confluence

my first release on bandcamp under the new name erckletron.

https://erckletron.bandcamp.com/releases

mouseman

i finished my first 'musical' track since moving to bc. nothing more fitting than to dedicate it to a lost friend, the man, jake "mouse" foerster. miss you everyday bud.

the vortex

working with my advisor in the music department, and the technician of the visual art department, we set up this 8 channel sound studio i have dubbed 'the vortex'. sound becomes all enveloping, pushing the limits of perception to new heights, experiencing a greater spectrum of sound and dimensionality. i am very fortunate to work in such an environment, and am very thankful for the opportunity to expand my horizons.

chase jarvis

last year i had the amazing opportunity to shoot with chase jarvis for the aspen/snowmass national advertising campaign. it was awesome to see how his crew rolls, and how the preparation and dedication they have to getting the exact shot they want. it was also very cool to get to hang out with a personal hero, chris davenport, in his element and share some fun turns and conversations about music and snowsports. here is a little behind the scenes video on how it went down:

chicago basin write up

14er season is here in full effect! last week we ventured into the chicago basin, successfully summitting 4 higher class peaks. below is my first official 14ers.com trip report. enjoy!

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=13630

the wildwood library

In late october i got to work on part of a crew painting interior details in the wildwood lodge in snowmass village, colorado. it was a tedious process, but was very rewarding to see the finished product. in the end the sign painter from the new belgium brewery came in and titled the "books" freehand, which was amazing to witness.

photo: cassandra holden

photo: cassandra holden

tape>cut>retape

photo: cassandra holden

photo: cassandra holden

sts9: 1,826 seconds between the rocks

a nice mix of sounds played between sets at sts9's annual red rocks show last summer paired with video renderings from saxton waller's visual display:

grass city

here is our 2012 NEPSA Awards submission. we did not win but it was surely a night to remember, and i am proud to present you with "grass city: the legend of the cholo riders"

the art of the future...

...and the future of my own art:

Augmented Reality - Projection Mapping from Dane Luttik on Vimeo.

why 2009/2012

I create art because there is some driving force deep within my body that requires it. I do it to maintain.

When I was young I fell in love with photography. The concept of capturing a single moment and preserving it in the form of a photo mesmerized me. This was during the few years of my life when analog was the only option, glorifying the process behind the photo. As I went through school I always enjoyed and performed well in art classes, but never really thought of myself as skilled in anything other than photography. Because my school didn’t offer anything in photography or digital production I was forced to take classes in other media. This was very beneficial for me because it created a greater appreciation for art as a whole and cemented my decision to study art after graduation.

            I came to The University of Colorado with a desire to study photography, but also with the pressure of my dad to study something “worth while” with economical opportunities in the near future. None of that “sandbox bullshit.” I didn’t declare a major and spent my first semester in 15 credit hours of mass-communication pre-requisite class. After months of school I found myself outside the library, too tired for caffeine to work, sucking down cigarettes as a reward for 4 hours of reading, and a break before another four. Tired, bored, unhealthy. Unhappy. This was just the first semester, and I was already about to loose it. The next day I met with my advisor and made the necessary arrangements to change my major to studio arts right before the end of the first semester. A huge step, however, I had acted too late and was not able to register for any classes.

            The next year I officially began my higher education in art, and I began to feel good about going to school. I enjoyed class, homework, my teachers, everything about it. For the entire year I was assigned projects in the different formal backgrounds within art. I was allowed and encouraged to explore new ideas and express myself in more complex ways than before. Once I began producing art, it became a necessity. I found that although I didn’t necessarily want to be a painter I thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and being critiqued on my work. Foundations class inspired me to continue exploring different media and not focus only on photography.

             I knew when I was younger I wanted to become a photographer professionally some day. I figured I would go to college study advertising, minor in photography and find a job where I could combine the two areas. After being exposed to the faculty and students at CU I realized what art has to offer, and how important it is to my life. I have transformed from a kid capturing nature with a damaged 1979 Nikon FM, to a growing artist exploring and producing art in a variety of media. I am dedicated to my art. I love what I do. This is what I will do with my life.

            My time at CU has proven to me that this is where I belong. Being exposed to inspiring faculty has brought out the artist in me, and set me on the path to creating better work. I am confident in my decision and am willing to make sacrifices in life to live it out. A thousand times over I would choose to be a starving artist, rather than a fat business man, as long as it makes me happy. I don’t want to do art to be cool or different. I do art for me. It is self-enriching, and has made me a better person.

            After my time at CU I plan to spend a year at Metro State in Denver, where I can become certified to teach art in public schools. This will act as my back up plan. I believe that graduate school is in the future somewhere, but I have made few plans as of now. For now I am going to live it, and let it take me as far as possible. I am confident I can live a pleasing life through art, and if not I am going to probably become a hermit and live off the land deep in the woods of the Rocky Mountains.

***

            

             Two and a half years later I sit in my childhood bedroom in my parents’ house in Aspen; reviewing past work, gathering portfolios, writing letters of intent, and preparing for the mission that lies ahead. Metro State is an idea of the past, and is indefinitely out of the picture for now. Instead I plan to return to school and get a Masters in Fine Arts, focusing in installation, sound art, and digital media. I still desire to teach, however I find it more important to continue my studies, becoming the artist I have desired to be for so long. In my final years at The University of Colorado I was lucky enough to meet Dr. George Rivera (Dr. Tsonik), who took me under his wing and introduced me to the vast world of sound art, expanding my notions of what art is and can be.

Through extensive research, collaborations, performances, conversations, live concert experiences, and most recently the burning man festival, I have found a niche within the fine art world where I feel comfortable, and can utilize all the various media I have become accustomed to working with, allowing me to truly express the ideas and messages I find important. This exists in, but is not limited to, two main forms, large-scale installations, and live audio/visual performances. Installations are a way to integrate sculptural forms and architectural spaces, combined with light, sound, and motion to create an interactive sensorial experience, which the viewer can derive many different personal interpretations and emotions from. In a very similar way, experimental noise rock paired with live visuals create a combination of visual and auditory information that can have a much deeper effect than traditional art forms. The main difference between the two being the ephemeral nature, and social interaction and context inherit in each. Audio/visual performances allow for a group to come together, creating a shared experience limited by duration, while installations allow room for solitude and deep personal interpretation.

This is all just a starting point, a place to jump off and see where I land. The past year, and the year that lies ahead, have been set aside from academics as a time for exploration, research, and most importantly personal reflection. I have been searching for my voice as well as my mountaintop to shout from, and though it is not entirely evident as of now all signs have pointed me in this direction. So now I gaze towards the sun, just above the horizon with excitement, love, and intent, and smile for what the future holds and each step of the journey ahead. 

Basinsky Finally

William Basinski’s lecture was very important to me because I frequently work with sound explorations and the moving image, and was also a great way to close out the visiting artist lecture series. This event was less a lecture and way more of a viewing experience. The lights dimmed and the screen lit up to show selections from several collaborations with his sound and footage from James Elaine. Elaine’s masterful work behind the lens of his lo-fi super 8 camera creates soft poetic images from landscapes and events common to everyday life (with the exception of the ticker parades which no longer take place). The soft details and grainy quality create a more relaxed feeling, which is mirrored by the ambient loops played Basinsky. The visuals and audio exist so well together that it is almost hard to imagine that they were made on separate occasions, and in some cases in different parts of the country. The familiar imagery used throughout allows for the viewer to easily associate and create their own personal meaning with, while the resonant sounds float through the air and in a way mirror the images. The heavy echos and ambient compositions allude back to Eno’s Music for Airports, but with Basinsky’s own unique style to the approach. Time becomes lost when viewing these films, what seems like very short section could really be 5 minutes, and vice versa. I found this lecture/viewing to be very insightful as well as inspiring to my own works. I noticed the importance/impact that a cohesive mix of audio and video can have, as well as realized that it is ok to let your pieces take their own form and that you don’t always have to cut them short (i.e. Disintegration Loops).

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.

Debord x Bourriaud: A Remix Manifesto

It is our responsibility, in this generation, to accept our role in society in terms of the remix culture that we are all a part of. It is our duty as conscious participants to further the use of detournement and remix to build upon history to create a richer future. We are remixers and we live by a code:

• Plagiarism is necessary, progress implies it. All that was directly lived has moved away into a representation, inhabiting historicized styles and forms, reprogramming existing works and making use of images, and using society as a catalog of forms.
• Détournement not only leads to the discovery of new aspects of talent; it addition, clashing head-on with all social and legal conventions, it cannot fail to be a powerful cultural weapon in the service of a real class struggle. Life can never be too disorienting, cut, splice, delete, sample, loop, copy, reverse, build, destroy!
• It goes without saying that one is not limited to correcting a work or to integrating diverse fragments of out-of-date works into a new one; one can also alter the meaning of those fragments in any appropriate way, leaving the imbeciles to their slavish preservation of "citations."
• The spectacle presents itself at one and the same time as society itself, as a part of society, and as instrument of unification.
• Life burns to pour out through the diversity of sentiments, and thus rediscover itself in the sum of diversity. Ideas and realizations in the realm of détournement can be multiplied at will.
• It is obviously in the realm of the cinema that détournement can attain its greatest efficacy, and undoubtedly, for those concerned with this aspect, its greatest beauty. Considered in its own terms, the spectacle is the affirmation of appearance and the affirmation of all human life, that is to say social life, as simple appearance.
• Ultimately, any sign or word is susceptible to being converted into something else, even into its opposite. The spectacle is thus a specialized activity which speaks for the ensemble of others.

The methods that we have briefly dealt with here are presented not as our own invention, but as a generally widespread practice which we propose to systematize. Art functions as an active agent, how can we make do with what we have?

Copyright, Copywrong, Copyleft...Bring it on

Open source/open content presents many advantages to the idea of a remix culture, primarily the ability to easily access and legally manipulate someone else’s content to make it a new work conveying different messages or ideas than the original might have. It provides freedom to artists/musicians/authors, and allows for more free flowing ideas benefiting the overall culture that these remixes are being released into, by adding more information and ideas to the mass of information available. I believe that it is only necessary to restrict content if it is somehow personal or requires a great amount of personal effort to produce (many years working), however, just because it restricted to the public doesn’t necessarily mean that it is protected from remixers.

The digital networking culture has opened a new world of possibilities for remixing, whether it be legal or illegal, and for this reason I believe that intellectual property has become much more obsolete. Because of this I feel that if you want something of yours to be protected you do have to take extra effort. Once something is put out into the digital world it is basically free for anyone to download, steal, copy, or manipulate, whether it is done legally or illegally. Whether it is moral or not this will continue to happen, because of the mass amount of people taking part in this culture. While one may not necessarily be anonymous in this network, there are too many people doing it to take every single person who is down.

While there is the well-known copyright, I tend to subscribe more to the copyleft view on personal material, allowing for manipulations and reproductions for future generations to come. I believe that the original author or artist’s labor should indefinitely be acknowledged, however, I don’t think that just because they made something great and put a copyright on it that its life should be restricted to that one use. If this were the case in the past many inventions and scientific breakthroughs would never have occurred, because many ideas in these fields build off of ideas and inventions that have come before. Remixing has been around since day one, and no matter how hard copyright activists try they will never fully be able to protect works and ideas from future remixes.

Coming from two former hippy parents that lived in the glory days of rock and roll music I was raised with the music from bands such as the Greatful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. These musicians added covers of other musicians to keep their live performances interesting as well as pay homage to the great minds that created those songs (Bob Dylan was even quoted once saying that "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way"). The first time I consciously remember hearing a remix/cover was in my dad’s Volkswagen bus around the age of 4. This track was a recording of Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” from Woodstock in 1969, and was probably the first time I ever felt mind-blown. Hendrix took a song every American knows and turned it into something entirely new, yet still recognizable. This memory still remains in my mind, which I think pays testament to the power of Hendrix’s musical talent and the power of music overall. I think this and other musical explorations of other people’s work by Jimi Hendrix resulted in betterment for the overall culture, and I believe (arguably) changed the face of music forever.

Recently I have been playing around with the idea of remix in my own sound art works, using logic pro and a MIDI controller to assign and trigger samples. In the past I believed that it was unacceptable to appropriate other peoples work into my own, not for legal issues, but more for the moral belief that I want to produce MY art, but have recently been straying away and I think my art has only benefited. Most recently I used samples from Dan Deacon’s “Drinking Out of Cups” and the tone when apple computers turn on (created by the one and only Brian Eno), as well as environmental recordings to create a futurist compositional soundscape. I believe that this piece is entirely original, and the original samples taken would not be recognizable without prior knowledge of the source material.

Erckle and I-The Borges and I remix

The other one, the one they call Erckle, is the one things happen to. I wait for the bus in the cold night air for what seems like an hour, but is only a moment and go straight home from school; I know of Erckle from the ridiculous late night text messages and drunken “graffiti”. I like art, snowboarding, red wine, and interesting sounds; he shares these preferences, but in a vain way that turns them into the precursor of chaos. It would be an exaggeration to say that ours is a hostile relationship; I live. I live through Erckle’s failure. Erckle lives through my success. The things Erckle remembers are at least somewhat impressive, and those memories save me, perhaps because for every person in the world exists an opposite mind to balance the order and chaos throughout the universe. I believe we exist to protect the sanity of the other, and as a combined force are more powerful than either could be alone. Besides, we both know Erckle will slowly begin to disappear, never entirely, but the distance will increase over time. Increased distance, rather than ceased existence.

As I see Erckle appear less even now, I am learning to treasure his existence and draw energy and inspiration from the stories he shares. He will continue to brag about art works and big air competitions he had nothing to do with, I will continue to hold his hair back as he throws up in the early hours of the morning. I have known people that have tried to live like Erckle wants and have never found success. And vice versa. Thus I know I must welcome Erckle into my life and hope that he does the same. Even now the suds remaining in the empty bottle on my desk allude to Erckle’s presence in my life.

I do not know which of us has written this page.

Exercises in Style: Um, Like, Yeah Dude!

So, like, at, um, noon, on the, um, bus, this one dude saw these other two dudes, like getting into it or something. One dude thought the other dude was like bumping into him on purpose or something, until some other dude like, um, got off the bus and one of the other dudes like poached his seat. Then, like, later on in the same, um, day, dude saw one of those same dudes talking to one of his bro's who was all, um, you need another button on your coat or something dude, like for real.

G-trude Stein Remix

og: In the inside there is sleeping, in the outside there is reddening, in the morning there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling. In the evening there is feeling. In feeling anything is resting, in feeling, anything is mounting, in feeling there is resignation, in feeling there is recognition, in feeling there is recurrence and entirely mistaken there is pinching. All the standards have steamers and all the curtains have bed linen and all the yellow has discrimination and all the circle has circling. This makes sand.

remix: Over yonder there are trees, behind the trees there are mountains, in the summer there is nonsense, in the winter there is breath. In the winter there is breath. With breath everything is capable, with breath, everything is new, with breath the light shines through, with breath there is familiarity, with breath there is life and the lack thereof is death. Each daybreak has a sunset and each nightfall a star. This constitutes life.