The massive problem of e-waste

We've all got some old electronic equipment stashed in a drawer somewhere, a broken mobile that hasn't made it's way to the bin yet, but before you chuck any of that stuff out, spend a moment considering where all that obsolete and busted technology ends up.




as people who are exploring all this new technology, we're frequently upgrading and expanding our collection of electronic equiptment - if i count up all the gadgets i've bought since first getting into this 'digital life' 5 years or so ago, its quite some figure. Add to that all the ink cartridges for the printer, batteries for cameras and music players etc, film canisters, photo processing chemicals, cd's and dvd's in their big plastic stack boxes, and it starts to get quite alarming. Thats after 5 years. Imagine what it'll be after 20 years as a media professional. Jesus H Vishnu, thats a shed load of dodgy plastics, chemicals and assorted toxins i'll be getting through.



We've really gotta start being more aware what we're doing when we use stuff and throw it out. Living in the land of plenty, it easy to just go on consuming and chucking out the remains, but continuing with this way of behavior can't be sustained, the effects are now too severe; we've gotta get with the programme.






I hope people watch these and take note. I'll blog later about where we can recycle our old mobiles, printer cartridges(which are also highly toxic) etc. I'm sure we've all got a few we need shot of. Some places send out freepost bags to post them off old stuff to recycle-if anyones interested, let me know and ill get a pile of them sent for us all.

Final Project

For the self directed project, I'm going to do a poster campaign around the ideas of e-waste and energy consumption of todays technology. With a single computer chip doing more harm to the environment than the average car, and your Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as a real life Brazilian, it's probably time we started to consider our energy consumption a whole lot more.
15 million mobile phones are discarded in 2004 (im looking for more recent figures) with only 4% begin recycled, and with a billion new handsets being sold in the last year, the global stats for discarded phones must be pretty staggering. Should be a concern when you consider mobiles contain the 10 most dangerous substances known to man. Much of our electronic waste ends up in developing countries, and the resulting environmental impact in some places has been catastrophic.

will also look at viable energy alternatives, with the population growth out of control, the demand on already overburdened energy supplies continues to grow. The cost of oil is climbing fast, with analysts predicting that we reached Peak oil , reserves are running dry. makes no sense at all that we are at war over the scraps that remain.
Biofuel has come under fire recently after reports of it being inefficient, I'm interested to learn more about solar energy -it's the biggest source of energy out there,and must surely be a strong contender for a future energy source for mankind.

dissertating

My dissertation was entitled :
The Reality of Digital Photography.
Authenticity and the Pervasive Image in
Contemporary Culture.

I discussed the idea of the photographic image , and how digital technology has supposedly given rise to the 'loss of real', - digital images are inherently mutable, and can now be created from completely artificial content and this, some argue, has destroyed our faith in the authenticity of the photograph. I argued against this theory, stating that photography has never been able to show an objective view of reality, as a photograph comes into being as the result of a series of subjective decisions by the photographer- choice of lens, film speed, lighting, camera position, etc etc are all used to effect the way the image comes out. Photo editing software may now make it simple to manipulate images, but these developments are far from revolutionary, photography exists because of manipulation. whether a scene is arranged prior to image capture, or affected in post production traditionally in the darkroom, or digitally on a computer, they all ways to manipulate the final image, and present only the view of the author. Therefore the idea of a photographic 'truth' or authenticity becomes problematic.
I discussed the idea that digital technology has given back an element of control for the author, where previously roll film production, developing and printing were handled my large companies, now the photographer has more control over the whole process.
I suggested that more radical a change to photography with the development of digital technology was how it has changed the way we consume images, with cameras finding their way into ever more portable electronic devices, and personal computing allowing a greater flow of images through the home. The internet provides the means for self publishing and distribution, with staggering number of images uploaded each day. People are presenting themselves online in social network sites with snapshot photography. Images are flooding through our daily lives in larger tides.


What did i learn, other than i should probably leave dissertating to those that are good at it? Well i was stunned at the amount of images being uploaded to various sites. Its impossible to get decent statistics as there are so many places to upload images to, but hundreds of millions each week, increasing at a phenomenal rate. With more and more devices to capture, store and distribute images, the flood tide is sure to swell.


I found it very painful to write this essay, It's not something I'm naturally good at. I find it difficult to get down what I'm thinking about, without sounding like it's written by baboon. I also seem to use commas like vinegar on a bag of chips, sprinkling liberally all over the place until everything is soggy.
Glad it's handed in now though, quite a relief.

bjorks new 3d video

check out Bjorks new 3d video. the inspiration for the director came from trip into the woods with a belly full of psilocybin shrooms. the video is a visual feast, with different media and techniques used in its creation. luckily ive still got some 3d specs left from the interaction project, so i can appreciate it in its full (miniature) glory. Theres a 2d version as well if you don't have the glasses, but for the full effect of seeing it at its very best, then its advantageous to ingest a handful of Liberty Caps. (and going out into the woods) .

Easter Break

Back to school again after the Easter break, time to get back with the programme. Micheál asked for an example of something that has been a source of inspiration, or good research material for the course. This was a difficult question, as I've had a really very uneventful couple of weeks- didn't go away on holiday, didn't visit anyone, spent some of it struggling with the current projects, but not making the progress that i should have really.
Ok, some of the things I've seen recenlty are some awesome animations I discovered on YouTube, by a chap called Grickle. What i like about them is they are very simple, just a few lines used to create a great visual impact without overly complicating it. The characters have great expressions, the animator has made them very expressive - theres no doubt about what they are feeling or thinking at any given time. Check out the one below It's fantastic, you'll probably want to check out his others, he has many at 'Grickle Channel' on YouTube.







This following YouTube video I've been familiar with for some time, but included it here because i recently saw it again, i can't help finding it both fascinating and scary. But at the end of the day, both dogs and robots are cool, so to have them both together in one package is always a joy.


Recently, a friend sent me another version, that i thought was equally as bizarre, and just as funny and scary.




I guess one other thing recently I've been looking into further is working for some ethical company. After subverting the D&AD army recruitment, it really felt important to me to be doing something that i believe in. I think that when working in the multimedia industry, there will potentially be lots of briefs for advertising and marketing, you need bread and butter money as artistic endeavours won't necessary pay the bills. The whole advertising thing can be selling your soul to the devil though, - 'all marketing guys are sons of Satan who ruin all things good in the world, and they should kill themselves'. (thanks to Bill Hicks for his wise words) . I like the idea of producing some anti-advertising, doing some culture jamming and getting a wee bit subversive. I would find this far more satisfying than corporate promotion and dealing with all that.

D&AD advertising tomfoolery

(click image to enlarge)

D&AD Student Awards. Army Recruitment Brief.

We decided to do the Army recruitment brief as there is simply not enough killing and suffering in the world. What better way to hook the nations youngsters into the army than with a language they are familiar with, computer games. We didn't actually make the game itself, there was no need as there are plenty of computer games available already that glamourise war, as mentioned in a previous post - but instead we just made the advertising campaign in the graphic styling of a computer game. Screenshots on the back showed various stages of army life, and plenty of warnings of the graphic and violent content of army life were given.

This was a great project to do, though at times difficult to stomach when the horrors of war and injustices of army life were uncovered again and again, but in many ways these things just made it all the more important to complete the project and deliver something a little different from normal army recruitment campaigns. We just wanted to show some of the things that someone joining the army could experience - the things that they don't usually show potential recruits. This week saw the army in the news again for going into schools to recruit children, and reading some of the comments that the public had responded with, shows that this issue polarizes peoples opinion, I don't think I've seen such heated comments in reply to a news item before.
We were very satisfied with the results of our project, we believe we made an important point in way that still managed to fulfill the brief,- I would love to be a fly on the wall at the D&AD judging process, to see what the reaction is of the advertising agency that set the brief, though we have as much chance of wining as having the British Army withdraw from Iraq tomorrow morning. But as George Bush Jr might say, it's not the winning, it's the taking part that's counts.

Micheál's Feedback Loop

I went twice to Micheál's piece 'Feedback Loop' as part of the Digiville, once to the lighthouse venue in the real world, and once to the digital plot in Second Life. I've only a limited experience of Second Life, past attempts have been hampered by technical problems, and it was the first time id ever been to an organised event in LindenLand. It was a strange experience really, going somewhere where the other participants were potentially people i knew, and i spent some time seeing if there were any clues in the avatars that might reveal who was controlling them in the real world. It felt in some small way like some kind of freaky masquerade party, lots of outlandish attired folk who could be strangers or could be friends, your were never really sure. The two identical avatars of Micheál only added to the confusion, does Micheál have an identical twin in the real world he's not mentioned? or was it an obsessed fan?
One of them was talking (typing) seemingly random statements that was even more confusing, without the visual clues of real conversation with real people it was unclear who was talking to who, and as the digital audience posted comments, it seemed like there was several conversations going on at once, none of them making much sense. This talking virtual Micheál turned out to be controlled by Dan, who was at the lighthouse reporting snippets of the goings on in the real world.
The Lighthouse was dominated by a huge screen in the middle of the room showing the virtual Micheál in SL, with a clown repeating the movements of the avatar on screen -Dan controlling the avatar, the avatar controlling the clown while the audience looked on. It seemed as random in the real world as it did in the digital, except this time the audience didn't consist of people with the heads of bunny rabbits, or nor was anyone dressed as if they were off to a fetish party afterwards, which was a shame. The two other video installations were somehow lost in the room, the main screen so dominated the room that the other work soon was obscured by the audience, and unfortunately lost some of their impact.
The discussion afterwards was also interesting, some of the comments from the audience seemed to be getting a little heated - i wonder if Micheál hadn't have finished when he did whether it would have kicked off! Its interesting to see such strong opinions, we are only just beginning to explore virtual life, and as it becomes more a part of our everyday life it will certainly raise important issues of our relationship with technology, and with each other.
I'm interested to know what Micheáls conclusion is after the work, as he seemed to approach the project without a fixed agenda of what would take place, to see where it went of its own accord. I'm not sure what conclusions i drew from the evening, but it was certainly good food for thought.

Seraphina Samet (or Anderson)

Today's guest speaker showed a selection of her screen based work, short films made using super8 cameras and montage effects. It seemed as if she was using the digital medium as a therapeutic process, all the work is about herself, filmed, edited and starring herself, and by displaying it to the audience, its gives her the opportunity to exorcise her demons. Whether or not the audience are willing to play counsellor is debatable, i found the images presented on screen lacked substance, there was nothing engaging about the work, and she had nothing interesting or important to say. There were some nice ideas in there, but it did seem way to self indulgent for my tastes, its all very well making films about yourself if your have an interesting story to tell, but if the content is dull and uninspiring, then i wonder if it worth the time and effort. I accept that all experience is personal, and everything you experience in life shapes how you are and what you produce, but there's a whole would out there that can be explored and commented on, to base all your work totally on yourself seems to be self obsessed- you can produce work and develop your take on the world without you being the total focus of attention.

John Gilhooly

Dissertation feedback

The feedback from John on my dissertation proposal was positive and encouraging, with some useful recommendations on both refining by plan and books for research material. I plan to write about the photographic image, and how new technology has changed the way we acquire and consume those images, from image capture and development through to distribution and public display. John suggested i focus the idea to discussing it form either the practitioners point of view, highlighting the differences in digital capture and manipulation, or write it with regard to the viewers/consumers point of view, which could cover issues of image quality and distribution, display format, mobile phone cameras etc. I'll probably use this latter line of approach, as it relates to a more cultural use of the medium and less technical aspects of it. It also has direct parallels to the issues we've recently been discussing about the advent of digital cinema and how it has effected both the film industry and how we watch movies.

John recommended reading 'Moving Image Technology - from Zeotrope to Digital' by Leo Enticknap., a theory and history of moving images .

'Suspension of Perception' and 'Techniques of the Observer' by Jonathan Crary

and 'Stillness and Time: Photography and the Moving Image.' a collection of essays by photography and film theorists.

Life in the Army

Bullying, Torture, Killology, and shoot to miss.

the science of creating killers discusses how the human desire not to kill can be trained and conditioned out of the soldier, by a method called 'killology'. During the heat of battle, normal responses and decision making has changed and a more animal instinct takes over. The basic animal instinct is not to kill another - animals in the wild will rarely kill another animal they are in a confrontation with - disputes are usually resolved by displays intended to intimidate the opponent so he will back down. Fighting can be very costly to both parties, so actual fights to the death are extremely rare. Exact figures are difficult to calculate, but the amount of combatants who actually shoot to kill are low, during the second world war, men would consistently 'shoot to miss' and the number of soldiers who shoot to kill was thought to be very low, with a low percentage of soldiers doing a majority of the killing.

so just when your faith in humanity has started to be restored, some files on abu ghrarib are published, with a collection of images collected from the cameras of soldiers posted at the infamous prison. Some of the image require a strong stomach

wired article about the abuse and torture of prisoners, and what turns ordinary people to commit acts of evil. Psychologist Philip Zimardo conducted an experiment for the Stanford University in 1971, which involved students who posed as prisoners and guards. The experiment was was stopped after five days when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts.

43% of soldiers questioned say bullying is a problem in the army in this article Battling Bullying in the British Army 1987 – 2004 which shows incidents of bullying are not isolated cases, but that there is an extreme culture of bullying,casual violence and sexual harassment, epically with newer recruits. figures of the number of victims could be wildly underestimated from the reluctance of victims to report incidents.

Another article in the telegraph about the suicide rate of returning servicemen after conflict. Many cannot cope afterwards from all the experiences of violence, and life in a constant state of alertness. Here is an official report into suicide rates of those in the forces

First Person Shooter

RPGs.
from Role Playing Games to Rocket Propelled Grenades

The idea for the D&AD project is coming along well. We've been developing the concept of the video game aesthetic for army recruitment posters. Heres what we've been working on so far.

Andreas made the figures in 'Poser', and i photoshopped them to look like computer game packaging. The idea is to also produce a 'back cover', with screen shots of army life -also created in 3d, covering various aspects of army life, from initiation ceremonies, the torture of locals in the countries the army 'visit', to being denied help or compensation for P.S.T.D you'll get after witnessing all the violence and death. The age 7 ranking relates to a news story from earlier in the year about the army targeting youngsters as young as 7 in recruitment campaigns. (maybe this too).

Here's one of Andreas's 3d rendering of the initiation fun mentioned in an earlier post.

I mentioned several other propaganda computer games in an earlier post, and I've also been looking at other forms of propaganda with children as a primary target audience, in the war there was quite a lot of animations and cartoons used as public (mis)information films. Walt Disney made many , like this 'education for death', with it anti German theme.

Suicide rate for veterans and sevicemen

The number of veterans who have died from suicide after the Falklands War is greater than the number of servicemen killed during the conflict.

Returning U.S and British soldiers from Iraq have high suicide rate





Troops used as guinea pigs in 1950s, and60s, testing protective clothing for radiation after nuclear weapons testing.

Found a great resource for official reports and papers, covering arts, sciences and humanities, at 'Intute'. A selection of military publications and external sites offer a wide variety of resource information and governmental papers and inquiries, including this pdf by the National Audit Office on military recruitment and retention, with statistics on why people left the army etc.

A selection of anti war posters..





anti war advertising - culture jamming at why-war.com

war vets arrested for anti war advertising -nicked for 'defacing public property' by putting up posters with an anti war message

smurf bombing ad campaign by unicef in Belgium to highlight the problem of child soldiers in Burundi - an animation of a smurf village being bombed.

advertising in WWII

How to end the war - naomi klein discusses how the rebuilding of iraq is done at the expense of iraq, with the US and foreign investors being the sole source of regeneration going on

Army life is a lot more relaxed than I thought....

army recruitment

Join the Army, the initiation ceremony may be brutal, but the rest of your service is no picnic either.



If ya just wanna stay home and play soldiers, then this is the toy for you...

What Barry Says by Simon Robson

This graphically stunning video is a reaction to the American dominance of the world. I was so impressed at the visual style that i had to watch it several times to get the message (which can only be good if you are trying to make a political comment, the more times you see it the better the message gets across ,maybe) of Americas military and foreign policy.



EMPIRE by Edouard Salier

Another stunning video, images of the American dream and middle class suburban life subtlety invaded by the military in a stylish effect. Looks like it was made using a displacement effect to distort the images.

Both these films have appeared on 'onedotzero select' DVDs for obvious reasons. Very inspiring stuff.

visiting speakers - Relentless and Jon Bird

Relentless software developers

Relentless come in to talk about their work as software developers for Sony Playstation. They specialise in social games, like their popular 'Buzz' series of quiz based games. Games take around 2 years or so to be released, with only around half making it to the final stage. The explained their business is run efficiently, with a more 'regular' 9-5 working day, which seemed very unusual in the industry.
They gave some good advice on compiling portfolios and showreels, namely keep in minimal, don't overdo fancy editing and effects, and don't included anything that's not your very best. They made their work seem very appealing, just not sure I've got the right skills for that line of work - my experience of working in 3D is very limited.




Jon Bird from the Creative Systems Labs at the University of Sussex gave an interesting talk on his work on Interdisciplinary Research Projects, where maths, science and art meet to go wild. Evolutionary robots built to produce creative works, which raises the question of what is creativity?. The challenge is to build a robot, yet programme it without controlling its creative output. Fascinating stuff, some of it just out of reach of my understanding, but all very impressive.
(by the way - the slide of the Bower Bird he showed - if you've never seen these fellas, you should check 'em out, (theres a low quality clip here) they are one of the most amazing things I've seen in the natural world. David Attenborough's Life of Birds has some stunning footage, i recommend taking a look)

Virtual Propaganda

Computer games as a military marketing and propaganda tool

After Andreas and I realised that using a computer game aesthetic for the army recruitment material, for this would allow use of parody easier than overtly graphic or sensational images and is accessible for the age group targeted in the brief. We also discussed contacting ex-soldiers to hear their stories for material, but decided using photographic imagery of ex-servicemen could be limiting for various reasons.

America's Army is the most familiar to me, a tactical multiplayer F.P.S, featuring realistic environments and military hardware thats said to authenticity depict the real life equivalents. There are some 8.6 million registered users, who play online. The play works on a honour system , with tactical play increases the players points, as does healing wounded comrades etc. Players showing good skills in the game are contacted by recruiters directing them to websites and further information for the army.

Ethnic Cleansing is somewhat more suspect, a 'game' for white supremasists and ignorant racist lowlife everywhere. Not sure what i can say about this as it doesn't really deserve any more of my time, it's a filthy lithesome game, as is White Law , another such game full of racist hated.

Saving the Port is a game which recruits for the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, a response to the West’s cultural onslaught and in order to promote the Islamic-Iranian culture.

Anti-Japan War Online is another imaginatively title online game, this time promoting Chinese nationalism - "Our developers hate Japan, so they want to make the game very provocative, but the team leaders have tried to tone down the violence," said the project manager, Liu Junfeng of PowerNet Technology, a Shenzhen-based gaming company (from the Guardian)


Under Siege is a computer game set in the middle east, which focuses on a Palestinian family caught up in the occupation by Israel forces. At the time it was released it recieved a lot of media attention in the middle east because of its use as a propaganda tool for the PLO. The protagonist makes his way through the game shooting at soldiers from the Israeli Defence Forces. It differs with most FPSs in that if you hurt or kill innocent civilians the game ends. Much of the rest of the content is no different in tone and format than pretty much all western war based games,(of which there are a great many) which despite the relentless killing of Iraqis/Afghanis/Russians/Germans/Chinese/whoever - are not generally labelled as propaganda tools. Apparently,the demo also has the tagline "A real life story or a political propaganda? You have the right to decide". Its a statement about the Israeli occupation of the west bank and Gaza strip, it's creators say all the levels are based on true stories, and although the protagonist shoots at Israeli forces, it doesn't simulate any terrorist activity, suicide bombings etc. These guys produced something spawned by the events happening in the streets around them, a touch different from the giant developers producing games for the western market, who don't get blamed for spreading propaganda.

D&AD

(don't) Join the Army

Have been doing lots of brainstorming on ideas for the brief, and Lindsay gave some good advice on researching TEQUILA\ , who set the brief for the army. Looking at their work, theres a lot of print media there, big photos with single images, nothing cluttered or too busy. This gave ideas for posters with a single iconic image.
The idea of using a computer game 3d model of a soldier is a promising direction to head in, it being accessible to the 16 year old market who the ads are targeting. These of course would be subverted - a maimed 3d soldier in a wheel chair, or perhaps lying immobile on the operating table in a field hospital, while a mud soaked surgeon amputates an arm etc, something ommited from Call of Duty 4 and the like. We also like the idea of doing an animated sequence, which could appear on the web splash page. I also wondered today about using the image of toy soldiers and putting them on crutches, or in court fighting to get compensation, but the computer game characters are more contempory and could have more impact with the yoof of today. I'll play with these ideas more to see where they take us.


I played around with the clone tool for a while today on this image after thinking about war cemeteries, and the countless lines of identical gaves. I just did a quick job to see if it would work. I quite liked the idea, theres something very poignant about war cemeteries. I remember walking around one in Kanchanaburi ,Thailand - built for all the British soldiers who died building the 'death railway' in WWII and finding it very moving.
I think the submitted work will have to be ironic and somehow lighthearted, theres so much disturbing and unpleasant imagery of the horrors of war, we don't want to make it to bleak. Not an easy task considering the subject matter and all the things I've been researching just now.

Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin

part 5

The Bauhaus was quite a highlight of the trip to Berlin, well worth a look to see more of the history and style of the movement. There was some great pictures and objects in the exhibition, the chess set and some of the pots and vases were very impressive (the prices of some contempory versions in the shop were also spectacular!). The graphic design of the posters can be seen in a great many things today, the bauhaus stle and influence has spread far and wide. The building itself was a little less impressive than i had imagined, but style had an interesting archecturial style.

The archecture in and around this area was also very impressive, seemingly each building following it's own design, making the whole district varied and diverse. Berlin had some outstanding buildings, the Reitstag being one highlight, though i never made it into the glass dome, something for my next trip.

Other highlights in Berlin include the trip to the famed Panorama Bar. It was a mission and a half to find, but this served to make it all the more rewarding an experience one wee were there.

Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin

Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin

part 4

Spy 'Vs' Spy was a somewhat odd talk by Sharon Daniels in the bilderberg room at Transmediale, who's work consisted of a flash website which gave a voice to women prisoners in the USA. Audio recordings of interviews with prisoners are accessible from the site, all of which were recorded clandestinely while in the guise of a legal representative of the women. Her aims seem to let people know of the conditions under which the prisoners live, while at the same time keep it under the radar to avoid any repercussions for herself and the women inmates. This talk was odd, because it came across as more of a statement of the American legal and political system then any to do with multimedia : other than the fact that the website she uses won a Webby. The same website that she couldn't seem to navigate around, but to be fair that was not all down to her, the talk was plagued with problems and was 40 minutes late starting for technical reasons. Sadly any message she tried to make was lost as the technical glitches continued until the talk descended into farce, video not playing, no audio, deafening audio, it was all to much. You'd have thought at a multimedia festival there would be a squadron of techies on hand to sort these things out and at least display a web page without too many problems.
There did seem to be a fair few technical problems at Transmediale, which was a little surprising for a world conference type event, though it wasn't all bad. On the whole, the festival was very impressive, showing a wide range of installations, films, lectures and performances and was a hugely beneficial trip for us - i wish i had as much stamina to attend more events, especially to see some of the other things going on at club transmediale in the night time.

Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin

part 3

'Public Signatures' was an interesting series of films shown at Transmediale, and fitted well with the theme of Conspire. The first was of a topic familiar to me already, and of great intrest, called 'Culture Jamming' by David Schwertgen. His documentary showed a variety of different ways he and his peers have produced campaigns in reaction to corporate practice and advertising. Viral games, websites, public installations/information events are some of the ways they have tried to make their voices heard, as they make their comment on how big corporations ruthlessly take over public space, exploit workers, advertise in schools, promote greedy consummerism etc etc. While they realise that their work won't bring down the corporations, it's important that they raise awarness of these issues, for they can change public opinion to some degree; anything that tries to make the average consummer wake the fuck up from to whats going is a good thing. 'No Logo' by Naomi Klien is well worth a read for other information on some of these issues, as well as the Canadian film 'Corporation' from a few years back, and while your at it, the movie 'Zeitgeist' which is out at the moment are all worth a look to see things that the advertisers and other media usually omit from the public eye.

Another film in the series documented a street artist Mario Mentrup, who made grafitti and installations on the streets of Wuppertal in Germany, as well as using a power jet water-spray as a paintbrush to blast away built up grime on railway sidings and derelict buildings, a novel kind of negative grafitti. Bemused police looked on, not sure what to do as his team hung a huge photograph printed onto fabric under a bridge. He had an interesting twist on the usual grafitti artists work, doing imaginative things to public spaces.

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Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin
part 2
(the crap bits)

One lesson I think I learned from the Transmediale was never make assumptions.
My assumptions about what i thought the definition of music is, was challenged while listening to some of the musical performances at the festival. Sonic Wargame was one such event; it involved four teams, situated at four mixing desks at opposing corners of a room at Club Transmediale at the Maria am Ostbahnhof. each team would play music, and make votes based on how one of the other teams were playing. A chairman dude stood at a mixing desk in the center of the room, and controlled what music was played after voting, and probably did one or two other things that were indeterminable to me. Giant display screens at each end of the room graphically displayed the results of the voting, like some amphetamine tweaked election night news coverage. It all sounded quite good on paper, but I felt more than a little confused by the whole event, unsure what was really going on at any given moment, and at a loss to make any sense of the barrage of feedback and noise assaulting my ears. The guys behind the decks seemed to be getting well into it though, one of the pair staring intently into a laptop, and making furtive glances at the display board and dude at the mixing desk, while the DJs bobbed now and again at the wheels of steel, grinning and giving winks of approval to the other teams.
I looked around the crowd, and saw that the confusion I felt was mirrored in the faces of some of the others, who looked as ill at ease with the 'music' as I was. I began to feel like there was a private joke going on between the DJs, with none of the crowd privy to the funny gags the musicians were telling behind their hands. I began to wonder what it would sound like if the DJs had some quality choons to play with, some blinding cuts and deep funky rhythms - four musical maestros banging out some twisted music, and couldn't help but feel they'd do better than this non-music exploration i was hearing.
On to the next room, were the feedback sound had been fuel injected, the sound a cross between audio computer data emanating from a ZX81 cassette player locked onto the highest volume, and a television set with the aerial unplugged, being fed into a industrial food blender. Which nobody has turned off. I tried to overcome the knee-jerk reaction of it all being avant garde arty bollocks, and really give it a proper listen, but it did no good, the magic was lost on me and I had to gave in. It's a shame, and I like to think I wasn't being prejudiced - I've heard much more inspiring music at club nights and festivals, where there are also often many visual installations and multimedia trickery, that were just as experimental and far less alienating to the crowd than these performances.



The other assumption I learned to challenge in Berlin was even if you believe your camera is set to record everything in lossless raw format, and not crappy jpeg, always check, and double check. It wasn't till I returned home and plugged my faithful camera into the computer, that I realised I hadn't changed the camera back from the one and only time I've ever shot in jpeg. So all 460 shots of Berlin captured digitally are lossy compressed quality, and in a nutshell- pants. I've got a couple of rolls oldskool film to be processed, so mebbe I've managed to get a few decent shots somewhere. I was a bit gutted at first, but I realised I've got even more excuse to go back to Berlin now, so roll on the summer so I can go shooting there again.





next post some more positive and cool Berlin highlights

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Transmediale '08 - Berlin

Transmediale '08 'Conspire'- Berlin
part 1

It's difficult to know where to start with this first blog after returning from the Transmediale festival in Berlin. There was so much to take in this last week or so, and now I'm back and turning my attention to the current briefs, I'm still trying to make sense of vast array of sights and sounds I've just experienced.

There were some very interesting conferences and seminars at the festival, including 'greying the commons' which discussed copyright and intellectual property issues. One of the participants asked anyone to raise their hand if they had NOT illegally downloaded any copyrighted material in the last month, and of the 300/400 people in the room, around 3 people put their hand up. All current measures to stop the flow of copyrighted material over the Internet are obviously not working. Various methods to address the issue, such as prosecution and denial of service policies, to filtering bandwidth and the use of advertiser sponsored legal downloaded have done little to stem the flow of file sharing over the web, and a new model is still needed. There's an ever growing number of artists releasing their work independently from the usual publishers and distributors which have dominated the business for so long, and the plummeting cost of equipment such as projectors has also seen the development of micro cinemas showing films away from the influence of the major cinema corporations. These have grown from a more community driven approach, with a wikiness that many agree is the fundamental to the true nature of the Internet, and one which must be encouraged and developed if the web is to survive and serve any usefully purpose in the future.

'When Your Strange' consisted of a series films and animations, highlights including a movie shot on hand held cameras, a documentary style piece highlighting the pointless of a military border control post. The boredom and banality of life for the young guys during their stint of national service was distinct, as they senselessly 'defending' their country against nothing and no-one, as they idly pass the time to when their posting finishes and they can return to their normal life after military service has finished.
Another screening was an animated piece concerning identity and one's sense of self, as well as US immigration policy. The experiences of several people of different nationalities were taken form anonymous interviews, and set to animations of avatars, which were crudely drawn, or characters from MMOGs. The voices detailed the ordeal they face at customs, as they go through the lengthy process while US officials try to find out about them and discover their intentions. As one of the people mentioned 'your describing what you mean to them, not what you mean to you..... your face belonging to it's heritage, not to the individual'

continued later.........

research for d&ad proj

d&ad student awards project

After looking at the briefs for this year's d&ad awards, i was disappointed with the choices on offer. Last years briefs covered more humanitarian and ecological themes, a marked contrast from the big advertising briefs included this time around.
After seeing the army recruitment brief, i really began to wonder what was going on there at d&ad (can't help thinking that looks like it's written 'DEAD', instead 'D&AD when i catch it out the corner of my eye), and i began flirting with the idea of making an anti-war promotional campaign, making a poster advertising some of the experiences that are usually omitted from army recruitment ads. Just a few things like statistics on wounded and maimed soldiers, or those suffering from P.S.T.D, and the lack of care and compensation on returning, or things like the gross misuse of public funds, for illegal wars searching for non-existent weapons of mass destruction, while and various other evils perpetrated in the name of king and country.
After Andreas mentioned he was thinking of something similar, we decided to team up and see if it could be done in a way that fulfilled the demands brief, while at the same time 'getting away with murder' and making something that totally opposed what the brief really wanted - to recruit more cannon fodder into the war machine - a machine which is getting away with murder every day in Iraq. Some great words of encouragement form Micheál then kick started the research with renewed enthusiasm. Doing this project in a subversive way also is relevent in relation to culture jamming theory explored in the Transmediale festival we recently attended in sunny Berlin.

It soon became apparent that there was so many controversial issues that could be covered with this project, that some clears limitations were needed. It also was pretty soon obvious that it was going to tough going, some disturbing figures and statistics soon reared their ugly heads, as well as some sickening websites. One had many images graphically portraying injured, maimed and dead Iraqi children and babies by coalition forces, which I had to immediately close down before I threw up over the monitor.(i didn't include it in the list of links below)

Three main ideas were initially explored, to help concentrate research and idea developement.
1 - Tech war - focusing on surveillance, spying, internet tracking, covert-ops etc, weapons developement,
2 - money theme - to cover massive military spending, lack of compensation for injury/trauma victims, lack of kit for soldiers etc
3 - skill swap - transfereable skills- thugs/cannon fodder, pizza delivery/nuclear arms transportation etc, G.P doctors/M*A*S*H style field doctors.

Various themes were aslo discussed, different styles/look and feel to be explored further. These included
1 - computer game 3D models -except the soldiers are in wheelchairs, or maimed/traumatised
2 - military style - parody of army ad campaign, fatigues, write your name on bullet application form
3 - soviet/german WW2 propaganda poster style - bauhaus style iconic imagery
4 - bling 'money asthetic' - piles of misspent cash etc.
5 - newspaper style - bug headlines, news reports of atrocities etc.

Here is a quick list of initial links in no particular order, for further research later on.

troops refusing to fight

uk taliban training camps

gulf war return medals

families speak out against war

combat stress

soldiers beat iraqi teenagers

support group for war veterans

iraq body count

list of news reports about army compensation

11,000 uk soldiers desert from iraq war

more soldiers quit than are recruited

25% TA soldiers, 19% regular soldiers suffer from PTSD

army recruitment campaigns misleading

PTSD suffers denied help

army target '7 year olds' in ad campaign

amnesty international report on child recruitment


more to follow, there are lots of cans of worms around here, and I can't open them all at once.

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DJ Scotch Egg

DJ Scotch Egg

The inspirations of DJ Scotch Egg span everything from classical supremo Bach to minimal hippy Moon Dog, which all add flavour to his Game Boy soaked gabba. His breakcore noise sounds are a mish mash of samples and influences regurgitated into a KFC bucket, all given a twisted style of Mr.Egg.
His fondness for the game boy sound has encouraged him to be creative within the limits set by the retro game. This is an interesting concept in todays world of limitless potential of computers and music software, and by setting the limits of the medium , it has forced him to be innovative.
The crazyness of freefrom jazz to the minimalistic sounds of Steve Reich and John Cage have all influenced the Sotch Egg sound.

'Simulacra and Emulation' the interactive art piece

'Simulacra and Emulation'[sic] the interactive art piece

Simulacra :
a slight, unreal, or superficial likeness or semblance.
an effigy, image, or representation

Emulation:

mirror, copy, echo, emulate, affect, imitate, caricature, impersonate, counterfeit, parody, travesty, mock

This interactive art work will explore ideas of free will and control, relationships between the viewer and space/time, and the viewer and the media.
The installation is a small enclosed space, with one entrance, and on the opposite wall a large display screen. The viewer wears anaglyph glasses (red/cyan 3d), and as he enters the installation he sees his image on the screen, in 3d; a digital stereoscopic mirror. As he moves through the space his image is replaced with another person, -the 'mirrored' movements are no longer his own, but those of another. Infra red sensors in the ceiling of the installation trigger the changes on the display. Only when he is close to the display, will the 'mirrored' image be his own.
The images of the other people he sees are recorded footage of previous visitors to the installation. His own movements are recorded, and thus become the footage that future visitors will see; he is becoming part of the installation, part of the media, part of the machine. Will his behaviour change when he realises this, what image will he leave for future uses, what can he make of the past viewers, how have they interacted with the machine?.
The illusionistic nature of the stereoscopy is compelling- the images seem to defy space as the 3d elements reach out to the viewer. They appear both more real (than a flat image), and unreal in the filtered colours and not-quite-true perspective - this mirrors the nature of interaction itself, which simultaneously implies free will for the user and control over him.

images to follow...

Final Concept.

Final Concept for Interaction Brief

Due to time constraints the final piece i can deliver will have to be a concept piece. The idea is an interactive installation, with a large anaglyph video display (dual red/cyan image creating the illusion of 3d if viewed through red/cyan glasses) .The viewer will see a 3d mirror image of themselves from a live video feed using twin cameras in the room). Movement sensors in the installation will detect where in the room the viewer is, and change the display on the screen to show a previous viewer. As they move around the room, their reflection will change, so they no longer see them self, but the mirrored image of another person. Their movement will begin to make less sense, as it's not really their 'reflection' any more, they have no direct control on the person on the display, so the viewer begins to ponder aspects of control within space/time, and question aspects of the self and their relationship to the technology. Has their free will be dissolved with their own image on the screen ? Are they a but fragment of the past ? whats their relationship to the previous occupant of the installation ?
The illusionistic aspect of the 3d will compliment the transitory nature of their own self image, and potentially have them question their role in the media they are viewing, as their image will be recorded and displayed to the next visitor to the installation., becoming part of the media and creating a visual man machine symbiosis.
Or mebbe they will just think its a load of bollocks, but thats art, innit? (or is it?)

Lev Manovich - what is digital cinema

Lev Manovich - What Is Digital Cinema

Manovichs' essay discusses digital cinema and it's progression from traditional film cinema which preceded it. This was interesting from my point of view as many of the issues raised have parallels to recent research I've been doing for my dissertation, which will cover aspects of digital photography.
One aspect of the text seemed to mirror issues I've noticed in my research, that traditional photography provided a 'truth' of what was recorded on film, and that today we don't accept modern images with the same readiness as in the past because of the inherent mutability of digital imagery.
To some degree this is true, but ever since the first photographic images were produced, we have only seen reality as the photographer intended. The simple act of framing the shot means we are only being given a certain viewpoint, only one version of reality. These first photographs needed to have long exposure times of the images to be captured - people had to stand motionless for several seconds if any kind of image could be recorded with any clarity. This is certainly not natural. Photographers can make use of wide angle lenses, giving a greater field of vision than is capable with human eyesight. Dodge and burn techniques are employed in the darkroom to change the way the image develops onto the photographic paper, as well other techniques of cross processing, tinting and the use of different papers all change what the final output would be. Photography would not exist with the use of emulsions, light sensitive chemicals and developing fluids, so the difference between manipulation of reality in traditional methods of photography and those of digital manipulation is not so great. The processes are of course different, but the intention on the part of the photographer is the same. We only see an expression that the creator of the image wants us to see, not an exact reality.
I get the impression that some of these theorists are saying new media is 'killing off' older traditional media, like the painters and artists who predicted the invention of photography would kill off painting. It didn't quite happen that way. New technology makes it easier to things that would be much more costly or labour intensive with the traditional methods , as well as opening up new ways fort he artist to express themselves. Digital media incorporates aspects of the old, as well as bringing more choices to the table.
Manvich also states 'cinema pushed animation to its boundary, only to become one particular case of animation in the end'. Whats ended? Has the evolution of cinema ended? Will there be no further developments in film making? The only difference today is the technology, not the intention. Film makers have always explored the medium and will continue to do so until the the worlds end.

It will continue to incorporate older media forms and techniques as it evolves, we are only just beginning the process, the journey from cave painting to virtual 3d artwork is just a small step.

keyframe.org is a website with many essays and articles on digital cinema

Martin Lister's book, Photographic Image in Digital Culture has some interesting points, and
William Mitchell's - The Reconfigured Eye is worth a read also.

aagghhh

aaaaaggghhhhh....

....really struggling with this interaction project. Keep going around in circles not making any progress. Was interested to make some optical piece inspired by the stereoscopic images at the Kentbridge exhibiton. I sent away for some stereoscopic glasses from the US as i couldn't find a UK supplier. They arrived, but are pretty crap, quite blurrey and difficult to see anything. Hoped to rig up a system with 2 video cameras, and project the images onto screens side by side, and use the stereoglasses to see the results in 3d. Tried to test with a couple of webcams, and again had little success as the PC would recognise a second webcam. (plus the webcam images are pretty ropey , despite the fact it wasn't a cheap one).
So it's back to square one. At a loss as to what to do for this project, and more research just makes it more confusing.