Jim Andrew's talk at Center for Digital Media in Vancouver

    We are at the Center for Digital Media home of the Masters of Digital Media Program see http://www.mdm.gnwc.ca Jim Andrews' presentation: Jim begins talking about DBCinema, a program he wrote to get computers to do some of the work of the poet, or in this case, the visual artist. Generative art is the start, these are works of computer generated visual art meant to surprise their maker. He shows us how the search engine will go and get images from google or yahoo, then db cinema works with the images that are automatically downloaded to do collaging, with a set number of brushes. Each brush has a concept, the paint it uses comes from the images it has gathered. He has worked with Kandinski's images, worked with Geof Huth's images (see on vispo.com), demonstrates other samples of visual art this is being done live as it is downloading...(Jim has a projection of the bottom of the screen on his head that says internet on his forehead as he's speaking! unintended, but poignant!). He is describing how he creates the brushes and their b rush stroke in dbcinema. Shows us how he can recycle a flash swf file as a brush, while the content is the downloaded internet images. He can confugure the curve that the brush uses, each brush follows a mathematical curve, show us the lilly brush, and now is using a text brush. He makes the text very simple, using the letter A, then makes it very large, he speeds up the brushes movement and giant As are collaged across the screen. "You could use a more text," he tells us. This is a facinating way to create instant stunningly poetic graphics. Shows us how he uses the vector graphics engine to create something that moves from ordered lines to scrawls. It's all a matter of sines and cosines but with a few adjustments of the different parameter menus he's built into the program, the results are randomized even with only one brush and a single white line on black background. Audience question is asked about how intention informs the work, how much of it is his doing? Well, he's been working on this project for three years and he has used it for many different purposes, sometimes he has to see the algorithms generate material before he knows what it will do, if he likes it he adds it as a feature of the software. Now he is going to show us his interactive music software Heap 4 Arteroids. The sounds it is playing are his voice from the Poetry asteroids game, Arteroids, the sound effects of the game now playing as a composition. (This is fantastic groovy sound scape, like Jaap Blonk on club juice.) Like many of his projects, this is still being worked on, he wants to integrate it with db cinema. Showing us a page of interactive audio, takes us to the interactive audio links on his site http://www.vispo.com/misc/ia.htm Audience question about his philosophy: Jim's philosophy of generative art is to get it to the point where it is surprising you, where  you loose control of the prodictability (my spelling error, but appropriate in context). Lionel asks what makes the ideal number of images to use in db cinema? Can be any number of images, more images better if it will run for hours and hours, but if its quite short then use fewer. You can set this parameter as you go. What are the maximum number of images at a time? Jim says that's about the number of brushes, could have four or five brushes at the same time if you have the computing power. Lionel asks can you use text as a text brush, (I can see where he is going with this), shows us one using the word Kandinski, (reminds me of the Israeli poet Davide Avidan's spontaneous symmetries but with a colour brush and using a repeated word.) When you create art, whether it is interactive or not, programmed behavior or not, it has it's own life out in the world. Lionel asks, you've created this tool, what are you going to do with it? From a business perspective, you could approach Starbucks, give me your graphic collateral and we'll make it graphic or reflective of your collateral. Could use subway images, another application is in a gallery where there is microphone and room for conversation and the language from the conversation is recognized and fed into db cinema and visuallized as they are talking. This is the first time db cinema been shown in a public setting. First part of his job was to create a google image client doing a slideshow with images. He then wanted to do something artistic with these images. Now he is showing us a more literary piece, also on vispo, "The Pen". It also has user-functional parameters for transparencies, speed of pen, and so on. Talks about creating classes of canvas, paint, brush, (and artist's style--motion, arc, velocity of the brush). A little background: Jim studies took him from English, to math, to math and computer science. Produced a radio show after university. Writing and publishing books of poetry didn't feel like what he was wanting to do. Then the web came along, it was like god's little toe nail dropped into his lap. It was a way to combine the audio, the visual, the poetry. But there is also a language element, always, even though you may be doing the visual arts program, you type in the commands and conditions for the art to occur. Cites Godel and Turing as intensely linguistic work; his philosophy of intense engagement with language, building language machines based on what we think language is. Godels work is stunningly beautiful in a mathematical way. A student asks a question about how control functions: Jim says its about being able to program so you can get beyond the control parameters, the defaults of the software. People who can't program, don't often surpise him. Audience question about open source: Some of his work is open source, but not his work in dbcinema, he will want to use this as something he can sell to companies and so on. There is a time to make work open source, and a time to make things private. He is asked if he has any overall goals. His goals are artistic. He wants to combine the abstact and the representational. His amusement is a high priority. The talk is over. It was effective and convincing to hear and see a poetic programmer and programmer of poetry demonstrate his work. Jim is a serious inspiration to, and champion of, digital poetics. Naturally, listening to him speak fills the mind with ideas, so many possibilities yet to be explored in digital poetries. Single programs capable sustaining exploration for years. Poetries of mutable parameters. And yet, as always, there shines within the digits a personal touch, the clutch of randomness in which it becomes more than conincidentally relevant, becomes the conduit's shrine.