Digital Interactive Installations by Frank Blum
Firstly, you’re welcome. I decided to purchase this book/thesis because it was so inexpensive and so obviously focused on Max/MSP/Jitter, that I couldn’t go wrong. I’m sorry if it added more work and reading to your busy lives, but for those of you struggling with Max and understanding how it works in the real world (like myself), you’re welcome.
Chapter 2:
I was happy to find that the author identified two key themes in digital art today as being ‘interactivity’ and ‘interface.’ These terms are funny to me, for two reasons.
First, because they scream GAMING COMMUNITY, of which I have no relationship to (that I acknowledge) nor do I care to create games or learn of innovations in gaming. Unless of course, games can become healthy manifestations of the Self as opposed to military recruitments or violent fantasies.
Second, because artists everywhere that are fueled by the stream of dialog revolving around new media and information aesthetics are exploring the implications of adding the formal qualities of interactivity into their projects, and inevitably this leads to research on possible interfaces that one can utilise in their art to realise that very interactive nature.
It’s funny because gaming and art are creeping up at each other’s door here and several have already let themselves into the living room of the respective other, drinking beer and making a beautiful mess of the place. Just check out Plus Gallery’s current show by a Denver University MFA student, titled Gaming the Network Poetic. It’s a thesis work in a gallery setting that invokes 4 gaming consoles, interlinked and interactive with each other. Not that I’ve goen to see it, but I’ve read about it, just like many other art + gaming intersections recently. Something is on the horizon that fuses these two distinct fields, and it’s sending smoke signals.
I thought the most powerful part of this chapter was when designer and artist Masaki Fujihata was cited as saying that interfaces should be “transparent” and self-explanatory. Another gaming concept that is hard to stomach by artists, the latter of which tend to want to produce a magic show of enlightenment and sanctuary. BLAH.
I competely agree with Fujihata, that interfaces should be transparent, accesible, and understandable by the common user. Otherwise, the point of the art is lost. If the medium truly is the message, than the f*ing message is lost if the user doesn’t even understand the medium, and moreover, the fact that they are influencing the outcome via the medium. The very knowledge of user influence on outcome needs to be a departure point for an artist to start configuring an environment of serious contemplation. Certain exceptions apply, as in any rule of thumb, such as when the intent is to allow the user to figure out their own influence and create a story based off thier own exploration and eventual discovery of such magician-like contraptions… but these contraptions are few and far between necessary. In my humble opinion, of course.
Chapter 3:
Pretty self-explanatory, this chapter was about the history and the basic structure of the programming environemnt Max/MSP/Jitter. So incredibly helpful in an overview sort of way, it allowed me to comprehend both the possibilities and the constraints of the Max environment. I particularly enjoyed the supplemental information on other softwares and programming environements, since they allowed me to direct my attention on those that will provide me the most professional output of my thesis project next semester. I am starting to think that although Max is a fabulous artistic tool, I may need other programs for my needs. Worse, I may need to learn Java or C or C++, which both frightens and annoys me, not because I don’t think I can do it but because I am slapped in the face with the fact that I probably HAVE to do it. F*. Art is supposed to be easy, RIGHT???
Questions:
1.) Is anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of the WACOM with Max, with me? There’s an external object for Max that supports the WACOM – it’s pressure and angle sensitivity – created by Jean-Michel Coutrier. Haven’t searched it yet, but I’d be happy to sit down with someone that’s as interested in the possibilities of putting that little monster of a tablet to work!
2.) In regards to vvvv, is anyone enticed to work in this program, or perhaps even Isadora, since both of these programs allow for better real-time video quality? Remember the video quality at the Karaoke event! Does that not want to make you search out better matrix realisations?? Isadora and vvvv look excellent for video artists concerned about video quality. Anyone thinking they might explore these programs further?
