Next week, thursday March 13th I will be doing a presentation in Groningen, at Sign (Winschoterkade 10, 20.00 – 22.30h), as part of Aymeric Mansoux’ and Marloes de Valk’s project Hello Process, in rand() we trust. Also speaking: Florian Cramer, Adger Stokvisch and Dave Griffiths. See: http://no.systmz.goto10.org/.
It’s the book from which I learned to play chess: Bobby Fischer, Schaaklessen, geprogrammeerde cursus voor beginners en gevorderden (1974). It was a present for my 9th or 10th birthday. I still remember so much of it that I suspect it had a big influence on my strategic/logical thinking. (In so far as I am able to think logically/strategically…) Bobby Fischer – who became worldchampion in 1972, never lost the title according to himself – died this week. The most controversial chess champion.
The book, I now see, is originally from 1966, entitled Bobby Fischer teaches chess, the co-authors are Stuart Margulies, of Basic Systems Inc. (? Basic the computer language?) and Donn Mosenfelder, a leading figure in ‘programmed instruction’. It was published by Xerox. It’s still available at Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/.
In some senses everything that happened in professional cycling this year – and in other sports too – is just a preparation for our future. Now Katharina Klüft, who won the women’s pentathlon gold in Athens 2004, is quoted as saying:
“”I have suggested earlier that you could operate a data chip under the skin on athletes on a certain level. Or maybe use a chain ring with a GPS transmitter on the training bag. Then everyone would know where to find us for tests. I wouldn’t complain. I think we are obligated to accept most things to stop doping. You are so supervised anyway so it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”
from: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/dec07/dec29news.
Have I not been reading the informed blogs? This is already old: there is apparently a working version of Xanadu – Windows only. Huh? Ted Nelson (yes, the one-and-only Ted Nelson) presents it in a video here, in a Google-talk: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8329031368429444452. Via http://www.futureofthebook.org/archives/2007/10/ted_nelsons_still_on_the_job.html.
Yesterday we had a presentation of JODI in Groningen – as part of the lecture series Future’s Past: Re-Imaging Art and Media, organised by Eric de Bruyn. (We had Alex Galloway two weeks ago, Joost Raessens coming up next week).
Or better, we had a DI-(Dirk Paesmans)-presentation, as Joan Heemskerk couldn’t make it. Dirk and me had ‘stamppot’ and beers beforehand, talking about how the game-art and digital art is doing very well (booming?) now in the NY-art-market, talking about the works of Cory Archangel, and about living in ‘isolated’ Dordrecht.
Here’s some of JODI’s current stuff. Jet Set Willy Variations 1984: http://jetsetwilly.jodi.org/, and they’re part of the Composite Club: http://compositeclub.cc/.
A new work from the German (new media) artist Ralf Baeker: Rechnender Raum. He describes it as follows: “”Rechnender Raum” (calculating space) is a contemplative machine. Strings, weights, leavers and motors are connected to circular neural network. Touching one leaver will release an impulse that runs through the whole system; it will compute its possible states to infinity.” The term ‘Rechnender Raum’ comes from Konrad Zuse, one of the ‘fathers’ of the computer.
Take a look here (also video documentation): http://www.no-surprises.de/rechnender_raum/
Both Anne Helmond and Micheal Stevenson blogged the talk of Alex Galloway. The urls are in the comments, but it would be a shame if you missed them, so here they are:
http://www.annehelmond.nl/2007/10/27/alexander-galloway-the-game-of-war-mediamatic-amsterdam/
Tomorrow = thursday night Alex Galloway will lecture at Mediamatic on Debord’s Game of War and a modern-day translation of it in java. I suppose he’ll also talk about his 2006 book Gaming — Essays on Algorithmic Culture, and his 2007 book The Exploit, a Theory of Networks. I’ll be introducing him and moderating the night.
Mediamatic: http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-23815-en.html
Alex Galloway: http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/
Btw, I registered at the Mediamatic-website. “To hell with privacy, Google will find out anyway”. (But I want to access my data too, to do ‘things’ with it!)
http://ffffound.com/. Still in private beta, apparently.
Pretty interesting symposium in Paris on programmed art: http://creca.univ-paris1.fr/?p=35#more-35.