metabolo.org - learning

Short and sweet: succinct definitions of design

gva — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:34:35 -0400

I wrote my own shortest definition of design as a personal challenge to express the term in a manner that was brief, robust and circumspect. The result (discussed elsewhere in this blog):

"Design is creation for reproduction."

Another short definition that I greatly admire was sent to me by Richard Thomas, a colleague at the Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity. Ricky said:

"Design is the process of initiating and representing relationships."

Doug Chapman, whom I know as an actor, environmentalist, former director of research at William McDonough + Partners, and graduate of the Institute without Boundaries program I directed until 2003, recently offered this very concise statement:

"Design is the line between idea and result."

In Toothpicks and Logos: Design in Everyday Life (2002, Oxford University Press), John J. Heskett highlights the multivalent senses of the word "design" by offering and analyzing a bewildering sentence:

"Design is to design a design to produce a design."

"Design," says Heskett, "has splintered into ever-greater subdivisions of practice without any overarching concept or organization, and can be appropriated by anyone."

While I don't consider this situation to be alarming, I do believe in this time of great change and great opportunity that practitioners and theorists of contemporary design will benefit by having a sense of what they have in common with those flying the same colours.

Dear Professor Spooky, My Avatar Dog Ate My Homework

gva — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:17:11 -0500

As it turns out my Media Law class this semester may be held in Second Life. One reason this idea is looking cool is that DJ Spooky is already dropping science in that polygonish sandbox. Check out his course outline below -- interesting stuff for remixers, duality junkies, and Spooky fans -- and an awsome playlist in itself...

-----Original Message-----
From: idc-bounces@bbs.thing.net [mailto:idc-bounces@bbs.thing.net] On Behalf Of Paul D. Miller
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 1:18 PM
To: idc@bbs.thing.net
Subject: [iDC] sharing Curriculum

Hello everyone: I'm now at Sundance Film Festival for a series of discussions aout how new media is forcing the film industry to evolve different production models. To highlight the situation, the discussion will focus on Lynn Hershmann's film on Steve Kurtz: "Strange Culture"

But in light of the thread about teaching new media, here's the syllabus for my class on remix culture and digital media, with a focus on how people will respond to the material via PDF and remixable DVD's:

Paul aka DJ Spooky
(ps, this is sent from my cell phone, so, ahem, it aint really spell checked etc etc)

MEDIA SOUNDS: Towards a New Esthetic of Music and Art

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
PAUL D. MILLER aka DJ SPOOKY

Class notes: In Brief - “Media Sounds: Towards a Philosophy of Aesthetics in Music and Art” is a course I’m teaching at the European Graduate School as a mini residency during the summer. The school is kind of a 21st century update of the Black Mountain College: it brings together a wide variety of people from radically disparate philosophical and aesthetic backgrounds to teach and enjoy ideas outside of the academic norms.

My class focuses on sound, sound art, and their relationship to compositional strategy across different forms of contemporary art and digital media. This is the syllabus.

These materials will be excerpted and made into copies and handed out as PDF files with accompanying sound. The 100 songs will be distributed on data DVD’s and or downloaded from the European Graduate School’s Sound Bank that I’ve set up.

Media Sounds: Towards a Philosophy of Music - Syllabus
By Paul D. Miller

Afro-Modernity: Composition in Collision

1. Adorno vs Duke Ellington

2. Technologies: a time line

3. The role of sound in the culture industry

4. The Nation’s “Media Landscape” - control networks in the era of mass
media 2006, Orson Welles “War of the Worlds,” Entarte Musik, Entarte
Kunst: definitions of “purity” versus Hybridity.

5. Compositional Strategy:
Satie
Debussy
Wagner
Varese
Hildegard Von Bingen
Antheil
Ives
Xenakis
John Cage
Lionel Mapleson and the bootlegs of the Metropolitan Opera House
Thomas Edison
Xenakis
William Grant Still
Amy Beach

Nina Simone
Scott Joplin
Bert Williams (blackface) - blackface
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Hendrix
Walt Whitman
The Beatles
Toshiro Mayuzumi
Grand Master Flash
Arthur Rimbaud
Comte De Lautrémont (Isidore Ducasse)
Duke Ellington
Ornette Coleman
Pamela Z
Sussan Deyhim
Sun Ra
Yoko Ono

6. Philosophy of remix: Mcluhan, Eshun, Duchamp, Hegel, Glissant, Lessig, Dada Cinema, hip-hop cinema, Griffith, Ruttman, Luigi Russolo “The Art of Noises,” Eclectic Method - multimedia and the sound of “modernity.”

7. Multimedia/New Media: Rafael Lozano Hemmer, Scanner, Billy Kluver/Rauschenberg, Harry Smith, Nam Jun Paik, Amiri Baraka, Orson Welles

8. Sound of Science: Frequencies - the cell phone symphony, Marshall Mcluhan’s record version of “The Medium is the Massage,” The Happening - Harry Smith, Allan Kaprow, Andy Warhol, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Amiri Baraka, Ben Rubin’s “Listening Post.”

9. Standardization: The Architecture of Frozen Music: Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace vs Muzak, Norbet Weiner “Cyborg Narratives,” Vannevar Bush and the simulation of the human spirit, the world of “large numbers.”

10. The Rise of Mass Culture: 18th-19th century mass media encounter the digital world. Accumulation of multiple recording formats vs the “copy” and “found object” in the fine arts. Ontological uncertainty - Mary Shelley, Kafka, Dostoyevsky, and E.T.A. Hoffman.

11. Biological Surrealism: Towards a Vision of the Sonic Future: David Hammons, David Tudor’s “Rainforest” electronic music compositions, Pauline Oliveros “Quantum Compositions,” Daniel Bernard Roumain’s “Hip Hop Symphony, ”Brian Eno’s “Bell Studies for the Clock of the Long Now,” Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle and the artist as logo-centric producer, Dj Spooky’s remix of D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation.”

12. The Experience Economy: libidinal networks and the decline of geography. Nurture versus Nature - how we hear digital sound. Valentine De St. Point’s Futurist Manifesto of Lust, 1913, and the Muzak phenomenon: acousticc banality - General George Owen Squire and the rise of musical Taylorization.

End

Media Sounds: Required Reading:
1. Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky - Rhythm Science
2. Michael Nyman - Experimental Music
3. Joseph Lanza - Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy Listening, and Other Moodsong
4. Clinton Heylin - Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry
5. Simon Reynolds - Generation Ecstasy: Into The World of Techno and Rave Culture
6. Lloyd Bradley - Bass Culture
7. Christoph Cox (editor) - Audio Culture Reader
8. David Toop - Rap Attack
9. Jeff Chang: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
10. Luigi Russolo - The Art of Noises
11. Kodwo Eshun - More Brilliant Than The Sun
12. Ken Jordan and Randall Packer - Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality
13. R. Murray Schaefer - The Soundscape
14. Allen S. Weiss and Gregory Whitehead (editors) - Wireless Imagination: Sound, Radio and The Avant Garde
15. Saul Williams - The Dead MC Scrolls
16. Lewis Hyde - The Gift: Imagination and The Erotic Life of Property
17. Norbert Weiner - The Human Use of Human Beings
18. Lawrence Lessig - Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
19. Roselee Goldberg - Performance Art: 1909 to the Present
20. Andy Warhol - The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)
21. Yve Alain Bois, Rosalind Krauss - Formless: A User’s Guide
22. Gilles Deleuze - Difference and Repetition
23. Alain Robbe Grillet - Topology of a Phantom City
24. Rudolf Arnheim - Film as Art
25. Theodore Adorno - Essays on Music
26. John Corbett - Extended Play: From John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein
27. Leroi Jones aka Amiri Baraka - Blues People: Negro Music in White America
28. Alfred Appel - Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce
29. Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man
30. Jacques Attali - Noise: A Political Economy of Sound
31. Edmund Burke - A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
32. Octavia Butler - Parable of the Sower
33. Sheree Rene Thomas (editor) - Dark Matter
34. Russell A. Potter - Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism
35. Tricia Rose - Black Noise
36. Norman O. Brown - Love’s Body
37. R.D. Laing - The Politics of Experience
38. James Snead - White Screens/Black Images + (essay) Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture
39. Donald Bogle - Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mamies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in American Cinema
40. Anthony Appiah - On Cosmopolitanism
41. Mark Coleman - Playback: From the Victrola to MP3, 100 Years of Music, Machines, and Money
42. Ferruccio Busoni - Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music

Required Listening:
1. John Cage - “Imaginary Landscape 1” (Original + Dj Spooky remix)
2. Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 In C Minor, Op. 67: Allegro Con Brio
3. Pierre Schaefer - “Edtude Pathetique”
4. Karheinz Stockhausen - “Kontakte”
5. Pierre Boulez - Pli Selon Pli (Portrait de Mallarme) track 1
6. Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2 In C Minor: 3. “Resurrection” III. Scherzo: In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung
7. Luciano Berio - (Sinfonia) III In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung
8. Charles Ives - Three Places in New England
9. Ernst Toch - Der Fuge Aus Geographie (Geographical Fugue for Speaking Chorus)
10. Marshall Mcluhan - The Medium Is The Massage (record version)
11. Hildegard Von Bingen - O Virga Mediatrix
12. Pierre Henri - Psyche Rock
13. John Cage - Roratorio (Ein Irischer Circus uber Finnegans Wake)
14. Richard Wagner - Vorspiel Zum 1. Aufzug
15. Amy Beach - “Gaelic” Symphony in E Minor Op32 I. Allegro Con Fuoco
16. Igor Stravinski - The Rite of Spring, Part II The Sacrifice - Sacrificial Dance (Chosen One).
17. Arnold Schoenberg, Ein Überlebender aus Warschau op.46
18. Elvis - Jailhouse Rock
19. Hector Berlioz - Symphony Fantastique Op. 14
20. Luigi Nono - Ricordia Cosa ti fatto in Auschwitz
21. Richard Wagner - Rheingold Prelude
22. Woody Guthrie - This is Your Land
23. Alexander Scriabin - Prometheus, The Poem of Fire
24. Dj Spooky + Chuck D - B-Side Wins Again
25. Johan Sebastian Bach - “Little” Fugue in G Minor
26. Orson Welles - War of the Worlds radio broadcast
27. Danger Mouse + Jay Z - Encore
28. The Doors - Soul Kitchen (Dj Spooky remix)
29. Hive - Experiments in Synthetic Rhythm
30. Iannis Xenakis - Analogiques A + B
31. Edgar Varèse - Poème Èlectronique
32. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Part 1)
33. Philip Glass - Concerto For Saxophone (Quartet version)
34. Steve Reich - Come Out (1966)
35. John Adams - Shaker Loops: 1. Shaking and Trembling
36. Duke Ellington - A Tone Parallel to Harlem (The Harlem Suite)
37. Lee “Scratch” Perry - Black Board Jungle Dub (Version 1)
38. Pauline Oliveros - Butterfly (1968)
39. Charlie Parker/Rob Swift “Cheers” (remix)
40. Madonna - Hung Up
41. Brian Eno/David Byrne - Regiment
42. Kurt Weill - The Three Penny Opera - Die Dreigroschenoper: Moritat Von Mackie Messer
43. Olivier Messaein - Livre D’Orgure: IV. Chants D’Oiseaux
44. Meredith Monk - Atlas - Part 1: Personal Climate - Travel Dream Song.
45. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
46. Ryuichi Sakamoto/Yellow Magic Orchestra - Riot in Lagos
47. The Winstons - Amen, Brother!
48. Brian Eno/David Byrne - Regiment
49. Fela Kuti - Zombie
50. Abdullah Ibrahim - Mindif (Original + Dj Spooky remix)
51. Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz
52. John Coltrane - Om
53. Saul Williams - OHM
54. Amiri Baraka - Black Dada Nihilismus
55. Allen Ginsberg - Howl
56. William S. Burroughs - Breakthrough in Grey Room
57. Asha Bhosle - Rang De
58. Laurie Anderson - Oh Superman
59. Sun Ra - it’s after the End of the World
60. Max Roach - We Insist (Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace)
61. Charlie Parker with Strings - Summertime
62. George Antheil - Ballet Méchanique
63. Eric Satie - Vexations
64. Claude Debussy - Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra in E Flat Major, Op 109
65. Claude Debussy - La Mer
66. Raymond Scott - Music for Babies: Tempo Block
67. Toshiro Mayuzumi - Works for Musique Concrete X (1956)
68. Rahzel - Wu Tang Live Medley
69. Yoko Ono - Rise (original + Dj Spooky remix)
70. MC5 - Kick out the Jams
71. Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
72. Afrika Bambaata - Planet Rock
73. Grand Master Flash - Adventures on the Wheels of Steel
74. Jack Kerouac - The Subterraneans
75. Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife
76. Louis Armstrong - Mack The Knife
77. Scanner - Structural Loss
78. Talvin Singh with the Master Musicians of Jajouka - You Can Find the Feeling
79. James Brown - Coldcut Meets the Godfather Megamix
80. William Grant Still - Afro-American Symphony - Moderato Assai - Longing
81. Scott Joplin - The Entertainer
82. Double D and Steinski - Lesson 3 (The History of Hip-Hop)
83. Basement Jaxx - Where’s Your Head At
84. DeeeLite - Groove is in the Heart
85. NWA - F*ck the Police
86. The Last Poets - White Man’s Got a God Complex
87. The Beatles - Revolution #9
88. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
89. Herbie Hancock - Rockit
90. The Beastie Boys - Sure Shot
91. The Police - Reggata de blanc
92. Wayne Wonder - Sleng Teng
93. Count Machuki - Oh Carolina
94. George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess: 1. i (Summertime)
95. Linton Kwesi Johnson - Bass Culture
96. Pete Rock - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
97. Jeff Mills - Metropolis Soundtrack (Convicted to Paradise/Maria)
98. Gloria Jones - Tainted Love (1965)
99. M.I.A. /Dj Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism
100. Nina Simone - Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair

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SHARE: supporting collaboration in new media communities

gva — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:34:20 -0400

Here's a reference from one from my fellow grad students:

SHARE.global
http://share.dj/global/

* new york
* montreal
* wiesbaden
* san diego

SHARE is an organization dedicated to supporting collaboration and knowledge exchange in new media communities. Local SHARE groups hold free, open jams and workshops in their communities. Participants bring their portable equipment, plug into our system, improvise on each others' signal and perform live audio and video. SHARE furnishes the amplification and projection. SHARE happens weekly to monthly in cities around the world. Interested in starting a SHARE gathering? See the do it yourself page.

Viewpoints Research Institute

gva — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:57:19 -0400

"Nonprofit organization dedicated to improving both general education and understanding of complex systems, especially through the use of new inventions in interactive constructive computing." Founders include Alan Kay.

MIT Media Lab's Scratch: a programming language for animation, games, art

gva — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:33:28 -0400

I had a great meeting recently with Britt, one of my former students from the Institute without Boundaries. She had returned from visiting the MIT Media Lab where she toured the school and met Mitchell Resnick and others.

One project she told me about later was Scratch, a programming language for animation, games, art - From MIT Media Lab comes Scratch, a new programming language that lets you create your own animations, games, and interactive art.

Scratch is being developed by Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the Media Lab, in collaboration with KIDS research group at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. The language builds on the Squeak programming language, developed by Alan Kay and an open-source community of colleagues. Scratch will be available for public release later this year (2006).

Designing for Emergence at Harvard U

gva — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:30:37 -0400

Here's a Harvard University engineering and applied science graduate class that asks, "How do we engineer robust behavior from the cooperation of vast numbers of unreliable parts? Biology hints that there may be significant power to be achieved from building things out of cheap, imprecise parts with limited life."

CS 266: Biologically-inspired Distributed and Multi-agent Systems

Research topics include: swarm behaviors and robotics, amorphous computing and smart materials, reconfigurable robotics, immune-inspired systems, synthetic biology.

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