I'm the first to admit that I'd rather focus on my current wrk than try to fudge around w/ CSS all day, so I'm using the Evidens template by Design Disease. clean, bold, ok.
more interesting: now that candidacy's official, i'm about to start making more wrk...I'll get around to posting more stable versions of current experiments/investigations, and we'll take it from there.
plz to note: #1 ok.
since my last update in january, I've been quite busy with a number of projects. I've shifted away from, for the time being, working on individual "pieces"; instead, I've been focused on learning more programming languages + expanding into physical computing; making smaller "drawings" in order to gain a better fluency with these new tools+tech. I've also become more interested in the interface + active participatory engagement from the audience, in which they're a key element in the activation of the wrk.
I've also spent a good deal of time thinking (most important part of rtwrk, duh) + updating my approach to the studio, and expanding the definition of that practice and the resulting wrk. it's an interesting and less-restrictive place to reposition myself into, and over the course of the next few weeks/months, you'll see some new wrk that stems from this expansive reshifting (once it leaves alpha versions...)
in the meantime, have a productive summer - and I'll leave you with a sneak peak of a prototype I've been working on for installation. it's rough, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.
I've also spent a good deal of time thinking (most important part of rtwrk, duh) + updating my approach to the studio, and expanding the definition of that practice and the resulting wrk. it's an interesting and less-restrictive place to reposition myself into, and over the course of the next few weeks/months, you'll see some new wrk that stems from this expansive reshifting (once it leaves alpha versions...)
in the meantime, have a productive summer - and I'll leave you with a sneak peak of a prototype I've been working on for installation. it's rough, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.
mtAd (prototype) v0.02 from christian.ryan on Vimeo.
__//posted new wrk today - dance+off
originally I wanted to reconstruct "iconic" clips from cinema in which the main protagonist, denied of any other agency, used dance as a method to vent their frustrations and as protest to the oppositional institutions surrounding them. the original cinematic dance scenes needed to be solo + private - as if the character was having their own therapeutic relationship w/ the body + rhythm.
after shooting a few clips, I thought more about the male body's relationship to dance, esp. when represented on screen; and how the feminizing effects of technology, dance, + pop music alter how this body is sexualized in relation to on screen representation.
obviously, the only way to proceed is a 10-channel video installation w/ endless loops of this exploration.
on a tech. note, this was also a way to test the 1280x720 video of my nikon d90. the 24fps is still sticky for someone who's been using 29.97 for years, but other than that, I'm pleased w/ the results. I'm really interested in finally exploring a decent depth-of-field in video.
__//wrk log: from 10dec2008 to 15jan2009
• revised/recut Architectural Animation project
• built a new enclosure for the body//nes project. this one uses a portable DVD player and the screen is just 1.5" larger; but because the enclosure is more cube-shaped and the scale is slightly bigger, the "weight" of the piece has changed dramatically. before, with a smaller screen and in a smaller project box, the piece felt quieter and intimate. now, since the viewing corridor is longer and the unit has more presence, the piece is definitely more "object-like." it's still intimate, but it's a very different relationship than before. because of this dramatic shift, I probably should change to version v0.3.
• began the nespainter project; basically I figured out all the technical issues surrounding the game/video capture interface. incidentally, this is leading into IRL explorations of the traced motion + generating/processing data from these motions.
• built a scanner-camera. this was actually a longer build - 40+hrs and I'm still not 100% satisfied w/ the hardware. I'm using a Canon LiDE 30 scanner + photo enlarger head. I can get a _decent_ image, but it's not totally there yet. development's on hold until I return to gso.
• continued work on the newjunk v0.5 project. it's still an interactive piece loosely-based on a gender survey I constructed in the fall, but now I really feel that I'm trying to explore the constructed body in relation to gender, and not constructed gender in relation to the body. gender's still a construct, but since it's fluid and dynamic, I wanted to reframe the focus towards the a new fluid+dynamic body. //updated to v0.55 to reflect changes
• submitted to a bunch more exhibs, shows, festivals, conferences, etcs.
• revised the www
__//
• revised/recut Architectural Animation project
• built a new enclosure for the body//nes project. this one uses a portable DVD player and the screen is just 1.5" larger; but because the enclosure is more cube-shaped and the scale is slightly bigger, the "weight" of the piece has changed dramatically. before, with a smaller screen and in a smaller project box, the piece felt quieter and intimate. now, since the viewing corridor is longer and the unit has more presence, the piece is definitely more "object-like." it's still intimate, but it's a very different relationship than before. because of this dramatic shift, I probably should change to version v0.3.
• began the nespainter project; basically I figured out all the technical issues surrounding the game/video capture interface. incidentally, this is leading into IRL explorations of the traced motion + generating/processing data from these motions.
• built a scanner-camera. this was actually a longer build - 40+hrs and I'm still not 100% satisfied w/ the hardware. I'm using a Canon LiDE 30 scanner + photo enlarger head. I can get a _decent_ image, but it's not totally there yet. development's on hold until I return to gso.
• continued work on the newjunk v0.5 project. it's still an interactive piece loosely-based on a gender survey I constructed in the fall, but now I really feel that I'm trying to explore the constructed body in relation to gender, and not constructed gender in relation to the body. gender's still a construct, but since it's fluid and dynamic, I wanted to reframe the focus towards the a new fluid+dynamic body. //updated to v0.55 to reflect changes
• submitted to a bunch more exhibs, shows, festivals, conferences, etcs.
• revised the www
__//
I spent all day recutting the proposal for the architectural animation project. I had some new footage I wanted to add, plus added more text/description for the page.
now to submit this project to more places.
plz to enjoy:
architectural animation __// project proposal from christian.ryan on Vimeo.
now to submit this project to more places.
plz to enjoy:
architectural animation __// project proposal from christian.ryan on Vimeo.
Yesterday, r + I went to see the Jenny Holzer exhibit @ the MCA - and for the most part, I thought it a fairly successful showing. I don't have time for a full-on review, but here's my notes/impressions...
_// for years I was sorta turned off by Holzer's Truisms for one reason or another, but their use here moves beyond the content of the text; at one point you stop reading them and simply viscerally experience waves of text. it makes me think of the countless streams of political slogans and news feeds I'm bombarded with and that I have have to wade through - you start ignoring the messages and begin having an experience based on constant retinal data
_// the structures created by the scrolling screens, along with the added light + motion, are both Flavin + disco club. in this instance, Holzer ftw.
_// I don't know if people realize there's text happening on the reverse of some of these screens. it's illegible unless you enter the structure; it makes me wonder what hidden + secret messages scroll within these structures. I sorta like the Schrödinger-esque idea of text broadcasted into intentionally inaccessible space.
_// before we left, Tron was playing on TV. Holzer's floor piece recreates gamespace, but I was disappointed I couldn't actually walk between the streams and experience what that felt like.
_// I wasn't so sure of the printed pieces w/ redacted text... they sorta felt like an opening act, although I'm sure I would be more interested if I viewed them w/o all the flashing lights and retinal seduction.
_// for years I was sorta turned off by Holzer's Truisms for one reason or another, but their use here moves beyond the content of the text; at one point you stop reading them and simply viscerally experience waves of text. it makes me think of the countless streams of political slogans and news feeds I'm bombarded with and that I have have to wade through - you start ignoring the messages and begin having an experience based on constant retinal data
_// the structures created by the scrolling screens, along with the added light + motion, are both Flavin + disco club. in this instance, Holzer ftw.
_// I don't know if people realize there's text happening on the reverse of some of these screens. it's illegible unless you enter the structure; it makes me wonder what hidden + secret messages scroll within these structures. I sorta like the Schrödinger-esque idea of text broadcasted into intentionally inaccessible space.
_// before we left, Tron was playing on TV. Holzer's floor piece recreates gamespace, but I was disappointed I couldn't actually walk between the streams and experience what that felt like.
_// I wasn't so sure of the printed pieces w/ redacted text... they sorta felt like an opening act, although I'm sure I would be more interested if I viewed them w/o all the flashing lights and retinal seduction.
So I'm doing a small presentation on a "pertinent or personally influential" artist for my digital visualization class (you know, the typical 15/20 minute presentation where you show some work/artist you think is totally rad and where the rest of the class is mostly disinterested), and I decided to present Genesis P-Orridge, focusing on his influential role in the creation of industrial music, his (and Throbbing Gristle's) use of cut-up, hardware hacking, and noise/soundart, within their theoretical framework of oppositional politics + conceptual performance; I'd also look at his current work w/ the "pandrogynous" genderhacking...Phil Morton, early media artist who helped form SAIC's video department (1st in USA=WIN).
I decided to reframe my short talk after recently seeing jonCates' work with the Phil Morton Memorial Archive (full disclosure: I was a student of jon's during undergrad + was one of the founding members of the criticalartware group.) One of the things that struck me, after viewing a number of his pieces, was the similarity in approach to Paik + Cage - specifically, in this shared notion of "rigorous play." Outside of all the other really historically/theoretically important shit that Morton's directly responsible for (...and to which I'm sorta indebted to), it's this playful approach that I really want to think more about, esp. in how it relates to my own art practice.
I was doing my undergrad right at the critical moment when the analog physicality of media art process was being replaced by a weird new digital process. I started my 4D and Video 1 classes on the SVHS deck-to-deck editors, and a few years later edited my undergrad video "thesis" on a Jaz drive. In my earliest classes in SAIC's sound dept. I made loops, real loops with yards of analog magnetic tape, and then the year I graduated I recorded an entire CD with my home DAW. I was pretty eager to get into the digital production and toss the older processes aside, but now in looking @ Morton, Paik, The Kitchen, the Vasulka's, Sadin, et al, their playful experimental approach to new media practice seems esp. pertinent. I'm wondering how their creative strategies translate to current point/click interface, and maybe somehow the playfulness is restrained/confined by the digital tech.
I had the experience of getting a new camera recently and rediscovering the physical act of shooting video/image. I wonder if it's worth looking at these older video processes - the hardware video synthesis, patch cables, reel-to-reels, handycams - as a way to reclaim the tangible and playful; and maybe by doingso uncovering creative approaches or strategies that might've been obscured or lost by rigidness of current interface. I don't think there's the same kind of affectionate play present in After Effects and Final Cut that's inherent in a Sandin Image Processor or Rutt/Etra Video synth.
I decided to reframe my short talk after recently seeing jonCates' work with the Phil Morton Memorial Archive (full disclosure: I was a student of jon's during undergrad + was one of the founding members of the criticalartware group.) One of the things that struck me, after viewing a number of his pieces, was the similarity in approach to Paik + Cage - specifically, in this shared notion of "rigorous play." Outside of all the other really historically/theoretically important shit that Morton's directly responsible for (...and to which I'm sorta indebted to), it's this playful approach that I really want to think more about, esp. in how it relates to my own art practice.
I was doing my undergrad right at the critical moment when the analog physicality of media art process was being replaced by a weird new digital process. I started my 4D and Video 1 classes on the SVHS deck-to-deck editors, and a few years later edited my undergrad video "thesis" on a Jaz drive. In my earliest classes in SAIC's sound dept. I made loops, real loops with yards of analog magnetic tape, and then the year I graduated I recorded an entire CD with my home DAW. I was pretty eager to get into the digital production and toss the older processes aside, but now in looking @ Morton, Paik, The Kitchen, the Vasulka's, Sadin, et al, their playful experimental approach to new media practice seems esp. pertinent. I'm wondering how their creative strategies translate to current point/click interface, and maybe somehow the playfulness is restrained/confined by the digital tech.
I had the experience of getting a new camera recently and rediscovering the physical act of shooting video/image. I wonder if it's worth looking at these older video processes - the hardware video synthesis, patch cables, reel-to-reels, handycams - as a way to reclaim the tangible and playful; and maybe by doingso uncovering creative approaches or strategies that might've been obscured or lost by rigidness of current interface. I don't think there's the same kind of affectionate play present in After Effects and Final Cut that's inherent in a Sandin Image Processor or Rutt/Etra Video synth.
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