Have you seen my algorithm?
Axel’s lecture on net art was very interesting today. So much change over the last 12 years. It is a nice idea of inverse dog years. It hadn’t occurred to me that art of early net art period was concerned with communication structures themselves and that once these were in place as standard, artists moved in other directions. But now it seems obvious.
I see it now as a global movement. The Thing in New York and Berlin, Public Netbase in Vienna, EBOM in Sydney and so many more not-for-profit creative technology organisations around the world. I hadn’t thought of EBOM in this context before, as it was my nerdy friends sharing computers and information to musicians and artists, but now I see that this was a moment in time where new frontiers of digital space were being explored concurrently all over the world.

Then on to see Trevor Wishart give a lecture at LCC. Like all electro acoustic sound/music I hear these days I am left with the feeling of coldness. There were some wonderful sounds, but a lack of ‘musicality’. Such a problematic opinion I know. We didn’t get to listen to ‘Imargo’ in it’s entirety so I guess that had an effect on my opinion.
Someone asked a question about ‘does certain software make certain sounds? For example, Max MSP’. I agree with TW’s answer, that people often go for the easy patch or preset sound and always have. However, I have been thinking about the ‘fashion’ for digital synthesis in sound art. It does have a certain sonic quality that seems more intellectual (and cold) than emotional (and warm). I wonder is this to do with the sound waves themselves? Does altering the harmonics or frequencies of a sound to make a new one that would not occur in the natural world, make it sound cold or less human/natural?

2 wonderful days at college. It feels like as a class we have crossed through a boundary and become more connected. Yesterday’s tutorials were wonderful and touching. People exposed themselves, which I find so rarely happens in England. I guess one’s art is always influenced by one’s psyche and personal experiences. I wish I had been more personal in my tutorial. My shy secret is that after many years of prolific creative output in Australia, I have done very little art over the last 5 years since living in London. Taking this course is a result of the decision I made last year to revisit my art practice. It’s strange to have such a line drawn between what I did before and what I’m going to do now. The technology in my field has changed so much and I don’t have access to the huge sound studio I once possessed. It overwhelms me sometimes into inaction.