G4_JIMA

vj labor: TouchOSC on iPad and VDMX

2011-10-24T21:37:00.000+01:00

vj labor: TouchOSC on iPad and VDMX: TouchOSC on iPad and VDMX from CPU on Vimeo . getting ready for the Media Jam Friday night in Toronto - setting up the iPad for bidirectio...

Future of Screen Technology

2011-03-07T13:45:00.000Z

scoreLight synesthesia laser tracking

2011-01-18T00:50:00.000Z

"scoreLight" is a prototype musical instrument capable of generating sound in real time from the lines of doodles as well as from the contours of three-dimensional objects nearby (hands, dancer's silhouette, architectural details, etc). There is no camera nor projector: a laser spot explores the shape as a pick-up head would search for sound over the surface of a vinyl record - with the significant difference that the groove is generated by the contours of the drawing itself.

Sound is produced and modulated according to the curvature of the lines being followed, their angle with respect to the vertical as well as their color and contrast. Sound is also spatialized; panning is controlled by the relative position of the tracking spots, their speed and acceleration. "scoreLight" implements gesture, shape and color-to-sound artificial synesthesia; abrupt changes in the direction of the lines produce trigger discrete sounds (percussion, glitches), thus creating a rhythmic base (the length of a closed path determines the overall tempo).

Elliot Woods, Kinect-Augmented Reality, as Projection Mapping Meets Depth Sensing

2011-01-18T00:39:00.005Z

Kinect Hadouken from Elliot Woods on Vimeo.

Elliot Woods writes with an extraordinary proof of concept: it couples the depth-sensing capabilities of Microsoft’s Kinect with projection mapping to effectively “scan” a 3D scene. It’s almost Holodeck good, from the looks of the potential here.
Kinect hack + projection mapping = augmented reality +hadoukens): Using the kinect camera, we scan a 3D scene in realtime. Using a video projector, we project onto a 3D scene in realtime.By combining these, we can reproject onto geometry to directly overlay image data onto our surroundings which is contextual to their shape and position.
As seen in the video, we can create a virtual light source which casts light onto the surrounding surfaces as a real light source would.
At Kimchi and Chips we are developing new tools so we can create new experiences today. We share these new techniques and tools through open source code, installations and workshops.

More on the Kimchi and Chips blog

Updated: The duo is Kimchi and Chips as it’s a girl + guy, Seoul + Manchester team. I’m on it.

This video nicely shows some of the process of making this work:

createdigitalmotion

THE PERFECTION OF SUICIDE LIES IN AMBIGUITY

2010-11-30T18:52:00.004Z

The suicide of Guy Debord on 30 November has led to the former Situationist being caught up in a number of discourses that he may, at one time, have viewed as distasteful. In the 'Guardian Weekend 1994: Review of the Year' (Guardian 31/12/94), Debord was name checked in the 'Those We Have Lost' column alongside two other suicides, rock singer Kurt Cobain and Great Train Robber Buster Edwards (other deaths noted included those of Derek Jarman, Richard Nixon, John Smith, Jackie Onassis, Dennis Potter, Kim Il Sung, Peter Cushing, Karl Popper and Keith Joseph). Clearly, Debord's timing was good because if he'd killed himself at the beginning of the year, the mainstream media may well have forgotten his suicide by its end.

Messages placed on the internet about the suicide included one from Edward A. Shanken who wrote: 'Guy Debord did not kill himself. He was murdered by the thoughtlessness and selfishness of so-called scholars (primarily trendy lit-criters) who colonized his brilliant ideas and transformed his radical politics into an academic status symbol not worth the pulp it's printed on...' This generated a few angry responses, the import of which was that Debord was not another Jim Morrison, Ian Curtis or Kurt Cobain who 'died for our sins.' Shanken didn't address the fact that Debord was utterly obsessed with the notion of 'recuperation,' and that as a consequence, he was to some degree responsible for all the uses made of his work. Debord's version of the Situationist International deposited a good deal of material with archives and museums precisely because it did not want to be forgotten by academia.

John Young used the Net as a soapbox from which to claim that Debord had worked for Mossad: ‘this dazzling and humbling association with real world power beyond the soft-minded literary and philosophical worlds totally mesmerized Debord... The elixitrate mix of sacred and profane literally made Guy drunk with intellectual stimulation and shared worldly risk... the intrigue and daring bond of high mind and base reality was an alchemic transformation of mental to physical like no head-wrought book could come near.' Unfortunately, the intertextual origins of this thesis were plainly evident in Young's claim that he'd learnt of Debord's spook activities from Philip Roth. Young even went as far as asserting that Debord had provided the model for the central character in Philip Roth's novel Operation Shylock: A Confession.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Imrie's obituary in the Guardian of 5 December 1994 absurdly claimed that 'with consummate irony, he (Debord) allowed his work to be republished by Gallimard, entering the pantheon of French literature, just as the pantheon was collapsing.' In the world the Situationists wished to create, such a panegyric would be viewed as supremely ironic. Suicide was an occupational hazard for the Dadaists and Surrealists, perhaps Debord hoped to realise and suppress this tradition by using death as a method of reintegrating himself into the avant-garde. In the meantime, death remains the ultimate commodity, a handy gimmick to help sell works of 'revolutionary theory' in an already over saturated market.

www.stewarthomesociety.org/debord.html

Dynamic, Projection-Mapped Topographies.

2010-11-30T18:02:00.002Z

Reasons to be thankful: it seems we’re at the beginning of an explosion of projected digital imagery as medium, with the best yet to come. And some of the most compelling work right now deals with the most elemental qualities of this medium, how light and space interact.

Take the work of hc gilje. He shares some of his most recent projects, which include the elegant-looking theatrical projections at top:

I was invited by Trøndelag Teater to do a combined physical set design with video projections. It was an adaptation of the Norwegian literary classic “Fuglane” (“The Birds”) by Tarjei Vesaas, with Harry Guttormsen as director. I created an organic physical form, which combined with the videoprojection became a very dynamic landscape.

Cool as tech like Microsoft’s Kinect are, I find myself drawn to work that focuses on the sparest elements, visual etudes in form and composition. I’m particularly interested in this having been following the writing of John Maeda, whose thinking helped inspire Processing (and, by extension, OpenFrameworks and lots of other stuff).

The other work hc gilje shares to me fits some of that work. How much can you do, in rhythm and space, using only a single line?

snitt (hc gilje 2010) from hc gilje on Vimeo.

An installation for Galleri 21 in Malmö.

A straight line moves slowly through the three rooms of the gallery space, cutting the space into different sections (snitt). The movement of the line, “attacking” the space from different angles, focus the attention of the viewer on the physical qualities of the space.

The physical properties of the galllery space (the walls, ceiling,floor, door openings, light fixtures etc) modulates/breaks up the straight line into a continuously evolving pattern of line fragments, depending on the position of the viewer and the angle of the line in relation to the architecture.

The solo show explores the concept of “line-space” — a fascinating proposition, that the one-dimensional line can define a three-dimensional volume. More in his blog post:

Conversations with spaces: snitt

If you do happen to live in a town like Malmö, Sweden, or Oslo, I imagine you’ll have quite a lot of time this season for quiet reflection, and cause to do some projecting of light – the sun spending very little of the day getting in your way. Let us know what thoughts you have, and what light you project.

SOURCE: http://createdigitalmotion.com/

Kinect Hacking : Why it matters?

2010-11-30T17:46:00.003Z

Interactive Puppet Prototype with Xbox Kinect from Theo Watson on Vimeo.When Microsoft gobbled up vision technology and announced they were channeling their own research into a product for their game console, artists, researchers, and hackers lamented. It seemed the tech might be destined only for a handful of mainstream game titles.
Hours after the product launch, however, and one open source bounty later, it was clear the opposite was happening: Kinect was opening to new possibilities. Some of the world’s leading visual experimenters, many of them regulars in this site’s stories, were quickly pulling in data and reimagining what the device could do. And that’s just in the first days: given its sophistication, the real potential lies ahead.I pulled together a number of the artist-hackers to get their thoughts:Phil Torrone talks to us from Adafruit Industries, who put up the bounty for the project and contributed to the EFF to protect the rights of hackersTheo Watson, OpenFrameworks co-originator, is one of the original hackers and has built Mac supportMemo Akten, OpenFrameworks contributor, is building expressive and artistic applications of the techKyle McDonald, artist and visual researcher, is working with massive clouds of point data, building on his previous work in 3D scanning
Dan Shiffman, Processing guru and NYU faculty, is working on tools to make this more accessible to Processing and Java coders.
Adafruit on the Competition to Hack Kinect

Phil Torrone of Adafruit explains what went on behind the scenes as Adafruit Industries offered a bounty to hack Kinect.>
CDM: What was important about this particular project?
Torrone: The results speak for themselves, the creative potential was unlocked.
When did you actually make the decision to commit to this?
The day before the kinect was launched in the usa.
Have you been surprised by anything that’s happened? Was this the pace of progress you anticipated?
We never underestimate the creativity and passion of people who and do love open source.
You of course gave some cash to the EFF and not just the winner … have you had conversations with EFF about how to protect artists working on the project, or the legality of the work?
We did not talk with EFF at all prior to this effort; we did let them know we were sending them $2k after we declared a winner.
With so much going on, what’s the best way for interested parties to keep track of what’s going on?
Likely the Google Group
How can someone best contribute?
There’s a google group, there’s GitHub where we put our data dump and code.
https://github.com/adafruit/Kinect

Kyle McDonald reaches into 3D virtual space, represented by a massive point cloud, through his Kinect code. Photo (CC-BY-SA-NC) Kyle McDonald; used by permission.

Where should people go to learn more about this stuff?

Shiffman: In terms of doing Kinect with Processing, I think learning the basics of Processing first (duh), with a focus on image processing is probably good:
http://processing.org/learning/pixels/
Watson: There is an openFrameworks wrapper being developed:

ofxKinect @ GitHub

…and active forum threads:

libfreenect discussion @ GitHub

openFrameworks forums
Also the main libfreenect development is happening on GitHub:

libfreenect
There is a big cleanup coming to the api so things might be in a bit of a state of flux for the next few days but hopefully soon we will have super solid drivers/apis for all platforms.
Akten: I’ll be posting my little demos (whenever I find a moment, which will be rare for the next few months unfortunately :S) at

https://github.com/memo/ofxKinect-demos and of course my blog memo.tv
You’ve probably seen the post on CAN [creative applications], has a good summary of the early demos and the history of how the opensource drivers came about (Hector etc.)

http://www.creativeapplications.net/news/kinect-opensource-news/
And I saw a tweet that someone had it working with Cinder.
McDonald: For my work in general, see http://kylemcdonald.net/
For my pre-Kinect 3d scanning work, see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemcdonald/sets/72157613657773217/

http://code.google.com/p/structured-light

https://groups.google.com/group/structured-light
With Kinect, everything I’ve done with 3d scanning for the last two years is starting to take on a new meaning…

The best place for following Kinect stuff is:
1 openkinect google group

2 #openkinect on freenode (super active discussion)

3 the github wiki

Why hack the Kinect in the first place?

McDonald: It’s essential that we develop drivers and libraries for Kinect, because we have to decide what new technology means to us.
Kinect has taken a technology out of academic labs and defense agencies, and put it in our living room. now we need to decide where we want to point the camera.
Shiffman: A cheap (relatively speaking) “3D” camera is killer technology for the interaction design / computational art community. This kind of tech has been around, but it’s either been too hard to find or prohibitively expensive. I think that you will see a ton of creative uses (in digital art, exhibition design, assistive tech, etc.) that you wouldn’t find if it was only used for console gaming.
Watson: It’s a really amazing piece of hardware for a really affordable price. To put it in perspective, I currently have a commercial-depth camera on loan which produces a similar quality depth image and it retails for $7000! That is really way out of reach for most people who might be hobbyists, artists or researchers, but $150 is incredibly cheap for what the technology allows you to do.
Akten: First, check out Kyle’s little poem
For me, it’s very simple. I like to make things that know what you are doing, or understand what you are wanting to do, and act accordingly. There are many ways of implementing these ideas. You can strap accelerometers to your arms and wave them around, and have the accelerometer values drive sound or visuals. You can place various sensors in the environment, you can use camera(s) to track movement etc. Ultimately, you create an environment that ‘knows’ what is happening inside it, and responds as you designed and developed it to. What excites me is not the technology, but how you interpret that environment data, and make decisions as a result of it. How intuitive is the interface? You can randomly wire the environmental parameters (e.g. orientation of arm), to random parameters (e.g in audio and/or visuals), and it will be fun for a while, but I don’t think it will have longevity, it won’t be an *instrument* that you can ultimately learn to play and naturally express yourself with. In order to create an instrument, you first need to establish a language of interaction – which is the fun side of interaction design, but you always have the technical challenge of making sure you can create a system which can understand that language. It’s too common to design an interaction, but not have the technical capabilities to detect or implement it – then you have a system which reports incorrectly, and makes inaccurate assumptions resulting in confusing, non-intuitive interaction. So you need a smarter system, and the more data you have about the environment, the better you can understand it, and the smarter, more informed decisions you can make. You don’t *need* to use all the data all the time, but it is there if you need it.
Kinect is ultimately a depth-sensing camera. To put it simply, it returns a normal RGB image just like a webcam, but for every pixel in the image, it also returns a ‘distance to camera’. This kind of tech has been around for a while, but very expensive (minimum thousands of dollars), and definitely not a consumer device, more for labs, robotics, military etc. That depth information, is a ton of extra data. With that extra data, we are a lot more knowledgable about what is happening in our environment, we can understand it more accurately, thus we can create smarter systems that respond more intuitively.
One point which is often overlooked – which is a very important point – is not only ‘what can you do with the Kinect that you couldn’t before’, but ‘how much simpler is it technically to do something with the Kinect, as opposed to using other consumer devices’. This really is a very important point. A simple example is the recent rough demo I posted of drawing in 3D with your hands.

ofxKinect 3D draw 001 from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
That is completely possible to do pre-Kinect. You would need two webcams, you would need to setup your lighting quite specifically. You would want control over your background and overall lighting of the space. And then you would need a lot of hairy maths and code. With the kinect, you just plug it in, make sure there isn’t any bright sunlight around, and with a few lines of code you have the information you need. So now that interaction is available for developer / artists of *all* levels, not just hardcore math geeks – and that is very important. Once you have loads of people playing with these kinds of interactions (who pre-Kinect would not have been able to) then we are bound to see loads of really innovative, fresh applications for it. Sure we’ll get a ton of “pinch to zoom and rotate the photo” demos which will get sickening after a few thousand, but people will be developing ideas that you or I would never have thought off, but instantly love – which in turn will spark new ideas in us to go off and play with – which in turn will feed others.
It’s still really early days yet, it’s just been a case of getting the data off the Kinect into the computer, and then seeing what actually is that data, how reliable is it, how is it’s performance, what can we do with it. Once this gets out to the masses, that’s when the fun will start pouring in
What might people do with these tools as artists?

Watson: There is quite a lot that it can be used for. For interactive installations, we are often dealing with trying to track people in a space. Typically this requires careful lighting and IR cameras and it can be quite a tricky issue, but with the Kinect the depth image allows us not only to track people but understand where they are in relation to each our in z-space. This is just one application however, another really nice feature is that it has pixel matched color and depth cameras and this could allow for a ‘greenscreen-less’ live greenscreening. And then of course there is its use as a 3D scanner, for building depth maps, understanding the space around us etc and more possibilities than I probably realise.
Shiffman: All sorts of things I can’t possibly imagine! (Just the fact that having depth makes background removal so easy is killer for my students.)
McDonald: I’ve noticed tendencies to work at very different levels of abstraction.
Some people are most interested in the raw data, the inherent glitches, the aesthetic of 3d scanning.
Others are interested in slightly generalized data, maybe the idea of ‘scenes’ that are being captured and analyzed, reconstructed. Some people are interested in specific applications — object recognition, pose estimation, gestures. these are the most abstracted.
I expect work to come from all different levels, in every different medium.
Sculptors will record and build unusual models of spaces informed by 3d scanning, spatial mash-ups will be standard fare, 3d printing for 3d slit scanning. motion spaces, negative spaces. paths through space over time.
Sound artists and musicians will use the device to control standard audio parameters, or use the values as input parameters to complex synthesis environments and for controlling spatialized sound with large speaker arrays.
Photographers will work with long exposures in combination with 3d-reactive projection to augment layers of the space over time.
Interaction designers will invent new gestures and modes of interaction specifically targeted at the strengths of the sensor.
Interactive art will experience a minor renaissance as a variety of tasks that were previously very difficult become very simple (e.g., tracking someone against a background that is the same color, or even tracking someone against a moving background)
… etc., etc.

XBox Kinect running on OS X ( with source code ) from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
What’s technically possible with the libraries now; what’s coming?

Watson: At the moment, we can get back the depth image and color image from the two cameras, access the motor, LED and the accelerometer of the device. Some developers are now working on accessing the four microphones which allows for location of sounds in 3D space. Also, a big part of the Kinect as it relates to the Xbox is the full body skeletal tracking, which from a researcher or artist’s perspective is very valuable feature. This is implemented in software on the Xbox and is the result of many years work by some of the top people in the field. A big part of the future research will be at the software level developing tools that build of off and extend the functionality of the hardware, like open source implementations of the realtime skeletonization code.
McDonald: The general rundown is that Linux is fastest, OS X is 5-10 fps behind,

and Windows is just starting to work.
ofxKinect was originally developed by Dan Wilcox and Theo Watson, with some minor contributions from me, and is now also being developed by Arturo Castro. It runs well on OS X and Arturo is still adding Linux support.
https://github.com/ofTheo/ofxKinect
Right now it’s only possible to get the RGB and depth images, and to get the depth image in centimeters (which is not what the sensor returns by default). Next will be alignment of the RGB and depth images, and of course making it cross platform. Other suggestions are on the OF forum.
Shiffman: Right now the library just returns two pixel arrays (640×480 RGB image and 640×480 image with depth mapped to grayscale). My to-do list is (a) make all the raw data available, (b) optimize for speed, and (c) add any little analysis tricks / features that might be particularly useful. Basically, anything people do with the openkinect project and OF, I’ll try to add as a feature for Java / Processing.

Stay tuned to CDMotion for more… and let us know if you have specific comments or questions, or have seen work that inpires you. Ed.
More reading…
Fantastic round-up of what’s happened so far from our friend Creative Applications Network:

Kinect – OpenSource
Memo reflects on his blog…

Kinect – why it matters
And on Music, I’ve got more for anyone interested in MIDI or C#/.net:

Kinect with MIDI

SOURCE: http://createdigitalmotion.com

Archigram Archival Project

2010-11-30T17:33:00.000Z

The Archigram Archival Project makes the work of the seminal architectural group Archigram available free online for public viewing and academic study. The project was run by EXP, an architectural research group at the University of Westminster. Archigram Began Life as a Magazine produced at home by the members of the group, showing experimental work to a growing, global audience. Nine (and a half) seminal, individually designed, hugely influential, and now very rare magazines were produced between 1961 and 1974. The last ‘half’ was an update on the group’s office work rather than a ‘full’ Archigram magazine. The Six Members of Archigram are Peter Cook, David Greene, Mike Webb, Ron Herron, Warren Chalk and Dennis Crompton. Cook, Greene and Webb met in 1961, collaborated on the first Archigram magazine, later inviting Herron, Chalk and Crompton to join them, and the magazine name stuck to them as a group.

More Than 200 Projects are included in the Archigram Archival Project. The AAP uses the group’s mainly chronological numbering system and includes everything given an Archigram project number. This comprises projects done by members before they met, the Archigram magazines (grouped together at no. 100), the projects done by Archigram as a group between 1961 and 1974, and some later projects.

How it would be, if a house was dreaming...

2010-11-30T17:22:00.005Z
By far my favourite facade projection. This one beats all others by 555 Kubik

555 KUBIK | facade projection from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Digital Flesh

2010-11-30T16:25:00.001Z

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting

2010-11-30T16:23:00.000Z

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Funky Forest

2010-11-30T16:20:00.000Z

Funky Forest - Interactive Ecosystem from Theo Watson on Vimeo.

Funky Forest is a wild and crazy ecosystem where children manage the resources to influence the environment around them. By using their bodies or pillow "rocks" and "logs", water flowing from the digital stream on the floor can be dammed and diverted to the forest to make different parts grow. If a tree does not receive enough water it withers away but by pressing their bodies into the forest children create new trees based on their shape and character. As children explore and play they discover that the environment is inhabited by a variety of sonic life forms and creatures who appear and disappear depending on the health of the forest. As the seasons change the creatures also go through a metamorphosis.

Emergent Urbanism: MadDecent - MajorLazerApp - FaceTracking

2010-11-30T16:12:00.006Z

"Emergent Urbanism: MadDecent - MajorLazerApp - FaceTracking: 'Here i
s a quick application Vik made using the OpenCv with processing (JAVA). ..."
Download it here!
http://emergenturbanism.blogspot.com/

Cue Vj Hardware concept developed by

2010-02-15T21:48:00.002Z

Cue Vj hardware concept
Cue made of a software-hardware combo turns your laptop into a complete VJ system. The Main features are a 15,4″ Touchscreen and a linear moving Knob-fader. Certain areas of the screen represent information in context with the position of the knob-fader. Alterations with the knob-fader are displayed by movement, scaling and rotation of graphics. These elements gain complexity at higher zoom levels and become touch sensitive. The visual jockey is able to mix loops, apply effects in an intuitive way as well as access a vast library.

Motion Pad for iPad

2010-02-15T21:36:00.003Z

We're looking forward to testing this and the fact that it will be available for ipad means in theory it should work for iphone,
although that would be a fiddle. Obviously in its infancy in development tho as the mixer refers to blending mode as 'brending mode' a quick sketch up? I think so.

Motion Pad http://blog.inokuman.in/?eid=63

ChairTV feature in IDN Magazine, Thanks to Mayo

2010-02-15T21:32:00.004Z

thanks to Jason Mayo we had our Logo featured in IDN magazine

new site preview http://www.jasonmayo.co.uk/chairtv/index.html

Jason Mayo site:

http://www.jasonmayo.co.uk/

Stoneshaper

2010-02-15T21:29:00.003Z

http://stoneshaper.blogspot.com/

BBC iPlayer-Grabber

2010-02-15T21:27:00.001Z

iPlayer-Grabber

Richard Sen! Hero!

2009-05-06T01:27:00.001+01:00

Find more videos like this on Entertainist

SMD WAREHOUSE CLIP---LINKS TO MORE

2009-03-10T23:40:00.003Z

Check the tube for more

Dottie!

2009-03-10T23:34:00.000Z

Simian Mobile Disco - Synthesise

2009-03-10T23:30:00.001Z
Simian Mobile Disco - Synthesise. Live Visual Performance. Directed by Kate Moross & Alex Sushon. !WARNING THIS VIDEO CONTAINS FLASHING IMAGES! Familiar Concept guys!

THE END (A LATE TRIBUTE)

2009-03-10T23:27:00.004Z

Goodbye Baby
For every beginning there has to be an end.

The End has announced that the club will be closing those legendary metal doors for good in January 2009. The End & AKA will be closing in style, giving the venues the send off they deserve, and the chance for the different DJs and nights to say goodbye. We will be open as normal through autumn, with September, October and November's parties rocking as usual. The farewell begins with The End's 13th birthday on December 6th, with long-time favourite Sven Vath headlining. There will follow a series of closing parties featuring The End’s closest DJs and promoters, and then a grand closing weekend on January 23rd and 24th. We talk to The End’s directors, Layo and Zoe Paskin, to tell us about the end of The End.

You’ve announced that The End & AKA are to close, after 13 years of parties. Can you explain a bit about the decision?

Layo - It’s partially a circumstantial decision, and partially a decision of choice. I started working on The End nearly two years before it opened - we’re approaching our 13th birthday, so nearly fifteen years. And one of the great things about The End & AKA is that the same team has remained in essence - Liam has been the manager of the club since The End opened, likewise Ty who now manages AKA. There are other members of staff who have been here for ten or eleven years, and we’ve got to the point where some of the key people are ready to move on. The End won’t feel the same if we aren’t doing it together. This has never been solely a business, it’s a labour of love, and a great part of the charm is the team, and running it with that team.

Zoe - We stopped and thought what The End meant to us around the 10th birthday – we did a lot to celebrate, including putting together a biography of the club. And after that, we started thinking about how we wanted to move on from there.

An opportunity arose that made us think even more deeply about what we wanted for The End in the future. Not just for today and tomorrow, but for several years moving forward. We discussed with the people that make the club what it is behind the scenes whether we wanted to carry the club on, and whether we could all continue to be as engaged as we had been. It was inevitable that people would eventually want to move on, and the chance to do this was in front of us.

Layo - Sometimes you just have to choose the moment.

So it feels like the right time in terms of what the club has achieved?

Layo - We wanted to do something very unique – and we’ve done that. Even though the past few years have arguably been our most successful as a club and as a business, I don’t particularly believe that there’s anything more that we can achieve.

The End & AKA have fundamentally been nothing but a success, and we’ve enjoyed the residencies, and working with the very best in clubland. The End isn’t a club where we over-market ourselves – we attract talent, fantastic DJs and promoters, and we work with that talent to promote certain styles of music and parties. And that’s why after all these years it’s kept such a cool core crowd, because it isn’t over exposed. The music varies through the month, different nights appeal to different people. We’ve had to compete 365 days a year, and we have to run it unbelievably well to compete – I think our standards here are fantastic, but equally, it does take a lot out of you. Plus the option to be able to close on a high appeals to our romantic nature.

Zoe - The End has always been about West Central Street, not loads of different things exploiting the brand. That’s always what we wanted to do, what we were good at, what we were interested in. We feel that we’ve done that, and that part of the success is about the attention to detail, the love that goes into the place, and the team. When we looked at it closely, we felt that our time had come. And so we started to think about ending on a high, giving the club the departure that it deserves.

Did you think about handing over the club to other people to run it for you?

Layo - I’d never believed that other people could run it in the same way. There’s a lot involved, you have to give more of yourself than just doing it as a job, anyone who’s going to run it has to commit for a fair amount of time. You can’t mess around, because it’s built on relationships, it’s built on understanding the scene. I never felt that someone else could – I may have been wrong, but that never felt a natural thing.

Zoe - It’s the first thing that friends ask when I’ve mentioned moving on – “What would happen? Who would do your job?” All of us in our different ways contribute to what The End is, but I can’t really picture The End without the core people that manage it. They really define the place, the environment, the ethos, the mood of working here, which then infiltrates into the whole culture and the creativity of what we do. I just couldn’t picture replacing any of us – not in an arrogant way, but I couldn’t see how you’d bring other people in and it still be The End as we know it.

Was it a hard decision to make?

Layo - It’s still not an easy decision, I’m going through a lot of different emotions. On the one level I want to do other things with my life, and it’s a good moment to start embarking on that – you can stay in something too long. But the loss will be huge on another level – it’s my life. Of all the things I do, there’s nothing that I get as much pleasure from as everything to do with The End. The idea of not working with everyone here, of not being involved with the creation, feels very odd. But I also feel it’s a good thing – I think it’s wonderful to be able to open a place, run it, and close it all on your own terms.

My father and I built this place alongside Mr. C, and my sister and I ran the place. The pride that I feel in doing this with them is beyond words. We did it as equals, but we all learnt from one another along the way. In a very traditional sense it was like a family business, but the business itself was anything but traditional.

Zoe - Of course it was a hard decision – I don’t really remember my life without The End in it. But I also feel quite excited - on a personal level. It’s been a very tough decision, I can’t yet really picture what it’s going to be to close the doors on the last day, it’s an impossible emotion to try and reach. At the moment it’s a really day by day thing.

I do know however that it has ended up being a family affair, by default not by design, and this is one of the things that will stay with me the most. Layo and I will always have that to share – it’s something very unique.

So tell us a bit more about the actual sale…

Zoe – Well it wasn’t a purely financial decision – it was about beginning again for us. We felt that we’d done what we could do here, and we wouldn’t want to be in a position where we’re just repeating ourselves. So the choice we were faced with was either how to develop The End, or how to let go.

Layo - We’ve had offers for the club before, and yes, this was the best one. But I wouldn’t say that it’s so good that it makes this a purely financial issue – it’s a circumstantial issue, coupled with financial. If it was seven or eight years ago, an offer like this wouldn’t have been accepted. It’s a lot to do with the timing.

Can you tell us anything about the closing parties?

Layo – Well you know us, and you know what we do. We’re speaking to all the key people and we’re not going to go out on anything other than the most massive bang. Because of the nature of how we run the club, with all the different nights and promoters, it will be a whole series of parties. They’ll begin with Sven Vath at the 13th birthday in December, and run through to the final party on 24th January. There will be different closing parties for different nights and promoters, with different DJs for different crowds, and then a very grand final weekend.

Zoe – We may be closing, but I see the final parties as one long celebration.

What are you going to miss?

Layo - I’m going to miss the warmth, the creativity and the humour of the office and the venues. I think that the working rapport will carry with me more than anything else, for the rest of my life. I will desperately miss playing at the club. God knows how many times I’ve played here – the first Saturday of the month for thirteen years. I will miss the feeling of being part of The End, with the DJs and promoters, that whole creative energy. I’ll miss working with my sister which I’ve enjoyed immeasurably. And I’ll miss the power to have a meeting, get ideas together with a group of people, and just decide that we’re going to do it. It’s not that easy to do in life. But I'll miss it all when it's gone.

Zoe - First and foremost, the people I work with. For me, without doubt, the thing I’ve enjoyed the most here is developing the team and the personal relationships. The rapport, respect and admiration that I have for people like Liam and Ty amongst others, I can’t really find words for what they’ve done for the venues, and the wider team. There are people who aren’t here now that still come back – when we had AKA’s 10th birthday recently people flew in from abroad. It’s very moving for me that it’s captured their heart so much.

I suppose I’ll miss everything – the dynamics, the banter with the security team, the spirit of the place, the street, the atmosphere, the whole culture. Turning the corner onto West Central Street, or standing on any of the dancefloors and seeing people having a fantastic time, time and again. It goes on and on.

Some people are going to find it a great loss to London…

Zoe – It’ll feel like a void but other things will come through though, new venues. The scene is always evolving but I imagine they’ll always remember The End & AKA.

Layo - The End is a very unique place. When The End is rocking, there’s very few clubs in the world that even get close to it. And that’s on a lot of nights, in a variety of different ways – from house and techno, to drum & bass, to nights like Trash and Durrr, to the afterhours parties. That’s very special – I don’t know many clubs that can do that, and I think it’ll be a loss to London.

I’ve only played in a few places around the world where I feel people put in the same level of love that’s put in it here, from reception to the managers, to the bar staff, to the sound guys. It’s very rare that you get that, and there’s almost nowhere in the UK that comes close. I do believe the old saying about nature abhorring a vacuum, and I do believe that someone else will create something. But that’s the nature of it – things come, things go, it’s always moving.

What would you say to the regulars from the club - whether they’ve been here from day one, or joined us in the last few years?

Zoe We set this up as a business, but it’s also about this mad culture of creating a lot of fun for people. The energy to do that comes from the public – we give them the platform in which to have the fun, and we’ve been very lucky, to this day, to have such a fantastic audience. So I hope that everyone will understand our reasons for going, and that The End has moved on. And of course… thank you.

Layo - There is nothing to say but thank you. I hope you will remember some of your time spent here, and that your memories give you as much pleasure as mine do for me.

Published: 1/09/2008

iphone hacks

2009-03-10T23:13:00.000Z

if you want to update your iPhone 3G to firmware 2.2.1 but at the same time preserve its baseband so that you can also unlock it then you should follow our step-by-step guide to use Dev Team's PwnageTool.
But If you don't want to unlock your iPhone 3G now or anytime in the future and only want to jailbreak it to install jailbreak iPhone apps<
iPhone 3G, iPhone Dev Team, iPhone Firmware 2.2.1, JailBreak iPhone, JailBreak iPhone 3G | Permalink

Step-by-Step Guide to Jailbreak iPhone 3G running Firmware 2.2.1 using QuickPwn 2.2.5 (Mac)

The Dev Team had warned iPhone 3G users against updating to firmware 2.2.1
as it also included a baseband update which breaks the "injection hole"
that they had used in their application yellowsn0w to modify the
firmware which had helped to successfully unlock iPhone 3G.
So if you want to update your iPhone 3G to firmware 2.2.1 but at the same time preserve its baseband so that you can also unlock it then you should follow our step-by-step guide to use Dev Team's PwnageTool.
If you don't want to unlock your iPhone 3G now or anytime in the future and only want to jailbreak it to install jailbreak iPhone apps then you can update your iPhone 3G with firmware 2.2.1 using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to jailbreak it.
So here is our updated step-by-step guide to jailbreak iPhone 3G using QuickPwn for Mac users updated for iPhone firmware 2.2.1.

MPTVOutWindow Hacks?

2009-03-10T22:58:00.001Z
Confirmed by Ars Technica, a programming class in the iPhone SDK known as MPTVOutWindow does essentially what its name implies: it sends video out through the Dock Connector port to an outside source, such as an external screen.

The adaptation is primarily meant for movies but allows any program to export the current contents of the screen, theoretically allowing apps intended for screens larger than the 3.5-inch iPhone LCD.

After testing, however, well-known iPhone developer Erica Sadun notes that touch input is disabled in this mode with current implementations and so prevents using the iPhone as a regular controller for games or presentations. It does recognize accelerometer input for a basic level of control.

The code writer also observes that the programming call appears designed for the phone's landscape view rather than the upright portrait mode for most iPhone apps, forcing developers eager to use the new mode to adjust for the realignment.

But while these limitations have already been discovered, developers have already written basic code and plan to explore the MPTVOutWindow function more in the near future to see what it will do; an example of this is provided below.

Surely there is a way to modify your apps to display them fullscreen??

iPhone Video Out from Ars Technica on Vimeo.

Erol Alkan @ Lowlands 2008 - Last number of his set

2008-08-18T14:21:00.001+01:00

Augmented Sculpture v1.2

2008-08-16T02:54:00.005+01:00

The Augmented Sculpture Project

2008-08-16T02:54:00.003+01:00

RGB LED POV display using pic16f628a

2008-08-16T02:54:00.001+01:00

The Augmented Sculpture Project

2008-07-28T01:15:00.000+01:00

Nintendo Wiiremote DJ + VJ ( Daito + TCY )

2008-07-09T23:59:00.000+01:00

ChairTV VJ Fac51 Hacienda Party @Warehouse Project

2008-04-01T03:24:00.000+01:00

Shaun Ryder & Peter Hook

FACDVDSML from chairtv on Vimeo.

ChairTV VJ @Warehouse Project

2008-04-01T03:20:00.001+01:00

ColdCut...
Kode 9...

Autokratz - Reaktor Video Promo ChairTV 2008

2008-02-19T22:28:00.001Z

Click to Play

Autokratz - Reaktor Video Promo ChairTV 2008 http://www.chairtv.com

Climate Change

2008-01-26T01:12:00.000Z

Aphex Twin @ WHP Manchester..Visuals by ChairTV

2007-12-13T22:01:00.000Z

EAT YOUR OWN EARS WAREHOUSE PARTY

2007-12-05T23:01:00.001Z

Visuals Gig @ Warehouse Project - Annie Mac, Chromeo, Erol Alkan & Kissy Sell Out

2007-12-05T22:57:00.000Z

The Warehouse Project

2007-11-01T16:00:00.000Z

Vjin Ape 2nd Birthday @ The Warehouse Project

2007-11-01T15:11:00.000Z

Line-up///

Mark Ronson [ DJ Set ]
High Contrast
Subfocus
DJ Yoda
Foreign Beggars [ Live ]
Q-bert
DJ Kentaro
Stanton Warriors
DJ Food
Youngblood Brass Band [ Live ]
Jungle Drummer Vs DJ FU
Rich Reason

Last year saw 100,000 people flock to the city from all over the UK to
attend what was widely considered to be one of the most ambitious live music projects undertaken for years. It was a huge risk and many believed that a city like Manchester simply couldn't sustain that number of massive events over only three months.

How wrong they were... The 30 events took the city by storm and for that period, Manchester was the only place to be. By the end of it all the WP crew were tired and very weary, but so incredibly pleased with the way things had turned out. The whole project had really been a massive experiment, and a huge risk but one that had been worthwhile.

At that stage they were dubious as to whether they could or would have it in them to start all over again but after a break they were itching to get cracking. As the Warehouse Project’s Sam Kandel observes, “after listening to the feedback from all those who attended Beneath The Streets, we realised we did really have to do The Warehouse Project 2007 in the Store Street venue. It’s not as big as last year (1800 capacity), but the atmosphere and the sound over those three days was absolutely amazing. We were looking at a
few different options for this year, but we feel that this is definitely the
right decision. It feels quite surreal that this is all about to kick off
again - we're not really sure if we're ready for it!

The line-ups for this years parties are still under construction. Taking
some of the highlights from last year and adding some amazing acts in to the mix its shaping up to be even stronger than 2006. The Warehouse Project have been working really hard trying to get all the line-ups in and its been difficult trying to better last year. “Its 80% there now,” states Sam, "but some big announcements are still coming. We're really pleased with how it's all looking."

“For twelve weeks... This city is ours”

MASHYERFACEOFF!-KLANK RELEASE

2007-09-14T17:32:00.000+01:00
GET YOUR KLANK WEB RELEASE....WARNING ITS A BIT NOISEY>>>>
MASHYERFACEOFF

Da Punk!

2007-09-06T16:37:00.000+01:00
Ever wondered what the inside of Daft Punk's robot spaceship looks like.
Thanks to Erol Alkans blog I found these!

Bjork on TV

2007-07-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

I DREW A BLANK

2007-07-05T17:24:00.001+01:00

Sex

2007-05-15T12:52:00.000+01:00
GOOD Magazine: Internet Porn Transparency

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Pre Cinema Magic Lanterns

2007-05-07T22:48:00.000+01:00

Like the diorama, the magic lantern was central to the popular success of commercialized forms of visual culture. Like other optical devices ultimately used for entertainment, the magic lantern had its origins in scientific experimentation. In his book Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow, 1645–1646), the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher described a device he called the catoptric lamp, which could create illuminated images by catching sunlight on a mirror and reflecting it through a lenticular lens (that is, shaped like a doubleconvex lens) onto the wall of a darkened chamber. An opaque image or word (with letters inverted) embossed upside down on the mirror would be directed (but not quite projected) by the reflected sunlight on the darkened wall. Kircher used transparent paints to color his images and would employ two or more lamps to allow multiple images and words to appear on the wall simultaneously. In the absence of natural sunlight, Kircher demonstrated that illumination sufficient for projection could be obtained by condensing candlelight through a glass sphere filled with water. The catoptric lamp was the precursor to the very popular magic lantern.

In 1659 the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens developed his lanterne magique, a device that contributed to the development of projected images. Huygens's correspondence describes how he painted images on glass slides (rather than a mirror) and directed artificial light through a lens to project his images. The Danish lens grinder and teacher Thomas Rasmussen Walgensten is known to have publicly demonstrated his magic lantern before small, exclusive audiences (such as royal families) between 1664 and 1670. The magic lantern did not move out of closed circles of private demonstrations for scientists, experimenters, and privileged audiences until the 1790s (once the social and economic conditions became ripe), when the Belgian Etiènne Gaspard́rt (1764–1837) developed the magic lantern for the purposes of commercial entertainment with great success. Robért changed his name to Robertson and premiered his spectacular magic lantern show, the Robe Fantasmagorie, at the Pavillion d'Echiquier in Paris in 1799. He professed that his magic lantern would help dispel his audiences' belief in the existence of ghosts and spirits while simultaneously delighting them with the terror that his display of illusory specters inspired.

Several years later, Robertson transformed the chapel of an abandoned Capuchin monastery into an atmospheric venue for his show. Robertson exploited the inherent spookiness of this setting and established an atmosphere of terror by shuttling his audiences through dark corridors to a chamber illuminated only by glowing coals. The space was decorated with skulls and mysterious markings, and the death knell of tolling bells and other sound effects established an ominous mood. Once his audience was seated, Robertson threw chemicals on the glowing coals to make smoke billow from them; he then extinguished all the lights, cloaking his audience in a terrifying darkness. Images of ghosts, ghouls, demons, distorted human faces, and skeletons were projected onto the clouds of smoke by magic lanterns that had been craftily concealed from the audiences' view, thanks to Robertson's use of rear projection. The billowing smoke gave an illusory movement to the static images that were skillfully painted on glass slides and projected through the lantern's lens. Robertson also projected images onto thin gauze that had been treated with wax to make the fabric translucent and allowed the rear-projected image to be visible through its surface. As film historian Erik Barnouw explains, the gauze was hidden behind black curtains, which were drawn back once the venue was thrown into darkness. To further conceal the source of the projected apparitions and thereby intensify the illusion, Robertson darkened the area of the glass slides surrounding the illustration, so that when the images of ghosts and phantoms were projected they seemed to hang eerily in the darkness. He also mounted his magic lanterns on an apparatus that would allow him to slide the lanterns forward and back. This had the effect of making the projected image appear to grow and approach the audience when the lantern was moved forward or shrink and move away from the audience when it was moved backward. When the lantern's focus was expertly adjusted in sync with the movement of the apparatus, the illusion of emergence and retreat intensified the sensationalism of the spectacle. Robertson not only projected images of phantoms and ghosts but also made reference to the contemporary political context by projecting an image of the recently executed Robespierre along with other images of the famous dead, such as Voltaire and Rousseau.

Two significant technological developments improved on Robertson's magic lantern. In 1822 Sir Goldsworthy Gurney developed limelight, a source of very bright artificial illumination first used in lighthouses but later put to numerous uses in theater and entertainment, including as a light source for magic lanterns. In the 1830s the magic lanternist Henry Langdon Childe developed the "dissolving view," a process for transitioning from one image to the next by fading in one image as the other fades out.

Thieving Magpie

2007-04-17T17:17:00.000+01:00

The Thieving MagpieALAS THE THIEVING MAGPIE, KLANK & WATCH YER EYES!!

HC180407

2007-04-17T17:15:00.000+01:00

MILLICENT

2007-03-15T14:52:00.000Z

Design

2007-01-18T04:20:00.000Z

FEB

2007-01-15T01:29:00.000Z

ChairTV, Ahh Of Course

2006-12-21T20:54:00.000Z

Fluxus

2006-12-02T06:25:00.000Z
Is there a 'deep grammar' process at work in urbanism? Is there in the interaction between the history of architecture and the continuum of architectural reality, a DNA of urbanism? I find that in the old world, Beaux Arts 'statics' rule, while in the new world 'nomad science' rules and urban 'design' is necessarily fugitive and non-figurative; producing a surface world—a windscreen world.

montage

2006-11-12T22:33:00.000Z

AR

2006-11-12T22:32:00.000Z
Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real world and computer generated data. At present, most AR research is concerned with the use of live video imagery which is digitally processed and "augmented" by the addition of computer generated graphics. Advanced research includes the use of motion tracking data, fiducial marker recognition using machine vision, and the construction of controlled environments containing any number of sensors and actuators.

TECHNO BUDDHA

2006-11-12T20:51:00.000Z

Momentum flux

2006-11-12T20:49:00.000Z
Momentum flux, the rate of transfer of momentum across a unit area (N·s·m-2·s-1). (Newtonian fluid, viscous flow)
Heat flux, the rate of heat flow across a unit area (J·m-2·s-1). (Fourier's Law) [5] (This definition of heat flux fits Maxwell's original definition[4].)
Chemical flux, the rate of movement of molecules across a unit area (mol·m-2·s-1). (Fick's law of diffusion)
Volumetric flux, the rate of volume flow across a unit area (m3·m-2·s-1). (Darcy's law)
Mass flux, the rate of mass flow across a unit area (kg·m-2·s-1). (Either an alternate form of Fick's law that includes the molecular mass, or an alternate form of Darcy's law that includes the density)

NORVUN DEVOlution 28th April Roadhouse

2006-11-07T01:02:00.000Z

2006-10-26T16:57:00.000+01:00

2006-10-26T16:55:00.000+01:00

2006-10-09T13:05:00.000+01:00

Roots Manuva @ The Roadhouse 06

2006-10-05T14:21:00.000+01:00

sexy schwein

2006-09-26T00:25:00.000+01:00

This 'is' What Happens to Assassins Around Here

2006-09-26T00:23:00.000+01:00
January 21, 2006
This is What Happens to Assassins Around Here

Okay, this guy isn’t really an assassin, more like a bandit. He’s like a lot of bloggers these days, in that he scours the Web for other peoples’ original content and then reposts it with an inane kind of “hear, hear! I agree!” Except he doesn’t attribute the source, he doesn’t know what quotation marks are, and every single image on his Blogger site is hotlinked from somewhere else. (If you don’t know what I mean by these terms - direct linking or hotlinking - basically he’s using images somebody else put up, without hosting them on his own site or using photobucket, flickr, imageshack, etc. Everytime someone visits his page, I get charged a few pennies, because his server - Blogger.com - retrieves that same image from my server. Over and over again.) None of his sources are given the common courtesy of a page link, natch.

Everyone “borrows” images and ideas. That’s not what pisses me off. Mister g4jima came to my attention because I noticed my host was getting lots of referrals from his page. Then I poked around his site and noticed the rampant plagiarism and shitty netiquette and the fact that he not only reprinted my entire post without linking back, he even copied my “Illegal Disclaimer” from the sidebar over there on the right, verbatim. I mean, come on. Imitation is the sincerest form of flabbiness.

Oddly, he has an awful lot of posts regarding plagiarism on the net.
It’s not an un-interesting site, but the above issues you’ve mentioned make me wonder where it’s all coming from.
I used to get comments from folks and would follow the link back to their spider hole, only to discover a blogger page that seemed either ‘bot generated or cobbled together from several disparate sources. A hot looking woman who’s into both real estate investment AND industrial music and (of course) becoming an aspiring novelist, all with personal posts that tended to conflict with the highly detailed profile. That’s what I deserve for taking the time to look.

Comment by rich January 28, 2006 @ 11:02 am

TEKNŐ MONTAGE

2006-09-23T15:22:00.000+01:00

S'DEVOLUTION FOLKS!

2006-09-08T16:58:00.000+01:00

BE THERE OR B SQUARE

2006-09-04T16:41:00.000+01:00

TEK

2006-08-26T05:47:00.000+01:00

Proletariata

2006-08-26T05:29:00.000+01:00

Place In The City

2006-08-25T17:23:00.000+01:00

MANI

2006-08-15T16:58:00.000+01:00

RETRO*NIGHT*SPRAYER*INCIDENT

2006-08-13T15:50:00.000+01:00

URBAN MUSIC THEATRE PROJECT

2006-08-08T15:56:00.000+01:00

EDIT/COPY/CUT/FILM/PHOTOGRAPH/PROJECT

VJ And Digital Arts

Lead Artists: James Green and Adrian Ball
Venue: CAN, Green Fish Resource Centre, 46-50 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE

VJing is a visual art form that has gained huge popularity over the last couple of years, particularly on the music and club scene. To VJ is to mix video live, much in the same way a DJ mixes music. The great advantage of this, over using pre-edited video, is that the VJ can respond directly and immediately to what is happening on stage and 'video jam'. VJing is now an exciting and integral part of CAN production work and an important part of the direction in which we are developing our digital arts work with young people.

The VJ group will create video clips around the central themes of the project. Participants will be taught video and animation skills as well as training in how to VJ for a live event. The VJ workshops will teach participants how to create and mix live video and images. Participants will learn a whole range of skills, from filming and gathering images, to editing and adding effects through to learning how to video mix. The end result will be video projections of live VJ jams during the final performance.

Intensive workshops will be every Wednesday, 6-9pm from 23 August @ CAN

DOGME 95

2006-08-08T14:57:00.000+01:00

.. is a collective of film directors founded in Copenhagen in spring 1995.

DOGME 95 has the expressed goal of countering “certain tendencies” in the cinema today.

DOGME 95 is a rescue action!

In 1960 enough was enough! The movie was dead and called for resurrection. The goal was correct but the means were not! The new wave proved to be a ripple that washed ashore and turned to muck.
Slogans of individualism and freedom created works for a while, but no changes. The wave was up for grabs, like the directors themselves. The wave was never stronger than the men behind it. The anti-bourgeois cinema itself became bourgeois, because the foundations upon which its theories were based was the bourgeois perception of art. The auteur concept was bourgeois romanticism from the very start and thereby ... false!
To DOGME 95 cinema is not individual!

Today a technological storm is raging, the result of which will be the ultimate democratisation of the cinema. For the first time, anyone can make movies. But the more accessible the media becomes, the more important the avant-garde, It is no accident that the phrase “avant-garde” has military connotations. Discipline is the answer ... we must put our films into uniform, because the individual film will be decadent by definition!

DOGME 95 counters the individual film by the principle of presenting an indisputable set of rules known as THE VOW OF CHASTITY.
In 1960 enough was enough! The movie had been cosmeticised to death, they said; yet since then the use of cosmetics has exploded.
The “supreme” task of the decadent film-makers is to fool the audience. Is that what we are so proud of? Is that what the “100 years” have brought us? Illusions via which emotions can be communicated? ... By the individual artist’s free choice of trickery?

Predictability (dramaturgy) has become the golden calf around which we dance. Having the characters’ inner lives justify the plot is too complicated, and not “high art”. As never before, the superficial action and the superficial movie are receiving all the praise.
The result is barren. An illusion of pathos and an illusion of love.

To DOGME 95 the movie is not illusion!
Today a technological storm is raging of which the result is the elevation of cosmetics to God. By using new technology anyone at any time can wash the last grains of truth away in the deadly embrace of sensation. The illusions are everything the movie can hide behind.

DOGME 95 counters the film of illusion by the presentation of an indisputable set of rules known as THE VOW OF CHASTITY.

"I swear to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGME 95:

1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot).
3. The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place).
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.
Furthermore I swear as a director to refrain from personal taste! I am no longer an artist. I swear to refrain from creating a "work", as I regard the instant as more important than the whole. My supreme goal is to force the truth out of my characters and settings. I swear to do so by all the means available and at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic considerations.
Thus I make my VOW OF CHASTITY."
Copenhagen, Monday 13 March 1995

On behalf of DOGME 95

Lars von Trier Thomas Vinterberg

7 Hour Technicolour Dream

2006-08-08T11:07:00.000+01:00

Be there or be square, 7 hour technicolour Dream

MR X

2006-08-08T01:07:00.000+01:00

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apologies. Translated poorly by http://www.systranbox.com (but it gives some idea!)

During several years, Åsa's agencies have acted by a sensible kind's back of film and scene. In the series “study's traveled film”, with agencies that “Midget&Shit” and “The woodsat twilight”, built scenes of scenografier and still. “Touch it! Fairy electrical it! Love it!” is a perfomance and installation on Färgfabriken last winter that comprized a scene construction with light, pressure materials, post offices' and elements from earlier appearance. In instatallationen played Åsa with your band “Revlon9”.

In your first separate exhibition shows now Åsa Cederqvist the film - Mr X.

Mr. X associates we normally with a big section in some evening newspaper and a scramblad portrait picture. X farms to have connection to the lower or the very the topmost world. Åsa Cederqvists Mr X concerns itself in the (lower) unconscious and the (upper) the superficial world. The surface is his instruments that X uses in order to try to reflect your unconscious and to define your longing after eroticism.

Åsa Cederqvist

2006-08-08T00:21:00.000+01:00

Åsa Cederqvist
Bimbo, Throw up

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Åsa Cederqvist will work on two projects during her time at Tensta Konsthall.

Bimbo is an investigative and extroverted project with two different branches that remain connected.
a) An investigation of the concept of a bimbo. Where does the expression come from? Can a man be a bimbo? Are there advantages to being a bimbo? Has is become socially accepted to be a bimbo?
b) An investigation of the fascination that female blondes incite worldwide. When did it begin? Was it Anita Ekberg or was it some porn movie? Or is it a cultural difference in the heredity aspects of sexuality and lust?
The purpose is to maintain a personal view of the project as opposed to living up to some strictly regulated investigative method. Åsa Cederqvist uses her on point of reference to illustrate interesting contradictions that the artists has encountered through her own experiences and realizations.

Throw up is an intuitive working method that focuses on keeping to a direct and emotional means of expression all the way. The artist’s chosen approach is to not force herself into a concept of meaning for the work before she considers it finished. Åsa Cederqvist experiments with different materials to arrive at a sticky, often textile and sculptural kind of painting.

In Åsa’s work there is an apparent fascination with, and highlighting of, the other side of things, the ugly side, which is expressed in the choice of material and the composition. The strange thing that happens is that the ugly becomes beautiful, which raises the question of what makes something beautiful or ugly.
While Åsa Cederqvist’s work often inhabits a flirtatious and erotically charged world, it can also represent the complicated mental intricacies of human beings, where a slight tug on a rope can have a major significance.

"I am fascinated by the links between different things. A material ecstacy and the creation of a living and erotic tension within inanimate surfaces. It is pleasant, and funny. A creative form of vomiting."

Åsa Cederqvist is an artist and director. Since graduating from the art department at Konstfack, she has worked as a director, and has also toured London, Paris and New York as one of the three members of the band Revl9n.

2006/04/06 20:39

Music video by Swedish electro-pop band Futuro

2006-08-07T23:39:00.000+01:00

disintegrated mechanised society - post-industrial living

2006-08-07T22:27:00.000+01:00

1.The assumption that living in a disintegrated mechanised society blinds and deafens us to the integrative qualities of both pre-industrial and post-industrial living.

2.The reason for this is that the animal adaptability that we are born with can disappear once we have adapted to the rigidity of simple machines such as the assembly line. The tragedy of mechanisation.

revlon 9

2006-08-07T21:13:00.000+01:00

5MinutesWith: Swedish art-dance rockers Revl9n

2006-08-07T20:56:00.000+01:00

5MinutesWith: Swedish art-dance rockers Revl9n
An artistic, hard-edged techo-pop brew
5MinutesWith: Swedish art-dance rockers Revl9n
Swedish three-piece Revl9n
Taking the best elements of techno pop (Madonna, Peaches) and mixing it into an artistic, hard-edged brew (think Peaches robot dancing with the Human League), Revl9n are the latest in a lineage of promising creative Swedish artists to aim for UK success.

We spoke with Åsa Cederqvist, Maria Eilersen and Nandor Hegedüs two weeks prior to their first major single release "Someone Like You" - out in the UK on Because Music. A debut album is promised this summer.

How, where and when did the three of you come together to start making music?

We got together as friends in Stockholm. Maria and Åsa started the band with another guy called Vejde in 1998. One year later Nandor joined with his fabulous bass playing, soon thereafter Revl9n formed as the trio it now is.

Your music seems to have a sense of edgy energy running through it. How would you describe it?

We are three strong personalities with loads of energy and wild ideas.. Simple as that.

How do you feel ahead of your UK live appearances next month?

It's gonna be fun, fun, fun!

Swedish acts across all genres are doing brilliantly in the UK at the moment, why do you think that is?

No idea. You are the journos...

Your first three releases were on vinyl. What's your own most prized piece of vinyl?

Nandor: Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
Åsa: Roedelius (Hans - Joachim Roedelius) Selbstportrait, Skyrecords, 1979. Would cry if I lost it!
Maria: Pas de deux - compilation

If you weren't working in music, where would you be working?

Nandor: Actor, author, film maker/director
Åsa: Artist, film maker/director
Maria: Author, filmmaker/director

What or who most influences the music you make?

Travelling, people, art, funny situations, politics, sports

Favourite album as a child?

Nandor: Sparks "This Town Ain't Big Enough for The Both of Us"
Åsa: Pointer Sisters: "So Excited"
Maria: Best of The Beatles

Tell us an interesting fact about Revl9n that won't be in the press release:

We like Crochet work, horseback riding, football and port wine. But not all at the same time...

'Someone Like You' is released May 29th and the band are playing dates across the UK with MSTRKRFT from May 24th. Check local listings or hit their Myspace (myspace.com/revl9n).

Article ripped cleanly from http://www.soundgenerator.com/ so go there and read it!
I'll write a proper review when I have met them again!

ROCK YOU?

2006-08-01T16:11:00.000+01:00
VJs & a band, see http://www.chairtv.com

| View | Add Favorite/>

White Heat

2006-07-31T15:38:00.000+01:00

Whos the fairest of them all. In these ramshackle times when joyous indie rock bands are ten to a penny and Encore is just another cadburys chocolate bar. Friends, lovers, voyeurs and other assorted miscreants. Whiteheat are clearly creatures of refined taste.

We like something about them...but then we like very bad things and our intentions are rarely honourable. In their own words, sounds like stars, fires and explosions! Would you really want it any other way?

PHOTO: http://acomfortableplace.co.uk/layla/

WHITE HEAT: http://www.myspace.com/whiteheatmusic

Futuresonic10 , FRIDAY 21st Manchester 2006

2006-07-16T21:54:00.000+01:00

Friday 21st Real Fresh TV presents 'A Concert Over Broadband'
Live rock/pop performances from Dear Eskiimo, The Search Map, Aristocrash, The Black Paths and Gillian Edgar in the basement accompanied by visuals from VJ's www.ChairTV.com. Webcast via www.realfresh.tv

Norvun Devolution will also feature ChairTV + 3D Visuals FRIDAY 21st

Bass-heavy dub science plus conscious hip hop alongside live graffiti and other visuals from the Sketch City project. An EVNT Competition Winner.
www.norvundevolution.com

AUTO_9

2006-07-12T11:20:00.000+01:00

2006-07-12T10:55:00.000+01:00

Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar Skills HOOOOO!!

2006-07-12T10:42:00.000+01:00

I KNOW I WANNA BE................>>>>>>>>>

VJING ???

2006-06-28T12:07:00.000+01:00

VJingClub visuals have come a long way from banks of portable tellies showing someone’s dodgy old X-Mix video. iDJ investigates the art and science of VJing...
Once upon a time, if you wanted pretty pictures to look at while you were out clubbing, the usual solution was of chemical origin. These days, though, visuals are very much part of the clubbing experience, with video projections a fairly standard ingredient in the party package. This has been the case for a good few years, admittedly – but it’s only really now that we’re seeing the emergence of the VJ as a clubland star in his own right.

There’s definitely been a groundswell of interest in VJing as an artform of late. For instance, London club night Vectors – the only night in the UK that has the VJ at the top of the bill – recently celebrated its first birthday. A VJ Conference was held at Ocean in Camden on October 12th, attracting several hundred attendees. What’s more, iDJ has it on good authority that several major DJ gear manufacturers are looking at VJing as the next area they might move into (we could say who but we’d have to shoot you!), while London-based Green Hippo, who’ve developed a hardware/software combo they’re hoping will become the industry standard, the Technics 1210 of VJing if you will, say they’ve already had “considerable interest” from some of the leading nightclubs in the country. And that’s not to mention the increasing number of letters and emails we’ve received on the subject here at iDJ Towers!

Yep, VJing’s definitely a growing phenomenon. But why’s it so popular right now? What can VJs add to a club night? And how can you become a VJ yourself? Read on, and all will be revealed…

Reasons to be visual
There are several reasons why VJing as an artform has caught the public’s imagination lately. For a start, there’s the general societal trend towards multimedia integration – a nation that’s now used to watching pretty pictures while iTunes or Windows Media Jukebox plays music on its computer, and sending picture messages on its mobile phones, is a nation that’s ready to watch animations and movie clips while it’s strutting its stuff on the floor. Secondly, there can be little argument that the use of visuals makes for a more immersive, multi-sensory clubbing experience, and the pleasuring of the senses is what clubbing’s all about, after all.

Some would argue that the public are also now bored of ‘superstar DJs’, and are looking to get a little bit more value for their clubbing dollar. “I think it’s related to the fact that punters are a little bit tired of paying £50 just to get in a club,” says Vectors resident VJ Anyone, who’s been VJing since 1996. “The visuals are a novelty, and if you put on a flier ‘special immersive visuals by such-and-such’ there’s an added value to your clubbing experience.”

The other major factor is that there’s so many more people doing it, because it’s never been easier to get into. Packages like VJamm, the video mixing software developed by the Coldcut crew, have done for VJing what eJay did for home music-making, while the actual equipment needed is getting smaller all the time.

“Nowadays, I turn up at the club, and I look like a DJ,” says Anyone. “I use two G4 PowerBooks and a mixer, and it all fits in a record box. Five years ago, I needed to hire a van to carry all my equipment, and I’d turn up looking like a lighting technician!”

On that note, by the way, it’s worth noting that VJs are very keen to be seen as performers, and not as technicians. “My show ends at the end of my cable,” says VJ Kriel, who’s one of the scene’s biggest names (see separate panel). “I don’t rig up projectors, that’s not my job. After all, if Pete Tong turns up to do a gig, you don’t expect to see him putting up the soundsystem – and you certainly don’t expect him to stay behind and dismantle it after the show!”

It’s with this problem in mind that Green Hippo have developed their Hippotizer. This is a bespoke visual imaging system aimed at the installation market. Where it differs from similar systems already available is that where most use their own proprietary file formats and offer the end-user little control over how the contents are displayed, Hippotizer accepts standard formats such as AVI video and JPEG stills (MPEG support will follow soon) and offers complete user control – meaning that where there’s a Hippotizer installed in a club, all the VJ need bring is a CD-ROM of his clips and animations. A far cry from having to hire a van!

Doing it yourself
So you’re convinced: VJing is the future, and you want in. So how do you get involved? The thing to do is start small. Make no mistake, to become a professional VJ you’re going to need to spend some serious money: on video cameras, computer equipment, video editing software, a video mixer… this is definitely not a poor man’s hobby! But the good news is that it’s actually pretty easy and affordable to give VJing a try – you can always save up and splash out on the pro-level gear later on, if and when you decide VJing really is the career for you.

The best place to start is by visiting AudioVisualizers (www.audiovisualizers.com). This is the online resource for VJs and video artists, and as well as articles, product reviews and useful links, you’ll find here a Tool Shack, which offers for download just about every VJ-related piece of software you could need. Most you have to pay for, but there are usually Time Trial or Lite versions you can download for free, so you can try before you buy. We spoke to a number of VJs – professionals, semi-professionals and keen amateurs – and the general consensus seems to be that the best packages for a beginner to try are ArKaos and Resolume. For those wishing to progress a little from these basic packages, VJamm Pro and Visualjockey also come highly recommended.

You can also download MPEG clips here to have a muck about with to get you started, though the trend in VJing ‘for real’ is very much moving away from using ‘found’ material, to shooting your own video or making your own animations. Partly because of copyright issues, and partly because – as with music and samples – it’s very easy to get too many VJs using the same tired old clips. For an idea as to what your basic hardware requirements will be, see our side panel.

Other places on the web that are worth visiting, meanwhile, are VJforums.com and VJCentral.com. The former is a message board centre where VJs can swap tips, discuss problems, help each other out with business advice and just generally network and talk shop. We actually spotted postings there by just about everyone involved in VJing that we’d spoken to – it’s like visiting the iDJ message boards to find Judge Jules swapping mixing advice with Darren Emerson! The latter, meanwhile, is its sister site, and is another great place to read software and hardware reviews, product news, advice on techniques, opinion pieces on VJ-related issues and so on.

Future visions
So what does the future hold for the art of VJing? Is this going to be a mere craze, a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon, or is this really the future for clubland?Funnily enough, most seem to think the answer lies in this new artform’s increasing integration with our own – ie, good old-fashioned DJing. “It’s very easy to be a pretty good VJ and a pretty good DJ,” says Kriel, “but soon we’re going to see people who are exceptional DJs and exceptional VJs. Like the Coldcut and Hexstatic team – I think you’re going to see a lot more of that kind of thing. Like, if X-Press 2 are a team of three, two of them could be DJs and one could be the VJ and that’s the team – almost like a band. I think within clubland, that’s how it’ll play itself out.”

And Anyone agrees. “There’s definitely a hybridisation going to occur,” he says. “I don’t think anything will happen without music. So whether a single person will do both or whether you’ll see a team or a duo, I don’t know. But I think it will be much more integrated.

“And I think it’ll become standard,” he continues. “To the point where instead of visuals being an added extra, within a couple of years, if you go out and there aren’t any visuals, you’ll feel there’s something missing. And that’s when you’ll start to see VJs with proper careers. It won’t happen at the same speed all over the world, but it will happen, I assure you.”

Keeping it Kriel
How’s this for a life story? You grow up in the circus in Illinois, are running your own mobile soundsystem by the time you’re 15, then get a job as a radio DJ. You move to Prague and edit the arts and culture section of a leading newspaper, then take up fine art and move to London to study. Completing a PhD in the application of the principles of Freudian and Laconian analysis to the interpretation of digital media, your video-based art installations appear at the ICA and in an exhibition curated by Brian Eno. Then you get a call from the Arts Council, asking if you’d like to be artist-in-residence at Radio 1, so you go along, take the job and are then informed you’re going to be their resident VJ. Your first gig? VJing to a quarter of a million people on the Radio 1 stage at Love Parade.

That, incredibly, is the background from whence hails VJ Kriel, one of the world’s leading VJs. It’s been something of a long and winding road to the top – and Kriel, who VJs regularly for the likes of Pete Tong, Fatboy Slim, DJ Tiesto, Darren Emerson and Sasha, is certainly at the top these days. Yet the last, most important turning on that road (the move to Radio 1) he almost didn’t take!

“I wasn’t completely convinced about doing it,” he says, “because I was very up my own ass at the time, and I didn’t want to mix with pop culture too much. Now I’ve completely gone over the wall to the other side, and I have some questions about the art world’s lack of concern for audience. I’m a bit appalled about my own attitude back then, when I look back.”

Kriel’s choice of imagery is inspired by ‘phenomenology’ – “quite a structuralist thing, of allowing a thing to become itself and allowing a thing to reveal itself to itself, within a closed system.” Which, in English, means it mainly consists of images of clubbers, as opposed to random Kung Fu clips or text by Jacques Derrida.

“When I started looking at this,” he says, “there were three or four things I saw consistently in VJ sets. You had big logos banged in your face all the time à la big corporate club, or you had this kind of post-apocalyptic electro-punk kind of dystopian videovision, or you had some guy sticking his video camera out of his car window, driving around town and then speeding it up. And I thought, the problem is none of that has anything to do with clubbing at all.”

“So I go in, I shoot the people at the club, and then feed the best moments back to them at the next event,” he continues, “in a way that they can psychologically project onto the screen their own sexiness and the beauty and the excitement of night, and it’ll just build them up, up, up as much as possible, and that’s what gets me excited and passionate about VJing. To make the party. You know: if Carl Cox can take them this high, then I can add that little extra bit where you’ve gotta scrape them off the ceiling!”

The Gear
What you'll need if you fancy having a bash at VJing yourself...

A computer
There’s more software for the PC but there are several packages around for Mac users. Either way you’ll need a pretty highly-spec’d machine because video/animation is highly processor/memory-intensive!

An internet connection
For downloading software and/or clips. The faster the better, obviously.

Some software
There are dozens of packages to choose from. Basically you’ll need:
• something to create images (unless you’re shooting all your own footage), ie, an animation package
• something to edit video (such as Adobe Premiere, for instance)
• something to playback and mix with, eg, VJamm or ArKaos (you can worry about progressing to a hardware video mixer later on).
To try your hand for the first time, though, you could just grab a copy of VJamm and some MPEG clips off the net...

A video camera
If you want to get serious about VJing then a video camera of some kind (ideally a MiniDV job) is pretty much essential – all the leading VJs shoot all their own clips.

Alternatively…
The more old-school route, of course, would be to get a couple of VHS recorders and a hardware video mixer do it all the old-fashioned way!IDJ magazine - Issue 30 / November 2002
Copied from the IDJ website - see http://www.i-dj.co.uk/features/featurespage.php?ID=33

IDJ magazine, 7th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax St, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS1 3BN.
Tel: +44 (0)117 945 1913

SKETCHCITY

2006-06-20T23:52:00.000+01:00

Outstanding day, incredible screen really enjoyed the drawings

PREVIOUS GIG

2006-06-20T23:50:00.000+01:00

SAY NO!

2006-06-19T15:36:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd let you all know...........
Friends and people of the free world,
dramatic, yes, but this warrants it.

Just so happens my passport expired last week. Hate the thought of not being able to leave this rock at will, so got onto the form filling of getting a new one quick but couldn't send it off with my nice new mugshots without checking out whether the government was sneakily going to stick all my biometric details, hair colour, fave beer, who I do and I don't on there without asking. I figured that for £51, they must be doing something fancy. But I'm in luck. Just. In October this year it becomes complusory to sign up to the new id card system whenever renewing an adult British passport, or applying for the first time. It will set you back a cool £91 and will mean you are automatically an official participant in a nightmare Orwell would've been proud of. Dramatic again, but I feel strongly on this one.

I urge you all to check out this site and consider renewing your passports before then.

http://www.no2id.net

You can do it even if its no where near expiry and the IPS will just add any extra time you have onto your new little book signed by the Queen. It'll cost you £40 less and gives you 10 more years without an id card, or until they come round knocking trying to make us all sign up, at which point, I'll get back to ya....

Love!!!! Kate xxxxxxxxxx

It is not too late. The UK IPS has not yet changed passport renewal procedures so, this summer, NO2ID and a growing number of other organisations* ask that you renew your passport.

Did you know that, from October of this year, as preparation for the ID scheme, ALL first-time passport applicants will have background checks and be interviewed by officials at one of the government's 69 new 'enrolment centres'? This will include your children as they reach 16. Before long it will include you too, when you renew your passport. And you will be fingerprinted as well.

So, unless you need it soon, you should renew your passport NOW. If you wait till autumn, you risk giving up personal data to be used for the government identity database. Pay £51 for a 10-year passport while you can. The charge for ID registration and a record for life will be at least £93. The website www.renewforfreedom.org explains in more detail. There's a fact-sheet there that you can download and pass on to others.

If you are put on the ID system, you will be exposed immediately to all the dangers, explained here. It could be sooner than you think.

Show the government how many people want to stay out of the ID scheme, and buy time while NO2ID works to abolish it. Say "No" now. Renew your passport this Summer.

http://www.no2id.net/

The Boy With The Exploding Head

2006-05-12T21:50:00.000+01:00

Norvun Devolution 26th May 06'

2006-05-04T12:37:00.000+01:00

This is the last Devolution before summer break guys!!

BEEFY Exposed @ Norvun Devolution

2006-04-29T05:23:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to all at Norvun Devolution this time, these people witnessed first hand Manchesters most innvovative AV/VJ event and we're proud to say so, Devolution has really began to establish innovative content and a fusion of ideas with musicians, Djs, and Vjs alike, basically it cant go unnoticed.

We have some quality talent on board, new and old and everyone did their thing....but this one goes to Mr Heath and his FRESH beef.

A radical visual style with 3D visual sequences running graphic montage of DJ BEEF overlayed and intermitent abstraction.

And unsatisfiable Djs with the will to take it right to the end, there was huge respect for the live musicians within all partys,DJs blended seamlessly throughout, Djs were co-managed and handled by John and Rob superbly and each in turn performed some quality sets all was kept fine and dandy by Blain & Kate was as beautiful as ever, all round a damn good show we can all be proud of.Shout out to the lads for making it down, a night to remember.

Norvun Devolution 28th April Roadhouse

2006-04-27T17:40:00.000+01:00

Hey everybody get yourselves down to Norvun Devolution this month, Its worth taking a look at the innovative visuals and extraodinary collaboration between Djs and live musicians.

If you havnt seen the press then check out these write ups which detail some of the previous entertainment & artists we have had along.

Norvun Devolution
review by Daniel Thompson Manchester After Dark

The Roadhouse, home to the ever-popular hip hop night Friends and Family, is currently hosting one of the most ambitious and innovative nights in Manchester’s Clubland.

Norvun Devolution, offers a clubbing experience that I have never before encountered in Manchester. The eclectic mix of laid-back dub, independent hip hop and jazz-fused drum n bass cuts back and forth from the vinyl collection of resident DJs to the sounds of a collective live band that boasts some of the finest young musicians in our fair city.

And although the revolution will not be televised, the devolution most certainly is. Well, sort of. The band remains anonymous throughout their performance, hidden behind a projector screen presenting a constant stream of surreal and provocative images, ranging from Soul Jazz Records album sleeves to topical scenes of war in the Middle East. The effect of this is to create an almost seamless link between the live and recorded grooves.

As for the music policy, pretty much anything goes. The tunes vary from the likes of the legendary Lee Perry, emerging acts Edan and Lyrics Born, and hip hop luminaries such as The Roots and Roots Manuva. However, the night really comes alive when the band strikes up. With funky guitar licks, jazzy horns and a St Germain-inspired groove, the fusion of sounds creates a buzz around the venue, reflected in the response of the appreciative crowd.

Dark and atmospheric, the Roadhouse lends itself perfectly to the dirty beats of Norvun Devolution. Although perhaps not for everyone, those with an open mind and an ear for underground sounds should show their support for new nights like this and take a trip down to Norvun Devolution. And maybe one day we’ll be comparing up-and-coming nights to this monthly gathering.

*********************PRESS RELEASE*****************

NORVUN DEVOLUTION HAD SPECIAL VISIT FROM ROOTS MANUVA LAST FRIDAY

Following their sell-out performance at the Academy last Friday (Nov 25th), NORVUN DEVOLUTION are proud to announce that the country’s foremost hip hop act Roots Manuva and all the Banana Clan chose to come visit us Devolutionaries at the Roadhouse after their gig.
Rodney Smith (aka Roots Manuva), Ricky Rankin (long-time South London hip-hop and ragga dude), Cosmo, Gordon G, the tour’s kickin’ support act Jimmy Screech and the Manuvadelics – a live band with seemingly limitless ability – all came down to chill with the Devolutionary crew after leaving the Academy. Needless to say, those people who didn’t believe us were surprised, those with more faith were just incredibly chuffed. Initially we had just encouraged them to come down and check out a night that has been not insignificantly inspired by their work and words over the last few years. But at seven o’clock Noel, the tour manager, called to make sure we had the equipment for them to actually perform some tunes!

And still people we told didn’t believe us. They showed up around half 11 ready for some more action.
Christ, we thought. But a track from our other pal Mr Scruff had Rodney straight into rhyming, with our very own DJ providing the beats.
We couldn’t have imagined what a special live version of the now infamous "Witness" would sound like, and I’d find it hard to properly explain to you even now, but it was goooooood. "Too Cold" and the new single \"Seat Yourself\" from the Awfully DeEP with the monolithic silhouettes of these large London lads dancing behind the screen were an audio/visual phenomena new to even the Roadhouse’s experienced walls.

Jimmy Screech’s contribution kept up the electricity – his energy and enthusiasm were palpable, and the crowd loved him. I could spend all day thinking of a better word to describe what it was like but there isn’t one: we were simply buzzing.

This is the really important part: Nowhere else in Manchester could this eclectic bunch of MCs, DJs, turntablists, drummers, trumpeters, singers, saxophonists, bass players and visual artists contribute simultaneously, from the same stage, to the beats permeating the dance floor.

A live feed of events managed and projected by Chairtv onto their screen repeatedly snapped revellers out of their dancing reminding them Roots Manuva was actually in the room and this wasn’t just a particularly brilliant recording of one of his records to 3D Visuals.

The prospect of a ‘real’ hip-hop night, with genuine local DJs, musicians and MCs, without cool names or accolades, but with plenty of love for the music attracted them to the night.

Ricky Rankin and Cosmo – one of the show’s DJs – commented on how refreshing it was to see such a unique set-up, and to meet people with both a genuine passion for what they were doing and a (sometimes) worrying disregard for how much money it will make them.
Even after our guests had stepped down and started gearing themselves up for the long tour-bus trip to Glasgow, the vibe continued with more new, never-before heard lyrical talent accompanied by live drums and scratching.

True to form, and showing no intimidation, the Norvun Devolution crew matched beat for beat their more-experienced co-performers, who, by this time, were thoroughly relaxed and enjoying the 3D visuals, a couple of cans, and, in the case of the Great Man himself, a wee snooze in the back room. Life on the road is tough you know. Bless. All things considered it was a pretty brilliant.

TONY WILSON SNAPS UP SITUATIONIST COLLECTIONS!!

2006-03-28T14:38:00.000+01:00
Recuperation is the process by which the spectacle takes a radical or revolutionary idea and repackages it as a saleable commodity. An ironic example of recuperation, it could be argued, was the 1989 Situationist exhibition staged in Paris, Boston, and at the ICA gallery in London's Mall, wherein both original situationist manifestos, and contemporary Pro-Situ influenced works (records, fanzines, samizdat-style leaflets and propaganda) were presented as museum artifacts for the mass consumption of the art establishment. This event of course contrasts sharply to the occasion when the Situationist International gave a presentation at the ICA themselves, which famously ended when an audience member asked the group "what is situationism?" to which one of them answered "we are not here to answer cuntish questions" before marching off to the bar. Although all would agree that a lot of water has gone under the bridge since 1989 with regard to the image of the SI in the media, another example that might be cited would be the exhibition and other events on "The SI and After" that were staged by the Aquarium art gallery in London in 2003.

A longer-lasting example, it could be argued, would be the "Hacienda" nightclub in Manchester (1982-1997). Highly commercially successful, this was named by its owner, British music-industry businessman Tony Wilson, after a reference in the 1953 work "Formulary for a New Urbanism" by Ivan Chtcheglov. Millionaire Wilson's company Factory Records was one of the sponsors of the 1989 ICA exhibition (along with Beck's beer). Later, in 1996, he allowed a conference on the SI to be staged at the Hacienda night-club. Veteran Situationist-influenced critics of recuperation were not surprised to learn that Wilson had invested funds in collecting Situationist-linked artworks, including Debord's "Psychogeographical Map of Paris" (1953), some of which he allowed to be shown in public at the Aquarium event in 2003. An index of the financial astuteness of such speculation is the fact that there are now dealers in artworks and fine books who count Situationist-linked works among their specialisms.

yes, yes quoted from

Situationist Pamphlet RARE

2006-03-28T10:13:00.000+01:00

"We came across Point Blank in 1973, the year after it was published. Up till that point we'd found situationist literature pretty difficult to understand. Point Blank was different, it made sense! Reading through it again today it still has a lot to say that is valid. Obviously we would be unlikely to talk about self-management these days and would be a lot more cautios about calling ourselves councillist. We are republishing four texts from this magazine"

SOURCE:http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8195/blasts/pointblank/pointblank2.htm

Automatic AWESOME!!!!!!!!

2006-03-24T15:46:00.000Z

Artaud: A brief Outline

2006-03-22T16:03:00.000Z
1. Artaud had a pessimistic view of the world, but he believed that theatre could effect change.
2. Remove the audience from the everyday and use symbolic objects to work with the emotions and soul of the audience.
3. Attack the audience's senses through an array of technical methods and acting so that the audience would be brought out of their desensitisation and have to confront themselves.
4. Use the grotesque, the ugly and pain in order to confront an audience, thereby being cruel to them.

The Theatre of Cruelty

2006-03-22T15:57:00.000Z
The Theatre of Cruelty has been created in order to restore to the theatre a passionate and convulsive conception of life, and it is in this sense of violent rigour and extreme condensation of scenic elements that the cruelty on which it is based must be understood. This cruelty, which will be bloody when necessary but not systematically so, can thus be identified with a kind of severe moral purity which is not afraid to pay life the price it must be paid."
– Antonin Artaud, The Theatre of Cruelty, in The Theory of the Modern Stage (ed. Eric Bentley), Penguin, 1968, p.66