[-empyre-] visual "musak" with a twist?

[rtf9 at cornell.edu]

Dear Jim, 

>I'm curious about the four points you list below....and I'd love for 
>Tom , Patty and STephanie to chime in on this.  It apprears from 
>your point of view that the critical/political engagement of the 
>viewer is not important in the viewing process according to your 
>criteria?  IF it must be visually engaging but not require your 
>attention then is it not just like visual "musak" with a twist?  My 
>sense from Patty's post is that she was actually intending to 
>describe a very different kind of work.  Renate



>Thomas and Patricia -
>
>I was very pleased to read about your interest in ambient media. 
>"Ambient Media on Plasma" sounds like a terrific exhibition - 
>congratulations!
>
>The new flat-panel displays, in conjunction with HD visual 
>standards, are having a considerable effect on the moving image. 
>The video picture has never been as large, or as sharp, as it is 
>now.  These new displays (and the widespread use of relatively 
>inexpensive yet sophisticated cameras and post-production packages) 
>have transformed the non-theatrical moving image.  As Gene 
>Youngblood said:  "New Tools make for New Images".  One of the 
>directions that is suited to the new display technologies is 
>certainly Ambient Video.
>
>I've been working in Ambient Video for several years.   My own 
>variation on this form is representational, not interactive, 
>slow-paced, and based on natural imagery (primarily the Canadian 
>Rockies).  The works have a finite temporal flow, but can loop when 
>seen on a DVD.
>
>I think Ambient Video must satisfy the following difficult aesthetic 
>challenges:
>   * it should be visually engaging the first time you view it
>   * it must never require your attention
>   * it must reward your attention at any time with visual interest
>   * it must sustain over a great number of repeated viewings
>
>This is a considerable set of challenges.  I know that some of the 
>artists listed in Tom's message rely on composition and compelling 
>visuals to do this.  Other techniques can include the manipulation 
>of the time base, manipulation of the image itself, and the use of 
>slow transition (in the spirit of HG's work in an earlier post to 
>this thread).
>
>I incorporate the above techniques in my work.  You can see my own 
>Ambient Video work at:
>      www.ambientvideo.ca
>
>I also have some papers on Ambient Video on a related website:
>     http://www.sfu.ca/~bizzocch/ambientvideo.html
>
>My colleagues, the NoMig collective from Montreal and Malcolm Levy 
>from Vancouver, are also working on their own variations of this 
>form.  Their preferred term is "Video Painting".   NoMig has led in 
>the building of a website dedicated to the form: 
><www.videopainting.ca>
>
>A few of the other artists that work in related areas include 
>Douglas Siefkin <www.translumen.net>. William Kennedy ("Algonquin 
>Autumn"), and "Souvenirs from the Earth" 
><www.souvenirsfromtheearth.com/>.
>
>I am very pleased to read here that more and more artists are 
>working in variations on these forms, and that there is curatorial 
>interest in exploring and representing it.  Hope to hear more on 
>this topic.
>
>Thanks for your posts!
>Cheers,
>Jim
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Thomas wrote:
>>I would say that the definition of ambient media is
>>fairly fluid.  The term originally derives, as I
>>understand it, from advertising, i.e., ambient media as
>>background images of various kinds signifying products
>>and brand names.  With the advent of dvds and cheap
>>projection devices, sound and image artists are
>>now able to proliferate their work into
>>previously unavailable public settings.
>>
>>G.H., I love the work that you sent. It is truly
>>spectacular. The material that we have featured in
>>FLEFF, by artists Simon King  African Skies),
>>Johanna Vaude (Hybride), Eric Koziol (Ripple in the Eye),
>>among others, isn't interactive, but involves looped
>>electronic images, often, though not always, with
>>sound. While Chevelier's work would seem to necessitate
>>a museum or large  gallery space for exhibition, the
>>work that we feature, which is commercially available
>>(through for example, Microcinema International),
>>can be screened anywhere that there is an available
>>plasma screen, which includes hotel lobbies, cancer
>>treatment centers, hospitals, before cinema screenings,
>>and in museums and galleries as well. In this sense, it
>>is a form of popular or populist media.
>>(Here's a link to our website with the works
>>that we screened this year, with descriptions-
>>http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff/exhibitons/ambient/)
>>
>>For FLEFF, we project on plasma screens on the
>>Ithaca College campus, and projected at a downtown
>>club behind local rock bands doing Tom Petty
>>covers (as a prefestival benefit to raise money
>>for a lakefront trail).  The audiences (and the
>>bands) really respond to it, as it generates a
>>modernized version of the whole 60s vibe, while
>>avoiding simple nostalgia.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>
>>HG wrote:
>>  >> Ambient media occupies the forefront of new media practices.
>>  >
>>>  What do you mean "ambient media."   Is it for example sound
>>art?
>>  > I've done a series of morph still life that run on flat screens.
>>  > I called them ambient video. does that fit?
>>http://nujus.net/gh_04/
>>>  gallery10.html  Recently I met Miguel Chevalier. he doe large
>>>  scale
>>>  projections of computer generated flora--
>>>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzuRmpc78PI
>>>
>>>  Does his work fit your definition of ambient media?  My friend
>>&
>>>  colleague in France - Peter Sinclair has made a sound art work
>>>  that
>>>  reacts to the movement of the auto you are driving in an
>>>  generates
>>>  sounds  ---
>>http://nujus.net/peterhomepage/autosync/autosync.html
>>>
>>  > Is this ambient media?
>
>--
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>jimbiz at sfu.ca     www.dadaprocessing.com    www.ambientvideo.ca
>
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-- 
Renate Ferro
URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall
Ithaca, NY  14853