31/08/2009
Hideki Matsutake - Private Studio Tour (2008)
Hideki Matsutake, considered by some people to be the true genius behind the sound (not the music) of Y.M.O, shows us around his personal studio and how much he obviously still enjoys synthesis. He began his professional career as an apprentice to Isao Tomita at the age of 19, was the "sound programmer" for Yellow Magic Orchestra through their golden age, released his solo material under the name "Logic System" (The "Venus" and "Logic" LPs are my personal recommendation) and is now the head of the Japan Synthesizer Programmers Association.
30/08/2009
29/08/2009
28/08/2009
27/08/2009
Display Copy Mix
Part 5 - Unordinary Realities
An obscure selection of ethnic noise drone, melodies from the collected unconscious... a hypnagogic megamix by Konx-om-Pax.
1. Burning Star Core - Beauty Hunter
2. Oneohtrix Point Never - Terminator Lake
3. The Skull Defekts - Skull & Tounge
4. Valet - Rainbow
5. Alan and Richard Bishop - Space Prophet Dogon
6. Wally Badarou - Voices
7. Boards of Canada - Sac
8. Limonious - Swedish Pommak
9. KGB MAN - Castles In The Sky
10. Transllusion - Unordinary Realities
11. Scientist - Dematerialise
12. Oneohtrix Point Never - Physical Memory
13. A Blaze Colour - Nowhere Else (Zero Charisma Remix)
14. KGB MAN - Be Real
15. Hudson Mohawke - Star Crackout
An obscure selection of ethnic noise drone, melodies from the collected unconscious... a hypnagogic megamix by Konx-om-Pax.
1. Burning Star Core - Beauty Hunter
2. Oneohtrix Point Never - Terminator Lake
3. The Skull Defekts - Skull & Tounge
4. Valet - Rainbow
5. Alan and Richard Bishop - Space Prophet Dogon
6. Wally Badarou - Voices
7. Boards of Canada - Sac
8. Limonious - Swedish Pommak
9. KGB MAN - Castles In The Sky
10. Transllusion - Unordinary Realities
11. Scientist - Dematerialise
12. Oneohtrix Point Never - Physical Memory
13. A Blaze Colour - Nowhere Else (Zero Charisma Remix)
14. KGB MAN - Be Real
15. Hudson Mohawke - Star Crackout
"Cybernetic Serendipity" exhibition, ICA, London (1968)
Press Release for the exhibit curated by Jasia Reichardt at the ICA London August 2nd to October 20th, 1968:
«Cybernetics - derives from the Greek «kybernetes» meaning «steersman»; our word «governor» comes from the Latin version of the same word. The term cybernetics was first used by Norbert Wiener around 1948. In 1948 his book «Cybernetics» was subtitled «communication and control in animal and machine.»
The term today refers to systems of communication and control in complex electronic devices like computers, which have very definite similarities with the processes of communication and control in the human nervous system. A cybernetic device responds to stimulus from outside and in turn affects external environment, like a thermostat which responds to the coldness of a room by switching on the heating and thereby altering the temperature. This process is called feedback. Exhibits in the show are either produced with a cybernetic device (computer) or are cybernetic devices in themselves. They react to something in the environment, either human or machine, and in response produce either sound, light or movement.
Serendipity – was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. There was a legend about three princes of Serendip (old name for Ceylon) who used to travel throughout the world and whatever was their aim or whatever they looked for, they always found something very much better. Walpole used the term serendipity to describe the faculty of making happy chance discoveries.
Through the use of cybernetic devides to make graphics, film and poems, as well as other randomising machines which interact with the spectator, many happy discoveries were made. Hence the title of this show.»
London 1968 Statement by the curator, Jasia Reichardt:
«One of the journals dealing with the Computer and the Arts in the mid-sixties, was Computers and the Humanities. In September 1967, Leslie Mezei of the University of Toronto, opened his article on «Computers and the Visual Arts» in the September issue, as follows: «Although there is much interest in applying the computer to various areas of the visual arts, few real accomplishments have been recorded so far. Two of the causes for this lack of progress are technical difficulty of processing two-dimensional images and the complexity and expense of the equipment and the software. Still the current explosive growth in computer graphics and automatic picture processing technology are likely to have dramatic effects in this area in the next few years.»
The development of picture processing technology took longer than Mezei had anticipated, partly because both the hardware and the software continued to be expensive. He also pointed out that most of the pictures in existence in 1967 were produced mainly as a hobby and he discussed the work of Michael Noll, Charles Csuri, Jack Citron, Frieder Nake, Georg Nees, and H.P. Paterson. All these names are familiar to us today as the pioneers of computer art history. Mezei himself too was a computer artist and produced series of images using maple leaf design and other national Canadian themes.
Most of the computer art in 1967 was made with mechanical computer plotters, on CRT displays with a light pen or from scanned photographs.
Mathematical equations that produced curves, lines or dots, and techniques to introduce randomness, all played their part in those early pictures. Art made with these techniques was instantaneously recognisable as having been produced either by mechanical means or with a program. It didn't actually look as if it had been done by hand.
Then, and even now, most art made with the computer carries an indelible computer signature. The possibility of computer poetry and art was first mentioned in 1949. By the beginning of the 1950s it was a topic of conversation at universities and scientific establishments, and by the time computer graphics arrived on the scene, the artists were scientists, engineers, architects.
Computer graphics were exhibited for the first time in 1965 in Germany and in America. 1965 was also the year when plans were laid for a show that later came to be called «Cybernetic Serendipity,» and presented at the ICA in London in 1968. It was the first exhibition to attempt to demonstrate all aspects of computer-aided creative activity: art, music, poetry, dance, sculpture, animation. The principal idea was to examine the role of cybernetics in contemporary arts.
The exhibition included robots, poetry, music and painting machines, as well as all sorts of works where chance was an important ingredient.
wiki
Bolivian Deforestation
Bolivian Deforestation
Image taken 8/1/2000
Once a vast carpet of healthy vegetation and virgin forest, the Amazon rain forest is changing rapidly. This image of Bolivia shows dramatic deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Loggers have cut long paths into the forest, while ranchers have cleared large blocks for their herds. Fanning out from these clear-cut areas are settlements built in radial arrangements of fields and farms. Healthy vegetation appears bright red in this image.
This deforestation can be found on Landsat 7 WRS Path 230 Row 72, center: -17.35, -62.18.
John Carpenter - "Escape from New York" (1981)
wiki
official John Carpenter website minisite
Music composed and performed by
John Carpenter in association with Alan Howarth
Recording, editing, sequencing and synthesizer programming
by Alan Howarth at Pi West Studio.
INSTRUMENTS USED
Prophet-5
ARP Quadra
ARP Avatar (2)
ARP Sequencer
Roland CSQ-600 Sequencer
Sequential Circuits 700 Programmer
Roland SVC-350 Vocoder
Linn LM-1 Drum Computer
Fender Jazz Bass
Fender Stratocaster
RECORDERS AND EQUIPMENT
Stephens 821-A 24 trk
Tascam 80-0 8 trk
dbx 155 Noise Reduction System (2)
Otari 5050B 2 trk
Nagra IV-S
Tapco 7424 & 7416 Mixing Consoles
Eventide 949 Harmonizer
Eventide 1748 DDL
Furman PQ-6 Parametric Equalizer
Furman RV-1 Reverb (2)
Technics Cassette
MXR DDL
26/08/2009
Various - Template Exhibition (2008/2009)
‘Template’ presents current tendencies in visual media by interdisciplinary artists working in the fields of digital music, generative art and graphic design. The project features exclusive editions of high quality fine art prints alongside supported digital imagery exhibited on digital photo frames.
The 500x700mm Giclée prints are printed on 310gsm Photo Rag Satin archival paper in strictly limited numbered editions of 20. For enquiries on availabilty and pricing please contact joe@qubik.com.
Curated by Joe Gilmore and Christopher Murphy.
Visit the site HERE.
The 500x700mm Giclée prints are printed on 310gsm Photo Rag Satin archival paper in strictly limited numbered editions of 20. For enquiries on availabilty and pricing please contact joe@qubik.com.
Curated by Joe Gilmore and Christopher Murphy.
Visit the site HERE.
PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) Robotic Arm
The PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly, or Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm) is an industrial robot arm developed by Victor Scheinman at pioneering robot company Unimation. Initially developed for General Motors, the PUMA was based on earlier designs Scheinman invented while at MIT and Stanford University.
Unimation produced PUMAs for years until being purchased by Westinghouse (ca. 1980), and later by Swiss company Stäubli (1988). Nokia Robotics manufactured about 1500 PUMA robots during the 1980s, the Puma-650 being their most popular model with customers. Nokia sold their Robotics division in 1990.
In 2002, General Motors Controls, Robotics and Welding (CRW) organization donated the original prototype PUMA robot to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. It joins a distinguished collection of historically important robots that includes an early Unimate and the Odetics Odex 1.
25/08/2009
Fourier Telescope
In 1868, Hippolyte Fizeau realized that the lenses and mirrors in a telescope perform a physical approximation of a Fourier transform. He noted that by using an array of small instruments it would be possible to measure the diameter of a star with the same precision as a single telescope which was as large as the whole array — a technique which later became known as astronomical interferometry.
In a 2008 paper, Tegmark and Zaldarriaga proposed a telescope design that dispenses altogether with the lenses and mirrors, relying instead on computers fast enough to perform all the necessary transforms. His concept is an all-digital telescope with an antenna consisting of a rectangular grid. Building radio telescopes this way should become feasible within a few years if Moore's law continues to hold. Eventually optical telescopes could also be built this way. This technique is already being used in radar applications.
More on Aperture synthesis HERE
BBC Radiophonic Workshop - BBC Sound Effects No. 26 / Sci-Fi Sound Effects (1981)
Featuring "The Core, A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain which Rules from the Centre of Ultraworld" by Richard Yeoman-Clark & Elizabeth Parker plus sounds by Dick Mills and Lloyd Silverthorne.
24/08/2009
23/08/2009
CoH - Iron (2000)
"Dedicated to Vadim 'Mark' Kosolapov and heavy metal fans all over the world" - Ivan Pavlov. Released on Wavetrap.
22/08/2009
The Art of Noise - Moments in Love (1983)
Original video directed by Zbig Rybczynski. Produced by Trevor Horn and The Art of Noise.
British Government - Protect and Survive (1980)
Protect and Survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and consisted of a mixture of pamphlets, radio broadcasts, and public information films. This poster was photographed inside the decommissioned Kelvedon Hatch RGHQ Nuclear Bunker in Essex, UK. visit the source HERE.
The Human League - Path of Least Resistance (1979)
Original line up live television performance from 1979. Top !
The Synthi Group - Volume 1 (2009)
"The Synthi Group have honed the original pioneering spirit and DIY ethic of EMS with their Volume series, a collection of sounds encompassing
beautiful dreamscapes, synaesthetic visions, dark ambience, aural
abstractions, sonic absurdities, pulsating analog, glitch,
ring modulators, and envelope shapers generating trapezoidal geometry" Various artists compilation utilizing the famous E.M.S Synthi. Read more and download the compilation for free HERE.
21/08/2009
Winchell Chung Jr - Rockets and Space ships Comparison
[1] Giraffe: 6 meters/20 feet
[2] City Bus: 12 meters/40 feet long
[3] Small Orion Drive ship: 21 meters/70 feet
[4] Millennium Falcon: 27 meters/90 feet (Star Wars)
[5] Polaris: 43 meters/140 feet (Tom Corbett, Space Cadet)
[6] Moonship: 44 meters/144 feet (Chesley Bonestell Conquest of Space)
[7] Luna: 46 meters/150 feet (Destination Moon)
[8] Arc De Triomphe: 49 meters/160 feet
[9] Orion Drive Mars Exploration Vehicle: 50 meters/165 feet
[10] United Planets Star Cruiser C-57D: 51 meters/170 feet wide (Forbidden Planet)
[11] Nautilus: 51 meters/170 feet long
[12] Space Shuttle stack: 56 meters/180 feet
[13] Absyrtis: 60 meters/197 feet (G. Harry Stine Contraband Rocket)
[14] Boeing747: 72 meters/232 feet
[15] RS-10: 73 meters/240 feet (Andre Norton Star Born)
[16] Ferry Rocket: 84 meters/280 feet (Collier's Magazine, 22 March, 1952)
[17] Statue of Liberty: 93 meters/300 feet
[18] DE-51 Destroyer Buckley: 93 meters/306 feet
[19] Saturn V: 102 meters/335 feet
[20] DY-100 Botany Bay: 111 meters/365 feet (Star Trek)
[21] California Redwood: 112 meters/367 feet
[22] Discovery: 113 meters/370 feet (2001, A Space Odyssey)
[23] Romulan Bird of Prey: 131 meters/430 feet (Star Trek)
[24] Great Pyramid of Cheops: 140 meters/500 feet
[25] Oscar class submarine: 154 meters/500 feet
[26] Galactic Cruiser Leif Ericson: 169 meters/554 feet
[27] Washington Monument: 170 meters/560 feet
[28] Klingon D7 battlecruiser: 228 meters/750 feet (Star Trek)
[29] LZ-129 Passenger airship Hindenburg: 245 meters/800 feet
[30] BB-62 Battleship New Jersey: 270 meters/887 feet
[31] NCC 1701 Starship Enterprise: 289 meters/950 feet (Star Trek)
[32] Eiffel Tower: 324 meters/1060 feet
[33] CVN-65 Carrier Enterprise: 336 meters/1101 feet
[34] Empire State Building: 444 meters/1500 feet
[35] Al Rafik: 102 meters/335 feet (Attack Vector: Tactical)
Read the source HERE.
20/08/2009
Harold Cohen & Aaron - Aarons's Garden (1989)
Aaron's Garden, pen and ink drawing plotted by Aaron in 1989. "Aaron" is a "personal expert system" that Harold Cohen developed for generating art. "Aaron" consists of Harold's coded program of generative drawing procedures and a flat bed pen plotter. Aaron's drawings of two figures in a garden recall the tradition of representing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Visit the source HERE.
19/08/2009
David Lynch "On the Air" (1992)
The year is 1957. A new program entitled "The Lester Guy Show" is debuting on the Zoblotnick Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). Most of the cast is nuts, the crew is incompetent and everything that could go wrong always does. Of course, this makes the show a hit.
While mixing the sound for an episode of the second season of Twin Peaks, Lynch was hit with a sudden inspiration. "It just came into my head, the idea of people trying to do something successful and having it all go wrong."
Following the initial success of Twin Peaks, David Lynch and Mark Frost were hot properties in Television. When they approached ABC with the idea for "On the Air," the network was eager to take them up on the offer. The show itself was a half-hour absurdist comedy featuring many of the cast and crew from Twin Peaks. The pilot tested very well, and six more episodes were ordered. However, by the time it came to scheduling the On the Air, things with Twin Peaks had already fallen apart, and the network was no longer eager to work with Lynch. "During that time everything was going belly up with Twin Peaks, and there wasn't any support from ABC for this show at all. They really hated it."
The series' broadcast was delayed and finally run during the summer, a time when most networks know people are away from their television sets, thus they dump undesirable shows then. Lynch knew the timeslot meant certain death for the show at the hands of the network. "I've heard that summertime is pretty much the worst time you can be on, but we're going on in summer. I've heard that Saturday night is the worst night of the week to be on, and we're going on Saturday night."
As expected, the show received poor ratings, and only three of the seven episodes were aired by ABC before they gave it the axe (all seven episodes were aired overseas however).
more images
50 mentalist film makers
Great article in September's Sight & Sound magazine on outré film makers
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49563/
"The Wild Bunch"
They make films that are uncategorisable, in which cinematic language, taste and even reality itself are bent to their will.....
Kenneth Anger (1930-)
Jane Arden (1927-1982)
Dario Argento (1940-)
Fernando Arrabal (1932-)
Alexei Balabanov (1959-)
Mario Bava (1914-1980)
Walerian Borowczyk (1923-2006)
Catherine Breillat (1947-)
Tod Browning (1882-1962)
Luis Bunuel (1900-1983)
Donald Cammell (1934-1996)
Vera Chytilová (1929-)
Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959)
Claire Denis (1948-)
Federico Fellini (1920-93)
Abel Ferrara (1951-)
Ritwik Ghatak (1925-1976)
Alexei Guerman (1938-)
Wojciech Has (1925-2000)
Werner Herzog (1942-)
Imamura Shohei (1926-2006)
Alejandro Jodorowsky (1930-)
David Lynch (1946-)
Guy Maddin (1956-)
Dusan Makavejev (1932-)
Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998)
Masumura Yasuzo (1924-1986)
Ma-Xu Weibang (1905-1961)
Miike Takashi (1960-)
Nakagawa Nobuo (1905-1984)
Gaspar Noé (1963-)
Ogawa Shinsuke (1935-1992)
Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990)
Sally Potter (1949-)
Glauber Rocha (1938-81)
Raúl Ruiz (1941-)
Ken Russell (1927-)
Jerzy Skolimowski (1938-)
Richard Stanley (1966-)
Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969)
Suzuki Seijun (1923-)
Jan Svankmajer (1934-)
Lars von Trier (1956-)
Tsui Hark (1950-)
Tsukamoto Shinya (1960-)
Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972)
Paul Verhoeven (1938-)
Wakamatsu Kôji (1936-)
Edward D. Wood Jr (1924-1978)
Andrzej Zulawski (1940-)
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