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Rosemary Lee: preparatory notes for the Vilém Flusser Archive Residency for Artistic Research - theoretical research - practical experimentation with materials & electronics with the aim of uncovering the relationship between technological by-products, their origins and their possible futures Looking at recently-deceased forms of tech garbage, especially data-storage devices, I will investigate whether a connection exists between Flusser's "technical image", programming, and life. His visions of bioengineering become ever-more descriptive of a general tendency in society toward technocentrism, and a kind of animism, automating the objects and world around us. In this research, I will be going through Flusser's unpublished manuscripts, as well as his traveling library, to find out more about his perspective than can be discovered in his published books. I will also be referencing his book, Kommunikologie, to shed more light on his insights into the relation between text, image, and technical images, and this is related to the sociological, political, and technical situation at present, particularly in regard to the mass- production and disposal of technological apparatuses. WIth this in mind, I will look into possible implications of these phenomena, and in my studio research, I will experiment with this kind of programming of matter and objects, to create interactive works which reflect my understanding of Vilém Flusser's work. In the continuation from my last project, Molten Media, where I was turning tech waste into rocks, I intend to create "active states" for the previous works, to better reflect this desire for technical images. Another part of my project within the framework of the residency is to host a workshop, called the "Dead Media Resurrection Lab" in which participants will be asked to bring with them a form of what they consider "dead media". To begin we will read a text from Vilém Flusser together, then discuss it in relation to the media artifacts each person has brought with them, and at the end, we will seek possibilities to literally or conceptually revive them. The use of the archive as a pseudo laboratory aims at capturing an experimental approach, and exchanging ideas through dialogue related to the texts. more information here

the element of the unexpected in play

by Rosemary Lee

- one of the most defining features of play is its ability to escape definition

- playfulness can be found in unexpected places, such as the workplace, but also can be lacking in places where it is expected, for instance in games which are not fun (i.e.: "hide the matzah" game in Passover seder)

- taking a theoretical approach to play creates two problems, that writing on play tends to either suffer from a lack of a playful approach, or its reverse, from not being able to be taken seriously

- this leads me to examine different aspects of the nature of play, specifically Conway's game of life

- it is a cellular automaton, a program which produces self-replicating "cells", programmed to react different ways based on a system of rules governing the action of each cell.

For a space that is 'populated':

Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.

Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.

Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.

For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated'

Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.

- the "game" becomes a metaphor for life, and has potential applications in how we can look at its relation to biology, programming, "technical images", and contemporary art practices

http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/

Playfulness in useless systems

CD Player

Alessio Chierico - CD Player - installation from Alessio Chierico on Vimeo.

CD players are not really "players". CDs don't play, they just give digital instructions. An idea. What are the real sounds of CD players? They are the sounds of their mechanisms and engines. The installation "CD player" analyzes the sound from a CD and, when it is similar to the one of the engines, when a specific operation is activated (play, pause, stop, etc), the installation will activate that operation. Now "CD player" is a really player.

Playful Interface: Koelse, Contiguity Carpet

by Rosemary Lee

Koelse's Contiguity Carpet engages the audience by allowing them to generate sound, interacting through touching each other and the carpet.

This project is a good example of a playful interface because it facilitates playful interaction of the audience with one another and the object itself. Different movements, contact, rhythms, etc, modify the sound, which becomes an expression of this interaction. The collective, Koelse (for Association of experimental electronics), can also interact with the participants by playing and adjusting the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6goR83bKllk

koelse.org

fun at work and precarious playbour

Two texts are dealing with different notions of playfulness related to jobs and working environments.

While 'fun at work' focus on the development of playful work environments (e.g. in companies such as Google, twitter... etc.) and discusses whether companies are really interested in person's freedom in work places or have other motives; and how this approach results in reality.

On the other side, the second article is interested especially in discussing the precariousness of modders "playbour" that was explained as " ‘[s]imultaneously voluntarily given and unwaged, enjoyed and exploited’ (by Terranova, 2000: 32)" in gaming industry. In this context, this article discusses modding in game industry, in future how it may be shaped, and the understanding of "people who voluntarily and joyfully do their work do not to be paid". Since Julian Kücklich thinks that the most of the innovation stems from modding in game industry, industry will be forced to acknowledge this, and grant modders more extensive rights to their creations.

I searched for recent articles on the discussion of playfulness in work and found that article: http://www.brainsonfire.com/blog/2011/12/08/go-ahead-and-play-the-link-between-playfulness-and-great-work/.

This article also discusses the positive outcomes of playfulness at work while focusing on some specific experiments; however does not provide a critical view about the situation.

Idil

Precarious Playbour: Modders and the Digital Games Industry // Down with fun

Ulrich

In the text "Precarious Playbour: Modders and the Digital Games Industry" it comes to the question of how modders can be financially rewarded for their work, and to the fact that they create value for commercial products without owning any rights on their creations. The games industry gains a lot of value for their products by additional so to say outsourced content, in no significant financial expenses. One the one hand it is true, modders create free content without getting paid for. The boundaries between work and pure fun shift. One main problem is, that society thinks that fun should not be paid. One unwritten economic rule is: "don't pay if you don't have to". I think that's exactly what the game industry is doing.

The text "Down with the fun" goes into another direction and deals with concepts of work and fake fun.

After some research I found this article http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/playbour-farming-and-labour by Joyce Goggin who is also referring to Julian Kücklich. I haven't read the whole article, but there's one important sentence I want to mention. It has also relevance for the second text "Down with the fun".

"[...] that one cannot be commanded to play because play must be voluntary and have no end outside itself[...]"

Playbour_ relation between work and leisure and its possible development.

Davide Bevilacqua Considered texts: Schumpeter's Down with the fun. http://www.economist.com/node/17035923

Kücklich's article about the modder's culture. http://five.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-025-precarious-playbour-modders-and-the-digital-games-industry/

A definition of Playbour from http://p2pfoundation.net/Playbour that refers to Kücklich and Christian Fuchs.

The topic is playbour, a new kind of relation between play and work, the first two articles deal in two opposite directions. Schumpeter writes about the fun at work, a tendency that became usual in the creative industry, in which workers are somehow stimulated and forced to have fun at work through really strict or structured activities. This can be considered as a way of providing a pleasant working environment, but on the other way tries to involve the worker continuously in a kind of feature of the brand.

The critical point stays where the fun is that much regulated that the freedom of play is completely denied. Still the topic relays on a layer of fun, happiness and lust added to a working environment.

From the opposite front, playbour is also related to a specific productive situation that is voluntary-based and has a special relation with the industry. Kücklich refers to the very particular sub-culture of the videogame modders. They deal with an hobby that produces actually an outcome that is not directly quantifiable, but is nonetheless related to the economy of the videogame industry. Here the point lays in the intellectual property of the products and the exploitation that the industry practices on those mods. Compared to openSource as an opposition to the industry, it is still very much related to the main market, even if collective voluntary work. In this case the relation among producers, contributors and simple consumers are changing but often is just a matter of consciousness about the various statuses and attributions. The last text is actually much more abstract and deals more with the concepts of work and leisure in the contemporary culture, which, as we see, are converging and confused. Playbour is in effect the coming back of the ordinary life in a moment, the play, that is actually separated from it due to its particular essence.

Our economicale and social structure is able to mix the separated concepts of freedom and work. In the text Fuchs refers to Eros and Thanatos (from Marcuse), to Marx and Freud, to compose together the value produced through the leisure, the necessity of waste time efficiently and the repression of the fun in the working environment. The possible outcomes, as we see from the first two articles, are nevertheless open: the new concept of “spending our lives” could realize the dream of some anti-capitalistic philosophers that hope for a relaxed and pleasant time of un-productiveness and on the other side a whole nightmare perspective of an exploited work where fun is a productive moment of a 24h-long job.

#playbour #work #fun #leisure #production #value #blurryness #marxism #freud #creativity #modders

Common points of the articles: “Precarious Playbour: Modders and the Digital Games Industry”, and “Down with fun”

Alessio

The two articles: Precarious Playbour: Modders and the Digital Games Industry”, and “Down with fun”, are both considering the economical, as well as social impact, of a new market focused on the human need of play. Actually, the game industry is a huge economy that is developing very fast, and this process is bringing relevant changes in the social contemporary context. Even if this can not be directly connected, is oblivious to find out that many economies are turning their attention in the entertainment. Nowadays the entertainment is not anymore considered as a close field, but is more considered as a “promise” to the customer, regarding products and services. In the same way, the relation between corporations and their employee is turning in this similar process. Actually, the corporations are sending their image, first of all. Not just an image for the customers, but also for their employees, because the fidelization on the company, can ensure an higher productivity. For this reason the companies cares of the “good feelings” of the human resources, and this is also providing a new market, business-to-businnes, based on services for the entertainment of workers. Many companies are anyway providing a “playful” and pleasant job context, avoiding external services, but insuring a good and productive working place.

Dead Drop

http://deaddrops.com/

‘Dead Drops’ is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. USB flash drives are embedded into walls, buildings and curbs accessible to anybody in public space. Everyone is invited to drop or find files on a dead drop.

Interface:

USB stick inbeded into the wall or column etc, which invites the passbys sahring files in the public spaces.

Culture:

Digital privacy turn into a public cooperational system in a revolutionized approach. People can experience a new way of sharing. The artist share the tutorial how to set it up and make a world of dead drop, which turns it into a kinda cultral movement.

Playful:

The combination of the device connect with the work itself in a pubilic or natural invironment formulate the playfulness.

------------

Nathan Guo

21 Swings

The interactive installation 21 swings by Daily Tous Les Jours, shifts the perception for playground and swings, adding another layer of meaning to the experience of swinging. Swinging and creating music in the same time, depending on how many swings are in motion, offers a fresh look at the idea of cooperation. The result is a giant instrument made of 21 musical swings in the Montreal city center.

https://vimeo.com/40980676#

Interface

Each swing in motion triggers different notes. All the swings together compose a piece.

Culture

Since some parts of the musical composition only emerge when more swings are in motion, the cooperation plays main role in the project. Brings people together and gives the opportunity to have a collective experience which influences the public space.

Playful

The swing as a playful object is the interface. The interaction is achieved by the playful action of swinging (ILINX/ vertigo).

"Exercise in musical cooperation."

by Mika

Sandbox

Oliver Kreylos, researcher at University of California, built a nice sandbox simulation. This interactive sandbox allows to create a real-time processed topographic model by moving and removing sand. It's also possible to fill created gaps with water and play arround with it.

Interface:

A Microsoft Kinect camera, a standard projector, computer, and of course lot of sand are used for this project.

Culture:

The idea behind this project is, that everyone can create a new world by manipulating the shape of the land by moving sand. It encourages to play around with it and gives great visual feedback.

Playful:

There is no goal, nothing you can beat. The only purpose of this sandbox is to play with it. (Paida)

by ulrich l.

Fala - (Playful Interfaces)

Speak / Fala - Rejane Cantoni and Leonardo Crescenti

Alessio

The work “Speak / Fala” made by Rejane Cantoni and Leonardo Crescenti is reflecting on the language and on the impossible compatibility between the human language and the language of the machines.

Even if possible to establish a communication with machine, there must be some interfaces that can translate the interaction between the two sides.

This project consist in an installation of mobile placed on stands. In a microphone the visitor can say something and this will trigger a process that looks like a Chinese Whispers: one by one, the mobile will try to interpret the sound in one word that will be displayed, and repeated. This process will engage a chain of mistakes that will return words with different meaning than the original.

Interface:

the language as interface, and the focus on the relation between the human and the machine

Culture:

This project is mirroring the cultural impact of the technologies like mobile telephony, and underline the essential difference in the between the communication form of digital system and the human communication.

Playful:

The triggered process let raise a sense of participation on the visitor and the unpredictable result (Alea) is ironic.

Fine Collection of Curious Sound Objects

By idil

http://www.geschoir.de/soundobjects/

The project is realized by Georg Reil and Kathy Scheuring as a collection of six daily life objects that are not modified in their appearances (only connected to system by a cable); however that are offering surprising playful interactions varying based on their daily usage and unique stories accompanying them.

Interface:

Sensors and processing tool are used for their implementation. Recorded live audio input is modified based on sensor data and generates digital sound.

Culture:

Ordinary objects are explored in a way that surprising interactions are made possible while using them. Inspired by John Maeda's 'Simplicity', they aim to be enjoyable, surprising; thus they may encourage the user to explore and investigate them.

Playful:

We may interact with the objects in the same way that we use them in our daily lives; however they respond in surprising and enjoyable ways. By doing so, there may be shifts in realization of these objects and our daily routines while using them.

Playstation one. by Jure Fingušt

Assignement: Find an Art work that is in your opinion playfull.

Comming from a haptical background, I'm a sculptor, I was looking for playful sculptures. I found an American sculptor who in mine opinion makes playful sculptures.The sculptor is Bridget Beck, she is from South Dakota . She is rather a new artist and she is mostly focusing on making a large sculptures for public space. She could also be described as a social artist, because her sculptrures have a social role, since they are bringing generations together.The piece I'm gonna describe is called Playstation.

The statue is made out of scrap metal, and scrap wood parts and basicaly things that you can find on the junk yard. She is using bright colors to invite people to see what is that, and the whole piece is colored like a childrens book which clearly supports her intentions to invite children and the elderly people to interact – play with her statue.

Interface: to explore the sculpture from the whole angles. It is clearly set to awaken the inner child which we all posses, and to interactiv with the scuplture for example to use the swings that are being offered to play with.

Culture: It is binding multiple generations and the diverse ethnical groups, since the sculpture itself provides space within it, you can sit on the bench or use the swings by creating such a thing she encourages people to come out and gather around her statue.

Playfulness: The whole sculpture is very playfull since it is designed to invite people to interact with it or on it.

"Noisy Jelly"

Project was created by Raphaël Pluvinage, whose background is product design and Marianne Cauvard, student of food design.

Noisy Jelly is a playful interface project, where users can create music instruments from jellies made of water, gelatine, food coloring and few grams of agar agar powder (it is gelatinous substance obtained from algae). Main concept behind this project was to encourage interaction and experimentation. As creators claim, it appeals to and educates both children and adults.

Interface:

Made with conductive board, Arduino with #capcence library (turns arduino pins into capacitive sensor), Max/MSP with Arduino2max and jellies of course. Variations of their shape and their salt concentration, the distance and the strength of the finger contact are detected and transform into an audio signal, which is generated in Max/MSP. This objects aim to demonstrate that electronic can have a new aesthetic, and be assumed as a ductile material, which has to be manipulated and experimented.

Culture:

Encouragement of experimentation and education. In this way, by playful behavior people can create something interesting and learn a bit about electronics, food and audio design and how to connect these things together.

Playfulness:

Created shapes are colorful, easy to do and it is pleasant to experiment with them. By adjusting parameters of the solution anyone can create rich, edible, tactile sound objects. Then, one can play with them and make his own jelly song.

by Karol Kagan

Digital Taste Interface

Digital taste interface is a new mechanism to stimulate taste sensations digitally on human tongue. The main motivation of this work is to improve one’s everyday life experiences through sharing taste sensations, since it is strongly associated with memories and emotions. This will encourage new experiences and communication possibilities such as tasting food from remote locations and sending emotional taste messages to remote people.

Interface : to explore how technology augment sensorial experiences, firmware for digital taste and working interface have beed conducted. Digital actuation of taste via electrical and thermal stimulation.

Culture : connecting personal emotion and experience, reflecting and sharing each different habit and experience of tasting food from different culture, background and situation.

Playful : share the same tasting experience for digital taste.

Hyeonjin Kim

TEN THOUSAND CENTS ( Koblin/Kawashima)

Is an artwork from Aron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima were Using a custom drawing tool, thousands of individuals working in isolation from one another painted a tiny part of a 100$ bill without knowledge of the overall task. Each individual gets paid a 0.01$ for its work so the cost of the 10.000 little drawings is 100$ the value of the bill replicated.

Interface: The interface is a custom drawing tool in a commercial marketplace were individuals can join to do a simple task in exange for a payment.

Culture: The background of this artpiece could be considered from two different points of view:

Crowdsourcing: Offering the chance to work in the piece to a large amount of people instead of a more traditional suplier.

Artist's work philosophy: This piece could be seen as the use of artist asistants taken to the extreme.

Playful:The fact that is not possible to make a mistake gives a “playful” aproach to the task assigned to the 'drawer'.

http://www.tenthousandcents.com

Martín Nadal

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