I will be presenting PC//MM alongside Joey at 17cox on Saturday, December 3rd.  Joey and I have been performing music together for about a year and a half.  Having the context of a presentation will allow us to discuss our influences and our process for composition and performance.

This will include the ideas and inspirations in the evolution of our setup, performance style, and equipment, as well as the development of WHIRL and the intersection of art, music, and community we’ve found in our execution.

So if you’ve seen us perform and wonder who is doing what, or how I’m getting the monomachine to make sounds, or where Joey finds his samples, swing by.

Yup, you guessed it- that's a breadboard synth there. Three oscillators and ring modulation.

The event is produced by 17cox, and is designed to explore collage techniques in the creative process:

In tandem with Continuity, 17 Cox is hosting events engendering collage to all forms of cut and paste media; not just 2D collage, but film, turntables, and other devices/methods that arrange prefabricated media samples like sound bites, film stills, track cuts, et al. into larger compositions.

17cox: 17 Cox Court, Beverly MA 01915, December 3rd, 6pm. 

I followed up the Complexity and Creativity talk with recent material from the Maker Entrepreneurs talk at Barcamp Boston. With the theme of communities in art and technology- the narrative flowed from academic researchers, to how the ideas could be applied to art pieces (PDX I Love You), to how developing a maker community, and empowering individuals to be entrepreneurs, can lead to stronger and more adaptive organizations that can better meet the most difficult challenges we face today.

Of interest to me in particular was a talk on Collision Collective, a group in the boston area passionate about the intersection between art and technology. One of the recent collaborations of the group has been at the Charles River Museum, which has provided members of the group commisions on steampunk work, and has provided a venue for the group to meet and display work. Such a model is exciting- the collaboration allowed memebrs of the colelctive to pursue their passions, and still be sustainable.

The final speaker was incredible. Joe Davis, a researcher and artist based at MIT, spoke of his many art+science projects. Such a boundary between disciplines does not exist with him. Both sides of the work he does play off each other, his artwork pushes scientific inquiry, and he uses high-tech to construct elaborate art pieces. All the while you try to make sense of the artwork you’re seeing, you also try and make sense of Joe Davis.

One of the stories he shared was of a Harvard physicist who visited Davis’ lab space, and Davis told him of some of the work he was doing. The physicist claimed it impossible, but Davis showed him the work, at which point he was invited to Harvard the following week to speak of his results.

Most of all it was amazing to be in the Mass Art space and exchange thoughts and ideas with the students there. I look forward to the growing collaboration.

Voltage is a new coffee-shop in the Kendall area.  Amidst all the big buildings and offices it brings a breath of fresh air with its west coast arty cafe feel. They had an opening last friday by Artist Trekker featuring artists from Bangladesh.

Some food and wine, conversations, and soon the organizers say its ready, we gather in the living room, in a circle sitting, and invited to share projects we’ve done, are thinking about, or sketches.

When I realized it was a bit low key, I shared repetevive just a seed of an idea- still few words to describe it- inspired by the recent Spirited fashion magazine release party.  Playing on surround speakers, everyone listened.  It was amazing because people were not shy to be critical- if anything, people moved beyond criticism, to how about try this, referencing patterns that worked, other artists, things the music reminded them of. With this cloud of ideas, I could reach in and pick out things that matched the direction I wanted to go.

The other projects generated a lot of buzz as well.  It didn’t feel like art school thought wandering everyone tries to get in a word- no- it was something else- it was people feeling each others enthusiasm and recognizing the potential in the work.

This salon happens once a month, one of the hidden gems of this city.

[from musica elettronica viva]

We are making the first steps now toward an actively revolutionary music, a music which will not be an instrument of ruling-class “culture”… but rather a force in the hands of the people, a special language belonging to everybody. When this happens, the “concert” will come to resemble other liberated forms such as the party or the day off.

WHIRL is a multimedia event to quench our desire for beautiful works of art in any medium and ecstatic electronic experiences produced by local artists.  Its something we can do together.  Contactwhichlight(take this out) at gmail(and this) dot com if you have any questions or would like to help out. thanks <3!

Past WHIRLing
at FIGMENT June 4-5, 2011

Collaboration with Dorkbot Boston

6-9 pm Tuesday, May 17th 2011, at Middlesex Lounge in Central Square, FREE

April 22nd at the Lilypad in Inman Square.

Tentative artists and performers:

INTERACTIVE ART by Russell McClellan, Ben Lacker, Eric Rosenbaum, Jay Silver, Paul Feitzinger, Michael Dewberry, Will Whelan

LIVE ELECTRO PERFORMANCES by PC//MM, Ming Ming

PL: Rut Roh

DJs: Sleepyhead, Pajaritos

Performances by Pancake, Crista Galli, and plastic color// math magic on Saturday, September the 11th at the   Lilypad in Inman Square after the art installation and opening by Bill Imbrogna.

A live set from the evening
Latest tracks by Crista Galli

Performance and DJing by PC//MM, with many others joining in later in the evening.  Projections from a variety of sources including deep sea documentaries and science-y crystal flowing stuff.

plastic color//math magic is Joey Asal and Kawandeep Virdee

plastic color // math magic WHIRL demo by plasticcolormathmagic

Imagine the city covered in hearts on Valentine’s Day.  So many people love this city, and here is a way to express that love.   On Valentine’s Day, anyone walking alone in the city may see a heart poking out from a corner, and perhaps a smile will creep on their lips.  A heart that is not commercial, a heart placed not for a single person, but for anyone who walks by.  We want to give a medium for people, to encourage them to freely express their affection through this simple symbol, and re-conceive the purpose of Valentine’s Day, as not a huge commercial endeavor, but a chance to just show anyone- maybe even a city- you love them.

This was a collaborative project organized with Jason Edward Davis in Portland, OR.  We organized a booth in the Love show to spread the idea and materials, and on the night of February 13th, 2009 we placed hearts around the city with dozens of Portlanders.  The following are the notes preceding the project, and documentation of its progress.

Concepts

Ephemeral art is essential in this project because the intention does not involve littering or graffiti.  Creating hearts that are biodegradable, or will come out in the rain is essential.  Possible mediums include chalk, newspaper, construction paper, powder, and natural materials like sticks, dirt, or stones.

While exploring East Berlin, one can’t help but notice the wealth of street art.  Its all around, and after wandering a few days in that city I felt the dialogue the artists had with the city dwellers.  Walking in the city, daydreaming, thinking about different things, and these artists’ works would penetrate my thoughts.  The street art is for the public, and its free to view.  Its a similar dialogue and notion of art free for all that PDX I Love you seeks.

The intention is to cover as much of the city as possible with hearts.  This is a large scale project, and in order to meet that scale we take into account the concepts of networks and how information and action flows through them.  In order to scale to the size of the city, the execution is from the bottom up.  We offer simple guidelines, without any core structure, to allow groups to grow organically.  There is the option to meet at the love show, or to message us to find groups.  With groups forming anywhere, and without reinforcing certain locations, it becomes possible to have hearts emerge all around the city without having a single individual put each one up.

Documentation

The messages sent out and development of the project was maintained on pdxiloveyou.blogspot.com

Soon after spreading the word of the project began, the curator of the Portland Love Show, Ben Pink, welcomed PDX I Love you into the show.  We set up a booth there where we spread the message and also materials to heart the city.

On Valentine’s Day and for weeks after it was fun to look out for hearts and hear about hearts that were seen around town.  For the most part the project was incredibly fulfilling because of its general uplifting outlook and giving nature.  People became inspired about the idea, and we were excited by enthusiastic responses.

I love you and you love me, times infinity

I created a GIF animation for the show The GIF Economy by Weird Fiction .  You can click the above image to see the animation.

Here is an excerpt from Rhizome:

Denizens of the World Wide Web are implored to reanimate dead media and revive retrograde knowledge structures; deploying anomalous information and thereby accelerating GIF speciation. The GIF is your passport to the immortal realms of mythology mash-ups and off-modern memes. Remember: overexposure to cine-molecular glitch scapes (GIF animations and their kin) may lead to as of yet unknown climes of panopticonscious surrender.

The GIF Economy begins on December 3rd at 6pm at Tractor 328 NW Broadway #114 Portland, OR 97209 and is up until December 18th.

Update March, 19th 2010

The animation will be featured in the 8 Bits Per Pixel show at MEME gallery.  All of the fun GIF animations can be seen here.

8 Bits Per Pixel will show from March 25th – 27th at MEME gallery 55 Norfolk Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. The closing event will be on March 27th from 7 to 10pm.