Jeremy Wade | There is no end to more.

As part of New Media, we were required to attend a performance at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Albany, NY. I don't think myself, and the group I was with were ready for what we were about to experience.

It was a small theatre, with stadium seating and a small center stage. The backdrop of the stage was minimal, but interestingly shaped. Also on stage was a small, white house, resembling Snoopy's home. The performance began with a voice projecting through the speakers, and a small man standing, his back turned to us, hunched over on stage. What unfolded over the next 45 minutes was confusing, multi-sensory and slightly disturbing.

As an artist, who does not practice performance art, i could appreciate the interpretive dancer's ability to perform onstage. He had great muscle/body control and looked very well rehearsed. However, having surround sound audio at the same time as an interpretive dancer, it made it difficult to focus on one thing. I was unable to comprehend the audio because i was too distracted by the interpretive dancing. There were particular movements that looked like they were mimicking the audio, but the dancer generally looked like he was under the influence of some heavy drugs.

After watching the entire show, i found some themes/critiques amongst the chaos of the performance.

1. Consumerism

2. Mass Media

3. Pop Culture

4. Symbolism

The list could go on, but initially we thought this was a commentary on japanese culture, however the themes and images are common in mainstream America also.

As far as relating this to New Media, it was interesting to see how the artists married video,audio and performance. In the beginning we assumed we were attending a performance about animae and japanese culture, however we assumed wrong.

http://www.empac.rpi.edu/events/2010/spring/wade/

New Media | Reading Response 1

After several attempts, I was successful in printing Lev Manovich's, The Language of New Media Prologue . The first paragraph gave me insight as to what it was going to take to read, and understand this article. A highlighter with margin notes.
The first word that i came across was Esperanto.
What?
Manovich used it to state how the "...computer fulfills the promise of cinema as a visual Esperanto..." The definition of this foreign word according to www.Dictionary.com is:
–noun
an artificial language invented in 1887 by L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917), a Polish physician and philologist, and intended for international use. It is based on word roots common to the major European languages.

As for the actual prologue, I found it raised many interesting ideas about the nostalgic qualities of cinema compared to the ever-advancing computer technology. As for the "10 Key principles of New Media" I am not quite sure if I've nailed them directly on the head.

10 Key principles of New Media
1.In contrast to computer interface, Cinema is unique in that everyone can "understand it" but not everyone can "speak it" (It being the production of films.)

2.In contrast to viewing video through computers, directly viewing film is unique in that the point of view of the filmmaker is a key element/subject in creating the film.

3.Putting film on computers takes away from the possibilities of montage in the actual film reel. (What used to be manual labor in editing film, became a simple click of the mouse in creating effects.)

4. Film has the power to create false identities, whether it be in a person, place or object.

5. With the power of a mobile camera, the viewers are able to "obtain a close-up of any object..." [172]

6. Combining images in film allows us reject societies demand for a "universal equality of things".

7. Modernization allowed us to combine "different physical locations...within a single magazine spread of film newsreel; now they meet within a single electronic screen"[173-174] which is not necessarily negative because "Synthetic computer-generated imagery is not an inferior representation of our reality, but a realistic representation of a different reality."[202]

8.With New Media, "it is possible to turn "effects" into a meaningful artistic language." Which "new media designers and artists still have to learn-how to merge database and narrative into a new form." [243]

9. New media "aims to go beyond simple human navigation through physical space." [275-276]

10. "The loop gave birth not only to cinema but also to computer programming."

I found it really difficult to name just 10 Principles of New Media, but more or less found this prologue to be a tribute to film and cinema. It explained the beginning of film and how it has paved the way for computer technology in avant-garde film.

This article could be compared to Keith Hoyt's quote:
"You need to learn to walk before you can run"

Phase 1.

Hello New Media Blog.
I am really looking forward to this course on "New Media". It would be accurate to say i am technologically-UN-advanced, so this course will pose many challenges. This will be an interesting semester, of discovering new technology, patience and software, with minimal mental breakdowns!