Open Enrollment | Broadcasting Nostalgic
Four weeks into my master’s thesis, I’m discovering it is more a test of maintaining focus than of any other skill. That’s a lot to ask for from an art lover in New York. I grit my teeth when I see Michael Clark’s open call for non-dancers for his Whitney Biennial 2012 performance, realizing I can’t commit without giving up time on schoolwork. I’ve had to decline attending some amazing events, from friends performing at CPR NY to giving up Björk concert tickets at the New York Hall of Science. But tempted with the offer of free wine and cheese during one particularly stressful day, I just couldn’t say no. I attended the opening for Luminance, an exhibit of six works of new media at the Paley Center for Media.
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo. "Tube," 2012.
Open Enrollment | Nature and Nurture
This is the first January in a decade that I am not returning to a full time work schedule, and I am rediscovering the academic limbo that is winter break. Most schools will not reopen their doors to students until late in the month, and after spending nearly every day with something due the next one, I was feeling symptoms of withdrawal. As a creature of habit, I craved some structure. By stroke of luck, I managed to secure a teaching assistantship with Daniel Shiffman, the renowned guru of processing. He is teaching a two-week intensive course on programming and code-based art to a group of NYU Abu Dhabi undergraduates, and I get to sit in to occasionally help.
Daniel Shiffman, "Swarm," 2002. Courtesy the artist.
I am, by far, getting the better end of the bargain. I have taken two courses with Shiffman already, and his teaching style never ceases to amaze me. He takes on very difficult concepts on algorithms and programming and can explain them for both the experienced coder and the technophobic artist in one entertaining package. He is also one of the nicest people I have ever met, and one specific benefit of that is he has many talented friends. Two of them, Jer Thorp and Marius Watz, gave a guest lecture.
Open Enrollment | The Pool, the Pants and the Performance
This past weekend was ITP’s annual winter show, which marks the end of our Fall semester. I decided not to submit any of my own work because the incredibly slick Yale Evelev of Luaka Bop made my Gamelan Orchestra an offer we could not refuse: to play four amazing nights at The Stone, John Zorn’s well regarded experimental and avant-garde performance space.
Luaka Bop Residency at The Stone, December 2011. Courtesy Luaka Bop.
Yale went to Indonesia for the first time in 1979 and was struck by the casual ambience of gamelan and wayang kulit performances in the villages of Java. “…The audience and the performers were on the same level and interspersed,” Yale explained. “It was magical for me hearing these sonorities up close without the distance of a stage and the normal formalities of a western concert.” He wanted to recreate this experience by pairing us with some amazing acts, one of which I have been following for quite some time.
I first discovered Lucky Dragons, the band/art-collective consisting of Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara, while researching fabric capacitive sensors for a touch-sensitive curtain. I was directed to their “Make a Baby” project and became hooked on their music. Lucky Dragons often require their audience to touch each other in order to complete a circuit, creating electronic sound with their interaction. This basic model effectively translates a pure human-to-human experience to the digital world.
Open Enrollment | Le Fils du Gong
I am riding on the adrenaline rush of playing at the Lincoln Center’s Walter Reader Theater to a sold-out audience with my classical Javanese gamelan orchestra, Kusuma Laras. I wasn’t too nervous, because I was blessed with having a gong twice the size of my head placed right in my view of the audience. Donning my finest batik shirt and having a gong for a face, I felt like I was in a René Magritte painting if he went through a Javanese period.
The author's view from the stage at the Lincoln Center.
But I have no time to celebrate. Two of my biggest school projects are due within the next few weeks. By Friday, I will hopefully complete an 11,520 by 1,080 resolution video to be projected on a 120-foot wide screen with my friend and colleague, Valentina Camacho. We will be premiering the piece on December 2, 6:00 pm, at the IAC building.
Valentina Camacho & Antonius Wiriadjaja, still from "The Pool," 2011. Courtesy the artists.
Open Enrollment | Escape from 3G
Summer flew by, largely because I spent most of it taking courses in order to graduate in the Spring of 2012. But I can’t complain. I got to take a class on live image processing with the incredibly talented R. Luke Dubois. His deft treatment of code as a medium for art is astoundingly inspiring, but to be honest I had a difficult time keeping up with the material. On our last day of class he invited us to see Laurie Anderson perform live at the Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park Bandshell as part of the “Out of Doors” Series, but I had to pass in order to finish making a printed circuit board for another course.
Fashionably Late For The Relationship (1/8) from R. Luke DuBois on Vimeo.
I was having a hard time accepting the fact that I will be spending the next year staring at computer screens and burning my fingers hacking electronics in order to complete this degree. So I decided to take some time away from my work, with the excuse that I was going to research traditional performing arts before diving deep into the world of interactive media. The day I submitted my finals, I packed my bags, stowed my laptop safely inside my underwear cabinet, and jumped on the next plane to Asia.
One recurring conversation in art school is the difference between art and design. Nowadays technology has also been thrown into the fray. Artist and educator Kate Hartman has the pleasure of having to tread between the three. Her body of work explores human communication by creating hilarious and absurd wearable technologies such as muttering hats or wearable walls. She is part of the team that developed Botanicalls, a device that allows neglected plants to call and send Twitter messages for assistance. Additionally, Hartman has a knack for breaking down and explaining rather difficult concepts, so it was quite natural for her to start teaching right after graduate school.
Kate Hartman, "Discommunicator," 2008. Courtesy the artist.
Recently, the OCAD University Digital Futures Initiative targeted wearable technology as an interest of students but did not have the capability to run a full curriculum. They hired Hartman as one of five faculty to help develop the digital futures program and thanks to their contribution the graduate program is about to launch in the fall and the undergraduate program will fully launch in 2012. Furthermore, after revising a course on wearable technology she was able to develop it as an undergraduate minor. Its first batch of students will graduate within the next few years.
Kate Hartman, "Glacier-Embracing Suit," 2010. Courtesy the artist.
Hartman is also an adjunct professor and alum of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU Tisch and I sometimes catch her wandering the halls. I had some wearable tech questions of my own and Hartman told me she was available to talk. I took her up on the offer and managed to snag a short interview as well. At one point in our discussion, writer and new media maven Clay Shirky interrupted and asked, “Are you doing independent design work?” “Sure,” Kate replied confidently. Continue reading »
Open Enrollment | The ITP Class of 2011
When I read Nicole Caruth’s write-up of Miriam Simun’s Lady Cheese Shop last week, I screamed, “she stole my blog post!” Simun was a fellow student of my program until a week ago, when she presented her thesis and secured her graduation from our program. My work area at school was across from hers this past semester and I got to watch as her projects developed. At times she used my desk without my knowledge, but she was very considerate of cleaning up any curdled and sticky messes.
I had been meaning to blog about Simun’s work but I was clearly too slow. I’m not taking any more chances. Here is a selection of the finest work of the recent graduates of Tisch’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Best of all, their thesis presentations are available for viewing here.
Open Enrollment | Desecrated Priorities
It’s the last two weeks of the semester and I should be focusing all my time and energy on finishing final projects and worrying about what to submit to the upcoming school show, but instead I packed my bags and headed upstate to perform at a gamelan concert in Oneonta, NY.
ITP Spring Show 2011: A two-day exhibition of recent works by the students of ITP
Considering how behind I am on my work, I shouldn’t have left. I barely made a deadline last week and presented a half-finished video collage based on La Tentation de St. Antoine by Georges Méliès, a seasonably appropriate homework for Easter. The original film, made in 1898, was a brilliant piece of cinematic wizardry in which actors performing before a painted set would appear and disappear through clever choreography and editing. In my version, I worked with Geetha Pedapati to play every character and animated the scenes through digital means.
Open Enrollment | I Do Art, Here’s My Card: A Trip to SXSW
I have a pretty set routine that very delicately balances work and school, sandwiching meals and sleep somewhere in the nooks and crannies of my schedule. So my friends and colleagues were pretty caught off guard when I told them I was hitting up South by Southwest (SXSW) for spring break this year.
The lure of a festival that combines my three great passions — interactive media, film and music — was just too great to ignore, but I wasn’t sure if I could afford either the time or the cost. Though I started planning months in advance, I was ready at any moment to cancel the flight and refused to pack until the night before. It didn’t really sink in until I got off the plane, touched down in Austin, Texas, and shed my winter coat.
From "The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger" (2010) by Bill Plympton
In order to waive the registration fees for a badge that lets me attend interactive and film events, I had to volunteer over 60 hours during the festival. Basically, I worked the equivalent of a full-time and a part-time job during my supposed vacation. But shaking hands with Bill Plympton after his panel on the plight of the indie animator made it all worth it. Not even awkwardly handing him a twenty for his autograph on a sketch of a cow could ruin that magical moment.
Open Enrollment: The Considerable Goodness of Being Led Astray
I found my way into graduate school because I believed it would be something I would enjoy. On nights like this, when I look at my calendar and realize that I’m booked until August with assignments due, books to read, and people to impress, I begin to have doubts. But I can’t complain. This is what I asked for.
It has been a long process to get here. In my first attempt, I applied to seven writing programs and promptly received seven rejections. I moped around for weeks, further insulted at work because my duties included sending out acceptance letters to prospective law school students.
"Wisdom of the East," fresco mural in Jefferson Hall, East-West Center, Honolulu, by Affandi (Javanese, 1907-1990), 1967
I was determined to try again. But while revising my essays for the next attempt, I realized I gushed a lot about how visual artists, not writers, influenced me. I fully quoted the late Javanese artist Affandi in an attempt to explain why I do what I do.
We call it “Panggilan Jiwa – the calling of the soul.”[sic] Whether I get a name or not, whether my painting is sold or not, really does not matter. To do the painting is the thing. I have to do it. — Affandi
