This was around the time that the performance project began to become intensely reliant on technology. Of course, this was always going to be a process of seeing where I could take the instruments I was already familiar with, but these computer-based elements were supposed to be secondary to the performance. After this week, I realised that involving so many interlocking technologies made this work like a house of cards.
Whilst I was interested in the output of the Wii remote and nunchuk for my Multimedia subject, I was also focused on how to restrict input to certain parts of the sound timeline in Ableton Live. I had already begun playing with the idea of toggling parameters on and off in OSCulator (thanks to the excellent suggestion from OSCulator developer, Camille Troillard). This would mean that data would only be sent when I wanted it to have an effect. For instance, if one of the performers raises their arm at the beginning of the piece it may trigger a sound, but anytime after that I don’t want an arm raise to repeat that same sound.
The way I achieved this was to use the IAC Driver which is built into OS X to route MIDI messages back from Ableton Live to OSCulator, creating a communication loop.
Ableton Live > IAC Driver > OSCulator > Ableton Live
Our presentation topic for Screen Culture was ‘Immersion’. In short, immersion seems to be the Holy Grail for many artists and in particular, those working within interaction. I have vague memories of Virtual Reality machines being toured around my local area when I was a kid, being touted as a computer environment that was completely immersive and would remove the user entirely from the real world. Of course, they were pretty terrible and something akin to being trapped inside the equally awful Lawnmower Man, but with a few pterodactyls flying clumsily around you.
Gaming in particular still puts a great deal of effort into getting as close as possible to an immersive environment. Surround sound, super-slick graphics engines and almost limitless gameplay are the frontiers upon which this battle is fought. However, they’re still limited by the interface. Both the screen and the controller create a barrier between gamers and the gaming environment. The best developers can hope for at the moment, is to create software that is so engaging, that the user simply ‘blocks out’ the world around them.
This idea of enveloping, rather than complete immersion, has been around for a long time. Once mathematics found its way into visual art, perspective methods like ‘Alberti’s system‘ attempted to draw the viewer into the image surface, or the pictorial space. The concept of ‘enveloping’ was what I chose to focus my part of the presentation on.
Outcome
My suggestion that ‘total immersion’ is not yet possible was based on the idea that we’re unable to remove the body and therefore our conscious connection to the world. We may experience brief moments of being transported to another place, as was the case in the early days of panoramas, but it is generally not long before we are again aware of our surroundings.
For the presentation, we also discussed the different types of immersion by definition, to break down the idea of total immersion and suggest that whilst we may not be able to remove the body entirely, we can achieve varying degrees of immersion through art and technology.
I haven’t used a razor to shave in years. I’m afraid of looking like a small child with gigantic eyebrows – kind of like a Japanese cartoon character gone very, very wrong. So me and facial hair get along quite well: it grows quickly and gives me something of an all-over coat that’s akin to a wild animal, and therefore garners respect. Just in case you missed that last point, hair = respect. Wise up, you chest-shaving blowhards.
Being November in a couple of days, it’s time to put my powers of facial hair to use for good, instead of evil. I’ve just signed myself up for Movember and in keeping with the rules of event, I’ll be clean shaving (or as close as I get to clean shaven) on Sunday morning. Whilst my upper lip will be doing all the hard work, I need your help in deciding just how bad I will look in 30 days time, by choosing from the Movember Style Guide…
I finally attended my first Dorkbot event last night at Serial Space. I was very impressed. The presenters – Harriet Birks and John Tonkin – both showed us interesting work, but what I was really inspired by, was the way they broke down all their concepts, processes and technologies involved for the audience. Tonkin was particularly generous with his experiences, describing his installation to us, right down to the components used.
Each dorkbot is different and is driven by the needs and interests of people in the local community. But generally, the main goals of dorkbot are: to create an informal, friendly environment in which people can talk about the work they’re doing and to foster discussion about that work; to help bring together people from different backgrounds who are interested in similar things; to give us all an opportunity to see the strange things our neighbors are doing with electricity. dorkbot isn’t really a forum for formal artist talks or lectures, but rather a chance for diverse people to have friendly conversations about interesting ideas.
The director of Sydney Dorkbot is Pia van Gelder and after spotting that we were new attendees, she made the effort to introduce herself and make us feel welcome. I don’t pretend that Dorkbot is for everyone, but being interested in this kind of DIY technology culture, I have found it generally disheartening that those responsible for creating the work can be so protective of the technologies which should be available to everyone. Dorkbot feels like it sits at the other end of the spectrum: a little utopian group of nerds, hackers and tinkerers, who want to help each other out where they can. I’ll definitely be back.
This is some lovely work from Wee See, that I spotted via CDMo the other day, which started me on one of those YouTube binges, looking for similar geometry based animation. Personally, I’m really interested in minimalist design, particularly around the idea of negative space.
As Peter Kirn points out in his post, we often shy away from using simple, or elementary shapes in design, in favour of throwing everything we have at something. Personally, I’m tiring of the ‘cut and paste’ and collage style of design that’s been around for a few years now. It feels lazy and often like it’s an effort to cover up a lack of thought in a work. Of course there are always exceptions and I don’t pretend that a clean and minimal design will always win out over something more layered and random – Apple’s glossy, minimal and all too reflective aesthetic has long been wearing equally thin on me.
So you want answers – why have the blog posts stopped? Where are all the new pictures, exciting videos and words of show-stopping genius that bring joy to your dark, sad little lives? They’ve gone on holiday, that’s where.
This Is Not Art 2009. Run by animals.
As is standard practice for me, I book a holiday at the beginning of semester, that inevitably takes place during the pointy end of session. Finding time for updating my blog (and therefore process journal) takes a back seat. In fact, I took the back seat out of the car entirely and left the whiney bastard at home. Whilst the blog was crying and tossing things around like a small, red haired brat, I escaped up the coast to Newcastle, for the This Is Not Art festival. I’m not going to get into too much here, because the blog and life in general was laying in wait for my return and won’t stop poking me until I get something done.
Just a quick list of people that impressed me during the 5 days (in no particular order): Pimmon, Christian Haines, Tom Hall, and Suburban Giants. The Renew Newcastle project was also hugely inspiring. If I find myself with time on my hands and looking for something to post about in the next few weeks (no chance), I’ll come back to these artists. In the meantime, I’ve got to get stuck into this ‘life’ thing.
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