Re: Turbulence Commission:

Hi Jim & Pall
Thanks for the comments about Grafik Dynamo. Yes, I wrote the texts. They are pulled from a flat file and randomly fed into the piece using javascript. There are two documents, one for the thought and speech bubbles (upper texts) and one for the expository notes (lower texts). So there is a level of organization that governs the way the fragments are distributed. Regarding the fragments themselves: I wanted to use some of the formal structures you find in comics, such as "meanwhile…", lots of exclamation points, and speech patterns like "ack!" etc. I was initially drawn to using references to science fiction and 1940s spy fiction. I was loving the brilliant innocence of both comics and that literature, where everything happens in either London or Damascus, people carry around suitcases of gems, and scientists become deranged by their magnificent powers. As I was working with these themes I found myself adding references to things that seemed more current, like evangelicals, lobbyists and apocalypse, and started to pull in other concerns, not usually associated with comics or hard-boiled crime novels, such as existential freedom & metaphysical structures like extra-temporal essence. These things started to feed back on each other so that all of a sudden I was discovering implications that philosophical states were being influenced by these mysterious machines, or that powerful non-specific figures were motivated by the desire to have outre religious experiences. So that's how the material evolved in the beginning. When it started to run against the influx of images I was happy to see that these associations became even more complex.
Kate


Pall Thayer wrote:

> I also really like the Roy Lichtenstein reference and would also like
> to hear a little more about the texts, whether they are gathered or
> written specifically for the work.
>
> Pall
>
> Jim Andrews wrote:
> > That's quite interesting, Kate and Michael. Could you say something
> about the texts; there's the upper and lower texts…how were they
> composed–I presume Kate wrote or assembled the texts? Also, the visuals plus the thought bubbles are much better visually than I would have expected with something dynamic textually.
> >
> > Gotta say I prefer this to standard comics.
> >
> > ja

Comments

, Kate Armstrong

Hi Jim & Pall
Thanks for the comments about Grafik Dynamo. Yes, I wrote the texts. They are pulled from a flat file and randomly fed into the piece using javascript. There are two documents, one for the thought and speech bubbles (upper texts) and one for the expository notes (lower texts). So there is a level of organization that governs the way the fragments are distributed. Regarding the fragments themselves: I wanted to use some of the formal structures you find in comics, such as "meanwhile…", lots of exclamation points, and speech patterns like "ack!" etc. I was initially drawn to using references to science fiction and 1940s spy fiction. I was loving the brilliant innocence of both comics and that literature, where everything happens in either London or Damascus, people carry around suitcases of gems, and scientists become deranged by their magnificent powers. As I was working with these themes I found myself adding references to things that seemed more current, like evangelicals, lobbyists and apocalypse, and started to pull in other concerns, not usually associated with comics or hard-boiled crime novels, such as existential freedom & metaphysical structures like extra-temporal essence. These things started to feed back on each other so that all of a sudden I was discovering implications that philosophical states were being influenced by these mysterious machines, or that powerful non-specific figures were motivated by the desire to have outre religious experiences. So that's how the material evolved in the beginning. When it started to run against the influx of images I was happy to see that these associations became even more complex.
Kate
______________
Kate Armstrong
http://katearmstrong.com


Pall Thayer wrote:

> I also really like the Roy Lichtenstein reference and would also like
> to
> hear a little more about the texts, whether they are gathered or
> written
> specifically for the work.
>
> Pall
>
> Jim Andrews wrote:
> > That's quite interesting, Kate and Michael. Could you say something
> about
> > the texts; there's the upper and lower texts…how were they
> composed–I
> > presume Kate wrote or assembled the texts? Also, the visuals plus
> the
> > thought bubbles are much better visually than I would have expected
> with
> > something dynamic textually.
> >
> > Gotta say I prefer this to standard comics.
> >
> > ja
> > February 15, 2005
> > Turbulence Commission: "Grafik Dynamo" by Kate Armstrong and
> Michael
> > Tippett
> > http://turbulence.org/works/dynamo/index.html
> >
> > "Grafik Dynamo" is a net art work that loads live images from
> blogs and
> > news sources on the web into a live action comic strip. The work is
> > currently using a feed from LiveJournal. The images are accompanied
> by
> > narrative fragments that are dynamically loaded into speech and
> thought
> > bubbles and randomly displayed. Animating the comic strip using
> dynamic web
> > content opens up the genre in a new way: together, the images and
> narrative
> > serve to create a strange, dislocated notion of sense and
> expectation in the
> > reader, as they are sometimes at odds with each other, sometimes
> perfectly
> > in sync, and always moving and changing. The work takes an
> experimental
> > approach to open ended narrative, positing a new hybrid between the
> flow of
> > data animating the work and the formal parameter that comprises its
> > structure.
> >
>
> –
> _______________________________
> Pall Thayer
> artist/teacher
> http://www.this.is/pallit
> http://pallit.lhi.is/panse
>
> Lorna
> http://www.this.is/lorna
> _______________________________

, Kate Armstrong

Hi Jim & Pall
Thanks for the comments about Grafik Dynamo. Yes, I wrote the texts. They are pulled from a flat file and randomly fed into the piece using javascript. There are two documents, one for the thought and speech bubbles (upper texts) and one for the expository notes (lower texts). So there is a level of organization that governs the way the fragments are distributed. Regarding the fragments themselves: I wanted to use some of the formal structures you find in comics, such as "meanwhile…", lots of exclamation points, and speech patterns like "ack!" etc. I was initially drawn to using references to science fiction and 1940s spy fiction. I was loving the brilliant innocence of both comics and that literature, where everything happens in either London or Damascus, people carry around suitcases of gems, and scientists become deranged by their magnificent powers. As I was working with these themes I found myself adding references to things that seemed more current, like evangelicals, lobbyists and apocalypse, and started to pull in other concerns, not usually associated with comics or hard-boiled crime novels, such as existential freedom & metaphysical structures like extra-temporal essence. These things started to feed back on each other so that all of a sudden I was discovering implications that philosophical states were being influenced by these mysterious machines, or that powerful non-specific figures were motivated by the desire to have outre religious experiences. So that's how the material evolved in the beginning. When it started to run against the influx of images I was happy to see that these associations became even more complex.
Kate

, Jim Andrews

http://turbulence.org/Works/dynamo/index.html

When it's firing on all cylinders, it's pretty amazing.

The texts are secretly fueling the invisible mechanisms!

Occassionally, it's oddly revelatory, the explosive moment nearing the
source of all! The deity is only present for a moment!

Many of the images are too small and should be passed over for larger
images. Not sure if the size of the image is readable so as to pass it over
if too small. Alternatively, the images could be centered vertically in the
panels.

Or perhaps the deity is only hiding on such occassions behind the thought
bubble.

Thanks, Kate, really strong work.

ja

, Michael Szpakowski

Yes! this is *tremendous.*

< Many of the images are too small and should be
passed over for larger
images. Not sure if the size of the image is
readable so as to pass it over
if too small. Alternatively, the images could be
centered vertically in the
panels.>

agree with Jim -it's oddly disappointing to hit a
patch of semi concealed images in what is such a
rewarding piece, part of whose strength lies in the
*illusion* of intentional narrative -so what looks
like a frame uncompleted, unthought through, brings us
up short…
Still fantastic though!
michael

— Jim Andrews <[email protected]> wrote:

> http://turbulence.org/Works/dynamo/index.html
>
> When it's firing on all cylinders, it's pretty
> amazing.
>
> The texts are secretly fueling the invisible
> mechanisms!
>
> Occassionally, it's oddly revelatory, the explosive
> moment nearing the
> source of all! The deity is only present for a
> moment!
>
> Many of the images are too small and should be
> passed over for larger
> images. Not sure if the size of the image is
> readable so as to pass it over
> if too small. Alternatively, the images could be
> centered vertically in the
> panels.
>
> Or perhaps the deity is only hiding on such
> occassions behind the thought
> bubble.
>
> Thanks, Kate, really strong work.
>
> ja
>
>
>
>
> +
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, Jim Andrews

Perhaps it's simply that I'm growing senile, but I am bored quickly with
conventional narrative, poemy poems, songy songs, filmy films, etc etc. It's
a painful and ill-tempered condition! I just really long to see pieces like
Grafik Dynamo that make some space momentarily for the deity or erm
something I haven't already experienced in art. Work that doesn't reproduce
art from some other media, whether it be film or visual art or poetry or
whatever. I think it takes a lot of doing to make that sort of art, a lot of
abandoning presuppositions. And also usually some willingness to actually
learn how to do stuff with digital technology and also unlearn the
conventional uses of it, find the juice in it.

William S. Burroughs said that when you cut tape, the future leaks out. And
it does, you know, it can be that exciting, that unexpected, that fresh.

So thanks, Kate. Your Graphik Dynamo really made my day.

ja

, a bill miller

for another possiblity with what a cell phone or pda could be used for follow this link:
http://elahi.rutgers.edu/
then go to current project… etc. etc. etc.
while not tagging, it has to do with similar technologies as surveilllance.