week 12

17/12/11. The complexity of simplicity.


This week we ended the 12-week module by talking about John Maeda, who could well be the world leading designer but also a professor and computer scientist. This last lecture focused on his ten laws of simplicity. Written late in 2005, the laws really help when producing work on a project involving design or other creative work. We discussed these laws in order to try to understand and assimilate them, and I include the list below:

1- Reduce. It is important spend time thinking and to find a balance between the simplicity and functionality of a product or a service.

2- Organise. Organizing your surroundings will, in the long run, show efficiency and will create extra time, which brings us to the next law.

3- Time. Managing to save time is a hard task and a constant battle. It can be very complex to find options for time saving. Even if it is difficult, when successful, saving time will make things seem simpler.

4- Learn. Knowledge will save time and make things easier. Collaboration is the key to success. It is equally important to know one’s own capabilities as well as being able to work in collaboration to combine these skills with others.

5- Simplicity and complexity need each other. Without complexity to compare it to, a less complex item may not seem so simple. Simplicity and complexity implement each other.

6- Context. It is important to always consider the context in which a project is done, to understand what is going on and where it is going.

7- More emotions are better than less. 72 per cent of people are afraid of showing their emotions but being passionate and caring will help in getting away with almost anything. If it is about you, it is always better to be autobiographical and refer to your own life and experience, as this will help viewers to recognise these emotions in themselves.

8- Trust. In simplicity we trust; it is important to believe in ourselves, to be confident in our judgment and have faith. If one does not believe in himself no one else will.

9- Failure. Some things can never be made simple. Failure is important; it will help to evaluate things realistically. Failing is part of the process and in times of failure the only way to proceed is to try again.

10- Most importantly: simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful. It is important to get to the point without obstructing the way with too much unnecessary information.

So to recapitulate and emphasize the aim of today’s lecture, we pointed out that learning some programming and algorithm is really helpful and almost indispensable as a designer. It is important not to focus too much on the past; the past does not matter, the future is where we want to be. We have to work harder and eliminate the factors/people/elements/reasons that are slowing us down, have fun and play, think differently and experiment, now!

Thanks to our lecturer, Paul Moore.

Happy holidays.

week 11

10/12/11. Visual and sound.

Fallowing on from last week, in this week’s lecture, we talked about the use of visuals in musical performances and the practices that it involves. These events take place in locations like concerts halls, bars and other venues. The visual side involves elements like VJing and the use of lights systems, screens and smoke machines. This equipment has been used and combined with live performances. In these cases there has been much experimentation carried out concerning the presentation of the sound (live bands, DJs, etc…). We discussed how this combination has been manipulated along the years to create unique experiences. In my view the reactions to this process can involve very emotional responses and create special connections between the viewer, the visuals and the music depending on the environment in which it is presented. We also looked at some video clips related to this matter; we were shown a clip of a German club in which the walls are equipped with light systems that run following the beat of the music. Today These types of systems can be very complex and elaborate.

We then had a guest, a 3^rd year student from the creative technology course that gave a talk on one of his project. He had done work with a media company, and was looking for tools that could provide a video mix depending on the music and the mood in which it would be used. Nothing that he was looking for was available and after researching for this type of application or software, he decided to develop his own program that could provide, as he said, a much “cooler and advanced video mix”. This device would analyze the audio and basically retrieve information from the music track (midi, drum track, etc…) and by selecting video clips and pictures from a designated folder would create a unique video edit. The edit would use already preset effects, which I suspect are programmable to allow total originality. the equipment that V.J.s use have limited options and tools, so this device would be somehow similar or in between something like Vimeo and Animoto. His research brought him to learn about algorithms, which is a required skill in a designer’s career. He is looking to develop the style of video that such a programme could generate while assigning the content, applying effects and developing plug-ins, apps and web pages.

Coding and programming are the key skills needed to create this type of tool and every student should know some coding and programming to develop ideas, projects and or innovations. This combines technology, creation and imagination in artistic endeavour, which helps with the development and originality of the creation. He also gave us some advice by asking us to always check the viability of the process and the basic ideas we create. It is important to take this into consideration during the artistic project and if needed (and depending on the aim of the concept) to also look toward creating a business space for it.

week 10

02/12/11. Internet art.

In 1990 the Internet popularity was at its tipping point, almost everybody was using it on a regular basis. The generations of these years grew up with this technology and considered it as a phenomenon that provides new emotions. Subconsciously the user ignores the presence of the equipment as if there was no computer and unless a technical problem occurs, it is used as a window or doorway to a new dimension, new place and meeting point. The internet has provided so much change in the way populations live today (communication, information, commodity, work) but it is still growing and many wonder what it is going to become, what effect these changes may have in the future on the cultures and traditions.

It is a difficult task for artists today to adapt and think of new ways to practice and present art, as it now includes personal/private and public (micro/macro) aspects. By trying to define what the Internet was during the lecture we came to talk about a book called ‘windows and mirrors’ that explains about digital art, interaction design and the myth of transparency.

We looked at other pieces of technology that provide new experiences, for example the ‘connect 360’ from Microsoft. It allows a much more physical way to play video games and share these games with millions of people all over the world. The user can also browse and watch videos from the net and all these options are controlled by his or her body and voice commands. I think it is also going to encourage people to stay in their living room and adapt little by little to this inevitable virtual life. We then talk about the device itself and how its operating technology has attracted many people’s interest. We discussed how it is built and what can it be used for other than its initial purpose. Microsoft has decided to leave the device’s source open and created hackers sites where information is displayed or exchanged and discussions about the device can be carried out in an attempt to help experiments with this technology to take place. This reminds me in a way of the new forms of organization of work. I am referring to an essay written by Maurizio Lazzarato called ‘Immaterial Labor’ that identifies the new composition of what work is nowadays. The new I-phone is also a device that uses new technology and has the ability to recognize voices and execute tasks on voice-command. It will be interesting to see what kind of experimentation and use of these systems will take place in the future.

Today there is a much clearer idea of what Internet art is. It is personal; people started using private and personal events from their ordinary life in art. For example, a project is being carried out by a student for which he has attached a camera to himself and records every moment of the day for a period of two weeks. We talked about a performance artist, Stelarc (Stelios Arkadiou); using surgical practice he has had implanted a mouse’s ear on to his harm. His work focuses on increasing the capability of the human body. As a professor of art and robotics he has worked on many other projects that contribute towards the field in the creation of androids. He also wired his body’s nervous system to a web page from which his movements could be controlled via the Internet. It shows that the lines between art, medicine, science and humans are blurred and the interaction has changed.

Next was a small activity for which we had to write personal secrets on to post-its. They were read out anonymously which is in a way like Facebook. This kind of information can be stumbled on randomly on the Internet, in that case the context in which it was created is absent. The Signifier does not affect the viewer and we are free to think and feel what we want of it (funny, sad, true etc.).

To follow we talked about an artist that recently had a book launch ‘txt me up’ in a local art gallery (the Void gallery). The book contains notes and texts that the artist kept along the years. She combined these with images and pictures to present the very personal events and evolution of her life.

To be continued…

week 9

25/11/11. Visual emotions.

This week we started by looking at some of Christian Marclay’s experiments between audio and visual. Christian gained his reputation as a visual artist and composer while exploring and creating sound collages, video art and sculptures. We looked at his turntables performances and how he used them controversially. The way he cut parts of some records and replaces them with pieces from other ones remind me a lot of the more recent ‘cut and paste’ technique for sampling sound. We noticed that even if some of his pieces were, in my view, unpleasant to the ear, it was innovative and unintentionally very much influenced the scratching techniques that DJ’s use today. Christian also constructed many instruments that were impossible to play like the twenty-foot long accordion or the rubber Fender bass guitar.

We then pointed out a few factors that we felt a video art production should provide:

1. It is important to keep in mind that the story does not have to be obvious; it is not always required to have narrative. Once a piece of art is presented the author’s opinion and description has less impact and influence. It is left to the audience to understand the meaning of the piece, recalling Barthes’ Death of the Author. The viewer is required to work harder to comprehend the message presented.

2.It should be aesthetic - pleasing to the eyes - but that very much depends on personal tastes. As an example we were shown a video production from a student, similar to drum compositions by Steve Reich. The piece contains sampled and modified audio from this artist. This 12 week video production shows different shots of the drum kit; they were blurry at times and lit with blue spots. The student communicates the connection and relation he has with his instrument, and there is also a certain feeling of intimacy. He expresses the affection and care he has for his drum kit in a very unusual way.

3. It should be emotionally crippling and the audience should in some way get attached or identify with it. The production should have an emotional response whether the impact is positive or negative, which also depends on the personal experience of the audience. This relates to some visual work we observed by Willy Doherty. He presents a particular visual journey on ‘unapproved roads’ - small roads located near border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, the frontiers of which traffic was not permitted to cross by these roads. We also looked at a video from Bill Viola called ‘the passing’ which is a mix of very personal footage like the birth of his child and the death of his mother. These were edited along with some staged video clips. It is an entirely visceral and purely emotional piece with slightly off speed footage and sound that also helps to give the production a more affective result.

week 8

18/11/11   Sound and vision.

We discussed the importance of sound when combined with visuals, how it influences the imagination of the viewer and helps to create a more interesting visual perspective.

When using sound in the production of a moving images piece or a film, sound effects like footsteps, background noises or even explosions are added after the filming to enhance the quality of the footage and avoid unwanted noise. Sometimes the sounds of certain objects are recorded and used to imitate those of different objects, and this effect is called “foley”. Considering the tools and technology available today, the audio for a video production can be worked on more efficiently and creatively than before. It is an important additional element that provides more options and can become indispensable depending on the piece. It gives the experience much more interesting results.

We talked about Walter Ong (1971), who focuses mainly on the study of written literature against the background of oral tradition and the impact that the shift from orality to literacy had on culture and education. He also studied the effects of the first transformation of human thought from the world of sound to the world of sight.

We discussed how we combine images and sounds and analyse objects by automatically assigning particular sounds to them. I believe that it can also work the other way around. We refer to them in our everyday lives, sometimes they can have very personal connections and the sounds we hear provoke feelings and can remind us of a past experience or a person. Also as Bela Balazs said we learn culturally how to perceive sound.

So what is sound?

Sound is immersive and cannot be shut out. As opposed to visuals, there is no point of sound and it cannot be frozen as an image can.

I think that sound can also be called a relevant noise; the difference between sound and noise has been confused. I find that the best way to explain it is that sound comes from controllable sources and has a set purpose like a radio, a musical instrument or even a speech. Noise often has more random and mixed sources; it is irrelevant and often undesired. It could also depend on the context in which it is perceived but I am still unclear when exactly a sound can start to be referred to as a noise and vice versa.

 A sound envelope is composed of an attack, sustain and decay. In a lecture/conference for example, the sound perspectives are comprised of 3 elements:

Figure = Paul (lecturer)

Ground = students

Field = class room

Sometimes we play with these perspectives, like in a nightclub where the field becomes the figure. The ‘Cocktail party effect’ describes the ability to focus on a particular noise and ignore any others in the background even in really loud environments.

All sound has a form of distance it can be:

Intimate, personal, informal, formal or public.

We looked at John Cage who is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4.33, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. This composition seems to have been a great achievement in many artists’ view and at the time it was produced it was seen as original and highly creative. It makes a very strong point: all sound is music, music is all sound.

week 7

11/11/11.   Real simulation.

Following last week class, we started with Baudrillard’s ideas regarding how society’s methods of communication determine social relations. In addition he says that Simulacra involve denial of the concept of reality as we commonly understand it. Baudrillard argues that today there is no such thing as reality. We then noticed the way we live life through simulation of real life and how reality becomes secondary. For example, in a night out every move is recorded by pictures or videos, and it is only when these pictures or videos go on Facebook that it becomes the night out. This life style can be dangerous as it is possible to get lost between the reality and the act. Also the line between private and public life is blurred. 

What is public life and what is private life?

We also use this technology as a tool (smart phones, Ipad, etc…) to create this virtual space, to which we are constantly obliged to refer. These tools affected the way we do things and how we live and organize our lifes; time is compressed and we can achieve more in a day than before.

We than look at this famous ‘Ipad’ and it's new virtual magazine that can be purchased online. We discussed how the companies constantly try to find new ways to adapt to the needs of society, to create a more special experience but also how to market their products.

Next we looked at the Ipad’s ‘flip board app.’ which is another way of keeping up to date with this virtual life (no need to go to the shop to buy magazines and newspapers). The application could also be interesting for kids we flipped through the pages of the virtual book, Alice in Wonderland, which contains the story but also have little interactions and animated pictures “incidentally it reminds me of the pop-up books”. The menus have many options like edited versions for younger readers and other audio options. And for adult users the news and live broadcast are available to watch, yes it does indeed have it all…

In my opinion, the values and the qualities have lost their meanings as not every family can afford an Ipad and would have to find much more affordable ways to entertain, educate their kids or to keep up with current affairs. I mean what if you can’t afford Internet connection?

Looking at the notion of mobility, it is a brilliant piece of equipment to have. It allows one to be aware of many things at anytime and anywhere as long as an internet connection is available and as long as the battery lasts.

A book does not required battery and the Ipad does not provide the smell, the sound of the flickering page or even the feel of the paper on which it is printed. In my view these things should not be forgotten, as they are the very personal and physical feelings that the Ipad lacks and have as much importance as the content of a book.

So after buying the device, paying the monthly bill for the connection and purchasing the virtual book online, I am questioning whether it is really a need or just an expensive capitalistic quality of life?

Moving on from the apple achievement in challenging years of traditional culture, we talk about Appadurai’s five scapes.

Ethnoscape, technoscape, and finanscape, intervene and work in relation with each other.

Ethnoscape refers to the evolution of people across cultures and borders. Multicultural scapes with which we live, react, deal, respect and negotiate.

Technoscapes bring about new types on cultural interactions and exchanges through the power of technology, which is very closely tied with the constantly developing economy (finanscape) it has became almost a virtual scape as we actually never handle money and every transaction are done virtually.

The mediascape and ideoscape deal with the national and international creation and how image and information are used. Mediascape (radio, T.V., newspaper etc.) make the totally fabricated world we live in. Ideoscape refers to ideologies and ways of governing but it does really depend on the viewer and his personal opinions.

We realized that the population could easily create it’s own scapes like soundscape or soundmark (church bells for example) visualscapes, etc. and that various similar therm can be produced. This use of the suffix ‘scape-‘ which when combined with appropriate prefixes offers a framework to describe and examine society.

week 6

04/11/2011 Digital natives.

This week we watched a clip from an episode of ‘Thunderbirds’ the action figure series from 1968. We noticed how productions like this got cheaper along the years and how the puppets would have a different look/appearance to those in similar series that are more contemporary. We discussed how the production was pure science fiction and outside the realm of possibility, but also very original. It was hard for the population at the time to imagine, for example, being able to have a video conversation while on the move as Miss Penelope does in this particular clip. Another example is the way that games and films have become almost impossible to differentiate from one another as the technology of the tools used in these productions has evolved.

As opposed to the “digital immigrants” who are trying to catch up, the generations after 1985 (known as “digital native”) were born and raised with a natural knowledge of operating technology and would communicate with a “visual grammar.”

As the time needed to change is getting shorter along the years the world shifted into this virtually connected population, statistics show that there would be considerable stress and confusion if subject to a media blackout (that is no phone, computer, or any kind of wifi connection). Just as these social network methods of communication are destroying more traditional conversation practices, some of the digital immigrants would also be left behind as these changes happen too fast for them to catch up.

As an example of the consequences of this, we talked about how important it seems to think about ways to accept smart phone as a tool in education as they are not likely to disappear. Statistically there would be as many smart phones than baby being born.

Using them as an educational resource, the student of today can gain access to instant data and learn faster. Examples include being able to check on the validity of information from a lecture instantly as it is being given, and the creation of walled garden (a chat room limited to students in the same class, in which they can discus and exchange information on a specific module, talk about a lecture/seminar taken earlier that day or on work related to this module.) In my view, as the information that is available on the Internet is not always proofread, it is as important to confirm the authenticity of this data.

To follow we talked about the different rules regarding the value of certain networks, which were the Sarnof’s loop, (a one to many traditional broadcast/communication like the T.V. or radio), the Metcalf’s loop, (a one-to-one communication in a network of many, like email/phone) and Reed’s loop (which adds multiple size groups to a network to build on the one-to-one communication possibilities, these possibilities would depends on the size of the groups.)

Lastly we learned that as the generations evolve with these social networks to communicate, it became a necessary part of life for them. It also became fashionable for some to expose themselves; in the postmodernism world every one gains a celebrity lifestyle. This way of living can be as equally damaging/dangerous if too much personal information is being shared and if precautions are not taken.