SEEN: Art for the Cinema is proud to present two very special events in honor of the MyDoom computer virus.*
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JODI
‘All Wrongs Reversed ©1982’ feat. Jet Set Willy LIVE
8.00 PM, Wednesday 18 February
FACT, 88 Wood St, Liverpool L1 4DQ
Admission: £3 / £2 concs.
Tickets & Info: 0151 707 4450
http://www.fact.co.uk
As part of our week-long birthday celebration, you are invited to an event that may be the first of its kind to ever take place in the UK: Netherlands-based artist duo JODI will stage a live performance using a unique musical/visual instrument: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum with a Jet Set Willy cassette. JODI’s abstract and liberated use of the (computer) keyboard recalls free jazz great Cecil Taylor, who inherited the improvisations of John Coltrane and took them a step further, stripping them of all remnants of melody.
Former video game addicts will remember Jet Set Willy as Liverpool's proudest non-musical cultural export of the ‘80s. Written by Matthew Smith, a 17-year old programmer from Woolton, the game continues to inspire a rabid nationwide fan culture, an entire world-view based on this existential figure navigating an 8-bit colour theory tutorial gone wrong. But this is not the Willy you grew up with – for maximum noise and visual effect, JODI have reprogrammed the game, with some surprising results (http://jetsetwilly.jodi.org).
A ZX Spectrum computer will be available for audience members to add their own improvisational contributions to the performance.
JODI is famous for computer glitches and exploding websites, like the classic OSS (http://www.jodi.org). Their work often contains hidden jokes, like http://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/, which appears to be complete gibberish, until you look at the source code of the website (go to the view menu and select 'source'). Their recent gallery work My%Desktop will be coming to FACT in July as part of a major solo exhibition.
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Lumen Present:
‘A Beautiful Virus Inside the Machine’
Films by Lillian Schwartz
8.00 PM, Wednesday 25 February
FACT, 88 Wood St, Liverpool L1 4DQ
Admission: £3 / £2 concs.
Tickets & Info: 0151 707 4450
http://www.fact.co.uk
Lillian Schwarz was a shamanistic artist who developed a catalogue of visionary techniques for the use of the computer in film and animation during the 70s and 80s. No mere technical expert, Schwartz was a true psychedelic voyager. Legend has it that she made an in-depth study of the effects of light on the human brain, later using the research to make a film that had the ability to hypnotize its viewer. She’s perhaps best known for her theory that the model for the Mona Lisa may have been Leonardo DaVinci himself: check out the animated gif at http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/link2.htm?tqskip1=1. Whoa.http://www.1010.co.uk
This major touring retrospective of her work will feature an introduction by artist/curator Gregory Kurcewicz.
See you soon.
-Michael
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* At its peak, the MyDoom email virus was responsible for 1 out of every 5 emails in the world. (Remember all those strange attachments turning up in your inbox?) On 2 February, MyDoom’s worldwide progeny launched a concerted attack on the website of SCO, a major opponent of the free software movement, visiting it over and over, loving it to death. As a result, the website was completely unavailable for nearly two weeks.
http://fm01.druh.co.uk
mob. +447789841570
