[NetBehaviour] Residency Responses number 2

Fri Jul 1 09:50:46 CEST 2005

hi marc, jason and all

my sentence 'what needs to be there? what does it need to do? does it do
it? yes! job done.' was not a description of looking at the work, it was
a (very short-hand) description of how i feel jason made the residency
peices. i know i am probably wrong but this is the impression i get. and
this is not trying to belittle his work in anyway - because something
appears quick or effortless does not mean that it was. maybe jason can
tell us a little more about his process?

and while yout at it jason, could you send me the .fla for the spinning
3D-style layered image thing (used in miranda & neumark and also the
bomargene maps)? i'll dig something out for you in return.

cheers

rich

-----Original Message-----
From: netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org
[mailto:netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org] On Behalf Of marc
Sent: 01 July 2005 00:37
To: netbehaviour
Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Residency Responses number 2

Hi Rich, Jason & Netbehaviourists,

Let me just say that this example used shining more light on your
statement (below) is very funny - and very well put.

>I often feel that flash has been given a bad start by being called
flash
- it's like naming your son champ and then forcing him to be a boxer. he
may be good at boxing? he may even win? but deep down aren't you
thinking 'what else could he do?'

And these words "but deep down aren't you thinkin what else could he
do?" are very astute.

I think that one thing that we can easily forget here, is that doing a
residency on this list - demands a certain degree of performance. Which
could actually have a lot to do with time. Because things are changing
all the time on this list, continuing emails, discussions, news and
postings, instant mailing creates a kind of rhythm, it is moving all of
the time, and this could have some influence on the way that we perceive
any residency on this list, for the work is not a static object or
seperate from other things - like on a wall in a gallery, or a gallery
context. It just so happens to be meshed between various, networked
rhythms - due to the nature of the type of work that it is, as in - on
the Internet, and also the fact that people are viewing the work in the
context of it being part of a residency.

 >what strikes me about jason's use of flash is that it seems completely
unapologetic. it is no nonsense. it screams 'FLASH' but it doesn't
matter because it isn't pretending that it is anything other than a
piece of work made with flash.

Again, well communicated. And I think that this needed to be said...

>I like this simplicity. it is also reflected in the interfaces: buttons
are boxes or circles, arrows are often hand-drawn with the mouse. it
feels like a very honest approach to creating works, without fiddling
around, just making use of the essentials - what needs to be there? what
does it need to do? does it do it? yes! job done. this approach brings
it's own aesthetic quality.

To answer this is not easy - because I agree with the sentiment.
Although I do not think that anyone is expecting Jason's way of working,
or his work to conform or fit into their own specific criteria. What
makes a residency such as this interesting, is viewing and seeing how
other people's differnt ways of working, enlightens our own practice or
way of understanding art in larger context. I think that a lot of all
this is about learning, and questions are coming from a place of
authentic interest rather than trying to pick on someone...if this was
the case, I feel that the language would be more agressive on here
generally, and it isn't.

Enquiry into another's work can sometimes touch on things that the
artist themselves might possibly feel is being rude or missing the
point. Yet, we are meant to be discussing the work created here - not to
just look at the work and say right - that's it. This act kind of
defeats the object of having a residency and opening it up for
discussion really. 

marc 

jason and netbehaviourists

flash, like any tool, can be used very well or very badly. and sometimes

too well. people very often get carried away with making things fade

in/out, glide gently, bob around and react in 'physics' type ways for

absolutely no reason other than that they can.

what strikes me about jason's use of flash is that it seems completely

unapologetic. it is no nonsense. it screams 'FLASH' but it doesn't

matter because it isn't pretending that it is anything other than a

piece of work made with flash.

I like this simplicity. it is also reflected in the interfaces: buttons

are boxes or circles, arrows are often hand-drawn with the mouse. it

feels like a very honest approach to creating works, without fiddling

around, just making use of the essentials - what needs to be there? what

does it need to do? does it do it? yes! job done. this approach brings

it's own aesthetic quality.

I often feel that flash has been given a bad start by being called flash

- it's like naming your son champ and then forcing him to be a boxer. he

may be good at boxing? he may even win? but deep down aren't you

thinking 'what else could he do?'

rich

http://www.counterwork.co.uk

-----Original Message-----

From: netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org

[mailto:netbehaviour-bounces at netbehaviour.org] On Behalf Of Jason Nelson

Sent: 30 June 2005 13:23

To: NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org

Subject: [NetBehaviour] Residency Responses number 2

Ruth and all,

Yeah there certainly has been heaps of talk about

flash as an art/animation/web tool. The basic reason I

use it, is that I am sloppy, I leave off details,

include misspellings in my work, leave links dry and

all the other signs of a mind gone off to another

world for vacation. And with hard coding, with DHTML, javascript and all

the other fancy fancies, I would spend hours searching for these small

imperfections, these missing parcels and potions. So at least with flash

I can check the actionscript and all. 

Really any work isnt about the technology, and

shouldnt be about the tool. I you use a shovel, when

you dig it leaves a shovel shape. But to use the

shovel as an artistic tool or killing implement, the

idea is to leave the shovel behind, as if the hole

just appeared with aid if implement, or head crushed

simply by air pressure.  

Of course people will look at this work and say. Oh

that is flash. Only because there isnt another tool

like it out there. I do think many things look too

flashy, but things also look to photoy, or soundy, or

texty. Really....it is and always will be about the

content. 

As far as other artists. I do exchange flas quite a

lot with other people. This makes play and learning

terribly easy, and I love swimming within another's

net space. You can tell heaps about other people by

the way they organize their libraries, the way they

name layers, how they use objects, where they hide

things etc....there is a sociological essay there

somewhere.....hm....maybe I can get Marco media to fund it.

Lastly, Let me add that Flash is like a series of

magic tricks...the hidden and illusion are much better

pals than the engine jockeys filling up grocery store

parking lots on Saturday nights. I could use a snow

cone. I like grape.

cheers, Jason

--- Ruth Catlow  <mailto:ruth.catlow at furtherfield.org>
<ruth.catlow at furtherfield.org> wrote:

Hi All,

I've been taken a look back through Jason Nelson's

residency. What a

diverse and deep labour of love.

I searched into each interface for the behavioural

model it proposed I

adopt- where the rewards lay, how those rewards were

elicited  (like a 

change of expression in a baby's face in response to

a smile) and then 

indications of identities of the artists. Every

decision became part of 

building a portrait of a group of people.

I'm drawn to the pieces that that connect words and

architecture- ley's

tree poem, praying in the suburbs and daily's inner

and inner space- or 

are they all getting muddled now. Then something

completely different - 

Golan's and de Pinto's faces smiling under my mouse

strokes, like half 

washed away murals.

One thing I'd like to hear more about though Jason

is your relationship

with the Flash software and perhaps with other

artists who work with 

Flash. What, if any do you feel are the

strengths/limitations of the 

software on your explorations of interface/creature

creation?

I know it may be well trodden territory for some but

I don't think I've 

seen you write about it. What about other people on

the list....?

cheers

Ruth

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