There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear. Yet specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial.
—Vannevar Bush, “As We May Think”
Derek Faust, Transmission Lineage, 2009
Two of a series of twenty-three prints are pictured above.
Looking at the way we store information can be a portal into looking at how we perceive ourselves. From the processes we use to infuse materials with data, to the way we archive information, we distinctly value some information more than others. My work grapples with these information systems through an investigation of their physical and visual language. Be it a dot and dash of Morse code or the notched holes inside a cassette tape there is a language that has a direct lineage to our own self-image.
Air Force drones collected nearly three times as much video over Afghanistan and Iraq last year as in 2007 — about 24 years’ worth if watched continuously. That volume is expected to multiply in the coming years as drones are added to the fleet and as some start using multiple cameras to shoot in many directions.
George W. Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens c. 1979-90, 5th Version, 1999 by Mark Lombardi.
Mark Lombardi. Dammit. Dude, I have been wracking my brain trying to remember this dude’s name. It’s really hard to google for his work: “artist who makes big graph things that show connections between…”
There’s a piece of his on display in the MOMA drawing show right now.
More Dada Visualization, this time from Chad Hagen:
The science of infographics is an interesting beast. Infographics’ level of success is always based on how much and how well they communicate their data—the classic form follows function. In this series, I reversed these roles—form is king and dictates what the infographic communicates. Welcome to the world of fictional visual information.
Mario Klingemann’s work in the recent Data Art show:
All these pieces are a pun on the new craze for data visualization. The goals of data visualization as I understand them are to make complicated issues more understandable, to make obscured connections visible and to reveal hidden patterns in the data. After all these tasks have been solved ideally the result should be aesthetically pleasing as well.
Andreas Nicolas Fischer’s sculpture, “Fundament”, maps the 2007 world gross domestic product.
Tom Taylor’s Microprinter is an experiment in printing data feeds via a PoS receipt printer, Arduino, and a lightweight web application.
Much of design strikes me as the reflection of an implied superiority of the designer/author, involving knowing the appropriate techniques for conveying a particular message—a message effectively interpreted by the designer. Yet what if, instead of relying on rhetoric, design focused on a generic, homogeneous presentation of material that relies primarily on the intelligence of the viewer, not the author? In this interpretation, the search for formlessness becomes the search for convention, as the pursuit of the most fundamental structures or intrinsic forms within common knowledge—a kind of universal order.
Was this just a backhanded way for you to get another lebbeus woods post up? We’ll know if you start posting Twelve Monkeys production stills.
In the vein of Daytum and Mycrocosm comes Your.FlowingData, a service that will track personal stats via Twitter.
“The pieces, done with graphite on paper” Does that mean she draws these with a pencil? Like, by hand? Or did she make some kind of a special plotter that takes pencils instead of pens? Either way, awesome.
I hope protractors are involved.
as far as I can tell from the artist statements and reviews I found, she draws these by hand, although presumably there are tools other than just a pencil involved.
Tim Schwartz, Paris Physical.
The piece is attached via a network cable to the internet where it monitors news and search results for “paris hilton” and “paris france” and displays an average result in real-time.
“I developed a basic structure to organise the sonic space which could also be applied to the visual space, to determine a common structural principle. i found this principle in plain geometrical figures, containing different structural paths, and this allowed me to extract from them numerical data to organise the sonic and visual parameters.”
Italian composer Enore Zaffiri explored the formal constraints of geometric structure in composition, allowing simple and complex patterns to map out various parameters (pitch, intensity, speed) for his modified electronic analog instruments.
The score above is for his 1968 work, “Music Per Un Anno”. The time-based work begins with a tone of 1968hz and evolves over a finely mapped course for one year.
From Die Schachetel:
The seminal project “Musica Per Un Anno” (Music For One Year) was composed and recorded in 1968. based on a cycle of 360 days, it was conceived as a possible sound track for ambience: the sound events change imperceptibly but continuously, in relation to months, days, hours and minutes. every instant of time has its unique music, which merges with the light and the air of the ambient.
Zaffiri has long been a proponent of the teaching of electronic music composition, and co-founded Studio di Musica Elettronica di Torino, an institute for young composers, in 1970.
I enjoyed these remarks from a 1973 paper on the teaching of electronic instruments within the conservatory:
- The first part of the course should be intensive and include experiments on the physical nature of sound (using basic sources such as sinusoidal, triangular, saw-toothed and squares waves, but excluding complex sound treatments that are not controllable), and experiments using different methods of organising sound (seriality, geometric graphics, etc.).
- In the second part of the course, a practicum in composition using historical techniques (electronic plus concrete sounds; combinations of sounds using traditional acoustic instruments, voice, chorus, etc.) would be required, perhaps in relation to analysing significant historical works.
- In the third phase the ‘composition’ would be freely chosen by the student. The instructor should be open and receptive to all proposals, without imposing any aesthetic caveats, so as to allow students every opportunity to use and develop familiarity with the technological means at his or her disposal. The instructor will suggest, based on the student’s individual interests and abilities, which technical means to adopt (synthesizer or computer, live performance or recorded music.)
- At this stage, it is important not to lose sight of the means for which the work is intended: the ‘piece’ should not be considered as end in itself. The final communication channels, at least theoretically, should be kept in mind (concert, radio, television, theatre, film, advertisements, etc.). No one should assume that a school like the conservatory only turns out musical artists or performers. Its graduates are highly skilled specialists with extensive training in their discipline whose particularised skills, abilities and preparation will determine their professional choices. The training provided by the conservatory curriculum will open job possibilities for teachers of electronic music, sound technicians, composers who specialise in sound tracks for films, documentaries and advertising, musicians who specialise in music for the stage, and – why not? – musicians in the most traditional sense. From this perspective, the course in electronic music could collaborate with fine arts academies, schools of dramatic arts, dance schools, centres for independent film studies, etc.
- Classes on recording techniques should be included in the curriculum. Attendance in this class should be mandatory for those who seek to become sound technicians for radio or broadcasting companies or the musical recording industry.
In conclusion, I would like to demystify the title “Study of Electronic Music” (which is also often referred to as the “Study of Phonology”). Many critics consider this place to be the ‘ivory tower’ of specialist or white-collar technicians. If the goal of the study of electronic musical is to utilise technology for musical purposes, it is absurd to camouflage it in a scientific laboratory.
But there’s a wide range of definitions of “home” among Americans who have lived in at least one place besides their original hometown: 26% say it’s where they were born or raised; 22% say it’s where they live now; 18% say it’s where they have lived the longest; 15% say it’s where their family comes from; and 4% say it’s where they went to high school.
—Pew Research Study on Movers and Stayers
insert “naive melody (this must be the place)” lyric here.
