Re: [-empyre-] intro

[Marius Watz <marius@unlekker.net>]

hi,

Thanks to Adam for the introduction to an interesting subject.

I recently had an opportunity to work with internet streaming. The 
"nonTVTVstation" is hosted by Splintermind in Stockholm, and has been 
broadcasting since 1999. It consists of a MPEG-2 stream (I forget the 
bitrate) to select locations that can handle the bandwidth and have 
decoders in place. The stream is decoded at the destination and projected 
or shown on big screens. Currently they are presenting in galleries and 
museums in the Nordic countries, as well as a few public locations like 
night clubs etc.

In this situation, the Internet is the carrier medium but not necessarily 
integral to the work being shown. Users online can access a low res version 
of the stream through Realplayer, but the focus is on physical showing 
locations. The curatorial policy of Splintermind (curator is Björn Norberg) 
focuses on work that is realtime, i.e. no taped works are shown. Pieces 
have included live performance, reality TV with rats, computer-processed 
video and computational works. Splintermind is currently working on an 
extension called "nonTVTVstation en europe", which is a Europe-wide version.

My "dilemma" in doing a project for the channel was that my work is purely 
digital, pristine RGB vector-like graphics. As such, it does not relate to 
video as a medium at all. The color gamut is different, I usually use 
higher resolution than video etc. But as Adam points out, compression and 
low frame resolution is part and parcel to the streaming experience.

In retrospect I am still more interested in the idea of realtime works than 
I am in the aesthetics of compression and codec errors. But I do believe 
that the logical next step of Internet TV will be a great opportunity for 
artists. In my case, I separated the piece into two modes of access:

1. As seen at the nonTVTVstation locations, projected, non-interactive.
2. Online, as a Java applet, interactive and feeding into the system that 
is broadcast so that online users are obliquely "visible" in the live stream.

Documentation of the piece is online here:
http://www.unlekker.net/proj/drawingmachine13/
Unfortunately, no documentation of the MPEG stream is currently online.

The notion of interactivity or use of external data sources as an input 
into a broadcast work interests me. Ironically, the traditional one-to-many 
broadcast situation is appealing, since the typical situation in 
interactive works is user-to-computer, with no sensation of sharing an 
experience with other users.

I agree with Adam that the web is actually not important to these content 
streams. Rather, it is a convenient way of documenting or publicizing 
broadcasts. But I see a problem in how one will "watch" internet 
broadcasts. Internet users tend to have even shorter attention spans than 
TV zappers. Even if the streaming software / hardware works effortlessly, 
how will one keep the attention? Is the computer the end receiver, or will 
it only function as an antenna, with the final output being a TV, stereo, 
whatever?

I wonder, in the same way that internet radio has undermined commercial 
music dissemination, could the same happen for the (huge) video, film and 
TV content market. Will we soon have pirate TV stations defiantly 
broadcasting Hollywood content, pornography and illegal bootlegs of 
unreleased music videos?


marius

Marius Watz - Amoeba / Unlekker
marius--at--unlekker.net

http://www.unlekker.net/
http://www.evolutionzone.com