Author: MK

I was honoured to discover that a work I created in collaboration with fellow “Slavic pixel princess” Slavica Ceperkovic was mentioned in a book recently released on MIT Press.

Here is a little bit about the book, Digital Performance, by Steve Dixon:

The past decade has seen an extraordinarily intense period of experimentation with computer technology within the performing arts. Digital media has been increasingly incorporated into live theater and dance, and new forms of interactive performance have emerged in participatory installations, on CD-ROM, and on the Web. In Digital Performance, Steve Dixon traces the evolution of these practices, presents detailed accounts of key practitioners and performances, and analyzes the theoretical, artistic, and technological contexts of this form of new media art.

You can read more about the book at the MIT Press website.

take take cake cake was a live video mixing performance that Slavica and I produced in 2000 to a packed house, garbed in aprons and surrounded by video stills from our source materials on the gallery walls. Of course, we served cake afterwards! Theorist Ger Zielinski wrote a short essay about the performance, and in it he asks: “Is it simply humble electronic borscht or gloriously pixelly strudel?” To that I say, our work is prepared to order – let the audience decide what they’re hungry for!

At the most recent Upgrade! Scotland talk, artist Christine Borland gave a very engaging talk about her work. One of the works she spoke about involved the use of a human skeleton that she had obtained by mail-order. Since it seems incredible that one could simply order up human bones, someone in the audience couldn’t resist asking: “You worked with real human bones?” to which Christine responded in the affirmative.

Ever since that evening just over a week ago I’ve been thinking about this, and the word authenticity continually surfaces in my mind. “Borland was shocked by the fact that it was possible to obtain a real human skeleton by mail order “…at a moderate price, even. She had thought that she was buying a copy of a skeleton.” (via 1847.dk) The fact that the bones were real provided critical data that informed the piece that Christine created, but one could imagine someone attempting to make a similar work with imitation bones, because they could not overcome their revulsion at working with human remains.

It’s something that is continually called into question: the uniqueness of the object, the authenticity of experience, the singularity of a moment. If Christine had obtained detailed information about a real skeleton over the telephone and created a work with false bones based on real information, would that have been less authentic? How significantly would that have changed our perception of and reaction to the work?

Then, in the same span of time, I stumbled across the “Hidden Lives” project, which asks people to submit their secrets/confessions/admissions to the website. I happened to click on one right away that again brought up authenticity:

“I stood before one of Picasso’s ‘Weeping Women’ in the Reina Sofia in Madrid. Looking through the painting I suddenly caught sight of my own reflection and was struck that here I stood in front of genius and I was reflected in it. I knew from then on that I had to live life on my own terms in constant pursuit of authenticity. I have failed on occasions, as I expected I might, but my permanent reminder helps me to remember. On my own terms.”

Constant pursuit of authenticity – which means being true to an original form, or at the least, an accurate representation of an original form, or remaining true to one’s own spirit and sensibility – might be something that we strive for, though we fail on occasions. When is authenticity not feasible, not possible, or not desired? When Christine Borland rang up for a fake skeleton and got a real one, she could have sent it back. What made her choose authenticity when it would have been much more palatable to put distance between her and the dead with a copy? What makes us choose to be messy when we could remain distant?

If you live in the UK, you probably already know that by 2012, analogue TV here will be no more, and digital TV will be the only option. So what will happen to the old analogue airwaves that TV took up that will no longer be in use, this part of the spectrum that is now being referred to as the “digital dividend”?

To explain a bit further, I’m going to quote very liberally from an email I received written by Andrew Back on the Electron Club mailing list:

“Radio spectrum is something that is free like air, only you’re allowed to breathe only that which the government or one of its licensees allows. Now, at first this sounds a bit mean, but then spectrum has to be managed else it would be complete chaos and of no use to anyone. However, unless your a licensed radio amateur or a commercial company with some kind of (often very costly) license all you really have access to (transmit) is:

– WiFi and bluetooth, 2.4GHz etc, with a measly power output (1/10th what they get in the US).
– DECT and analog cordless phones
– Remote control frequencies for model planes etc
– License free low power walkie talkies, baby monitors and such
– 27MHz CB radio

We did also used to have a 934MHz Citizens Band but that was taken away years ago, no doubt because a cellular operator wanted the spectrum, and nothing was given back…

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a band for use in longer range digital comms (think wifi crossed with CB type range) that could penetrate walls, unlike current wifi. Or a chunk of unlicensed spectrum for use by artists and experimenters, maybe even allowing low-ish quality (thus lower bandwidth requirement than a normal TV channel) short range (to try and avoid congestion) TV broadcast. These are just two of many possible uses, and bear in mind implementing both could still leave lots of spare spectrum from that freed up.”

Thanks Andrew, for explaining that a lot better than I ever could!

It sound exciting, doesn’t it? A new chunk of the radio spectrum available for artists, communities, and hobbyists to claim as their own, as a result of technological progress (the migration to digital TV).

I’m going to quote another good source now, public-voice.org.uk, who mentions what they imagine will really happen with this “digital dividend”:

At present there are no fixed plans for what happens to the analogue spectrum in the UK, but the interest from commercial industries is likely to be huge. To counter this, it’s important that as many representatives as possible from the voluntary and civil society sector come together to state the case for citizen-centric, in addition to this consumer-centric, broadcasting. If we don’t make our case now, and make it well, then this spectrum may be lost to us forever.

It isn’t difficult to make your voice heard on this issue. You can, first of all, learn more at the public-voice.org.uk website;

Then respond to Ofcom’s consultation document before the 20th of March;

And then, if you think that this spectrum should be used in a community-centric way, you may also wish to sign the petition at the 10 Downing St. website and the Scottish Parliament’s website.

Ah, they’ll never, they’ll never ever reach the moon,
at least not the one that we’re after;
it’s floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends,
and it carries no survivors.

Let’s Sing Another Song, Boys by Leonard Cohen

I was listening to this old song tonight (incredible fact!: I owned the vinyl LP of “Songs of Love and Hate” by Leonard Cohen and played it all the time as a teenager) and the song struck me as a bit more uplifting and funny than it did when I was an angsty sixteen-year-old.

I chuckled tonight at the line from the song I quote above, I suppose because I know now that it can sometimes be very good, and often even better, to find something else when you are looking for a particular thing.

Just ask Roy J. Plunkett, who discovered Teflon, everyone’s favourite non-stick cooking surface, when he was actually trying to develop a new gas for refrigeration.

Or ask James Schlatter, who was attempting to develop a test for an anti-ulcer drug when he developed the very popular sweetener known to most of us as Aspartame.

Or consider one of my favourite examples: the scientist at 3M that was trying to develop a strong adhesive, but developed a pretty weak one, and ended up spurring the genesis of the now-ubiquitious Post-it note.

My message for you this evening is simple: have a goal, but seek opportunity in each unexpected quirk that your investigation takes.