This video is about exploring the spatial qualities of RFID, visualised through an RFID probe, long exposure photography and animation. It features Timo Arnall of the Touch project and Jack Schulze of BERG. More here nearfield.org/2009/10/immaterials-the-ghost-in-the-field berglondon.com/blog/2009/10/12/the-ghost-in-the-field/ One of the interesting things about modern tech is that it makes people deal with things they only previously imagined …
Category Archive: art
Jan
31
Beat Takeshi: The Invisible Audience
Toughness has been rather out of fashion, as a masculine virtue, and Takeshi simultaneously radiates it and suggests its wounded core. There can in fact be no depiction of genuine toughness (not brutality but a sort of excess of substance of soul stuff) without this concomitant indication of that wound, else the piece simply becomes the pornography …
Jan
30
Off Book: The Evolution of Music Online
As the 90s came to a close, the business of music began to change profoundly. New technology allowed artists to record and produce their own music and music videos, and the internet became a free-for-all distribution platform for musicians to promote themselves to audiences across the world. The result was an influx of artists onto …
Jan
27
Der Mensch als Industriepalast [Man as Industrial Palace]
/// The intertwining of science, art and technology: An animated and interactive installation based on the poster of the same title by Fritz Kahn from 1927. /// For more information about the project go to: industriepalast.com/ Idea & Animation: Henning M. Lederer / led-r-r.net Sound-Design: David Indge
Jan
23
Robert J. Sawyer and William Gibson at Appel Salon
Although I’m not too big on leaving the house, I attended this talk by Robert J. Sawyer and William Gibson at the Toronto Reference Library. Aside from trips to the tailor and organizing my cupboards, This is the sort of thing I get excited about. I’ve been wanting to see these two in conversation for years. Reason …
Jan
22
QR Code Tattoo Takes You to Random Site
This tattoo purports to be the first random tattoo in the world. Each time you scan the QR code tattoo you will see something different: Videos, pictures, phrases, weather forecast, tweets … every time something new. A lot of the thinking on this subject is about personal branding — tattoos that lead to your website, …
Jan
08
30 Stories in 15 Days, China
In China, a 30 story hotel has been built in 15 days. The time lapsed footage is below. Gizmodo says: It was erected near the Dongting lake, in the Hunan Province, China, by Broad Group, a Chinese construction company specialised in sustainable architecture. The building uses prefabricated modules (with a +/- 0.2mm precision in the …
Jan
07
Philip K. Dick: We Can Rebuild You
Some of you might remember the Philip K. Dick robot that went missing. As a fan of science fiction and the strange, I posted about this weird incident back in 2006. Well, this creature has been rebuilt. Hanson Robotics just rebuilt the Philip K. Dick Android! To replace the android that we lost in 2005, …
Dec
27
Professionally Dejected For Love
Though he’s probably more controversial in counter-cultural circles than in mainstream ones — who long ago were sold a script and stuck to it– John Lydon might be the one celebrity whose inevitable passing will bother me. It’s always comforting to know he’s out there making someone uncomfortable. I enjoy watching interviews with him and particularly enjoy …
Dec
22
Illustrated Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
I’ve put some hours in and made an illustrated, tumblr version of Guy Debord’s 1967 book The Society of the Spectacle. You can find the first post here. When you finish reading it, simply hit NEWER and it’ll bring you to the next paragraph. Some of you are probably familiar with the book. Others of …
Dec
12
Dec
10
Technicolor Ultra Mall Contest
Do you want a chance to win a signed copy of Technicolor Ultra Mall? The Scene in TO is running a contest. Basically, they’re going to interview me, you submit questions (don’t do that here, do it there) and they’ll ask them. One of the people who submits a question wins a book. Easy. Here’s …
Dec
09
The Alchemists of Kush: Review
I want to give you some background. Be patient. My reasoning will, I hope, become clear. Before I was published, I walked into Bakka Books and was recommended a novel by Minister Faust. Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad. I read it and cursed him out. It was the book I wished I …
Dec
07
Sci-Fi of the Hyperbolic Present: Review From The New Dilettantes
New review of Technicolor Ultra Mall. This one from Adam Gorley of The New Dilettantes. Beneath the violence of Technicolor are interesting, realistic, and sometimes exaggerated characters facing extreme conditions, on both the red and green levels. Communication is mediated by antisocial codes and television, but the characters manage to relate when they want to and when …
Dec
06
Malcolm McLaren Speaks About His Life and Authenticity vs Karaoke Culture
This is well worth a watch. Or a listen. Not much happens visually. Open Culture says about it: In early October of 2009, Malcolm McLaren was nearing death but didn’t know it yet. He showed up at the 2009 Handheld Learning conference feeling fatigued, but managed to deliver a provocative and heartfelt speech titled, “Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s …
Dec
04
Couple of Quick Items
Have to get to work but wanted to post a couple items. First off, another review of Technicolor Ultra Mall is in. This one from Innsmouth Free Press. A cover blurb says this is the kind of thing Philip K. Dick would be writing today. To me, its plot of gangs and music and media-induced …
Dec
01
Grumpy Owl Tumblr
I’ve had a tumblr for years but don’t like it very much and haven’t bothered using it. Don’t much care for tumblr. Anyway, I’m using it now. You can find The Grumpy Owl tumblr here. I have all these pics –junk really– I want off my computer but don’t want to delete. I collect these …
Nov
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Nov
18
Mapping the Republic of Letters
Mapping the Republic of Letters is a Stanford University project to map the intellectual correspondence of the Enlightenment. Brain Pickings says: The project pulls data from the Electronic Enlightenment database, an archive of more than 55,000 letters and documents exchanged between 6,400 correspondents, and maps the geographic origin and destination of the correspondence — something we’ve come to take …













