Blink! x Isaac Julien

Blink/Isaac julien

Blink! The new exhibition at the Denver Art Museum opened last week, showcasing work from some of the top names in digital art over the past couple decades. The sheer size of the show is impressive in itself, without even taking the work into account. Light, sound, projections, and neon fill the back room of the DAM, with no competition over audio or visual cues, and everything seems to fit right in its place. Works from legends such as William Kentridge, David Flavin, Nam June Paik, Bjorn Melhus, Mark Amerika, and surprisingly even Bill Rumley sit side by side, working together to show the world the possibilities of digital art in the 21 century.

The piece that I found most interesting was Still Men Out There by Bjorn Melhus. This installation contained three groups of televisions playing six different channels of video, to a common soundtrack. These televisions acted out a narrative while seemingly interacting with each other. The sound, light, and overall sensation I felt within this installation was very inspiring for my own digital works, and I am very grateful that the DAM brought this show in for our community.

The following day, Isaac Julien presented his newest work titled Ten Thousand Waves. This 50 minute film is designed to be played on 9 different screens throughout the installation, each connected to a different channel of video output. This design is set up to choreograph the viewer around the installation space, with the use of editing techniques and visual cues. For this presentation, however, the work was played out on one screen with 9 smaller frames within. This provided a different viewing effect, while also showing how the piece may work within the installation space. Innovative design aside, the actual content of the film was awe-inspiring. The photography is well planned and technically exquisite, and the narrative is captivating and easy to become involved in. The overall presentation of this work led me to the feeling that I need to see the installation in person, as well as any other works by Isaac Julien.

webspinna set

http://www.immersive-garden.com/

http://www.wonderville.ca/

https://www.wizard101.com/start?utm_campaign=disp_mmotraffic&utm_source=mmolife.925&utm_medium=display

http://www.perceivingreality.com/

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/multitask

http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/

Erckletronic Remix Theory ft. Paul D Miller

It’s life in the data-cloud [of course] but it’s also about life in such a dense place that the human mind acts as kind of an osmotic unit, absorbing randomly but at the same time with some underlying structure. In Jamaica, the dub masters call it “versioning.” In modernism, think of Robert Rauschenberg buying a drawing in 1953 from Willem de Kooning only to erase it. Sampling is like sending a fax to your self from the sonic debris of a possible future; the cultural permutations of tomorrow, heard today, beyond the corporeal limits of the imagination. Ours is a Milieu in which much of what is heard, seen, and thought, is basically a refraction of the electronicized world that we have built around ourselves. Its not so much that the technology changes the compositional process, as it extends it into new realms. With the needle the DJ weaves the sounds together. There’s so much information about who you should be or what you should be that you’re not left with the option of trying to create a mix of your very self. Identity is about creating an environment where you can make the world act as your own reflection. But at the end of the day, the music speaks louder than any individual voice, and the music is saying that the old boundaries no longer exist. You just have to be open to different frequencies. Nothing is direct, everything is an interpretation. Whatever mix you make of it, it can only be a guess – you have to make your own version, and that’s kind of the point. With that in mind I ask that you think of this as a mix lab – an “open system” where any voice can be you. The only limits are the game and how you play it. You get my drift?

Whether you like it or not you are a remixer. Of music. Of thoughts. Of ideas, conversations, concepts and designs. And there is nothing you can do but accept your position within the apparatus, and consciously participate.

Since the beginning of time humankind has survived off of the constant remixing and reformulating of ideas, theories, and beliefs. Our shared experiences in life are how we create our understanding of the world, and the continual building upon ideas is greatest way to progress as a whole. A free flow of information to and from the greatest number of people provides the greatest possible amount of diverse thought, thus deeper understandings as a whole. Information and media should be free to the people in order to provide all the freedom to add to the diversity of culture. Remix also exists to recontextualize source material in a way that is more meaningful or relevant in the time when it is reproduced. This means a song from the 80’s can be chopped up, slowed down, looped, and totally be repurposed into a new work today, while simultaneously paying homage to the original work. In this way the piece lives on forever.

There are no right or wrong answers in remix, only questions. Questions that may only be answered through experimentation and manipulation. Questions that may not be relevant to any generation but our own. But it is our duty to use the apparatus to get our thoughts, ideas, and messages out, no matter how fruitless they may seem in the eyes of others. That’s kind of the point. Remix is an art form that has been used forever, however, is only recently being defined and separated. It is unlimited to any media, and that is the beauty of remix. It is not constricting to any one idea or manifestation, instead open to as many interpretations as the mind can create, and that is our duty as conscious observers in this game we call the remix. Build on the past. Create the future. Sample, chop, cut, reverse, slow down, pitch up, loop, rewind, repeat. But most importantly remix for life. And don’t let life remix you.