ZeroOne Lighting Ceremony at San Jose New City Hall

Tonight, 28 September, in San Jose New City Hall, the 2nd Biennial 01SJ Global Festival of Art on the Edge has presented the official kick-off announce with a lighting ceremony of Camille Utterback’s work abundance. There were a lot of people came to join this event, and the ceremony was start at 8:00pm.

Abundance is a interactive work with motion detection in which presents an abstract image that interacts with the movement of people. Audiences walk around in the podium, which eventually draw lines on the image, and sometimes the representation of audiences are interacting with the “bubbles” of the image.

After a wine gathering in down town, we revisited this piece. Here you can find orange me, John and Steve (Cadre’s faculty) and their student Byran. I feel like we are Beatles…

San Jose Tech Museum, Body World 2

Visited San Jose Tech Museum, Body World 2, nothing to say, see the photos…

Smoker lung VS Non-smoker, scared me some minutes…

Works/San Jose, New Music and Performance Night

Attended Works/San Jose, New Music and Performance Nigh, above the first performer Chachi Jones, whom performance is mainly about electronic music, experimental sounds created from home made circuit bent instruments mixed with old school techno generated by vintage analog synthesizers collaborate with flickering photo sequence. However, I didn’t find much surprise, though was a very enjoyable professional music performance.

The second performance is a spoken word performance by Joe Miller. This is the first time I be an audience of this kind of performance, which is pretty interesting that the performance included speech presentation, image and video in powerpoint format and music. Joe constructed the performance in a loose structure that scripts are on his hand, powerpoint slides are manually switching, Audios are played remote control, indecent dressing, etc… However, I particular like the looseness of his performance, which creates a kind of realistic and down to earth spirit that highly associates with his political content. Unfortunately, his speech addresses numerous American political issues in which result as a cultural disconnection towards me that made me unable to totally understand his presentation. Anyway, I think he has well explored the form of performance art in this work.

His last act was holding this missile walk out of the gallery all along the street, which was pretty impressive.

Fuse: conversation – Eddo Stern

Cadre and Montalvo co-present Fuse: conversation, a lecture series of artists in their research residency

Eddo Stern, the featured speaker of this week

Eddo Stern works on the disputed borderlands between fantasy and reality, exploring the uneasy and otherwise unconscious connections between physical existence and electronic simulation. His work explores new modes of narrative and documentary, experimental computer game design, fantasies of technology and history, and cross-cultural representation in computer games, film, and online media. He works in various media including computer software, hardware and game design, kinetic sculpture, performance, and film and video production. His short machinima films include “Sheik Attack”, “Vietnam Romance”, “Landlord Vigilante” and “Deathstar”. He is the founder of the now retired cooperative C-level where he co-produced the physical computer gaming projects “Waco Resurrection”, “Tekken Torture Tournament”, “Cockfight Arena”, and the internet meme conference “C-level Memefest” He is currently developing the new sensory deprivation game “Darkgame”. (Biography from http://www.eddostern.com)

I am glad that I attended this lecture. Though this talk was mainly about Eddo own work, but from there, it associated a lot of issues in which given several of endless topics that have been briefly gone through in the Q&A section. Moreover, he is a very interesting speaker who intelligently expresses his concept with sense of humor.

He mentioned at the very beginning of his talk that he loves to explore the unconscious existent of physical and virtual world, which mean how physical engagement of our body interacts with the virtual context of gaming. He creates game that the input device is not solely the joystick or keyboard, but a wide variety of physical device. the recipient not only experience the virtual spectacle, but the branch of sensory or physical reactions. He aims at exploring in these areas to create experimental games in which tries to provoke an alternatively way of gaming.

“Darkgame is a sensory deprivation computer game”, said Eddo, which means the game tries to remove your senses.  The game is now under a prototype status in which consists of three parts, complete redesign of the software transitioning from 2D to 3D, redesigning the game play, and adding networked multiplayer as well as a new design and fabrication of the headgear. The software, in the current stage, is simply a chasing game in which one player as hunter and another as target, and they are running in a huge desert.  The core part is the headgear that makes this game transcend from the traditional gaming.  Players have to wear the headgear during the game and control their characters to run.  As if you are the target, your mission is to escape from the hunter.  The headgear, with its octopus like structure that every “arm” is equipped with vibrator, captures data from the software, and vibrates according to the location of the hunter.  For instance, if the hunter is behind you, the rear arm will vibrate, eventually your head feel it.  The methodology of sensory deprivation of the game is that when the hunter hits the target, the image will turn to a total darkness, and the players are required to get rid of the hunter by the information of the vibration.  Thus your sight sensory has been blocked out, and you are now only allowed to make decision base on the sensory from the vibration.

Darkgame does not set his goal solely on the alternative way of playing a chasing game.  On the contrary, it is actually exploring the physical and sensory intervention of gaming, and transforms the situation of it.  It further experiments on the totally deprivation of sight sensory.  Eddo invite blind players to experience the game, and it works.  They can make use of the device to do the game so as to deaf player.  Therefore, it is actually going through a research studies in which come across with the social issue that open possibility of sensory usage of gaming.  Eddo also intends to push the interaction through categorize the vibrations of the headgear by different content.  For instance, evil approach will have one kind of vibration and good guy comes with other kind, and so forth.

Then, Eddo opened up a topic about the role-play issue in gaming.  We do role-play a character whenever we play any game include RPG.  He questioned how much we could really role-play a character.  Let’s say if the virtual character gets fear, are you really scared?  If you are playing a tennis game, do you really play tennis well?  So, for him, there is a kind of disconnection between the real and the virtual.  His works Tekken Torture Tournament and Cockfight Arena do address this issue in which the former is about playing Tekken with non-lethal electronic shock to player’s arm once they get hit.  The latter is about players whose need to wear a cock-suite (the input device) to really swing their “wings” for sluggish flying and move their heads for fighting.  It is pretty interesting to me that players have to physical endure and perform for the game, which in return result in their performance like you really gain plain and lose control of the game, or you get tired when you do the flying.  So again, employ the physicality to enhance the immersion of the situation.

Though I think a lot of existing commercial games have been exploring this area for years already like the dancing games, but Eddo do tries to make it in a more experimental way.  However, to me, there is always a radical problematic issue in this kind of works is that the media inevitably provides you a safe situation (the works should not harm you in any case.), and it eventually limits the realness of the experience.  But, this question is always contradicting, as we push the limit, we risk the players.  Eddo gave an example of an art project, which really put someone to real death under game playing.  So, should we due with this kind?  That’s the endless question. On the other hand, I will question about if we bring playing into a highly physical situation, what is the role of the media?  Let’s say, if you play Wii tennis, you move your arm and get tired, why don’t you play the real tennis?  In my view, I think the media (game in this case) should precisely create situation that never able to replace by another experience.  That is what worth to play.

Waco Resurrection is a work that highly addresses the cultural issue.  If I remember correctly, I have briefly read this project when I was an undergraduate student. Revisiting the 1993 Waco, Texas episode, gamers enter the mind and form of a “resurrected” David Koresh through a specially designed voice activated, surround sound enabled, hard plastic 3D skin. In an attempt to defend the Branch Davidian compound against internal intrigue, skeptical civilians, rival theologians and the inexorable advance of government agents, each player on the network plays as a ”Koresh”. Ensnared in the custom “Koresh skin”, players are bombarded with sounds of government psy-ops, internal voices and the clamor of battle, and empowered to voice messianic texts from Koresh’s exegesis of the book of revelation, wield a variety of weapons from the Mount Carmel cache and influence the behavior of both followers and opponents by “radiating” charisma. Waco Resurrection draws on the rhetoric of conspiracy theory, cult activity and apocalypticism to investigate the Waco siege as a cultural milestone. It addresses the multi-layered dynamics of a 51-day media-event that served to mobilize the militia movement, radicalize Timothy McVeigh and cause a re-evaluation of the role of religion in society. (Description from http://www.eddostern.com/waco_resurrection.html)

Eddo mentioned he would like to do experiment on the role of game characters, and tries to get rid of the traditional design of game character of hero and devil to create an alternative character like David Koresh.  In order to strengthen the cultural aspect in the game, he not only employs the character of David Koresh, but also imposes the historical mythology of Davidian into the game.  For instance, you can preach the rivals to become your army.  So the content and the gaming are associated with the historical background.  More interestingly is that players have to voice out the some speeches of Koresh to empower your virtual Koresh.  This highly political act reminds players a universal memory especially for Americans.  Moreover the ambiguity of the interaction between the serious political context and the playful game is how this work intellectually challenges our perception.

Riding on the concept of Waco, Eddo further his exploration on the fusion of documentary and game.  He pointed out that there is possibility to use game as a media for documentation.  The Waco project is exactly addressing this issue that embedded with a strong cultural discourse in a game/gamers driven narrative structure.  Eventually, he wants to break away from the traditional genres of game to create another genre for gaming.  This is pretty interesting that he is trying the expand the media into another kind of existents while gaming like cinema that somehow its own unreleased possibilities are being blinded by the commoditized game business.

Finally, Eddo further discusses the cultural and social issue of gaming, particularly in online game. Formerly in game design, we pay a lot of afford to create interesting narration in order to amuse and capture players.  However, he said that the narration of the game itself is no longer the core part of the online gaming, because when the gaming relationship transformed from human-to-computer to human-to-human, the narration already embedded in the community of a group of online gamers.  Additionally, the narration is not only something that you perceive, but also about you physical or mental experience.  For instance, the feeling of guilty and embarrassing when you are unsuccessful to some tasks or being defeated by others.  In certain extend, player immerses in a floating structure of narration as a participant or an outsider.  It has opened up the form of narration in gaming in which more socially and lively related with unpredictability and humanity.

Off the lecture, I had met Eddo in the after-party, and he has described much further about his cultural concern in gaming.  He took World of Warcraft as an example; the virtual society there is creating a lot of interesting stories. For instance, in a community, there was a player who passed away in real life, and then a group of people started a virtual funeral in a space in WOW where numerous players came to join it.  Moreover, there are a lot of cultural phenomena like the commons of the character setup of people in different countries are varied.  Some of his examples were about the ways of playing WOW, some areas are all about flighting, but some places are just people come and chat.  There was a player perform a repeating funny way of death in one particular place.  Therefore, people are creating their own ways of playing, and the phenomena are very interest that a lot of cultural information providing us to explore.  And, when it comes to a research studies, we can associate a lot of interesting discussions.

I was very glad to have a chance to meet Eddo.  I really like the way that he explores the possibility of game. Moreover, expand and transcend game, as a media, to diverse possibility.  His concern on this media is not solely in one particular angle, but multi-dimensions.  In his lecture and our chat, he informed me a lot about the contemporary possibility of game, which given me a lot of information to further my interest in this media.  Thanks.

CADRE and Professor Joel Slayton

Joel Slayton is an artist, writer and researcher. He a full tenured professor at San Jose State University where he is Director of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media, an interdisciplinary academic program in the School of Art and Design. CADRE is dedicated to development of experimental applications involving information technology and art established in 1984. Joel Slayton is the Executive Editor of SWITCH, http://switch.sjsu.edu CADRE’s on-line journal of new media discourse and practice. Initiated in1995, SWITCH has presented 19 volumes that have addressed themes such as Network Culture, Artificial Life, Art and the Military, Sound Culture, Cyber-feminism, Art as Network, Art as Database, New Media Art Centers, Social/Networks Collaborative Models, and Social Computing. Joel Slayton serves on the Board of Directors of Leonardo/ISAST (International Society for Art, Science and Technology) and is Chair of the Leonardo-MIT Press Book Series. Professor Slayton is Academic Chair for the ISEA 2006 Symposia/ZeroOne San Jose International Art Festival. Professor Slayton’s research explores social software, cooperation models and network ontology. (Biography from http://cadre.sjsu.edu/people/joel)

Cadre is the first undergraduate and graduate program in Digital Media (formerly called Computing in art – computer and art design research education) in the States. The aim of Cadre is to initiate a space for artists to work with emerging technology. The ideology and philosophy when Joel started to develop Cadre is “how artist be informed by research practice and how it also intersects with theoretical practice and critical studies, and eventually actualize them in studio production.” After all the research practice is one the very important element particularly in Cadre. He once mentioned, “We do not cultivate the students very much into individual artists, and for us, it (new media art) is not all about the artist, and we are more into theoretically and critically understanding of how the culture being moved by technological advances”. Moreover, Cadre creates a platform for students to be specialized in those areas. One very important way for them to practice their concept is that they encourage student to participant in the projects of established artists in which allows deep interaction between artists and students. Eventually, it informs students in a wide variety of dimensions and gains students realistic experience of art creation and its research. In return, when students developed their own idea, they are connected with specific artists or researchers as one of their resource to further their projects. ZeroOne, SWITCH and a lot of inner activities collaborated amongst different organizations are supporting this theory of Cadre in different degree. Professor Slayton therefore named his role a facilitator more than a professor, who investigates specific concern from different parties and joins them together.

Regarding the research area of Cadre, they did a lot of works on information technology, software art, net-art, experimental and interactive video, mapping and visualization of systems and databases as art, automated surveillance and telepresence. Currently, they open up the new area of focus on the relationship of virtual and physical space, ecosystem ability and green technology, which more focus on social practice. Over the 20-year period, they hosted three international conferences including ISEA 2006 Symposia and ZeroOne San Jose International Art Festival, which help to frame the conceptual landscape of their focus. Most recently, CADRE Laboratory and Montalvo Arts Center have joined to form a Research Residency program in cooperate with the ZeroOne 2008 Biennale. This program is an expanded residency program that engages the academic resources of SJSU with a regional and international network of cultural institutions, research centers and technology industries

In short, my impression to Cadre is a program that opens up a lot of possibility regarding various research practices in which facilitate both artists and students, consequentially benefits the development of new media art and educates the public through art events. It is quite a complete package of every need in the contemporary development of new media art.

We continue the discussion on the mode of education in a media art university. He mentioned that nowadays, computers are everywhere. Every schools and classrooms are equipped with computer, and students have their own computer too. So what should be a student come to learn from? If they want to learn a piece of software, they do not have to come to a university. Joel said, “We did an interesting thing three years ago, which was to get rid of all the computers of the laboratory. We don’t need a laboratory you come and sit down as sitting in a workstation. And now, the room is basically a place to come and meet.” One of the big focuses of the school is to figure out what is the shape of a classroom should look like or feel like and to look for the best way for the interaction between faculty and students. Moreover, to sort out some solutions to let the students intend to physically back to school to talk and to discuss with faculty.

It is interesting to me that they would consider the radical question of the education model of a school. It is true that when we are in the field that related to technology application, pursuing high-end technology is inevitable. However, it is also a truth that we are not able to sync with the step of technology development. So, it does make sense for a school to apply their resources on advancing their technology in which most of them are inaccessible to student. I think it is more appropriate to move the budget for the needs of students or the needs of research. In Hong Kong, obviously there are institutions where undergoing the technology chasing game. I think they should reconsider the balance between technology and education.

Professor Slayton then described the environmental benefit of the society of Silicon Valley. He said that there are a lot of interesting technology development all over the world, but one of the advantages of Silicon Valley is that here is like a perpetuate mythology that attracts people from all over the world come to work. It enhances the diversity of technological development here, and forms an interesting community of professionalism. The mythology of on-the-edge-identity of Silicon Valley even create an interesting attitude to the people here is that they are changing the world and making money. However, all the things are not on the surface in which you have to discover it.

It was an interesting experience to talk with Professor Joel Slaton. I appreciate so much that he spent that morning to discuss with me in various topic in which informed a lot on understanding more about the current new media development in the States in terms of academic, technology and art, moreover the particular concern of Cadre. I especially impressed by the cultural concern he mentioned during the discussion. It is obvious but was never in my own consideration that how artists or researchers widely apply technology in a cultural aspect. For instance, one of his projects The C5 Landscape Initiative, explores data visualization systems as art in which examines the changing conception of the Landscape as we move from the aesthetics of representation to those of information visualization and interface. Moreover, it imposes expanded data into the concept of mapping. Such idea goes beyond the conventional concept of art creation, which more about how technology interacts with cultural references. Part of his project tries to locate a spot in California where possible to build the Great Wall of China. So the project itself is not all about creating the work as if creating interesting spectacle or visualization, but pinpoint on the research and data analysis. It so happens to a lot of recent media laboratories. And, it seems to us that the means of art itself is fading out. Where is the art? You no longer can easily tell where is it and how is it now. The role of an artist becomes way more different than ever. This is a question that I always try to ask myself when I get known of various kinds of projects are in this spirit. However, is it really problematic at all? To me it is kind of a inevitable movement of new media art as the radical element of it is art and technology, while each of them are originally pointing to an unique direction where you can say art is for expression, emotion, critique, perceptual, cultural or political, etc… On the other hand technology is for science, environment, living, solving human problems or studies, etc… Therefore, when they come together, both of their own direction will effect, and that is what creates the ambiguity of new media art that makes it uncertain. I agree the brief comment of Joel on this issue “Well, that’s the question, but that’s what makes it interesting.”

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art

ICA is showing several installations, paintings and photographies.

San Jose, Museum of Art

Tragic Kingdom: The Art of Camille Rose Garcia

Camille Rose Garcia is an emerging LA underground artist, whom a notable member of a contemporary movement know as “Pop Surrealism” or ” Low-brow”. It was the first time I heard about this term, and I think it is appropriate to function for grounding the contemporary concept of applying surrealism element to pop art creation when you experience a lot of pop paintings, graffiti, graphic designs, illustrations and sculptures, which employ the concept of surrealism that ride on a graphical mechanism. Particularly in Camille works, she transcends the fusion between dreamscape, unconscious, expression and critical issue in which well depict in her works. My fondness particularly goes to the Tragic Kingdom series amongst others in which reflects her subjective fact of Disneyland when she was living in the suburbs of Disneyland, California. It is normal that her works is addressing the unseen dark side of the neighborhood of Disneyland, but the ways of narration in the canvas and it subject are cleverly selected and executed yet reflexive. The mythology of the concept is clearly spoken, and the symbolic element recurrent in several series.

Permanent Collection

Great that permanent collection is open for photography, and here I occasionally met Jim Campbell’s work. He is really one of my favorite artists. Although San Jose Museum is just displaying one of his small scale works, I have enjoyed it so much already.

This is a photography taken in Hong Kong. Amazing, right? I have been in this city 25 years that got used to this cityscape, but is interesting to see the alternative perspective through artist from other cultural setting. Sometime when things you get used to , you naturally ignore its specialty.

San Jose, 1st Street

Works/San Jose

This work is showing in the Works/San Jose, which presents a moving light falls onto a sheet of semi-transparent clack plastic sheet. In between the plastic sheet and the light is a PVC transparent board that wrapped by a protection sheet, which carved with pattern. Thus, Light passes through it and creates light pattern. It was so beautiful and running like an abstract animation.

I very nice and neat installation playing with text. The embossed text give an amusing spectacle.

MACLA

SF, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

In the last day in San Francisco, I visited SFMOMA where I schedule it at the last day for awaiting the opening of a new exhibitions in which proved my planning is correct. Apart from the new one, the current exhibitions and the permanent collections are all interesting.

Take your time by Olafur Eliasson

Your tempo by Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is a well known Berlin based installation artist, whom explores a lot in light, reflection and materials in which interact together to form interesting spatial experience and illusion as well as spectacle of alternate beauty. His works just blow my mind.

“360 degree room for all colors” is a panoramic room that the wall projected with various color spectrum. The color of the wall is constantly changing in the variation of the color and its pattern creates a floating mood of the atmosphere in which alter your perception towards the space.

“Room for one color” is a very enjoyable piece, which simply a walk-way installed by high saturated yellow monofrequency lights, then every people here are yellow toned like how you colorize an image in photoshop. It is interesting the people occasionally walk in the room, and discover yellowish themselves and others whose all are surprised and amused.

“Space reversal” is a minimal work that simple install a 3-wall mini room with all mirror, so when you get in the room and look around even up and down, the mirror extended the space where infinite of yourself are looking at yourself.

“Beauty”, the earliest work, uses downward hosing water and light reflection to depict an awesome natural visual effect.

“Your tempo, Your mobile expectations: BMW H₂R project” is sponsored by BMW in which tries to focus our attention on the relation between car design and global warming. In this work, his has transformed a BMW racing car to a frozen and shrouded vehicle with layers of ice and steels.

Current exhibition

Think While You Shoot! by Martin Munkacsi

New Work by Felix Schramm

This is a large scale installation by Felix Schramm which surprised me with threatening effect at the moment I get in the gallery. His installations with chaos structure like one of the broken parts of a building in which some segments are bursting the wall which co-existed in another side of the wall.

Project, Transform, Erase by Anthony McCall and Imi Knoebel

“You and I, Horizontal” is extremely impressive by a projection of different white line patterns animation, which against the black on the wall of a total darkness room with hazy machine. The hazy and the projector light forms some “smoke 2D plains” in the 3D space where you can enter and walk through it. It is interesting the the “smoke plains” eventually form a immaterial space that constantly changing. In is interesting to experience the movement of light from exterior, and enjoy the unpredictable, tactile yet uncertain spatial experience from interior.

Permanent Collections

In the permanent collections, Indigo Blue by Ann Hamilton are also impressive, which uses 40000 cotton blue clothes to assemble this installation. Moreover, I occasionally viewed Marcel Duchamp, Fountain in the permanent collections.

SF, Headlands Center for Art

Headlands Center for Art mainly focus in artist-in-residencies and public programs

located in Country side, uphill, Headlands provides a peaceful place for artists.

Neighborhood Public Radio

Here I met Jon Brumit, one of the artists of Neighborhood Public Radio project in which in residency of Headland. The project with it four years history, aims at providing an alternative media platform for artists, activists, musicians, and community members. They travel place to place and do touring broadcast as well as intervention with people. They will encourage people to speak out as a radio broadcast with the given topics in which provoke people to occasionally make use of the chance to express themselves. This project provides interesting situation to the public, which expanded by their route yet broadly spread by broadcast in every stop. It also trigger the interaction between the public and the project in which encourage the cross influence.

After meeting Neighborhood Public Radio, I attended a screening there. One of the shown films – Man Push Cart by Ramin Bahrani, which is feature lenght film. The story is about a Pakistani coffee-cart vendor in New York City, whom formerly a rock artist. I like how this film comes with a very subtle rhythm in which the story and the plots are carried out naturally. Moreover, just by frankly descibe the daily life of a man already give a thick narration. The story is not being told, but being felt from what the man does or what happens to him.