Games as Art

Kubrick and Clarke's Vision of a Future

2010-06-04T23:48:33Z

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. "

more of the writing can be found on the Cinema Fist website

Projections on Buildings

2010-06-02T19:05:00Z

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

2010-05-26T17:07:43Z

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!

New York invasion by 8-bits creatures in the film PIXELS!

2010-05-19T00:59:29Z

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

Maker Faire, 2010

2010-05-17T00:15:39Z

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.

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

Nonobjective Films, 1920s-1960s

2010-05-10T14:53:33Z

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

Flashback: 1995 - Apple's 15 year old visions of a tablet

2010-04-13T17:43:54Z

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.

John Whitney's 1972 Matrix III, Elegant Early Visuals

2010-04-10T01:24:24Z

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.

TED Talk: Ron Eglash on African Fractals

2010-04-08T01:10:18Z

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."

The History of Visual Music, Seattle, WA

2010-04-03T14:38:23Z

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.

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.

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!

Twestival Global 2010

2010-03-22T22:04:41Z

from the Twestival website

What is Twestival™?

On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness. Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good. All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.

Monstrous sponsorship!

Monstrous is donating free copies of Entranced in support of this great cause. Go check out the event and all the information here!

Dumbfoundead Free Download - Jam Session 2.0

2010-03-18T15:35:22Z

immediate download of JAM SESSION 2.0 here

quote from site:

A kid at the pawn shop just bought his first drum machine,
From the slums, but them buttons will take him to another kingdom
A woman humming in a kitchen in brazil, while 50 tenants listen by
sticking their heads outside the window sill, this shit is real, hear
the sounds across the land, no name brands, woman and man jam on pots
and pans, a musician with lost dreams, sitting on concrete, playing
his heart out on missing guitar strings, street performers for a
quarter put on the show of there life, an emcee gets put on the spot
rocks it and tears up the mic, the human instrument, reaching
continents in long distances, no need for sophisticated systems for us
to listen in, countries at war, expressing hate through there
aggression. while two musicians on each side are having a jam session,
whether both em know it or not, they are collaborating. You never know
which way your music is navigating,

Datapop 3.0 @SXSW March 16th and 17th

2010-03-16T19:33:15Z

This just in! If you are hanging around Austin, TX and the SXSW event, go check this out today and tomorrow!!

quoted from this site:

Austin's Alamo Drafthouse and New York City's 8bitpeoples, 2 Player productions, and the people behind the Blip Festival have joined forces to create the premiere party during SXSW week, DATAPOP: A Celebration of 8-Bit Music and Culture - March 16th and 17th.

Now in it's third installment, Datapop will transform the Highball into a unique cultural hot-spot featuring sets by 20 international 8-bit artists on a full concert stage with professional light and sound system.

The schedule for Datapop 3.0 is as follows:
(for more info on each artist, click on their name)
Tuesday, March 16th
Visuals by Jean Y. Kim and Omeros
8:00 PM - The Mysterious H
8:45 PM - Sievert
9:30 PM - Nullsleep
10:15 PM - IAYD
11:00 PM - Hally
11:45 PM - Random
12:30 AM - Bit Shifter
1:15 AM - nordloef

Wednesday, March 17th
Visuals by Paris and outpt
8:00 PM - Talk to Animals
8:45 PM - Starscream
9:30 PM - Henry Homesweet
10:15 PM - 8BK-ok
11:00 PM - Sabrepulse vs. Saskrotch
11:45 PM - Je Deviens DJ en 3 Jours
12:35 AM - Anamanaguchi
1:20 AM - Trash80

Before the party, head over to the Alamo Drafthouse on Monday night to check out a free screening of REFORMAT THE PLANET, the documentary on the 8 bit scene.

Admission is free, but be warned, it will get VERY ROWDY AND CROWDED so we recommend getting there early.

Entranced in Seattle, April 3rd

2010-03-13T00:53:53Z

Once again Monstrous and the chill team from Chillography will be joining forces to update you on new and exciting things in the realm of downtempo music and visuals. Chillography will be attached to the Kinetic showcase at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA. and has invited Monstrous to show off what is new and exciting with Entranced.

Entranced will have a live demo with party go'ers in their own environment, full of lights, sounds, and all sorts of fantastic science exhibits! There will be four rooms of good times, so if you are in and about Seattle on April 3rd, drop in and say hello!

quote:
Immerse yourself in child-like wonder, as you play amongst the giant robotic dinosaurs, planetarium, tropical butterfly house, and hundreds of other interactive games and exhibits in 4 rooms of music, lights, art and performance, under the Space Needle & Pacific Science Center arches that illuminate the Seattle skyline!

More info can be found at http://www.infiniteconnections.org/

SHUTTER INTERFACE

2010-03-11T04:55:31Z

Going to be in or near Washington D.C. this year? If so, you might want to check out this 4-screen locational installation work SHUTTER INTERFACE by Paul Sharits about to be on display at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as part of the exhibit COLORFORMS.

Showing:
March 11, 2010 - January 2, 2011

Other artists in the show include Fred Sandback, James Turrell, Anish Kapoor, Wolfgang Laib and Mark Rothko. Info on the exhibit is here