The idea for this project arose from my desire to build a storytelling device with emergent characteristics. The machine performs the acts of listening and remembering by manipulating the spatial and temporal characteristics of its sonic surroundings.

Comprised of an array of six speakers and six microphones, the machine hangs from the ceiling. With its microphones listening to the space, its speakers transmit what has been heard, generating a continuous sonic feedback loop. Occasionally, the machine records the sounds being transmitted through its system and stores these samples on a computer hard drive. These stored samples are played back … Continue Reading

Wireless communication is, in this day and age, a given in all realms of society. Yet what manner of artistic potential is presented by the electromagnetic waves perpetually enveloping us today? And how might these influence our psyche? From 10 May through 29 June 2008 the Hartware MedienKunstVerein Dortmund (HMKV) is presenting – in cooperation with the Ars Electronica, Linz (European Capital of Culture 2009) and with RIXC, Riga – the exhibition Waves – The Art of the Electromagnetic Society in the PHOENIX Halle Dortmund.

HMKV – Hartware MedienKunstVerein Dortmund

This is a description of the event written by David Michael Perez, sourced from Rhizome.org.

As most of the world is making the crossover from analog communication to mandatory digital television and radio reception, and Americans slowly become aware of the February 17th, 2009 deadline to do so, it is not entirely clear what this historic shift will really mean. While the internet allows us all to be ‘broadcasters,’ in a sense, the relationship of this opportunity to actual democracy and hegemonies of power is still worth considering. As such, the focus of the fourth edition of NOW: Meetings in … Continue Reading

Yesterday, I made my first visit to the SFMOMA in San Francisco. On exhibit was a collection of works by Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The center-piece of the exhibition was his most recent project, Your mobile expectations BMW H2R project. This artwork featured a BMW hydrogen-fueled concept car frozen in an intricate “wire-frame” made of ice. The car is kept frozen at 15 degrees Fahrenheit in a refrigerated room within the gallery space. Gallery-goers are able to view the car within the chamber, and before entering, are offered blankets to keep warm.

In … Continue Reading

For about ten years Theo Jansen has been occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic matierial of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventualy he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.

strandbeest

Artists Sought To Commemorate Original Lake Ontario Shoreline

Setpixel // Index

Setpixel is a collection of articles written by a small group of like-minded individuals. The general focus of the articles contained in the site are on interactive installations, aesthetics through computation, reactive experiments, creative computer vision, et cetera.

The Higher Men, an interactive new media installation, explores literate ways of knowing with contemporary thinkers – philosophers, new media theorists and filmmakers.

Alain Badiou, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, Peter Greenaway, Jean-Luc Nancy, Larry Rickels, Wolfgang Schirmacher, Elias Sulieman, Gregory Ulmer, and Slavoj Žižek appear on a wall of screens speaking at once, creating an almost incomprehensible cacophony, until a viewer engages one of them. Each thinker reappears with the same thought or a different one “but it’s not repetition” as new juxtapositions change the context of their ideas.

Upon first entering the room the viewer is dwarfed by the big screen … Continue Reading

Last weekend, I did my first completely digital performance (audio and video). Working with a colleague of mine, Kristen Trethewey, we put together a 15 minute audio/visual performance at InterAccess gallery. The video component included a live video feed of a greenscreen set (pictured below). Kristen provided a live VJ mix which I mixed into the composite. The audio was composed of processed samples of nature sounds, and old family audio recordings.

Exhibited during the month of July 2005 at InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre in Toronto, Harmony Bank is a performance-based art installation that explores the dynamics between audience and performer.

Within the Harmony Bank, performance artist Amy Learmonth is separated from the audience as she entertains from an isolated room. Through this physical disconnect, the performance is mediated through a custom made “gaming” console. As the audience plays with the buttons and joystick on the console, they directly impact the outcome of the performance.

Pressing any of the buttons on the console’s right panel selects which song the performer sings, while … Continue Reading