06.04.2001

Opening June 16th! 8:00 PM

BEIGE Presents: **** "Post-Data in the Age of Low Potential" ****

Opening lecture/performance by The 8-Bit Construction Set (Beige Records)
on data aesthetics. Learn how to crack software, why Macromedia sucks, and
come watch Beige gain an advantage over other computer users through
Post-Data computational craft.


    


[showing:]

1. "Urbandale", an ASCII/ANSI movie by Cory Arcangel
"Filmed at Urbandale Plaza in the eastern suburbs of Buffalo N.Y.,
"urbandale" is a study of America's suburban sprawl stripped to its barest
essentials and void of unnecessary contemporary cultural influence. This
film captures the sly, bland smile strip plazas cast at modern culture.
The film, rendered in text, focuses on the repetitive motion of food
stuffs being cooked in the lobby of a discount department store."

"Urbandale" is a 2000 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.,
dba Ether-Ore, for its Turbulence project. It was made possible with
funding from the Jerome Foundation.

[Stills from Urbandale manually screenprinted by PINC]

2. "Fat Bits", 8-bit Nintendo Movies and Screenprints by Cory Arcangel
and Paul B. Davis. Looping real-time animations generated from re-programmed
8-Bit Nintendo cartidges with multichannel soundtracks

"Bereft of a veneer, interaction with such complicated machinery
requires a significant amount of technological knowledge and awareness. In
this spirit, "Fat Bits" represents a step towards what Cory and I describe
as "Post-Data". We create computer art which is aesthetically aware of both
its own identity and the underlying process which supports it - that is to
say it recognizes the fundamental prototype of the "computer", and not the
"software", as the tool and medium. The content for "Fat Bits", video of a
NHL hockey fight, was chosen because the close-up nature of its imagery
makes for convenient replication on low-resolution systems such as the
Nintendo Entertainment System. The use of the Nintendo Entertainment System
is itself important because it, firstly, signifies an artistic
"re-licensing" of proprietary corporate technology and, secondly, refutes
Nintendo's forced obsolescence profit structure which defines it as
"outdated" (the Nintendo Entertainment System was introduced to the US home
video game market in 1986).
Our primary foundation of Post Data is then this: the conscious
corruption of data, the releasing of bits from their imprisonment within
the restrictive, limiting boundaries of corporate software applications,
and the exploitation of the extreme complexity of computer systems paired
with the extreme intentionality of artist(s) who seek to engage the
computing process at a fundamental level. It is at this point that the
machine "speaks" to us, revealing a more honest representation of the
technological extremity. In an effort to make the communication of such a
bit state, the Post Data movement often refers to such unfettered bits as
"fat," expressing their newly acquired ability to realize and release their
heretofore potentialities. Thus, the ultimate goal of the Post Data
movement becomes harnessing this fat potential and applying it in ways that
can only be innovative - hence, "Fat Bits." "

[Stills from Fat Bits manually screenprinted by Paul B. Davis]

3. "Hasselhoff", letterpress prints by Paul B. Davis
A collection of small format hand set letterpress images which represent
an offshoot of bitmap/ASCII art in the form of "ornamental portraiture".
The portraits in this case being of everyone's favorite 3rd rate television
star - David Hasselhoff.


BEIGE is an electronic music recording company and computer programming
ensemble.
http://www.beigerecords.com

Upcoming:
June 8, NYC, 8-Bit Construction Set lecture
June 9, NYC, 8-Bit Construction Set live performance
June 16th-23rd, Chicago, Beige gallery exhibition


Also... Cool group of folks releasing a virus at the Venice Biennale on Monday.
Check out their site. It's pretty rockin' (great t-shirts too)...

A Virus in the Venice Biennale
A group of artists and programmers will exhibit a new computer virus.


A virus is usually considered evil, chaos. But what happens when it is a
contemporary art temple to spread the chaos?

Conceived and compiled for the invitation to the 49th Venice Biennale,
"biennale.py" is the product of the collaboration of two entities,
0100101110101101.ORG and epidemiC, already known for other shocking
actions, often bordering with crime. "biennale.py" is both a work of art
and a computer virus.
The source code of the virus will be made public and spread on the
opening day of the Biennale, June 6th 2001, from the Slovenian Pavilion.
The main anti-virus software companies have already been informed about
the technical specifications of "bienale.py" and the disinstallation
instructions will be attached to the virus.

 

03.06.2001
Opening this Friday!

Check out Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher's great work "Ride Like the Wind"

Awesome interactive installation just coming back from a run in New York and headed to New Orleans. more...





02.24.2001
Trevor's show is still kickin' so come on by.

Also get ready for Jeff Shore's installation Ride Like the Wind, with sound by Jon Fisher opening at DEADTECH on the 9th.

also the EVE 5 crew at UIC is rockin...

EVE 5
Exhibition Hours: March 1, Opening Reception
5:30-9:00PM March 2-3, 10:00AM-8:00PM

Curated by Dan Sandin, Drew Browning and Franz Fischnaller; School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Chicago.

A provocative exhibit of virtual reality-based artworks, EVE 5 features the independent works of twelve artists experimenting with sound, interaction and exploration.

Sponsored by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), this Electronic Visualization Event is the fifth in a series since 1975 showcasing computer-generated artwork, interactive installations and live performance. EVE 5 will expand upon this legacy to feature sound works, conceptual landscapes and interactive narratives, which unfold as participants make decisions at critical junctures to determine the outcome.

The work will run continuously in the CAVEŽ, a room-sized virtual-reality theater. EVL, longtime pioneers of electronic artwork and display devices, reached a milestone in 1992 with its debut of the CAVE, an advanced system that is now commercially available, and used globally for art, design and scientific discovery.

For more information, see http://www.evl.uic.edu/EVE5

also... the Ontario College of Art and Design's Sumo Robot competition draws near...



02.05.2001

Opening Friday Feb 9th!

3 works by Trevor Paglen!
Landscape No. 1, Endgame, and Synthetic Rainstorm
internet enabled audio and audio/video installations

Trevor Paglen's show opens this friday.
so come drink some beer and check it out!
When: This Friday Feb 9th
Time: Opening at 9:00 PM til 1:00 or so AM
Where: DEADTECH 3321 W. Fullerton Ave Chicago IL
          773-395-2844

Press Release with the full scoop below...

Sound Art gets a Face-Lift: Deadtech hosts Trevor Paglen's Innovative Sound Installations Chicago, IL.

Deadtech will host a show from Feb. 9th to Mar. 4th featuring the work of Trevor Paglen; an Oakland, CA based sound artist, composer and performer.

The opening for the show will be held at 9pm on Feb. 9th. Trevor Paglen will be presenting 3 new works entitled Landscape No. 1, Endgame, and Synthetic Rainstorm.

Trevor Paglen is a critically acclaimed sound artist whose work has been shown internationally. He describes himself as being against what he sees as the 'formalist obsessions' of his sound colleagues. Paglen defines his own work as exploring 'the realm of acoustic signification and spatial practice,' and as a 'dialectical negation of image with sound.'

Trevor Paglen's Landscape No. 1 is a video/sound installation consisting of a 3-minute video loop, where the soundscape of the video completely changes every time the video loops. Landscape No. 1 explores what Paglen calls the 'acoustic ecology' of an urban supermarket, highlighting through sound the various forces at work in urban space.

Endgame, a second installation featured at Deadtech, utilizes streaming audio from the Internet as raw source material for aural sculpture. The installation is controlled by a software engine which streams random 'world music' from the Internet in real time. These real-time streams can be heard through a pair of headphones. Once the music is streaming, it is shuttled to a different computer and processed utilizing an algorithm developed by the artist. This process creates an ambient soundscape, where variations are created by changes in the streamed music. The unchanging processing algorithm ensures a coherent form to the processed audio.

In the stairwell at Deadtech will be Trevor Paglen's Synthetic Rainstorm, a particularly postmodern recollection of Magritte's "this is not a pipe/apple/hat" paintings. Through the magic of digital audio, Trevor Paglen has created a larger, louder, clearer, and more violent rainstorm than is found in nature. The experience of Synthetic Rainstorm lies somewhere between simulated ecstasy and relativistic horror.

With the Trevor Paglen exhibition, Deadtech, celebrates it's 10th show.

opening will run 9 PM till 1 AM or so... so come on by...
hours and directions if ya need em.

also tons of stuff coming up...



01.15.2001


First post of the new year. Cool stuff going on here at the warehouse.

8pm Tuesday (01.16.2001)
The K and D posse has a
sked us to play co-host to DIY-fest here in Chicago and we, of course, happily obliged.

Chicago represents with improvisational audiovisuals by Justin C. Rounds (digital audio/video synthesis) and Josh Bartos (turntables).

Various other crazy stuff is going down as well.

Check the DIY-fest site for more info.

Lots more upcoming stuff planned for the year... Stay tuned!

 

 


new cd series!
We're now releasing a CD series by Kim Cascone! The first one is out now with 9 more to follow. They are all sound mixes influenced by the work of Gordon Matta-Clark. Check 'em out...

circumventiondevice!
A compilation CD/website of artists making music using the DeCSS source code as an artistic element in their work released by DEADTECH under the GPL! Read more...

join the mailing list!
Stick your e-mail address in here to join the list.
It's an eGroup so check their info-politic to make sure you're on the same wavelength. Also check out the "Art and Robotics Group" arg-list. It's a damn good list.


random deadpic.

Dan Setting up the security system in the DEADTECH workshop...

other stuff

old news stuff from 2000

CONTACT INFO:

rob@NOSPAMdeadtech.net
(remove the word "NOSPAM"
before sending me a message. You can thank the spambots for this inconvienance...)


DEADTECH
3321 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago IL 60647

Submit your work:
DEADTECH

suite 415
Chicago IL 60647