Archive for the ‘digital art’ Category
Digital Soiree: Loop & Return
May 6th, 2013 by Michele DykesAli Demirel at Wits Digital Arts
February 19th, 2013 by christo
Ali Demeril has been the visual partner to legendary Techno DJ/Producer Richie Hawtin for the last eight years. Together they have taken Techno performance to new heights of creative expression with live shows that have redefined the possibilities of visual and music minimalism. Demeril and Hawtin have just finished their first ever tour of South Africa, appearing as the featured act on the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival, and playing in Soweto and Midrand in Gauteng.
Demeril spoke at the first Wits Digital Soiree of 2013, presenting his methods of work, software tools, and his ideology of live visuals. Wits Digital Arts Masters student and UJ multi-media lecturer, Farrell West, was at the seminar. These are her impressions:
Coming from a background of engineering, physics and architecture, Demirel shared his process and technique on how he generates visual elements primarily focusing on minimal imagery and structural compositions. Demirel grapples with the ideology of performing live visuals and discussed his custom developed software 2V-P. This software is based on his modernist, minimalist and futurist approach to live visuals, which he designed with artist and programmer Pascal LeSport.
Demirel took us through a brief history and explained the evolutionary processes of his work. In 2001 Demirel presented his first music video with the Plastikman track “Psyk”. This video represented the aesthetics of minimalism and synchronization and was the start of a long term audio-visual partnership between Hawtin and Demirel. In 2004 Demirel produced a live visual set entitled “DE9 Transitions”, this innovative set was the product of abstract video content. Demirel experimented by using a black piece of paper covered with iron filings, he then used a magnet to disrupt the filings and filmed the whole process. Demirel used this type of abstract video footage during a live show. This first attempt left him feeling restricted, mainly because of the technological limitations as well as the fact that he could not react to the music in real time during the live show, he merely pressed “play” and no live mixing software was utilized.
The next step was to generate a live visual set titled Meta-Control (2007) with the help of Burak Arikan from MIT Media Lab using “Processing”, an open source programme which allows the creation of graphics, animations and interactions using a coding language. The images could be manipulated in a real time environment, Demirel now had the ability to control and synchronize graphics during the show. Due to his limited coding ability and the restricted mixing abilities of the program he turned to utilizing Apple’s node based visual programming tool “Quartz Composer”. In 2008 he produced the Minus “Contakt” shows and gave us a demonstration of how the programme has the ability to entertain the masses with something as simple as a white dot. Demirel could now execute a perfectly synchronized audio-visual live show: Plastikman live.
Finally in 2012, by incorporating a series of networked programs namely TouchDesigner, Abelton Live, Max MSP for live and using Lemur tactile app on his iPad, Demirel was able to perform at an advanced level by creating complex visual compositions with multiple variables. He has the capability to interact with the music by specifically controlling the light and visual design of the performance from sliders on his iPad.
What is exciting is that this process is far from being complete; 2P-V is still under development. The revolutionary ideas and concepts that surround the ideals of a successful live visual performance continue to be explored. The artist can create abstract forms that allow for a collaborative dialogue to take place between music and visuals as well as connecting people through a unique digital art form.
(Ali Demirel and Richie Hawtin were brought out to South Africa by Don’t Look Down Convergence Agency in association with Bridges for Music.)
Fingers in the Outlet
February 14th, 2013 by Tegan
Nathan Gates an Masters Candidate in the 2012 Masters in Digital Arts: Interactive Media opened Fingers in the Outlet at Room Gallery in Braamfontien on the 29th January. The Exhibition of work is a 50% part of his thesis research project titled A self-‐reflexive investigation of ‘Bricolage’ as method of engagement in new media arts, through domestic hacking practices.
The works on exhibition are experimentation in hacking with process of Bricolage and hacking practices as it’s primary methodology.
Gates states:
The exhibition consists of a series of ‘domestic investigations’ into the concept of Bricolage. It is a hands-on, exploratory practice that is performed within a domestic setting and through the objects and materials characteristic of this space. The primary intent of exploring this concept is to acquire a physical and conceptual understanding of these objects as mechanisms of expression. The title of the show, Fingers In The Outlet, is an allusion to the curiosity and inquisitiveness that is carried out with whatever is on hand. It refers to an interruption of flow or the creation of a space through intervention, linking up to the character of experimentation that enables this process.
Fingers In The Outlet presents a collection of sculptural elements ranging from scrap wood to consumer electronics, which in turn have been extended spatially. The works touch on installation with the inclusion of some interactive elements and video. The varied works are intended to form a heterogeneous repertoire of experiments, reflections or musings physically carried out through the materials.
Hans Bernhard at Wits Digital Arts
October 31st, 2012 by Mitch Said
Hans Bernhard’s October 23rd talk at Wits (marking a return to the campus after seven years) was at turns (and sometimes simultaneously) profane, elegiac and playful, but never restrained. Taking the (mainly student) audience through his work, both past and present (including ‘Clickistan’, the ‘EKMRZ Trilogy’ and recent explorations in the South African Karoo), Bernhard mused on the unfilled revolutionary promise of the early internet, the nature of artistic self-presentation and puffery (‘bullshit’, in his words), the manipulability of electoral outcomes, the demands of the art market, environmental catastrophe, microexpressions, the barriers to creativity imposed by intellectual property law, and the difficulty of balancing personal finances with a radical digital arts practice.
However Hans and UBERMORGEN end up meeting (and subverting) the challenges and promises of the contemporary art and tech landscape, one can be certain their path won’t be predictable. We hope Hans will return to SA (after a less lengthy hiatus) to keep us informed, entertained and unsettled.
Hans Bernhard of UBERMORGEN.COM talk at Wits Digital Arts
October 19th, 2012 by Mitch Said
Hans Bernhard
Captain Hans Bernhard, Toxic Leader of UBERMORGEN.COM (the Swiss–Austrian–American artist duo), and founder of the etoy.CORPORATION will be giving a talk at the Wits Digital Arts. Awards for UBERMORGEN.COM include The Golden Nica, Prix Ars Electronica 1996, Award of Distinction, Prix Ars Electronica 2005, honorary mention, Prix Ars Electronica 2003 and 2005.
23 October 2012
13.00 – 14.00
Digital Arts Seminar Room
Braamfontein Campus