Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 217

Dead Media Beat: Season’s Greetings from the Glasgow School of Art

Season’s Greetings from The Glasgow School of Art from The Glasgow School of Art on Vimeo.

Season’s Greetings from The Glasgow School of Art
from The Glasgow School of Art PLUS 1 week ago / Creative Commons License: by nc nd ALL AUDIENCES

Season’s Greetings and best wishes from The Glasgow School of Art for 2014.
This year’s seasonal e-card comes from alumnus James Houston. James graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 2008 with a first class degree in Visual Communication. He works in Glasgow as a moving image maker. 1030.co.uk

The ensemble: A collection of vintage Mac computers, a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum + 1 and a SEGA Mega Drive perform a rendition of “Carol of the Bells” with lyrics re-written by Robert Florence & Philip Larkin in the Mackintosh Library at The Glasgow School of Art. Jacket by Ten30.co.uk (Alan Moore, GSA Textiles alumnus 2008).

James aimed to create a piece of Christmas music by appropriating past Christmas gifts. “I discovered that a few had the capability for speech synthesis so the obvious next step was to figure out how to assemble a choir.” he said. “This is a process which is based on the last piece of work I did as a student at GSA.” (See James’ Degree Show film – Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any).

Lyrics:
HAIL THE MACHINES
SWEET OLD MACHINES

BLOW OFF THE DUST
WIPE OFF THE RUST
CHRISTMAS HAS COME
JOY IS FORETOLD

FOR THOSE OF US
YOU NEVER SOLD
STILL WE ARE HERE
STILL FULL OF CHEER
JUST PLUG US IN
IT WILL BEGIN
FRIENDS US AND YOU
FRIENDS WE ARE TRUE
WE HAVE NOTHING
BETTER TO DO
BLEEP BLOOP BEEP BONG
HEAR OUR SWEET SONG

IF NONE OF OUR
CODING IS WRONG
BY THE WAY WE REMIND YOU THAT YOU COULD
PLAY WITH US EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR
JUST IGNORE THAT OUR CASING IS ALL MUCKY
WE’LL STILL LOAD FOR YOU IF WE ARE LUCKY
GIVE US A THOUGHT
BLOW IN THE SLOT
TIGHTEN THE SCREW
WE WILL COME THROUGH
YOUR DREAMS AND PLANS
YOUR TINY HANDS
FOCUSED AND PRIMED
SINCE YOU WERE NINE
NOW ON THIS DAY
YOU CAN REPLAY
MISSIONS OF WHEN
YOU’RE YOUNG AGAIN
FESTIVITIES
AROUND THE TREE
NEW GIFTS EMBRACED
WE’VE BEEN REPLACED
PHONE IN YOUR HAND
BEST IN THE LAND
CAN’T TAKE YOU BACK
TO WONDERLAND
BUT WE CAN BRING
BACK EVERYTHING
JUST REMINISCE
DIGITAL BLISS
THINK I MIGHT GET A
 NEW MODEL THIS YEAR 
THE ONE I HAVE IS
 SO TWENTY–TWELVE
I BET YOU WATCH THIS E CARD ON A SMART PHONE
ACH WE WISH THAT WE COULD BE A SMART PHONE
SAFE TO SHUT DOWN
WE MUSTN’T FROWN
OUR SONG IS DONE
LOFT HERE WE COME
BEEP BEEP BEEP
LIKE AND RETWEET

       

Dead Media Beat: IRENE, reviving and restoring lost sounds

*Every effort along this line makes me happy, whether they succeed or fail. A dead-media catalog of dead-media restoration techniques isn’t out of reach these days.

http://blog.longnow.org/02013/12/26/reviving-and-restoring-lost-sounds/

Reviving and Restoring Lost Sounds
December 26th, 02013 by Catherine Borgeson

“In 02008 Kevin Kelly called for movage (as opposed to storage) as the only way to archive digital information:

” “Proper movage means transferring the material to current platforms on a regular basis— that is, before the old platform completely dies, and it becomes hard to do. This movic rhythym of refreshing content should be as smooth as a respiratory cycle — in, out, in, out. Copy, move, copy, move.”

“Five years later, Berkeley physicist Carl Haber received the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ for doing just this–moving two- or three-dimensional audio recordings on obsolete platforms and/or decaying storage media and digitally restoring them. These long-lost analog sounds can essentially be played with a virtual needle.

“Haber already had the technology in place from his research on imaging radiation. He had cameras precise enough to image and measure the patterns of particles and debris that emerged from subatomic particle collisions. He and his colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory applied this noninvasive image processing to develop IRENE (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.). They derived the acronym from the first recording used to demonstrate the concept of IRENE–The Weavers performing “Goodnight Irene.”

“Just like the detailed technique required to measure radiation, pictures taken at great magnification are needed to map the surface of an audio recording. One pixel is about one micron on the disc or cylinder surface, meaning in order to acquire a sufficient digital map, the camera scans the object slowly enough to synthesize a gigapixel image:

“A disc or cylinder is placed in a precision optical metrology system, where a camera following the path of the grooves on the object takes thousands of images that are then cleaned to compensate for physical damage; the resulting data are mathematically interpolated to determine how a stylus would course through the undulations, and the stylus motion is converted into a standard digital sound file.

“So IRENE uses image processing to take a picture and mathematically break down the information in that image to calculate the motion of the groove and determine what sound would actually be played. It’s all done with an algorithm on a computer, never having to touch the recording in the process.

“Haber has collaborated with archivists and researchers around the world to test IRENE on a variety of audio recordings. The Smithsonian has about 200 experimental recordings from Volta Laboratory Associates, a collection of some of the earliest audio recordings ever made. It is ‘a reflection on the intense competition between (Alexander Graham) Bell, Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner for patents following the invention of the phonograph by Edison in 1877.’…”

       

Alan M. Turing

ELIZABETH THE SECOND, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and
Territories QUEEN, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, To
all to whom it these Presents shall come,

   Greeting.

   WHEREAS Alan Mathison Turing at Knutsford Quarter Sessions on the
31st day of March 1952 pleaded guilty to and was convicted of divers
counts of Gross Indecency contrary to Section 11 of the Criminal Law
Amendment Act 1885 and on that date sentence was postponed for a period
of twelve months but the said Alan Mathison Turing was placed on
Probation for a period of twelve months to submit for treatment by a
duly qualified medical practitioner at Manchester Royal Infirmary;

   AND WHEREAS the said Alan Mathison Turing died on the 7th day of
June 1954;

   NOW KNOW YE that We, in consideration of circumstances humbly
represented to Us, are Graciously pleased to grant our Grace and Mercy
unto the said Alan Mathison Turing and grant him Our Free Pardon
posthumously in respect of the said convictions.”

   AND to pardon and remit unto him the sentence imposed on him aforesaid;

   And for doing this shall be a sufficient Warrant.

   GIVEN at Our Court at Sandringham on the 24th day of December 2013;
   In the sixty-second Year of Our Reign.

   By Her Majesty’s Command.

Document: http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents...

       

Bio-fiction 2014: The second international Synthetic Biology Film Festival

*It’s a press release.

Bio-fiction 2014: The second international Synthetic Biology Film Festival

Bio-fiction is back – submit your entry!

Bio-fiction aims to document, speculate and reflect creatively on
synthetic biology and its societal ramifications. The second
Bio:Fiction Science, Art & Film Festival will take place from October
23-25, 2014, in Vienna, Austria.

We want to encourage filmmakers to share their cinematic visions of a
present or future society shaped by synthetic biology. What is your
view on a world living with synthetic life forms? The approach is up
to you – the filmmaker, scientists or artist – entries can cover
science, fiction, or science fiction.

We welcome documentary films, animations, (science) fiction and
experimental films. The main criteria is that synthetic biology has to
be reflected in the work – how you do it is up to you.

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
Bio-fiction Award – Fiction
Bio-fiction Award – Documentary
Bio-fiction Award – Animation

The prize money will be 6000 €.

Visit www.bio-fiction.com to find more detailed information on the
film festival. The shortlisted and awarded films will be presented
between October 23-25, 2014, at the Museum of Natural History in
Vienna, Austria.

The deadline for film entries is Jun 30, 2014.
There is no entry fee for submitting films.

www.bio-fiction.com

Best wishes,
the Bio-fiction team

Markus Schmidt
Camillo Meinhart
Melissa Saavedra
Twitter
Website
Facebook

Biofaction is a research and science communication company based in
Vienna, Austria. Biofaction has significant expertise in science
communication, film production, technology assessment and the study of
ethical, legal and social issues in a number of emerging sciences and
technology (genetic engineering, synthetic biology and converging
technoligy).

       

Musica Globalista: Glasser, “Design”

*Yeah, that one’s plenty 2013, all right.

Published on Sep 12, 2013
From the album “Interiors” out October 8th and available now:

http://smarturl.it/glasserinteriorsi

Directed by Jonathan Turner

http://glassermusic.com

https://www.facebook.com/Glassermusic

http://www.truepanther.com/

Pre-order “Interiors” from Amazon: http://www.smarturl.it/glasserinteriorsa
Pre-order “Interiors” from True Panther: http://bit.ly/181Jsbc

Video credits:
Director — Jonathan Turner
Choreographer – Megha Barnabas
Cinematographer — Ryo Murakami
Lighting Director — Shin
Lighting Assistants — Tomoya Hara, Jackson Notier, Takako Ida
Stylist — Alice Bertay
Hair — Damian Monzillo
Makeup — Agata Helena
Furniture Design – Shawn Maximo
Production Design Advisor — Ann Bartek
Set Construction – Ricardo Luna

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/18137/1/top-ten-tracks-of-2013

       

The Slashdot Bruce Sterling interview

*”Slashdot,” because, you know, it’s a sentimental, auld-lang-syne time of year.

http://classic.slashdot.org/story/13/12/23/157257

       

Dead Media Beat: software code

*That’ll be quite interesting, should it come to pass.

http://alexn.id.au/2013/10/30/the-end-of-coding/

(…)

“The current enthusiasm for and growth of coding is temporary, an artefact of our tools. Coding is, right now, our best technology for directing computation, but coding itself is not the essence of computer science. Computing is manipulating data and directing algorithmic computation in order to solve problems. Code is our current tool of choice, but we must make better tools. One day, it will be commonplace for people to manipulate data and direct computation without writing a line of code. I can’t wait.

“Programming is a highly specialised skill. Solving complex problems is naturally difficult, and as a coder, I frequently write programs to solve problems of all sizes. I cringe at the techniques non-programmers bring to bear on easily automated tasks. I happen to be blessed with particular logical and linguistic facilities which mean I can crudely simulate a computer in my head and talk to it in an unnatural language with weird, unforgiving rules (I’m less good at simulating humans). Many people are less well adapted to be good at coding, but not much less likely to benefit from solving complex problems. The tools and methods of programming introduce much of the complexity associated with solving a problem with code, and take those solutions out of reach of the majority of us who aren’t trained in the craft. Programming is not easily learnable, and is an unnecessarily distant abstraction from many problems people may want to solve. People shouldn’t have to learn to code to apply software to these problems.

“There are a few tools I can think of that today give non-programmers some programming-like general problem solving power.

“Calculators…”

       

It’s a Wonderful Life, For a Few of Us, by Jon Evans

*I would advise reading this. I’m guessing the new year is gonna have more and more of this, and here you’ll be getting in on the ground floor.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/21/but-not-so-much-for-the-rest/

       

The Cubli

*One and a half million Youtube hits in a week? I’d say that strikes a nerve, then.

Published on Dec 17, 2013

“The Cubli is a 15 × 15 × 15 cm cube that can jump up and balance on its corner. Reaction wheels mounted on three faces of the cube rotate at high angular velocities and then brake suddenly, causing the Cubli to jump up. Once the Cubli has almost reached the corner stand up position, controlled motor torques are applied to make it balance on its corner. In addition to balancing, the motor torques can also be used to achieve a controlled fall such that the Cubli can be commanded to fall in any arbitrary direction. Combining these three abilities — jumping up, balancing, and controlled falling — the Cubli is able to ‘walk’.

“Lead Researchers: Gajamohan Mohanarajah and Raffaello D’Andrea

“This work was done at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich, Switzerland and was funded in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), grant number 146717.”

For more details visit: http://www.idsc.ethz.ch/Research_DAnd…

Other links:

http://robohub.org/swiss-robots-cubli…

       

Musica Globalista: Symphony of Sirens, Sound Experiments in the Russian Avant-Garde

*Good heavens — somebody went and *re-performed* all that stuff. How is that even possible?

http://monoskop.org/Symphony_of_Sirens

“Baku: Symphony of Sirens: Sound Experiments in The Russian Avant-Garde. Original Documents and Reconstructions of 72 Key Works of Music, Poetry and Agitprop from the Russian Avantgardes (1908-1942)

“A comprehensive overview of the complexity and breadth of the many early 20th-century Russian avantgarde movements, followed by detailed notes and contexts for the individual recordings – including summary biographies of the main actors; additional work notes about the process of the extraordinary Baku reconstruction; a bibliography, rare photographs, web research links, artwork, facsimiles of contemporary documents, a comparative timeline of European and Russian Avantgardes and the first English translation of an article by Avraamov about the symphony. This is a definitive library collection, some seven years in the making and possibly our most important release of recent years.”

Author: Miguel Molina Alarcón
Publisher: ReR Megacorp, London, 2008
ISBN 9780956018403
72 pages

Part 1: Reconstructions
1. Arseny Avraamov – Symphony of Sirens
2. Velimir Khlebnikov – The Radio of the Future
3. Ivan Ignatiev & Ego-Futurists Group – The First Spring Concert Of Universal Futurism
4-7. Mikhail Matyushin & Kazimir Malevich & Alexei Kruchenykh – Victory Over The Sun
8-9. Dziga Vertov – Laboratory Of Hearing
10. Arseny Avraamov – The March Of The Worker’s Funeral
11. Nikolai Foregger & His Orchestra Of Noises – Mechanical Dances
12. Sergei Prokofiev & Georgi Yakoulov – Factory
13. Dziga Vertov – Radio-Ear / Radio-Pravda
14. Konstantin Melnikov – Sonata Of Sleep
15. Pause-Sleep…
16. Igor Severyanin – Overture
17. Igor Severyanin – Echo
18. Vasilisk Gnedov – Poem 14
19. Alexei Kruchenykh – Dyr Bul Shchyl
20. Vladimir Kasyanov & The Futurist Circle – Drama In The Futurists’ Cabaret
21. David Burliuk – The Family Of Vowels, Laughingly
22. Elena Guro – Finland
23. El Lissitzky – About Two Squares – A Suprematist Story
24. Olga Rozanova – [Spain]
25. H2SO4 Group – Dada
26. Simon Chikovani – Tsira
27-28. Nothingists [Nichevoki] – Manifesto From Nothingism & Decree About The Nothingists Of The Poetry
29. Wassily Kandinsky – To See
30. Kazimir Malevich – Poem
31. Olga Rozanova – Poem Without Title
32. Daniil Harms – Lapa/Paw
33. Igor Terentiev – Endless Toast In Honor Of Sofia Georgievna
34. Mikhail Larionov – Ozz…
35. Psycho-Futurists Group – Zatirlikali Lirlyuki
36. Vasily Kamensky – Poem To The Letter ‘K’
37. Varvara Stepanova – Rtny Khomle
38-39. Roman Jakobson ‘Aliagrov’ – Mglybzhvuo & Distraction
40. Vasilisk Gnedov – Poem Of The End

Part 2: Original Recordings….