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Table of Contents: app-art.org talks to the creator of n_Gen "app-art.org" <[email protected]> invitation [email protected] : : WOOMERA 2002 : : south australia dr woooo <[email protected]> edith-russ-haus Kulturamt der Stadt Oldenburg <[email protected]> International Day of Action Against Video Surveillance Matze Schmidt <[email protected]> A virus named NETTIME_LIST.EXE very active and dangerous [email protected] BOOKSHELVES Andreas Broeckmann <[email protected]> [Fwd: Pixxelpoint Newsletter] jurij krpan <[email protected]> NYC event (Resistance in Cyberspace?) + meeting up? Paul Taylor <[email protected]> Call: Conference on Intermedialities, Rotterdam June 2002 Andreas Broeckmann <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 01:36:38 +0100 (BST) From: "app-art.org" <[email protected]> Subject: app-art.org talks to the creator of n_Gen http://www.app-art.org/ 09/09/01 -------------------------------------------------------- Peter Spreenberg of Move Design, creator of n_Gen - a sharp-eyed Photoshop parody that critiques current trends in contemporary design practice - talks to app-art.org about the project that hopes to answer a lot of questions. http://www.n-generate.com/ -------------------------------------------------------- First off, n_Gen is clearly a satire on contemporary design habits. Was this the sole intention of the project, or did you have some other agendas or aims in mind before you started? n_Gen represents a combination of objectives. It was first exhibited through ioResearch's 10th edition of The Remedi Project, and for this we were parodying contemporary design habits and what we see as the emulation of celebrity design currently in vogue. It was presented as a kind of in-joke for designers who would recognize the work of their heroes. It was also an attempt to respond to an undercurrent in the design world, every designer's wish for a 'magic design machine' that could crank out finished designs by simply pressing a button. But in fact, the concepts underlying n_Gen represent the culmination of research and explorations we have been engaged in over many years. In some of our past work, we have developed systems that build graphics on the fly, using software algorithms that yield random and unpredictable visual results. Most often, the resulting designs are quite raw and ugly, but once in a while, you get images of sublime and surprising beauty. In part, this was driven by a desire to speed up the design and production process, but we also were interested in creating new and unusual imagery. We have wondered if it is possible to create algorithms and formulae for designs that are not simply random assemblages of imagery, but are more 'intelligent', informed and behave according to a set of rules. What we're really getting at is: Is there a universal code for beauty? By analyzing what we believe to be successful designs, is it possible to determine formulae for what is pleasing to the eye? What are the rules and principles that talented designers instinctively employ in their work and can these rules be simulated by a computer program? As a design firm yourself, you must be aware that you're subjecting yourselves and your client work to criticism in the same way that you are others. Is there a Move Design plug-in available for n_Gen? If not, why? The Design Modules that most closely reflect our current aesthetic are perhaps Spacefarm (although it's a bit too techy and over the top for our taste), and Urbivore, which is already becoming a bit passe. I guess we'd like to think that we're beyond having a recognizable style, that we're nebulous and always evolving. But of course we probably do. I think maybe we're too close to it to see it. Perhaps it's up to someone else to do a parody of us, the Move Design module. n_Gen mimics the interface of Adobe Photoshop. Is there a critical reason for this to be so? Do you think your project would have been as successful if it hadn't adopted that familiar look and feel? What does this say about "radical" interface design practices? We designed it this way because we wanted the interface to look familiar, generic and vanilla so that the aesthetics of the content and the concept behind the design machine would stand out. We weren't trying to make a statement with the interface, in fact we wanted it to be understated and invisible. What better way to make something invisible than to make it familiar and conventional. As a design firm, we enjoy and appreciate radical, outrageous and unconventional design as much as anyone, but having designed quite a few user interfaces, we feel that this is one area that requires restraint. It may sound boring, but we still believe in usability. Innovative interface is great for challenging convention and experimentation, but if you're creating a tool or utility that will be used by people for extended periods of time, it only makes sense to do something that won't annoy them. There is something inherently amusing about the capricious nature of the [ n_Generate ] button, and how that contrasts with the prescriptive view modes (Poster, Flyer, Web Page, etc). Is this a subtle comment on the sort of work you're asked to do commercially? Do you think there's any credibility in suggesting that there might be a serious break from this sort of stale corporate new media usage by deploying radical systems (such as generative software) in their place? Branding is a fairly recent marketing concept that has been applied to everything from products and services to fashion, music and films. Even the attitude and speaking voice of your local Starbucks employee is something that has been branded (or at least they're trying to do this!) And of course user interface is not immune from this phenomenon. In many of the projects we've worked on, there is a desire to brand the 'user experience.' This is a pretty high level concept that usually ends up getting diluted to the point where one brands the user experience by shaving just the right amount of pixels off the edges of the user interface buttons and applies the product logo to the desktop icons. It was only natural for us to try to apply this branding approach, ad nauseam, to the n_Gen interface. There was a sort of sick satisfaction in overdoing it, we even invented our own product-ized verb/action/interface element that contained the product name. What self-respecting product manager wouldn't aim for this? I think in a way, we were acting as we imagined our own most unrestrained client might. The issue of authorship seems to make people groan these days, but how do you think writing generative software will change peoples' perceptions of creativity and authorship in a digital environment? Have we already experienced a transformation but not realised it? One of the things we enjoy about n_Gen is how detached it makes you as a designer. You can't claim total credit for a design that looks great (all you did was press a button) but you also can't be held responsible for a horrid design either (all you did was press a button!). In creating n_Gen, we wanted to emphasize using computers for design in a way that is often overlooked - that is, using the computer's inherent capability and time-honored status as an automation device. So many of us in the design world spend so much of our time doing arduous and repetitive tasks day in and day out, tasks that could easily be automated if we only knew how. We see a lot of software out there that is intended to streamline the production process, but it's as if the design/conceptualizing process is a sacred cow that mustn't be touched, as if creativity and hard work go hand in hand. Of course, we don't seriously believe that a machine will ever replace the subtle and unpredictable creative capabilities of the human mind. But perhaps there is some middle ground, a way of supplementing what the designer does anyway and automating the repetitive, routine parts of the process. Part of the reason for creating n_Gen was for fun but also as a tongue-in-cheek admonishment, perhaps to take a bit of the wind out of the sails of the star designers we see revered on the web. A bit of ego bashing, as if to say, "don't think you can't be replaced." We're merely trying to show people, designers in particular, that a style, no matter how new or unconventional, is just a style. Even 'no style' is a style. Graphic design virtuosity is not that rare or special and as much as we love beautiful design, applying a pretty skin to something structurally ordinary is not that interesting to us anymore. I suppose we're just trying to wake people up a bit and suggest that maybe there's more to design than throwing nice pictures on top of conventional information structures. We're interested in making design available to everyone in the same way that desktop publishing software leveled the playing field for a lot of people. I know a lot of designers will probably be angered and threatened by this approach, but I'm old enough to remember a time when doing computer graphics was beyond the reach of anyone but a select few. And now, just about anyone who can afford a PC and some graphics software can call themselves a graphic designer. I think this is okay, because look at the richness, quantity and diversity of design we've seen since the introduction of the Mac. Designers need to realize that they've had a monopoly on digital visualization for some time now, and that time is coming to an end. In the same way that typographers, video editors and specialists in other fields have seen their rarified positions erode as computers have become ever more sophisticated and ever more affordable and available to the general public, designers must now begin to see that they too will either go the way of the dinosaur, or they will adapt, as all the typographers and video editors have. It will be painful for some, but it's a natural, evolutionary process. Desktop publishing opened design up to a lot of people with no training, but after playing around and making a few really ugly newsletters, the wisest individuals soon realized that this was just another fancy tool and that they could only go so far before they needed someone with true talent and an aesthetic sensibility to come in and do it properly. We sincerely hope that n_Gen, or some other tool like it, has the same effect. Because what it really does is educate people about the value of good design. It shows us that really great design is more than the tool you're using, and a talented designer is more than someone who is proficient at Photoshop or Flash. What's the future of application software, in general? Application software is normally very purposeful and, as it should be, optimized for accomplishing a specific set of tasks. We'd like to see applications become more entertaining. This may seem like a contradiction - when one is trying to accomplish a task quickly and efficiently, the last thing needed is to be distracted by some annoyance masquerading as fun. But if the entertainment was an inherent part of the application, something that was inseparable from the application's fundamental purpose, we believe this could have a positive impact on how people relate to computers and their work. Some of us spend our entire day in front of the computer, we may as well get some enjoyment out of it. We'd also like to see more automation in design applications. It's more efficient to write a few lines of code that generates imagery and let the computer rip for a few minutes than to meticulously create an image or animation pixel by pixel, frame by frame. Obviously, it may never be possible to automate completely some styles of work, and most designers don't, and won't, know how to program, so the automation needs to be made accessible. The key to this is in the user interface, making it easy for people to automate repetitive tasks as well as operations that are currently not seen as being automate-able (is that a word?) And your future plans for n_Gen? n_Gen is currently a demo created with Macromedia Director. We are working on developing n_Gen as a 'real' application in a more robust language that will enable more features and capabilities. Some of these Gen as a 'real' application in a more robust language fonts, and other assets. We also intend to give users the ability to create their own Design Modules. The tricky part of this is not the technology but the underlying knowledge base and the user interface. In order to create a Design Module, there needs to be an easy way for the user to be cognizant of the difference between the assets and the layout, their content vs. their design. Design Modules are a bit like templates except that they are design aware, 'page aware', flexible and forgiving. A bit like an expert system, I suppose, that knows which things are fixed, unbreakable structures and which things are flexible and open ended. -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.app-art.org/ 09/09/01 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 02:05:45 +0200 (CEST) From: [email protected] Subject: invitation From: mia <[email protected]> Subject: /55\invitation [above = headited @ nettime] hello, - -- im looking for videos made by women vjs/videomakers (especially working with nato) these videos will be part of a video exhibition at digitales conference in Brussels, 15-17th of november 2001 best wishes m. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 01:39:47 -0700 (PDT) From: dr woooo <[email protected]> Subject: : : WOOMERA 2002 : : south australia [email protected] [Add to Address Book] please circulate... - ---------- : : an invitation to make the journey : : ------------- - ------------------ : : WOOMERA 2002 : : -------------------------- : : direct actions : festival of freedom : autonomadic caravan : : - ------------ : : march 27 - april 2, easter 2002 : : ------------- url: http://woomera2002.com/ contact: [email protected] Woomera is a remote town, 500 kms from Adelaide (Australia). It is also the centre of an economy of death, suffering and incarceration founded on the dispossession of indigenous lands. Our humanity is obliterated in Woomera, in the concentration camp, by missiles, by nuclear weapons, by toxic waste, by colonisation, by capitalism, by fear and division. We are making the journey to discover our humanity in the liberation of those who have been dehumanised. We are making the journey to refuse the death, pain and confinements that are manufactured in the name of The Economy. We refuse the caging behind razor wire and the new world borders fashioned so that capital, by reserving for itself the 'right' to move around the world, can better enforce austerity, misery, the earth's destruction and the 'race-to-the-bottom'. In 2002, each of us are making the journey in our own unique way to reveal the connections between dispossession and the enclosures; the dislocations that have occurred and are still occurring in the name of profits, warlords and empire. We will not mimic what we go to abolish, but instead wish to open a multitude of paths toward a different world. We invite you to make the journey with us. : : more information : : Woomera 2002 will be a kaleidoscope of cascading autonomous actions, media streams and screenings, workshops, discussions and happenings. People are encouraged to use a diversity of tactics to disrupt the present and create the future. Come with an existing group or form an affinity group for the duration. Each group will be represented on a spokescouncil, which will share information, provide a forum for co-operation and facilitate the actions. Groups from Melbourne and Adelaide who are attending the Pine Gap actions in Alice Springs will join us in Woomera on the Good Friday, March 28th. Actions against the Pentagon's National Missile Defence are also happening during Woomera 2002. We encourage everyone to communicate and publicise Woomera 2002, their views and their plans for actions in their own way. ... more information coming soon ... url: http://woomera2002.com/ contact: [email protected] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 14:28:18 +0200 From: Kulturamt der Stadt Oldenburg <[email protected]> Subject: edith-russ-haus [English see below] Ausstellungsank�ndigung AVATARE UND ANDERE Edith-Ru�-Haus f�r Medienkunst DAN GRAHAM, LYNN HERSHMAN, MARKUS HUEMER, KRISTIN LUCAS, VICTORIA VESNA Er�ffnung: 14. September 2001, 19 Uhr Handy Performance mit Victoria Vesna, 20 Uhr Bitten bringen Sie Ihr Handy mit. EDITH RU� HAUS F�R MEDIENKUNST KATHARINENSTRA�E 23 26121 OLDENBURG DEUTSCHLAND Weitere Informationen siehe unter: http://www.edith-russ-haus.de tel +49 (0) 441 235 3208 fax +49 (0) 441 235 2161 Exhibition Announcement AVATARS AND OTHERS Edith Russ Site for Media Art DAN GRAHAM, LYNN HERSHMAN, MARKUS HUEMER, KRISTIN LUCAS, VICTORIA VESNA Opening: 14 September, 2001 7pm Cell Phone Performance by Victoria Vesna, 8pm Please bring your phone. EDITH RU� SITE FOR MEDIA ART KATHARINENSTRA�E 23 26121 OLDENBURG GERMANY For further information visit our website: http://www.edith-russ-haus.de t. +49 (0) 441 235 3208 f. +49 (0) 441 235 2161 - -- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 02:49:01 +0200 From: Matze Schmidt <[email protected]> Subject: International Day of Action Against Video Surveillance International Day of Action Against Video Surveillance / Internationaler Aktionstag gegen Video�berwachung The old environments of the containment, which had been limited to the distribution of the subjects in space gradually are replaced by continuous behavior check. This documented an incident two years ago in the prison Berlin-Tegel. There a convict, who wanted to adjust the senders of the new television in its cell discovered that on a channel he was to be seen - live. A pin-size camera was hidden in the TV-set, whose transfer frequency he had coincidentally gotten. Because of the "suspicion of an offence against the Drug Law" the prisoner in its cell should be spied secretly, which according to the public prosecutor's office is legal "if danger is assumed". In this case the monitored one could have monitored himself. Da� die alten Milieus der Einschlie�ung, die sich auf die Verteilung der Subjekte im Raum beschr�nkt hatte, allm�hlich von einer andauernde Verhaltenskontrolle abgel�st wird, dokumentierte vor zwei Jahren ein Vorfall in der Gef�ngnisanstalt Berlin-Tegel. Dort entdeckte ein Strafgefangener, der in seiner Zelle die Sender des neuen Fernsehers einstellen wollte, da� auf einem Kanal er selbst zu sehen war - - live. Im Fernseher war eine stecknadelgro�e Kamera versteckt, deren �bertragungsfrequenz er zuf�llig erwischt hatte. Wegen des �Verdachts des Versto�es gegen das Bet�ubungsmittelgesetz� sollte der Knacki in seiner Zelle heimlich ausgesp�ht werden, was laut Staatsanwaltschaft �bei Gefahr im Verzug� rechtm��ig sei. In diesem Fall h�tte der �berwachte sich sogar selbst �berwachen k�nnen. http://www.is-kassel.de/~safercity/2001/kamera.html (sorry! in german) Offenes SaferCity Buero Open Space zur deutschen Sicherheits- und Ordnungspolitik im Raum, Boxhagener Str. 86, Berlin-Friedrichshain Freitag, 7.9. & Samstag, 8.9.2001 ab 20 Uhr http://www.n0name.de/safercity ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 14:05:12 +0200 From: [email protected] Subject: A virus named NETTIME_LIST.EXE very active and dangerous VIRUS Alert!!!!!! WARNING to all Internet users! There is a dangerous new virus propagating across the Internet through a web page created by MOUCHETTE. DO NOT OPEN ANY ATTACHEMENT ENTITLED NETTIME_LIST.EXE. If anyone receives mail with an attachment entitled NETTIME_LIST.EXE please delete it WITHOUT reading it. Send this email to as many people as you can. This is a new virus and not many people know about it. One of the pages in the MOUCHETTE.ORG website generates the infected attachement which will propagate through your entire mailbox. This web page appears to be a simple and friendly HTML page asking you to tell YOUR NAME. But by the time you read it, it is too late: the applet virus will have secretly connected to another URL, and concealing its activity with entertaining sounds, it will deconstruct all of the data present. It is a self-replicating virus and, once the URL is loaded, it will AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone whose e-mail address is present in YOUR mailbox. This virus will DAMAGE your WEB SITE and holds the potential to DECONSTRUCT the entire WEB SITE of anyone whose mail is in your in-box and whose mail is in their in-box, and so on. Please avoid opening the attachement entitled NETTIME_LIST.EXE as soon as you see it. And pass this message along to all of your friends, relatives and other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you are on so that they are not hurt by this dangerous virus. Please pass this along to everyone you know so this can be stopped. There is a simple way to fight this virus: go to any page on Mouchette's site http://mouchette.org and post UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME, using your usual email, to confuse her settings. Also posting to http://www.mouchettesucks.com will help create a group of ANTI-MOUCHETTE activists who will fight her dangerous practices. Once again, please send this letter to as many people as you can. This is a new virus and not many people know about it. This information was received from Customer Service Representative Computer Corporation Lynne Woodward Administrative Assistant Office of Development and External Relations Emory University [email protected] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 17:23:35 +0200 From: Andreas Broeckmann <[email protected]> Subject: BOOKSHELVES Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 21:25:50 +0200 From: [email protected] The pocketbooks anthology BOOKSHELVES will include an Afterword by Olaf Nicolai for which you are invited to imagine a book (or books) that you wish existed. Contributions should include title, author and publisher. Please give some descriptions if necessary. Submissions should be typed, with name and address supplied. The deathline for contributions is September 30, 2001. Please circulate this invitation as widely as possible. Thank you for your help. Olaf Nicolai ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 20:24:43 +0200 From: jurij krpan <[email protected]> Subject: [Fwd: Pixxelpoint Newsletter] Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 12:52:08 -0500 From: Blaz Erzetic <[email protected]> Subject: Pixxelpoint Newsletter Pixxelpoint 2001 - International Computer Art Festival - -- Newsletter - September 9 2001 -- Hi to everyone! This is the last newsletter before the deadline for submission of your works - Sep. 15 2001. So, artists...hurry up with your animations, images, interactive art and music. To see how to submit and technically prepare your works for the exhibitions, download the forms for appropriate category and read the instructions and rules. http://www.pixxelpoint.org/join.html MUSICIANS On request of some artists we've added also IT format for tracker music and extended the deadline because of this for tracker music for 5 more days (Sep. 20) MODARCHIVE.COM Special thanks to modarchive.com, the place with thousands and thousands of trax. Samples, mods, competitions and more. Excellent place to spend your time into music. http://www.modarchive.com Should you have any question, comment or suggestion, you can send us an e-mail to [email protected] Best regards, Pixxelpoint staff http://www.pixxelpoint.org PS If you don't want to receive further informations about Pixxelpoint, please kindly reply to this email with "Remove" in subject line. Pixxelpoint 2001 - Mednarodni festival racunalniske umetnosti - -- Novice - 9. september 2001 -- Pozdravljeni! To je zadnje sporocilo pred rokom oddaje del - 15. september 2001. Torej, umetniki...pohitite z va�imi animacijami, slikami, interaktivnimi deli in glasbo. Preberite si navodila in pogoje na prijavnicah, kako poslati in tehnicno pripraviti va�a dela. http://www.pixxelpoint.org/join.html GLASBENIKI Na �eljo nekaterih umetnikov, smo pri tracker glasbi dodali �e IT format in zaradi tega podalj�ali sprejem del za to kategorijo za nadaljnih 5 dni (20. September). MODARCHIVE.COM Posebna zahvala modarchive.com, ki gostuje tisoce in tisoce tracker skladb. Zvoki, skladbe, tekmovanja in �e vec. Odlicno mesto za zabavo ob glasbi. http://www.modarchive.com Za komentarje, vpra�anja in predloge lahko pi�ete na [email protected] Lep pozdrav, Pixxelpoint team http://www.pixxelpoint.org PS Ce ne zelite vec prejemati novic o Pixxelpoint-u, prosimo, odpi�ite na prejeti email z "odstrani" v naslovni vrstici. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 04:42:23 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Taylor <[email protected]> Subject: NYC event (Resistance in Cyberspace?) + meeting up? To: [email protected] Hi there, I'm a UK academic (author of a sympathetic portrayal of hackers [Hackers:Crime in the Digital Sublime {Routledge 1999})here in NYC at the moment (and in Boston next weekend) researching for a co-written follow-up book about hacktivism. I am due to meet up with Ricardo Dominguez (and he's coming to do a talk at my university in the Winter) I know it's short notice but I was wondering whether there was anyone around who could meet with me this week for a chat? (Wed and Thursday are best, but I'm flexible) The Performance Studies Presents: Tuesday � September 11 � 7:00 PM Tuesday Night Forum Series Paul A. Taylor Living in the New Plato�s Cave: Resistance in Cyberspace �futile or fertile? Paul, author of Hackers: Crime in the Digital Sublime(Routledge 1999), is a senior lecturer in the Sociology of Technology at The University of Salford (UK). His also writes about the cultural significance of cyberpunk fiction. Paul�s current research focuses on the cultural implications of an increasingly media/computer-saturated world. Tisch School of the Arts 721 Broadway Room 626 This lecture, like all Tuesday Night Forum Series presentations,is FREE and Open to the Public ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 09:56:30 +0200 From: Andreas Broeckmann <[email protected]> Subject: Call: Conference on Intermedialities, Rotterdam June 2002 Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 15:21:58 +0200 From: Piet Molendijk <[email protected]> Organization: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Conference on Intermedialities June 3-8 2002, Erasmus University Rotterdam Call for Papers (submission deadline: October 1, 2001) The International Association for Philosophy and Literature organises in association with the Department of Philosophy of the Erasmus University Rotterdam a conference on: Intermedialities Articulated in the interdisciplinary context of literature, visual arts, theatre and film, intermedialities are also linked to debates around media, literacy, multimedia, and interactivity in new media technologies. Philosophically, the 'inter' is concerned not only with inter disciplinary approaches in the arts and visual cultures, but also with multicultural commitments in politics and ethics . More information: http://www.eur.nl/fw/cfk/iapl2002 ------------------------------ ----- End forwarded message ----- # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]