there are objections I can go back to just words, but if not expect more cut and paste.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Tag options for New Canvas

Trying out words to find / promote New Canvas type material online. Started a sort of word cloud that others can edit. Let me know if you want an invite.



Visual Music is a term used by the Center for Visual Music. They will be in London for a meeting about Expanded Cinema.

So these words might help. Also orf interest are dimensions such as pop/minority , high culture/low culture , entertainment/culture, etc. In other words why has this sort of work got to be from twenty years ago before it is shown as art? And why is film important for digital content?



Expanded

Friday, February 06, 2009

Animated Exeter on YouTube

So far as I know Exeter City Council has no support for Flash, either on their own website or in the offices. They may be right about this. Text is easy on low bandwidth. However the Web aspects of animation are easier to point out if YouTube is an option.

Fortunately South West Screen do have a YouTube policy and have posted an interview with Susannah Shaw.



Meanwhile Twinity Berlin have announced that there will be links to the Berlin Film Festival starting soon. I was in the Sony Centre the other day but not much happening. Flickr record.

Actually I was at Life Bytes. Twinity will not load at home and I manage to crash the system at Life Bytes when trying out video. Maybe there is enough bandwidth in Bristol to record more readily. The web aspects of animation are probably best thought about without a specific place in mind.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Spirit in Twinity tests

I have tried to edit clips from Twinity together. There is a launch of Spirit as a movie currently. Video is saved a Ogg Vorbis, then converted to AVI, but not AVI as known to Adobe Premiere. Unsupported audio or something. Could someone please explain this? Also what to do about a camera that works a bit better. suggestion so far is to get a better mouse. AVI loads into YouTube ok but can't edit together.

one

two

three

four

five

Friends imagined, new video and photos

I have done a lighting test ahead of the Imaginary Lounge, screen for Imaginary Friends short animations coming up soon.

Outside should work ok for lighting but there is still snow.




Stills





The Hunky Mouse is part of Newswireless. I carry the hard copy image in case he is anywhere nearby. He offered to buy readers a drink once after a show at Olympia but it turned out he had forgotten the name of the pub. He may turn up one day though and I find the idea that a journalist somewhere understand things is inspiring.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Backnoise link for new canvas / demoscene

Being snarky is not a crime, apparently. So there seems to be no security on this site. What will happen?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My Pal Ben

No reply to my email yet but Ben has asked me to vote for a radio show.

Will this connect with animation over the next couple of months? Time will tell.

YouTube result

I am cutting and pasting from the list of films. May not get the same person, but this is interesting

link from Cybernetik search

Found this about "HARDfilms: pixels and celluloid" . It looks at pixels as well as film.

The presence of digital technology in the art world has induced a change in esthetic paradigms as a consequence of the creation of certain works, whose form and content participate from the specificity of the new media, with and for which they have been conceive. A big part of experimental cinema has developed a number of works based on the basic elements which constitute cinema, thus creating an alternative to narrative structures and conventions.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Greg Kurcewicz blog located

Imaginary friends still not visiting actual Exeter, but found this blog entry.

The cinematic experience is well described.

However, would the people who created the work known as "A New Canvas" have chosen film if they knew what was available now? I doubt it. I think digital distribution is suitable in some cases.

Fantasy Architecture

Guessing from the Observer, Digital Britain seems to be about the Olympic Games and 2012. So I am into time travel already. Now for the teleporting. Victor Keegan has reported that Twinity will launch part of an online London this year, starting with Soho to Westminster. Could rerach Victoria Park by 2011, then the rest of the Lee Valley.

In enough mist, most canals look much the same. I think there could be a teleport or video edit to Marsh Barton quite readily. The current emphasis seems to be on wonderful bits of architecture. In Heavitree we now have an arch to nowhere with words that cannot be made out. The branch library was demolished so is this really a trade?

Anyway the images on the fence around the olympic site are inspiring but could just as easily be done in Second Life. Much cheaper too if it is supposed to be a "Digital Britain" event.

In Exeter we could do with a tunnel from the Paris Street roundabout to St David's Station. So the walking route from Hight Street to Sidwell Street would be a lot easier. I wonder what Twinity would charge for a model?

However, coming back to the sensible and more timely, when will Exeter City Council have the bandwidth to support Flash and YouTube? Not that easy to explain things to them at the moment.

Coming back to space

Another practical idea would be to put some wooden exercise devices along the canal. Not sure how often people in Hackney use them, but they add something to the playing fields. This would also make it easier to edit video as if two places were much the same.

It could be that I am already moving into borrowing from the ideas of Richard Dedomenici. I may ask him on 3rd Feb at the Phoenix how to avoid disputes if proposals are reasonable. Access to Youtube is not ridiculous to expect, or so you might think.

Coming back to space, Bitropolis is on Twinity but not near Berlin except when there is a film festival. My understanding so far. I now have a booth, with some sofas - could be similar to the sofas in the Phoenix bar. So interviews are possible mixing and matching. However the lighting in the Phoenix is still a problem. May have to move outside and find matching space in Twinity later.

The sofas in the animX booth

the sofas

animX booth at Bitropilis

the booth

The actual Phoenix sofas are between the galleries, where the current animation display seem to me to concentrate on illustration and stopframe, and the Mac resource at the back where creativity is more connected with digital. Just my impression, text comment welcome or short videos. On 21 March there will be an "Analogue to Digital Music Expo" so music video may be on topic. From 14 March Transition in the Castle, "the most inventive and intriguing artwork crossing over traditional with contemporary media." Also close to the Oxo Tower in London. Easy to find and a real place.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Friends Imagined

At LifeBytes I have seen a DVD for Imaginary Friends, a Phoenix Media Production. This will be shown in an Imaginary Lounge, somewhere near the Phoenix, and there may be other stuff as well.

This got me thinking about my own imagined friends, people on the other end of an email address for example. When will I get a reply? Why do I get so much junk from people I don't know?

LifeBytes is a base for video production on Windows. Mostly Mac at the Phoenix but this level of detail is for a future post. The event was that I was recently described at LifeBytes as a "video blogger". This may be to identify what I do as not connected to the properly edited, well lit, carefully planned content on Exeter TV. In the past few months I have given up on waiting for someone to edit my video. I now either record in three minute chunks or else am gradually learning enough Premiere to take out small sections. I do get some help on this, just enough to stop me demanding a proper editor.

So "video blogging" I think of as an extension of text blogging. YouTube can be embedded. I am not sure if people find the sequences in the video on YouTube. I will try out some more later on this blog.

I often link to other people. There is rarely a "Creative Commons" statement on YouTube but links are ok anyway. The audience have to choose the order of viewing. On Flickr I search for Creative Commons only and then may edit. So over the next couple of months I hope to link to various sources around animation, music and imagined friends. This post is an outline of some topics.

Starting with the Hunky Mouse, part of the Newswireless site. A few years ago he wrote that he would buy readers a drink if they turned up at a pub near Olympia after a wireless tradeshow. Then it turned out this pub closed down months previously. Did he ever repeat the offer? With some actual friends we have offered to buy him a drink after other shows but he is yet to turn up. The IMS show for example. The techie bit at the back of Online Information. He once thought about it and then decided that IMS meant something else. Anyway there is a graphic which could help in a video and also newswireless offers confidence that something like "wi-fi Exeter" may work out eventually.

This blog however could be in slower time. Instant wifi over the city is a nice idea. Something written up over a few weeks is more likely.

http://www.bristolwireless.net/news/?p=347

Bristol Wireless is more of a reality. They do reply to email every so often. Where it gets more imagined is around the D.R.O.I.D. event from last year and the continuing events on Second Life. I do get emails about this but don't have the bandwidth at home so rely on what turns up on YouTube.

Dirk Schooner has also posted something more restful. Is this animation or what? Need to develop camera skills in Exeter.

Last year I tried to do a script linking events in Exeter and Bristol. Pipsi Bracken could have given away dance steps at the Trinity. This year I just hope for some video and will work out the script later. There was a relay from the Phoenix basement to Phoenix bar so the possibility was demonstrated.

On Flickr I am a friend of BennyBen who also has a blog. Hello Ben. What chance an actual link over Second Life or Twinity or something? Including a superstar from Cornwall and/or link to Bristol? With a relic on YouTube later for people who go to bed early and have limited bandwidth.

Target dates 14 Feb,6/7th Mar, or fake edit later.

I am a friend of Drifter Rhodes in Second Life but finding the equivalent in the Phoenix is not easy so far. There is a desk where you can leave hard copy messages.

I still think there is a connection between the early computer animation shown as "A New Canvas" and the demoscene as shown at Sundown. Not sure I have the right email address for Greg Kurcewicz. I did meet him a couple of times but festivals are busy times so I failed to persuade him to watch demoscene tv instead of what he came for. Actually I think it was all on a laptop, there was no demoscene tv at the time. Anyway I will continue to imagine Greg as a link to the world of curating official art. Any news on how to contact him is welcome.

Dotwaffle
is someone who turns up once a year at Sundown. Going out of time might be ok. Imagine Sundown as a sign of spring.

Somewhere in the background will be the technology issues and the debate around copyright and business models. There are some people online who I have never actually met. Well I did meet Michael Jahn at a trade show but he was under contract to talk about a product so I did not learn much extra about him. He is an "evangelist" but about what can change. He tends to listen, and will offer an answer to questions. We follow each other on Twitter but I don't think I have the hang of this yet as I post about once a month.

I first found Steve Carlson through Now Europe in an earlier version. Recently this concentrates East. Might have met him in London once but meetings clashed. Maybe some of what happens in Exeter will connect.

Another background issue will be the way journalists need to change to work online, or else just object to online anyway. I may discuss this with my friend Victor in Twinity Berlin but I am not sure how often he is there and I can't get the software to load at home. It will install at LifeBytes but they delete everything overnight so that is why I find email and blog, text in general, is still ok.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Now the Scribd version

Oh dear the Adobe site seems to have a problem with the PDF from Open Office.

So here is the Scribd embed code.

animx09-1

Moving back to paper

Part of my interest is going back to hard copy and text. Don't get me wrong. I still like video but the rest of this post is not completely off topic.

Relating to Exeter as a place can be more difficult than writing text in a browser. Especially tru of web topics as I find it. Last year during Animated Exeter it was established that Exeter City Council do not support Flash so YouTube is a closed world. Not much change in the meantime. I am writing this at Life Bytes where it would be possible to show YouTube content. But this is right at the end of Sidwell Street so people visiting Animated Exeter may think it too far away. So a piece of paper with web links could be useful. I have done a first version. There is one copy on the notice board at Life Bytes and the PDF will be sent as email.

Also loaded to Acrobat.com as a test of how this works



Direct link

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

John Stehura: Cibernetik 5.3

This has turned up on YouTube



The image is quite small however, may be a copy from a distance.

I did some searching ahead of Animated Exeter next month. For several years now it has seemed strange to me that there is not more dialogue between the demoscene and the official curating academics etc. who know about Cibernetik 5.3. The show around A New Canvas was a highlight event. People who used computers for animation in the '60s are the sort of people who would be interested in YouTube at this time. That is my opinion. comments welcome.

So what is the benefit of keeping this stuff in cans of film somewhere deep in an archive? Nothing against archives of course. Film is good. A cinema has many advantages over a smalol space as part of a web browser. But the arrival of Cibernetik 5.3 on youtube is to be welcomed I think.

Over the next few weeks I hope to find out some more responses from people on the demoscene and students of computer science etc. when looking at the range of computer animation available. The source material is on YouTube so adding interviews could be interesting.