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Cinema Fist writes in their latest entry about the visionary ideas that both Stanley Kubrick and Auther C. Clarke had in both their film and writings, specifically around 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Amazing foresight is seen in the technology that was thought up, especially when it comes to the idea of the iPad.

quote from Clarke's version of 2001:
"When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers ... Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. ... the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination. "
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more of the writing can be found on the Cinema Fist website

Projections on Buildings

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Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.

attributed to Chris Rasch

as posted by NuFormer Projection

Impressive and stylish projections on buildings, a renewing way of communicating.For those who want to carry out a message in a striking and visually attractive way with guaranteed exposure: 3D Projection on buildings is the communication tool of 2009, and what an impact!

GamelaTron

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Monstrous enjoyed a busy, yet productive, weekend at Maker Faire, 2010 in the Bay area. While there were tons and tons of amazing projects happening all around us, there were a few choice items that caught our interest and sparked our imagination. One of which was the GamelaTron, a robotic Gamelan Orchestra:

quoted from website:

Synopsis

The GamelaTron is the fruit of a collaboration between The League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) and the composer Zemi17: A. Taylor Kuffner.

Modeled after traditional Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, the GamelaTron is an amalgamation of traditional instruments with a suite of percussive sound makers. MIDI sequences control 117 robotic striking mechanisms that produce intricately woven and rhythmic sound. Performances follow an arc similar to classic Indonesian gatherings, where stories from great epics, such as the Ramayana, are told and settings given in words that are continued in music.


More information can be found on his website, including pictures, video, and audio. Highly suggest spending a few moments checking it out!


PIXELS is a delightful and inspiring new short by Patrick Jean. Well worth the watch!

Maker Faire, 2010

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Monstrous is pleased to announce that once again we will be joining the festivities at the 5th annual Maker Faire to show off the wonderful things we have been working on.


"Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. So much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!" -Maker Faire website

Come out and see all the wonderful items and creations that our local community has created and stop in and say hello to some of the members of Monstrous.


See me at Maker Faire!

Saturday, May 22 - 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 23 - 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
San Mateo County Event Center
San Mateo, CA
Tickets can be purchased here

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Thinking about visiting the Guggenheim Museum soon? You should! Every Friday at the Sackler Center's New Media they show interesting film screenings, which are free with museum admission Coming up:

Nonobjective Films, 1920s-1960s
A program of artists supported by Hilla Rebay
Organized by the Center for Visual Music
11 am
May 7 and 21


quote:


In the 1940s, curator and founding director Hilla Rebay planned to establish a film center at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which later became the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, to collect and promote nonobjective films. She awarded grants to artists and presented programs of short experimental films. With the help of Oskar Fischinger, an elaborate film center was planned to include studios and planetarium-style projection capability. Although unrealized, Rebay's support enabled many filmmakers to continue their work in abstract film. This program presents short films by filmmakers whose work was screened and/or supported by Rebay, including Mary Ellen Bute, Charles Dockum, Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren, and Hans Richter, among others. Having experimented with nonobjectivity, many of these artists were familiar with the work of Vasily Kandinsky, one of its most famous practitioners, having seen his paintings at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting.


Read more about what is being show by clicking here!

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10128-0173





An interesting video from 1995 by Apple that includes visions of video conference, educational uses, and dreams of what the iPad would have looked like 15 years ago. Its very interesting to see which tech ideas from back then survived and which ones sort of ran into a dead end.





a small sample of work from the early 1970's. John Whitney was one of the early pioneers of the digital art/computer art scene and his influence can be felt in many places over the past 30 years.

More info can be found here.


Well worth a look if the idea of fractals, culture, art, combined with a new outlook on human development in society interest you.

quoted from TED Talks:

"Ethno-mathematician" Ron Eglash is the author of African Fractals, a book that examines the fractal patterns underpinning architecture, art and design in many parts of Africa. By looking at aerial-view photos -- and then following up with detailed research on the ground -- Eglash discovered that many African villages are purposely laid out to form perfect fractals, with self-similar shapes repeated in the rooms of the house, and the house itself, and the clusters of houses in the village, in mathematically predictable patterns.

As he puts it: "When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganized and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn't even discovered yet."

If you are going to be up in the Seattle in April, this showcase is something you may want to check out. through mid April the Northwest Film Forum will be hosting some excellent, rare  historic music films from the experimental pioneers.
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quote from site:

Northwest Film Forum and The Sprocket Society, in association with Center For Visual Music, present this special series celebrating the history of Visual Music.

Over the past century, there have been a number of prescient artists who've approached cinema as a tool for merging visual art and music in order to create a new art form and explore uncharted areas of synaesthetic experience. Through a vibrant history of cinematic experiments, these pioneers have been inventing the concepts, aesthetics, techniques and technologies on which our modern image-and-sound culture is based.

VISUAL MUSIC is a rare opportunity to see restored film prints of work by such master animators as Oskar Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, Jordan Belson, Robert Breer and many others on the big screen. In addition, we'll host a panel discussion on Seattle's own history of visual music in the 1960s and early '70s.


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Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective, April 9
Mary Ellen Bute: Seeing Sound, April 10 (in association with Cecile Starr)
Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane, April 11.
...and some extra goodies to catch!