Hey...maybe you've enjoyed these daily dispatches on what's new in new media. Perhaps you're also feeling a little bit of the Christmas spirit...and want to share NAN with your friends and colleagues. Well, you can. It's quite simple to add a NAN column or module to your website. Simply follow our directions and copy some code. It's free to non-profit sites (donations to NAN's non-profit parent, Rhizome.org, are greatly appreciated).
Maybe you're getting a digital video camera for Christmas. Does that make you a digital filmmaker? What exactly does creating "digital cinema" entail? Shooting a movie on digital film a la Lars von Trier? Or fashioning intricate special effects and 3D models a la Pixar? Check out the website keyframe.org, and discover links, discussions, musings, and more on the marriage between the computer and the camera. You can also contribute your own thoughts to the site. Let the dialogue begin...
From Hamburg, Germany: the Very Cyberfeminist International conference took place last week, hosted by the Old Boys Network (OBN). Huh? Well, OBN is a snarkily-named collective of new media artists and theorists who are actually women...and cyberfeminists. This year's conference posed the questions "What role does the digital medium play in the current restructuring of the world when old borders are shifted and new ones set up? And what is the symbolic and concrete function of 'woman' in this process?" to attendees, who included artists, politicians, theorists and activists from 11 different countries.
Is one's future a predetermined narrative? Juliet Martin's "Instant Future" is a website that suggests that it might be -- at least for the protagonist of the tale that unfurls on the site. Visitors encounter a woman who has a history of sexual and emotion abuse, which is conveyed by animated doodles accompanied by what appear to be written confessions. As her story is revealed, the character becomes ever more real by sharing her disbelief at exposing herself emotionally online. "Instant Future" is a poignant piece that also forces us to question the nature of our own life narratives.
For those of you that think sunny SoCal lacks a net art community, stop in at Whose Cafe in Hollywood tonight. Rhizome.org will be hosting Rhizome.LA, a new series that will feature presentations by new media artists. The inaugural event will highlight fresh works by Steve Appleton, Joyce Campbell, Scott Draves, Mark Pesce, Nick Thompson, and Ryan Wartena. Rhizome.LA will allow different pockets of new media artists working in the vast Los Angeles area to come together and share ideas, as well introduce new forms of digital art to those who might be unfamiliar with it. Festivities start at 7:30pm (and run to 10pm); best of all, there's no cover charge.
Drat. Chances are you missed the NOMUSIC Festival, scheduled for December 18...unless you live in Europe, as the festivities began at 7pm in France. Well, even if you didn't get a chance to witness the live audio/video streams, it's worth it to check out nomusic.org, where international experimental sound and video artists present their work online. So maybe you didn't get to hear Carl.Y from Mulhouse, France, jam live. But you'll find his other work --and that by some of the other performers from the festival -- archived here.
