Compressionism | implicit art

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28 March 2006 by nathaniel

the Jill Ross @ David Krut hook-up

jill ross in front of a colbert mashile print @ david krut

Been chillin’ wit JR and RK (Richard Kilpert) at David Krut’s studio as of late, working on translating some of the Compressionist images into more traditional prints – looking towards using things like silk screen, lithography, engraving and etching. You can check out one preliminary experiment over at the kagablog (I just started the occasional art post over there – thanks, Kags!). Am very excited about this work – RK and JR are inspired!

Gotta mention there’s some nice work by Colbert Mashile o’er thar (Krut) – and that his painting also sold for a ‘nice price’ at the Beeldspraak benefit auction. Worth a shout out or three. The pic is Jill in front of an unintentionally reflective (no pun intended) Mashile print….

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20 March 2006 by nathaniel

Andre SC’s take on Compressionism

There’s been a cross-blogging comment buzz between myself and Andre SC (fellow Jo’burger Andre Clemens – that link is to his prints in discussion) as of late, since he picked up on my Compressionist movement. Trained in information theory and design, Andre has been crossing over into the fine art realm as of late – beginning with his PornAgain and NetPorn series (some featured at GordArt), and now working with ‘Search Engine Compressionism‘. Beautiful and interesting stuff, created using experimental, generative, iterative and sometimes performative algorithms (mixed with aesthetic decision-making here and there).

We’re talking about a live-ish generative net.art collaboration, potentially. Watch this space….
^{Left: Andre SC: Search our Family Photos}

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27 February 2006 by nathaniel

Orpheus and other artists @ Spier

So I was at Spier last night with some really cool artists. Not all of them made it on the same night, but amongst the ten finalists selected for their hotel art project are myself, Kim Lieberman, Mustafa Maluka, Matt Hindley, Usha Seejarim, Dorothee Kreutzfeld, Jo O’Connor and Nicolas Hlobo. Had a nice dinner among new friends, great conversation, perhaps some future help and collaborations. I’ll probably propose some Compressionist images for the project – got some great scans on site before my scanner finally died (another one on the way – thank you, ebay!).

James Webb also joined up for dinner, and managed to sneak the two of us into Brett Bailey’s Orpheus, for which he sound designed. We had to drive over the bridge at right. Yes, that’s the best I could do for an image – desperate times….

Sometimes over the top and obvious where unnecessary, and a few of the scenes could have been shorter to get their points across better, but Orpheus was undoubtedly a brilliant piece. The lead narrator, portrayed by Sibongile Khumalo, was an amazing presence with heart-wrenching physical character, and Orpheus (I cannot find the actor’s name) had the haunting singing voice of a dying angel (he did not once speak out of song). The set, the silence, the sound, the politics, even most of the parts that may have been OTT (over-the-top) worked seamlessly. A devastatingly beautiful rendition by all of the artists involved — see it if you can.

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24 February 2006 by nathaniel

robot clothes

^{LED throwies in the streets of NYC}

James Powderly is currently a Research & Development fellow at Eyebeam in Chelsea, NYC – a fantastic gallery-space-like residency program for art-geeks that work in new media, "etc". On a more personal note, when we were grad students, James was a huge friend and resource in helping to set up my first-ever group exhibition (Johnson Museum, upstate New York); he "gave" me the term Compressionism – something he came up with for a series of his own interactive videos about five years ago, but is letting me have for my prints right now; and he videotaped my and Nicole’s wedding (tho I still have not edited that) – just to name a few niceties. So yes, I am biased, but he was also a director at Honeybee Robotics for a number of years, so we know he is ‘wicked smaht.’ One of his many current goings-on:

Robot Clothes is an art and commercial research and development partnership, specializing in robotic systems, interaction design and product prototyping. This partnership, formed in 2002 by Michelle Kempner and James Powderly, utilizes a hybrid fine art and commercial design and engineering approach to support innovative science and technology development efforts for clients including fortune 100 companies, NASA and internationally renowned artists, such as Diller + Scofidio and Miranda July. In addition to contracted research and development efforts, Robot Clothes internally supports fine art projects ranging from a robotic public sculpture for Central Park to an animatronic opera about Crohn’s Disease.

Dude.

Also, James’ Eyebeam crew recently teamed up with the Graffiti Research Lab to produce the above Electro-Graf – a "graffiti piece or throw-up that uses conductive and magnetic paint to embed LED display electronics." Check out the link for an awesome ‘LED Throwies’ video – hit the streets, throw little trinkets at the walls that stick and light up, and so ‘write’ with live LEDs on the sides of buildings!

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22 February 2006 by nathaniel

I think that jill ross and richard kilpert are both pretty neat. You do, too, right?

jill ross and richard kilpert

After a morning of various errand – running / personal – admin BS, I began the Real Day with a lunch meeting / brainstorm session starring myself and the ever-inspired and energetic Richie K. He told me a bit about his new iterative photographic – photoshoppy – inkjet process and images, which sound divine, while I shared a bit more on my performative Compressionist prints – and the two seem to work very well together. Kilpert and I are starting to potentially think about two upcoming duo shows (I’d share my Outlet show with him, and he an upcoming exhibition space with me), which would display the complimentary series side by side, maybe include some collaborative efforts as well.

This lead perfectly into our excursion to see Jill Ross at the David Krut gallery and print shop. After being dazzled by Jill’s beautiful work with Wilma Cruise (shown: Jill + Wilma print + Blurry Richard), I attempted to return the dazzle with the Compressionism documentation and some images. We brainstormed through some teamwork possibilities – Jill really is a well of printmaking knowledge, as is Richie, and we’re all pretty excited by the potentials in combining our talents and work.

We ended with all kinds of collaborative printmaking seeds, and I’m hoping to work with Jill and Richie in the near future. Oooooh, I see some New Art coming on…. It’s gonna be H-O-T. Will keep you "posted."

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16 February 2006 by nathaniel

Prix Ars Electronica

Just got this mail courting me for the Net Vision category at Ars. I don’t have any new net.art this year, but did send in some Compressionist stuff as performative/interactive analog/digital art for the obvious category… Would be great to see some South Africans represent – in any category! Here it is:

The Prix Ars Electronica – International Competition for Cyberarts is being conducted for the 20th time in 2006. In addition to the classic categories – Interactive Art, Net Vision, Computer Animation / Visual Effects and Digital Musics – Digital Communities and [the next idea] Art and Technology Grant competition will be reprised.

Prix Ars Electronica 2006
Start of Online Submissions: January 10, 2006
Online Submission Deadline: March 17, 2006
Details about entering are available online only at http://prixars.aec.at/

A Golden Nica, two Awards of Distinction (cash prizes) and up to 12 Honorary Mentions will be awarded in the Net Vision category in 2006.

Net Vision
The "Net Vision" category singles out for recognition artistic projects in the Internet that display brilliance in how they have been engineered, designed and-especially-conceived, works that are outstanding with respect to innovation, interface design and the originality of their content. The way in which a work of net-based art deals with the online medium is essential in this category.

For further information about Net Vision donÂ’t hesitate to contact us.

Under 27? Mos Def check [the next idea] – great prize!