MTAA Reference Resource

large dark wind chime (tritone westy)

M.River — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:37:00 GMT

klaus weber’s large dark wind chime (tritone westy) at creative time’s this world and nearer ones on governors island, ny

secondary market and american muscle

M.River — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:31:00 GMT

Hanne Mugaas’s “Secondary Market” at Dispatch’s space at No Soul For Sale

Jonathan Schipper’s “The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle” at Pierogi’s Boiler Space

photos from The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty

M.River — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:41:00 GMT

some photos from Kai’s OTO, The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty, now up on OTO’s Flickr set

What is a Feraliminal Lycanthroparty?

Two sinewaves — one 3hz, the other 9hz played together via 2 amps. These two frequencies (one acting as carrier, the other as program) generate a lower third, .56hz. The amps run into 3 large magnets (�but kickers� - like the kind sometimes used in immersion theme park rides) place under a wood platform. The platform transmits the pulse from the magnets up to a wood bench. Around the bench, 3 sets of speakers play 6 palindrome loops of the words �yes� and �no�. Behind the bench a set of flashlights turn on and off, projecting onto a large stretched canvas in sequence. The room, ideally, is pitch black, sweltering hot, with a garbage can full of ice and beer.

Data center as art and architecture

T.Whid — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:02:00 GMT

The Times pays attention to something that’s intrigued me for a while — the aesthetics of data centers (here too). Having visited such places in my duties to commerce, I noticed how a standard rack of servers has the same sort of monumental minimalism of a Judd, but with lots of blinking lights and white fan noise thrown in for good measure.

MTAA has envisioned a sculpture that would comprise a standard 19” rack holding multiple computers running a small website hosting service. This rack would be installed in a ‘heroic’ manner in the center of a gallery raised on computer flooring above the normal floor. I think we wanted to call it “Monument.”

What the NYT article is doing and what “Monument” is intended to do is reveal these hidden systems that we all rely on. In the case of “Monument” — we’d attempt to aestheticize the purely functional (the NYT photos do something similar).

tv is dead.

M.River — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:11:00 GMT

Back in 1999, I was sitting in a noisy club by myself watching the bar�s TV with the sound turned off. They had on what looked like some vintage 50�s propaganda cartoons that I had not seen before. As I watched, the scene cut from some cartoon war to an image of the globe. Coming out of the globe was a huge red banner that said something like �Save Free Television.� As the cartoon cut back to the war, I thought - �wait� did that really say Save Free TV? Why would anyone need to save TV? It�s like saying save tall buildings. I should start a nonsensical digital campaign to save analog TV.�

And so came to pass MTAA�s first, and on this last day of TV, our most prophetic misunderstanding to date.

http://www.mteww.com/savefreetv/

The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty

M.River — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:56:00 GMT

On June 13th from 7 to 10pm, OTO is pleased to present a new sound environment by Kai Vierstra

The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty is a celebration of one of the most diabolically wacky inventions science has ever seen (or at least whispered about). It’s the feraliminal lycanthropizer and it’s a low frequency thanato-auric wave generator, and it’s at OTO for one night only. Expect some serious relaxation of muscles and mores with vibrations and party favors. It’s gonna be an awesome night. The feraliminal lycanthroparty is brought to you by the Brooklyn based artist, Kai Vierstra, who bases this and most all his other work on the continuation of what little he knows and can guess about his father’s wave research with MIT/Lincoln Laboratory’s group 38 “Air Defense Systems”.

For more information on the feraliminal lycanthropizer, please visit- http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/log/archive/8/feraliminal/

and for more of Kai’s work - http://kaivierstra.com

more info on OTO at Over The Opening

Wheel of The Devil playlist

T.Whid — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:25:00 GMT

Below, most of the work that comprised The Wheel of The Devil at May’s OTO. Not screened in this order, links where we can…

“Film in Which There Appear…” George Landow, 16mm film, 1965 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRd3727lwXs )
“Report”, Bruce Conner, 1967 (this looks horrible: http://www.download-finished.com/archive/bruce-conner-report-1967avi.html )
“The Jump”, Jack Goldstein, video, 1979 (crappy youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqwIXyqwZZg )
“lackofvision.mov,” Brody Condon, digital video, 1996-2009
“The Hamster Dance,” Deidre LaCarte, animated GIFs with audio loop, 1998 (http://www.webhamster.com/ )
“787 Clip Arts”, Oliver Laric, video, 2006 (http://oliverlaric.com/787cliparts.htm )
“nato1”, jimpunk, video, 2006 (http://dvblogh4ck.blogspot.com/2006/05/nato1.html )
“Walk”, Michael Sarff, video, 2007 (http://tinjail.com/walk/ )
“Subterranean House (Oonce Oonce)”, Michael Bell-Smith, video, 2007 (http://oonce-oonce.com/)
“Kingdom”, Michael Sarff, video, 2007 (http://tinjail.com/kingdom/ )
“Superman II point 0”, Chris Coy, Flash, animated GIFs, 2007 (http://www.seecoy.com/supermanIIpoint0.html )
“Timeless”, Hayley A. Silverman, video, 2007 (http://www.hayleysilverman.com/index.php?n=Work.Timeless )
“Our Political Work”, MTAA, 2-channel video with software, 2008 (http://www.mtaa.net/art/opw/ )
“YES & NO”, MTAA, 2-channel video with software, 2008 (http://mtaa.net/yes_no/)
“Rendered Spirits”, Rick Silva, video, 2008 (http://www.vimeo.com/1801184)
“The Horror! The Horror! (.info)”, Jon Rafman, Flash, 2008 (http://thehorrorthehorror.info/)
“MOUNTAINS”, Mathwrath, animated GIF and webpage, 2009 (http://www.mathwrath.com/ click ‘work’ then ‘MOUNTAINS’)
“you-talking-to-me.com”, JODI, webpages, 2009 (http://you-talking-to-me.com)
“People Who Look The Same In Every Photo,” no author, internet meme, 2009 (compiled by MTAA see: this & this)

photos from oto loop lecture

M.River — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:01:00 GMT

some photos from last nights OTO - The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture) now up on OTO’s Flickr set

Update
Ed began the night by screening Bruce Conner’s Report (1963-1967) and Marilyn Times Five (1968-1973) as people entered into the space. He then spoke a bit on the history of the film loop from the ‘Daedalum’ (aka ‘the wheel of the devil) or as it was later renamed ‘Zoetrope’ (aka ‘wheel of life’) to early porn loops. He then turned to the structural/ materialist approach to loops in which film is treated physically as a object (using tape to create a loop), editing looping sections into a film, and the act of reprinting sections of a film over and over to create a linear work that loops.

He then showed, as examples, two 16mm works - George Landow’s “Film in Which There Appear…” 1965 and Malcolm Le Grice’s Berlin Horse from 1970 (single screen) with a looping Brain Eno soundtrack (think music box) and ended with a section of Jack Goldstein loops including “The Jump” 1979 shown from DVD.

Next, Tim began to present the 17 digital works. He introduced each work with the artist name, the title of the work and the original format (and a note if it was translated from the original format for the screening). The rule was set up that each loop would run until a majority of the audience raised their hand to move to the next loop. Counter to what one might expect, each loop played for some time until people even began to consider looking at the next.

Once Tim ran through the 17 works, he returned to the top of the list and began again. Some people left, some people stayed and the length of duration people looked at the work stayed about the same or in the case of a few works became even longer.

Two thoughts from doing this project:

1. Work in translation is never the same. Goldstein’s loops on DVD from a digital projector are not the same as the film loops showing at the Met right now. I am thankful that translations occur as it allows more people to see the work and hopefully seek out source material.

2. Although we tend to think of loops both film and digital (and sound as well) as infinite, the act of perception always has a start and stop.

The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture)

M.River — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:14:00 GMT

stills from �The Horror! The Horror! (.info)� by Jon Rafman

The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture)
curated by MTAA with Ed Halter
presented by T.Whid of MTAA

The infinite loop is the perfect form for expressing the reality of contemporary existence. From the endless boom-bust cycle of capitalism to the repeating right/left swings of American politics to the misbehaving computer code frustrating our days, we are the society of the loop. We�re doomed to repeat history ad infinitum (not to mention ad nauseum) with no progress nor resolve needed. These observations are nothing new; how could they be? We�ve always been Sisyphus.

while (history) { history = true; }

Come celebrate the horrific beauty of the infinite loop at �The Wheel of The Devil,� a one-night-only screening of historic and contemporary loops at Over The Opening. Each loop screened until the audience votes to move to the next.

Artists include (in no particular order):

JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk - and more� JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk - and more� JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith � jimpunk - and more�

* where:*
Over The Opening (OTO)
60 N. 6th St. 2nd Flr (btw Wythe & Kent)
Brooklyn, NY, 11211

* when:*
Friday May 29th, 2009 7-10PM (one night only)
Doors open at 7PM, the lecture starts looping at 8PM sharp!
free and open to the public

more info at Over The Opening (OTO)

Aesthetic Quality Inference Engine

T.Whid — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:56:00 GMT

This software claims “Intelligent, Unbiased and Instant Assessment of Photos.” As far as I can tell, it’s based on prior ratings from individuals, e.g. humans rate photos, algorithm rates similar photos similarly.

We all know where that gets us.

Aquine

(via /.)

Are we still blogging? Um… yes?

T.Whid — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:56:00 GMT

Though we haven’t been posting much this May — don’t fear! We’ve been… ah, busy… yeah… busy.

T.Whid has been doing stuff that looks like this:

And M.River has been doing whatever it is that M.River does when he disappears for a while. I think that it may involve a lot of demolishing stuff and (I’m assuming) alcohol.

If you really miss MTAA you can follow our Twitter updates (M.River; T.Whid) and/or our delicious links (M.River; T.Whid). If you know us, you can find us on Facebook (I don’t accept requests from people I don’t personally know however).

We have some stuff coming up so watch this space!

m.river adds…

1. Done with demo for the next few months.
2. Here is a short loop about it.
3. I’ll facebook befriend almost anyone. Cuz I’m like that.
4. Don’t forget Flickr
5. Yes, new MTAA stuff soon.

The Interview (AKA Proust Questionnaire)

M.River — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:40:00 GMT

The Interview (AKA Proust Questionnaire)
shot 2007. finished 2008. web version released 05/2009.

Wikipedia Threatens Artists for Fair Use

T.Whid — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:03:00 GMT

Can a noncommercial critical website use the trademark of the entity it critiques in its domain name? Surprisingly, it appears that the usually open-minded folks at Wikipedia think not.

Last February, a pair of artists, working with several collaborators, created a Wikipedia article and invited the general public to add to it, following Wikipedia’s standards of credibility and verifiability. The work was intended to comment on the nature of art and Wikipedia. But Wikipedia editors did not take kindly to the project, and it was shut down within fifteen hours for being insufficiently “encyclopaedic.”

Fast forward a couple of months. The artists, Scott Kildall and Nathaniel Stern, have created a noncommercial website that documents the project, called Wikipedia Art. The domain name for the project: wikipediaart.org.

Yep, they used the term “wikipedia” in their domain name. “Wikipedia” is a trademark owned by the Wikimedia Foundation. And now the Foundation has demanded that the artists give up the domain name peaceably or it will attempt to take it by (legal) force.

read the entire article on eff.org + Slashdot coverage + rhizome.org coverage [one, two] when the project was first released (Feb 2009)…

photos from SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP at OTO

M.River — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:29:00 GMT

in the oto flickr set

UCT2010

M.River — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:16:00 GMT

Here is my proposal to the Rhizome Commission 2010.
Untitled Computer Typeface 2010 (UCT2010)
Enjoy.

i’m the last splash

M.River — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:50:00 GMT

MTAA Splash page for Rhizome 2001 - 2002

Updated Version

Rhizome’s Splashback

AFC on Splash

i could go on but i think i’ll stop here

Artists Meeting’s SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP at OTO

M.River — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:04:00 GMT

On April 18, 2009 from 7pm-10pm, OTO is pleased to presents SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP by Artists Meeting

SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP is a project developed by the collective Artists Meeting. Honing in on the dramaturgy of theory, the group has adapted excerpts from a variety of scholarly and art-theory-based texts from different eras and genres to a �Soap Opera� filmic format whereby plots are reduced to one liners, drama is played out in an exaggerated manner and scenes rely on emotional turmoil and ambiguity to capture the distracted viewer.

More info…

STAEHLE @ Postmasters

T.Whid — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:56:00 GMT

The one and only Wolfgang Staehle opens a new show at Postmasters this Thursday April 16, 2009! From the release:

April 16 - May 16, 2009

WOLFGANG STAEHLE
A Matter of Time

Postmasters is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Wolfgang Staehle.

A Matter of Time is comprised of four real time projections of time-lapse photographic sequences and a premier video work of a Yanomami Village in the Brazilian rain forest. The show will be on view from April 16 until May 16, 2009. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, April 16, between 6 and 8 pm.

A Matter of Time draws upon mid-19th century painter Thomas Cole’s series The Course of Empire. Cole’s historically critical rumination views pastoralism as the ideal model for civilization, fearing that the ideal of Empire inevitably results in greed and decay. While A Matter of Time holds the mirror of this salient socio-political commentary up to our own time, it is one whose reflection is without indignation to the systems themselves. Perhaps, best encapsulated in the artist’s own 1989 work which avows, “Empires crumble, republics collapse, and idiots live on;” the posit follows that it is our own inordinate ability to destroy the sublimity of any civilization’s ideal that is put on the table.

However, Staehle’s work in no way relies upon homage to Cole’s series, a foray to pastoralism or political satire. Evident in his body of work, the form is always central; and previous works have underscored time-a one-to-one, linear time, a simulative “real time” or the contrivance of frozen time. In this exhibition, A Matter of Time broadly refers to the time lapse photographic sequences (approximately 15,000 photographs per day at 10 frames per minute) but presented here in real time-a rate so methodical that it denudes the image of its cinematographic aspect, while accentuating it pictorially. By allowing us to exact the machinations of nature, through figuratively arresting time, a perceptual shift is created that video does not pose, and thereby realigns our relationship with the real. Each contiguous moment pre-empts the prior, switching out the obsolete image for a perpetually updated “now.” Is it that the representation of an object’s stasis recalls the full force of its movement? Because ultimately, it is this indeterminate relation with time that drives our experience with these quietly unsettling works.

crunch time for bunnies

M.River — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:12:00 GMT

t.whid adds:
This image (sited on Boing Boing yesterday) seems apropos for the day…

(maybe that’s bunny in that paper…?)

Mark Amerika in NYC tonight

T.Whid — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:05:00 GMT

OG net artist Mark Amerika’s Immobilité opens tonight at the Chelsea Art Museum. Amerika calls the work “[t]he world’s first feature-length mobile phone art film.”

More about the opening…

[…]solo exhibition of new work from artist Mark Amerika, opens Wednesday, April 8th, in The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum and remains on view through May 9, 2009. […]

Amerika describes Immobilit� as “a feature-length foreign film shot entirely on a mobile phone in Cornwall, UK.” The work includes an original soundtrack by renowned sound artist Chad Mossholder and introduces Camille Lacadee and Magda Tyzlik-Carver as on-screen personas that drift in and out of the film’s otherworldly landscapes and ghostly narrative sequences.

More about the film at the Immobilité website…