“Moodstream is a concepting tool. The modern version of the fireplace. An interactive art piece. TV for the future. It’s a website we created for and with Getty Images to showcase all of their offerings – still, video and sound – and inspire interactive creatives. And it’s really, really fun to use.”
via Iconic Turn.
Time is moving fast on the net. The medium changes so fast, that it already has lived through several transitions. For example, can you still remember how the Internet was before YouTube? When was that? Back in the 90ies? Of course not, YouTube went online on february 15th, 2005, so that’s 3 years only!!! Moreover, look at YouTube itself, haven’t there even been several generations of the platform in this short time?
But what role do time and temporality play in a medium like YouTube, when every second 10 hours of video footage is uploaded? You always see a very moment of the history of YouTube, symbolized through the “videos beeing watched right now” feature on the front page.
As the platform is changing it’s content so fast, it’s very hard to witness changes, e.g. the development of certain genres or the influences of videos onto each other. A software mashup called TimeTube tries to make the history of YouTube visible.
When you type in a keyword, the software shows you temporal relations between videos tagged with this word. Although, TimeTube is still missing lots of relations, you can use it to make some interesting observations. I typed in “dove evolution”, a very successful viral, which entailed numerous mashups, remakes and video answers. Through TimeTube I learned that it took 5 month until the first prominent remake (slob evolution) was released. I made another interesting observation on the “lifetime” of YouTube videos. “Dove Evolution” was release on October 6th, 2006. Most of the mashups and remakes were born between month 6-12 after the first release, but there are still reaction to the video after 1,5 years right now.
Ok, so go to TimeTube and become a YouTube historian yourself!
Mashups havent been on my radius so much in the past, by I’m getting into it lately.
The point about mashups is the old story of found footage. If you want to reach a certain level of complexity you need to get to know the material in detail. There seems to be a serious potential in political mashups because there are quite some foundations layed. First, there is a good amount of material available. Second, the material offers a certain density. That results in complex structure of rearanging and quoting.
…check Political Remix Video.
…and if your interested in Sampling Culture check Lev Manovich.
Transmediale is over and has been as always an inspiring experience! One of the most exciting events was the Generator.x project. It’s a project of Marius Watz which deals with the role of software and code in current art and design. The had a very atmospheric performance night, moreover a workshop and an exhibtion. Learn everything about the project on the website or watch the short videofeature I shot.
On a rainy morning in Amsterdam (that demanded lots of coffee!), the Video Vortex - Responses to YouTube Conference was kicked off at Club 11. I will be blogging on the conference for movingweb, but I was also there because I have been involved with the project through my work at the Netherlands Media Art Institute where we made an exhibition with the same title and related topics. Well, the program of the conference is quite extensive, and I was very disappointed by some of the presentations today (that seemed unprepared, unfocused, had nothing new to say…a total contrast with the first Video Vortex conference in Brussels!). So I will focus on the gems of today’s presentations!
Bruce McDonald launched Re-Fragmented, a re-editing initiative surrounding the release of his latest award-winning feature film The Tracey Fragments. Featuring a stand-out performance from Ellen Page as a 15-year-old girl who has lost her little brother and sets out on a desperate journey to find him, The Tracey Fragments is a daring portrayal of teenage angst, told in a dazzling style. The film, which opens in limited release Friday, employs multi-frame editing to breathtaking effect, pushing the boundaries of cinematic language to get inside the heart and mind of Tracey.
Tracey: Re-Fragmented makes available at www.thetraceyfragments.com all the footage from the shoot of the film for users to download and re-edit their own related projects including music videos, new trailers or to re-edit the entire movie themselves. The Creative Commons licensed initiative also makes available the score of the movie by Indie Collective Broken Social Scene.
Passing By is a NetArt project by James Tindall, using YouTube content and good coding. The theme of journey seems to become quite popular lately. (also here)
“Passing By presents two films that piece together brief segments from many different journeys into ever growing sequences of sights-seen-along-the-way, while looking out of the window of a car, a train, a plane or even just pushing a shopping trolley around the local super market.”
via Hi-Res!
“Cimatics, Brussels International Platform for Live A/V, presents a Masterclass Live Audiovisual Art, within the framework of the studio-program Experimental Media-art provided by the VAF (the Flemish Audiovisual Fund).
12 internationally renowned and specifically chosen artists and theoreticians from within the field of Live A/V engage to conduct these workshops.
Cimatics is looking for 10 participants for these workshops and addresses young artists from within the fields of visual arts, music, media arts or performance arts.
The Masterclass exists of several workshops in which the different aspects of the phenomenon Live A/V will be highlighted. Technical initiation, content contextualisation and specific hands-on experiments will be the key elements of these workshops.”
Video Remixes are all over the web right now. Therefore Sony gets it’s own Remix-Website to promote three new Vaio models. You can record yourself via your webcam and the recut the material on the website. Problem is that all three example videos are quite akward. It’s not really getting better that they label these remixes as “a sophisticated mix of intelligence and elegance.”
Question is, if the theme of the Remix matches the idea of the product or if they are just following a trend?
“Perpetual Art Machine is a community for video artists, curators, writers, therorist, educators, collectors, and enthusiasts.
Perpetual Art Machine is an on line gallery and database of video art.
Perpetual Art Machine is a traveling video installation.
The website feeds our installation machines. Both the database and video content work together at exhibition venues displaying works simultaneously and individually. The works play off each other, informing each other by association or differenciation, highlighting through the display system their individual qualities.”