gravitymax in transition

by jean poole, dan mackinlay, james nichols, and sarah harvie.

Pattern Machine was a fourway collaboration that grew over a weeklong residency on Cockatoo Island, Sydney, during the 2011 Underbelly Arts Festival. At the end of the week, we performed 3 x 45 minute audiovisual sets at night, and had a generative surround installation running with the inflatable sculpture during the day.

magic

The music is a processed version of an Eric Satie piano piece that i did with Max-MSP. As Satie was referring his music to be like audible furniture, i thought i would do a video that worked as visual furniture. Has something of a modern campfire in black and white. Originally released on a DVD called DIN-AV.

And I’m still carrying the gift you gave,
It’s a part of me now, it’s been cherished and saved,
It’ll be with me unto the grave
And then unto eternity.
(Bob Dylan)

directed by george barber and george snow.

1975 classic text on computer art by leslie mezei. still relevant and important, if not more, in the age of ready-made effects. as i’m doing more and more visualist work, i think it’s good to remind myself from time to time to not get too carried away with using too many bells and whistles. like any good art, thoughtfulness and restrain go a long way. especially when you’re still learning.

Today we are left with a small number of people from both sides, each of whom is aware of the long term effort needed to exploit the potential. The promise is as great as ever, but, as usual, requires more application and ingenuity and application than at first realized. The artists, and especially the art students, are willing to learn programming and some mathematics, and to learn to think in an algorithmic, process oriented manner. More importantly, in my view, they are ready to transcend the technological art so far pursued, and learn something of the underlying scientific ideas. [Applying any new technology slavishly results in imitative work, often foreshadowed by visionary artists long before the new technology. (Compare Picasso's drawings with some of our transformations, such as my BIKINI SHIFTED).] It is the new concepts and ideas, the new ways of thinking provided by the information sciences that will provide this. I am referring to our enriched understanding of system, structure, randomness and process as well as of the very process of communication and language, and the more realistic accounts of the methods of discovery in the sciences and the arts.

full text here.