srsly

After much tinkering, and switching from openGL (which I don’t want to abandon yet) to wxPython, I came to this simple mock up. I hope to advance from this in the near future, but I think maybe my eyes need a bit of a rest.

UPDATE ::

Mark I put together this mock-up just a moment ago, making things inspiring.

I’m just getting started to learn pyglet and openGl for a project that Mark Beasley (who gave a great co-presentation last night with Tamas Kenemczy on CRT hacking for CHI-DORKBOT) and I are working on called NoWarez. We’ve been talking about this project for a long time, but now I’m finally getting in gear to start contributing more time/code to this project. Although the project is in very early stages of conception, it’s going to be a app/ware that mimicc/mocks GUI functions in a non-functional way. I know this sounds pretty obtuse at the moment, but I’ll post more updates in the future.

Recently I’ve completed two new projects. The first project is a response/reaction to my research and interest in sculpted space, architecture, and their relationship to digital environments :

Model Homes approaches the dislocation I’ve discussed with the notion of Home being the idyllic individualistic space. Using Google SketchUp and “Homes” pulled from 3Dwarehouse this piece aims to outline the similarities found between the abstractness of space/home and digital frameworks. I’d conceit in the fact that drawing these parallels might be obvious, or otherwise pedantic. BUT I would argue that due to our flourishing digital identities/spaces, I’ve become more aware of how digital life replaces or supplants my physical self (for instance this blog). Model Homes also aims to re-code the language of SketchUp’s iconography, by embedding the “default” person with character (mainly my own, or something akin to myself). In stretching the limits of the models I’ve borrowed (which crashed SketchUp frequently), unique compositions emerge which in turn hopefully break our obscure “shelter necessity” paradigm.

The other piece I just completed is a series of short videos dealing with the on-screen performances of Que Sera Sera by Doris Day.

The series consists of four separate performances run through microsoft songsmith, an accompaniment program that creates midi-like “genre-based” assistance to musical input. There is a large community of youtubers who have used this tool to remix a capella versions of several classic radio hits (these videos have all been removed for violation of terms I guess…), and I was inspired by this community to try and apply this technique to a “cinematic” song. Immediately QSS came to mind, and I started to research the appearances of this song in other films. To my amazement I realized that Day had performed it 4 times in 3 separate movies over the span of 10 years, shape-shifting from each performances to the next. The transition reads something like security/serenity to longing/pining/searching then seduction/sensual and finally landing on comedy/irony. Day herself also goes through massive change with her attitude during these cinematic moments (eventually opting for pure camp, and self-referentiality). Although I think the series has several distinguishing comments, my primary concern was to pursue was the painful weight these cinematic moments have on Day as a character and performer. As I said on the project page::

“Through this appropriation of both software and cinema, the bindings that keep Day captive during this decade are loosened to allow the song (it’s many versions/meanings) and it’s singer the ability to move away from the now pervasive influence these performances have on our moving image language.”

With the completion of these two works, I’m hoping to develop new projects that might continue where Model Home ends. I’ve become interested in this site in Omaha called Jobbers Canyon which was demolished by Conagra Foods in 1989 (making it largest National Register historic district to be destroyed). I’m also looking into making a kind of “creative biopic” piece about Hugh Ferriss. As always I will keep things up to date here.