Loci_

Loci_ is another audio-visual project by Blake Carrington.

“Loci_” is a series of prints generated by a custom sound-to-image visualizer.  Audio field recordings are fed into the system, then manipulated into abstract imagery that brushes against architectural and topographic representation.  The project deals with perceptual analogues to the conversion of audiovisual data, and is motivated by a statement from R. Murray Schafer: “All visual projections of sounds are arbitrary and fictitious”.

The author is currently working on re-writing the Max/MSP/Jitter patch to accommodate a much larger physical scale. The imagery is created in real-time and relies much on feedback loops of matrix data to create the forms. Possible developments for the future include vinyl mural prints and audiovisual performance with widescreen high-definition projection.

Suomenlinna Ornithological Society

At the core of “Suomenlinna Ornithological Society” is the invention of new bird species with electronic birdsongs. The concrete sources of these birdsongs are samples taken from a Suomenlinna museum film about the history of the island. Explosions, cannonball whistles, and grisly vocal narrations are re-shaped into the rhythms, timbres and frequencies of birdsong. This transformation references the Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), a supposedly paranormal occurrence where voices of the dead are heard via electronic technology.

The project has thus far been realized in three different forms:

  1. The Society’s Website archives the invented bird species as well as a number of real species found in Finland. A curious presence can also be detected by the inquisitive visitor.
  2. An “electro concrète” remix of the archive was commissioned by MUU Gallery for their net radio series Audio Autographs. This is an excerpt from the upcoming full-length album titled Ghost Cycle~, to be released under the moniker Suomenlinna Ornithological Society.
  3. Three small audio devices were created with the Arduino board + Waveshield by Adafruit Industries. These devices were placed in trees and gun shafts in the environment, playing the artificial birdsongs.

Project by Blake Carrington
Blake Carrington is an artist based in New York, exploring the interstices of geography and phenomenology. He recently completed residencies at HIAP in Helsinki and Atlantic Center for the Arts with Carsten Nicolai, and received an MFA in the Department of Transmedia at Syracuse University. With his two collaborators in the artist group Avalanche Collective, he co-founded Urban Video Project, a public arts initiative that used the post-industrial landscape of Syracuse as context for multimedia projections. Before coming to New York he lived in Japan for two years, working for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme.

View more work at http://blakecarrington.com

Birds

Chiamarla computer art è eccessivo, ma è notevole quello che si può fare con una semplice immagine e per di più senza colori né livelli di grigio, ma in puro e semplice bianco/nero

birds

SOCIAL [net.work music]

logoDrawing influence from both contemporary DJ culture and the Fluxus musicial traditions of artists like Ben Vautier and John Cage, SOCIAL [net.work music] is a new improvised network sound project and performance which utilizes the MySpace Music social network as its core sound library.

Recently, I’ve been interested in the the aural connections created through the MySpace Music social network. By navigating the “Friends Space” link section on each member’s page, reminiscent of web 1.0 webrings, the user can access an interconnected network of each artists influences, friends and label mates, allowing them to discover new artists and different genres of music. Most of the pages feature a jukebox with samples of the musicians work which automatically begin to play once the page has finished loading.

The SOCIAL [net.work music] project and performance begins on my own MySpace Music page. I select at random an artist from my “Friends Space” list and allow the page to load. Once the music begins to play, i select a friend link from that artist’s list and open the page in a new tab. This permits the music to layer over top of the previous track. The process continues until, eventually from the inability to handle the incoming data load, the browser crashes, bringing the composition to an end.

Each performance yields a spontaneous and unique, layered score without the use of  sample preparation, sophisticated hardware or software. All of the resulting audio produced in each performance is unedited and live in the moment. These works can be created  and performed anywhere at anytime with simply a web browser and internet connection. I sculpt the layered audio on my end with a hacked kaoss pad, to add my own color to the sonic collage.

[Jason Sloan]

Jason Sloan is a new media artist, electronic musician, composer and professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

Go to SOCIAL [net.work music] to listen.

Riappropriarsi di ciò che è vuoto

logoIl 12 Giugno 2009 le ultime TV americane che trasmettevano in analogico hanno spento per sempre i loro trasmettitori, passando al digitale.

Nella stessa data, The End of Television ha acceso i propri trasmettitori diventando l’unica TV analogica attiva negli USA.

Utilizzando un medium praticamente obsoleto, The End of Television ha rilanciato il mai sopito ideale del “broadcast yourself” trasmettendo una rassegna di 22 ore di video realizzati da più di 40 artisti.

The End of Television continua le proprie trasmissioni restando l’unica TV sul territorio americano visibile senza l’apposito decoder.

PacBell Building

PacBell buildingQuesta incredibile costruzione Art Deco di 26 piani, con tanto di aquile che le danno un aspetto quasi neo gotico, si trova a San Francisco ed è vuota.

Costruito nel 1925 su progetto di Miller and Pflueger, il Pacific Bell Building è stato abbandonato nel 2005. Due anni dopo, la proprietà è passata nelle mani di una nota società di investimenti locale. La sua attuale destinazione non è chiara e varie incursioni fotografiche mostrano già chiari segni di degrado degli interni.

Le rovine di Detroit

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre sono fotografi che si occupano di archeologia urbana e industriale.

Sul loro sito esibiscono tre bellissime gallerie dedicate rispettivamente alle rovine di Detroit, alle vestigia industriali della Germania Est e ai teatri abbandonati d’America. Sono tutte belle, ma la prima, per me, è la più interessante.

Sviluppatasi con il boom economico del dopoguerra legato principalmente all’automobile, Detroit era arrivata a 2 milioni di abitanti negli anni ’50, diventando la quarta città degli Stati Uniti. Oggi, con la General Motors molto vicina al fallimento, Detroit ha perso la metà dei suoi abitanti e la de-industrializzazione ha lasciato enormi monumenti alla decadenza che non vengono riconvertiti perché non ci sono investimenti in una città in decadenza. Semplicemente rimangono, tracce di uno splendido passato, monumenti sopravvissuti alla perdita della loro funzione.

Amo quella foto con il pianoforte…