Blogs

from Office of the Press Secretary, press@usdat.us

US Department of Art & Technology Washington, DC
For Immediate Release: June 10, 2005

SITUATIONAL TOUR, 51st VENICE BIENNALE- JUNE 10 - 19, 2005

VENICE - The US Department of Art & Technology announces the SITUATIONAL TOUR of the 51st Venice Biennale, June 10 - 19th

US DAT Secretary-at-Large Randall M. Packer will report on the aesthetic edge of the international arts festival, employing the Department's state-of-the-art mobile communications system to provide a live feed of the unfolding, situational space of the Venice Biennale. US DAT invites a global audience to follow the critical lens of the Secretary-at-Large in the deconstruction of all things Art World.

The SITUATIONAL TOUR of the 51st Venice Biennale is the initial phase of the US DAT reclamation of the American Pavilion, transforming it as the "Virtual Pavilion" for the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007. The theme of the exhibition will be "representation through virtualization."

Really Japanese Culture

"Open the Blind"
Interactive Installation by
Takashi Kawashima/UCLA2004

I found one of Japanese guys work called "Open the Blind" from UCLA 2004, his work explores new kind of interfaces by re-functionalizing things we encounter in our everyday environments. "Open the Blind" redefines the window blind as a computer through a simple "open up" undiscloses possibilities of perception, deception and revelation. Visitors will see the lady changing clothes in front of them on his interactive installation window, if visitors want to see more, they just turns the wand to open the blind. They will find something trick when they do that, check out the website you will see what I mean, haha..

http://users.design.ucla.edu/~ktakashi/opentheblind/

Tc/N Tactile communication is an interactive networked sculpture installation that allows people to communicate physical touch through the interface of heart, a physical input and output that has not been made exchangeable with current communication devices.The installation consists of two sides that communicate to each other over the internet.
The goal of the project is to make transportation of touch in networked communication possible, to remind people that natural physical input and output of human expression are essential key to communication, which may result in better and more sensational understanding of one another.

In order to write my own short interactive scripts, I'm currently studying screenwriting. I've come across an excellent book - simply called "Story" by Robert McKee (1999) which deals with the principles of story design. - aimed at "screen and television writers, novelists, playwrights, journalists, anyone with a story to tell".

This struck a chord:

"... the novice plunges ahead, counting soley on experience, thinking that the life he's lived and the films he's seem give him something to say and the way to say it. Experience, however, is overrated. For most writers, the knowledge they gain from reading or study outweighs experience. Self-knowledge is the key - life plus deep reflections on our reactions to life."

Experts in Japanese cinema will immediately recognize that Tokyo Drifter is the title of a classic Japanese yakuza movie directed by Seijun Suziki in 1966. But 'drifting' is in Tokyo also a permanent state of mind for the jet-lagged visitor. After having been to Tokyo in 1998 it was the exhibition OpenNature at NTTICC which brought me back to this great city again, and I enjoyed every minute.

Station House Opera are performing 'Live from Paradise' in an empty shop in Birmingham, a disused church in Colchester, and a former courtroom in London. Dizzied by the fluidity of their networked SFX which folded space and time, mixing the ancient media of theatre and new media space, I couldn't say if there was a story. There are relationships and scenes between 4 characters, played by 9 actors and 3 cameras at each venue, all connected and broadcast via a 2mb broadband connection.

Piano duets, an attempted seduction, some good jokes and a psychological observation, all take place between players, across physical space and, in the company's own words, "merge to become a fourth imaginary space."

It's is not an easy thing to write about.
The dialogue and performance style reminded me of some Hal Hartley shorts I saw a while back. But the scenario kept bringing me back to Jean Paul Satre's 'In Camera".

I have been to the ICA exhibition today "Touching the invisible" from Interactive institute (Sweden), I quite like their works "Brainball", and "Brainbar".

Brainbar is a mechanical bar which mixes drinks adapted to the visitors brainwaves. I got the vodka with apple juice..haha..taste bad really. I was relaxed, so got a nice drink, otherwise would get the blue toilet liquid!! Brainball is two-player game where the goal is to be considerably more relaxed than the opponent.

The exhibition also includes other work: remotehome, delay mirror, monochromeye and hell hunt. Dont forget also see work by Daniel Brown, Ben Fry when you pass the digital studio (Processing works to capture your live drawing from paper to computer via two webcams)

I think you should go there, have a look or touch, just spend "A POUND" for entrance fee with a student card.

Date: 19 May - 2 June 2005
12:00-7:30pm daily
ICA -Theater

Part-time
exhibition researcher
Perry

A conversation with Dave Green of NTK at the EVNT workshop earlier this week at SPACE Media Lab started like this....

Me : So you have this conference coming up in July. Would it be appropriate for artists to come along to talk to programmers?

Dave: [---giggles-->
[---giggles more-->

The giggling kept going throughout our conversation. Perhaps it was because I kept making statements and asking questions that generalised programmers into a herd- comments about how they think, behave, communicate. It may also be that I falsely assumed that everyone has the same question as me perpetually ringing in their heads.

- Why don't artists in London work more closely with the programming community?-