Just when you think you can’t find another YouTube video trick, someone goes and manages to choreograph an elaborate piece across webcams across the planet. But perhaps this piece isn’t really about YouTube so much as it is coordinating movement across performers and dividing the screen space up in creative ways — something that could be even more interesting in live contexts. Found this on Spike Jonze's blog about his work concerning the new 'Where the Wild Things Are." (the video)

I guess now we know what flares taste like. Cool name choices dudes. Flare? Really?

Wrigley's made a horrible choice in establishing 5 gum as their new premium lifestyle marketing venture in my opinion. It looks like some terrible student project in branding gone wrong. It's like the whole AXE deodorant marketing ploy. Take a crappy product and make it look cool, hype it up and people will eat it up. "Take these new flavors we came out with that appeal to a younger crowd and give them new packaging, hit a higher pricepoint and make it look like an Apple branding assignment." Totally bogus in my opinion, because it's just your run of the mill stick gum. But they are doing some cool things with their internet marketing experience. (I loathe marketing) In France anyways. Another 'Augmented Reality' Project allows you to print symbols which your webcam recongnizes as synthesizers, drum pads and audio samples, and mix them in front of the computer to create electronic music. I have tried it, and it requires some level coordination but the result is suprisingly fun and refreshing. (via 5gum.fr)

So BMW does some pretty insane stuff when it comes to advertising and keeping things fresh.

They have developed a computer program called 'Augmented Reality' thru which you can project a virtual car onto a sheet of paper and view it on your computer screen at any angle. You can also use the paper to slide the car around the screen and create artwork via colored tire tracks. Try it out for yourself. I was floored with the results. (via BMW 3D Paintbrush) Also, most recently they have been keeping their cars under wraps during test drives in cities worldwide by using a patterned vinyl sticker over the entire body of the car, which hides all the curves and mutes the aesthetics to keep people guessing what the car might look like til it's actual release date. Those Germans are quite the interesting forward thinkers (via Invisible BMW).

Somewhere along the line, we rediscovered what it means to be futurist, placing value in speed, chaotic visuals and an emphasis on flow, pattern and constant data. What's most curious is how this state has become the default cultural condition, rather than the eccentric preserve of a group of death-obsessed bon viveurs. Modern futurism is rampant with confusion, praising victory over the enemies of speed, yet also in denial about the staunchly fascist overtones implied by an ever-accelerating age, where the weak are left behind and the strong succeed. Our fetishism of speed is increasingly detached from the physical realm - we crave the speed of download delivery, instant communication, mobile blogging, latency-free servers, intercontinental video calling, swift screen rotation, and instant messaging. The physical manifestations of speed still exist, of course, but are being slowly stigmatised.

Tetragram for Enlargement (2009)

The mysterious boys over at Apparati Effimeri just started up their experimental video studio last year but already are being hyped up and respected by the likes of Fast Company, Fabrik and Gradient Magazine. They work primarily with a technology called Projection Mapping, which synthesizes cad programs, stage lighting and dramatic animation by way of projection onto surfaces. One projector is all it takes to produce some completely insane effects. In their project for the Itinerario Festival in Spain, they took a castle and completely threw out all preconcieved notions of what devastating effects large scale projection can have on an audience. The video has been cut down into clips, but I assure you that everything you are seeing is done purely with projection and an immense amount of time programming the mapping onto the building.

This technique has been around for a few years and a vjay/graffiti artist crossbreed has come of it. Many of these artists only need a projector and some skills with projection mapping, and they can apply these effects to skyscrapers, and monuments with virtually no harm done in the style that someone might spray tag a building. Much more fun to look at than graffiti and no jail-time. Other operations besides AE include ANTIVJ, NuFormer, and NeoProj. Check them all out! But be sure to check out that video of Apparati Effimari's Tetragram for Enlargement if you missed the link above, click here. Be sure to watch it all the way through because the last few effects are absolutely filthy.

So the exhibition Talk to Me, really resonated in me. Being a student of the remix generation I totally connected with the VJ station titled Electric Boogaloo. It references many things that I enjoy that are somewhat subculture today, but in the near future will certainly be part of mainstream media. Black Moth Super Rainbow's music videos, Burial/Fourtet's music video, Tim and Eric Awesome Show all run close tangents to the effect made by this work of art. As for the green LCD screen, the video our guide described very much reminds me of the effect that the electronic music group Justice produced in their music video for DVNO. You should definitely watch this clip of MSTRKRFT talking about the future of music. It not only shows what they are doing with their live video during sets, but ties into my topic of discussion for next week. The inevitable digital future of music aka the broad, exciting future of electronic music.

The impending switch to digital cable has come and gone. Leaving us without fuzzy channels, wavy lines and static cracks, whistles and pops that characterize analog television. Maybe these flaws were annoying but there is a certain romantic nostalgia to the quirks of that technology. This nostalgia for lost technologies, what/why is it?

Nobody cares about VHS anymore, and you'd be lucky to find someone still making mixtapes. In all it took barely three years for this seemingly beloved technology to fade into history, implying that the emotional hold of the VHS was never really that strong.

However, sites like The Impossible Project are proving that certain technologies can transcend this obsolescence through being perpetually desirable. When Polaroid discontinued their instant analog film, a desire to preserve the technology became ever-present. In their New York Times article, The Impossible project PR states "We think it is one of the greatest inventions in the history of photography, because we are tired of tons of boring digital pics that surround us as everyday, but we love analog things, things you can touch, smell, see, hold in your hands, and things that surprise you. Like Polaroid does."

We have talked recently in class about the return of all things retro. Music, fashion and lifestyles of the past are constantly making returns based on that sole nostalgic value. In my next blog, I plan on talking about the remix generation and how nostalgia has a huge effect on this as well.

Til next time...

I just heard the other day that there is a remake of the classic movie Bullitt in the works. Hailed as containing the best car chase scene of all time, it got me thinking about what makes a car cool today. Muscle cars were the physical embodiment of cool in the days of Bullitt. How have the advancements in technology/design changed what we view as 'cool' in cars? Even though I am by no means a car guy, its interesting. Lets compare.

Steve McQueen vs. Ken Block

Steve McQueen gives the unwieldy strength of the mustang. Big, powerful aesthetics and sound. The way the film is shot established the way that car chase scenes would be viewed from then on.

Ken Block, owner of DC Shoes and gymkhana specialist shows us how technical we can get with the cars of today. The driver is in complete control and can hit marks with impeccable accuracy. The effects of the film and the snotty revving of the car are what audiences desire today.

I guess in the end I will never really pin this down. However, it is very interesting to see what technology can do. It changes what we perceive as cool everyday.

Autoprogettazione (1974)

If I had a running list of designers who have inspired me, Enzo Mari would rank somewhere in the top five. Mari was completely interested in the growing distance between the object and the user due to mass production techniques. His design approach has always been theoretical, primarily concerned with the relationship between the object and the user.

At the Galleria Milano in 1974, Mari exhibited Autoprogettazione, which translates from Italian as ‘self-design.’ He gave out free documents at the exhibition with detailed instructions for constructing these simple furniture pieces using standardized wood and nails you might find at any local hardware store. These documents were the basis of Mari's attempt to reconnect the consumer with the direct experience, construction and understanding of their environment.

If I were to relate this project to something modern, the first thing which comes to mind is IKEA in all their 'build-it-yourself' and 'flat-pack' goodness. In forcing the user to contemplate the construction of their objects/furniture, Autoprogettazione is most definately his response tot the alienating affects of mass production. This project is still very relevant concerning sustainability, and the impact of the people on the environment.

In this week's edition of The Blurb:

Making your own music is now portable, fun, interactive and easy - via REACTable, pacemaker, and even KORG's nanoseries and DS-10 among others.

Response to last week and man's fascination with ruins - Living Down Below

I've had a busy week so thats all for this week's Blurb, til text time....

So, I completed Frankenstein. I found it slow at parts, but a pretty smooth read in the end. The main theme reveals that there can be quite a bit of trouble when man plays god. When Dr. Frankenstein questions the principle: "Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?". I find it interesting that the archaic alchemists who Victor studied, foreshadowed his demise. Let me explain by asking the question: Is science a way of improving life, or does it threaten life? Victor's creation of this monster comes back many times to haunt him. Ultimately it succeeds in destroying him, by destroying everyone he loves/associates with. His plan backfires, and his 'progress' remains only on paper and in his thoughts. This is much akin to his alchemistic gods in the fact that they have only theorized on paper, but never actually put plans into action. The realization comes in the fact that Frankenstein has absolutely completed what he aimed to do, but rejects his creation and it turns into his worst enemy. A little irony sounds in small details like these throughout the novel.

I'd like to share with all of you interesting links, whether they may be articles, music or videos that I find. My plan is to share them in a section after my writing every week. I feel that by just posting the links and a small blurb about each, you can come to your own thoughts and conclusions and see the obvious relation they provide to the topics we study in class. You can go through them if you like, and comment. I don't have time to outright write about each link I post, but if a discussion is started on a particular topic, I'll share my input. Anyways I'll name this section 'the blurb'.

In this week's edtion of The Blurb:

Jonathan Schipper's Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle - Art?

Frank Lloyd Wright Lego Set - Calling all young designers. Does anyone else question this idea?

Sites like AritficialOwl, Bearings and Opacity.us. Why is the decay of modern ruins so fascinating?

Glad to hear about this. - The Short, Disgusting Life of the Hummer

Wayback Machine - a site dedicated to archiving webpages since the mid-nineties. It is interesting to see how far we have come in thirteen years, four years or however long a given website has been around.

Oh what some companies will do to sell a razor, art and technology at it's finest.

Nice internet marketing campaign Gillette. Pshh...

Hopefully you all will enjoy these posts. I've gotta run.

This will be my area for jotting down thoughts and whatnot for Art/Technology class.

Enjoy!