Test Lab this evening at V2 in Rotterdam, with demonstrations of 4 projects from artists who’ve been working there over the summer. I’m interested to see how the mix between demonstration/exhibition/talk format works. The Lab will be streamed live on V2 website, if it’s a good stream I definitely recommend watching as I suspect the projects will be both progressive and antagonistic. Review to follow!
John Underkoffler speaks effortlessly on UI (User Interface) for computation. He believes advances in UI have been neglected in the quest for bigger memory and faster processing. Watch out Wii.
Project produced by Rotterdam company V2, where Herman Asselbergh dismantles a brand new MacBook Pro piece by piece. Although the online video is only a clip right now, the still image makes me very exited to see the finished autopsy. Asselberghs comments on the contradiction between how often we see laptops in artworks and the ubiquity of them in our lives.
Article on Terreform One, a project about cities of the future…
Perhaps I have witnessed a real life manifestation of the effects of THE INTERNET. Has ‘power-browsing’ (mentioned previously in Neil’s Schizoid Reader posts) now escaped from the screen and trying to strangle your ability to engage, even when you are looking at work on your feet? Benjamin was worried that cinema might result in apathy amongst viewers, as they surrendered themselves to the screen, so what now? Are our search-engine based expectations resulting in apathy unless something is as easy to engage with as a the first link on a browser?
There is a huge amount of reading to be had on these topics, if you can set your mind to a read whole article. Micheal Punt and Robert Pepperal acknowledge in their book The Postdigital Membrane that people rarely read non-ficton in a linear fashion. “We do not expect that the whole book will be essential reading for all readers, nor to we expect the chapters to be read in sequence (Who does that these days anyway, who ever did?)”
I’d really like to get anyone interested together to talk about this, as my ‘mind map’ style blog post feels a little futile, or maybe my Google Generation tendencies prevent me from engaging enough to write a proper article. Discuss.
Definitely head over to the Glue Factory for MFA degree show, some great work in an unusual venue (which I gather wasn’t their original choice but there is some comments about that on their blog.) I haven’t been to the CCA yet for the other part but I’m interested to see the difference in the work between venues. I particularly liked Emily Donnini’s sound installation which had me walking round in circles to the amusement of the invigilator.
Anyway, second and hopefully less shallow post to follow…
Perhaps out-with the topic of “Vis Com”, but just enjoy.
Vis Commers love maps, it’s a FACT. Whole series on Dad friendly BBC4.
Degree Show & Auction website is up… a work in progress.
Just putting this, very much under construction, project out there to hopefully get some more invitations to other archives. If you have lots of videos, or suggestions of collections, please let me know.
Synth Pop version coming soon…
I promise I’m not a Radio 4 spokeswoman, but an intreguing new manifesto was discussed on Material World yesterday (if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing it starts at 19mins). Techo-internet-computer-genius/theorist/inventor Jaron Lanier discusses his new writing on how we might have allowed the Internet to play too much of a role in our lives. He calls it ‘a Humanist manifesto, and hopes it will create a new form of humanism that puts computers in a subservient role.
He is quite critical of ‘open culture’ which he believes has not resulted in the collaborative dream once imagined. This could be quite controversial.
Also it seems he doesn’t want us just to read little bits of his manifesto, so all or nothing I guess!
I got this book recently and anyone is welcome to borrow it once I’m done. Futurist Alvin Toffler wrote it in the 70’s speculating on how society would cope with the acceleration of change as a result of technology and growth of population.
He defines Futureshock as like culture shock, where one is taken out of their comfort zone and they no longer understand customs/formalities/environment. With culture shock you can experience unknown territories then return to what you know. Futureshock is used by Toffler to express how we might not cope with the rapid changes in our culture. Basically imagine you went to a foreign country where everything was different, but the place you came from ceased to exist… wouldn’t that be A BIT SCARY.
Perhaps a clunky explanation but an intriguing concept I promise.
The SarcMark Like/Dislike?
Sorry for gap of epic proportions between posts. Very good documentary from Melvin Bragg on In Our Time about the Frankfurt School of theorists which includes Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno. Well worth a listen.
It is snobby but way too much fun. Photoshop Disasters.
Phillipe Stark as guru in a new programme/competition ‘Design For Life’ on the BBC, Oh my oh my, too many things to say. Just watch.
On Sunday at Glasgow Concert Hall there is a performance of Eisenstein’s groundbreaking film Battleship Potempkin with a live orchestra accompaniment. I can’t see how it can go wrong, tickets only £6 for students, get them at the box office at the top of Buchanan Street. Do it!
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