Art 410 - Conceptual Strategies

- Review last class: presentation uploaded

- NY Times Circuits re: acronyms

- Conceptual Artsist assignments

- Wall drawing groups and assignments will be posted before class on Thursday

- How to blog, and upload images. (Note: width of blogging space = 510 pixels)

- Blog short summary of the Kaprow essay: "Art Which Can't Be Art"

- Presentation on the digital representation of images Download presentation

- Break (20 minutes)

- Introduction to Photoshop

- Class completes Adobe Classroom in a Book - Chapter 3. Download the image for the tutorial here.When complete, upload the image to your blog. Create a blog entry with a link to your image file (the image is not to be displayed in your blog).

- Class copies self-portrait file to computer. Open in Photoshop. Crop image so that it occupies 1.5 x 1.5 inches on the screen. Correct any color caste. Adjust contrast as needed. Upload to personal blog as an embedded image in a new posting.

- Assignment due Tuesday, September 11 (see separate posting for details).

The purpose of this assignment is the further investigation of art and life, the use of mapping as a conceptual strategy, the further development of skills in digital photography and Photoshop, and the use of Google Earth and Panoramio as artististic tools.

Read Guy Debord's "Theory of the Derive".

Go on a "derive" (drift) following the outline given in Debords essay. Record your route either on a map or in writing. Take at least 10 photographs which capture the essence of your experience - ideally these will be photos of things you would not normally notice or new perspectives on the ordinary. Record the locations where you took the photos on a map. The derive should take at least an hour. Try to pay attention to the "psychogeographic" influences referenced by Debord. As emphasised by Debord the derive should NOT be part of your normal daily activity.

In class on Tuesday, 11/9 we will do basic editing on the photos in Photoshop, then use Panoramio to post the images to Google Earth at the location they were taken. We will mark the route of the derive using tools in Google Earth.

Download file

- Conceptual Godesses: Kruger / Holzer / Ono

Yoko Ono Instructions
Yoko Ono Film
Yoko Ono Sounds

Jenny Holzer Truisms
Jenny Holzer Truisms installation

Barbara Kruger Style Guide
Barbara Kruger and John McEnroe (?)

- Wall drawings, assignments are as follows:
Wall Drawing #44
Straight lines less than 10 inches long, not touching, covering the wall entirely. Black pencil.
Group: Bethany, Andrew, Kristen

Wall Drawing #46
Vertical lines, not straight, not touching, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall. Black pencil.
Group: Robert, Eric, Chris, Melody

Wall Drawing #51
All architectural points connected by straight lines. Blue snap lines.
Group: alexander, Peter, Taryn

Wall Drawing #65
Lines not short, not straight, crossing and touching, drawn at random using four colors, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall. Colored pencil.
Group: Elyjah, Monika, Crystal, Francisco

Wall Drawing #73
Lines not straight, not touching, drawn at random, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall. Black pencil.
Group: Suzannne, Jason, Kati

Wall Drawing #86
Ten thousand lines about 10 in. long covering the wall evenly. Black pencil.
Group: Nicolaus, Arash, Maya, Ryan

Split into groups. Select desired wall. Agree approach. Start. Cleanup.

Soundworks, videos, and interviews.
http://www.wnyc.org/music/johncage.html

Blog instructions for an art idea
that another class member could
complete in one hour maximum.

Think about Yoko Ono's instructions - some are metaphorical, some are thought experiments, and some involve some physical objects.

The instructions will later be allocated randomly for implementation. So you could possibly end up with your own idea!

Here's an example off the top of my head: "Eye piece: close your eyes. Press on the eyeballs with thumb and forefinger of one hand. Wait 5 minutes then with your eyes still closed draw what you see with the other hand."

http://www.gizmoz.com

A "side project" for those of you who are ahead or who would like to do a little extra.

- My Top 10 Photoship tips
1. color mode: indexed v. rgb
2. zooming: in/out/100%
3. image size: resolution / resampling
4. selections: moving and adjusting / new image
5. save for web and devices
6. cloning and healing (foreground and background color)
7. undo: cmd-z / history palette
8. layers and text
9. create space: remove pallets
10. printing: size / rgb / cmyk

- Complete Adobe Chapter 3 Exercise
- Save for web as jpeg 250 wide, maintain proportions
- Break
- Edit and upload portrait
- Derive images: open in Photoshop
- Intro to Google Earth and Panoramio

- CLASS ROSTER - some people in the class are NOT on the list!

- Conceptual Gizmoz - discuss

- What's so special about conceptual art anyhow, haven't engineers, builders, and architects been using instructions to make things for thousands of years?

- Google Earth and the culture of surveillance and the uploaded self - discuss in relation to masochism and eternal life
http://www.google-watch.org/

- Discuss instructional art ideas and allocate

- Wall drawings - discussion of progress / experience to date / CLEANUP!

- Moblogging?

I previously gave the maximum width available for an image as 510 pixels. In fact, there is a 15 pixel margin on both sides of the main blog space, so the maximum width available is 480 pixels.

An overview of what we'll all be doing next year......
http://www.trendwatching.com/trendreport/toc/

ECO-EMBEDDED?
GLOBAL BRAIN?
MECONOMICS?
VIRTUAL VALUE?

- Automating Photoshop: actions, batch processing

- At a minimum apply: auto-contrast, auto color correction, and unsharp mask to each photo

- Upload photos to Panoramio, map photos and export to Google Earth (.kml file)

- Create Path connecting Photos in Google (.kml file)

- Combine two .kml files into one .kml file

- Blog the combined .kml file

- Done

- Review progress on Derive in Google Earth

- Review results of implementation of art instructions

- Conceptual Pirates:
Negativland,
Chumbawamba
Billboard Liberation Front
rtMark
The Bots
Electronic Disturbance Theatre
Critical Art Ensemble
Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund for Steve Kurtz
DJ Shadow

- Instructions for Moblogging(?)

- Wall Drawings

Read selections from The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism by Hakim Bey:

Poetic Terrorism

Art Sabotage

Pirate Utopias

The Psychotopology of Everyday Life

Blog an idea for an act of Poetic Terrorism or Art Sabotage, or an idea for establishing a Pirate Utopia or a Temporary Autonomous Zone..

Nicolaus' art instructions:

Watch traffic for 10 minutes on any street. At the end of that time, draw what immediately comes to mind after watching the flow of cars.

As implemented by Andy Cox on Monday, September 17, 2007

Download video excerpt

1. Photos

Create an account in Panoramio. Upload and map your photographs following the onscreen instructions. When done, click "show photograph in Google Earth". Panoramio creates a .kml file that is sent to Google Earth. The file, named with your Panoramio username, will appear under "Temporary Places" in Google Earth.

2. Path
In Google Earth click on:
A window will open. Enter a title for the path. DO NOT CLOSE THE WINDOW. Click around your route until done. You can change the look of the path in the option tabs in the path window. The path .kml file will appear in the "Temporary Places". The path will have the same name as the one you entered in the path window.

3. Final .kml File

You now have two .kml files: one for the photos and one for the path. We want to combine them. Option click (Mac) or right click (Windows) on the path name in Google Earth. Select "save as" and save as my_name.kml (my_name is your choice) file. Open the file in TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). Do the same with the photos .kml file and open it in TextEdit (or Notepad). The photos.kml file looks like this: Download file

Repeat this procedure with your path file, which should look something like this: Download file. The numbers are the coordinates of the path turning points. We now need to paste in the Network code so that the photos will show up with the path. Paste everything between and into the path file just above the final tag. You will have something that looks like this: Download file

received via Andrew Bramer's virtual identity................

Hey 410 become a part of V.V.S,

So a few of use are interested in doing some video/performance work,and we would very much like this to be a collaborative effort. Similarto the Yoko Ono stuff we did. We are really exited about the idea ofworking on art as a group, and are curious if any of you were alsointerested. So here is what we have come up with so far.

- Basically it’s an interview with an avatar of yourself, which we createin second life (Second Life is a virtual world with millions of users).
- The only catch is it’s a live broadcast.
- The way we do this is by projecting an image of the avatar “live” in second life.
- Then the interviewer sits in front of the projection next to his or her own avatar.
- The avatar will be life size and the happenings in the background will be live and uncontrollable.
- A camera will be in placed real life so as to capture the video of the two subjects.
- This broadcast will be shown live via the Internet.

This will be the basic platform with a few variations on this set up coming in weekly episodes.
Episode one (or the pilot) will be a conversational performance piece.
- The object is to have a conversation with your Virtual self.
- This will be accomplished by using Internet programs known as chatterbots.
- These are simple interfaces that are complex math formulas aimed at reproducing Human speech patterns.
- There are many out there; however none are perfect.
- So what the interviewer will do is ask these chatterbots questions andwhatever the chatterbots response is, will be sent to (Text To Speech)software (computerized voice).
- That way people watching the broadcast will be able to hear the questions and the response.
Episode two has not yet been formalized so we encourage you to think of some ideas that might fit in.

If you are interested:
-E-maileither me Bramerandrew@yahoo.com or Eric at ecaselton@gmail.com with aphoto of your self (straight view Just like the gizmo deal) then we canget them processed before hand.
- Go to the chatterbot databaseweb link and find a chatterbot you would like to talk to. Document whatyou asked the bot and what its replies were.
-Then either e-mail them or print them.
-Remember when constructing the dialogue that the conversation is theactual piece of art. So think about what questions or responses youintend viewers to have.

Thanks a lot V.V.S.

http://www.virtuallyvirtualstudios.com/
http://www.geocities.com/brizglace/

PowerPoint Background

- What is PowerPoint?

- Loving PowerPoint - David Byrne: Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information

- Hating PowerPoint - Edward Tufte - PowerPoint is Evil (WIRED). "The triumph of form over content."

(- Edward Tufte and maps)

- Peeka Kucha: Tips

- Pecha Kucha Example - Emotional Signage

- How Not to Use PowerPoint by Don McMillan

PowerPoint Tips

- Setup:
Preferences
Toolbars > Common Tasks
Format > Slide Layout (blank)
Insert > New Slide (best to use Common Tasks toolbar)
Format > Font and default font
View > Guides and snapping

- Slide Show > Setup Show: Show Type > full screen, Slides > All, Advance slides > Using timings, if present

- Add text: double click on the slide or Insert > Text Box

- Copying slides, select slide, Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste, or use right click

- Insert > Picture > From File. Size an image for the full slide: 10 inches x 7.5 inches @ 100 dpi = 1000 pixels x 750 pixels.

- Layer text and text animation: select textbox then Slide Show > Custom Animation

- Flow Charts and tearing off tool palettes

- select slide then Slide Show > Transitions

- Set up a pecha kucha slide show: click on first slide then Slide Show > Transitions. Check Advance slide > Automatically after > and enter 20 seconds in the box, then click Apply to All. Each slide will advance automtically after 20 seconds.

- Slide Show > Presenter Tools

A conceptual performance by the 410 Class from an idea by Andrew Balmer:

Bark Like You Mean It! (mp3)

Design a modular house made from four (4) stacked shipping containers to provide a home of about 1200 square feet. Two containers on the bottom and two on the top. Top two are shifted to provide a balcony at one end and an overhang at the other. The house is completely self sufficient with solar panels on the top, water tank, and composting toilets. The roof garden is irrigated with recycled water.

Find a piece of abandoned land. An area of about 20 feet by 60 feet would suffice. (If narrower, rearange the containers to a vertical stack). Remove any debris level an area and provide a gravel foundation (approximate cost of foundation $1000). Fill the water tank (illegally) from a local hydrant.

The containers for the bottom floor are left as is to invite graffiti. They are mainly used for a garage (veg oil car), workshop, and storage. The top containers are ultra modern with glass windows covering the entire end of each. There is a roof garden for food, and a large balcony/deck.

When busted by the authorities or land owner, call some truckers and move the house to another location. The house functions as a TAZ or Pirate Utopia outside of the normal conditions of house ownership and the inevitable exploitaion of others that goes along with the earning of money to fund it. Ideally the inhabitants will be totally self-sufficient and able to operate totally outside of the modern conditions of production. Their lives will be a continual derive from block to block, and city to city, and even country to country using standard container ships. Living like global gypsies or poetic pirates.

- Review assignments to date

- Discuss any problems with Google Earth project

- Discuss ideas for Art Sabotage, Poetic Terrorism, Temporary Autonomous Zones, or Pirate Utopias

- Computer Games, Subversion and Art

- Wall Drawings

3D Game Engines
Tom Betts/[nullpointer] qqq (Quake mod)

jodi untitled game (Quake mod)

Brody Condon Adam Killer (Half-Life mod)

Intervention / Political
Simcopter hack

Under Ash

Bush Game

Velvet Strike

Escape from Woomera

Waco Resurrection

Night of Bush Capturing

Machinima
World of Warcraft

The Sims

Game Engines

EACH PERSON HAS 5 MINUTES SET UP THEN 6 MINUTES 40 SECONDS EXACTLY (20 SLIDES, EACH SLIDE IS EXACTLY 20 SECONDS).

PECHA KUCHA ON THURSDAY OCTOBER 11 IN FA 538
Bethany Balmet
Andrew Bramer
Robert Carter
Eric Caselton
Monika Chan
Chris Debose
Alexander Kent
Peter Macapugay
Taryn Mccabe

PECHA KUCHA ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 16 IN FA 538
Elyjah Mercurio
Crystal Mosqueda
Suzanne Nguyen
Jason Patten
Katherine Prescott
Nicolaus Seppi
Arash Sheikholeslami
Maya Suzuki
Ryan Wong