*** I promised to practice what I preach about injecting criticality to
RAW, so I'll be continuing to comment on a few ArtBase additions as
they come ***

I love critical filters, so this work is right up my alley. Like a P2P
MP3 armChair filmCritic DVD commentaryTrack, the Tour of the Chicago
Technology Park exists as an unsanctioned separate-but-equal layer of
information over the mundane. The information itself is rich but never
didactic, illustrating the widely varied hystorical threads that are
converging in the Chicago biotech industry, and looking forward to the
results of that convergence. As a multiMedia project, it's available
online as text, maps and audio, and was performed as a guided tour
during version04 in Chicago.

I haven't taken the audio to the actual site, but the fact that this
project exists as an audioTour at all is rather tongue-in-cheek, so
maybe the "full" experience is not required. The audio is peppered with
resampled CTA sounds, and the text of the audio comes from various
sources, but the voice-over itself is inhumanly straightforward (it's
voiceSynthesis software). The synthesized voices are a little grating
at times -- almost trance-like -- but luckily, the [gender/style] of
the "speaker" is changed every couple of minutes.

The Tour of the CTP presents an interesting alternative to the endless
volley of text in activist emails and websites, and in the process
finds a nice way to [access/understand/approach] the community it
examines. It instantly made me consider possibilities for expansion;
for example, imagine a "channel" or application for a nearFuture
iPod/cellphone that assesses your position via GPS and provides running
commentary for your location, perhaps with suggestions of other places
of interest. One could walk around the city, soaking in physically
situated information. Imagine guided activistDayTrips, or live
boycottSubscriptions that direct you to alternative establishments...

- ben

On Oct 5, 2004, at 12:28 PM, Rhizome.org wrote:

> Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase ...
> http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?28147
>
>
> + Tour of the Chicago Technology Park +
> + ryan griffis +
>
> How is corporate biotechnology shaping the spaces we live in? The
> Travel Office's tour of the Chicago Technology Park is a guided audio
> and web-based experience that places the city's current investment in
> the "new economy" within the historical, and ongoing, practices of
> social engineering through urban planning. A story of spatial eugenics
> emerges out of the juxtaposition of texts and statements from
> disparate sources that include Official state and city press releases,
> corporate documents and activist archives.

On Oct 6, 2004, at 5:28 AM, Pall Thayer wrote:

> From where I'm standing, it looks like there's *a lot* going on both
> in the fields of practice and theory.

I agree, and certainly more is happening in Europe, but I still see a
gap in criticality. Works which leverage the latest technology receive
the most discussion, and ideas often take a back seat to the
enthusiastic rush to be the first to make the widget do X.

> When work is based on data that is converted to an abstract
> representation, that *is* quite a radical commentary on the state of
> our world right now.... It's akin to the famous photo of a hippy
> putting a flower into the barrel of a soldiers rifle, converting the
> ominous killing machine into an ornamental vase.

Thank you Pall, for providing a model for viewing these works. I remain
unswayed though; not to bank everything on your final analogy, but
often a data-fed work would look the same if it were fed random
numbers, whereas "hippies" putting flowers in random locations would
have a very different effect; those flowers were guided missiles. The
question becomes, why bother feeding it real data if you need to be
told what the work is [assimilating/reprocessing]? Just use random
numbers! The conceptual statement about data overload remains the same.
In fact, everything remains the same except the stale non-novelty that
the work is drawing from live data. Just something to think about.

Further, who is actually interested in the amount of data flowing
around us constantly? I mean really interested. Is "too much
information!" a viable platform for artistic activity, or is it a
stalling tactic while one thinks of something more substantive to say?
At a certain point, to comment on the sea of data is like commenting on
the weather. Backbone traffic is high today, with a 30% chance of rain.
Personally, I would hope we could leave this topic to the first-year
New Media undergraduates and move on to something -- anything -- more
intriguing.

with optimism,
- ben

*** I promised to practice what I preach about injecting criticality to
RAW, so I think I'll comment on a few ArtBase additions as they come.
Keep in mind that I'm no practiced artCritic, and my criticism is
designed not to condescend or tear ppl down, but rather to spark
[debate/discussion]. ***

After reading Talan Memmott's bio, I'm almost ashamed to say that this
is my first encounter with his work, so I took some time to explore his
previous [work/writing/praxis]. Much of Memmott's other work uses text
extensively, often in almost accidentally poetic arrangements,
sometimes swimming in [diagrammatic/cut-up] visuals, everything
occasionally converging to sublime effect. When his work is not
impenetrable, it recalls and expands on a sort of vintage early-90s
embodiment of HyperText that caused so much feather-ruffling then as
the first formal innovation in literature since the cut-up method. In
this spirit, most if not all of his work refuses to address the network
directly, and some of his pieces are [navigated/operated] in a guided
fashion, teasing the [user/reader/viewer] with the illusion of
[control/interactivity] during linear segments. I found the majority of
his work to be frustrating, curious and [encoded/encrusted] in an alien
alternate-reality literature -- in other words, I enjoyed it a great
deal.

So it was with some confusion that I viewed [N]+semble RTP #27, which
aside from its humorously baroque introScreens is devoid of text.
Rather, as a "Recombinant Tone Poem," the work takes its cue from the
musicTheory idea of a "tone poem," (also known as a "symphonic poem")
which apparently [was/is] a short [symphonic/orchestral] piece which
takes its cue from (or is supplemented by) literature, painting, or
really anything non-musical. The DNA reference "recombinant" in the
title might suggest some fancy genetic algorithms behind the curtain,
but in reality, the piece is relatively straightforward. Balls revolve
around three instruments, and by moving the mouse over these balls, a
short ["phrase"/riff] on the instrument (chosen by random from a few
pre-recorded samples) is played. By rapidly moving the mouse, one can
generate a mild cacophony.

In the spirit of a conventional tone poem, perhaps [N]+semble RTP #27
takes its cue from a specific external [concept/work], but if this is
the case I was not able to discern the reference. Maybe, as a
CyberPunkPoet, Memmott's reference is simply poetry or CyberPoetry. In
any event, the work comes across as rather thin; unlike the body of his
work, RTP #27 seems to be almost purely formalist, and worse, not even
very aesthetically pleasing (at least to these eyes&&ears). As a
soundToy, RTP #27 didn't hold my attention for longer than a commercial
break. In all fairness, however, I am operating without the knowledge
of how this piece fits into Memmott's overall practice; for all I know,
this is a technical sketch for a more ambitious project, a toe-dip in
the poolverse of soundToys, or actually more layered in meaning than I
realize.

- ben

On Oct 5, 2004, at 12:23 PM, Rhizome.org wrote:

> Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase ...
> http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?27750
>
>
> + [N]+semble RTP #27 +
> + Talan Memmott +
>
> [N]+semble RTP #27 is a recombinant tone poem for flute, vibraphone,
> and tuba created in Flash. The piece is an interactive arrangement
> instrument. As the user moves the cursor around the interface, sound
> files of short musical phrase are activated and another file is
> randomly selected.
> The musical phrases are an original composition, but the arrangement
> is of the phrases is left to user interaction with the application.

On Oct 6, 2004, at 3:35 AM, ryan griffis wrote:

> i'll add my own "woah dood" here. confusing sanctioned art world
> discussions with intellectual pursuit is a bit of a dishonest trick.
> Have you READ any of the well funded art pubs? how much "intellectual
> pursuit" did you find there? the art world is not about transparency.

Who says that's the artistic discussion that matters? Like I mentioned,
the relevant artistic discourses are usually absorbed by the art world
as an economicMachine from the outside. However, this fact does not
render the art world irrelevant to newmedia; it's important to
recognize that among the superstrings that resonate to form "newMedia,"
the artWorld is an important harmonic in that formative vibration,
along with the parallel histories that accompany that
[world/narrative]. You have to be clear about acknowledging that the
economic aspects of the artWorld work in concert, but not always
harmony, with the intellectual threads being spun. ArtForum is a trade
magazine for [collectors/curators/gallery owners] about the art market
-- to take it and it similar mags as representative of the whole of
"ContemporaryArt" leaves out the world that critics and artists live
in. In other words, it ignores the intellectual heart of the artWorld,
which is lists like these, conferences like ReadMe, artSchools all
over, and everywhere else discussion is taking place. What I'm saying
is: wake up and realize that this is the "sanctioned art world," so
lets have some real criticalDiscourse.

> Jeff Koons' career waning? OK, so you haven't looked at ArtForum
> recently.

Well, anyway, his biggest contributions to the discussion happened 15
years ago. I don't know how much he impacts the current moment. Maybe
to the economicSide, his culturalCaptialStock is up, but at any rate I
don't hear much discussion about his work in any of the circles I run
in...

- ben

On Oct 6, 2004, at 2:23 AM, bensyverson wrote:

> To understand the art world, you need to understand the roles of (in
> alphaOrder) artists, critics, collectors, curators and [gallery
> owners/dealers].

Whoops <blush> if you really want that sortedAlpha, that should be
"artists, collectors, critics, curators and [gallery owners/dealers]"

Signed,

An imperfect perfectionist