Chris Joseph

How can we ’see’ a written text? Do you have a new way of visualizing writing on the screen? If so, then McKenzie Wark and the Institute for the Future of the Book have a challenge for you. We want you to visualize McKenzie’s new book, Gamer Theory.

Version 1 of Gamer Theory was presented by the Institute for the Future of the Book as a ‘networked book’, open to comments from readers. McKenzie used these comments to write version 2, which will be published in April by Harvard University Press. With the new version we want to extend this exploration of the book in the digital age, and we want you to be part of it.

All you have to do is register, download the v2 text, make a visualization of it (preferably of the whole text though you can also focus on a single part), and upload it to our server with a short explanation of how you did it.

All visualizations will be presented in a gallery on the new Gamer Theory site. Some contributions may be specially featured. All entries will receive a free copy of the printed book (until we run out).

By “visualization” we mean some graphical representation of the text that uses computation to discover new meanings and patterns and enables forms of reading that print can’t support.

Read more at http://web.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory2.0/viz/

Gamer Theory
McKenzie Wark

Date: Tuesday 20th March
Time: 18.00hrs
Room: RHB 137
Place: Goldsmiths College
Free and all welcome.

In a world which seems increasingly game-like, what is the cultural function of actual computer games? McKenzie Wark argues that our game-like everyday life, in which work is a rat race, politics a horse race, and the economy a casino, does not actually follow the rules of the game it so vigorously espouses. The playing field is not level, competition is rarely ‘perfect’. Computer games appear in relation to this experience of everyday life as the only place where the rule actually work, where play comes close to perfection. Thus games are the utopian version of everyday game-play, and can be the basis of a critical theory of everyday life in an imperfect ‘gamespace’.

Beside talking about the content of his new book, Gamer Theory, Wark will also talk about its form. It began life as a collaborative web based text in a specially designed web interface. The writing of the book was in itself a kind of play between its originator and the readers who became collaborative co-authors.

McKenzie Wark is the author of Gamer Theory (Harvard University Press), A Hacker Manifesto (Harvard) and several other things. He is associate professor of sociology at the New School for Social Research and culture and media at Eugene Lang College, in New York City.

This lecture is organised by the Centre for Cultural Studies.
With thanks to the Institute of Digital Art and Technology
http://www.i-dat.org/ and http://www.kurator.org/

Call for Applications: Two Merit Scholarships available for emerging or mid-career artists to take a two-week course with artists E.G. Crichton and Susan Working at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The course will take place August 13-24, 2007.

These awards are designed to help artists interested in combining video with objects and space. Students will learn about the technologies behind creating embedded video works and video installation and will discuss a critical context that informs these works. Scholarships include: Full tuition, lodging and three meals a day for the duration of the course. Winning applicants must provide for their own travel and studio fees.

Read more

Become a reviewer for Furtherfield.org
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Furtherfield receives regular submissions from artists and groups from all over the world, inviting us to feature and review their projects. We have an excellent team of reviewers working with us at the moment. Yet, because we are receiving more innovative and high quality media artworks from different cultural contexts, than we ever have before, we are finding it hard to keep up. So, now we need even more reviewers.

We welcome contributions from all kinds of writers - but would especially value bi-lingual reviewers who are able to introduce work created by artists in non-English-speaking cultures.

We are also interested in people who understand and know net art, software art, social networks, live net art, live Internet tv, open source, tactical media, art blogs, net films, media art connected- self institutions, psychogeography, activist games, media art related exhibitions online and in spaces, and related conferences.

As a reviewer you will be asked to select from these works and contribute to the context of what is being created and write about why it is relevant. You will also have the option of seeking out and writing about other works that you personally think should be seen on Furtherfield.

If you possess knowledge and enthusiasm for any of these subjects, are able to write and communicate clearly;-) and are interested in being part of a explorative group, that is growing daily as an adventurous, networked and mult-platformed community in its own right. And like us, are passionately and critically engaged in investigating the constant shifts and reinvention of the creative, digitally related vista as we know it; we welcome you aboard…

Furtherfield has been working on a brand new CMS/Interface & design with new features that enable reviewers to have more control over their own text, images and different formats when reviews are submitted. It was supposed to be finished last year, thankfully after much hard work it will be up within about 4 weeks.

contact - marc garrett:
marc.garrett@furtherfield.org
http://www.furtherfield.org

Note: Please do not apply unless you are sure that you are definitely interested.

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Other projects related to Furtherfield:
http://www.http.uk.net
http://blog.visitorsstudio.org
http://blog.game-play.org.uk
http://www.nodel.org (with many others)
http://netartfilm.furtherfield.org
http://blog.furtherfield.org
http://www.furthernoise.org

Bob Stein (from the Institute for the Future of the Book) gave a great lecture in the IOCT this week that Bruce Mason has blogged here.

Aside from the obvious enthusiasm Bob has for thinking about the issues around how people read and interact with multimedia texts, I was struck by the latest version of his multimedia authoring software, Sophie - “designed for reading and writing next-generation electronic books”. Although Bob only had a short period of time to demonstrate how Sophie works, it is clear that the software will be much much easier to use than (say) Flash, despite using similar authoring concepts (e.g. timelines). There has clearly been a lot of intelligent thought put into the interface: Sophie uses contextual menus that popup when you need them, rather than the omnipresent toolbar across the top; files can be easily drag-and-dropped into your ‘book’, etc.

I was initially a little surprised that Sophie produces its own standalone files rather than being a browser-based software, but there are lots of benefits to this, not least that you aren’t subject to the kind of changes that IE7 implemented that rendered many flash movies inoperable without a laborious permission-setting process.

It is difficult for any multimedia authoring software to be both instantly accessible to new users and still have a wide range of features and possibilities, but Sophie seems like a fantastic step down that path.

These events will be well worth attending if you can get to them. Gavin and Mark collaborated in 2005 on a great electronic poetry piece - ‘Slippage‘ - which was commissioned as part of the ‘Moving’ project by Leicester City Libraries & Phoenix Arts.

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FREE Lunch Time Poetry at Leighton-Linslade Arts Festival May 2007

May 8 2007: Buzz Words (Gavin Stewart)

A rare live-performance from prize-winning poet Gavin Stewart. Fellow poet Neil Fulwood praised his work observing:-

“I found in Gavin Stewart’s poetry humanity, insight, experience, a wealth of subtle phraseology, a sense of nostalgia unsullied by sentimentality, and an almost heartbreaking use of understatement.”

Enjoy work from his previous collections Biology Lessons (1999) and Sounding Out (2001), and new material from his forthcoming collection, Ripening.

May 15 2007: Voltage (Mark Goodwin)

Climber and award winning poet Mark Goodwin invites you on an exploration of high voltage verbs and linguistic innovation. His poetry ranges from direct and accessible to ambiguous and playful. The focus today is: being in as well as being alive landscape.

Mark was BBC Wildlife Poet of The Year 2003, and has published over 170 poems in magazines and ezines. He often collaborates with other artists and writers.

Where and When

Both events are in the Leighton Buzzard Theatre Lounge 12.30 to 1.30PM.

Free Tickets

In advance from the Theatre Box Office, Lake Street tel. 01582 818801, or at the door.

http://the404.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/need-some-advice-here/

Binnorie, one of my regular collaborators in the past 5 years, has started a participatory blog-based story at The 404’s blog. There are several chapters - you can participate in any way you like, either by leaving comments, by contacting other participants or anything else you may think up to do.

The 404 is a collaborative art group supported by the Virginia Tech Center for Digital Discourse and Culture.

for remix_runran from starfield generator (unknown source) + something strange in my breakfast this morning

souce: relativitypoem.fla (41kb)

A new collaborative playwriting project, The Living Script, has just been launched by Chicago area artist Brett Hanover. The Living Script uses wiki technology to create an online, user-editable theatrical script.

Users of Wikipedia will be familiar with the format, though here the intent is to create a work of art constantly in flux - a script that never reaches its final draft. While collaborative writing projects have utilized wikis in the past, this is the first time the format has been used to create a stage play. Whatever develops from this unique process will be available for performance under a free-media, Creative Commons license.

The Living Script can be edited online at www.livingscript.com beginning the first of March.

About Brett Hanover:

A product of the burgeoning Memphis independent film scene, Brett Hanover debuted in 2005 with the short documentary “Above God,” winner of Best Documentary at both the Indie Memphis and Atlanta Underground film festivals. This was followed by the experimental film “SCHIAVO,” featured both at Indie Memphis and the 2006 Spun from the Web exhibition in Chicago. Since that time, he has directed numerous productions, including the critically acclaimed performance “S4TYR PL4Y,” (2006) the first theatrical work to deal with anthropomorphic identity. Hanover currently attends the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is working on a feature documentary, “Bunnyland,” set for release in ‘08. (Artist Contact: www.bretthanover.com)

CONTACT:
The Living Script
thelivingscript@gmail.com
www.livingscript.com

Children’s Art Day 2007 - Register your events now!

Take part in Children’s Art Day! 28 June - 1 July 2007

engage is delighted to be managing Children’s Art Day this year with funding from the Clore Duffield Foundation. Thousands of children, their teachers and their families will take part in celebrations of Children’s Art Day with special events taking place across the nation in schools, galleries, museums and arts centres.

Events will be taking place all week from Monday 25 June to Sunday 1 July, with the majority of events happening on Thursday 28 June and at the weekend. Children’s Art Day provides opportunities for thousands of children around the UK to get involved in art projects organised by galleries, museums, schools and other organisations. Some events will be for schools and other groups from formal or informal learning settings, with others open to the public including family groups.

All participating London galleries, museums and arts centres running public events for Children’s Art Day will be included in a listings guide produced by the Mayor’s Office and Visit London.

Registration is now live via the engage website.

Registering your event on the engage website entitles you to a free website listing and free stickers and balloons. London venues registering public events will also be included in a listings guide.

You can register any events or activities you are running for Children’s Art Day via the engage website http://www.engage.org/projects/cad_register.aspx engage members should log in to the website before registering an event

Further advice and information about the day is on the website at http://www.engage.org/projects/artworks_orgs.aspx

The deadline for registering your event is 29 May 2007.

We do hope that you will be able to take part in this exciting initiative.

Please contact mailto:alex.hitchins@engage.org with any queries