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Been looking at HDR for a while. Not sure it’s got a lot to do with my work at the mo - but it sure does look purrdy! (Kinda wish I’d looked at it before I went to India)

Technorati Tags: art, Flickr, gadget, photography

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As part of a series of six films chosen and shown by students over the next six weeks, I saw Le Grand Voyage a film by Ismaël Ferroukhi on Monday night.

I’ll start by saying that I was very impressed.

This film was so engaging because the complexities of the relationship between the father and the son, and the cultural divides they represented, were never dealt with simplistically or glibly. The viewer was allowed to bring their own interpretation to the relationship, it’s difficulties and differences. This was reinforced by the way that a lot of the action was only hinted at: After demanding meat, Reda’s father has the car stopped near a group of settlers and tells Reda to bring his (brothers) camera. Cut to the next scene - there is a sheep in the back of the car.

In this way there was an efficiency to the editing that left more room for the narrative whilst never artificially pushing the pace or forcing the film on (time was made for panoramas that enhanced our understanding of the nature of journeying). This seems to be an antithesis to the Hollywood form where motives are clearly explained, actions made explicit and we are emotionally polarised into loving ‘the good guy’.

I’m interested in this following our time in India; it can be so easy to be reductive about people, relationships and cultures but we’re not designed to take on board such complexities. Instead I think we simplify things to make them safe and manageable, sometimes even to save ourselves the profound emotional cost of letting in experiences in a raw, unmediated form. I am presuming that for Ferroukhi this film was semi-autobiographical so the ability (or desire) to create distance may not have been an option. The result is a film that represented the complexities of relationship and culture in a way that was intimate, touching and without any clichés. A film well worth watching (again)

Couple ‘o links after the break

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Technorati Tags: art, Flickr

The Hidden Masterpiece by Balzac, courtesy of Classic Literature.

Separate pages after the jump.

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Saw Three Minute Wonder by Emily Dixon on TV a few weeks ago about Mark Titchner. (Can be found here) I hadn’t heard of him before but his use of media references as a found object (”found text and pre-exsistent ideas”), his very overt subversion of the language of modern media and his “Graphic sensibility”, interested me and relates to the work I’ve been trying to do

Turns out he was a Turner prize nominee (2006) this year (Three Minute Wonder was a tate production, & Mel assures me that his nomination was mentioned in the piece).

Anyhoo, more of my thoughts after the jump. . .

Technorati Tags: art, Turner Prize

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Creative Commons license wizard

Technorati Tags: art, Creative Commons

If you’re interested in social justice, environmental issues or if the hippy in you just won’t be laid to rest, check out Ethical Junction.

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Love this. . . . .

I’ve become a member but not participated in a game yet. Soon though, soon.

Technorati Tags: Flickr

Suicidal robot

We briefly discussed the increasingly intimate nature of technology in our culture earlier today. . . .TWENTY1F

Magic Technology Sets Minds on Fire : The Agony Column for May 21, 2002 Commentary (a day late and a dollar short) by Rick Kleffel

Motionographer (Blog Archive): Version2: AICP

we make money not art: Interview with Guilherme Kujawski

This all came off the back of a serviette in a coffee shop in London whilst I had a few minutes to myself recently. Sketches of ideas.

It might only make sense to me really but I did want to get it up on here so that it doesn’t get lost under all the other things that will be happening over the summer.

As mentioned below, we’re going away for a few weeks so there’ll be no posts until we get back - and no robbing our house! (Please)

Okay - so I must have seen this, like, four or five times now but I saw it again today and it still makes my brain ache. It’s just amazing:

Brought to you by Jeff Han, of NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Video sourced from: http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/multitouchreel.mpg

Technorari Tags: Jeff Han, multitouchreel

It’s been an interesting year - I’ve learned a lot but not the sorts of things I was expecting to learn. I probably thought I’d learn about techniques but I’ve learned more about myself and the way I work.

I’ve discovered that I default to projection work, that interactive art is the work that most interests me and is the way I want to go with my art in future. The work that has really inspired me has been that coming out of IDII this year.

I’m also really interested by work that reaches out and challenges social context which is why the work by Fernando Llanos (A.K.A. projectorman) and the work he did by projecting images in ’sacred spaces’ like museums and art galleries. In some ways it follows on from Banksy when he put his own work up in commercial galleries here in the U.K. and the USA - but unlike traditional graffiti the victim/crime themes have been stripped away and you’re left with the reality that if you don’t like it, it’s because it pisses you off or treads on your sensibilities. Genius.

I’ve been thinking about my work seing as we’ve finished the year (and it would be so easy to get on with earning money and enjoying the summer) - but I guess the way I want to go is to look at projection and it’s language (the way it’s percieved and ‘read’ by participants or viewers - semiology) but also the work that I’ll be projecting. To that end I’ve been looking at using Quartz Composer, but would like to look at other methods for image production - video, stop-frame perhaps, motion (?), flash or even director (do I wanna go there?) & maybe analogue means like the slide projector hack. We’ll see. In the mean-time SteamSHIFT and I are off to the RCA show 2006, which will include students from the Interaction Design course. I’ll probably devote a few posts to that on Tues/Weds.

I think this is probably the closest I’ll get to summing up this year - it’s not a very satisfying end, but it might be the best I get.

Technorari Tags: IDII, Fernando Llanos, Banksy, Semiology, RCA, Quartz Composer, SteamSHIFT

Brought to you by Soundmojo.com, Otafuku Rex are the brainchild of Brian LeBarton, aka the keys player from Beck’s band and if the music wasn’t good enough the video is just brilliant with a stunning mixture of live footage and stop-frame animation.

Also check out their video gallery.

Technorari Tags: Otafuku Rex, video, soundmojo.com

Sam Kass had the bright idea of using his own Quartz Compositions in iMovie. iMovie already has a number of Quartz Compositions linked into it that can be used as effects, but what if you could create your own effects, more complex ones?

So last week it was palm-sized LED projectors and over a drink on Tuesday a few of us discussed the possibilities if the technology was even smaller - I think ‘the size of a matchbox’ was mentioned. Well, here it is. (Or at least might be late next year.)

Technorari Tags: wired.com, projector