Since this is a blog it can get personal at times so I think it is ok to cover experience as well as views on things like adding instruments on top of a sax.
There is a long term project to have something like an Exeter TV. This would have a cable or satellite and record / promote live performance in the region wherever that is. Meanwhile there are some YouTube clips. Previously I have worked with text through blogs and citizen reporting such as OhmyNews. Still photos can be an extra for text or a guide for future video.
A problem is how to build awareness of what is now possible with digital technology. The budget for cable or satellite would require some local understanding. YouTube samples could help here but for some people it still seems that YouTube has a suggestion of low quality or something to be avoided.
During Animated Exeter I had hoped to take photos in some sort of real time. As in making stuff available within my own memory of the events. The connection of Cory Arcangel and YouTube suggested a suitable thread. I did get permission to publish on this blog photos from the launch of the show at Spacex. See December 19th.
Problems seemed to start when I took photos at the event in the Black Box and then requested permission to video the lecture / performance. Apparently this requires communication with Cory Arcangel and this has yet to happen. Meanwhile I have tried to befriend him on MySpace and email through the website. As I understand it from Saturday the MySpace page is not really active.
The photos themselves are quite boring. Graphic saying "black box" and a poster with a still from YouTube. That's about it. The event was a film with the soundtrack out of sync. Someone else can maybe explain what it was about. So for me at the moment the most interesting thing about the photos is that I cannot get permission to put them in this blog.
What was a still from YouTube becomes a controlled graphic once used in publicity.
copyright will789 / OhmyNews
I did get permission a couple of years ago to photograph a film projector on a plinth at the Spacex Gallery. There was other content obviously but this was the only thing that could be photographed. What struck me was that all the digital kit was hidden in the ceiling or somewhere but the film projection had special lighting. My guess is that in the gallery world the analogue technology is still the choice to aim at. How else to explain the way "A New Canvas" was presented? Computer animation from the '60s is preserved on film and curated to the point that shows are fairly rare. I will now try to stop this grumpy mode and keep on topic.
Topics through some more photos
Here is a still from scene.org. I think there is a connection between the "new canvas" approach and the demoscene. As I am going out of time anyway I might as well go back to this. Or forward. There will be Breakpoint in March.
Tim Brennan under old Exe Bridge
Copyright will789 / OhmyNews
I also did a story for OhmyNews around the "North". There is a buzz around mobile phones but somehow this ends up as images displayed as if they were watercolours. I am still not sure what sense this makes. What is the value of images on Flickr? From what I have discovered about Turner his painting was often linked to publishing projects through forms of printing. So what is lost through making images widely available?
On Saturday I asked Cory Arcangel what he thought about YouTube. It turns out he likes YouTube and thinks the absence of critical art writing about it is because it is so new. He rejected my suggestion that his work implies any lack of respect for what is on YouTube. Maybe my concern should be more for the way his show is described.
The Animated Exeter catalogue and website mentions "the massed ranks of hundreds of online amateur instrumentalists" and continues - "Given the popularity of video sharing websites, the web is now home to countless homemade videos of people showing off their instrumental skills."
Then again, some people are just showing off and leave the soundtrack alone. Quite right too.
Anyway, back on topic someone in the audience suggested that the people sampled by Cory Arcangel should be pleased to be now part of "high art". Maybe someone could explain how this works. The Phoenix could probably sell tickets to a selection from YouTube that was rehearsed and had few technical problems. All it needs is a blurb with some convincing words.
And another thing. Probably the main reason why it will prove impossible to get permission to video anything over the next couple of weeks is the possibility that children will be in the shot and there is a legal requirement for releases from proper authorities. This has become a major issue. I recently met a grandfather who had been refused permission to video a school play. It is now usually the case that film of schools on TV news is shot from a distance or out of focus. I am not sure this is entirely positive. It may make young people seem more of a threat.
So it may be possible to process some examples that are a blur to start with. There could be some tests for further consideration. Maybe some details of paving stones.
Meanwhile there will be workshops on how to be a video DJ. If and only if some of the results turn up online and some of the video DJs wish to build a cult of personality it could be possible to link to images etc. Suggest tag "DROID2008". There will be a famous event on Second Life. Or if the technology falls over, we can all make our own camera record and then do an edit.
Still thinking about the performance last night at the Phoenix. One thing I am sure about is that extra instumentation is not always a good idea. If something is arranged for a sax solo, best thing is to leave it alone in my honest opinion.
I think this actually offers a better take on what the idea is about than the Spacex show where you get a CD to take away and play at home. Video is widely available nowadays so recording performance and lectures could become standard.
I am trying to stay with hard copy as well as get used to Flash etc. This is more for blogs on drupa so i will also try to stay on topic.
The video Swicki for animation works well so I want to promote it. Also I have found more on YouTube from the era covered in "A New Canvas". So it can be linked to. Using google i have found a couple of images to go with a shot from a PDF book. So this group of three has a static effect similar to the video Swicki but only three at the moment. Maybe more later or other versions welcome. The grid on the Swicki is a rough guide but any proportions might work.
The top one is from a PDF / book on "Expanded Cinema" - still from John Stehura: Cybernetik 5.3.(1965-69).
Bottom ones through Google images, left from Pouet but original page is missing so no detail available. Right is from Pingmag after a search on "VJ" but I can't trace the context.
Please check the video animation Swicki for other combinations. The general point is that there is a connection between the demoscene and the "new canvas2 approach and either could work with music. My suggestion is that a Creative Commons licence could be more widely used on the demoscene as some VJs are concerned about this sort of thing.
This video is from a meeting on Social Source - open source and free software for volunrary organisations. Held at Bristol Wireless on Tuesday. i included a poster for DROID, a musical evening coming up soon that will also be on Second Life. I am not sure yet how to describe the connection between the two events but I think there is one. A dj works through links and sometimes responds to requests. Open source projects have no such person i don't think but I may be wrong. I thought that Moodle would be very collective but was told it could be top down in design. Learning takes many forms.
Found this alongside a recent upload. YouTube has no editors apparently but whatever the search is on can work sometimes.
This argument attacking "the cult of the amateur" is misleading i think in claiming that there are no editors on Wikipedia. also i think it is unfair to the people who load stuff to YouTube. This example is well lit and in focus.
I am disturbed by the use of the word "amateur" to describe the source material for Cory Arcangel when he edits clips together to perform Bach. Because his work is in a gallery it presumably has the authority that Andrew Keen would approve of. The effect is antifunctional. The style could not be listened to for long. Is this supposed to be a comment on YouTube? Actually there is some excellent stuff there, worth promoting in itself.
I have found an option to start some advertising income coming in. In theory. Youtube and Google work together it seems. So I have tried to find the right keywords for this page
Only a test at the moment. I am not sure if I need to put more content on the page to help the spiders. So far it is more or less on topic.
Breakpoint is over the Easter weekend in March. There will probably be people there who also go to Sundown. So this blog will try to keep up. A couple of years ago it was suggested that Ubuntu may feature short intros as idents while booting up. Recently booting up takes less and less time but Breakpoint may be an occasion for clarification, even if it is to record this as a non-starter.
Details now exist online for D.R.O.I.D., an event both on Second Life and in Bristol 23rd of next month.
Apparently
We are now fast entering the post-televisual age, where we are no longer the passive recipients of televised news and commercials, a world where we think we have choice, but only within the strict confines of what the programmers wish us to see, but rather the protagonists, programming our own lives and living our own dreams.
The line-up at the Trinity will feature live acts, DJs and VJs, and using a number of video cameras, this will be streamed live into Second Life, where avatars will be able to enjoy the sites and sounds of the event in Bristol.
Having tried to keep up with a similar event at the Phoenix I can see some advantage in a relatively low bandwidth approach such as this blog. Text is still quite effective in making connections and most systems can cope. The full Second Life approach is some way off for most people, I think.
Meanwhile book link on Amazon found through imasaka.org
Following a lunch conversation yesterday, (this blog is based on some active travel in Exeter, not just staring at a screen) I have added three new words to the Video Swicki for Animation. They are "cel", "cartoon" , and "BVH". Cellophane was the original medium for Walt Disney and others as it was explained to me. Somehow i had forgotten about cartoons. BVH I still do not understand but I have been promised a longer conversation.
So now all the boxes have something in them except one. That is ok, I await suggestions. "Intro" finds nothing but "Ident" works fine.
I went to the Black Box for the "Untitled Translation Exercise" from Cory Archangel. The soundtrack is shifted a few frames to give the effect of dubbing even though it is still in English. Not sure what the point is. Galleries do seem attracted to displays of technology that fails to work correctly. I still think this may be promotion for simpler technology such as watercolours. Hang them on the wall and they just work. I still have no reply to my friend request on MySpace. Maybe this is the subtle malfunction that makes it art.
The Phoenix galleries are already prepared for Animated Exeter. Forkbeard Fantasy has the sapace around the box office. There are some props from "The Fall of the House of Usherettes", now available on YouTube. There is comment regetting this move into digital but I have put another comment in support. Online can support live performance. I can only find Semay Wu on MySpace with a list of the FF performances at the Northcote later this month. Surely the more publicity online the more Arts Council targets will be met. Excellence in video networking, that is the future for obscure places like Exeter.
The other gallery has comic art from Studio Blink in Bristol. They have a website and blog but no links displayed in the gallery that I could find. Not sure why. Symbiosis could be the word I am looking for but I am not sure what people think it means.
Over the next few months I plan to work on some scripts that could become video, maybe for Rougemont Global Broadcasting (RGB). There is an outline that gives an overview of the topics. Recently the video Swicki has turned up and may have a similar effect. The keywords could each be an element in a series of programs or chunks. RGB is currently an attempt at a script or text structure. Short videos appear through Exeter TV, mostly through Youtube.
There are three questions that can be asked in many contexts. What is changing for content through digital technology. What is changing for how content is promoted? Is there a viable business model for online content?
These could be asked about fine art or animation or Exeter TV. There could be a series of interviews and work out more structure when editing.
The blog will relate to events such as Animated Exeter. For example the Untitled Translation Exercise at the Phoenix next week. I am still a bit puzzled as to what the show at the Phoenix is about. Is Cory Arcangel taking a dim view of the web and YouTube? I have tried to befriend him on MySpace but no reply so far.
The thing that strikes me about searches for digital animation is that the early stuff is not turning up. John Whitney has Arabesque on YouTube. That is about it. So this point will be repeated.
The demoscene is far off for Exeter as the next Sundown is not till September. Still, there are plans for a visit to Breakpoint from the 21st to the 24th of March 2008 (Easter weekend)so there will at least be a report back. There is a Pouet thread on the idea of an intro for Ubuntu. (They don't think much of my story for OhmyNews but that is ok. Someone else should write more for OhmyNews so they can group stories together. OK I did muddle up an Atari and an Amiga in a photo caption...)
Second Life is a constant factor nowadays. There will probably be something in Bristol towards the end of Feb that is also on Second Life. Details later as if it matters where or when. Previously
So the blog will connect to events as they happen or turn up on archive. The Swicki Video is the best route to content.
I am starting to look for JODI again on the web. A couple of years ago there was a Computing 101 at Spacex, completely misfunctional. Apparently that was the point. I tried to get web access from the Apple kit on display and was very disappointed when nothing worked. But it was an art comment on technology. Very funny. There is a blog that has the same effect and has not changed since maybe last year sometime.
So what is the point being made about YouTube? Apparently the videos sampled were all made by "amateurs". Is the performance of Bach in the current show supposed to be effective? Or is it a representation of an alleged Youtube experience? I think some YouTube contributors should be asked to comment. Some YouTube stuff is not amateur at all in my opinion.
Found this link on one of the pages from the previous post.
From the notes at Spacex it seemed that most of YouTube etc could be seen as amateur until edited together for a proper gallery. Something like that. Plenty of time to discuss various points of view. And something could drift on into Vibraphonic.
This blog is back to animation mostly. WifiExeter will cover most kinds of content.
Spacex launches a new exhibition this evening from Cory Arcangel.
One unknown will be what it is permitted to photograph. Last year at Animated Exeter there was not much permission to video. Exeter City Council has a clearly defined policy on releases. Spacex usually do not allow exhibits to be photographed though I was allowed to photograph a film projector on a plinth. They do have some digital equipment but this is often hidden.
Maybe it matters not in a digital age. The Ice Rink would have been a photo opportunity but all image rights are held by the Express and Echo. There are some script ideas or at least bits of text through Rougement Global Broadcasting. Much more sensible short video turns up through Exeter Television, currently on YouTube.
By the way, editing loads of samples from YouTube is interesting in itself and also raises the art status of the originals. Just my opinion. Comment welcome.
Fortunately a search on Flickr for Creative Commons pictures finds quite a lot for Cory Arcangel. I have altered one of them to reveal the audience. Yet to check out YouTube but it is in theory possible to cover this aspect of Animated Exeter through links to existing web resources, whatever else we manage to video or not.
I am trying out a video form of wordcloud with a swicki for animation, a sort of combination of search engine and wicki.
Here is what it looked like recently
It should change to show choices on each keyword that come up high on the list. You can vote to move results up and down. The sizes seem to change as well depending on what people search for.
Eurekster have only recently offered the video cloud. The data is from Blinkx. Could be interesting. See press release.
Recently Adobe have launched a site to show off Flash for video and they also have a visual menu. Usually I prefer text but this works ok once you accept it for the intended purpose.
Actually not that far north, but on holiday so a bit off topic. Not enough time to follow up any detail online but here are a couple of photos or maybe just one. web access a bit dodgy.
Nothing happening with image upload. Maybe later, days or weeks.
You may be wondering what happened to animation as a topic. Well, it could be that any form of content would fit in. The wifiExeter blog is more clearly about distribution unless that turns up here as well.
On Sunday 11th November the Creative Collective will tour intrepidly all the way from the Phoenix to the Globe Inn, Newtown. there will be a selection of short films, possibly including animation. That is, some films may be completely animation or some films may include sections of animation or techniques borrowed from animation. Now there is so much digital technique it is often difficult to tell what a clearcut definition of animation may be.
Discussion to be continued on blog and at Globe, Phoenix etc.
Linking to YouTube could be scaled up in time for Animated Exeter in February
Meanwhile from Future Shorts, coming to the Phoenix big screen sometime soon
For some of us the food is an important part of any festival. The continental market will be in Sidwell Street on the 2,3 and 4th of November.
Here is my own video from last year. Very short but maybe Exeter Television will get out more this year. Most of the editing is done at Life Bytes at the other end of Sidwell Street.
So far there are quite a few of the artists appearing in Exeter for the Autumn Festival who have video on YouTube. One aim of Exeter Television is that this should happen more often. More on this later. There may be a concentration on events at the Globe as this is the easiest venue for me to get to. Meanwhile here are a couple of other links.
Adobe MAX is an occasion to conjure up a vision of the future. Most people attending are developers and they need to work out what the audience will expect by the time something is launched.
Gary Kovacs, in charge of marketing at Adobe's mobile unit, called Flash Lite 3 "the most significant advance we've made in mobile" and said it brought Adobe closer to being able to release software versions for mobile and desktop simultaneously.
"It's probably a few years away. We'll do it over the next couple to three years," he told Reuters.
Meanwhile the Apple iPhone is seen as an inspiration.
According to VNUnet.com, Anup Murarka, Adobe's director of technical marketing said that the iPhone has "changed the landscape" with its sleek graphics and tight integration of services, turning the phone from a simple commodity into a fashion statement. Gary Kovacs, vice president of marketing at Adobe's mobile and devices branch added that "Since the iPhone, the energy in the industry to create something compelling has been off the charts.The iPhone has convinced customers that data on a mobile phone is possible."
However a list of devices that are currently available with earlier versions of Flash shows that many of them are supported in Japan or North America.
It may be a while before Flash Lite 3 is widely distributed in Exeter.
There will be an Apple shop so the iPhone can be demonstrated. There are some doubts about the cost and capability. Martin Courtney in the UK IT Week suggests that wifi availability will be a factor given that there is no support for 3G. Not a problem in wifi Exeter.
Other announcements at MAX included another update on the runtime now known as AIR - Adobe Integrated Runtime- and an example in the form of an Adobe Media Player. Warning, this is all beta stuff. Uninstall previous versions of AIR or Apollo or it could go wrong. The Media Player can only cope with Flash video as far as I can tell. You can enter demographic information about yourself to help the advertisers. there is quite a lot of video already including animation. the Two Dollar Pistols on nTune.TV are not reaaly the sort of band that would be booked for Vibraphonic but they deserve a hearing. It is not all from the USA. there is areport on a Lady Sovereign Concert at the Scala in King's Cross from Jumpoff TV. Now back to technology issues, enough time for content later.
So my point of view is that this is well worth watching but is some way off in the future. The Media Player works ok full screen. Something similar will be possible later on mobiles.
Meanwhile I am looking at two photographs as a token for discussion in the near future, say the rest of this year.
One is to show that an Apple shop is expected in Exeter sometime. This is on the Time Travel section of Snap City so could connect with other places.
The other one is an impression on Flickr of how Exeter Castle may look when the icerink arrives, an almost certain event for the fourth quarter. Mostly it is borrowed from Paul Keleher in Boston. The Creative Commons has many possibilities. I have claimed that there will be some genuine photos later. Maybe there will be some video.
Meanwhile this blog is mostly text. And I can add to it from Life Bytes on Sidwell Street.
Conversation with Jo Gedrych of Exeter Television about future possible meetings. More later but just as a note to come back to it seems probable there will be some future conversation around the time of Animated Exeter in February 08. At the Phoenix Media Centre there is an interest in YouTube and offering support for people who want to find better ways of using it. My own approach so far has been to load very short token clips and try to persuade other people to load longer ones. Otherwise I just borrow something that is already there.
A few examples
The Plump DJs mix video. There is a connection with the demoscene in my opinion. You could start with a search on Sundown and Budleigh Salterton.
Mobile phones as an input. Would it work as an output?
More later. there will be a closely argued script with categories each making up a timed sequence of television. Unless something else keeps turning up during such a project.
In the Guardian it said that the Raindance Festival would be showing stuff online. More about this when it turns up.
Meanwhile the Raindance site seems to be promoting their TV that turns out to be based on Joost. So far I have found some stuff from Aardman. A Town Called Panic. So this is reassuringly normal animation.
You have to follow the link then think of a name, use an email address that works etc etc. install takes a while. random adverts turn up. but maybe the Raindance stuff will be worth a look.
Update to yesterday's post, John Whitney is on YouTube. Arabesque.
My memory is that a previous example did disappear. Maybe you should be quick to see this. Who knows?
In a sensible world, everything from the early days of computer animation would be on YouTube. But this cannot be guaranteed.
There is also a video on Charles Csuri with short extracts towards the end. Personally I find the soundtrack annoying. But this is an example of how to mix interviews, presentation and original computer animation. Half an hour or an hour is not impossible to imagine.
Thinking about an online guide to digital animation it strikes me that the top problem is the lack of availability of the classic stuff. For some reason the kind of work covered in A New Canvas is very rarely shown and is also very heard to find on the web. It seems to have the same sort of status as an ancient oil painting, best kept in the dark away from anybody except a distinguished academic.
Seriously though, why is it thought this style is suited to film and more or less film only. I may be repeating myself from previous posts but I feel certain that computer distribution would have been used in 1967 onwards had it been available.
The demoscene stuff is getting easier to access. A dedicated web TV channel. Versions on YouTube. A big screen at a party is much much better so the YouTube versions are in no way damaging parties as events, any more than MySpace damages live music. By the way, exhibitions of oil paintings can also benefit from online versions in reasonable resolution.
So plan A is to find at least some still images in time for Sundown. Not sure when it is, but summer has not started yet so there must be a few months to come.
Aim is to show some connection demoscene / new canvas. Maybe this will be an occasion to discuss archiving, preservation, distribution.
Not wanting to upset anyone by directly ripping off graphics, here are some links.
Radio Vague, a longterm supporter of open source, have made the following statement about broadcast from Glastonbury this weekend-
"To listen in you'll need nothing more than Flash Player version 7 or higher, available from Adobe."
I wait to see if this is true. I have now managed to get Ogg Vorbis working and VLC seems ok. So something as simple as Flash seems too obvious. I hope the bandwidth can cope now this is not something just for the dedicated techies who can persevere.
I am not making this up. I first discovered Open Office when Psand refused to send me a Word file.
The Adobe online video edit option reaches YouTube, I have tried this out.
Seems to be missing the last bit. Tests from a lunchtime lecture on electronics during Vibraphonic and the food festivities of Sidwell Street. More next weekend but maybe you only get sausages in the winter.
Not sure what is happening with the project discussed at Sundown for intros on Ubuntu but a short video has turned up on YouTube made by a librarian. As promotion it is fairly convincing, making simple points well.
Exeter Television has now loaded to YouTube a short on the Games Day at the Phoenix. It shows an impression of what went on, including how easy it is to get to the big screen from a digital input. in this case a Wii machine but it could be a web link in theory. So the demoscence material could end up in the Phoenix one day.
Here again is a previous video from Sundown 2006 in Budleigh. Expect another one in 2007.
Not sure what has happened to the idea of intros or idents for Ubuntu. Maybe there will be an update out of sequence. Things move fairly slowly so one year being much like previously the breaking news could be at any time. At least now there is at least one video from Animated Exeter and one from Sundown on the archive for Exeter Television. Several others on YouTube for Sundown.
A couple of things have happened recently to make me think that a video web is getting closer. People at Life Bytes on Sidwell Streeet opposite the Odeon are expecting a plasma screen sometime next week. Apparently this is funded by advertising and will be one of several in Exeter. Not sure how this will work. Will there be enough content to make it interesting or will the ads just be annoying? But at least the idea of display from web will get over. There may be wireless access at some locations. The content is all supplied over the web. More on this later.
Also I am finding more video from Exeter on YouTube. For example, this about the cathedral. Not sure what is being said as it is in Italian. Still, it means that a guide to Exeter can be made up from various sources.
Last night was the first occasion Future Shorts showed at the Phoenix. There is usually at least one animation. This time 'Last Train Ride' directed by Gokhan Okur from Turkey. Apparently illustration, maybe computers were in there somehow. Well integrated with the soundtrack from Jigsaw Soul. Many of the Future Shorts are online at full length. This one is hosted by Atom Films
In my opinion not much is lost by putting content online. It is a bit obvious that the Phoenix screen is a better place to view something. Online is ok but is mostly promotion for something else. There may be a short pause for discussion on this next time before the 8pm film. I will be in the bar somewhere. Meanwhile please leave a comment unless this is just obvious for most people and I am going on about it out of habit.
Maybe it was the tennis in the Phoenix auditorium last weekend. There is no wii stock at IT Games. Apparently there may be a few in sometime but no proper supply till nearer to April.
Recent photo from Spacex where animation follows on from Tim Brennan's take on theNORTH. These were painted last week based on rocks. They could also be used as planets. Some animation may turn up online, see previous posts for previous links to other workshops.
So far almost no connection with the demoscene during Animated Exeter.
The Festaval favourites at the Picture House included "90 degrees". I noted down www.90degrees.fr but this seems not to exist. Handwriting in the dark not very reliable. Could we have more web links on the handout please?
However, it turns up on YouTube. search on "supinfocom" finds several pages so more later.
This animation would work ok at a demo party I think. Maybe there are many people who already know this but my impression so far is of two sepearated worlds.
Finding out more about the i-dat software. I found some help on Macs at the Phoenix. However the only zip file that unloaded ok was a video edit from thugs at bay. I could not actually use it but found a really neat video through their website.
There will be more help about open source sometime soon.
Maybe it is just me and a Mac that seems difficult. You drag a used zip file towards the dustbin then it changes shape and moves away from you.
V-MOB is "video workshops for mobile phones". The website includes some examples and some downloads. Intended for people attending workshops but the software is open source so presuamably anyone can attempt to get it to work. Seems best suited to Mac so I may try to get help at the Phoenix. (It appears there is a Windows version but the word MAC turned up in the zip file I found once it unfolded so I stopped there.)
Rescue seems to me the short film with the most sense of movement or journey in it.
Similar info at another site on Digital Workshops. Links to stop frame site where the latest work is a version of a computer game.
This may seem a long way from Tim Brennan and the watercolour tradition. But the move to digital may be just a way of opening things up. Stop frame is still in there somehow.
This turns up on YouTube. Mobile phones, probably filmed on one as well if that is the right word. So far no sign of any video from Spacex animation but it is clearly a possibility.
Searching on "seagull" and "ogles" has found this link. Massive file by the way, well 20 meg or so. Think before you click.
Failed to load at home but works ok at LifeBytes. Quicktime on Windows is an option, you don't have to be a Mac person.
It may be part of a podcast from Imagine Magazine. Looked like XML or something.
More on Imagine website. I hope to find out how this works. There are some Mac fans at the Phoenix. It is a vodcast, not a podcast, as it includes video.
I think this animation has some film in the background. May not be from a mobile phone but there is a sense of mobility.
I was trying to check out previous events at Spacex and found a blog for Jodi. A couple of years ago Jodi came up with what I think was a rendition of computers as anti-functional. Based on Apple kit it was a world in which nothing worked as expected. There was a computer set up to browse the web but no actual connection. this was explained to me when I complained.
The blog is much the same. Very disappointing as there is no content, just error messages. i suppose this is art, at least it is consistent.
Why not have a gallery event with computers and web access that functions? I will suggest this to people at LifeBytes. Maybe LifeBytes is a gallery already but anything that works there could be moved around..
One of the animations shown yesterday is also online. "Gone Fishing" is a music video for a track by Second Person. The animation was also used as part of live performance, online at Fabchannel.
Fabchannel obviously has got at least two cameras and a lighting specialist. Still I don't see why Exeter Televison could not get the same sort of result at the Phoenix for example, where it is claimed that sound mixing is reaching a new level.
The 'Inspire' exhibition on Queen Street has many pictures from the basement and recent work from schools. There is still time till the 24th to see the Tim Brennan photographs at Spacex. The landscape painting tradition is in the museum.
I am starting to promote the next 'meet the blogger' occasion, Friday evening at LifeBytes and have come up with a fairly clear sentence or two-
"There will be another chance for real time discussion around a blog on Animated Exeter. The meeting will be at Life Bytes on Sidwell Street in Exeter on the evening of Friday the 23rd Feb between 5.30 and 6.30.
Topics will include all possible links between digital culture and analog reality such as the Spacex / Tim Brennan exhibition of inkjet in a watercolour style. Arguably this 'reality' is actually in denial about the current potential of technology to distribute images in ways that are easy to access."
So this is getting closer to raising some issues. Comment welcome.
The Phoenix had a really big screen for playing tennis on a Wii or two. Worked well. So presumably any computer source could work, such as demoscene or anything online.
Just had a look at the site for the Animators. last year's show at Spacex.
There is still a lot happening and the latest event leads to a website for Run Wrake where there is actual video to watch of recent work. Much better than stills or a 30 second sample in my opinion. Maybe this is the way more animation will be displayed.
Of course it is better in a gallery, or anywhere with a big screen.
Just starting to check out animation festivals on the web. Already one thing strikes me as a question. Why is it that a site like Spike and Mike that has a cafe press spinoff set up and most do not? Just as an idea I have in mind some funded public organisation with loads of images, some as paintings stored in a basement. They have had lottery funding to do some scanning but only low res versions are ever found on the web. There is no viable business case for making them more available as it seems. So something like cafe press would be very useful for organisations that find it difficult to package up a CD or whatever. Not getting at anyone. Just a question. Why do public bodies not put more high res images on the web?
Some people have been asking about possible confusion between "animx", a digital fringe based in Exeter, and "animex" an animation festival based in Teeside.
The Exeter digital bit used to be known as "animex" and changed to avoid confusion. In Google any unique combination of words will do. Recent search shows that animx and animex get different results.
There are many more sites that turn up, by the way. Online uniqueness is not really as possible as is often imagined in other forms of reality.
It may be that many people involved in Animated Exeter are familiar with Teeside and other animation events. So a connection with an online aspect may happen just as easily somewhere else or as part of a general process.
So I will try to find out an email address for other events and see if any exchange is possible. The animz website changes very slowly so there is a year round possibility.
Draft story for OhmyNews will probably take more shape during next week.
Exeter has loads of posters trying to suggest that all creatives should be Mac people as the PC crowd just work in offices and are rather boring. I don't understand the way they use the term "PC" as if it only includes Windows. I always thought that a "Personal Computer" could be anything, including Apple. The photo is a detail of a PowerPC so what was that about?
This apple was one of many distributed during the manouver the weekend before last. I had thought about keeping it till the end of Animated Exeter but it is showing signs of stess. Maybe it should be eaten soon.
Also I can't remember what the reading was around the apples. I will visit Spacex again and find out if anyone has some clues.
Just a reminder that for those who don't often download a zip and move dll files around a fairly easy way to access the demoscene is a dedicated TV site.
You may need one downlaod to expand your browser.
Meanwhile I am looking into a DVD download that may be easier to show off at the Phoenix. Two Rar files already, only 38 to go. Then what?
Here are links to two examples of virtual art from Paul Gillard, a Devon artist who sometimes visits Exeter.
Requires Quicktime and maybe a wait while it arrives. Move the cursor about to begin.
What strikes me is that this is intended to be seen on a screen. There is a complete digital process from creation to distribution and viewing. You could take a snapshot and print it but this would not be an original unless it took on a new life.
This is a digital projector as used at the Globe for a showing of short films from the Creative Collective based at the Phoenix. It was all based on tape, but could have had a direct feed from a computer. Not animation as such but there is now a lot of overlap on how video is created.
I hope to find more content from the demoscene and work out how to transfer to DVD.
Photo shows David Gedrych reading a Turner book I took to Life Bytes yesterday. David is there most days. For me it turned out to be like allowing too much comment on a blog, I hardly started on what I thought about raising. Still, connections with Spacex now more likely as there was some talk about flat images. the idea of taking digital images from a phone and putting them on a wall did not make much sense for the people present but I still see a connection.
More later. It is possible there will be courses on 3D.
Photos demonstrate that wifi is working in the Phoenix bar. Website for Animated Exeter is working ok. Some exhibitions have started already. Test kit courtesy of Jonathan Dawson who can independently confirm that these are genuine photographs.
The walk with Tim Brennan was interesting today. More later.
Photos were allowed. I have done a PDF slide show (about 6 meg) and also some on Flickr. You can choose a slideshow on Flickr so this is close to animation if you don't wanr to download the PDF.
I realise that part of the attraction of Animated Exeter and Vibraphonic is that they offer an indoors escape route for getting through the last of the winter before we can move around more easily.
Here are some links from the past, the Psand van once in Dorset and a blog of a travel round demoscene events. Future posts willa rgue that there is a connection between the demoscene and the streaming media found via the Psand site and Radio Vague.
Well excuse me. The time has come to raise a few issues. If you can't ramble in a blog what is the world coming to?
After all, the Animated Exeter fortnight is still a few weeks off so there is time to get some feedback and develop a new point of view that appears more reasonable.
What strikes me most often is the amazing potential of digital technology and the way this is ignored by some art institutions. Take the Spacex Gallery for example.
A couple of years ago there was a disaster environment based on Apple computers. At first I thought they were offering web access and complained when the connection failed. It was explained this was the intended effect, nothing was to work at all. An imitation of life apparently.
Last year there was technology that worked, mostly DVD I think but hidden away. Film projection was celebrated, see my photograph in a report for OhmyNews. As well as stills the exhibit featured video. Unfortunately the website did not show full video or any scale on the excerpts available. I think this has to change when YouTube and Google Video make so much stuff available. Some of what is on YouTube is not very good but it is getting better. Compare with the website from the Animators show. This is a bit flat. See also the Luxonline site. Other links suggestions would be welcome.
This year the technology has the potential to further challenge the limitations of gallery display. The images have been created through a wide-format inkjet from a digital source. I hope to find out more later but I am fairly sure some form of inkjet has been used. Reportedly there is no Photoshop manipulation of the mobile phone photos. Personally I don't think this would matter. Most digital cameras do a lot of adjustment anyway.
So there is no reason why a website could not have some downloads so that anyone could print out a version of 'theNorth'. Of course the display at Spacex has been carefull controlled and selected and I am not trying to discourage a visit if you are anywhere nearby. But a gallery is not the only way to show photos from a mobile.
Meanwhile at the Royal Alber Museum there are a series of prints, many from limited editions. There may be something about the technology that determines these limits on numbers. But digital is different.
During Animated Exeter there will be workshops at Spacex to create animation from still photos. It is not clear yet what form this takes or how they will be distributed.
My own photos are nothing special so there is no problem in choosing the Creative Commons copyright form on Flickr. See previous post about a limited form of animation.
Probably something better will turn up.
Not that online is better than a gallery. There is a recent Guardian article about museums still being better than an iPod. This seems too polarised a choice. I learning discussions there is now more support for 'blended learning', a combination of online and real life. Maybe digital display can work with something similar.
Animated Exeter starts 12th Feb. By chance the Phoenix tour with short films reaches the Globe, Newtown at 2.30 on Sunday. At the LifeBytes internet resource nearby there will be a live discussion around digital animation etc, starting about 12.30.
Top problem lack of food. Life Bytes is not actually a cafe as there is already one next door. The Globe is not really a Sunday lunch sort of pub. So details of what happens will have to be worked out around food at some point. More later.
Animated Exeter has already started in that there is an exhibit at Spacex which will continue till 24 Feb. 'The NORTH' combines watercolour based on space photos with blown-up inkjet images from a mobile phone. The 'North' seems to be a romantic destination somewhere beyond the city.
During Feb there will be workshops at Spacex creating animation from mobile phone images. Maybe there will be hard copy results as well.
Meanwhile at Life Bytes on Sidwell Street there is ample web access and most software required for graphics including video. Not far away is the Globe where some short films will be shown for people who have not already seen them at the Phoenix.
Exeter Television is based at Life Bytes so may add a report during Animated Exeter. My guess is that there will be informal discussion on this at the Globe.
I have done a selection of photos that may show some connections. They are on Flicr with a Creative Commons copyright so feel free to reuse if you put in a link.
This is a very gentle example of Flash. I usually think of Flash as an annoying ad or tiresome intro but this is fine. I don't understand Italian but just click on text to hear a voice. Maybe it would make less sense if you understood the words but an arbitrary aorder of lines seems ok.
Jo Gedrych at Exeter Television has now edited some video from Sundown at Budleigh Salterton. It is available on YouTube
There is more for Sundown turning up as well.
and this video capture
Amiga AHX Tracker module, 1st place in Oldskool Music category at Sundown '06. Poorly filmed and then audio-synched to A1200 Paula output. AHX filesize is 20kb, 20 instruments, 99 patterns.
The trend in new stuff on YouTube and Google Video is such that an intro to the demoscene is now available. I still think downloading zip files etc is a bit of a block for most people.
It may not be animation but it seems to be stop frame.
I'm at the "Be the Reds" internet cafe behind Goodge Street station where Cyberia used to be. Broadband very impressive but they don't allow sound. everley Brothers in background at the moment. Can't really complain.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
The Syphus tune from Sundown is now on video at YouTube
There is an 8 second version at the bottom of my OhmyNews report.
Later today there should be a guide to other blogs that I work on or at least a diagram as part of my learn9 website. This is about learning so one current idea is to make the blogs at least appear more coherent. I have tended to just start another one and then not continue.
