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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs animx spirit

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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



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.

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.

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

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Digital Culture animx

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

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.

"Simple Lies" suggests a model for documentary

This blog post may become a longer story somewhere else so is mostly in note form. I am not sure how to write about material from the last month or so. The blog allows me just to show what happened.



"The Simple Lies" is a format in which the script and the video can be downloaded and reworked by anyone connected. There may be a final version at 2 Short Nights next year but there will be other versions meanwhile.

Interview with David Salas explains more




Also comment on Ictal and galleries. I think he makes a good case for galleries as distinct from online or maybe as a blend.



Meanwhile a video from Cory Archangel's version of Bach has turned up on YouTube. I hope it stays there. The images came off the web and the sound is a sort of chiptune. This kind of content has a place online.



Lee Morgan spoke about the link to music video as way to think about how music files are distributed. The lighting was dreadful on these but the sound is ok.





Newspapers are now getting better at involving a readership in blogs, comments, sending in material, contributing to a story. There may be changes even in Exeter. The Express and Echo had a lead story about Youtube and a video of a plane crashing into a cow.

So in future there could be a form of documentary linking videos even if they are not available for editing together. I think avatars and virtual worlds could be useful as a place for discussion and interviews. Less chance of needing a release form for passers by. So far as I know the possibility of stills and video is just accepted. I have made several trips to Twinity Berlin, including the Bitroplis cinema and the C/O Gallery.





The C/O Gallery has all the exhibits in an actual show in the virtual world. Works well for photographs. There is still a reason to go to a gallery but this policy is different to some others.

The questions remain much the same. What is the effect of technology changes on how content is created, promoted, and distributed? Is a new approach viable?

As interviews these questions can be repeated and or answers found online.

Here is a video about Christine Baumgartnet including shots of actual images. I also found other images online. I like the scale of this one.

At Spacex there will be an exhibition by Laura Kikauka. There is already video from Berlin on Youtube. I wonder if we could link Exeter and Twinity?



The question about putting free content online remains "Is there a business model?". I hope to put this question again to Jo Gedrych. I now realise he failed to answer it the first time.

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

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.

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.

OhmyNews, demoscene, future journalism

OhmyNews have published my story about Sundown 2008. The editors have included a Youtube video of the invite to Function 08. To make the space for this they have missed out my photograph of Budleigh beach so as this is my blog I will concentrate on this for a bit. So far I have managed to include a photo of the beach on each occasion.

From 2008, not accepted by the editors


Previously, 2007 link to story



2006, link to story



2005, link to story



So possibly there is not much point in repeating the photos of the beach or trying to do the same story each time. there are still some readers who know nothing about the demoscene so some things have to be explained.however there are now many videos on Youtube and other places so a new phase in reporting is called for.

There is a page for a possible TV series from Rougemont Global Broadcasting. It also works as a webpage with links and over time there is more video available anyway. My impression at the moment is that the demoscene is better reported on the Web than the earlier work shown by Greg Kurcevicz as part of a New Canvas. UK work from a similar timeframe is covered in books but there is not much by way of example online. So I think this could be a priority to create enough links for people to choose their own route.

Meanwhile, here is the first try at embed html for Demoscene TV. Their code is not accepted by Blogger so I had to use YouTube as a guide......

Sundown this weekend in Budleigh

Sundown again in East Devon. I am still trying to make some links between the demoscene and the "New Canvas" era.

A major problem is that the early stuff is not much available. Curated as cans of film and stored away in a secure place. Quite right too but there is still a problem in attempting to show what it is. Although more is available on YouTube it is not clear how much official support there is for this. A recent search has found the Official Page for John Whitney senior, curated by Siggraph. So this must be legit. Not sure of the web access at Sundown so I have downloaded two Quicktime files at LifeBytes. They are Arabesque and Digital Harmony. I think both could work ok for a demoscene audience. More next week, don't expect a live blog.

The two MOV files are also stored away on VitalstatistIx in Life Bytes. Opposite the Odeon on sidwell Street, Exeter.

Possibility of linking Spacex and YouTube

At Spacex till 20th September there is a Summer Screen. Not sure what to make of it yet. The gallery space could be seen as a series of small cinemas. The screens are big enough to be different to viewing the same content on YouTube. But for some reason I can't find much so far. There seems to be a lot more of comment and lectures, but this is an encouraging sign.

Animate Project has some content on the home page and details about Stop Watch....

Tank TV has some work online but on YouTube is interviews, such as this with Hans Ulrich Obrist.



Picture This has info on Small Wonders but not many YouTube links I can find. Lady Lucy is an alias, complete with Myspace page linking to video.

Commotion (You Made Me Love You) is curated by Claire Doherty. University College Falmouth has loaded most of one of her lectures in several sections. I will come back to this later, may help to make more sense of the actual Spacex. The actual title of what is being shown there is not that easy to predict so I think previous browsing could be helpful.

Trying out Acrobat Presenter

Using Share to host a 7 meg PDF. I think this should work. Acrobat 9 extended has a plugin for Microsoft Powerpoint that can include video. There is something similar now in Google. Not sure if I have blogged about this laready. the weekend was confusing but the week ahead will feature more tests.

The potential is interesting. I have a collection of clips that need explanation. Maybe one day I will make sense to an editor.

Direct link

Embedded below

Google Docs links presentation and video

The title for this post assumes things will work ok. I am trying out the video in presentations. If this is ok I will do more as the combination of explanation in text with short clips could be useful. So the direct link is here.

And it should embed below, and play the video.

World TV allows many channels of video streaming

World TV has made possible a sequence of video from many sources on many sequences. So far I have just looked at YouTube, mostly from this blog. The first sequence is at

http://www.worldtv.com/animx

I have concentrated on showing both demoscene and early computer animation. I think there is a comparison but people used to one group do not often try the other as far as I can make it out. Later there is some Second Life and documentary from Devon.

Blender on TV, Amsterdam with English subtitles

This is interesting

More online within a month

It looks like the sort of animation that could turn up in a cinema, not some demoscene arty stuff for a niche. More on "arty" when you watch the link. But it is open source, so more connections are possible.

Photos from Black Box ; Cory Arcangel event

These pictures were taken during Animated Exeter when a film by Cory Arcangel was showing at the Black Box in the Phoenix Media Centre. It took a while to get permission to display them and then I was uncertain what to say about them. The previous set from the launch of the Spacex show was ok but then I asked permission to video the lecture. It turns out that permission to video is almost impossible to obtain. The web seems to be in two modes. Casually there is a mass of digital photography that just happens. Trying to work more officially is very complicated.

So my next phase is to move to Second Life and Photoshop. Second Life requires bandwidth. Exeter City Council have a block on Flash for bandwidth reasons so SL is also not for everyone. Photos mixing SL characters or backgrounds then reduced in file size could be an approach to link things. I have done some avatars that could be based in or visit Exeter at different times. Also some backgrounds from the Black Box. More on this later. There is a PDF guide to the avatars on Scribd. All Creative Commons on Flickr so feel free to use them but please send a link.

Adobe shifts design attention to video

Adobe have announced a Media Player for video.

There is some animation already. The background seems to me to be a change of direction towards Flash and away from Postscript and PDF, now rarely mentioned. The 'platform' unit is now merged with mobile so 'platform' may not have much space for PDF.

Meanwhile in Exeter there is still no Flash on the council website, apparently because Flash is not supported on their own browsers because of bandwidth constraints.

Round about now there is a bit of a crunch in what time travel can cope with. The web has gone from text to video and animation is part of this.

More on Nvision

If you download a magazine and the dlls fall in the right place you can read an interview with Temis Nunez who explains why Nvidia is supporting a demoscene party as part of an event about "visual computing".

off topic
maybe some other company in San Jose could suggest a magazine format that allows text to be copied out but maybe I have just lost track of what a magazine design should concentrate on

back on topic
It turns out that Temis Nunez is a genuine fan who collected "cracktros" for Apple II and C64. Also Jensen Huang has said of Nvidia "we are at the intersection of art and technology" so the demoscene is of interest to show off what a graphics chip can do.

Temis mentions Debris, already on this blog and also Andromeda's Lifeforce.

Breakpoint promotes demoscene in San Jose

Promotes NVscene in San Jose in August. Not sure how strong the demoscene is in the USA but time will tell.

SUN to charge $1 per CPU hour for Blender animation

SUN are moving further into software as a service and open source. Blender is one of the services available. Current charge is $1 per CPU hour. This sounds cheap but may result in lots of new projects. Somehow it is always tempting to use the full chance on offer.

Blender is one of the projects featured at the 2008 meeting on Libre Graphics. More on this later.

Repeating the week of Animated Exeter

Time travel seems easier if the space stays much the same. So I am trying to repeat the week ending 23rd Feb with another attempt at creating links of various kinds. Things could heve been even better with some slight changes. So imagining next year is the same as trying to change memory.

The YouTube connection is difficult partly because Exeter City Council have no support for Flash and so they do not host pages with Flash. It is therefore quite difficult to explain YouTube to people who work for Exeter City Council. Trying to get permission to video something depends partly on showing previous work which in this case is not possible. So Exeter TV might have recorded more including interviews had there been a release policy.

Try to imagine a shift so that there is support for Flash and YouTube is accepted as part of a festival / culture event. Someone who has no wish to be identified in this blog observed that this development has been a small step for manking but would be a giant leap for Exeter City Council.

Following that it would be easier to connect Second Life and actual events. There were two interesting events. See previous posts for more on Viral Duets in Exeter and D.R.O.I.D. in Bristol.

In theory the D.R.O.I.D. content could have been part of the Beatz and Bobz closing party at the Phoenix in Exeter. I have no information yet that this happened. But something like it may later. Sound and vision can be live or from the archive. It seems that the island of Prados Azules is set up for the summer at least so more could follow. And the dance steps goodies bag is in Diecicento.

Access to Second Life is the next frontier for organisations, even beyond Flash. A journalist from the Financial Times recently explained that they had to go home to write a story about business schools in Second Life as the firewall prevented installation at work.

As well as trying to repeat events through time travel i am also thinking about forms of fiction, so repeat the script outline from a previous post.

So assume VJs B1 and B2 who arrange an event without web access but hear about another one a week later with web streaming. They discuss various issues arising and are not entirely convinced. Not that they are luddites or anything but there has to be scope for acceptance of some form of development during the story. One concern is that animated dancing online may not work too well. The next week B1 and B2 are somewhere else where they could stream something but are not sure. Fortunately Kola Spellcaster turns up with a set of code that allows anyone to dance really well. The only problem is that she has put a timeout into the code so it will all fall over unless her Arts Council grant for next year is confirmed before midnight. This story ends at about 11.47 but there may be another one. If you feel any characters are based on yourself you may request changes or write your own version. Creative commons : attribution requested. I may claim other forms of copyright if I write something longer or for a later production.

Recent video of seats in Exeter. When the light is reliable there could be interviews if there was permission. What sort of release form would be required? By the way, this test is done on a disgo, GBP24 so the future could be much better if Exeter TV had more resources.

Some people prefer lounge music

Just in case the Luke Vibert style of music is not what you would choose, here is another video from Second Life which may make more sense for people who like the Voodoo Lounge for example.

Actual Exeter in a World of Google

This post is for both animX and WifiExeter. I am still getting used to the events of last week, the outstanding Second Life events and the video on YouTube from Prados Azules. i think this means that bandwidth is ok. There are enough people in Exeter and Bristol or at least somewhere online for this sort of thing to be viable. So other forms of files such as work with hard copy should be ok. A lttle slow maybe if TIFF-IT is still required but definitely possible.

Meanwhile Google have launched a service around Sites for collaboration. seems a little too controlled for public use but the elements of Docs and video can be widely available. I have an account for Internet Express so have started a page at InXpress/landofGoogle or something like it. Actual url is too long to remember so best to bookmark this page.

Detail from Flickr photo recreating last week

Pipsi and Eric did get to the D.R.O.I.D. event if only through Photoshop.

Previously, script idea

So assume VJs B1 and B2 who arrange an event without web access but hear about another one a week later with web streaming. They discuss various issues arising and are not entirely convinced. Not that they are luddites or anything but there has to be scope for acceptance of some form of development during the story. One concern is that animated dancing online may not work too well. The next week B1 and B2 are somewhere else where they could stream something but are not sure. Fortunately Kola Spellcaster turns up with a set of code that allows anyone to dance really well. The only problem is that she has put a timeout into the code so it will all fall over unless her Arts Council grant for next year is confirmed before midnight. This story ends at about 11.47 but there may be another one. If you feel any characters are based on yourself you may request changes or write your own version. Creative commons : attribution requested. I may claim other forms of copyright if I write something longer or for a later production.

So the mess of bits and pieces from the actual week of Animated Exeter will be gradually rewritten and retested. Surely Exeter City Council will connect with Flash at some point, then everything else could be attempted again.

The goodies bag is here but what effect it has is still a mystery. Right click on the stars in the floor and then choose dance. The camera save previously is still just a test. Go back a couple of posts to Prados Azules for something sensible.

Later at LifeBytes, camera saves ok

Try this to reach Diecicento

Probably the most advanced form of animation from last weekend west of Swindon

This is amazing. I failed to persuade Director Jo to stay at Life Bytes and record D.R.O.I.D. Good thing too as the sound at the Voodoo Lounge was probably good enough for a future video and this record on YouTube already is fantastic and shows what is possible.

What else is anywhere? and when will Pipsi turn up?

Another SL camera test

There is still time for Pipsi to arrive at the occasion. Any other ideas on how the dance steps could be found?

Interest on Guardian Talk

There is some interest on Guardian Talk.

I have posted an example of dance on YouTube just to show it is possible in Second Life. Not sure this is well known to others who post on Guardian Talk.

I wonder if any of this will turn up in the Guardian print version before Saturday? My impression is that the Talk bit is a closed world for Guardian staff.

Phoenix Sounds and the resource problem for video

It turns out that better video is very unlikely as the resource from Exeter TV will be concentrated on the Sound Gallery. Mostly acoustic, live music. Nothing against this sort of thing so the archive will depend on other sources. My own videos are a form of test. Maybe next year there will be better planning.

Scroll down on the page for video from previous events.

Sometime there could be interviews in the bar. I still think the chat show is the basic format of TV. If only Exeter City Council could offer a release form Exeter TV could work with. For future discussion.

another test ahead of D.R.O.I.D.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Prados%20Azules/94/99/28

go there

or search for "Prados Azules"

Evidence of Second Life in Exeter Phoenix bar

Pipsi Bracken fills in time with a solo dance while waiting for the next audience to turn up.

There appear to be no people in the Phoenix bar under the terms of the understanding of the release form policy of Exeter City Council. On a future occasion it may be possible to edit together audience response, online content, real life etc.

But working the camera in Second Life is still very difficult, especially when flying.

Beatz and Bobz are now my friends on MySpace

This is a genuine bit of news. It could be that a connection will be made with D.R.O.I.D. in time for Saturday.

Also OhmyNews have published my story on the Second Life connection with animation and dance.

Anyone know the real Cory Arcangel? My friend request is about to time out again.

Another found video on YouTube

searching on YouTube finds this from a previous occasion. It is surely possible that Beatz and Bobz could stream something from DROID and likewise. Anyone know how to contact them? MySpace friendship is a bit cumbersome sometimes.

Vj set working with Plump Dj's at the rap party for 'Animated Exter Festival, Englands largest animation festival.
Graphic's, visuals Vj - Mikey 'Polar bear'Ormson
Visuals and live vj mix- Fil de Void

test of Second Life camera

If anyone has a problem with this please let me know. My guess is that once something is streamed online then the copyright is not too much of a problem. Unless I hear otherwise my guess is that any performance can be recorded. so the more people who archive, the better the remix.

new photo from Second Life

Unfortunately I got the scale wrong so you can't see the dates for forthcoming events. More tests on the camera during the week.

DJ Undo is on the YouTube archive already

also found this from the Digital Funfair



which reminds me, time to leave Life Bytes and return to real life at the Phoenix

update

Missed the junk space workshop but some info is on the blog

I now have almost permission to photograph but only if there are no people in the shot. Fortunately the digital funfair welcomes photos by Bluetooth. Don't have that but will try email later.

Meanwhile in Second Life the Monday real life at the Phoenix is still on. Not sure the link is working on how to book on Tuseday. If you already know about second life, search for "drifter rhode" and ask.

The event sort of in Bristol at the other end of the week has a link to Second Life and there is news of a sound stream through Radio Vague. If the Second Life thing fails to work, then my guess is that something from the Radio Vague archive could fill most of Saturday night but then I am a bit retro in my tastes and probably have not yet got caught up in the occasion.

I have visited the island of Prados Azules and can reveal that there seem to be test broadcasts coming up, a showcase on the 19th and a test5 on the 20th, both at 20 hours GMT. Of course there could be further tests if these fall over for some reason. I am not forcing you to download SL or get more bandwidth. LifeBtytes on Sidwell Street has at least one PC with SL installed so it could be tried out.

More or less a link

Links on this blog are not obvious but in my head it seems to fit together.

On Monday at the Phoenix Exeter there will be some form of performance from Niki McCretton involving animation and Second Life. Not sure I understand it at the moment so it is probably best to have a look on Monday and then try Second Life on Tuesday.

The poster is for a show that is over now but may turn up again. Check the site where it is explained that for the research Niki McCretton "went to to Star City in Russia where she visited the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre just outside Moscow and saw the Soyuz simulators, the centrifuge room and the neutral buoyancy lab -- an underwater facility which simulates the conditions of a zero-g space walk."

This may be the same sort of facility where Mark Shuttleworth was trained for his adventure before going back to something more like a normal job in the form of Ubuntu. At Sundown a couple of years ago he spoke about including a demo or two to view while Ubuntu is booting up. If this project is no longer viable I think it is almost time that something was clarified. Breakpoint next month could be an occasion.

Time travel, New Canvas and Mary Ellen Bute

On previous occasions I have found that there was almost nothing online from the kind of video / film shown as part of a "New Canvas". Yesterday though I found a page about John Whitney that linked to Mary Ellen Bute. Follow the link for "abstract animators".

The text claims that

As with many pioneer animators, Mary Ellen Bute is hardly known today, primarily because her films are not easily available in good prints. This was not always true. During a 25-year period, from 1934 until about 1959, the 11 abstract films she made played in regular movie theaters around the country....

However it turns out that there are a few shorts on YouTube. This is a useful development.





There are more but the search engine has determined that people who watch this may also want to watch the next one



Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against curating. But as this sort of work was created on computers I do not see what is wrong with it being on YouTube as well as cans of film that are rarely shown.

More links possible through the Center for Visual Music.