technology | implicit art

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24 May 2005 by nathaniel

rhizome.org is now free again!!!

Rhizome.org is a member-supported non-profit organization. We depend on our community for financial support, but we also need their active participation in our programs. When we enacted a $5 membership requirement in January 2003, we thought that such a policy would balance our need for a stable revenue source with our mission to serve new media arts communities around the world. However, having reviewed Rhizome’s usage and subscription statistics and having recognized that online communities now rely on blogs and Google, we have concluded that our membership policy was stifling wide-scale participation in our online programs. We have rethought and restructured our membership policy to make Rhizome more inclusive, relevant, and open.

As of today, anyone, regardless of whether they have donated to Rhizome or not, will be able to post or access Rhizome content from the last year simply by signing up for free. This content includes artworks in the ArtBase, or texts published on Rhizome Raw, or Rare; anyone will be able to subscribe to Raw, Rare and Rhizome Digest, and review discussions from the last year. Artworks and texts that are *more than one year old* will reside in Rhizome Archives. Only Rhizome Members will be able to access the Rhizome Archives. From now on, site users will have to make an annual contribution of $25 to be considered a Rhizome Member.

more….

Archives

13 May 2005 by nathaniel

anyone at all interested in guest writing here? I’m TOTALLY into it!

There’s been so much great stuff going on in Joburg – from shows at the JAG and Muti, to Dance pieces with Robyn Orlin and viewings of work/films by Aryan Kaganof. Monna Mokoena (Gallery Momo) was even on the cover of Blink Magazine this month!

You haven’t heard from me cuz I’ve also been busy – making education-based sites, working with my students on their upcoming show, various freelance to pay the bills, and some upcoming project work with PJ Sabbagha (a dance piece – he was Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance this year) and William Kentridge (too difficult to explain, but will surely post any pictures I can as we progress).

But I hate to waste this space, and I’ve not nearly enough blogs lately! Anyone at all interested in guest blogging? I’d prefer people who are willing to write about South African art stuff, but rants and politics, whatever, even if they don’t gel with mine, are totally acceptable.

Blogging is as easy as using webmail, and posting images just like adding attachments. I can’t offer money (I have none), but it’s not that much work and can be kind of fun – my readership has averaged at about 1000 page visits per day over the last six months (more when I post more, less when I don’t)!

Any takers should contact me. I’ll carry on writing now and again, and give passwords to anyone who can promise about at least one blog / week (if I like them). No experience necessary, but opinions are a must. Obviously, whenever you post, you’ll get your name under the title, and I’ll also give you your own li’l page on my web site, with bio info, pictures, whatever you like (if you have your own site, we’ll link to that instead)….

Seriously. I’m into it.

Archives

07 May 2005 by nathaniel

The Time Traveler Convention

May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)
(events start at 8:00pm)
East Campus Courtyard, MIT
3 Ames St. Cambridge, MA 02142
42:21:36.025¬ƒN, 71:05:16.332¬ƒW
(42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)

The Time Traveler Convention

from ryan griffis and it goes something like this (how cool/funny is this?):

What is it?

Technically, you would only need one time traveler convention. Time travelers from all eras could meet at a specific place at a specific time, and they could make as many repeat visits as they wanted. We are hosting the first and only Time Traveler Convention at MIT on Saturday, and WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Why do you need my help?

We need you to help PUBLICIZE the event so that future time travelers will know about the convention and attend. This web page is insufficient; in less than a year it will be taken down when I graduate, and furthermore, the World Wide Web is unlikely to remain in its present form permanently. We need volunteers to publish the details of the convention in enduring forms, so that the time travelers of future millenia will be aware of the convention. This convention can never be forgotten! We need publicity in MAJOR outlets, not just Internet news. Think New York Times, Washington Post, books, that sort of thing. If you have any strings, please pull them.

Great idea, I’d love to help! What should I do?

Write the details down on a piece of acid-free paper, and slip them into obscure books in academic libraries! Carve them into a clay tablet! If you write for a newspaper, insert a few details about the convention! Tell your friends, so that word of the convention will be preserved in our oral history! A note: Time travel is a hard problem, and it may not be invented until long after MIT has faded into oblivion. Thus, we ask that you include the latitude/longitude information when you publicize the convention.

You can also make an absolute commitment to publicize the convention afterwards. In that case, bring a time capsule or whatever it may be to the party, and then bury it afterwards.

Can’t the time travelers just hear about it from the attendees, and travel back in time to attend?

Yes, they can! In fact, we think this will happen, and the small number of adventurous time travelers who do attend will go back to their “home times” and tell all their friends to come, causing the convention to become a Woodstock-like event that defines humanity forever.

Unfortunately, we of the present (2005) don’t have time travel, and so we only have one chance at observing the convention. If the time travelers don’t leave us their secrets, we won’t be able to go back in time and see our convention in all its glory unless it is publicized in advance.

Isn’t time travel impossible?

We can’t know for certain. The ancient Greeks would have thought computers were impossible, and the Phoenicians certainly wouldn’t have believed that humans would one day send a spacecraft to the moon and back. We cannot predict the future of science or technology, so we can only make an effort and see if any time travelers come to our convention. If you would like to read more about time travel, check out our reading list.

I’m from the future, and I’d like to attend!

We’re not sure how you’re emailing us from the future, but we’d love to have you! Come as you are! No dress code whatsoever. We do request that you bring some sort of proof that you do indeed come from the future, and haven’t just dressed like you do. We welcome any sort of proof, but things like a cure for AIDS or cancer, a solution for global poverty, or a cold fusion reactor would be particularly convincing as well as greatly appreciated. (No RSVP required.)

Archives

01 May 2005 by nathaniel

comment fix-its

It has come to my attention that many peops have been trying to post comments on my blog, and been booted or diallowed by my settings in my spam blocker. I can only imagine how many more have had trouble, but not bothered to let me know.

I’m sorry!

In an attempt to see more interaction on this site, I’ve now upgraded to an alpha version of dr dave’s spam karma 2.0; it promises less false rejections.

I wish I didn’t need such a plug in, but alas, I was getting more than 100 spam comments a day, AND starting to get lots of trackback spam… You can read about false rejections here.

Archives

25 April 2005 by nathaniel

commons sense

creatice commons sense Well, the commons sense conference, by creative commons SA, is coming up (25-27 May), so Christo and I had a great meeting with Heather and Sylvia today, to discuss possible connections, presenters, artworks, blogs, etc. For those of you unaware, Creative Commons is a great new way of dealing with digital copyright, and share licenses…. For example, this blog is under a creative commons "non-commercial share-alike" license, which means you can copy, edit, change and use anything I publish, so long as you credit me, and don’t make money (if you make money, you gots to negotiate with me to gimme some). It’s kind of an arts and information-based open source, um, thing. And the digital copyright man, himself (larry lessig), will be hangin’ out in joburg, giving talks, and generally spreading creative commons cheer. There are also blog and artwork contests, with cash prizes – so get involved! Follow any of the many CC links for more….

Archives

17 April 2005 by nathaniel

compressionism and experiment02

A couple of days ago, I posted the invite to experiment02, my second duo show – and third, large-scale collaboration – with marcus neustetter. My half of the show, the beginning of a new body of work, has now been added to this site, as well as launched its own! For more information on Compressionism, you can head on over to http://compressionism.net, or just use the "concepts" link on my top, flash menu (above), to see it in relation to the rest of my work. There will be video documentation on the main Compressionism site by this Thursday, so keep an eye out. Yes, it’s cheeky. Hee. Anywho, here’s a press release about the show, which opens (with free drinks) next Friday (22 April) @ Franchise, in Johannesburg. Hope it gets you excited….

experiment02 at franchise

nathaniel stern | marcus neustetter experiment02 stern + neustetter invite 22 April 2005 – 14 May 2005 Opening: 18h00 Friday 22 April by Stephen Hobbs Walkabout: 10h30 Saturday 30 April http://onair.co.za/mn | http://nathanielstern.com | http://compressionism.net *********************************************** In their second duo show, marcus neustetter and nathaniel stern will use simple technologies to explore different ways of looking. With experiment02, Neustetter continues on his Digital Frottage track, while Stern embarks on what he has been ironically calling Compressionism. Both artists are using various capture and display modes, sending physical objects and bodies, over time, through digital and analogical mediations. The work is intended to ask us all to "look again". This dialogue developed out of their first exhibition, The Getaway Experiment, at The Artspace, and getawayexperiment.net, a commissioned project for Turbulence ( http://www.turbulence.org ). ***********************************************

neustetter’s experiments

neustetter experiments @ franchise

"scanning" franchise process documentation (photo by nathaniel stern)

Continuing experimentation with his Digital Frottage, scanning, photocopying and photographically exposing his laptop screen, Marcus Neustetter is exploring the concept of "scanning" space without the use of digital technology. What could the analogue equivalent be for the capturing of light and space? Using sensitized paper and a development process with ammonia fumes, Neustetter’s site-specific work is scanning physical space at Franchise. This visual outcome continues to explore his interest in the aesthetic translation and abstraction of experimental digital and analogue inputs and outputs. experiment02: neustetter print

detail from a neustetter artwork

Compressionism

http://Compressionism.net

nathaniel stern compressing franchise

compressing franchise performance (photo by Lara Rivera)

Compressionism is a digital performance, and an analog archive; it utilizes various "perform and capture," "edit and exhibit" modes, and the resulting art-objects-as-evidence ask viewers to explore different ways of looking. The first Compressionist studies use the reflective beam of a moving digital scanner, over time, to compress large spaces or objects into images the size of a small sheet of paper. Once a performance is digitized and compressed, the computer acts as multiple frames for its subject; it’s used to process, clarify, and unpack the study – both literally, and metaphorically. The resulting prints are intended to provoke a complex conversation between artist, performance, mediation tool, art-object(s) and viewer.

More info: http://Compressionism.net

c.table: compressed table by nathaniel stern

c.table (compressed table) 29.7 x 22 cm, april 2005, mounted archival print

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about the artists

marcus neustetter has been developing projects addressing the relationship between art and technology. These take the form of mobile, installation, and web artworks tackling the translation of data through different online and offline platforms. In this process he has been exploring the digital and analogue ways of representing virtual experiences. Marcus Neustetter has exhibited and has been actively involved in developing opportunities and platforms for local digital art through projects in South Africa and Europe, these include ARS Electronica (Austria), Transmediale.03 (Germany) and E-tester (Spain). As director (with Stephen Hobbs) of The Trinity Session and sanman (southern african new media art network) and The Gallery PREMISES, Marcus Neustetter is actively involved in developing cultural strategies through a range of projects. Currently he is consulting to UNESCO DigiArts Africa. http://onair.co.za/mn nathaniel stern is an internationally exhibited installation artist, net.artist and performance poet. His interactive installations have won awards in New York, South Africa and Australia, and his net.art, recently commissioned by turbulence.org, has been featured in festivals all over Europe, Asia and the US. nathaniel’s collaborative physical theatre and multimedia performance work has won three FNB Vita Awards – including Best Presentation of a New Contemporary Work – and has been featured on the main stage at the Grahamstown Festival (South Africa). His poetry repertoire includes the US National Poetry Slam competition and the RSA HIV/AIDS Arts, Media & Film Festival. http://nathanielstern.com