[splash image]
MTAA-RR:
MTAA report on etoy.com’s TOYWAR and interview agent.NASDAQ
2000, originally published on artbreak.net
1. Background Story (as all good computer games need)
Once upon a time, 1994 to be exact, there was a European net art group called etoy.com. etoy spent its young years practicing cultural mischief. They modeled themselves as a hybrid of social art and corporate structure.
Once upon a time, 1994 to be exact, there was a European net art group called etoy.com. etoy spent its young years practicing cultural mischief. They modeled themselves as a hybrid of social art and corporate structure.
Synopsis of MTAA’s Upgrade Presentation
2000, please see The Upgrade! documentation
Please visit The Upgrade! web site in order to read a fictionalized account of MTAA’s presentation to The Upgrade! group in June of 2000.
Beat Up by Grade School Girls in Drag, M.River’s Report on SissyFight 2000
2001, a shorter version of this text was originally published in Sandbox #9, Gender Play
A general confession: I wasted WAY to much time last summer hanging out on the playground of PS 666 dressed
up in a catholic school girl’s uniform with my new punk rock hair style. I tried to get with the "cool crowd"
by destroying the reps of little girls. I taunted and scratched them to no avail. In
the end, I failed. I was deemed a bully and in general, "totally uncool". I am, in what passes as reality
these days, a 33 year old male who spent to much time last summer enjoying the gender/social twisting online
game SissyFight 2000.
Non-Spectator Performance Art
2001, from Limited TIME!® Only
This genre of performance art isn’t solely Internet-based
but was born on the Internet; initially identified by
T.Whid in late 1997 or early 1998 after attending a
chat-based performance in which the chat had been
projected for the audience to follow along.
Interview With Yael Kanarek
2000, originally published in Sandbox #8, BANG
Yael Kanarek’s World of Awe
is the documentation of a fictional traveler exploring a magical landscape in search of a
lost treasure. We encounter the traveler through an interface which is both magical and
mundane. It looks suspiciously like a Mac or Windows desktop—there are icons on the desktop
and pull-down menus at the top of the screen. But click an icon or choose a pull-down option
and you’ll be instantly transported to the world of the traveler, The World of Awe.
Yael Kanarek builds World of Awe through images of desert landscape, descriptions of the traveler’s tools, pages from the traveler’s journal, and love letters that the traveler sends to a lover left behind. All these elements are seamlessly integrated through the interface, which is a wonderful technical use of dynamic HTML, much of it written by programmer Luis Perez.
Yael Kanarek builds World of Awe through images of desert landscape, descriptions of the traveler’s tools, pages from the traveler’s journal, and love letters that the traveler sends to a lover left behind. All these elements are seamlessly integrated through the interface, which is a wonderful technical use of dynamic HTML, much of it written by programmer Luis Perez.
Defunct in Ohio
2003, by M.River, orginally published in the SMAC! zine
Prologue
SMAC! co-founder/editor-in-chief Marisa S. Olson emails me from the warm future-perfect paradise that is California. She asks me to write an essay on obsolescence, the defunct, and, in general, the Technology of What Was. A thousand words by New Year’s.
Of course… umm… sure. I know all about the obsolete.
In a few days I will travel, as I do each year, from New York City to Ohio, for Christmas with my family. In Ohio, in Christmas, I will find the What Once Was.
SMAC! co-founder/editor-in-chief Marisa S. Olson emails me from the warm future-perfect paradise that is California. She asks me to write an essay on obsolescence, the defunct, and, in general, the Technology of What Was. A thousand words by New Year’s.
Of course… umm… sure. I know all about the obsolete.
In a few days I will travel, as I do each year, from New York City to Ohio, for Christmas with my family. In Ohio, in Christmas, I will find the What Once Was.
Conceptual Art in Relation to MTAA’s Net Art (formatted for chat)
2001, performed live via streaming video and chat during the "Warhol Hijack"
Lucy Lippard (noted art critic) describes conceptual art as "[artwork] in which the idea is paramount and
the material form is secondary, lightweight, ephemeral, cheap, unpretentious and/or ‘dematerialized’".
Net art may be loosely defined as art which uses the internet as one of it’s primary components.
This art history lesson will begin with Marcel Duchamp, inventor of the ready made.
Net art may be loosely defined as art which uses the internet as one of it’s primary components.
This art history lesson will begin with Marcel Duchamp, inventor of the ready made.
Website Unseen
one hundred titles for art web sites that MTAA will build for $US 100.00 per web site
1999-2002, web sites, variable
We sometimes think that this piece is the best example of MTAA’s net art practice. It’s best to see the original offer then follow the links on the titles list. But we’ve included individual links to the projects below.
Website Unseen
This list is roughly in chronological order (earliest to latest).
Website Unseen
This list is roughly in chronological order (earliest to latest).
- #99. Save Free TV
- #98. A Comparative Study of Apples & Oranges
- #64. Mind Control by Flashing Lights: An Internet Survey
- #20. In Ohio, In The Fall, You Were Young
- #25. Ten Digital Ready-Mades
- #44. Home Page for the Haphazard (AKA oopsdotcom)
- #68. Hardware, Software, Just-Rightware
- #17. Captain Kirk’s Chair: An Instructional Installation
- #100. The Light That Falls Across the Ceiling of the Room that Shows Us The End Of The Day As Night is Slowly Making Its Way Into Our Sight (AKA It’s Now Safe To Turn Off Your Computer)
- #66. Pixel Bitch
- #53. Java My Ass
- #38. Close Your Eyes, Make a Wish, Hit Delete
- #04. Twenty-Five Concrete Examples of Why John Cage Is Not My Father
- #11. Auction Stand for Personal Hate
- #89. Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (Notes On Digital Art)
- #01. Random Access Mortality
Visual—Text Art Venue (V-TAV)
1999, web site
What was this? Good question. It’s sort of exactly what it says it is. OK, it was an on-line gallery which had 3 or 4 shows. We suggest you go and check it out and find out for yourself.
link to work |
permanent link to this post
vieweratstar67@yahoo.com
(the 3mb annexation)
2000, web site, Yahoo!
Best explained by the original proposal:
MTAA propose to extend the exhibition space of star67 gallery, brooklyn, by the amount of 3 megabytes of disk space on the servers of yahoo.com.vieweratstar67@yahoo.com was great fun while it lasted, but sadly the piece was lost when someone changed the password. link to work | permanent link to this post
TIME!®
1997-2002, web sites, prints
This project is the very first net art work that MTAA ever made.
We actually created four versions of this work all linked below:
Buying Time: The Nostalgia-Free History Sale(1997)
Shudder. Did we really think that this was a web site?
TIME!® The Clearance Sale(1997)
Seems to be getting a little better…
TIME!®(1998)
This is the classic example archived at Rhizome’s ArtBase. It is also where The Simple Net Art Diagram made it’s first appearance.
Limited TIME!® Only(2002)
We did this version right after 9/11. It was nice simply having (basically) a design project which didn’t take much creativity. This version was included in the show Multiple Personalities at Haine’s Gallery in San Francisco curated by Amy Davilla. link to work | permanent link to this post
We actually created four versions of this work all linked below:
Buying Time: The Nostalgia-Free History Sale(1997)
Shudder. Did we really think that this was a web site?
TIME!® The Clearance Sale(1997)
Seems to be getting a little better…
TIME!®(1998)
This is the classic example archived at Rhizome’s ArtBase. It is also where The Simple Net Art Diagram made it’s first appearance.
Limited TIME!® Only(2002)
We did this version right after 9/11. It was nice simply having (basically) a design project which didn’t take much creativity. This version was included in the show Multiple Personalities at Haine’s Gallery in San Francisco curated by Amy Davilla. link to work | permanent link to this post
Updates Series
2001-2004, web sites
We sometimes ‘update’ seminal process art from the 60s and 70s. We have three in the series thus far.
-
onKawaraUpdate
Created with Alex Galloway as a splash page for Rhizome.org. -
vitoAcconciUpdate
Commissioned by The Whitney for a gate page on their Artport web site. -
1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate)
A 2004 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.
99 Steps To Contemporary Art In Your Bedroom
1999, web site & commercially printed poster
Not strictly a net art project, this piece was originally created for a curated print publication called “9/9 Revue d’Art Pratique,” but M.River built a web version.
It’s a text-heavy piece to say the least. English with french translation by Stéphane Argillet. link to work | permanent link to this post
It’s a text-heavy piece to say the least. English with french translation by Stéphane Argillet. link to work | permanent link to this post
The School of Conceptual Clay
1999, web site
The SOCC’s mission statement says it all:
The goal of the School of Conceptual Clay is to promote the study and practice of conceptual clay.We’re not really running the school any longer. link to work | permanent link to this post
Conceptual Clay was invented by M.River & T.Whid as a metaphorical activity and an open-ended collaborative performance commenting on the digitization of former analog practices and techniques.
Signature Series Canceled
1999, web site
MTAA described the Signature Series this way:
The MTAA Signature Series is an attempt to maximize mindshare in the online art market while maintaining the economics of scarcity on which the traditional art market depends.Yes, but what is the Signature Series Canceled? link to work | permanent link to this post
Manual Zoom Mirage (CC licensed image)
2003, bitmap and vector images
Technically not on-line art, this piece was created for a solo show at Rome Arts in Brooklyn, NY. The piece took the form of postcards and a large framed print installed in a custom standing frame.
We’ve placed creative commons-licensed images online in a variety of formats including Adobe Illustrator vector art (zip archive). link to work | permanent link to this post
We’ve placed creative commons-licensed images online in a variety of formats including Adobe Illustrator vector art (zip archive). link to work | permanent link to this post
Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing
2003, web site; Flash, HTML, Javascript
Five Small Videos About Interruption And Disappearing are
inspired by early video-based performance art work. MTAA were
intrigued by the repetitive gestures and everyday actions in
early video art performances. These Five Small Videos are
MTAA’s update of the forms and themes of this earlier video work.
Commissioned by The Alternative Museum, Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing has proven to be very popular and has been included in the Seoul Net & Film Festival 2003 (in the Interactive/Web Art section); exhibited at <Pause> (an on-line group exhibition presented by mobilegaze.org); was featured in a net art article in Parachute #113; and is included in the net art section of VideoZone2 — The 2nd International Video Art Biennial in Israel (opening 11/17/04). link to work | permanent link to this post
Commissioned by The Alternative Museum, Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing has proven to be very popular and has been included in the Seoul Net & Film Festival 2003 (in the Interactive/Web Art section); exhibited at <Pause> (an on-line group exhibition presented by mobilegaze.org); was featured in a net art article in Parachute #113; and is included in the net art section of VideoZone2 — The 2nd International Video Art Biennial in Israel (opening 11/17/04). link to work | permanent link to this post
Direct To Your Home Art Projects
1997-1998, web site, e-mail, artifacts
DYHAP is really just documentation of a net art work which MTAA conducted via email and postal mail from November 1997 to November 1998 (13 months).
This piece worked like this: Each month a Direct to Your Home Art Project was sent out by email to listservs (Rhizome, Fluxlist and American Express) as well as to the DYHAP mailing list. Each email contained instructions on how to fabricate and install artwork in ones own living space. In exchange for documentation of the installed artwork each collector of a DYHAP received an official signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity. link to work | permanent link to this post
This piece worked like this: Each month a Direct to Your Home Art Project was sent out by email to listservs (Rhizome, Fluxlist and American Express) as well as to the DYHAP mailing list. Each email contained instructions on how to fabricate and install artwork in ones own living space. In exchange for documentation of the installed artwork each collector of a DYHAP received an official signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity. link to work | permanent link to this post
1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate)
2004, web site with Flash
link to higher resolution image
1 year performance video continues MTAA’s series of Updates. Our Updates resound seminal performance art from the 60s and 70s in part by replacing human processes with computer processes.
1 year performance video updates Sam Hsieh’s One Year Performance 1978-1979 (aka Cage Piece).
When a viewer enters the piece she is presented with side-by-side videos of the artists trapped in identical cell-like rooms. The artists go about the mundane activities possible within a cell: in the morning they wake and breakfast; at around 1PM and 7PM they eat; sometimes they exercise; sometimes they surf the net; sometimes they sit and stare at the wall; they piss; at around midnight, they go to bed.
The viewer is meant to watch this activity for one year.
But, in the work we only mimic endurance; the videos are pre-taped clips edited at runtime via a computer program so that each viewer sees a different sequence. The audience can just close the browser and walk away. No one needs to suffer on this one; failure is built-in at the front end.
1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate) is a 2004 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation. link to work | permanent link to this post
veiweratstar67@yahoo.com Gallery Interface
2000, large format inkjet print, computer, Yahoo!
Bi-Virtue, star67, Brooklyn, NY
Original Proposal:
MTAA proposes to extend the exhibition space of star67 gallery, brooklyn, by the amount of 3 megabytes of disk space on the servers of yahoo.com. permanent link to this post
MTAA proposes to extend the exhibition space of star67 gallery, brooklyn, by the amount of 3 megabytes of disk space on the servers of yahoo.com. permanent link to this post
Win Our Friendship
2000, C-print, index cards, pen, wooden box
Me & My Friends, 57Hope, Brooklyn, NY, USA;
friendly fire, project, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
(718): A Bridge To Brooklyn, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, US
A framed photograph announcing the opportunity to win the
artists’ friendship for one month.
permanent link to this post
Happy Fun Summer Rebellion
2000, performance installation: wooden signs, customized police barricades, food, beer, certificates
A Day At The Beach, PS1 Art Center, Queens, NY
MTAA barricaded themselves into an area of the
PS1 courtyard on a misty summer day.
permanent link to this post
Pirated Movie - A Pirated Screening of The Pirates of The Caribbean
2003, DVD-Video documentation of a live performance
Postmasters, New York, NY
Pirated Movie was a screening of a pirated version of Disney’s Pirates of The Caribbean, The Curse of The Black Pearl. The pirated video was screened in black and white and silently while five of NYC’s most interesting artists, DJs, and musicians provided a completely new soundtrack live during the screening.
permanent link to this post
IN PREPARATION FOR THE SUMMER AIR IN BROOKLYN TO RISE FROM THE CONCRETE IN A MANNER WHICH DISTORTS ONE’S ABILITY TO JUDGE DISTANCE AND MEANING (AKA MANUAL ZOOM MIRAGE)
2003, postcards, digital C-prints, custom plywood frame, digital images
Rome Arts, Brooklyn, NY
MTAA created a single, digital image for a solo show at Rome Arts.
permanent link to this post
Lo-Fi Message Board
2001, chalk board paint, chalk
Creative Time's Cell Lounge at The Meat Market Art Fair, New York, NY
Lo-Fi MB was a temporary site specific installation.
permanent link to this post
Contemporary Gargoyle—Black (Soap) Box
2002, plywood, telephones, C-print, recorded messages
The Omega Manual, Smack Mellon Studios, Brooklyn, NY
In Preparation For The Reversal of Gravity (AKA Flying Buttress)
1995-2001, industrial springs, cement block, C-prints
Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Tipping Point, White Columns, New York, NY
Originally a site specific installation by M.River (AKA Mike Sarff) at Socrates Sculpture Park,
permanent link to this post
Direct To Your Home Art Projects Museum Model
1999, custom table, architectural model, doll house furniture, ephemera
Our New Stealth Model of Careerism, Walden Gallery, NYC, NY; Studio-Visit.com - the show, 31 Grand, Brooklyn, NY
This sculpture is documentation of MTAA’s famous
Direct To Your Home Art Projects (DYHAP) which
were conducted online and via the US mail from
November 1997 through November 1998.
permanent link to this post
Endnode (AKA Printer Tree)
2002, plywood, inkjet printers, 8 1/2" x 11" office paper, cables, computer, email discussion lists
Beta Launch: Eyebeam Artists in Residence '02, Eyebeam Atelier, New York, NY
Endnode is a networked sculpture that literally
and figuratively represents the branching of
the Internet. Printers nested within the plywood
branches of a large “tree” produce hard copies of
emails that fall to the ground like leaves or apples,
becoming “endnodes” in the worldwide information flow.
The general aesthetic of the piece is home-made
“Franken-tree.” The emails come from a list created
for the project that is centered on art, technology,
and communication. Online avatars M. River and T. Whid
guide the project.
Visit www.endnode.com for details, images, mailing list archive, and other information. permanent link to this post
Dig: A Search For Captain Paine’s Ill-Gotten Loot
1997, tourist brochure/map, record album, certificates
Convergence International Arts Festival, Providence, RI
A treasure hunt through downtown Providence, RI.
MTAA distributed brochures throughout the city
in hopes of luring the citizens into a mass
treasure hunt.
permanent link to this post
Restless Crowd Control
2001, video installation, barricades, slide projections
Good Bad Art Collective, Brooklyn, NY
Restless Crowd Control was an environment created for a performance night.
permanent link to this post
DC 9/11 - The Evildoers’ Remix
2004, digital video
RNC NODE, Postmasters, New York, NY; The Thing, New York, NY
A guerilla edit of the pro-Bush propaganda film DC 9/11 - A Time of Crisis. The video is a collaboration between new media art duo MTAA, video artist bodyatomic and musician/DJ tinydiva.
permanent link to this post
In Preparation For An Attack By Mobs Of Hideously Deformed Radioctive Mutants On 31 Grand (AKA Cage Match)
2003, chainlink fence, blue tarp, 2x4, flourescent light, digital C-print
Dealer's Choice, 31 Grand, Brooklyn, NY
Cage Match was a site specific installation at 31 Grand, a gallery in Brooklyn, NY.
permanent link to this post
In Preparation For The Over-Running Of White Columns By Hordes of Bloodthirsty Barbarians (AKA Bunker Flood)
2001, cinder blocks, sand bags, C-print
Tipping Point, White Columns, New York, NY
Bunker Flood was a site specific installation at White Columns in NYC.
permanent link to this post
Art Film Slide Advertisements
1997-1999, 35mm slides
4 Walls Slide & Film Club, 4 Walls, Brooklyn, NY; miscellaneous other venues
The Art Film Slide Advertisements are shown before screenings of
art films, lectures, panel discussions, or performances.
permanent link to this post
1 Year Performance Video (installation version)
2005, plywood, Homasote®, felt, stage, domestic goods, digital video and custom software
not yet exhibited publicly
[click for a larger image]
The “1 Year Performance Video (installation version)” recasts the set of 1 Year Performance Video as a sculptural tableau with the 1YPV vidoes projected on the rear wall.
Custom-built software runs two video channels independent of one another. Once the software is started it’s programmed to run for one year. The number of days the software has been running is displayed above the video.
The entire stage is rebuilt and encloses the piece. permanent link to this post
Feb 12, 2006
You, Motherfucker
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
We realized today that this is probably our best piece EVER!
“The You, Motherfucker Flag”
See the online version, The Webpage For Planned Self-Obsolescence (AKA Even In The Line To The NYC DMV, One May Think Of Art).
Update
The flag was sold to someone in Canada. If it was you, please contact us. If you know who has it, please contact us. Thanks. permanent link to this post
“The You, Motherfucker Flag”
See the online version, The Webpage For Planned Self-Obsolescence (AKA Even In The Line To The NYC DMV, One May Think Of Art).
Update
The flag was sold to someone in Canada. If it was you, please contact us. If you know who has it, please contact us. Thanks. permanent link to this post
Yet even more Artstar.tv
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
On the RHIZOME_RAW list, Marisa Olson asks this question (re: this post),
Marisa goes on to say,
I don’t think Artstar.tv is intended to be a parody. Perhaps I’m wrong. It also doesn’t seem to be intended as Pop art. It just seems to be a regular ole reality TV show (which btw will air on the Zoom hi-definition satellite network) using reality TV conventions and grafting them onto the art world. This is only speculation, but there doesn’t seem to be a critical text or sub-text in sight.
Thanks for the discussion Marisa :) permanent link to this post
I feel compelled to ask (of him or anyone here who cares) what comprises this “fine line” between the two extremes of “good Pop Art and a sickening psychophantical [sic] homage to the dominant media culture”..? And must all art that appropriates the form and/or content of popular media fall into one or the other of these extreme categories?(As soon as I saw my words quoted back at me I thought, “Psychophantical? That’s not how you spell sycophantical.”)
Marisa goes on to say,
Where does parody fit in, because to me, for something to be truly successful, on a parodic level, it has to be highly imitative—and, hence, to some degree, reverent, even if only in the sense of (let’s say) what Jameson calls “nostalgia films,” which are not necessarily acting in praise… To me, it is this act of shadowing (miming, resulting directly from, yet in contrast and however shape-shifted) that best affords the opportunity for critique. Admittedly, it is sort of an act of relinquishing some of the sense of “value” implied in models of authority (read: authorship), in order to sort of free one’s speech, ie to protest.What comprises the fine line? I don’t know, but I know it when I see it. Parody, it seems to me, is neither Pop Art or ‘sickening’ sycophancy. Good Pop Art doesn’t seem like straight-up parody to me as it’s critique isn’t as implicit. You’re not quite sure if Warhol is critiquing popular culture or celebrating it. His best pieces (and his life) seem to have a conceptual shimmer. One is unsure of his intentions. Nonetheless there always seems to be a critical text in there somewhere… it’s just hard to pin down sometimes.
I don’t think Artstar.tv is intended to be a parody. Perhaps I’m wrong. It also doesn’t seem to be intended as Pop art. It just seems to be a regular ole reality TV show (which btw will air on the Zoom hi-definition satellite network) using reality TV conventions and grafting them onto the art world. This is only speculation, but there doesn’t seem to be a critical text or sub-text in sight.
But anyway. I also wonder how TWhid (& MRiver) would situate their 1 year performance project re: reality tv—and if they see similarities, then have they given us “good Pop Art [or] a sickening psychophantical homage to the dominant media culture”? ;)1YPV doesn’t have anything to do with reality TV or Pop art IMO. Since reality TV is so heavily edited there isn’t really any formal connection. The closest thing it comes to is the 24/7 web-cams that Big Brother used to have online.
Thanks for the discussion Marisa :) permanent link to this post
Yet more MTAA hype
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Yes, this is MTAA’s blog and we’ll hype ourselves if we want to.
The other night at a small reception for Rhizome ArtBase 101 at the New Museum I got some very good news.
First, I learned that Rhizome had considered making 1YPV its first ever limited edition art work. For some reason it couldn’t work out. Sucks that it didn’t happen (yet), but it’s nice to know people are thinking about ya.
Second, Mark Tribe told me that he thought 1YPV was one of the best New Media artworks ever. No offense to Mark, but you just can’t tell an artist something like that. Our egos are big enough already :-)
Third (and the really, really good news), Mark said that he’s including MTAA in a book on New Media art that he’s writing with Reena Jana for Taschen. That rocks. permanent link to this post
The other night at a small reception for Rhizome ArtBase 101 at the New Museum I got some very good news.
First, I learned that Rhizome had considered making 1YPV its first ever limited edition art work. For some reason it couldn’t work out. Sucks that it didn’t happen (yet), but it’s nice to know people are thinking about ya.
Second, Mark Tribe told me that he thought 1YPV was one of the best New Media artworks ever. No offense to Mark, but you just can’t tell an artist something like that. Our egos are big enough already :-)
Third (and the really, really good news), Mark said that he’s including MTAA in a book on New Media art that he’s writing with Reena Jana for Taschen. That rocks. permanent link to this post
Yes, this Williamsburg
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Talk about hopelessly clueless. Check it out: Williamsburg, Brooklyn is full of hipsters! Quite the scoop.
BTW, Cary Peppermint and I were the the forefront of the hipster Zyweic (pronounced something like jev-yitz) beer craze.
via No, Not That Williamsburg - Washington Post permanent link to this post
We bought a couple of Zywiec beers and some pirogi, then headed for the gilt-framed stage. Packed onto the honey-colored wood floor (polished by the polka?), hundreds of jeans-clad fans waited for the headlining act, Spoon. Touted as the next big thing for years, the Austin-based art rockers took the stage, all sharp drums and crisp guitar riffs, sounding like they’d finally arrived. This corner of Brooklyn felt like it had, too.
BTW, Cary Peppermint and I were the the forefront of the hipster Zyweic (pronounced something like jev-yitz) beer craze.
via No, Not That Williamsburg - Washington Post permanent link to this post
Yahoo! APIs
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Yahoo! has released their Developer Network. The Developer Network provides documentation and an SDK to help folks get started using the new APIs they’ve released to access Yahoo! web services. The APIs allow anyone to get results for an image search, video search, web search and more. All query results are delivered in an open XML format:
One caveat however, you must have an application ID to identify your application to the system and they limit the frequency by which you can query the system.
The results returned by the service are in XML which varies per service.There has been lots of net art which uses search queries or results as the basis of the project (Cory Arcangel’s Dooogle and Thompson & Craighead’s Beacon being two recent examples). And now Yahoo! is making it super easy to use dynamic, live results in any sort of web-based art work. They provide examples in the SDK in a number of languages including Javascript, PHP, Python and Perl.
One caveat however, you must have an application ID to identify your application to the system and they limit the frequency by which you can query the system.
These rate limits are imposed independently for each service and are typically in the thousands-per-day per user range. See each service’s documentation for the individual limits.This might be a problem for web-based software. The rate is limited by IP#, so a web site would look like one user to the system. The Image Search is limited to 5000 queries per 24 hour period. That doesn’t seem to be a great deal of queries for a popular web site. permanent link to this post
The Yes Men’s hi-jinks
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
The Yes Men bill themselves as “honest people [impersonating] big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.”
Their latest prank was infiltrating a Heritage Foundation conference in Chicago and making fools of the fools. From the Yes Men web site:
Their latest prank was infiltrating a Heritage Foundation conference in Chicago and making fools of the fools. From the Yes Men web site:
At the Heritage Foundation’s annual Resource Bank meeting in Chicago last Friday, protesters masquerading as a right-wing think tank took the stage and announced that in light of Bush’s shortcomings, they were nominating former Reagan Attorney-General Ed Meese for president.Read all about it and see pix and video at the Yes Men’s web site. permanent link to this post
The audience applauded for nearly ten seconds.
What a bunch of losers!
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Wrapping crappy XP in an aqua-like look don’t make it a Mac.
Try the real thing why dontchya? Truly pathetic. permanent link to this post
Try the real thing why dontchya? Truly pathetic. permanent link to this post
It Felt Sooooooo Good
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
I called the evil XO this morning and canceled my account.
Baby. It felt soooooooo good.
Our loyal followers will remember that XO is the POS hosting company that has been robbing us (well, me) blind with their service fees. You can read all about it here.
This morning I finally —finally— escaped their grasp, this is how the call went:
them: Good morning, how can we help you this morning.
us: I want to cancel my account
[bunch of gibberish that isn’t interesting]
them: May we ask why you are canceling your account today?
us: Because you provide horrible service [pause] and it costs too much.
[bunch more gibberish of no interest]
I know, I know, he was just some schlub answering the phones, but it still felt soooooo good. They’ve cost me at least a few hundred dollars in overpayment over the years (compared to other hosting companies) and it felt nice to finally get away from them. permanent link to this post
Baby. It felt soooooooo good.
Our loyal followers will remember that XO is the POS hosting company that has been robbing us (well, me) blind with their service fees. You can read all about it here.
This morning I finally —finally— escaped their grasp, this is how the call went:
them: Good morning, how can we help you this morning.
us: I want to cancel my account
[bunch of gibberish that isn’t interesting]
them: May we ask why you are canceling your account today?
us: Because you provide horrible service [pause] and it costs too much.
[bunch more gibberish of no interest]
I know, I know, he was just some schlub answering the phones, but it still felt soooooo good. They’ve cost me at least a few hundred dollars in overpayment over the years (compared to other hosting companies) and it felt nice to finally get away from them. permanent link to this post
XML translation of Dan Graham’s “Schema”
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Found An XML translation of Dan Graham’s “Schema” via the netoworked_performance blog.
Hardcore conceptual art of the 60s meets hardcore information geek technologies of the 00s.
Ya gotta love it!
See the original Schema at ubuweb. permanent link to this post
Hardcore conceptual art of the 60s meets hardcore information geek technologies of the 00s.
Ya gotta love it!
See the original Schema at ubuweb. permanent link to this post
www.pulp.href - +(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f) - #########0|\|E
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
http://www.jimpunk.com/www.pulp.href/
jimpunk rulez permanent link to this post
randWin 8or9 albat blue sxtunt rewnd xxxx3_ Narn_ secret security sirene theykee toon (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) pressent cmcstrp drugs maltese g-h.ref p4r4ch boxdogs poseid_ p_jack Robert paint_ vendetta wind (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) benicio hido inthestre j-m-He jodie error flight93 tiiiitprnt twcemrB x oopentry gundown_ N_C (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) john Michell plane pulp1 mywav TaxiDriver thegrey EE ttiiuhi phne MDasn mi4mi blank (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (d) (e) (f) (X)
jimpunk rulez permanent link to this post
Work sample video
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Download the video here (03’28, 27.4MB, .MOV).
MTAA is applying to a ‘professional development’ program. They accept all sorts of artists, but they take only slides or video for documentation in the application.
d’oh!
So we whipped up a video showing samples of eight pieces of ours: The Simple Net Art Diagram, Endnode, 1 year performance video, The Drinkin’ & Drawin’ Championship, Pirated Movie, DC 9/11 EDR, Infinite Phil, and Five Small Videos.
Download the video here (03’28, 27.4MB, .MOV). permanent link to this post
MTAA is applying to a ‘professional development’ program. They accept all sorts of artists, but they take only slides or video for documentation in the application.
d’oh!
So we whipped up a video showing samples of eight pieces of ours: The Simple Net Art Diagram, Endnode, 1 year performance video, The Drinkin’ & Drawin’ Championship, Pirated Movie, DC 9/11 EDR, Infinite Phil, and Five Small Videos.
Download the video here (03’28, 27.4MB, .MOV). permanent link to this post
Williamsburg + space elevator = bad
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Join the fight!
(Unashamedly reblogged from reBlog who reblogged it from BoingBoing who got it from somewhere else.) permanent link to this post
Wordpress and DreamHost
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
M.River’s site, tinjail.com, was moved over to a new hosting service recently. It’s now being served by DreamHost.
DreamHost really rocks, I recommend them (tell them twhid referred you please). One of the many niceties they offer is one-click Wordpress installation.
I hadn’t played around with Wordpress before, but it is really nice. Makes me wonder if I should move this blog over to it. Right now we’re running on Blosxom, which I like very much, but it’s written in Perl, and I don’t know Perl very well. Wordpress, on the other hand, is written in PHP. I know PHP much better and could possibly hack it more easily than Blosxom.
Hmmmmmmm. permanent link to this post
DreamHost really rocks, I recommend them (tell them twhid referred you please). One of the many niceties they offer is one-click Wordpress installation.
I hadn’t played around with Wordpress before, but it is really nice. Makes me wonder if I should move this blog over to it. Right now we’re running on Blosxom, which I like very much, but it’s written in Perl, and I don’t know Perl very well. Wordpress, on the other hand, is written in PHP. I know PHP much better and could possibly hack it more easily than Blosxom.
Hmmmmmmm. permanent link to this post
Wild speculation
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Is Eyebeam behind Arianna Huffington’s soon-to-be-released HuffingtonReport.com?
According to paidcontent.org (via a Business 2.0 article), HuffingtonReport.com will be,
This is probably a side project for Jonah and not an official Eyebeam deal. Jonah is a genius at getting things noticed online, perhaps the publisher of the site decided she needed some of the ‘ole contagious media mojo that he can provide? We shall see… permanent link to this post
According to paidcontent.org (via a Business 2.0 article), HuffingtonReport.com will be,
[…]in the mold of Slate and Salon, with, get this, guest bloggers ranging from Sen. Jon Corzine, Larry David, Barry Diller, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Harry Evans and his wife, Tina Brown.Also, according to paidcontent.org, HuffingtonReport.com is registered to none other than our favorite contagious media geek and Eyebeam R&D Director: Jonah Peretti! (confirmed through whois.)
Her business partner is Ken Lerer, the head of AOL-TW’s corporate communications in the Bob Pittman era.
Along with the celebrity cred, these super-busy bloggers may not actually blog, but e-mail or phone in their posts: “We’re setting up a system wherein you’ll be able to e-mail or phone in your latest take, which our editorial team will fact-check and turn into a blog post.”
The site’s soft launch is apparently set for April.
This is probably a side project for Jonah and not an official Eyebeam deal. Jonah is a genius at getting things noticed online, perhaps the publisher of the site decided she needed some of the ‘ole contagious media mojo that he can provide? We shall see… permanent link to this post
Wide-angle will work? Yes it will.
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
This post is for mriver, it won’t be very meaningful to anyone else.
I did some tests with the wide-angle lens I borrowed from Bill with good results. I posted a JPG that you can check out, follow this link. This is simply cropped from a still I took from the video camera. I didn’t capture any video and test it yet. The frame of reference in the still may be different than the video. But the wide-angle lens looks like the way to go. We can get a lot closer. There is a bit of fish-eye effect, but I don’t think it’s horrible.
update: I examined a still I grabbed from the video as well. It looks good as far as cropping it the way we want it (didn’t post this image, sorry). I’m going to experiment with the actual video next using the tools we’ll use for the final output. It’s looking pretty good. I’ll put a flash video version of it online when I’m done.
Let me know what you think. If you go to the studio, don’t move the tripod (or mark it before you do). permanent link to this post
I did some tests with the wide-angle lens I borrowed from Bill with good results. I posted a JPG that you can check out, follow this link. This is simply cropped from a still I took from the video camera. I didn’t capture any video and test it yet. The frame of reference in the still may be different than the video. But the wide-angle lens looks like the way to go. We can get a lot closer. There is a bit of fish-eye effect, but I don’t think it’s horrible.
update: I examined a still I grabbed from the video as well. It looks good as far as cropping it the way we want it (didn’t post this image, sorry). I’m going to experiment with the actual video next using the tools we’ll use for the final output. It’s looking pretty good. I’ll put a flash video version of it online when I’m done.
Let me know what you think. If you go to the studio, don’t move the tripod (or mark it before you do). permanent link to this post
Why show in a gallery?
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
In the comments of this post, an anonymous reader writes:
MTAA have always created physical work in conjunction with our on-line work. Our first net art work, TIME!®, used the web as a component of what was really a sort of relational art work. This piece was eventually shown in a physical permutation at a show we did in 2000 at Walden Gallery. Actually we made physical versions of a bunch of our stuff for that show, including the V-TAV and the DYHAP Museum Model. So it’s not really something new for us.
You can see a bunch of our off-line art work on this web site too. So, it’s nothing new for us really.
The difference is now, we’re really pushing to make some headway into the gallery world. This means a lot of things.
On the production side, it means conceptualizing projects in such a way that they work as net art and sculptural or physical objects too (like our printer tree). It means coming up with ideas that hold our interest in digital materials, but also make sense in a gallery context (ie, it can hang on a wall, sometimes without electricity). And it means producing art-like artifacts that are documents of networked or digital activities or collaborations.
As for why now? I’m copping-out today. It’s late on a Friday evening, I need to chill. permanent link to this post
I’d be interested to know why you made the decision to try and show in galleries. Do you feel you are having to find ways to “shoehorn” your stuff into a format that fits.Good question.
MTAA have always created physical work in conjunction with our on-line work. Our first net art work, TIME!®, used the web as a component of what was really a sort of relational art work. This piece was eventually shown in a physical permutation at a show we did in 2000 at Walden Gallery. Actually we made physical versions of a bunch of our stuff for that show, including the V-TAV and the DYHAP Museum Model. So it’s not really something new for us.
You can see a bunch of our off-line art work on this web site too. So, it’s nothing new for us really.
The difference is now, we’re really pushing to make some headway into the gallery world. This means a lot of things.
On the production side, it means conceptualizing projects in such a way that they work as net art and sculptural or physical objects too (like our printer tree). It means coming up with ideas that hold our interest in digital materials, but also make sense in a gallery context (ie, it can hang on a wall, sometimes without electricity). And it means producing art-like artifacts that are documents of networked or digital activities or collaborations.
As for why now? I’m copping-out today. It’s late on a Friday evening, I need to chill. permanent link to this post
Wichita State backs down
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Wichita State University has announced that the Emily Jacir exhibition scheduled to run January 20 - March 6, 2005, at the Ulrich Museum of Art will do so without any conditions.It’s good to see that all involved came to their senses. permanent link to this post
Elizabeth King, Vice President for University Advancement, released the following statement late this afternoon:
“Wichita State University is aware of the discussion generated by the scheduled exhibition of work by artist Emily Jacir at the Ulrich Museum of Art. The University is committed to going forward with the exhibition without conditions or limitations that could be considered to compromise the integrity of Ms. Jacir’s work as an artist. The University appreciates the widespread interest in the artist and the exhibition.”
via: From the Floor: Emily Jacir Exhibition to Proceed without Conditions
White people are mutants
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
This is pretty old, but I thought it was interesting and I haven’t posted much this week…
via washingtonpost.com - Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin permanent link to this post
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology’s most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity’s greatest sources of strife.
The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person’s offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world’s races.
via washingtonpost.com - Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin permanent link to this post
Which NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist Are You?
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Take the test here.
I’m embarrassed to say that I’m Maureen Dowd. I knew choosing the lottery numbers for the fortune cookie question and ‘The appalling machismo of the Bush administration’ for the last question would push me into Dowd-ism. I wanted to be Krugman of course.
Fun, but easy to game if you read the NYT Op-Ed page often. permanent link to this post
I’m embarrassed to say that I’m Maureen Dowd. I knew choosing the lottery numbers for the fortune cookie question and ‘The appalling machismo of the Bush administration’ for the last question would push me into Dowd-ism. I wanted to be Krugman of course.
Fun, but easy to game if you read the NYT Op-Ed page often. permanent link to this post
What is Karaoke Deathmatch 100?
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Artist collaborators MTAA (M.River and T.Whid) went head-to-head in a karaoke deathmatch over the weekend as they both performed 50 songs in a row while drinking heavily and gargling Chloraseptic®.
M.River’s drink of choice was a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. T.Whid swilled sake from a champagne flute (he doesn’t recall the brand).
The video footage taken of the event will be assembled into an installation video as well as an online artwork.
Think of this as the trailer to the video: KDM100 - behind the scenes (quicktime 7 required (sorry Windows users), 37 seconds, 9.8MB) permanent link to this post
Welcome to t whid’s Homepage
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Welcome to the police state
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Just heard on Air America that there will be random searches on the NYC subways.
Link to the NYTimes article
From the NYTimes article:
No, not inconvenient; just flouting basic american liberties, no inconvenience at all, really. Would you like to look down my undies too? Grab that flashlight and those latex gloves, I want you to check my anal cavity too please.
I may have more ranting later, but this is COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT. We can only hope the ACLU is preparing some sort of legal action.
Guess I’ll have to start riding my bike to work. permanent link to this post
Link to the NYTimes article
From the NYTimes article:
[MTA spokesman] Mr. Kelly acknowledged that the random searches were without precedent, but added that he hoped riders would not consider the actions an inconvenience.
No, not inconvenient; just flouting basic american liberties, no inconvenience at all, really. Would you like to look down my undies too? Grab that flashlight and those latex gloves, I want you to check my anal cavity too please.
I may have more ranting later, but this is COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT. We can only hope the ACLU is preparing some sort of legal action.
Guess I’ll have to start riding my bike to work. permanent link to this post
Welcome 2 my Artshow!!!!!!!!!
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Cory Arcangel at Team.
Opens January 13th, 2005. From the press release:
Opens January 13th, 2005. From the press release:
This exhibition, entitled Welcome to myMore at Team Gallery permanent link to this postHomepageArtshow, is the first solo show in New York by Arcangel, a founding member of the Beige Programming Ensemble. The show includes a number of new hacked Nintendo game cartridges - the work that Arcangel has become known for - and a number of new works in the medium of video. In the former group are a fully interactive Ipod® programmed for the Nintendo® system and an absurdly slowed down version of Tetris®. In the latter group are Sans Simon, a video of Simon and Garfunkel in which the artist uses his hand to hide Simon’s presence, and Geto Boys/Beach Boys in which videos by the two eponymous bands are played side by side creating an oddly harmonic synchronicity.
[…]
The show at Team […] marks the launch of dooogle.com, a search engine which only yields results about Doogie Howser, M.D. Also available is a new piece of software called T.A.C. (Total Asshole Compression), a program which increases the size of any file passed through it.
Weird NYT arts article
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
A group of established artists have been gathering for invitation-only figure drawing sessions, an exercise that had fallen out of fashion.via: Trendy Artists Pick Up an Old-Fashioned Habit
[…]
Only a few years ago, the idea of artists gathering to paint from a model would have seemed impossibly old-fashioned and hokey - and if the model was female and nude, sexist to boot. Yet for nearly three years now, a number of artists - not students putting charcoal to paper for the first time, but successful artists with established styles and audiences of their own - have flocked to Mr. Cotton’s weekly invitation-only sessions
I’ve been trying to put my finger on why I find this article sort of strange. First though, congrats to everyone mentioned. It’s always good to get a mention in the NYTimes.
I was trying to figure out if the writer really believes that it’s unusual for painters to gather and sharpen their drawing skills or if this was just some sort of not-so-subtle PR plant. I’m leaning toward PR plant.
I just can’t believe anyone would think that this is some sort of new trend. If artists are interested in figuration — or drawing at all — one of the best ways to keep your skills at a high level is to draw the figure.
Don’t believe the hype, artists have for years gathered to share the expense of a figure model. It’s nothing new. permanent link to this post
Weather Data for the Masses
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week began providing weather data in an open-access XML format, alleviating concerns that commercial providers would continue to play a dominant role in how weather data gets to the public.Get your weather data here. It’s in a format called NDFD XML (National Digital Forecast Database XML)
via: Wired News: Weather Data for the Masses
This could portend some weather-oriented web/net projects.
And some better weather RSS feeds too :-) I currently use rssweather.com, but the current condition reports are always hours and hours old — not very current IMO. permanent link to this post
We’ve HAVE been making net art, but s.l.o.w.l.y
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
In September we’ll be releasing a new net art work (probably our only one of the year). We’ve been working on it on and off since early in 2004 and we finally got to do some test shooting today (it’s a video project; it will be flash video as the final).
M.River has been building the set and I’ve been lazing around waiting for him to finish. But now we’re almost there. Today we bought a Panasonic GS120 and did some test shooting.
I’m not going to describe the piece right now but I wanted to post this still as I’m excited with how it’s coming along. permanent link to this post
wappening #2! Get Rob an orange — QUICK!
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Lee Walton:
M.River adds - Yikes! It’s cold in nyc today. Lee, how could you?!
M.River Update - T.Whid to the rescue! I just got a call at work from T. He has left his office near Madison Square Garden, picked up an orange and is headed down to save that kid Lee has standing out in the cold. He said he’ll call when he gets there.
M.River Update #2 - T.Whid just called. He gave the kid the orange and he put his coat on. T.Whid reports that the kid seemed very happy to see him. The kid said he started standing at 12:15. Behold the power of the net and a slow Friday afternoon at work.
twhid update (also cross-posted to Rhizome_RAW):
I had a strange sort of elation when I exited the subway and saw him still standing there freezing and knowing that I had his salvation bulging in my coat pocket.
Lee’s pieces along this line are a weird sort of flash anti-mob where only a few ‘in-the-know’ even know there’s art happening. A sly statement on the ‘special’ knowledge some contend one needs to appreciate some forms of contemporary art?
Also we need to coin a phrase for this type of work (MTAA has also made work along these lines). “net.flux” anybody?
M. River adds - He told me once they are called “micro performances”. I forget who coined it. permanent link to this post
At this very moment, Rob Bohn is holding a red jacket in his hand and standing on the corner of 23rd and Broadway near the Flatiron Building.
He is excruciatingly cold for he cannot wear his jacket unless he is given an orange.
Simply find a way to get an orange to him and he will thankfully put on his red jacket.
He will be standing on the corner until the sun sets - wearing or not wearing his red jacket.
He is depending on you.
M.River adds - Yikes! It’s cold in nyc today. Lee, how could you?!
M.River Update - T.Whid to the rescue! I just got a call at work from T. He has left his office near Madison Square Garden, picked up an orange and is headed down to save that kid Lee has standing out in the cold. He said he’ll call when he gets there.
M.River Update #2 - T.Whid just called. He gave the kid the orange and he put his coat on. T.Whid reports that the kid seemed very happy to see him. The kid said he started standing at 12:15. Behold the power of the net and a slow Friday afternoon at work.
twhid update (also cross-posted to Rhizome_RAW):
I had a strange sort of elation when I exited the subway and saw him still standing there freezing and knowing that I had his salvation bulging in my coat pocket.
Lee’s pieces along this line are a weird sort of flash anti-mob where only a few ‘in-the-know’ even know there’s art happening. A sly statement on the ‘special’ knowledge some contend one needs to appreciate some forms of contemporary art?
Also we need to coin a phrase for this type of work (MTAA has also made work along these lines). “net.flux” anybody?
M. River adds - He told me once they are called “micro performances”. I forget who coined it. permanent link to this post
Villette Numerique
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Jonah Brucker-Cohen on coin-operated:
The art section of Villette Numerique was curated by Benjamin Weil the well-known new media curator. permanent link to this post
The Villette Numerique media arts festival opens tonite in Paris! Featured in this huge show includes “Listening Post” by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, “Bondage” by Atau Tanaka, an installation that turns still imagery into soundscapes, and “Unprepared Piano” by Thomson and Craighead - which presents a Yamaha MIDI grand piano connected to found mp3 files from across the web. Also, this show features the first ever install of “Carnivore” (by RSG) that includes all 16 clients installed in the same venue!Jonah’s Carnivore client, “Police State,” is included as well as MTAA’s own client “The Gordon Matta-Clark Encryption Method.”
The art section of Villette Numerique was curated by Benjamin Weil the well-known new media curator. permanent link to this post
American Art Is Adrift for Biennale in Venice
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
American Art Is Adrift for Biennale in Venice
American representation at the prestigious arts festival is in turmoil as the State Department looks to find someone to run and help pay for the exhibit. [NYT: Arts]
American representation at the prestigious arts festival is in turmoil as the State Department looks to find someone to run and help pay for the exhibit. [NYT: Arts]
Desperate to find a quick solution, late last month officials from the State Department approached the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which owns the pavilion, about organizing the American exhibition at the 2005 BiennaleHmmm, not all bad, maybe M.River will get a free trip to Venice… permanent link to this post
…
The State Department’s decision to ask a museum to organize the pavilion rather than let a committee decide is viewed by many in the art world as undemocratic and scandalous.
…
“If the Guggenheim does it,” [Robert Gober] said, “it will become an arm of the museum.”
“The ‘Velvet-Strike’ underground,” article on Salon
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
Why does so much writing on new media art wind up being written by tech writers whose knowledge of contemporary art is so sourly lacking?
This article in Salon (reg rqu) isn’t horrible (it does give a decent account of contemporary hacktivist-like uses of the game genre) but lacks any reference to other political or protest art.
I’ll go on the record. I don’t want a tech writer covering my work. I’m an artist first, a programmer second; MTAA’s work should be included in the discourse of contemporary art. We need new writers and critics who know BOTH digital culture and contemporary art instead of one or the other. permanent link to this post
This article in Salon (reg rqu) isn’t horrible (it does give a decent account of contemporary hacktivist-like uses of the game genre) but lacks any reference to other political or protest art.
I’ll go on the record. I don’t want a tech writer covering my work. I’m an artist first, a programmer second; MTAA’s work should be included in the discourse of contemporary art. We need new writers and critics who know BOTH digital culture and contemporary art instead of one or the other. permanent link to this post
Ubuntu: a Linux noob’s story
posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid
What the hell is ‘Ubuntu’ you ask? According to Ubuntu Linux’s web site,
I’ve decided to make Ubuntu Linux my gateway into the Linux world. It’s freshly installed on an old Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop of mine and I’m playing around with it. It’s been a medium-difficult (but fun) experience.
Background:
I decided to look into Linux for use in art installations. I figured build-your-own systems paired with Linux would be the cheapest way to go (this was before the introduction of the Mac mini). Plus, there is no way in hell I’m going to run my art work on top of Windows.
I’m coming from a Mac OS background.
Step 1: Distro delirium
The Linux live CDs are the easiest way to dip your toes into Linux and try different distros. The first one I successfully tested was Knoppix. Knoppix taught me that KDE is ugly as hell. I’ve since learned that you can make KDE look pretty cool. But the damage was done; I went in search of a live CD with Gnome as the default desktop environment which lead me to, what else? Gnoppix of course.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Gnoppix, their live CD happens to be Ubuntu Linux! After trying it out I was sold: it’s clean, simple, worked well with my hardware, and used ‘sudo’ to do system level commands very similar to Mac OS X. (I forgot to mention that I attempted SUSE in the meantime, but it wouldn’t install on my low RAM system.)
Step 2: Install the damn thing
This should be simple enough. I downloaded the installer from a Ubuntu download site, did a MD5 checksum, burned a disk (using Mac OS X’s disk utility), popped it in my PC and booted from the installer disk. From there it was a simple install process.
Let me back up a second. My install process was probably a tad easier then other users’ experience. What I mean is, is that because I simply reformatted the entire disk and installed fresh, I didn’t need to worry about partitioning my disk for dual-booting. If you are partitioning your disk to dual boot Linux and Windows then this might be a tougher job.
Step 3: Boot up your new system!
This is the easy part, just hit the continue button at the end of the install process.
Step 4: Remove hair violently
As soon as I booted up the problem was obvious. The entire screen was being drawn very weirdly: fuzziness, noise, a weird mirroring affect — not good. I’ll skip the details, but I tried and tried to fix it to no avail. I decided to install Mandrake Linux instead.
Step 5: Install the damn thing (2)
Again with the whole download-ISO-check-MD5-burn-CD bit (but with three CDs this time). But now comes the interesting part. Mandrake’s installer is much more user-friendly and mature than Ubuntu’s, so when I got to the part where one chooses their monitor resolution and color depth, the installer had a fancy little utility to TEST one’s video settings.
The installer chose defaul
“Ubuntu” is an ancient African word, meaning “humanity to others”. Ubuntu also means “I am what I am because of who we all are”.Very cool word.
I’ve decided to make Ubuntu Linux my gateway into the Linux world. It’s freshly installed on an old Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop of mine and I’m playing around with it. It’s been a medium-difficult (but fun) experience.
Background:
I decided to look into Linux for use in art installations. I figured build-your-own systems paired with Linux would be the cheapest way to go (this was before the introduction of the Mac mini). Plus, there is no way in hell I’m going to run my art work on top of Windows.
I’m coming from a Mac OS background.
Step 1: Distro delirium
The Linux live CDs are the easiest way to dip your toes into Linux and try different distros. The first one I successfully tested was Knoppix. Knoppix taught me that KDE is ugly as hell. I’ve since learned that you can make KDE look pretty cool. But the damage was done; I went in search of a live CD with Gnome as the default desktop environment which lead me to, what else? Gnoppix of course.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Gnoppix, their live CD happens to be Ubuntu Linux! After trying it out I was sold: it’s clean, simple, worked well with my hardware, and used ‘sudo’ to do system level commands very similar to Mac OS X. (I forgot to mention that I attempted SUSE in the meantime, but it wouldn’t install on my low RAM system.)
Step 2: Install the damn thing
This should be simple enough. I downloaded the installer from a Ubuntu download site, did a MD5 checksum, burned a disk (using Mac OS X’s disk utility), popped it in my PC and booted from the installer disk. From there it was a simple install process.
Let me back up a second. My install process was probably a tad easier then other users’ experience. What I mean is, is that because I simply reformatted the entire disk and installed fresh, I didn’t need to worry about partitioning my disk for dual-booting. If you are partitioning your disk to dual boot Linux and Windows then this might be a tougher job.
Step 3: Boot up your new system!
This is the easy part, just hit the continue button at the end of the install process.
Step 4: Remove hair violently
As soon as I booted up the problem was obvious. The entire screen was being drawn very weirdly: fuzziness, noise, a weird mirroring affect — not good. I’ll skip the details, but I tried and tried to fix it to no avail. I decided to install Mandrake Linux instead.
Step 5: Install the damn thing (2)
Again with the whole download-ISO-check-MD5-burn-CD bit (but with three CDs this time). But now comes the interesting part. Mandrake’s installer is much more user-friendly and mature than Ubuntu’s, so when I got to the part where one chooses their monitor resolution and color depth, the installer had a fancy little utility to TEST one’s video settings.
The installer chose defaul