London’s audiovisual Howlin’ Wolf (it’s a sideburn thing), Toby Harris (aka *spark), has been steadily building strong live video performances since the turn of the century, exploring his real-time video skills at countless festivals, sophisticated audiovisual performances and most recently on giant touchscreen plasmas within motor shows. He also founded AVIT, the real world spin-off of vjforums.com that prompted festivals around the world, so it was a pleasure to meet him @ Sonar in Barcelona mid 2007, as well as get his reflections on audiovisual possibility. Lotta words to follow, but worth the read for the pixel-inclined…

What appeals about real-time video manipulation, about ‘live cinema’?

The world is catching up with vjs in enjoying a spot of real-time video manipulation: just watch people using PhotoBooth on any modern Mac. Continue reading

I often describe people I write about here at Serial Consign as friends and peers and both of these terms definitely apply to David McCallum. David is a Toronto-based artist and musician whose subverts electronic hardware, software and networks towards playful and performative ends. He has a background in physics and music and received a Masters in Art and Technology from Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden.

I met David in 2006 at Mutek, and got to know him and his work through his excellent curation of our Vague Terrain issue on locative media. David’s creative practice is quite varied, and perusal of his recent work reveals interests in improv performance, modified timepieces and insect orchestras. Continue reading

Masayuki Akamatsu has taught sound/media arts at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences/Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, Gifu, Japan) since 1997. He has exhibited multimedia electronic installations and performed throughout the world, and is also a member of The Breadboard Band, a group that performs electronic music made from circuits on solderless breadboards. His numerous installations incorporate sound, visual manipulations, and many other forms of mixed media. Continue reading

The Digital Artists Handbook [see Working with Sound] is an up to date, reliable and accessible source of information that introduces you to different tools, resources and ways of working related to digital art.

The goal of the Handbook is to be a signpost, a source of practical information and content that bridges the gap between new users and the platforms and resources that are available, but not always very accessible. The Handbook will be slowly filled with articles written by invited artists and specialists, talking about their tools and ways of working. Some articles are introductions to tools, others are descriptions of methodologies, concepts and technologies. Continue reading

Moving Forest: Insurgency - presented by AKA the castle @ CONSPIRE, Transmediale08, House of World Cultures, Berlin :: February 1, 2008.

Moving Forest of the PEOPLE’S FRONT is conspiring with KEIN.ORG and INURA (International Network for Urban Research and Action) in a call for an INSURGENCY act. The Russians took Moltke bridge. The prisoners took JVA Moabit. We take the prisoners. We are all 129a. The walls are blasted. The data are mined. The phones are tapped. The lives of others. We listen through walls. The cities of others. We walk through walls.

Moving Forest, conceived by Shu Lea Cheang (Plenum, nodeLondon06) and Martin Howse (xxxxx, nodeLondon06), is a 12 hour 5 act sonic performance operating with public wifi and mobile technology - an expandable citywide operatic manoeuvre / intervention. Continue reading

More of the Same by LoVid [Start slowly with 1; close each popup window before launching the next] - More of the Same extends LoVid’s investigation of electrical irregularities and human interactions. After it loads copies of a single sound sample, fissures in the digital veneer are explored as the spoken communication is played back repeatedly. Though each instantiation of the speech is identical, physical constraints affect the timing. This allows the nature of the medium to peek through the cracks in the voices. Continue reading