Thanks, Johannes, first; I did write on midterm, two pieces which are somewhere in the ether & in files. We voted early, a few weeks ago; I wasn't caught up in the act but in the results.
DIWO, the expression is used by Furtherfield; I forget who created the abbreviation, someone on this list, apologies. And it reminded me that almost all the work I've done has either been with others (Foofwa, musicians, Azure, collaborators all the way back) or in absolute isolation where I feel like a hungered Rimbaud manque. So many people have helped for example with coding, or have given me use of their programs, going all the way back to Charles Strauss at Brown who let me use his hypercube program for a video in which I had Rhode Island School of Design students learn to "drive" in 4-dimensional space (vector graphics at the time). So I've been lucky for most of my life. At this point it's harder; working at Newark was amazing - we had at least ten people to work with - and it was amazing. I can collaborate, and would love to collaborate with you (again, remembering Heiner Muller); I haven't done that at a distance since being in spaces and working between technology, people, and spaces among all of them, is so important - pacing the floor, looking for resonances and points of contact for things like vibration mics; I remember working with Terry Fox and Bill Viola in Florence, a renaissance room; we had binaural mics and plumbing pipes for example and played the room's standing waves for an audience standing outside (did a similar thing in Dallas come to think of it); anyway, the architecture itself resounded. I'd never heard anything like it etc. So yes to working/planning if we can; I assume this would be at a distance. Here I have no tech except some computers and instruments, but no vr, not even ar. So that's difficult. I wonder a couple of things - what might be the sound of an eclipse? And possibly would vlf or elf (very low frequency, extremely low frequency) radio signals be affected by such? That could be tapped into of course. All this poetics! Best, Alan, apologies for going on so long - On Fri, Nov 9, 2018 at 4:25 PM Johannes Birringer < johannes.birrin...@brunel.ac.uk> wrote: > thank you for responding Alan, and, i feel, in your response, you begin to > ponder the question of working (as a weaving) with others as I had > questioned your loneliness and unheard/unseen-ness. > > Your work resonates, and aggravates surely, as many here on the list > probably feel charmingly disoriented and inspired and encouraged by the > continuous outpourings of your texts, poems, aphorisms, images, and music. > One cannot keep up, and so I sometimes find or relocate your broken remarks > weeks later. > > did you write on voting, midterm? > > that is over now, i saw joyous report, and misgivings, and i read > misgivings here too, every day, and cannot keep up with the failures of the > imagination; meanwhile, I saw that Performing Arts Journal, in its current > issue, remembers Reza Abdoh, the theatre artist (died in the 90s), and his > work with others, Dar A Luz. The last piece i saw of them, in New York, was > 'Quotations from a Ruined City." behind barbed wire. > > Now you speak of DIWO, i did not really know this expression; the friends > and collaborators one works with are generous, this is my experience, and > generosity is perhaps a crucial notion here, along with the passion and the > preparation you mention (Foofwa) , which spoils us, and your broken tests > are also partly credited to Azure, so you are fortunate in not being alone, > nor isolated; the networked behaviors you address make me wonder, here, how > many of us work alongside (Mark how many subscribers has this list?), and > Alan you mention Finsbury Park where you came last year, but there are so > many parks and studios, and if I had time I would love to meet/visit other > studios more, and learn (share) coding more. > > Currently, a sound artists, A-Kin, whom I am working with, is helping me > to re-activate the Sensestage Minibees, wearable sensors I got hold of from > STEIM a few years ago but never really managed to get to work on my Mac - > has anyone worked with the minibees? well, we are almost there with the > new Max patch to see whether they are useful, meaningful. Laurie Anderson, > in that same PAJ issue, talks about her dabbling with VR in 'The Chalkroom' > (which she made with Hsin-Chien Huang), saying she finds, often, that new > technologies are clumsy, and the goggles certainly were when she first > tried to work with them. But she felt she could develop something, slowly, > some stories in VR, along with her collaborator (via Skype, they live in > different places). "it's a wonderful way to work on ideas," she says about > skyping with others developing a new piece. > > So, Alan, why don't we work on something for next year (I am planning a > dance about the moon eclipse)... > > regards > Johannes Birringer > > ________________________________________ > From: NetBehaviour <netbehaviour-boun...@lists.netbehaviour.org> on > behalf of Alan Sondheim via NetBehaviour < > netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> > Sent: 04 November 2018 02:59 > > > A beautiful weaving here, and I hope that my theory/exegesis/whatever > hasn't disrupted the flow of poetics that also underlies what I do, what > you do. > The viola-garb is almost clown-like, which is necessary for de/markating > of course. All of this work, and yours too, and dance/theater is almost > always DIWO, networked, I think. > Which is why, at least when I worked with Foofwa for example, I felt that > our work with others was also DIWO. There's a question of skill as well. > Who are the O? For me, there's a huge range but I know when I work with > skillful musicians, or dancers, or actors, it can be a great relief; > something emerges that's the result of relief in relation to the body. > Years ago, I worked with untrained performers in works that involved > acting; I think the results were clumsy at times. Then I was able to work > with a professional actress, and the emergence gave me more freedom. On the > other hand, working with non-actors, something else emerged, a kind of > energy and experimentation... With musicians, though, I can get frustrated > if they're not able to listen. I know this is often against the grain. > There are questions here, then, what level of skill? Who are the O? How > should this be as broad as possible? Or the opposite? Coding is another > example; I've learned so much from generous skillful people! So many people > have shared their code, for example, in Second Life, or years ago taught me > the finer points of being a nuisance in IRC. Again, then, who are O? If I > involve community in general (and in curating I do deeply; in my own work, > it's more difficult), what is gained? What might be lost? Surely identity > politics plays a role here; if I did a piece in Finsbury Park, I'd want to > involve everyone who would want to participate! > > I keep going back to Foofwa, who spoiled me. When we worked on a > performance, say for a ten minute video, he'd warm up for at least a couple > of hours. And then working together was fantastic; it was deeply open > collaboration, he seemed capable of anything... > > And now he does danceruns on the streets of various cities and the public > joins in, and it's amazing! > > Best, Alan, thanks - > > > > On Sat, Nov 3, 2018 at 1:19 PM Johannes Birringer < > johannes.birrin...@brunel.ac.uk<mailto:johannes.birrin...@brunel.ac.uk>> > wrote: > > Earlier today I was reading your confessions, Alan, that you take > responsibility, and that you are worried about how to live and how > to work and how one relates to the other; i found your 'broken thoughts' > and comments on aphorisms very moving, and > so wanted to respond briefly, as you are, surely, too modest in thinking > that your " little videos and writings are seen by no one"; > on the contrary they are listened to and read by many and so i imagine, > never mind all some of the forgotten aphorisms, that all the > aphorisms are or might also be pollen. > > The german word, as Novalis used it, sounds a little brighter - > "Blüthenstaub" - it is lighter, it flies better. > > and so i imagine us, perhaps not tersely but joyfully, teasing out ideas > continuously, performing in our work-lives, performing to all the trompes > l'ouil > around us, becoming matter resonating with the surroundings. > > And audiences and our peers observe, perhaps, our lovely transcontinental > dance, you as Clov, over there in New Jersey/Rhode Island with your > instrument and the markers, and me as blind Hamm, over here in the british > island, in a double bill, with Gogo and Didi, en attendant Godot où le dieu > du carnage.... > > And as I sing the old chanson, "Hier encore," in my other role as Pozzo > (Lucky, performed by Russian actor Arseni Loika, is holding me tightly by > the rope but he is in the darker side of the stage, not visible, whereas > you can see Alia-Andreea Al-Shabibi as Didi right behind me, swinging her > wooden sword at my head), > the moon had just been eclipsed, but comes back. > > with regards > Johannes Birringer > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > -- *=====================================================* *directory http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org> tel 718-813-3285**email sondheim ut panix.com <http://panix.com>, sondheim ut gmail.com <http://gmail.com>* *=====================================================*
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