I don't think that all of these are all exactly as complex, or "loaded" as some of the clips you showed, but they're just as cool.
For your consideration, I present :
"We are All Connected"
This is one of my favoirites, since I love the ideas it plays with, and its use of different "famous" personas. I also think the paralell between various scientist creatig a functioning whole from many unique parts mimics the way the universe works - one gigantic whole made from billons and billions of parts.
""We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music."
Here is another world-traveling one : "Where The Hell Is Matt?"
I love the visuals of this one :)
Ghostbusters Multi-track.
(I just like how the final version sounds on this one. . .yeah, its a bit of a hack, but in my opinion, a nice-sounding one. And the video is pretty cool too!)
On the "strange instrument" track, check this out : The Megabass Waterphone
The Stop Sign Musical Compilation
Maybe another hack, but its fun to watch anyways.
Its required of me to include a cat-themed post.
Notes from end of class :
-"Harvested" vs. "Created"
-"Material Presence"
-"Real-Time" - tweaking, making, manipulating? Is "real-time" really REAL time?
-"Time" - both a cycle, and has life, death, implications as an aestetic.
-"Scale" - Be both an autonomous individual and universal, global action.
-"Democratic Moment" in time - democracy itself is part of the art education dialog.
-"
American Squirrels Becoming British Citizens
14 years ago
3 comments:
How can you go wrong with a (re)mix of Carl Sagan -- thanks for posting.
The others are pretty interesting (I had seen some of them). This notion of connection through the use of technology is so interesting because it both connects and isolates us at the same time.
One of the major themes of our times is to consider the collapse between the individual/autonomy and the world/collective. Can we have it both ways, or it this dualism one that swings between these as extremes? The local and the global -- the individual and the community -- a single artwork and aesthetics -- Is there a way to look at this as a multiplicity of potential? And does technology offer us a new way of considering these options?
Perhaps Theremin Kitty knows.
I think that we can a duplicity between the individual and the world, because the difference between "us" and "the world" might not be as big as people make it out to be.
Frequently we tend to group people together using very vague descriptions; For example, as Americans, some people see our culture as gluttonous and materialistic, and see Americans as fat and lazy. Some Americans are, but not all. Americans are really varied and different across the country.
Imagine America as a mini-representation of the whole world; People in different states will have different ways of life, and customs, and live in different landscapes, but they will all have some things in common with each other. For example, Massachusetts and Iowa both allow same-sex marriage. (Iowa is the ONLY western state that does.)
(http://gaylife.about.com/od/samesexmarriage/a/legalgaymarriag.htm)
Massachusetts is a seaboard state, with lots of urban areas, hills, and trees. Iowa is a fairly flat state, with few urban areas, its much flatter, and has a large agricultural economy. The two don't sound very similar, yet both states agree on same-sex marriage. This is just one example of connections that can exist between two apparently different groups of people.
For a more broad look, think about the "Where The Hell Is Matt" video. Matt is not doing a very fancy dance; It's just a small jig-like step, with a basic arm swinging motion. Its the people he dances with that give the video meaning and connection. Not all the dancers dance the same; The dark-skinned tribesmen in New Guinea, they wear their traditional costumes and play their traditional instruments. When he dances in India, the Indians wear their traditional costumes and play their traditional instruments. The instruments, the costumes, and the physical body movements are different.
But anybody that's danced should be able to understand the importance of their choice of costume, music, and movement. It doesn't matter if its a traditional Indian dance, a tribal dance with bongos, or you're going out to a club. You pick what you wear so you look smokin' hot, you pick a rocking beat that gets you out onto the dance floor, and you make sure you've got a set of killer dance moves to go get it on with. The particular dances may be very culturally localized, but almost everybody gets the idea behind the concept of dancing. Its the visual concept that makes Matts video work - he only does his two-step jig, in his t-shirt and shorts, yet he still manages to fit in dancing in all of those countries around the world.
Somebody who does freestyle breakdancing doesn't have to like the very rigid structure of the Indian dance, but they can hopefully appreciate it as something that takes effort and practice, just like their own form for dancing. Would they like it if they watched it for a hour? Maybe not. But we're not asking them to watch is for an hour, we're asking them to watch it and enjoy it for about 30 seconds in Matts video.
I do think the dualism between the global and the individual is changing in the way that we consume media. Matt went out and physically danced with hundreds of people across the globe, but we're consuming his social interactions in isolation. We're not watching Matt dance in a movie theatre, surrounded by other people. We're watching him dance on our computers, with maybe one or two other people around. Sure, we can share links, but how often do we include commentary about whats in them? Its much easier, and faster, to discuss something in person, face-to-face, then it is in blog posts and comments. Comments, critiques, and ideas can just flow so much faster.
The last paragraph is worth the wait!
As we consume media we connect to the global structure. So in this way, we are connecting to individuals at the same time. However, I would argue that is is the content of these media that finds the individuals in the larger collective. In many way, content is free of the process of distribution but always relies upon it. To turn an old phrase from McLuen, "the media is the message"
Post a Comment