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Ecomedia
How the Natural World is Transforming the Nature of Media.
This weblog is not the usual blog of daily events. It contains a series of notes/thoughts designed to make connections between science and media art.
Sometimes these ideas are tied in with current events, but most of the time this blog is not in any particular order. It serves as a central area for a detailed examination of ideas first published in a 1999 Leonardo Journal article entitled 'Active Vision' that I hope to develop into a book that will discuss some of the current developments in science, ecology, media and society and how they inform and are informed by new technologies. The book will be written for artists working with digital media and anyone who is interested in future directions of the medium.
http://www.andreapolli.com
last modified Sep 7, 2006 at 13:00
An article published in the July 25th New York Times is called 'Secrets of the Singing Sand Dunes' and provides links to audio and video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/science/25find.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(registration required)
At the scanz/ADA symposium at Taranaki NZ recently, Danny Butt posed five questions for a philosophy of New Media, as a kind of meta-thinking' about structures, participation among various communities, genders, etc.
Here they are (with some additional notes):
Five questions for a philosophy of digital media
1] How do we live in a medium that enables the flow of 'goods' and 'bads'?
(for example: networks facilitate the centralization of control, road example, as road joining a rural area to a city turns the area into a 'suburb' or satellite of the city. What does it mean to be pushing new media? Where is it going?)
2] Can we think about the network via nodes?
3] Can finding gaps help make connections?
(Spaces where language falls apart, art/science collaborations, etc. People are units that have equal weight?)
4] What systems are unknowable to us?
(Presenting the message and also the context of the message)
5] How can we test our conceptual frameworks with the same intensity that other knowledge systems have been tested?
Here's an image (from my great dad - thanks dad!) of the 'Black Sun' phenomenon in Denmark when millions of starlings create amazing formations in the sky during their March-April migration.
http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=309856
And another interesting article from dad:
http://www.discover.com/issues/nov-97/features/quantumhoneybees1263/
How does he find these things?
Well, the scanz residency is over and I'm at the Taipei artist's village trying to process it all, especially the influence of the Maori. Maori language and culture is very extensive, it would take many years to learn enough to truly integrate it into artwork, but due to the generosity of the Maori leaders in Taranaki we were able to make a real connection, and I think this could be a good model for future exchanges. It felt very much like a hole in our technological/scientific approach to the environment was starting to be filled by ancient knowledge.
First, the Marae at Taranki invited the artists to a powhiri, which is a formal ceremony welcoming visitors into the Marae. After the formal part which involved a hongi, a greeting that involves touching noses and breathing in, something like exchanging the life's breath or essence, traditional words spoken in Maori and an exchange of songs, the leaders said they wanted to hear about our projects. Several artists presented their ideas and the leaders responded to the ideas from their perspectives and experiences. This was a fantastic brainstorming session unlike any I have ever been involved in. Then the leaders told us about the history of the Marae and responded to our questions in great detail.
Later, Chuck and I and a few other artists were working in the computer lab, and Tengaruru Wineera, our guide at the powhiri and head of the Dept of Maori Studies at WITT, just dropped by. He said he had been thinking about one of the artist's projects dealing with the essence and histories of objects and wanted to show us some things. He took out some traditional objects (Taonga) from his backpack, including three Ponamu Patu, Maori clubs made of highly polished greenstone. He told us how in Maori tradition histories of these objects live within them and those who know how to listen to the histories can hear the clubs speak. As we were handling them, passing them around, holding them up to the light, he told us that two of these particular objects have been in his family for over 800 years. Well...you can imagine, we were overwhelmed by the privilege of being alowed to be so close to these very important objects and by his generosity in sharing them with us. He even allowed an artist to put contact and other microphones around the patus to scan them for signal. This was truly an exchange of technological and ancient knowledge.
Some of the Maori leaders came to our opening and gave feedback on the work to the artists. I was very interested to learn from Tengaruru in response to my work sonifying wave and wind data of the Pacific, that there is a Maori word that means both the sound and the movement of the ocean. The Maori language seems to contain a deep understanding of the forces of nature that is very different from Western ways of thinking. It is difficult to break out of conceptual barriers contained in language, but art can help do this. I also learned of some of the political issues surrounding ownership of the coastal shelf that the Maori (and New Zealand people in general) have been struggling with.
Finally, and really the most moving to me, was when we were leaving, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, who is a very important Maori leader with a long lineage (both past and future as she has seven grandchildren!) but who also is a political leader who has spoken out internationally in the interest of peace and justice, came to the airport. As we boarded the plane, she gave each of us a hongi and as we walked away spoke words in Maori wishing us a safe journey. This kindness and generosity is something that will stay in my memory for a very long time.
I've been in New Plymouth on the West Coast of the North Island of New Zealand near the Taranaki mountain for about a week working on a project with the Solar Circuit artist's residency.
Two days ago I visited Oakura Beach with Alex Monteith, a video installation artist who is also a professional surfing instructor. I was particularly interested in talking to Alex about surfing because of my project, taking real time wind and wave data from Port Taranaki and translating it into sound and animation. I was interested in how surfers connect with the wind and waves and was fascinated with what I discovered.
Many surfers follow the weather in a very sophisticated ways, looking for particular conditions that are known to form the best waves for surfing. Vortexes of wind just off the coast (what surfers call 'onions') are usually good for surfers, but the onions can't be too close or to far away.
Alex said she and other surfers follow isobars, wave information regularly updated online, as well as webcams, but that the widespread use of surfing webcams has created a lack of weather knowledge among some of the younger surfers, who simply check the images of the waves without knowing why particular conditions exist. It can become an obsession for a committed surfer, checking online reports first thing in the morning every day.
Connecting to the weather conditions as a surfer seems to make one aware of global connections, as potentially an enthusiastic and committed surfer could follow one particular surf from Ireland to France to Italy by watching the reports and jumping on planes.
The commitment of surfers to finding and following waves reminded me of conversations I have had with 'storm chasers', who follow tornadoes in the US Midwest, sometimes placing themselves in considerable danger to be in the presence of an intense storm.
This process of waiting, watching and following is also similar to the current artistic process of another Scanz artist, Canadian Ken Gregory, who is creating a kite equipped with custom electronics to re-create and return to the sky the sound of the extinct Huia, a new Zealand bird only recently lost. He's completed his kite and electronics and has not just been watching the weather reports and the sky to find just the right conditions for flying.
Ken's blog is here:
http://cheapmeatdreamsandacorns.blogspot.com/
and has lots of great images and information about his work.
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