[Nettime-bold] Greg Sidal talks to app-art.org

["app-art.org" <info@app-art.org>]

   http://www.app-art.org/ 19/07/01

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   Greg Sidal, author of Drive Scroll - a screensaver
   that copies the contents of your hard drive to your
   monitor - talks to app-art.org about his network and
   digital artworks.

   http://www.geocities.com/gregsidal/

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   Could you explain a little the idea behind
   DriveScroll? What, specifically, was it about
   scrolling a disks' content across the screen that
   appealled to you?

      The program takes the data from the drive in the
      native format of the drive hardware and puts it on
      the monitor in the native format of the monitor
      hardware. The display is set to slowly scroll because
      that is just a practical way to allow the human
      visual cortex to absorb the data. The program does
      not rely on layers of software interpretation to
      organize the data, nor is there an attempt to
      reinterpret the data either.

   DriveScroll doesn't make any decisions based upon the
   data it is reading - it displays everything,
   regardless of the format. Was the decision to do that
   an aesthetic one, or are you exploring ideas behind
   the storage and representation of human- readable
   data?

      DriveScroll does not attempt to organize the data,
      but must accept that some sort of structure is
      unavoidable in order to place the data into human
      perception. Data that can not be perceived in some
      way does not really exist in any practical sense. For
      example, the existence of cosmic radiation was
      discovered by accident as a byproduct of the
      development of the radio medium. The 'static' the
      device was detecting was unexpected because there was
      no previous way of placing that data into human
      perception. DriveScroll's operation is related to
      radio and television interference.

   Why is DriveScroll a screensaver? Some people have
   pointed out that a lot of 'generative' visual
   software falls into the trap of being best-suited as
   a passive entertainment device (think Cthugtha, Apple
   iTunes, etc). How does DriveScroll avoid this cliche?

      Yes, the corporate screen saver as a type of art is a
      cliche. To employ this kind of envelope to show
      unprocessed data, or essentially remove the corporate
      controlled layers of software interpretation, is
      disruptive to some extent (perhaps like Holzer's
      advertising display disruptions). DriveScroll avoids
      software interpretation but is also a specific type
      of software itself, which is an unavoidable
      contradiction. The screen saver also has an
      interesting relationship with the user - a screen
      saver won't run while the user is at the computer, so
      it is not exactly passive. Like all application
      software, a screen saver is something that people
      install on the private space of thier PC and make
      thier own. As everyone knows, access to and control
      of this space has become very politicized.

   You recently open sourced Drive Scroll. Was this a
   politically motivated gesture? (in which case, how
   does it relate to DriveScroll being a piece of art?).

      First, providing the source code allows users to
      customize DriveScroll in any way they choose. The
      idea that this makes authorship fuzzy doesn't bother
      me because the license ("terms of use") mandates that
      modifications be published and clearly marked. I've
      always thought that software has much in common with
      architecture, and it is common for buildings to be
      designed and extended by different architects.
      Software and architecture are both functional,
      interactive, and technology intensive.

      Second, the source code is part of the curatorial
      package, like a statement. The source code can help
      to reveal what the author(s) were thinking about,
      etc.

   What is the most valuable aspect of Open Source
   software to you?

      Probably the most valuable aspect of the open source
      movement is its recognition of the importance of
      public space. The movement may not be successful in
      replacing Windows, for example, but its existence as
      a powerful force indicates a strong resistance to
      closed (private) systems and decision controlled by
      concentrated powers.

      I am very positive about peer to peer approaches, and
      I see the open source movement as one possible P2P
      approach to organizing labor, production, and
      distribution. It's interesting to see that P2P
      approaches have won out consistently on the net. Chat
      rooms, email list communities, Usenet, messaging,
      auctions, person to person money transfers, and file
      sharing are all examples of P2P, many of which trace
      thier heritage to BBS systems.

   You've also got a couple of other projects at your
   web site, one of which is your "AE Generator" from
   1992. As you've been writing artistic software for
   such a long time, have you developed a critical
   theory about art and software which runs throughout
   your work? Are we witnessing these same theories in
   play with your "Illicit images", which appears to
   stand apart from your software?

      In 1992 much of the computer art works I was aware of
      were mostly demonstrations of technical prowess (like
      fractal generators), so I started playing with stuff
      that was more conceptual. Like drip paintings, AE
      Generator is technically trivial, and intentionally
      so.

      'Illicit images' isn't software, but was created with
      some customized software, so it is similar in that
      respect. I like the way 'Illicit images' doesn't fit
      nicely into any genre, it might be net art,
      generative art, or just old-fashioned still image
      manipulation. Like DriveScroll, 'Illicit images' also
      directly aestheticizes data, but there is more of a
      deliberate confusion between data and image since
      images make up the source material. It is very
      interesting to take a digital image and operate on it
      with dataspace algorithms. To accomplish these kinds
      of disruptions you must be prepared to write or
      customize software.

      When creating 'Illicit images', I adopted the modus
      operandi of the underground pornography publisher,
      not the commercial purveyers, but the covert
      community who have a passion for the material and a
      belief that they are performing a valued public
      service. I sometimes also adopt MOs of the hacker and
      other marginal groups that owe thier existence to
      this technology. Also, when creating this piece I
      played a cat and mouse game with the law, which is
      another kind of program.

      I don't really have a critical theory per se, but I
      do try to locate and distill the really important
      issues, both aesthetically and conceptually. I am
      interested in the patterns of behaviour and
      production that form the technosocial reality, and in
      the relationship between perception and class
      dynamics.

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   http://www.app-art.org/ 19/07/01


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