Saturday, November 29, 2008

Short film in Devon and Cornwall

I am at the Two Short Nights event at the Phoenix this weekend. There will probably be links to video later.
There is a lot more going on than I realised previously. For example another event fairly soon.

The view from here

more later

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

YouTube is getting better

I may be about to go off topic a bit and use this blog for any YouTube content roughly connected with Exeter.

OhmyNews have published my story about the BBC decision to cancel their project on local video. My impression is that UK print journalists have done to lot to lobby against this idea. I cannot see that the Express and Echo for example will now rush into video. I think Exeter TV has a role in any future situation. Or something like Exeter TV - some way to fund citizen journalism in some format. I use the term "citizen journalism" as connected with OhmyNews but most of the Exeter TV video on YouTube so far is about music performance.

My own business model is to concentrate on text, mostly as hosted by Blogger at almost no cost. More Google ads may appear where I can put them. Google / YouTube seems the best bet in the void without the BBC. Not that there cannot be a conversation with the Daily Mail etc.

For example, coming up soon the Two Short Nights Festival. Friday and Saturday at the Phoenix. Includes music video from Future Shorts. Could be animation or combined with other forms. Music is likely to be the basis for video but I also think that gallery art could be included. Flat images on a wall or page, that sort of thing. So far it is harder to get permission to film but this may change. Jo Gedrych is open to experiment with the images currently on display at Life Bytes on Sidwell Street. There could be other tests.

I will try to at least take some stills during the Two Short Nights. Link suggestions welcome.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Interview with Doctor Jo

Short interview in the back room at Life Bytes. see previous post. More later.

Life Bytes as a gallery

Life Bytes has recently been described as an internet access resource. It can't really be an internet cafe as there is no coffee. There is a cafe next door though.

Now in a new phase there is a gallery aspect. During the time of the Exeter Autumn Festival there will be a display of inkjet prints by Jo Gedrich. The images will also be on the screens on Thursday evening as well as some short animations featuring the same characters appearing in the stills. Some of the compositions may appear to be based on photographs but are all created on the computer.

Over the last couple of year I have made various attempts to persuade Jo to visit Spacex and other galleries. I wondered what he would make of the Tim Brennan exhibit on "The North" for example. Spacex displayed the images as if watercolours though they started on a mobile phone digital camera. My question is about the distribution of digital art. The approach of a limited number of instances in a gallery seems to me to be from a different technology. Actually I have three questions about the effect of digital technology. How is the creative process changing? How is the promotion of events changing, for example what is given away online? And is there a business model? I do realise that just giving stuff away may not work out too well.

There seem to be two parts to the Jo Gedrych business model. Some prints are cheap, under £20 and available in unlimited quantities. There is inkjet kit at LifeBytes and production is not a problem. Another series is priced over £100 however, and these are unique. The inkjet applies each ink in a different run and although the elements of the image could be used again, the Photoshop file is destroyed after each completed print. Apparently Jo believes this contributes to "artistic validity". This is something I hope to discuss with him and others over the next few weeks. (I am on holiday during the Autumn festival but I think something will continue.) It appears that the computer file is the original. It can be viewed on a screen with light behind it in RGB. The CMYK print is not the original. So how can destroying the file enhance the value of the print? My guess is that the change in the business model for galleries may have further to go.

The model for volume sales of prints is based on Vladimir Tretchikoff. Prints are still available from the website at reasonable prices. Tretchikoff never got much credit from the critics but the sales of prints were in large volumes. This could be a way forward for digital art.



Some of the images are of an adult nature, "intended to provoke". This one is suitable for a public blog. There was an option of a larger size but only if there had been some words across it to stop piracy. This blog may contain other samples later. If the original is a watercolour I do not think the value of the original would be reduced. All link suggestions welcome.