Category: studio ju ju views
Explore the Possibilities of Exhibiting and Reading Radio and Sound art
This is really interesting and much needed exploration of sound art and sound art exhibition. The exhibition description says it explores “all” the possible ways of exhibiting and reading sound art – quite the overstatement! I think there will always be new ways to exhibit and understand sound art. In any case, great to see people out there ready to take the journey.
The exhibition Radio Arts Space constructs a gallery inside radio space, where Sound art and Radio art works are exhibited. It explores (many possible ways) of exhibiting and reading Radio and Sound art. The project is also complemented by an (international) platform for the discussion of meanings, contextualization, artistic research and the exchange of sound art works.
radioCona, produced by CONA, launched in 2008, is a platform that uses the radio frequency space in art contexts. FM frequency is understood as public space, explored from different perspectives and mediated through artworks audiobooks, programming and exhibitions. radioCona is intervention into public space.
Name that Ringtone!
Our “Name that Ringtone” contest is on its way. We did a test over at our facebook page and the response was exciting – Lots of creative people joined in and gave a handful of ringtones some really creative names.
While the social media test was recent, this project actually started in 2007 right before I left to attend grad school at the San Francisco Art Institute. This is when these first batches of ringtones were made. The problem then was that cell phone technology wasn’t so great, and companies like Verizon were even disabling features on Motorola phones that would allow the easy addition of custom ringtones. I also ran into problems getting a Motorola phone to work with my Mac computer. So, in summary there were a lot of conflicts and challenges back then.
Well, I don’t have to tell you how things have changed now that the iPhone is universally adored. It is now much easier to get custom ringtones onto a phone.
The way the “Name that Ringtone” contests works is that all who suggest a name + like Studio Ju Ju on facebook get entered to win a pair of Reveal Bamboo Bambud earbuds, and those who suggest the winning name for a particular ringtone, get a copy of that ringtone for their phone.
Here’s the ringtone currently up for naming. Take a break from the holidays and put your creativity to work. Name that ringtone!
Series 1 12 edit by Sesamedia + Studio Ju Ju
In case you can’t view the iframe above, click here.
Chance in Art – A Fresh Context Thanks to the Series “Documents of Contemporary Art” by The MIT Press
Today I must return to the library three books from the series Documents in Contemporary Art. Chance, edited by Margaret Iverson, The Sublime, edited by Simon Morley and Failure by Lisa La Feuvre. I’ve had them for over six weeks now, but it still feels way too early to say goodbye. The truth is that I spent so much time with the essays in Chance that I never got to read the others – so I will once I buy the books for my own library.
Chance is made up of short chapters of interviews with artists and artist writings. Also included are writings by art historians and I assume curators. In Chance the earliest writing is from 1944 and the most recent from 2010. Because the writings come from a span of 7 decades, it allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about how the history of chance emerges and inspires contemporary artists. It is without the pretentiousness and crazy language that often obscures writings on art history. The chapters focus on the artist’s intention, plainly communicating ideas
and inspirations. You often get to read about the artist’s line of inquiry in his or her own words. I enjoyed reading one essay at a time, and then taking a few days to reflect on what was said.
In Chance I found some of the most interesting writing on Cildo Meireles that I’ve come across. It also gave me a new appreciation for the work of Yoko Ono and I was introduced to William Anastasi who I wrote about in an early post. A combination of chapters together presented a fresh context to consider the work and influence of John Cage.
My work in sound arts is interested in the ephemeral and transitional, the rapidly changing and complex layers of daily life and the mashing together of natures and cultures. Chance, of the series Documents in Contemporary Art provides me with a fresh context to consider my work in sound arts and sound installation. I’m ready to go out and buy the series.
Because I’m also interested in how ideas are transmitted it’s worth noting the story of how I was able to get access to these books. They were loaned to me by The Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont who had to get them through interlibrary loan through Middlebury College but originally from Marlboro College in Southern Vermont. When I got the books they appeared as if they had never been read or even cracked open.
Also I have to give a cheer “Go MIT Press!” one of my favorite publishers – great job with this series. Thank you.
Sound Arts for Hunting Season
This sound piece is inspired by Saturday, October 29, 2011. On this morning there were two distinct sound events, the early morning gunfire of hunters in the woods and sound of the leaves rapidly falling from this tree. The sound piece is created from the field recording that was originally recorded with the video you see here. The audio and the video in the final piece unfold in real time. The piece was made on the Studio Ju Ju grounds.
Distorted transitions of leaves falling and guns firing. Hunting season, machines, birds, deer, traffic, tree, sun + rain.
“Sink” by William Anastasi, a Quiet Premonition in 1963
I recently was introduced to the work of William Anastasi. There are a few essays about him in the book CHANCE that is of the Documents of Contemporary Art series (2010). This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how chance has played a role in contemporary art. Anastasi’s work “Sink” from the 1960s is just fantastic. It is a floor piece made with the following instructions: “Set a rectangular piece of hot-rolled carbon steel level on floor. Pour on it a measure of tap water so that the resulting pond holds its position short of overflow. Each time the water evaporates, repeat.” You can find more about it here.
I believe I’ve found two images of the same piece, (it seems he created at least four of them in 1963) one of the photos appears to be taken in 1963 in an exhibition (with water) and the other taken when (dry) and up for auction in 2009.
Sound Art Event Commemorates 9/11
This may be one of the more elegant 9/11 commemorative events for this year’s 10th anniversary. It will be broadcast online all day on 9/11/2011. We’ll update this post as more information comes out.
Bell ringers at the Exeter Cathedral in the UK are set to commemorate the victims of 9/11 with a recital of John Lennon’s famous anti-war song ‘Imagine.’
http://bit.ly/rqFW8k
Sound Art in 2011
“Sounding the Depths” is an informative survey of sound art in 2011 and the 50 years that led up to it. It’s important to note that Futurists were experimenting with sound art in the early 1900s, so sound art has at least 100 years behind it. Also, there is sound art that is much more challenging that the works described in the article- but that’s probably because the site hosting the article is about homes, so the article is talking to people who might want to buy sound art for their home. In any case, it is interesting written piece and it is great to see sound art getting more attention (because it is getting more attention). My favorite work described in this article, one that you could not have in your home, is the elegant Wave Organ in San Francisco. It’s exciting to see sound art getting attention in articles like this, hopefully this is a step forward in the public’s understanding of this niche art form. If you are interested in sound art and contemporary art, read more here:
A significant step toward the development of full spatio-temporal cloaking
Scientists from Cornell present an experimental demonstration of temporal cloaking by applying concepts from the time-space duality between diffraction and dispersive broadening.
Click here for the research paper
Click here for an article about the invisibility cloak in PopSci
Sound and Your Body
The exhibit “Biorhythm: Music and the Body” Explores some interesting questions like:
What makes a pop song so catchy?
How does sound give us awareness of space and dimension?
Why do minor chords sound so sad?
http://bit.ly/oE9AsB
The History of the Universe through Listening
Ever heard the sound of a radio storm between Jupiter and its moon Io? Follow this link to listen for yourself.
In this 12 minute TED Talk by the Artist-technologist Honor Harger she describes how listening to the noises of stars and planets and pulsars have informed our knowledge of the universe. In her own work, she tracks the radio waves emitted by ancient celestial objects and turns them into sound, including “the oldest song you will ever hear,” the sound of cosmic rays left over from the Big Bang.