FridayArts.net

It may not be intuitively obvious how machines can imitate human imperfection. The computer is usually employed either creates exact digital copies or removes order from meaningful data. Rarely, can it create anything on the continuum in between. And that’s the area I am most fascinated by.
What is usually considered faulty in both humans and computers, are often just the things that can be re-worked in our favor. Human impulse to project comprehensibility, and machines tirelessly undaunted by their meaningless mistakes, make an ideal combo.
This program takes in an image, determines the main colors, then creates 2 random compositions using variously shaped rectangles. The rendition that is closest to the original is saved. An evolutionary contest is on. The other canvas keeps trying, making variants of that winning image hundreds of times a second. Eventually (granted, you’ll get tired long before it [...]

Original post by Rhizome.org Artwork and software by Elliott Back

The intention of the project is to create an online experience that is based on the theories of the Derive. It is an online documentary that is filmed/recorded while drifting through streets of the Sydney Suburb, Glebe.
Our aim, is for the user to explore and discover the Glebe locations through a process that reflects the ideas of the Situationists. This process involves a heightened sensory awareness of one’s surroundings when going for a random walk. This differs from a casual stroll in that the “derive” or “drift” in that habits are broken and experiences are attained.
A central theme that we investigate includes the experiences derived from random exploration which is executed without a proposed destination. To emphasize this, the display order of the “locations” and their in-between transitions are randomized. Thus, the experience changes each time this work is re-visited.

Original post by Rhizome.org Artwork and software by Elliott Back

 
Rambo – Trailer 1bTwenty years after the last film in the series, John Rambo (SYLVESTER STALLONE) has retreated to northern Thailand, where he’s running a longboat on the Salween River.  On the nearby Thai-Burma (Myanmar) border, the world’s longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karen conflict, rages into its 60th year.  But Rambo, who lives a solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics, mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war- torn region. That all changes when a group of human rights missionaries search out the “American river guide” John Rambo.  When Sarah (JULIE BENZ) and Michael Bennett (PAUL SCHULZE) approach him, they explain that since last year’s trek to the refugee camps, the Burmese military has laid landmines along the road, making it too dangerous for overland travel. [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
Mad Money – TrailerBridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) is shocked to learn that she is on the verge of losing her home and comfortable upper middle class lifestyle when her husband Don (Ted Danson) is downsized from his job. Armed only with a decades old English degree and years as a dedicated mother and corporate wife, Bridget is forced into the unfamiliar labor market with no job skills. Finally, she accepts the only position she can find—janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank. The one-time suburban mom soon discovers she has more in common with her new co-workers than she thought. Bridget forges an unexpected bond with Nina (Queen Latifah), a hard-working single mom with two kids to raise, and Jackie (Katie Holmes), an exuberant free spirit with nothing to lose. Caught up in a system that underestimates their talents and keeps their dreams just out of reach, Bridget, Nina [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
The Band’s Visit – TrailerThe Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center.  Dressed in full regalia and observing all military police protocol, the members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers. It’s not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra.  Faced with the heavy burden of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) is determined not to foul their excursion. Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it’s not long before problems arise. The band arrives at the airport with no one there to greet them. Stranded and unable able to contact their Israeli hosts or the Egyptian consulate for help, Tewfiq decides that the Orchestra will persevere [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
Revolver – TrailerThe Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center.  Dressed in full regalia and observing all military police protocol, the members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers. It’s not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra.  Faced with the heavy burden of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) is determined not to foul their excursion. Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it’s not long before problems arise. The band arrives at the airport with no one there to greet them. Stranded and unable able to contact their Israeli hosts or the Egyptian consulate for help, Tewfiq decides that the Orchestra will persevere with its [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

As most of the world is making the crossover from analog communication to mandatory digital television and radio reception, and Americans slowly become aware of the February 17th, 2009 deadline to do so, it is not entirely clear what this historic shift will really mean. While the internet allows us all to be ‘broadcasters,’ in a sense, the relationship of this opportunity to actual democracy and hegemonies of power is still worth considering. As such, the focus of the fourth edition of NOW: Meetings in the Present Continuous lives up to its title. This year the Barcelona-based three-day project will explore ‘three dimensions of the new urban condition: the conquest of the radio-electric space, the recovery of the public space, and the city as an ecological challenge.’ Each day is full of intellectual exchanges, workshops, and film screenings, including Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott’s influential documentary The Corporation (2004) and [...]

Original post by ana otero and software by Elliott Back

Cool designs does not have to be limited to spaces used by adults as we see with these unique areas designed to enhance places of learning.Forget the “concrete jungle” archetypal school, complete with bars on windows.  This school’s hallways (pictured above) have been inspired by the imaginary landscape of the Silver Dragon. This environment is created to read like a story book; the further you progress through the hallways, the higher your senses are delighted. With shimmering walls, glowing ceilings and a fantasy feel resonating throughout the architecture, the children engage on a higher social level within the school environment.Traditionally, libraries also suffer from an image problem. Hordes of books coupled with the ’sshhhh’ factor doesn’t make for a very cool environment. By installing colorful interiors such as oversized book sleeves, a learning space such as the library is transformed into an area which kids see as cool, and [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
Untraceable – TrailerWithin the FBI, there exists a division dedicated to investigating and prosecuting criminals on the internet. Welcome to the front lines of the war on cybercrime, where Special Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) has seen it all……until now. A tech-savvy internet predator is displaying his graphic murders on his own website – and the fate of each of his tormented captives is left in the hands of the public: the more hits his site gets, the faster his victims die. When this game of cat and mouse becomes personal, Marsh and her team must race against the clock to track down this technical mastermind who is virtually untraceable.Directed by: Gregory HoblitStarring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
Funny Games – Trailer 1In this provocative and brutal thriller from director Michael Haneke, a vacationing family gets an unexpected visit from two deeply disturbed young men. Their idyllic holiday turns nightmarish as they are subjected to unimaginable terrors and struggle to stay alive.Directed by: Michael HanekeStarring: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – TrailerThe remarkable true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), a successful and charismatic editor-in-chief of French Elle, who believes he is living his life to its absolute fullest when a sudden stroke leaves him in a life-altered state. While the physical challenges of Bauby’s fate leave him with little hope for the future, he begins to discover how his life’s passions, his rich memories and his newfound imagination can help him achieve a life without boundaries.Directed by: Julian SchnabelStarring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

Opening this Saturday at the JFlynn Gallery in Costa Mesa, California is the “Tree Trimming 2″ show. It will feature one of a kind Christmas ornaments created my a number of artists including Calef Brown, Jaime Zollars, Megan Brain, and me, Israel Sanchez. Here are a couple of pictures of my ornament, “Twohead Christmas” made out of wood and painted with cel vinyl. Come check it out, the opening is from 7-10PM.

Original post by israels and software by Elliott Back

The new Gallery Nucleus website is up and running. Our studiomate Shadi Muklashy put it together from the ground up based on a design by storeowner Ben Zhu, and it is beautiful. Go and explore, and maybe pick up some Christmas gifts while you’re there!

Original post by Kazu and software by Elliott Back

What happens when you cross a BMX bandit with Star Trek? you get Hokey Spokes. Gone
are the days of shoving a playing card in your spokes for visual and
audio cheap thrills. Hokey spokes are lighting up bikes around town in
a big and almost psychedelic way. These high tech spokes allow riders to
display computer generated images and text inside their spoke cages.
It’s fun, futuristic and most importantly safe in the way that it allows
for side visibility whilst on the road. The spokes can display messages
and even promotional advertising and run on 3 AAA batteries. order
online for $30. www.hokeyspokes.com

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
I Am Legend: Isolation – Trailer A deadly virus has taken hold of the world – rejected by a few (the immune), killing many (the dead), and leaving the rest (the infected) – who live on to hunt the living, after dark. The following are voices paying homage to Richard Matheson’s classic novel. This is the experience of a dying mankind and the foretelling of a new world before we meet the legend, Robert Neville.Directed by: Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alex Potocean

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

 
4 Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days – TrailerDuring the final days of communism in Romania, two college roommates Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) are busy preparing for a night away. But rather than planning for a holiday, they are making arrangements for Gabita’s illegal abortion and unwittingly, both find themselves burrowing deep down a rabbit hole of unexpected revelations. Transpiring over the course of a single day, Mungiu’s film is a masterwork of modern filmmaking, by parts poignant and shocking. Nominated for 4 European Film Awards including Best Picture and one of the standout hits of the Telluride, Toronto and New York Film Festivals, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS is a modern classic that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater.Directed by: Cristian MungiuStarring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alex Potocean

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

Young Italian artist Alessandro Nassiri brings together the tradition of performance art with the practices of relational aesthetics to stage actions, carried-out by himself or other individuals, that disrupt the conventions of everyday life. Recently he has developed a project for the streets of downtown New York, in which a group of people, wearing white t-shirts with words forming the expression ‘coming soon,’ created a ‘private demonstration.’ However, Nassiri gained worldwide recognition with his humorous online project, ‘Giubileo degli stagisti’ (Jubilee of the Interns). Informed by the fact that most internships in Italy and elsewhere are not paid, he has devised a counter mechanism that converts time into calories and chocolate. For example, 0.22 pounds of chocolate equal 494 calories, which corresponds to 6 hours spent in an office. The global economy, especially in relation to technological advances, is also examined in Nassiri’s latest work, which is currently being presented [...]

Original post by ana otero and software by Elliott Back

Puzzles are fun! Many thanks to Chris for making this such an awesome collaborative project! Click the pic for more.

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

Welcome to the Wild Wild Web, a modern-day gold rush that has created a
new economy where, in theory, anybody with a computer and an internet
connection can make their fortune.
And just like the Californian
and Australian gold rushes, it?s a time for heroes, villains, geeks,
geniuses, charlatans, visionaries . . . and suckers. In the Wild Wild
Web, some fortunes are made, some are lost and the pace of change is
lightning-fast. There is always a new kid in town and there is always a
new plague to watch out for, though this time it?s not cholera or
typhoid, but spam and spyware. There is always some new tool to help
make that fortune faster and a landscape paved with golden
opportunities: email, broadband, blogs, the people power of Web 2.0,
maps, video-sharing, Skype and virtual worlds, to name just a few.
Fortunes
have been made at a rate never seen before. Google made its first $1
billion in less than six years. [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

The Tower Trilogy has three titles that originated in Italian: “La Torre, Le Formiche, Lo Specchio” and they translate this way in english : “The Tower, The Insects, The Mirror”.
This animation is made with 16 mm film, and DV video, and it is very abstract although some
figures appear now and then on the screen. It is a work in which I explore the state of hysteria.
It starts with “La Torre”, a 3D animation presenting a claustrophobic space in which some objects rotate on themselves on a chequered floor. This piece is expressing a sense of prisony and
oppression, from which a first stage of hysteria appears identified with the worms crossing the room.
The theme of hysteria manifests more directly in the struggle of the second section: “Le Formiche”,
in which a succession of images of shaking hair, falling flowers, black paint on canvas, and frenetic
body movements inhabit the screen.
The third part of [...]

Original post by Rhizome.org Artwork and software by Elliott Back

Take uses 80 ‘keywords’ from a dating website to explore language and memory, association and generalisation. The work operates online as well as being disseminated through installation.

Original post by Rhizome.org Artwork and software by Elliott Back

Located in the Ostrobothnia region, near the campus of Helsinki University on the eastern side of Helsinki, JKMM Architect (http://www.jkmm.fi/)s (http://www.jkmm.fi/)
won a national competition to design the Vikkii Urban Center. The
focal point of the Center is a church clad in aspen shingles that have
turned gray since construction was completed in 2005. Throughout
Europe new church design is not synonymous with modernity, so when the
Parish of Helsinki approached the architects at JKMM, they welcomed the
opportunity to contribute to a newly developed urban area housing
approximately 13,000 residents.
Many Scandinavian churches serve as civic spaces for the
surrounding community to gather. Of course sacral characteristics
are still present, and the Viikki Church?s central space and adjoining
congregation hall have a light-filled cathedral-like appearance.
The architects chose wood for practically every surface of the interior
space as well: oaken doors, spruce ceiling and walls, and aspen
furniture allow the congregation to feel as though they are gathering
within a forest. [...]

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

So finally after 29 years I broke down and bought a laptop! Even better, a tablet! Working on the road sans computer has been a bit difficult, this was very overdue.
Now I need a proper name for it. It is currently named Tabby the Tablet PC, I’m sure someone out there can do better. Suggest a few names in here and I’ll pick a winner in a week or so. The winner gets the honor of participating in arbitrary anthropomorphosizing! Oh.. and a “Black Lotus” vinyl figure.
 

Original post by Ronnie and software by Elliott Back

From 1974-1993 WGBH Boston’s ‘New Television Workshop’ supported the creation and broadcast of works for television by an extensive and illustrious group of artists. Nam June Paik not only created a number of his influential videos there, including ‘9/23/69 Experiment with David Atwood’ (who was a WGBH engineer), but also with Japanese engineer Shuya Abe he created the Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer–a major development not only for Paik’s work but for the entire medium. Other artists to pass through the workshop included Marina Abramovic, Laurie Anderson, Peter Campus, Stan Vanderbeek, and Bill Viola. Following in the footsteps of this important program is the WGBH Lab, which provides tools and broadcast access for a new generation of media artists. They offer a ‘Filmmaker in Residence’ program as well as the ‘Sandbox’ service that gives users free access to WGBH stock footage. For their new program, ‘Open Call,’ WGBH is teaming up [...]

Original post by ana otero and software by Elliott Back

Just over one month remains until the close of our annual Community Campaign. We are seeking support for our online programs in 2008, including our daily art coverage, in-depth criticism, discussion forums, artist commissions and online exhibitions. Like all our efforts, these programs are underlined by our mission to encourage and expand new media art practices and discourse. We are calling on our community — all those who read or participate in Rhizome year-round — to make a contribution during this critical Campaign. Become a member ($25) or make an additional donation and receive a special limited edition artwork as a thank you gift. Help us keep Rhizome’s online real estate running strong!

http://rhizome.org/support/individual.php

Original post by ana otero and software by Elliott Back