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Category: Collaborator: Digicult

DIGICULT_NEWSLETTER 75_DIGIMAG 38 – OTTOBRE 2008_ONLINE

October 4th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Online Journal, Resource, Sound, [2]News & Events No comments

Clicca qui se hai problemi di visualizzazione
http://www.digicult.it

http://www.digicult.it/agency/ http://www.digicult.it/digimag/ http://www.digicult.it/podcast/ http://www.digicult.it/Credits.asp http://www.digicult.it/Archive/ http://www.digicult.it/Contacts.asp

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http://www.digicult.it/digimag

E’ online la nuova Issue di Ottobre di DigiMag, mensile online di cultura elettronica e arti digitali del progetto Digicult. Come sempre di di interviste e approfondimenti dal mondo dell’arte e della cultura digitale nazionale e internazionale. Dj Spooky, Andy Deck, Chris Salter, la Staugbold, Rosa Casado e Andrea Balzola le interviste fatte in questo numero dai nostri inviati sparsi in tutto il mondo. Un numero questo ricco di approfondimenti teorici: dalla Science Education al Rapporto tra arte e nanotecnologia, dai Citizen Artists alla Capacità di generare un ambiente. Infine, come ogni numero, alcuni report e presentazioni di alcuni dei più interessanti festival a livello nazionale e internazionale: al report completo di Ars Electronica 2008 si aggiungono le riflessioni sull’eventoIndeepandance di Milano e sull’incontro con Richard Stallman al festival Medievalmedia.org, nonchè la presentazione dei temi che verranno trattati al prossimo AHA-Camper di Venezia

Buona lettura, da parte di tutta la redazione…

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“Complice una precisa innovazione tecnologica, un gruppo umano sostanzialmente allineato al modello culturale imperiale, accede a un gesto che gli era precluso, lo riporta istintivamente a una spettacolarità più immediata e a un universo linguistico più moderno, e ottiene così di dargli un successo commerciale stupefacente. Ciò che gli assaliti percepiscono di tutto ciò, è soprattutto il tratto che sale in superficie e che, ai loro occhi, è il più evidente da registrare: un apparente smottamento del valore complessivo di quel gesto. Una perdita di anima. E dunque un accenno di barbarie”.

Alessandro Baricco, “I Barbari”
da “Indeepandance: arrivano i barbari!” di Marco Mancuso

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INTERVIEWS:

- DJ SPOOKY – leggi l’articolo – di Donata Marletta
– ANDY DECK – leggi l’articolo – di Monica Ponzini
- STAUGBOLD – leggi l’articolo – di Bertram Niessen
- CHRIS SALTER – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- ROSA CASADO – leggi l’articolo – di Massimo Schiavoni
- ANDREA BALZOLA – leggi l’articolo – di Annamaria Monteverdi

REPORTS:

- ARS ELECTRONICA 2008 – leggi l’articolo – di Tiziana Gemin
- INDEEPANDANCE – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- RICHARD STALLMAN – leggi l’articolo – di Davide Anni
- AHA-CAMPER – leggi l’articolo – di Antonio Caronia

FEATURING:

- MICHAEL ASCHAUER – leggi l’articolo – di Giulia Simi
- DOUG AITKEN – leggi l’articolo – di Monica Ponzini
- MARINA IORIO – leggi l’articolo – di Silvia Scaravaggi

THEMES:

- SCIENCE EDUCATION – leggi l’articolo – di Luigi Ghezzi
- CITIZEN ARTISTS – leggi l’articolo – di Valentina Tanni
- GENERARE UN AMBIENTE – leggi l’articolo – di Valeria Merlini
- ARTE NANOTECNOLOGIA – leggi l’articolo – di Stefano Raimondi

COVER:

- Marco Mancuso – Berlin

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DIGIMAG e’ un magazine elettronico con pubblicazione mensile sui temi della cultura elettronica e delle arti digitali, distribuito mediante protocollo Http 4.01. DIGIMAG e’ un e-mag con lo scopo preciso di informare e approfondire tutte le tematiche relative al mondo della cultura, delle arti e delle tecnologie elettroniche, mettendo in evidenza le differenti realta’ esistenti e le sinergie che tra esse si creano.

Argomenti di approfondimento del magazine sono: Net Art, Hack Art, Software Art, Video Art, Elettronica, Audio Video, Performing Art, Intelligenza Artificiale, Design, NewMedia

Digicult Presents: OPEN SOURCE MEETING

September 27th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Conference, Hacktivism, Open Source, Research Opportunity, Resource, [2]News & Events No comments

Fondazione Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci – Perugia
October 10, 2008
10am-1pm / 4pm-7pm
Le Arti in Citta festival
http://test.leartiincitta.it/?q=node/77

Promoted by: Umane Energie and “Flussi” section of festival “Le Arti in
Citta”
Curated by: Moreno Barboni e Marco Mancuso (Digicult)
Moderated by: Marco Mancuso (Digicult)
With: Graffiti Research Lab, Pier Luigi Capucci, Laura Colini, Umane
Energie, Confinidigitali

On October 10, the group ‘Umane Energie’ and the ‘Flussi’ section of “Le Arti in Citta” festival are promoting a seminar called Open Source Meeting at the ‘Fondazione Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci’ in the city of Perugia. This is curated by Moreno Barboni and by Marco Mancuso, critic, curator and director of Digicult ((www.digicult.it), and will be participated by Graffiti Research Lab, Pier Luigi Capucci, Laura Colini, Umane Energie and Confinidigitali.

The Open Source Meeting is dedicated to the ever-expanding circulation of ‘open’ computer resources and is meant to get territorial subjects, such as Confinidigitali and Umane Energie, to meet. Their Beduino open-source platform, derived from the international Arduino project, will be the base of a ‘multimedia park’ featuring national and international guests, so as to elaborate on and divulge the possibilities of open-source in the domain of digital arts and multimedia communication, both from an artistic and planning perspective.

Marco Mancuso and Moreno Barboni have therefore imagined a day of lectures and seminars, a round table of experts, researchers, curators and artists all with different but complementary expertises. This will offer the opportunity to reflect over the enormous potential, however mostly unsaid, of open digital technologies, their impact on the social, operational and political context in which we live, on their interaction with architecture and the social spaces in our urban areas and on comprehending their emotional impact on our perception of new art forms and creative languages.

Evan Roth and James Powderly are the Meeting’s international guests, founders of Graffiti Research Lab, for the second time in Italy after their first public performance ‘Laser Tag’, curated by Marco Mancuso in December 2007 in Rome and projected on the facades of the ‘Colosseo’ and the ‘Cestia’ pyramid. Graffiti Research Lab is wholly dedicated to developing technologies and experimental media to enhance public resources for urban communication. GRL have therefore been invited to explain their artistic/activist project, to describe their performances in cities round the world, to talk about the possible risks and the enormous potential for communication that lies behind applying open source technologies to graffiti and media art.

Pier Luigi Capucci, critic and professor, deals with communication systems and languages and, since the early Eighties, has been investigating the relationship between technologies, culture and society and between art forms, science and technologies. His task in the Meeting will be to trigger the debate around the collective and social impact of open-source technologies. The opportunities of choosing and accessing information and new tools have, in fact, enabled new possibilities for communicating and sharing knowledge extending the awareness of the cognitive, operative, social, and political uses of these same tools.

Marco Mancuso is the chairman of the Meeting. Critic, curator and founder of Digicult he deals with Digital Creative Media and the relationship between images, sound and space within contemporary Audiovisual Art. Focusing on how open-source technologies have affected the digital Audiovisual domain by showing an overview on the most interesting artistic and creative international projects, he will suggest some critical thought around how these tools are used, around shared creativity dynamics on the Web, free code, and around how ever more intertwined art, design and hyper architecture are. Laura Colini, researcher at the Bauhaus University in Weimar in the department of Architecture, Media and Urban Sociology, will focus on technologies and participated city-making projects. She will describe the concept of participation in urban planning confronting it with the participation to the city entailed by ITC practices. A sort of shared-practices taxonomy to city-making, called ICT spatial practices, that allows to build up critical thinking and awareness around the urban theme of collective planning.

Lastly, the collaboration between Confini Digitali and Umane Energie that has lead to ‘Beduino’, an open-source electronic device meant to develop interactive, artistic installations. It features audio controls, sensor interfaces, led and motor controls. Slightly bigger than a packet of cigarettes Beduino, based on the more famous ‘Arduino’ hardware/software, can be used without having to write any code by those who are not necessarily computer geeks. It can be used as a real-time audio and video controller, as a MIDI control, it is useful for interactive installations, to control led lights, robotic controls and much more.

PROGRAM

10:00 Moreno Barboni: introduction and greetings
10:15 Marco Mancuso: opening and lecture
10:45 Pier Luigi Capucci: lecture

—break

11:30 Umane Energie: lecture
12:00 discussion
13:00 closing

—break

16:00 Marco Mancuso: introduction
16:15 Laura Colini: lecture
16:45 Confini Digitali: lecture

—break

17:30 Graffiti Research Lab: lecture
18:00 discussion
19:00 closing

ABSTRACTS

:::Graffiti Research Lab:::
:::The L.A.S.E.R. Tag payload:::

The New York artists and media activists GRL, will introduce their tool for digital urban graffiti: the L.A.S.E.R. Tag. The Mobile Broadcast Unit (MBU) with L.A.S.E.R. Tag payload is an open-source Weapon of Mass Defacement (WMD) designed to enable graffiti writers, artists, activists and citizens to communicate in the urban environment on the same scale as advertisers, corporations and governments. MBUs provide 1200 watts of audio and 5000 lumens of video projection capability mounted on an industrial work tricycle. The L.A.S.E.R. Tag payload allows individuals to write their own personal communications and expressions with a 60 milliwatt green laser on industrial facilities, monuments, towers, bridges, city skylines and other hard and soft targets of interest. The design and custom software for the MBU and L.A.S.E.R. Tag payload has been released open source, without copyright or patent, into the public domain. Hobbyists, hackers and other private citizens are encouraged to freely use, modify and release their own MBU/L.A.S.E.R. Tag designs. Units currently exist in NYC, Mexico City, Barcelona, Austria and Taipei. In NYC the MBU can be “checked-out” for free from the G.R.L. resource library and arsenal for use by interested parties. Advertisers need not apply.

:::Marco Mancuso:::
:::Audiovideodrome: on the open source contemporary audiovisual art, design
& hyper architecture:::

Audiovisual Art, the ability to create works of art – may they be narrative or abstract – by using sounds and images, has undergone a strong innovative phase in the last years. Within the larger context of ‘new media art’ it has found for itself an all-purpose role which is certainly more complex and multi-faceted, going beyond performances and installations. Progress in technology, open-source hardware and software, have eased the management of real-time audiovisual flows. Thus, contemporary Audiovisual Art seems to be today some sort of borderline area which includes pure creative and artistic expression, but also experimentation and design. A critical attitude towards this phenomenon in analyzing online shared creativity, free code and an ever more intertwined relationship between art, design and hyper architecture allows to observe how the concept of space reflects the existence of a fluid place/non-place to be explored, an element for design, a material and immaterial universe to be confronted with as it redefines the relationship of modern man and the new multimedia scapes surrounding him.

:::Pier Luigi Capucci:::
:::Open Cultures:::

The Opens Source diffusion opened up new options and chances to access the information and new devices. It activated new opportunities in knowledge’s communication and sharing and it expanded the awareness of the cognitive, operative, social and politic use of these instruments. Open Source also imposed a reflection on the software in general as a tool which, although immaterial, has a real, economic value which can’t be ignored in the information age. In the arts, in several realms and disciplines, many artists embraced the Open Source philosophy and practice, creating artworks which expand their power both at the poetics level and increasing the artworks’ flexibility and sharing, hence enlarging the extent of the artistic discourse

:::Laura Colini:::
:::Reflecting on ICT participated spatial practices and city making:::

Given the breakdown of defences against information glut, an awareness of how we use, act and interact through modern digital technology is becoming critical. Global trends and symbolic economy shape the production and distribution of a large variety of modern tools that use similar ways to communicate via text, audio, video. As a result, the creative digital communicative syndrome tends to sedate the question of “how and why” we act together and represent and shape our cities and lived space through digital media. Beyond the many definition of cities, I assume that cities are site of collective spatial practices and discursive processes, procedures and codified protocols leading to social, economic, material and cultural transformations. The purpose of this intervention, is to engage in reflecting on the processes of city-making analysing the benefits, pitfalls, and trade-offs of the combination of spatial practices with ICT. In particular, the parameters adopted to discern and categorize such practices is their capacity to empower local communities and to engender citizens participatory. I argue that the variety of social media, PPGIS, participatory video making and the latest resource on the web, -which have a strong emphasis on spatial related practices- could be analyzed according to their capacity to stimulate directly or indirectly socially and politically transformative approaches to city making. In order to validate the importance of studying the interdependency of ICT, social interaction and urban planning, I will refer to the selected research and case studies looking at their capacity of engendering truly participative processes, trying to unveil their limits, rhetoric, and visible/invisible power interests.

:::Umane Energie e Confinidigitali:::
:::Beduino presentation:::

Confini Digitali e Umane Energie present Beduino, an open source instrument, designed to simplify the process of creating electronic based art projects. It can be used for music controllers, VJ controllers, MIDI instruments, dance triggers and body suits, interactive installations, driving LEDs, motor and robotic controls and much more… It is based on the well-known Arduino platform, and 100% compatible with it, but intended to be used even without writing a single line of code. Beduino comes with a MaxMsp patch, possible and free to use with all major operating systems

INTERVIEW & TEXT: Daniel Rozin, Mirror of the Soul, By Marco Mancuso

May 16th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Criticism, [3]texts & Interviews No comments

This text is republished in collaboration with Digicult.it. It was released in May 2005.

Txt: Marco Mancuso / Translation: Ornella Pesenti

Daniel Rozin is an artist and teacher of new technologies applied to interactive arts. Personally one of the most original international author, one of the few able to exalt the concept of interactivity with his works and personalize the connections between artist, work and spectator.

We were talking about his works. Works that are the results of years spent in the research and direct application of software and in studying the potential of new technologies. Works that focus on the concept of “mirror” with admirable perseverance. That means the direct and formal translation of the everyday interactivity that an object like the mirror is able to create with everyone that stares at it.

The originality and simplicity of all the works by Daniel Rozin developed during deep studies and a ten-year experience on how PC technologies are able to answer differently to the spectator point of view, physically involved with an active role and part of Rozin's installations. Artist and researcher able to create his own mathematic expression codes, reluctant to the use of software introduced in a massive way on the market, Rozin has produced during a long carrier tons of works and interactive installations/mirrors, not necessarily focused on an evident manifestation of technology, but ruled by a hidden dialogue between physical material, recycled material, everyday material and computers exactly.

Frankly there are just a few works such as Mechanical Mirrors in the world of interactive design. From chromatic Shiny Balls Mirror able to physically reproduce the concept of pixel of an hexagonal matrix using 900 metallic pipes with chromatic spheres perfectly enamelled and reflecting, to the couple Trash Mirror and Wooden Mirror , created with 500 pieces of every shape and dimension (of trash in the first case and wood in the second one) connected to monitors and positioned each time from a computer, so that they can perfectly reflect anyone who stands in front of it.

Not inferior the Proxxi Mirror series, developed with a software made by Rozin himself, that reproduce on digital printed matter the well-known dynamic of double image that you can see from different distances from the print. Analogously, Software Mirrors series is able to mirror the image of people who stand in front of a micro-camera, modifying features and activating soft translations in function of a free interpretation of the computer (and the software, always rigorously owner).

It's maybe in the Glass Mirror series that Daniel Rozin ends his route, going back to the true nature of the “mirror” concept, interactive and reflecting element because of its own optical properties. Self Centered Mirror is able to follow the spectator and multiplying its image on 34 mirrors at the same time, eliminating anyone else nearby and stimulating the narcissist inside us. Otherwise Broken Red Mirror exalts the sense of frustration in seeing our reflected image with the well-known professor Red Burns , founder of Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University (NYU) , moreover in front of a mirror in smithereens!!!

Daniel Rozin installations are real mirror of souls, of the artist and the spectators, thanks to a wise use of the optical illusion techniques, to the neural sciences at the base of the retinal perception of our eyes, to the technologies and the most varied materials. Mirrors able not only to reflect, but also immerge anyone in a next-futurist dimension of coexistence and co penetration between real world and virtual world. On condition that always in a gentle, gradual and conscious way.

Mk: Daniel, I'd like to start asking you wich is the concept at the roots of your use of mirrors, the theorical thought beside your works and projects…

Daniel Rozin: One of man's earliest technological inventions, mirrors have been loaded with meaning and myth from the beginning. Mirrors have often been thought as objects of evil and many superstitions are linked to them. Sometimes overlooked in the search for important technological developments, I believe that no other invention has had a more significant impact on the way people perceive the world around them, and more importantly the way they perceive themselves. Mirrors have the ability to let us observe ourselves in the same manner we observe others, this is in complete contrast to the way we experience our being internally, which is a highly subjective process. In spite of its simplicity, a mirror is a profoundly complex object, a mirror has the ability to display for a multitude of viewers a unique reflection, in effect no two people looking into a mirror will ever see the same image even if they are viewing together. This unique behavior of simple optics, is something that even high technology and computers cannot emulate because of its infinite complexity, and yet a polished piece of tin or a charcoal-covered glass can achieve this result easily.

For the past 10 years I have been creating interactive digital art and found the mirror, as an object and paradigm, an excellent platform of expression. Initially unaware, and lately more deliberately, I have created a number of pieces which are in one way or another -mirrors

Mk: Your work uses physical material in contact with computers and electronic instruments. Why is It so important to you to unite technology to everyday experience with something material, as in your Mechanical Mirrors series?

Daniel Rozin: The final goal of any art piece is to touch people, to connect with them. In order to achieve such connection one must establish a common language and vocabulary. The physical world that surrounds us is the most unifying language that we have. We all spend our entire lives in the physical world and have an amazing intuition regarding its behavior, this is a type of intuition that I believe we will never have with the digital or virtual. Combining the physical with the digital or computational allows us to take the best of both worlds, on one hand to tap into this collective intuition and on the other, to take advantage of the flexibility of computation.

Mk: All of your mechanical mirrors have video cameras and engines controlled by computers, and they produce sounds at the moment when the observer interact with them. Moreover, all of them work on the concept of contrast between light and dark patterns (Shiny Balls Mirror and Circle Mirror most of all). How did you discover this process and how did you work to translate it into computer interaction design ambit?

Daniel Rozin: Once you start seeing patterns of light and dark in the world it is very hard to stop... I now see pixels and visual elements in almost everything I see, it is truly a habit that you acquire. I already have ideal for many more such installations the tricky part is how to transform these ideas into mechanical/ electronic devices. The sound that these pieces produce is not something that I designed or even intended, it was rather, a pleasant surprise. I was somewhat afraid what the sound of 900 little motors would be like, but it turns out that almost any sound that is tightly linked to an image and more so to ones movement is a very soothing experience

Mk: The Proxxi Prints series seems to base on processes related to the retinal perception of the human eyes. Can you explain how they exactly work and which are the technologies at their roots?

Daniel Rozin: The term coined for this technique is "Proxxi" It comes from the word proximity. These prints have the ability to display tow sets of information, one that is observed from a great distance and one that can be seen from close-by . This is achieved by applying a computer application that uses an algorithm that I developed and patented. The process relies on the way our brain and eyes perceive the world, from a distance our vision and brain are not that interested in details but in large events, on the other hand from nearby our brain clings to detail and ignores color information. The thing I find interesting about this is that these prints ae simple pieces of paper but they are still interactive and change for each observer

Mk: In the Glass Mirror series you play with the optical illusion concept, in the sense that is something that does not reflect reality, but it is based on the intrinsic properties of the mirrors and not emulating their behaviour with other materials. How did you decide to work also in this direction?

Daniel Rozin: My main interest in my art is to explore the way we view the world and create images in our mind and to explore interactivity, The way we observe ourselves in a mirror is something very personal and it is something that we all understand and have a huge intuition and emotional base. This established base allows me to play on these assumptions and bring forwards different concepts which stand out as a kind of dissonant when the simple mirror object somehow takes on a different behavior than the one we have grown to expect. Thoughts about narcism and vanity come to mind when standing in front of the "Self Centered Mirror" . And the notion of point of view and the idea of "special" comes to mind when viewing "Broken Red Mirror"

Mk: What can you say about Software Mirrors? In these works you seem interested to the physical nature of the pixel, that are normally conceived as the minimal matrix of digital instrument as the monitor or graphic instruments. How do these mirrors work?

Daniel Rozin: We all use digital images, we use them to send, archive, manipulate and view "real images" . But this is almost always a means to an end, we are interested in a real image, and use the digital image as a functional way to achieve these goals. I have become interested in the digital image itself, in its inhabitants, the pixels. I am trying to investigate with these pieces, the "emotions" and special characteristics of the digital image. In the same time I am also investigating the way we make images in our eyes and brain; What amount of information is required to make an image? How much can you subtract from an image until it loses its meaning? , can you divide between the color information of an image and its geometry? Technically all the Software mirror are simply a computer connected to a video camera and a display , they al run my software that creates some kind of manipulation of the image coming from the video camera

Mk: What is it the interaction to you? How do you insert these design elements in your works?

Daniel Rozin: Interaction is the core of what I do. When I design a new piece (and design is a good word because I treat each project as a design project) I will usually compromise on all aspects of it in order to get the interaction right. For a digital piece, the interaction os the connection to the viewer, who is in my pieces, the most important part of the work. I see interactive art as a partnership between myself and the end viewer, together we create the piece , and it is different for each viewer.

Mk: You said: “The majority of what happens in the new media are and interaction design depends on the development of new technologies that designers have the use of. The problem to this approach is that the direction followed by the design is defined by technologies offered by developers without really considering its impact on design. My mission is to overturn this flow”. Do you still think this approach is important in front of the incredible potentialities offered by hardware and software more and more present on the market?

Daniel Rozin: Yes. This will always be true, and has been true in the past. If you look at scientific or technological advancements that have been used by artist you will see that they have been initiated by artists, not scientists. Computer companies and scientific researchers are constantly looking to enhance the performance and capabilities of their developments, but the things that they are interested in , are not necessarily those that the artists are looking for. Concepts such as aesthetics, simplicity and beauty, will never be on the agenda of engineers, so it is up to the artists to become proficient in the development of the tools they use and push them to the right direction.

Mk: In short, how did your work and your approach to design change during the last 10 years? Which are the principal differences with your first works and the ones from 2005-2006?

Daniel Rozin: Having doing this for 10 years now, I find that I have narrowed the scope of my artistic investigation and i have become somewhat of an expert in doing the pieces that I make. This is not something bless, but as you do something you become better in it, and you stop questioning some elements. I try to delay this process as much as possible, but i also have to be professional in what I do. On the other hand, having defined the area in which i am working, allows me to investigate things to a greater depth , which may produce some more insightful pieces.

http://www.smoothware.com/danny/

FEATURE: +39: CALL FOR ITALY

April 4th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Resource, Video, [1]Features and Reviews No comments

Live Performances, Video Screenings, Design Installations from contemporary Italian Audiovisual Art

Nemo Festival 2008
10th – 20th of April 2008
Élysées Biarritz – Paris

http://www.arcadi.fr/rendezvous/rv.php?id=1

http://www.arcadi.fr/telechargements/nemo_2008.pdf

Featuring:
otolab – op7
Mylicon/En – Put down the gun
Quayola – Path to abstraction
Videoscreening
Presentazione

Program:
+39 VideoScreening (curated by Claudia D’Alonzo): friday 11th of April 21.00 hrs
Presentation +39 (curated by Marco Mancuso): friday 11th of April 22.00 hrs
Live Set Quayola (“Path to Abstraction”): friday 11th of April 22.45 hrs
Live Set Otolab (“op7”): friday 11th April 23.45 hrs
Live Set Mylicon/En (“Put down the gun”): saturday 12th of April 22.15 hrs

Project curated by Marco Mancuso with the collaboration of Claudia D’Alonzo (video screening)

After the European Premiere at Cimatics festival in Brussels last November 2007, Digicult will present the project +39:Call for Italy at the international festival Nemo in Paris, curated by the cultural association Arcadi from 10th to 20th of April 2008, one of the most important European meeting related to artistic and cultural transtitions between audiovisuals, music, cinema and design with digital tools. The project focuses on the develpoments in Electronic Art, Design and Culture in Italy in the last 10 years. With the project +39:Call for Italy, Digicult introduces some of the most experimental and suggestive Italian musicians, designers, graphic animators, video makers, sound artists, vjs and audiovisual artists, with projects of Live Cinema (Mylicon/En), Audiovisual Live Sets (Otolab and Quayola) and with a Video Screening curated by Claudia D’Alonzo of some of the most talented Italian video makers, video artists and graphic designer. The project is finally enriched with a keynote lecture/presentation by Marco Mancuso about +39:Call for Italy concept and the developments of the presented Digital Art forms in Italy

————–

curated by Claudia D’Alonzo
Program

Cityscan 4.05 (2005)
Artist: HFR-LAB
Duration: 4’ 30’’
Visual: Davide Quayola, Chiara Horn
Sound: Simone Strifele

Sodium Penthatol (2005)
Artist: ZimmerFrei
Duration: 5’

Quantize This (2005)
Artist: Ogino Knauss
Duration: 12’

Oakland (2007)
Artist: Mylicon/en
Duration: 4’
Visual: Lino Greco
Sound: Daniela Cattivelli

Infonaturae 1.0 (2006)
Artists: Kinotek, Emanuele Errante
Duration: 6’
Visual: Mattia Casalegno (Kinotek)
Sound: Emanuele Errante

Forming (2005)
Artist: Progetto Antenna
Duration: 2’ 21’’

Animula (2007)
Artist: otolab
Duration: 8’

Waltz 57 (2005)
Artist: Niko stumpo
Duration: 2’ 30’’
Visual: Niko Stumpo
Sound: Swod

Am I Born? (2004)
Artist: Fabio Franchino
Duration: 4’ 25’’
Visual: Fabio Franchino
Sound: Amaury Groc
Custom software: Fabio Franchino
Credits: Rossella Schillaci (shots); Mara Loro (body)

UNreDELMONDO 2.0 (2003)
Artist: Elec
Duration: 3’
Visual: Tibor Fabian
Sound: Autobam
Credits: Marco De Paoli (metal sculpture); Enrico Sebellin (assistance stop motion shooting)

The Rain (2007)
Artists: Virgilio Villoresi, Ericailcane
Duration: 3’ 20’
Visual: Virgilio Villoresi, Ericailcane
Sound: Lou Rhodes
Spiritual healing (2005)
Artist: 47th Floor
Duration: 3’ 50’’
Concept and art direction: Davide Catraro, Marvin Milanese
Animation and Graphic: Davide Catraro, Marvin Milanese, Giovanni Remondini

Sound: ZU
Post Production: Giovanni Remondini
Fino (2006)
Artist: Blu
Duration: 2’ 30’’

Animation: Blu
Sound: Andrea Martignoni
Stip Melody (2005)
Artist: Vinz Beschi
Duration: 2’ 20’’
Credits: production, Elena Pasetti (PinAC, Rezzato);
production secretary, Maria Grazia Moranti;
with the collaboration of Salva Catini e Gloria Sinini

———-

Cityscan 4.05 – HFR-LAB
City is aimed to produce a visual metaphor that creates new correspondences between sound and vision. It draws a connection between the rhythm of music and the one of a “new contemporary city”. The initial inspiration came from the true representation of sound itself: the waveform and its perpetual scrolling. From this followed the translation to a visualization which would simulate this movement the way we experience the dynamism of the contemporary city, an intricate layering of cityscape that, scrolling and flickering on time with the music, creates an audiovisual pattern where the rhythm achieved is a metaphor of the rhythm of the city itself. This project has flexible outputs; it can be screened as a video or performed as both A/V an Vj performance.

HFR-LAB is a creative studio funded in 2003 by Chiara Horn, Davide Quagliola and Tommaso Franzolini. Conceived as a multidisciplinary laboratory where to experiment with the diverse creative possibilities of the Audiovisual medium, HFR-LAB has developed a series of projects which brought to the collaboration with internationally recognized artists (D-Fuse, Universal Everything, London Sinfonietta, etc..) and organizations (Onedotzero, Warp, Lovebytes, Etc..). A retrospective of its work is now touring Australia, China and Japan with an exhibition curated by IDAP.
Links: www.hfr-lab.com

Sodium Penthatol – ZimmerFrei
ZimmerFrei is a group founded in 1999 and based in Bologna, Italy. It’s members are Anna de Manincor, Anna Rispoli and Massimo Carozzi. The group works on the crossing of performative and visual arts, using a range of media and formats including video and sound installation, short movie, photography and performance. In 2003 Anna de Manincor/ZimmerFrei was invited to the 50th Biennale of Art in Venice.
Link: www.zimmerfrei.co.it

Quantize This – Ogino_knauss
”Quantize this” has been conceived as an videoinstallation to be presented on the mega screen and audio system of the San Siro Stadium, in Milan. It was commissioned by Domus review for the event “Circular”, in April 2005. It has been realized as an exploration of the surroundigns of the stadium, and developed as a reflection on the ubiquitous presence of numbers surfacing in the urban landscape.

Ogino_knauss is a collective active since 1995. Born as “mutant cinema laboratory”, acts during the years as a constant drift through audio visual languages and communication practices. The group experiments with VJing techniques as a peculiar form of open narrative, in contrast to the dominant tendency to create video tapestries as an ornament to musician and DJ’s production. Developing its action at the crossing point between the exploration of etherotopic spaces and the exhibition of disclosing practices of the audiovisual device, Ogino_knauss lead a steady exploration of new spatial and creative contexts to confront, such as cultural centers, public spaces, temporary occupied zones, art galleries, festivals, dancefloors.
Link: www.oginoknauss.org

Oakland 05.06 – Mylicon/en
“Oakland 05.06” has been created using images taken from the recording of a live set taken in
Oakland on maj 2006.
This clip emphasize the peculiarity of Mylicon/EN projects: images that seem to be very elaborated have been created by simple actions – such as placing everyday objects (glasses, bottles, coloured plastics and water) in between a camera and a TV set. The editing has been reduced to a minimum, while a new soundtrack has been created for the clip. Lino Greco (visual) and Daniela Cattivelli (sound) created Mylicon/En in 2002. Mylicon/EN is a duo involved in experimental and alternative ways of conceiving audio-video live act, recovering performativity and concreteness through the use of analogical and mechanical devices in the production of images. Their works focus on the interaction between analog or mechanical devices with the digital realm. Visual texture is manipulated accordino to sound. During their improvisations and creation sessions they use many different common objects like glasses, plastics, water etc. to create sound and images. Mylicon/En performed audiovisual live-set and presented video in many festivals worldwide.
Link: www.myliconen.it

Infonaturae 1.0 – Kinotek/Emanuele Errante
”Infonaturae” is the first collaboration between ambient musician Emanuele Errante and videaortist Mattia Casalegno; an improvised live performance emerging from the hybridization of acustic and visual languages. Digital soundscapes give life to pixel matrices in costant mutation, binary fluxes informs vaguely zoomorphic structures in an equilibrium between organic and inorganic, animated and inanimated, sampled and synthetized. This 7 minute excerpt is been recorded from the “Interferenze Festival” (Salerno, Italy) live session in 2006.

Mattia Casalegno, born in Naples, Italy. Since 1999 lives in Rome where he works in various cross-media projects and live-media performances, exploring the possibilities of the digitalization of both visual and musical languages; In 2001 he founded the project Kinotek, vj crew very active in the club scene of the italian capital. With the Kinotek project has partecipated at several international vj festivals and live media events.

After several experiences in local bands, Emanuele Errante starts his solo carreer under the pseudonym of Mais. In 2004 his first album “Stand” is released by the netlabel Maetrixsolution. Once the album is out, he starts experimenting on ambient sonorities, by blending acoustic elemento and electronic soundscapes. Emanuele Errante is also the founder of the netlabel OpenLab Records and the creator of NetstockFest, the first netaudio festival completely online whose first edition happened in March 2005 receiving the attention of important medias, among whom the French newspaper Liberation.
Links: www.kinotek.org; www.maisound.com; www.mousikelab.it

Forming – Progetto Antenna
“Forming” is a survey on that thin line which divide the creation of a shape from its decay,the presence of a border from its abandon, the said and the silent of a single concept. Lights andshadows build and cut shapes which are at the same time the full and the empty of a unique and giantliquid movement able to creates and delimits. On that sense the interest is posed on that in between found in its same dissolve: the attention is on the inside, on the outside or on the same border.

Progetto Antenna is a collective project born in 2005 as an effort to conciliate different sensibilities in a unique artistic, critical and curatorial approach. Four residentparticipants (Niccolo’ Nessi, Edoardo Pasero, Francesco Pedraglio and Fabio Petronilli) are working in conjunction – or independently – inviting and collaborating with external guests to projects which involve the realization and presentationof video, electronic music, architectonical and curatorial interventions. Started mainly as production and exhibition of audiovisual works, the collective soon gets involved in graphic and digitalanimation; a particular attention is now given also to installations and site specific intervention.
Link: www.progettoantenna.com

Animula – otolab
Animula is one of the most complex video artwork from the recent production of Otolab, experimental electronic audiovisual collective. Conceived and realized under the 5+1 sound-video installation dictates, Animula is an opera with the multi-screen spazializated live media potentialities as well. Animula is an audiovisual project with a concept focused on a strong organic-digital dualism, obtained through a sage work on 3d video and electronic music.

Otolab was born in 2001 in Milan as an affinity group made up of musicians, djs, vjs, video artists, video makers, web designers, graphic designers and architects who embarked on a common path within electronic music and audiovisual research. Otolab projects evolve through laboratory, seminar and liveset activities following principles of mutual exchange and support, free dissemination of knowledge and experimentation. The work-group is composed of individual and collective projects ranging from djing/vjing sets up to livemedia and interactive installations, always investigating a symbiotic relationship between sounds and images. These three years of life have seen otolab being invited to national and international festivals where it has presented its livesets, project presentations and installations, besides having promoted self-managed cultural initiatives.
Link: www.otolab.net

Waltz 57 – Niko Stumpo
The Norwegian born Stumpo, is first and foremost an artist, with a total conception of what he is creating. To account accurately for the range of his talent, Stumpo’s work must be considered that of a painter, photographer, illustrator, web-programmer, sculptor and film maker. He is a true visionary, who uses the best means available to communicate his world. The extraordinary freedom of Stumpo’s work often takes us by surprise. As an artist he takes elements from everyday life and raises them to the very limits of abstraction, making his art a bridge between our dreams and his own imagination. Niko’s universe is inhabited by unique abstract cartoon-like drawings, characters which emerged from his childhood and have now become the trademark to a very identifiable and in demand style. Whether it’s an invitation to speak at the top design conferences such as Semi – Permanent Sydney or the Toca Me Conference in Germany, to numerous art exhibitions in such prestigious galleries as the George Pompidou in Paris to the Riviera Gallery in New York, Niko’s work has profoundly influenced a generation of creative minds.
Link: www.abnormalbehaviorchild.com

Am I Born? – Fabio Franchino
”Am I Born?” is a self-generative video composition about the intimacy of the discovery of her own body.
Media artist and computational designer. He feels part of that odd and hybrid category, that attracted by design and aestetic, and, paradoxical, by the cold math’s elaboration through computing practice. He does work mainly in digital within, in visual, performance and intallations fields. He uses as well as abuses the interactive possibilities between audience and work, in order to make misunderstanding and random processes. The creative activity is born in music field in order to mix with the work activity as graphic designer. The result is an attraction to radical research within the new technologies, which ‘interaction’ is become the main factor. Case, cause effect, indefinite time, are the common factors of all the creative activity. The modalities in order to trigger events and modifications can change, but in all of these remains the possibility that the result cannot be previewed.
Link: www.abusedmedia.it

UNreDELMONDO 2.0 – Elec
UNreDELMONDO (“a king of the world”) is a software based generative video. The subject is a mechanical sculpture (made by Marco De Paoli) provided of adjustable joints. It has been filmed in stop motion by obtaining the movements manually. Audio tracks was created with sampled elements and modular synthesis and then embedded into the application. Video and audio tracks are played and synchronously processed by the algorithms aiming to find a strict common code. Autobam and Tibor Fabian are a live media crew, also linked to ELEC – an electronic Italian network (www.elec.it) – for parallel projects in audio-visual research and interaction. Autobam is a solo electronica act by Simone Lalli. He has previously released his solo work under Leerraum (CH), Unlabel (UK) and Beatpick (UK) and participated to a series of CD and mp3 compilations for Raving records, Technoseeker.com, Microsound.org and Afe records. Tibor Fabian is graphic and media artist, particularly interested in the use of software in visual and audio generation. Playing video performance, installations and animated shorts he took part in various events as Sarajevo Joung Artists Biennial, Polyphonix 40 at Pompidou (Paris) and Tomorrow Now at Junghans Theatre (Venice).
Link: www.elec.it

The Rain – Virgilio Villoresi/Ericailcane
Ericailcane belongs to a collective of artists known for their disparate artistic language styles. He studied at the academy of Arts in Bologna and has exhibited various works including sculptures, paintings, drawings, video and installations. Ericailcane’s style takes a sinister and morbid approach to animals depicted as fairytale creatures with human attributes. His playful drawings often resemele Victorian children’s illustrations and suggest an animal that might be one’s friend (an example as illustrated above right). Yet through the juxtaposition of images of life and death there is a palpable tension in the work, leading to feelings of threat and discomfort. Virgilio Villoresi is a visual artist devoted to experimentation, who works in real-time montage, live media and musical projects. His performances grace the programmes of some of the principal Italian electronica festivals (Audiovisiva, Netmage, Station to Station). In his performances he brings together a passion for abstract cinema and animation, the acknowledged influence of the historical avant-gardes, and “found footage” techniques. His set, alongside the two German artists, will be a tissue of quotations, flitting between expressionism and rationalism, about the imaginative urban world of Berlin.
Link: www.myspace.com/vjvirgilio, www.myspace.com/vjvirgilio

Fino – Blu
Blu’s artistic career started as a result of his interest in underground and illegal art, especially graffiti culture. His work begins as a sketch before being transferred to larger scale murals. His painting style is quite traditional; he uses brushes as well as a paint roller as he blends the painting with the surrounding architecture. His inspiration stems from the desire to transform ordinary decaying places into beautiful and interesting environments. Blu has exhibited his work in Italy, South America, Spain and Germany.
Link: www.blublu.org

Stip Melody – Vinz Beschi
A short “divertimento” that proposes in sequence the astonishments, the gulp, the sob, the onomatopeici sounds of the nuvolette of the comic strips in a puzzle video/sonoro based on a musical shape in three parts. The video wants to be a homage to Cathy Berberian and its Stripsody that has given to the way to this plan of search between voice, images, words and rhythm realized to the inside of the laboratory “Images of organized sound” from the International Pinacoteca of the Evolutionary Age Aldo Cibaldi of the Common one of Rezzato (BS) and developed with a group of boys and girls.

Vincent Beschi, born in Brescia the 28/02/1958, alumnus in the Conservatory of Brescia and the
institute of art of Guidizzolo, tied up to the world of the infancy, he likes to play with sounds and
images trying to find interlacements and joints. Convinced that to seek in the universe visualsonorous
moments of free expression together with children children, girls and boys is a way to
do one “not art” out of the schemes of rigid and competitive structures. The alone fare/giocare
together around the micromondis made of sounds and images becomes “a moment” “that
moment” only but in the same repeatable from whoever has desire of it.
Link: www.vinzbeschi.it

THE NEW DIGICULT AGENCY

March 29th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Online Journal, Resource, [2]News & Events No comments

http://www.digicult.it/agency

At the beginning of its fourth year of activity, Digicult is proud to present its new side project, DigiMade, cultural and artistic agency promoting Italian digital artists worldwide. DigiMade is a part of the Digicult platform, including the web portal, the monthly magazine DigiMag, the audiovisual podcast DigiPod and the newsletter service DigiNews.

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From its birth, Digicult had the chance to collaborate with some national and international partners, in the field of electronic arts and culture, both as curator and media partner and consultant. Some of partnserhips and curatiorial project followed during this period were with festivals like Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), Sonar (Barcelona), Elektra (Montreal), Mixed Media (Milan), Optronica (London), Strp (EIndhoven), Todaysart (Den Haag), Dissonanze (Rome), Netmage (Bologna), Ixem (Palermo), Peam (Pescara) and many others..

Thanks to this net of contacts and collaborations weaved during last two years, Digicult has decided to start a professional path to valorize Italian digital artists internationally, in the field of audiovisual art, interaction and urban design, graphic animation, electronic music and experimental video art. Working as an agency, DigiMade promotes and organizes the work of some well-known experimental artists of the Italian panorama, starting with Otolab, Quayola, Kinotek, Zimmerfrei, Mylicon/en, and promotes the critic and research activity of the members of its Network. With critical sense and curatorial attitude, DigiMade acts as a cultural bridge between Italy and the rest of the world, because of the lack of Culture Institution in charge of this work and because of a total absence of help and funding by Institutions.

Within its critic, curatorial, networking and journalistic activity, Digicult had finally the possibility to develop specific projects, that will be part of the DigiMade activity in the next future. “+39:Call for Italy” is just the last one in order of time, produced for the Cimatics festival 2007 in Brussels: it is a format that goes from live performances to installations and videoscreenings about the relationships between Audiovisual art and Design with the aim to promote the Italian rich
tradition internationally.

———

+39: CALL FOR ITALY
Live Performances, Video Screenings, Installations from modern Italian
Electronic Art & Design

http://www.digicult.it/en/2008/+39CallforItaly.asp

Nemo Festival 2008
10th – 20th of April 2008
Elysees Biarritz – Paris
http://www.arcadi.fr/rendezvous/rv.php?id=1
http://www.arcadi.fr/telechargements/nemo_2008.pdf

Project curated by Marco Mancuso with the collaboration of Claudia D’Alonzo (video screening)

———

Featuring:
otolab – op7
Mylicon/En – Put down the gun
Quayola – Path to abstraction
Videoscreening
Presentation

Program:
+39 VideoScreening (curated by Claudia D’Alonzo): friday 11th of April 21.00 hrs
Presentation +39 (curated by Marco Mancuso): friday 11th of April 22.00 hrs
Live Set Quayola (“Path to Abstraction”): friday 11th of April 22.45 hrs
Live Set Otolab (“op7″): friday 11th April 23.45 hrs
Live Set Mylicon/En (“Put down the gun”): saturday 12th of April 22.15 hrs

Texts:
Presentation Text (curated by Marco Mancuso): http://www.digicult.it/public/+39CallForItaly_ENG.doc
Video Screening Text (curated by Claudia D’Alonzo): http://www.digicult.it/public/TestoVideoScreening_ENG.doc
Video Screening Infos: http://www.digicult.it/public/SchedeVideoScreening.pdf

——–

After the European Premiere at Cimatics festival in Brussels last November 2007, Digicult will present the project +39:Call for Italy at the international festival Nemo in Paris, curated by the cultural association Arcadi from 10th to 20th of April 2008, one of the most important European meeting related to artistic and cultural transtitions between audiovisuals, music, cinema and design with digital tools. The project focuses on the develpoments in Electronic Art, Design and Culture in Italy in the last 10 years. With the project +39:Call for Italy, Digicult introduces some of the most experimental and suggestive Italian musicians, designers, graphic animators, video makers, sound artists, vjs and audiovisual artists, with projects of Live Cinema (Mylicon/En), Audiovisual Live Sets (Otolab and Quayola) and with a Video Screening curated by Claudia D’Alonzo of some of the most talented Italian video makers, video artists and graphic designer. The project is finally enriched with a keynote lecture/presentation by Marco Mancuso about +39:Call for Italy concept and the developments of the presented Digital Art forms in Italy

——–

DigiCult is a cultural project involved in digital culture and electronic arts. The DigiCult project is directed by Marco Mancuso and based on the active participation of 40 professional people about, who represent the first wide Italian network of journalists, curators, artists and critics working in the field of electronic culture and digital art. Translated in English, DigiCult is today a web portal updated daily with news and informations, but it’s also the editor of the monthly magazine DigiMag, discussing with a critic and journalistic approach, about net art, hacktivism, video art, electronica, audio video, interaction design, artificial intelligence, new media, software art, performing art. DigiCult produce the electronic music and audiovisual podcast DigiPod and the newsletter international service DigiNews. DigiCult in finally involved in side activities like media partnerships for festivals and exhibitions, curatorial projects and special productions, and is now working for Italian artists international promotion through the new born art agency DigiMade.

www.digicult.it/en
www.digicult.it/digimag
www.digicult.it/podcast
www.digicult.it/agency
www.digicult.it/en/Credits

DIGIMAG 32 / MARZO 2008

March 4th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Online Journal, Resource, [2]News & Events No comments

http://www.digicult.it/digimag

E’ online la nuova Issue di Marzo di DigiMag, mensile online di cultura elettronica e arti digitali del progetto Digicult. Come sempre un numero ricchissimo di interviste e approfondimenti dal mondo dell’arte e della cultura digitale nazionale e internazionale. Le interviste esclusive a Ken Jacobs, Geert Lovink, Taylor Dupree, Aether Architecture, Carlo Zanni, Christina Ray, Dafne Boggeri e al Trok! di Milano,si arricchiscono degli approfondimenti su The Black Box, The Darwinian Composer, Hiddegger e la software culture, Janez Jansa, La città del futuro, Babilonia Teatri e Share 2008:Manufacturing, e si completano con alcuni interessatissimi report su Sonic Acts XII di Amsterdam e il workshop Generator X 2.0 dal Transmediale 2008. Buona lettura…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INTERVIEWS:

- KEN JACOBS – leggi l’articolo – di Alessio Galbiati e Paola Catò
– GEERT LOVINK/VIDEO VORTEX – leggi l’articolo – di Maresa Lippolis
- TAYLOR DUPREE – leggi l’articolo – di Giuseppe Cordaro
- AETHER ARCHITECTURE – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- CARLO ZANNI – leggi l’articolo – di Giulia Simi
- CHRISTINA RAY/GLOWLAB – leggi l’articolo – di Monica Ponzini
- TROK! – leggi l’articolo – di Bertram Niessen
- DAFNE BOGGERI – leggi l’articolo – di Silvia Bianchi

REPORTS:

- SONIC ACTS XII – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- GENERATOR X 2.0/BEYOND THE SCREEN – leggi l’articolo – di Fabio Franchino

FEATURING:

- SHARE 2008: MANUFACTURING – leggi l’articolo – di Luca Barbeni
- JANEZ JAN…A – leggi l’articolo – di Antonio Caronia
- L’OCCHIO DELLE DONNE – leggi l’articolo – di Massimo Schiavoni
- BABILONIA TEATRI – leggi l’articolo – di Massimo Schiavoni

THEMES:

- THE DARWINIAN COMPOSER – leggi l’articolo – di Luigi Pagliarini
- THE BLACK BOX – leggi l’articolo – di Lucrezia Cippitelli
- HIDDEGGER E LA SOFTWARE CULTURE – leggi l’articolo – di Cristiano Poian
- LA CITTA’ DEL FUTURO – leggi l’articolo – di Luigi Ghezzi

COVER:

- Redazione

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DIGIMAG e’ un magazine elettronico con pubblicazione mensile sui temi della cultura elettronica e delle arti digitali, distribuito mediante protocollo Http 4.01. DIGIMAG e’ un e-mag con lo scopo preciso di informare e approfondire tutte le tematiche relative al mondo della cultura, delle arti e delle tecnologie elettroniche, mettendo in evidenza le differenti realta’ esistenti e le sinergie che tra esse si creano.

Argomenti di approfondimento del magazine sono: Net Art, Hack Art, Software Art, Video Art, Elettronica, Audio Video, Performing Art, Intelligenza Artificiale, Design, NewMedia

E’ possibile accedere ai contenuti del magazine mediante l’iperlink indicato sopra oppure attraverso il portale DIGICULT (www.digicult.it ) cliccando sul logo del DIGIMAG

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

//DIREZIONE:

- Marco Mancuso – concept, editing, direzione e design

//REDAZIONE:

- Luca Restifo – programmazione

- Silvia Scaravaggi – editing news

– Claudia D’Alonzo – aggiornamento portale

//PODCAST:

– Giuseppe Cordaro

//AUTORI:

Luigi Pagliarini, Tatiana Bazzichelli, Bertram Niessen, Teresa De Feo, Miriam Petruzzelli, Luigi Ghezzi, Giulia Baldi, Domenico Quaranta, Lorenzo Tripodi, Massimo Schiavoni, Monica Ponzini, Domenico Sciajno, Valentina Tanni, Anna Monteverdi, Motor, Isabella Depanis, Tiziana Gemin, Fabio Franchino, Alessandra Migani, Lucrezia Cippitelli, Silvia Bianchi, Elena Vairani, Francesca Valsecchi, Claudia D’Alonzo, Barbara Sansone, Sara Tirelli, Laura Colini, Alessandro Massobrio, Eleonora Oreggia, Paolo Branca, Giulia Simi, Silvia Scaravaggi, Sara Tirelli, Maresa Lippolis, Francesco d’Orazio, Alessio Galbiati, Alessio Chierico, Loredana Menghi, Claudia Moriniello, Antonio Caronia, Giuseppe Cordaro, Luca Barbeni, Cristiano Poian

//TRADUZIONI:

Nicola Ferloni, Stefania Longo, Ornella Pesenti, Caterina Sartori, Barbara viola
DIGINEWS N_66
03.03.08_10.30am

ISCRIVITI A DIGINEWS
www.digicult.it
www.digicult.it/digimag /digimag/
www.digicult.it/podcast /podcast/

INTERVIEW: PIrandelo e il BOX Multimedialte by Bertram Niessen

February 26th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, [3]texts & Interviews No comments

(Italian only)

This text is republished in collaboration with Digicult.it. It was released in February 2005 (First Digimag Issue).

Pirandèlo è l’incontro tra Andrea Gabriele, Marita Cosma e Claudio Sinatti, impegnati nel curare la musica, le immagini e i video di questa nuova collaborazione. Loro stessi lo definiscono come “un contenitore di musica, fotografia, video e scrittura; il mezzo di un viaggio che parte da un’organica e tangibile astrazione fino ad una cinematica e sinestetica narrazione”. L’audio della performance live-media di Pirandélo (Andrea Gabriele aka MouLips) attraversa l’elettronica, l’ambient ed il pop in un viaggio onirico e spesso magmatico; gli elementi visivi sono diaproiezioni (Marita Cosma) e video (Claudio Sinatti) che si spostano tra gli schermi, suggerendo immersioni in mari caldi. L’inizio del 2005 segna la partenza del loro tour europeo dopo alcune preview italiane (come a lo Spazio Lima di Milano e il Netmage 05 di Bologna). Li abbiamo incontrati per parlare del loro live…

È esatto dire che siete Sinatti + Mou, Lips!? Ovvero, vedete questo progetto come un incontro tra le due realtà o come una costruzione ex-novo?

Claudio Sinatti: E’ stata la prima collaborazione tra Andrea e me. Dopodichè, assieme a Marita, abbiamo sentito il bisogno di iniziare un progetto nuovo che includesse tutti gli elementi che ci interessavano (il suono, le immagini, la narrazione…) e che ci permettesse di lavorare su materiale nuovo, di influenzarci direttamente e realizzare delle cose basate su di una struttura elaborata assieme.

Marita Cosma: Pirandèlo nasce dall’incontro delle nostre realtà e più che qualcosa di costruito, pensato, è una convergenza di vissuto, cercato, trovato.

Andrea Gabriele: E’ sicuramente un progetto ex-novo

Perchè il nome “Pirandélo”?

Marita Cosma: Tema di maturità: una partita a scacchi tra il verderosasperanzaspadatratta di un romantico Foscolo e i riflessi di buio nello specchio spaccato a terra da Pirandello in persona post-relatività einsteiniosa, come riflessi di luce di candela nell’ombra di un era. E Andrea che un giorno poi se ne esce con un raccontami-di-Pirandello e dal tema della
relatività all’insostenibile leggerezza dell’essere si è perduta una “l” e trovata una “è”.

Lo spettacolo che ho visto allo Spazio Lima aveva una interessante integrazione di audio, loop video e diapositive manipolate con la sfocatura del proiettore (correggetemi se sbaglio). Sono sempre questi gli strumenti che utilizzate?

Claudio Sinatti: diciamo che sono gli strumenti più naturali. C’è stato molto poco di pianificato nella preparazione di questo live. Ognuno di noi ha messo in Pirandèlo quel che sentiva individualmente, sapendo già di avere un forte feeling con gli altri due. C’è una sintonia molto forte tra noi e questo ci ha permesso di basare il lavoro su “dettagli” come le scelte cromatiche, mentre il resto è venuto da sè. Credo che uno degli elementi che ci unisce è il fatto che siamo tutti e tre innamorati : )

Andrea Gabirele: Innamorati, bhè, Claudio ha ragione. Parlando invece di “integrazione” tra audio, video e dia, solitamente il primo passo lo faccio io creando la musica, ma sempre più spesso la mia musica, nello stesso momento in cui viene suonata, è pensata per delle immagini, o più precisamente per delle ‘situazioni’.. caldo, freddo, umido, colore. Poi, nei live accade che l’empatia tra Claudio e Marita crei delle forti sfumature a me nuove, ed è lì che mi perdo con “dolcezza” nell’improvvisazione.

Marita Cosma: Io e il diaproiettore siamo in buona amicizia ma ancora non ci conosciamo a fondo e, ritrovandoci di volta in volta in un contesto diverso, manteniamo il nostro dialogo sugli assi “sfocatura” e “ombra” per spaziare poi, a volte, nell’uso di oggetti ad-hoc. Di dia in dia come di momento in momento: combinazioni, di volta in volta, tra un umore, un rumore, un dolore, un amore e l’altro.

Come gestite il rapporto tra audio e video? l’impressione è quella di un viaggio fluido e non necessariamente collegato. Non sembrano esserci degli eventi audiovisuali sincronici, è così?

Claudio Sinatti: c’è un flusso onirico nei nostri live che credo risentirebbe di elementi teatralmente sincronici. Dal vivo i suoni e le immagini di Pirandèlo si inseguono e creano i propri occasionali sincronismi naturali, ma lasciano soprattutto spazio allo spettatore di trovare il proprio ritmo, i propri sinc. Credo questo sia un elemento molto importante delle nostre performance.

Marita Cosma: E’ con mia meraviglia che il ritmo della pellicola si fa specchio sulla musica, superficie che ne condensa il vapore o calore, che ne distingue le gocce: come una sincronia mai esplicitata eppure desincronizzata e poi ridefinita su più livelli, asincroni in apparenza ma corali in presenza.

Si basa tutto sull’improvvisazione, avete un canovaccio o una vera e propria partitura?

Andrea Gabriele: C’è una scaletta di brani (che puntualmente sbaglio). Ci sono files sparsi qua e là, ed a volte il file che apri non è quello che volevi. Almeno per me, l’improvvisazione determina parametri come la velocità, l’intensità, la durezza, la dolcezza, la struttura della musica. Il canovaccio della sera prima è una scusa per sentirsi “preparati”…

Marita Cosma: ci sono gli storyboard di Claudio, le .jpg delle dia e le tabelle audio/dia/video/audio scarabocchiate e/o stampate qua e là, ma poi c’è il live che le reinterpreta e riorganizza e vanifica e sublima. Come su di un pentagramma fluido.

Nel vostro lavoro, l’interazione tra le diapositive e il video sembra essere l’elemento visuale più interessante ma anche più difficile. Come affrontate la cosa?

Claudio Sinatti: nel live attuale cerchiamo di utilizzare le due fonti come layer separati di un’unica immagine. Marita ha trovato un modo per rendere animate le diapositive proiettate, mentre molti miei loop si sono rallentati, sono diventati più statici. Questo crea un compromesso in cui foto e video si confondono e l’immagine diventa una sola. Un altro importante punto di fusione tra i media è il colore: sia nel video che nelle dia abbiamo alcuni elementi che sono quasi esclusivamente macchie di colore, altri che sono (o sembrano) più tangibili, delle forme. Marita ed io cerchiamo di sovrapporre elementi diversi, così una dia rossa tinge un volo di uccelli o un loop blu colora la foto di un albero…

Andrea Gabriele: Sono entrambi innamorati…

Marita Cosma: Senza paura. Quando mi tremano le dita per lo stupore so che i pixels stanno danzando la loro sinattica danza e mi commuovo. Che poi Claudio e io cerchiamo anche di capire le necessità delle note per incontrarle, seguirle, affiancarle o portarle fino ad un sorriso o allo sguardo che segna la chiave di violino, definendo e ridefinendo ogni stop&go over and into the sound as well as on and into the spaces, ma diamo anche, indefinitamente e con gioia, il fianco alle loro fuggevoli identità. Senza remora, come fossimo ancora e sempre alla ricerca e ogni caso valesse tanto quanto una coordinata (x, y, z)=eureka![cilck]altro frame, altro accordo, altro file, altra pix.

www.claudiosinatti.com

www.avatar41.org

www.grainproject.it

www.trukalone.com

www.fotolog.net/notmyself/

DIGICULT: DIGIMAG 31 / FEBBRAIO 08

January 29th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Online Journal, [2]News & Events No comments

E’ online la nuova Issue di Febbraio di DigiMag, mensile online di cultura elettronica e arti digitali del progetto Digicult. Anche in questo numero DigiMag presenta una serie di interviste esclusive e approfondimenti sul mondo dell’arte elettronica e della cultura digitale contemporanea, scritti dal alcuni membri del Network di autori di Digicult. DigiMag prosegue nel suo percorso di analisi e ricerca di tematiche e metodologie di creazione e sperimentazione nell’ambito dell’arte digitale, presentando protagonisti e realtà a livello nazionale e internazionale

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INTERVIEWS:

- SCANNER – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
– V2_TEST LAB – leggi l’articolo – di Silvia Scaravaggi
- DOUBLENEGATIVES ARCHITECTURE – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- KONIC THEATRE – leggi l’articolo – di Annamaria Monteverdi
- DEREK HOLZER-SARA KOLSTER – leggi l’articolo – di Claudia D’Alonzo
- ANNALIST – leggi l’articolo – di Eleonora Oreggia
- PHILIP WOOD – leggi l’articolo – di Luca Barbeni
- VIRGILIO VILLORESI – leggi l’articolo – di Claudia D’Alonzo
- TOBOR EXPERIMENT/TECH STUFF – leggi l’articolo – di Alessio Galbiati
- GIUSEPPE LA SPADA – leggi l’articolo – di Giuseppe Cordaro
- FRANCESCO ARENA – leggi l’articolo – di Massimo Schiavoni
- FRANZISKA NORI – leggi l’articolo – di Giulia Simi

REPORTS:

- GLI SCENARI DELL’ARTE TECNOETICA – leggi l’articolo – di Antonio Caronia
- XCENTRIC – leggi l’articolo – di Barbara Sansone

FEATURING:

- SONIC ACTS XII – leggi l’articolo – di Marco Mancuso
- THE OBSERVATORY – leggi l’articolo – di Luigi Ghezzi

THEMES:

- LA SCENA TECNOLOGICA CATALANA – leggi l’articolo – di Annamaria Monteverdi
- L’UOMO COME MACCHINA PIETOSA – leggi l’articolo – di Alessio Chierico

EDITING/PHOTO EDITING:

- Marco Mancuso

COVER:

- Redazione Digicult

CONTENUTI:

- Luca Barbeni, Antonio Caronia, Alessio Chierico, Giuseppe Cordaro, Claudia D’Alonzo, Alessio Galbiati, Luigi Ghezzi, Marco Mancuso, Annamaria Monteverdi, Eleonora Oreggia, Barbara Sansone, Silvia Scaravaggi, Massimo Schiavoni, Giulia Simi

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DIGIMAG e’ un magazine elettronico con pubblicazione mensile sui temi della cultura elettronica e delle arti digitali, distribuito mediante protocollo Http 4.01. DIGIMAG e’ un e-mag con lo scopo preciso di informare e approfondire tutte le tematiche relative al mondo della cultura, delle arti e delle tecnologie elettroniche, mettendo in evidenza le differenti realta’ esistenti e le sinergie che tra esse si creano.

Argomenti di approfondimento del magazine sono: Net Art, Hack Art, Software Art, Video Art, Elettronica, Audio Video, Performing Art, Intelligenza Artificiale, Design, NewMedia

E’ possibile accedere ai contenuti del magazine mediante l’iperlink indicato sopra oppure attraverso il portale DIGICULT (www.digicult.it ) cliccando sul logo del DIGIMAG

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

//DIREZIONE:

- Marco Mancuso – concept, editing, direzione e design

//REDAZIONE:

- Luca Restifo – programmazione

- Silvia Scaravaggi – editing news

– Claudia D’Alonzo – aggiornamento portale

//PODCAST:

– Giuseppe Cordaro

//AUTORI:

Luigi Pagliarini, Tatiana Bazzichelli, Bertram Niessen, Teresa De Feo, Miriam Petruzzelli, Luigi Ghezzi, Giulia Baldi, Domenico Quaranta, Lorenzo Tripodi, Massimo Schiavoni, Monica Ponzini, Domenico Sciajno, Valentina Tanni, Anna Monteverdi, Motor, Isabella Depanis, Tiziana Gemin, Fabio Franchino, Alessandra Migani, Lucrezia Cippitelli, Silvia Bianchi, Francesca Valsecchi, Claudia D’Alonzo, Barbara Sansone, Sara Tirelli, Laura Colini, Alessandro Massobrio, Eleonora Oreggia, Paolo Branca, Giulia Simi, Silvia Scaravaggi, Sara Tirelli, Maresa Lippolis, Francesco d’Orazio, Alessio Galbiati, Alessio Chierico, Loredana Menghi, Claudia Moriniello, Giuseppe Cordaro, Antonio Caronia, Luca Barbeni

//TRADUZIONI:

Stefania Longo, Ornella Pesenti, Caterina Sartori, Barbara Viola
DIGINEWS N_64
29.01.08_12.00am

ISCRIVITI A DIGINEWS
www.digicult.it
www.digicult.it/digimag digimag
www.digicult.it/podcast podcast

DIGICULT PRESENTS: DIGIMAG 30 / DECEMBER 2007-JANUARY 2008

January 17th, 2008 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Online Journal, [2]News & Events No comments

http://www.digicult.it/digimag_eng/index.asp

The english version of Digimag, Digicult monthly e-magazine of digital culture and electronic arts, is available online

[INTERVIEWS]:

- GRAFFITI RESEARCH LAB – by Monica Ponzini
- LIMITEAZERO – by Marco Mancuso
- MARTUSCELLO/KINOTEK – by Claudia D’Alonzo
- TAFKAV – by Teresa De Feo
- ANDREA MARUTTI – by Bertram Niessen
- ZYMOGEN.NET – by Giuseppe Cordaro

[REPORTS]:

- MUTAMORPHOSIS – by Silvia Scaravaggi
- LIVE!IXEM 2007 – by Claudia Moriniello
- BLIP FESTIVAL – by Monica Ponzini
- SEX IS A PAIN IN THE ASS – by Loredana Menghi
- FESTIVAL CULTANIA – by Annamaria Monteverdi

[FEATURING]:

- NACRE – by Marco Mancuso
- GORDON SAVICIC – by Teresa De Feo
- MIKE MILLS – by Alessandra Migani

[THEMES]:

- INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCES – by Mark Coniglio
- POLYMORPHIC INTELLIGENCE – PART 2 – by Luigi Pagliarini
- THE GATE – PART 2 – by Domenico Quaranta

[REVIEWS]:

- CULTURAL ACTIVISM TODAY – by Lucrezia Cippittelli

[COVER]:

- Renzo Vitale

[TRANSLATIONS]:

- Claudia Contino, Stefania Longo, Ornella Pesenti, Caterina Sartori, Barbara Viola

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DIGICULT is a cultural project involved in digital culture and electronic arts. The DIGICULT project is directed by Marco Mancuso and based on the active participation of 40 professional people about, who represent a wide Italian network of journalists, curators, artists and critics working in the field of electronic culture and digital art. And on a multitude of updated strategies around new media communication, web 2.0 and networking activities. Translated in english, DIGICULT is today a web portal updated daily with news and , but it’s also the editor of the monthly magazine DIGIMAG, discussing with a critic and journalistic approach, about net art, hacktivism, video art, electronica, audio video, interaction design, artificial intelligence, new media, software art, performing art.

DIGICULT produce the electronic music and audiovisual podcast DIGIPOD and the newsletter international service DIGINEWS. DIGICULT in finally involved in side activities like media partnership and special journalistic/critic reports for festivals and exhibitions, consultancy and curatorial activities and is now working for Italian artists international promotion, presenting their works to main international festivals, cultural events, platforms and centers working with digital and electronics

www.digicult.it
www.digicult.it/digimag
www.digicult.it/podcast
www.digicult.it/credits

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[GENERAL DIRECTION]:

- Marco Mancuso – concept, editing, direction and design

[EDITORIAL STAFF]:

- Luca Restifo – programming

- Silvia Scaravaggi – editing news

- Claudia D’Alonzo – web portal updating

- Giuseppe Cordaro – podcast

[AUTHORS]:

Luigi Pagliarini, Tatiana Bazzichelli, Bertram Niessen, Teresa De Feo, Miriam Petruzzelli, Luigi Ghezzi, Giulia Baldi, Alex Dandi, Domenico Quaranta, Lorenzo Tripodi, Massimo Schiavoni, Monica Ponzini, Domenico Sciajno, Valentina Tanni, Annamaria Monteverdi, Motor, Isabella Depanis, Tiziana Gemin, Fabio Franchino, Alessandra Migani, Lucrezia Cippitelli, Silvia Bianchi, Marco Cadioli, Elena Vairani, Francesca Valsecchi, Claudia D’Alonzo, Barbara Sansone, Sara Tirelli, Laura Colini, Alessandro Massobrio, Eleonora Oreggia, Paolo Branca, Giulia Simi, Silvia Scaravaggi, Maresa Lippolis, Francesco d’Orazio, Alessio Galbiati, Alessio Chierico, Loredana Menghi, Claudia Moriniello, Giuseppe Cordaro

[TRANSLATIONS]:

- Claudia Contino, Stefania Longo, Ornella Pesenti, Caterina Sartori, Barbara Viola

TEXT: The Theatre of Electronic Surveilance, by Annamaria Monteverdi

December 18th, 2007 · · Collaborator: Digicult, Hacktivism, [3]texts & Interviews No comments

This text is republished in collaboration with Digicult.it. It was released in October 2007.

Does anyone remember Enemy of The State directed by Tony Scott and starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman? The story deals with a man targeted by closed-circuit cameras, radars, bugs, satellite indicators, high-sensitive microphones following each of his movements. This movie as many others is concerned with important issues such as control, wire-tapping, data security and satellite espionage. Among them we must mention Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation,The End of violence by the German director Wenders and The listening, shot in 2006 by the Italian director Giacomo Martelli.

Recently these issues have been handled by a US group, The Builders Association. Its manager Marianne Weems specializes in theatre stage design richly equipped with digital technology and wide screens. It is the producer which at the Roma Europa Festival in 2003 showed the multi-prize-winning movie Alladeen, the non-fairy-tale of call centre operators in Bangalore , India , also winner of an Obie Award.

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