Visual Music a topic for Beer At The Castle

Next weekend there will be a sort of chat show during Beer At The Castle. Not sure how this will work but there should be space for animation. I am still thinking about a future show from DVD with a combination of computer animation from the 70s or similar, some from the demoscene, and music video. "Visual Music" is the best way to describe this.

Sundown will happen again at Budleigh Salterton later in the year. Several people involved went to Breakpoint so there could be more connections. I have found some music from Breakpoint on YouTube.



Also one from John Whitney that was not there the last time I looked


One aim for the week will be to try to interest people in watching both of these. So far mostly people go for one or the other.

Previously, post linking several parts of an intro to the demoscene.

draft story on Korean Film Week in Exeter

This will be a story for OhmyNews later in the week. Any suggestions welcome.

Korean Film Week launched in Exeter, UK
Sound base for future possibilities

The first Korean Film Week in Exeter was held from 11th to 16th May and featured five movies at the University Cinema Society. the openning reception was attended by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Kevin Mitchell, and the free food continued throughout the week. The event was supported by the Korean Students Society and the Korean congregation at the Mint Methodist Church in central Exeter. The Korean Cultural Service in London made a grant of £500 and the Korea National Tourism Organisation supplied books and DVDs. Councillor Mitchell welcomed the awareness of Korean culture that the event made possible and the contribution of the Korean community to local culture.

The university campus is on the edge of Exeter, where I live. Often people in the city centre do not know what is happening there and miss out on specialist film. This event was better publicised than most Cinema Society events though future events may reach a wider audience still. The cinema seemed not to be completely full on the two visits I made, though this is probably a basis to organise another one.

Films included Marathon, A Tale of Two Sisters, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The two I saw were Strokes of Fire, an art movie, and The Host about a monster in Seoul.

more about them

also others if

The Host has a convincing monster and is also very funny. i could not follow all the politics or references but some idea of the technology background is evident. The children are trapped where the monster stores other victims, some dead, but they wait for decent mobile device to turn up. You would think that the local authorities would learn from such an experience but apparently the sequel will be set sometime earlier.

Asian Cultural Centre

possibly China and Japan films

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC0Urhfucos

5th Tailo festival


Exeter is the location for a major UK animation festival - Animated Exeter usually in February each year. This has a solid base in classic forms of animation such as stop frame but there has also been discussion of digital technology and CGI in feature films. The Host is an example of how animation can be central to special effects. The sequel is expected to feature several new monsters and may be release in time for news to be available before Animated Exeter in 2010.

The Korean Cultural Centre in London organised an animation event in 2009 so some of these titles may also reach Exeter.

http://london.korean-culture.org/navigator.do?siteCode=null&langCode=null&menuCode=200903170055&promImg=1198673534460.jpg&menuType=BG&subImg=1198673979402.gif&action=VIEW&seq=18990

The printed material available included a guide to Korean Film Festivals. The Jeonju International Film Festival includes a Digital Project that looks interesting as it could connect with the computer activity on the edges of animation.

Since I started writing for OhmyNews I have attended one International Forum but most of the time I only find out about Korea online. The Korean Film Week has taught me that there is
more hapopening locally than I realised. I hope more will come from blending the local and stories from OhmyNews.

http://www.jiff.or.kr/

Celebration of Failure Last Week

Still not many photos from Spacex except the official ones. I do think there is some continuity of direction from the everyday object to a new boundary for galleries, probably somewhere online.

Found this from another time and place.

By the way, i think the failure being celebrated is other people's failure, not the artist's. OK so the public have laughable taste. The artist is protected from visual comment by the gallery. Is this reasonable? Will it encourage public support for art?

Video from virtual worlds, story so far

Another sad consequence of the closure of LifeBytes is that I am unable to visit Twinity or Second Life at the moment. My computer at home needs a complete reinstall I think. Trying to get Twinity to work is hopeless. Also I miss the video editing support. Sometime in the future this will sort out.

So I will not enter the Third Wave experiment today.

However here is a selection and update on some video from previously. I had tried to work out a script for a journey from the Phoenix to Trinity in Bristol. Based around the dance from Pipsi and the island of Prados Azules

The Scratch Second Live material has started to appear on YouTube. Sensible move as Second Life is a bit of a closed world.

Viral Duets by Niki McCretton: a Phoenix Scratch commission




more or less from Bristol

LUKE VIBERT LIVE DROID BRISTOL SECOND LIFE !



tigerkissen77 was the winner of the Spirit competition. Quite right too. TIP NUMBER ONE - don't use the Twinity converter from Ogg for your AVI files. QUESTION, HOW TO EDIT IN OGG? By the way he only mentioned this after the competition had closed, I think us film makers should stick together and share any info. What to think? continues in Black Box.....


Twinity "Spirit" Dawn Patrol

tigerkissen77



I have at least discovered something since my last effort. TIP NUMBER TWO Press F2 to turn off the menu graphics cluttering up the screen. You can also switch to a games device instead of a mouse but this just makes for more wobble in my case.

Humboldt in Twinity



script idea is to start in the Sony Centre with a technology vision and then visit Humboldt for some academic critique. Some sort of project around devices would continue to the nearest coffee space. Someone else would try it, please send a link.

Only kidding tigerkissen. Really thanks for your help.

Maiden and Death tryouts

After a talk at Spacex I am still wondering about image rights and how art is promoted. They are thinking about a blog or other means for more connection with their website but I think the general approach to avoiding mashups and casual photos is a bit of a problem. On the music front there is more acceptance of phone cameras, sampling etc. the net effect seems to help promotion. I am not sure if the artists actually require these limitations. It may be a general gallery policy.

this seems especially relevant for the Laura Kikauka. There is an invitation "to play" and the layout is unusual for a gallery, but the boundaries remain for photography or mixing images with other sources and then making them public. I would like to explore this some more so have done some photos of Fore Street or Bridge Street, not sure which and a couple of combinations.

Background

As long as the art object was conceived as a monument to itself, women shrank before attempting it. Women who modify their environment every hour of every day, whether they are shaping their child's damp hair, or twitching a blind, or choosing wallpaper, or dressing themselves with wit and ingenuity, are unexcited by the self-contained, self-regarding work of art. They are not inspired. The adrenaline doesn't flow. But when art escaped from the frame and descended into the real world, women artists were suddenly in their element. As long as the work was open-ended, as long as life flowed through it, from its conception to its realisation, women could make it as well as anyone. There's hardly any point now in asking if women have to be naked to make it into the Metropolitan Museum (as the Guerrilla Girls did), because the museum is not where it's at

.

Germaine Greer, Guardian 30.3.2009

But getting out of the frame is only a start. Getting out of the gallery and onto the Web could be different again.

Marina Abramovic praguebiennale 3



My pix on Flickr , Creative Commons, reuse as you like or take better photos of street level Exeter.

MySpace can go off topic

Making new friends to check I havn't loaded too much that maybe should be deleted. Then found this

Snooky Gig 8th March 2008 - Marnie - Wuthering Heights


Marnie was at Sidmouth during folk week a couple of years ago but this is not really folk music. She will be at the Black Horse late in July so this is on the edge. this blog is really just about content. Animation in the winter but live music beckons.

Analogue to Digital - YouTube Links

Please add comments to sort out some info - song titles for example?

weaver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKixQx6vGLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJXAnDK0us

dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCGFhzNVWdE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7afSnWGeLzc

esteban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ7MG5ZjS54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zzat5rCeA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeROZ2ofyw

Kat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zBwIQD-1ks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGdmH2LULHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak3IAcIPeCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0h3sTSKaTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQAA2nZK38k

Mansons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpKge-YApmM

Craig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXIpFeKQGCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QzM4bXrDk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3r7xGnRIDI

When "visual music" is understood sometime the link to animation and this blog will be clearer. Meanwhile the Sound Gallery publicity machine is in welcome mode re YouTube so this is a positive dynamic. Yes the lighting is terrible, the camera is not the best available - Fuji FinePix S5700, meant for stills not sound recording - but at least this is an indication of what could be possible next time. There are a couple of tapes with a better camera from during the day but editing will take a while.

Suggested tag for other material - A2D09 - future edit for Exeter TV suggest leave copies at sound Gallery, basement of Phoenix.

Sound not that good for Ellie Williams so here is a link, even though the lighting is still an issue. Somone at the Phoenix should have a think about this.

Analogue to Digital - Music aspect

During Vibraphonic the sound Gallery organised a Music Expo to concentrate on Analohue to Digital, workshops and trade show. The animation issues were present as well with some new idents from LifeBytes for example. I took some photos and video some of which will take time to edit. the Prize Draw is the first group of photos to be posted as this is of interest for the organisers. They managed to persuade several companies to contribute prizes so evidence is useful for the scale on which they were valued. It seemed to me to be an excellent form of ceremony. Many prizes and more or less at random. Photos on Flickr, one sample-,



Also short videos, more to follow. Editing and uploading takes a while. Exeter TV may do an edited version of all the video in one extended piece. Meanwhile clips will appear just as chunks. These three are as recorded-






The tape yet to be edited includes a performance by Robert Brian, acoustic contrast with the digital. So here is another link from TouTube



Unfortunately the lighting is not very good. We complain a lot about the lighting in the Phoenix. Never that good for video even with a decent camera. So here is another video properly recorded from long ago. My idea about video blogging is now that most events take a long while to be reported but eventually there will probably be multiple sources. Meanwhile somewhere else with similar content works just as well.

Flickr Links

Now started to describe photos on Flickr. Two sets, one from Transitions in Exeter, one a walk to find Bargehouse in London.

Video also, scenic route.

Theory and examples please around found art

I am trying to find out more about the modern art approach to found objects, such as piles of wood offcuts or collections of old records. I half listened to a Radio 4 broadcast about rubbish, as linked on Flickr. Not sure if I posted about this before.

A while ago Cory Archangel had a video at Spacex made up of screen shots taken from YouTube. This is ok but what is the art take on images already on YouTube or Flickr for that matter. Could be stills of selected wood from a gallery or more likely as found anyway. The nature of display and distribution may change with the Web, like news and music. If we are invited to play in a gallery and treat it as a community hall the online equivalent is to mash up content. Where are the artists and galleries who are doing this?

I did get permission to photograph the Transition show at Exeter Artspace in the Castle. Simon Egan told me the soundtrack to Fraud will be on the Internet archive, but I cannot find it yet.

Novio

Novio
Originally uploaded by atezrm

Found this through searching on "skull, skulls, folk, art" in Flickr and then adding a "creative commons" filter. Do the same and you should find 41 or so,

So let this be clear. This post is about folk art. Happens to connect with the current celebration of error at Spacex. but no image rights have been infringed.

As it happens I think this is consistent with what Laura Kikauka was saying at the talk on Saturday. She is not much interested in the web but is not too worried about related spinoffs..

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Dmitry Trubin sample

With permission, here is a sample from an exhibition at istorm.



Here is the text of the email it came with

The istorm modern gallery on Exeter Quay is to show the work of
Dmitry Trubin , a Russian artist that has had more than 60 exhibitions around the world.

Dmitry lives in Northern Russia and was a sailor before devoting himself to becoming an artist. He works in different areas of fine art including oils, graphics and mixed media .

His etchings are in a permanent collection at the Pushkin museum in Moscow and his work featured in the very successful “ From Russia” exhibition in the Royal Academy of Art in London in 2007.

His work is shown around the world in many museums and in private collections in Russia, Great Britain , Europe and North America.

In 2008 Dmitry participated in the Charitable Art Exhibition in aid of St Petersburg Hospice in Pushkin House , London.

The show runs from Saturday 7th March until Saturday 4th April .

Click on the image for a larger version. This is encouraging for the idea that useful content can be freely available. I can't see how this would discourage people from visiting the actual gallery.

Checking out Twinity Berlin for galleries

In theory Laura Kikauka may be in Berlin as in Twinity. Some galleries have a version in the Twinity virtual world. My guess is that this changes how people think about them. Earlier today I visited the C/O gallery but there was nobody there.

Posted this on the Facebook page for Twinity-

Has Laura Kikauka been seen in Twinity Berlin or is there any connection with her work? She will be at Spacex in Exeter later this month. I am interested in how Twinity changes the nature of galleries. Content is available online and people can mingle with it. Can this change how the other galleries operate?

There may be no connection bugt this is worth exploring as well as Exeter.

photos from Exeter Castle - Exeter Artspace

Transition video found

Found this


Find more videos like this on artreview.com


follow links from Transition

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.