[Beyond design: cybernetics, biological computers and hylozoism] See Andrew Pickering's "Beyond design: cybernetics, biological computers and hylozoism" in Synthese (2009) 168:469Ð491 published by Springer for an interesting overview of some of my work in relation to the history of cybernetics.
"HertzÕ robots show that there is another and much simpler way to achieve comparable ends without the detour. We can see two different stances towards matter in play here: the conventional one that involves penetrating black boxes through knowledge, and the cybernetic one that seeks to entrain boxes that remain black into our world. And we could understand this contrast ontologically and epistemologically. Cybernetics centres itself on a world of performative black boxes and their interrelations, whereas the Modern paradigm emphasises an intrinsically cognitive relation to matter."
[Hertz, Durfee, Klein] I organized this event as a follow-up to conversations with Tim Durfee and Norm Klein at Art Center: Design Algorithms: Skeuomorphs, Spandrels & Palimpsests (June 20th 2009, Machine Project, Los Angeles, 1pm).
This event will explore how cultural objects shift over time, with each of us exploring a single term related to patterns of cultural change: I will be discussing skeuomorphs, Tim will be discussing spandrels, and Norm will be discussing palimpsests.
[Nokia] I will be giving a talk at the Nokia Design Strategic Projects Studio in Calabasas, California in June 2009.
[8-bit Economic Meltdown Game Mod] Play the economic crisis of 2009 in Debt Hole - a game mod by Garnet Hertz. Move your financial
assets through the colon of debt,
avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosure
on either side of you. Hitting the
brown-colored wall will result in
you losing your house. Game modification programmed in MOS 6502 8-bit microprocessor assembly code, as seen on the Apple II, Commodore Vic 20 and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
[Art Center College of Design] I will be a guest critic for final reviews in the graduate Media Design Program at the Art Center College of Design on Tuesday, April 14th 2009: "The Media Design Program (MDP) turns ambitious designers into leading thinkers and makers within emerging communication contexts. Three concepts help us navigate the flux: hybridity, emergence, and discovery."
[Doctor Hertz] I will walking in doctoral convocation ceremonies at UC Irvine on June 6th 2009.
[PBS Vermont - Technology of Social Sciences] My work is currently featured on "Emerging Science" (Episode: "Technology of Social Sciences") which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (EPSCoR). The episode originally premiered on February 10th 2009 at 9pm.
[Lovink] I attended Geert Lovink's three-day seminar on Feb 2/3/4 2009, organized by the Critical Theory Emphasis at UC Irvine. I interviewed Geert on February 3rd 2009 on the topic of new media and art: the transcript is forthcoming.
[Parikka] An interview with Jussi Parikka is forthcoming. My work will also be included in Parikka's "An Insect Theory of Media. An Archaeology of Animals, Technology and Cultural Theory." University of Minnesota Press, Posthumanities series.
[Wilson - Border Patrol] My work will be featured in a forthcoming book by Stephen Wilson: "Border Patrol: Artists Working at the Frontiers of Science and Technology" published by Thames and Hudson.
[Dorkbot SoCal 34] Dorkbot SoCal 34 was on Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 1pm at Machine Project at 1200 D North Alvarado Street, Los Angeles. Photos of the event can be seen on Flickr. Speakers included:
Dan Goods - Dan is the "Visual Strategist" for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech where he develops creative ways of communicating science. He recently has done artwork with aerogel and on a team to develop a 108-foot long data driven sculpture at the San Jose airport.
Brian O'Connor - Arduino + Chumby = Fun! The Chumby is an open-source, ambient Internet device running Linux while the Arduino is an open-source prototyping platform. Brian will show how to connect an Arduino to the Chumby and develop a simple application that monitors the environment.
Eric Gradman and Brent Bushnell - Eric and Brent will present ArtFall: a dynamic physical simulation by drawing on a whiteboard.
[BIL2009 CSULB] I spoke on a panel on the topic of "Where is my Cyborg Self?" at California State University Long Beach for the BIL2009 conference on February 7th/8th 2009. Other panelists included neural computation researcher / hacker Virgil Griffith from CalTech (and WikiScanner), Isa Gordon, bioengineer KV
Fitzpatrick from USC, roboticist Eric Gradman from Applied Minds,
and AGI researcher Peter Voss from AdaptiveAI.
[Sci-Q] My work recently seen (Jan 2009) on Discovery Channel's "Sci-Q" show.
2008
[Won 25th Oscar Signorini Prize] Notified on December 11th 2008 that I won the 25th Oscar Signorini Prize (Fondazione D'Ars Oscar Signorini Onlus). Victoria Vesna won the award in 1998. Documentation of my work was shown at Studio D'Ars in December 2008, and I will have a solo show in 2009 at Studio D'Ars Milan.
Noema (Tecnologie e Società) has published special information on the prize at http://www.noemalab.org/sections/specials/xxv_signorini_prize_robotic_art/main.html.
A summary is as follows:
This XXV edition of the Prize is focused on robotic art, that is the use of robotic technologies in the arts. The Prize yearly proposes a competition aimed at understanding and spreading topics which are strictly connected to the contemporary culture and society.
The Prize aims at raising a reflection on contemporary topics through the main viewpoint of contemporary arts, in their newest, most emblematic and international forms. This is the reason why the Oscar Signorini Prize on robotic art has an international jury with renowned theoreticians and artists. The jurors are Pier Luigi Capucci (president), Eduardo Kac, Riccardo Notte, Luigi Pagliarini, Laura Sansavini, Pavel Smetana and Franco Torriani.
[Stephen Wilson Interview - Ethology of Art & Science Collaborations] I've uploaded Garnet Hertz interviews Stephen Wilson (09-30-2002), a 13.6M MP3 file. We discuss a number of issues related to interdisciplinary arts practice, including art & science collaborations, artists producing knowledge, and research ethics boards and contemporary art practice.
[Dorkbot SoCal 32]
Dorkbot Socal 32 is on November 1st 2008 at World Power Systems Headquarters. Tom Jennings is declaring that it's time for a regime change in his studio, so he's selling mountains of his equipment. This isn't just ordinary stuff, though. It's a hand-picked selection of some of the finest and most obscure technologies from the Cold War and the history of computing: nixie tubes, antique computing, wind-up tape machines, transistors older than you, gyroscopes, flip-dot displays, nixie assemblies, one-plane numeric displays, radiation detectors, new (in 1950) aluminum project cabinets, weird knobs, dials, switches, old (nice!) radios, ancient (working!) oscilloscopes, bubble [magnetic] memory, tiny cathode ray tubes, weird instrumentation. Most things will be one dollar. Bring some cash and come on out.
[Snelgrove - Sept 15th 2008] I will be in Saskatoon, Canada from September 9th through 16th 2008, and will be giving a lecture on Monday, September 15th 2008 from noon until 1pm at the University of Saskatchewan in the Department of Art & Art History in the Snelgrove Gallery (Room 191, Murray Building). This is the university I did my undergrad degree at, and the talk will be "From Farm to DIY Culture: This lecture will provide an overview of Hertz's work, tracing a line between the farmyard scrap pile of his childhood in Saskatchewan and his current work and research in art that engages with and questions technology." Here's a map. The talk is also listed as an event on Facebook.
[Moscow International Film Festival] My work was featured at the Media Forum program of the 2008 Moscow International Film Festival in
Moscow, Russia (June 25 2008) and at the National Centre For Contemporary Arts in
Kaliningrad, Russia (July 2008). The show was titled "Evolution Haute Couture: Art and Science in the Post-Biological Age" and was curated by Dmitry Bulatov.
[Dorkbot SoCal 29]
Dorkbot Socal 29 is on May 29th 2008 at Machine Project. Hear the gut-wrenching tale of four plucky men and a crappy car who made a foolish fantasy into a foolish reality! Earlier this year, Make: magazine agreed to sponsor Jason Torchinsky in fielding an entry into the 2008 24 Hours of Lemons motor race: an endurance race for cars valued at $500 or less. Jason gathered the best people in the field of enough free time and some interest in racing a shitbox: Tom Jennings, Brett Doar, and Sloan Fader. A 1993 Ford Escort LX was purchased for $300, and the work began. In the end, The Make:Way car came in 33rd out of nearly 90 entries-- a far better result than ever hoped for. Come see what the team did, how they did it, and see the 33rd-place-winning car itself!
[HASTAC II] I was at HASTAC II May 22-24 2008 at University of California Irvine and University of California Los Angeles - the event focused on exploring the multiple ways in which place, movement, borders, and identities are being renegotiated and remapped by new locative technologies. HASTAC is the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory and is committed to new forms of collaboration across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology.
To engender discussion among participants from different departments who might not otherwise interact.
To discuss issues involved in pursuing research that crosses disciplinary boundaries or does not fit exclusively into an established discipline.
To explore possibilities for connections or collaborations between participants from different disciplinary backgrounds.
[Pedagogical Fellowship @ UCI 2008/09] I've been awarded a Pedagogical Fellowship through UC Irvine. This will include training incoming teaching assistants at UCI, and also includes workshops on course design, pedagogy, mentoring, job talks, tenure, etc. For an overview, see this video by Shaun Longstreet.
[Video Games at Art, Culture & Technology] For the second academic year, I am teaching discussion sections of Video Games at Art, Culture & Technology at University of California Irvine with Peter Krapp, Bill Tomlinson and Dan Frost. Students: you can find my 2007-2008 lecture notes at http://conceptlab.com/uci/us12a/, http://conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/, and http://conceptlab.com/uci/us12c/
[Photostereosynthesis: New Project Proposal] I have a freshly minted research proposal online for a new photography-based imaging/hardware project, tentatively titled Photostereosynthesis. No robots or animals. It's whitewall-gallery-ish and displayed without electricity. Here's the one sentence blurb:
Research and development of a custom microprocessor-based digital camera focus controller in the style of Louis Lumiere's 1920s-era layered photographic technology, Photostereosynthesis.
[McKenzie Wark] As a follow-up to Galloway, McKenzie Wark gave a guest lecture in US12C on Thursday, April 10, 2008 from
11:00 AM - 12:20 PM. He discussed GAM3R 7H30RY and 1. can we explore games as allegories for the world we live in? and
2. can there be a critical theory of games?
[Alex Galloway] Alex Galloway gave a guest lecture in US12C on Thursday, April 3, 2008 from
11:00 AM - 12:20 PM. His talk was titled "The Game of War." RSG is currently working on a new project: a computer-based version of "The Game of War," a board game designed and fabricated in 1978 by the French Situationist Guy Debord. During this talk, he discussed details of Guy Debord's wife, Alice Becker-Ho, legally threatening him.
[Dorkbot SoCal 28 - 1pm Sat April 5, 2008 @ Machine - Seeley, Lotan & Edwards + Make Magazine] Guest hosted by Thomas Edwards, former Dorkbot Seattle overlord. Presenters were Damon Seeley,
Thomas Edwards and Gilad Lotan. There was also be a presentation by the Make Magazine race car team to solicit projects for their car. See details at the Dorkbot SoCal website or via Facebook.
[Dorkbot SoCal 27 - Make:Way Meet-The-Car Event] This event happened on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM at Tom's place. Make:Way is Make Magazine's entry into the 2008 24 Hours of LeMons race -- an endurance race where each car must be $500 or less. The Make:Way team will be transforming a $300 1993 Ford Escort LX into a screaming brute of a racecar. Come on out, or get more info at the Dorkbot SoCal website or via Facebook.
[At the Trailing Edge of New Media] As an offshoot of my paper "At the
Trailing Edge of New Media:
Interdisciplinary Arts Practice & Institutionalization" for CAA2008, I've been starting to interview people in the media arts community. This is partially in response to Geert Lovink's "In Search of the Cool Obscure" and Dietz & Cook's "Formerly New Media" (which I participated in).
[Book launch - Quebec City Feb 5th, Montréal Feb 13th 2008] Some older work of mine is included in the book "L'Image ramifiée: Le Photographique du Web" edited by Élène Tremblay with
writings by Thierry Bardini, Vera Frenkel, Arthur & Marilouise Kroker, Joanne Lalonde and Valerie Lamontagne. "Une vingtaine d'artistes et six auteurs issus du domaine des arts visuels, des communications et des sciences humaines proposent une analyse de la place occupée par la photographie dans l'art Web." The press, Éditions J'ai VU is holding two book launch parties - and although I won't be there - some other interesting folks will be. Here are the specs:
À Québec, le mardi 5 février 2008 á 17h
au CAFÉ L'ABRAHAM-MARTIN DE MÈDUSE 595 Saint-Vallier Est
À Montréal, le mercredi 13 février 2008 á 18h
á la LIBRAIRIE OLIVIERI DU MUSÈE D'ART CONTEMPORAIN 185 Sainte-Catherine Ouest
[CAA2008 - Texas] I will be presenting a paper titled "At the
Trailing Edge of New Media:
Interdisciplinary Arts Practice & Institutionalization" at CAA2008, the College Art Association's 96th Annual Conference in Dallas - Fort Worth Texas in February. The panel is Electronic and Emergent Media Art and Their Relationship to Culture, Society, Identity, and Politics
Wednesday, February 20, 2:30 PM-5:00 PM,
Dallas Ballroom D1, 1st Floor, Adam's Mark Hotel. This panel will be chaired by Max Kazemzadeh and will include Laura Richard Janku, David Nunez, and Golan Levin. I will also be participating in the Leonardo education forum on Thursday, February 21 from 12-2.
2007
[Doctoral Push] As of Fall 2007, I am focusing energy on completing my doctoral dissertation. Notes can be seen at http://www.conceptlab.com/notes/, http://www.conceptlab.com/change/ and logistics of this academic quest can be seen at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/phd/. In terms of timeline, I'm hoping to be completed by Summer 2009. As part of this, I am currently researching mechanical/analog games built in the late 1970s that emulated digital games in a future/backward "steampunk" way: the old school reinventing itself as "new school".
[Roachbot Continues on and on...] I am still somewhat busy this fall peddling my Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot, including the machine being demo'd to a crew of Bruckheimer-ites (don't ask) and a number of interviews in the popular press (Discovery Channel, etc.) - two film shoots / interviews are scheduled for November 2007. Also, an interview I did in Eindhoven NL last year with a French crew is now airing as part of some Science Channel show.
[Dorkbot SoCal 26 - LA Geek Dinner Blind Date] This event was planned with Heather Vescent and Mark Allen on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 from
8:00 PM - 11:30 PM and at Machine Project. See the invitation here
[Dorkbot SoCal 25 - Saturday Dec 1st 2007] Dorkbot SoCal 25 - Bullock (HDR Photography), Hoetzlein (Intelligent Things), Hertz Sr. (Supermileage Vehicles) - Machine Project, December 1st 2007, 1pm. For more info, see http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsocal/
[Dorkbot SoCal 24 - Mister Jalopy - Oct 13th 2007] After a long summer slumber, Dorkbot SoCal is back on October 13th 2007 at 5pm with a special studio visit/event with Mister Jalopy of http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com/ and Make Magazine. This event took place at Mister Jalopy's secret studio hideout, and was limited to 30 people. There are several interesting guests coming out, including Douglas Repetto (founder of Dorkbot), Eliot Phillips (hackaday.com), Mark Frauenfelder (Boing Boing), and Coop (artist). As it turns out, the event was also covered by Wired and Boing Boing TV.
[UCSB Text Encoding Seminar - 19-21 Sept 2007] I was sponsored to attend the Text Encoding Seminar & Workshop at UC Santa Barbara from September 19-21, 2007. This seminar was led by Julia Flanders and Syd Bauman, and was hosted by the UC Transliteracies Project and the UCSB Early Modern Center, with
funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks to Alan Liu for the invite.
[CBC Interview - 29 Aug 2007] I did an interview with CBC for a new program on CBC Radio One, titled Search Engine on 29 Aug 2007. This interview aired nationally in Canada on Thursday September 20th 2007 at 11:30am.
[PhD Advancement to Candidacy - 13 June 2007] I successfully advanced to candidacy in the Visual Studies PhD Program at UCI on June 13th 2007.
[GSFIR Panel 11 May 2007] I presented at the third annual UCI Graduate Student Forum on Interdisciplinary Research on May 11th 2007: CalIT2 Room 3008 at 1:30 pm. My lecture slides/videos are online: Thoughts on Early Cinema, Economic Models & the Humiliation of Interdisciplinarity. The talk starts with "The main point to realise is that all knowledge presents itself within a conceptual framework adapted to account for previous experience and that any such frame may prove too narrow to comprehend new experiences." (Niels Bohr, 1958). The other people on the panel / roundtable included Samantha Lane, Amanda Williams, and Michelle Cho.
[What I am generally doing with my life until Summer 2007] This winter I am doing my PhD exams, teaching discussions at UCI for "Computer Games as Art, Culture, and Technology" (with Peter Krapp, Bill Tomlinson, and Dan Frost), organizing Dorkbot SoCal, and doing a few shows. I will be working on a new studio-based project in Summer 2007.
[Rotterdam in April] I was in Rotterdam (Netherlands) between April 6th to 11th for The Dutch Electronic Art Festival: DEAF07... It was a good show and got to meet some old friends and make some new. I also got done the installation a day ahead of schedule and had the chance to take a quick trip to Paris.
[Dorkbot SoCal 22 - March 10] Dorkbot SoCal 22 was at Machine Project on Saturday March 10th at 1pm, and was on the theme of 3D/stereo imaging. Some of these devices had been informally demo'd already at previous events: see the PS2 Stereo Movie Viewer or another view of the "Steampunk viewfinder". Ray Zone will be presenting - I recently saw a talk he gave at USC, and it was top-notch. Check the Dorkbot SoCal website for more info...
COMPLETE: Installing Experiments in Galvanism in San Luis Obispo (California) Jan 12-14th. Exhibition titled "Emergent Reaction" w Casey Reas, S Penny, Peter Cho. Show runs January 19th to February 17th 2007 at the UAG.
COMPLETE: Opening in San Luis Obispo Jan 19th, although I won't be there. The opening can be viewed indirectly through my project, though. Lots of people (300+) came to the opening.
COMPLETE: Gave a talk at University of California Digital Arts Research Network "Epicenter" event on Jan 26-27th at UC Riverside. My lecture is during the "Social Considerations" panel between 2:30 - 4:30PM on Friday Jan 26th in Screening Room #335, 3rd floor.
My talk was entitled Theories of Media Change and how this relates to media arts practice. My UCDARnet slides are available here.
TORONTO INSTALL: Going to Toronto from Sunday Jan 28th to Monday Jan 29th to install for a show at InterAccess.
MONTREAL LECTURE: I am giving a public lecture in Montreal at Concordia University on Wed Jan 31 at 7pm: 1515 Ste. Catherine, Concordia EV Building, 5th Floor, Room 615, Visual Arts side. The poster for the lecture is here. The talk is organized by Concordia's IMCA in conjunction with Hexagram, CIAM, CDA, and UC Irvine.
Please join us for a special opening reception on Friday February 2, 8:00 pm at InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, 9 Ossington Avenue. Artist talks will take place prior to the reception at 7:00 pm. Live demonstrations of "Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot #3" will take place at the opening reception, as well as on Saturday, February 3 from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.
[Dorkbot SoCal 21 - Feb 3] Dorkbot SoCal 21 was the much-anticipated "Dorkbake" event at Machine Project on Saturday Feb 3rd.
[Dorkbot SoCal 20 - Jan 6] Dorkbot SoCal 20 was at Machine Project on Saturday Jan 6th at 1pm... and was a triple event: Bob Blackstock from Laminar Sciences gave a "Streaming birefringence" demo, some Open Hack socialization happened, and the "Dorkbake" Contest was announced. The Dorkbake winner of the contest will win a prize and be in Make Magazine. Check http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotsocal/ for details. Some recent Dorkbot SoCal pics on Flickr give an idea of what went on.
2006
[Dorkbot SoCal 19 - Dec 2] Dorkbot SoCal 19 was at Machine Project on Saturday December 2nd at 5:30pm... it was a packed launch party for the new issue of MAKE Magazine, with guest presentations by
Simon Penny and Mr Jalopy. Mr Jalopy's talk was especially good.
["Theories of Media Change" slides online] I gave a public lecture on Tuesday November 7th 2006 at Calit2, and uploaded my slides: Theories of Media Change: Graphing Revolutions in Telecommunications & Information Technology. This presentation uses a positioning statement of the institute - the California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology - as a reference point to discuss general theories of media change. Exponential models of growth, like Moore's Law (1965), are explained and questioned. Gartner's Hype Cycle Theory (2005) is then proposed as a model for articulating unrealistic expectations of new media. Paul Duguid's Futurological Tropes (1996) of transparency and supercession are introduced within the context of hype, and Hype Cycles are problematized as being consumer-product-centric. Lastly, McLuhan's Tetrads (1989) are introduced as a model for the analysis of media research & development.
[Vida 9.0 Win] I won honorable mention at Vida 9.0. Here's the call for participation:
"VIDA 9.0 is the eighth edition of an international competition created to reward excellence in artistic creativity in the fields of Artificial Life and related disciplines. We are looking for artistic projects that address the interaction between "synthetic" and "organic" life, as well as innovative projects that further develop the field of Artificial Life. In previous years prizes have been awarded to projects that included autonomous robots, avatars, recursive chaotic algorithms, knowbots, cellular automata, computer viruses, virtual ecologies that evolve with user participation, and works that highlight the social side of Artificial Life."
[Technological Slowness] In an attempt to be funny in 2000, I had bought a few domains and posted some content to them: slowsoftware.com and slowporn.com. I let these domains expire a while ago, but recently put the work back online. I'm not sure why, though. Warning: these are only one-line jokes that were funnier within the context of Apple's "Think Different" campaign and dialup internet access.
[Dorkbot SoCal 17 - Oct 7] Dorkbot SoCal 17 happened on Saturday October 7th at 4pm at Machine Project. This event featured Suzanne Stefanac, Allison de Fren, and Greg Elliott. It was good. I think the best part was when Greg was bouncing up and down on his toes.
[Discovery Channel / Science Channel] I did an extensive video shoot with a Toronto crew from Discovery Channel on Tuesday Oct 3rd 2006. I've been through this routine a few times, and Doug Crosbie (producer) and Jay Kemp (camera) seemed to do a way-above-average job. This will air in Canada on Discovery Channel and in the US of A on the Science Channel. This video is viewable on YouTube.
[YouTube Madness] About half a year ago in April, Jonah did an interview with me for Gizmodo, and he uploaded a video of the roachbot to YouTube. At the time I didn't give it a lot of contemplation - I had just sort of thought that it would be a cheap place to host the clip. For whatever reason, the video - that was never really intended for a big audience - has sort of gone berzerk on YouTube since then with 1600 comments (mostly dumb) and 849,509 views as of Sept 11th 2006 (as of Oct 15th, it's at 100K more, hovering just under a million).
[Aug 12th Dorkbot SoCal - Make Magazine Issue 7 release party] Dorkbot SoCal 16 is scheduled to happen on Aug 12th 2006 (Saturday) at 8pm at Machine Project. This was a special event presented by Dorkbot SoCal & Machine Project: Make Magazine's Issue 7 Release Party. Jed Berk talked about autonomous flocking behaviour in robotic blimps, Make editor and internet superstar Mark Frauenfelder introduced the new issue and chatted about general makery, and Make Issue 7 (Back Yard Biology) was be there for you to peruse and purchase, which includes an article on making a home mushroom growing lab by our friend Phil Ross.
[See you at ISEA] I'll be at ISEA 2006 from the evening of Tues Aug 8th to the morning of Sat Aug 12th. I will for sure be at the SRL show on August 11. The ISEA2006 Symposium Schedule is here.
Got an 2006-2007 Emulex Fellowship from Calit2 (My studio/lab space is behind the small square windows of the live Calit2 UCI webcam). Thanks!
Dorkbot SoCal 15 was on Sunday, July 2nd 2006 at 1pm at Machine Project. This was another successful and packed "open hack deconstruction" event, with the entire event consisting of people ripping apart (and indirectly learning about) discarded technology.
Presented to Paul Dourish's research group at UCI on June 1st 2006 about my new work related to Dead Media and how this relates to the dynamics of media change and theory/history of information technology.
Gave a demo to the president and faculty of Orange Coast College on 15 March 2006.
I gave a lecture at UCSD's Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts 2006 Lecture Series on April 27th 2006 from 6 to 8pm. This lecture series is organized by Brett Stalbaum of C5. Other speakers in the series include
Sabine Himmelsbach, Anne-Marie Schleiner / Luis Hernandez,
Miller Puckette, Achim Mohnè,
Heather Raikes, Steve Durie,
Rachel Clarke, and Sheldon Brown.
Dorkbot SoCal 13 was on Saturday, May 6th 2006 at 1pm at Machine Project. This event was "Open Hack" format, with people bring something to completely dissasemble - which was a really successful event. Tom Jennings and others were there. Bradley Pitts was visiting from the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and gave a talk about several of his projects, including his spacesuit-based work.
Dorkbot SoCal 12
was on Saturday, April 1st 2006 at 1pm at Machine Project. The theme of the event was "Visualizing the Invisible", and featured presentatations by Mark Daggett, Naomi Spellman / Brandon Stow, and Michael Lew. Mark Daggett, most well-known (perhaps) as being part of the Radical Software Group that won a Golden Nica at Ars Electronica 2002, presented "Balance Bar" - a browser extension programmed to allow any user to editorialize any web page anywhere on the Internet. Naomi Spellman & Brandon Stow from 34 North 118 West showed "Interpretive Engine for Various Places on Earth", a system that uses outdoor wireless network connections to design a custom-built narrative specific to geographical location, including factors like weather conditions, the physical environment, nearby locales, and historic events. Michael Lew presented an April Fool's joke that included someone collapsing to the ground and flailing around in a siezure: he's a media artist and research engineer that primarily works on expanding cinema, and has a background in electrical engineering, artificial intelligence, performance and filmmaking.
I will be in the 2nd edition of the DVD
Art et biotechnologies by Louise Poissant and Ernestine Daubner (published by UQAM). Submitted documentation of the roachbot on 01 March 2006, but not sure when the DVD is coming out.
Dorkbot SoCal 11 happened on Saturday, March 4th 2006 at 1pm. The "Open Hack" event had several folks bring out an array of interesting projects: it was a great event. I also gave a "how to solder" workshop, although it was really a collaborative demo significantly contributed to by Tom Jennings.
Gave guest lecture/demo in Lisa Naugle's class at UCI on Feb 27 at 1:30pm.
Was interviewed by Georgina Born from University of Cambridge (UK) on 23 February 2006. She is doing a sociology-based research project on the intersections of art, science & technology.
Attended "New Media, Technology and Humanities" at UCI on Feb 17th 2006. Manovich and Huhtamo gave good talks, with Erkki's "topoi" an interesting concept worth exploring... (a post-event overview can be seen here)
Gave a guest lecture/demo in Beatriz da Costa's EECS129 class at UCI on Feb 13th 2006.
Real-world-simulacra is stranger than fiction: the roachbot was demo'd to an advisor of Arnold Schwarzenegger's at Calit2 on Feb 9th 2006.
I have a 3 year contract to have lab/studio space in the freshly-built Calit2 building at UCI starting Feb 2006. The Media Arts lab is a 3000 square foot facility, and at this point I think I'm the only person occupying the space on a permanent basis. Thank-you to Lisa Naugle, Albert Yee and the folks at Calit2 for their positive attitude and support. The building can be seen via webcam - my studio space has small square bunker-style windows and is on the 2nd floor. (Calit2 UCI Floorplan)
I did an informal interview with Three D World Magazine (AU) on 06 Feb 2006. This included some of my thoughts on Ray Kurzweil.
I have been awarded some funding to work on the Transliteracies Project. People involved with this project include a bunch of folks: Kevin C. Almeroth, Bruce Bimber, Sue-Ellen Case, Sharon Daniel, Mark Goble, Judith Green, N. Katherine Hayles, Tobias Höllerer, Yunte Huang, Peter Krapp, George Legrady, Alan Liu, Peter Lyman, Mark Meadow, John Mohr, Christopher Newfield, Robert Nideffer, Lisa Parks, Carol Braun Pasternack, Mark Poster, Rita Raley, Ronald E. Rice, Mark Rose, Warren Sack, James Tobias, Matthew Turk, Noah Wardrip-Fruin and William B. Warner.
Dorkbot SoCal 10 happened on Feb 4th 2006 (1pm) in a packed-completely-full Machine Project. The topic for the event was http://hardware.processing.org, with an introduction by Casey Reas. Two physical computing initiatives related to Processing were presented: Osman Khan showed the Arduino project and Sean Dockray presented the Wiring project. In addition, two recent Arduino/Wiring projects developed at UCLA were demonstrated. Thanks to the presenters for a great show and to everyone that came out.
I was interviewed on 93.9 FM (KZLA) in regards to Dorkbot SoCal on Friday, February 2nd 2006.
Dorkbot SoCal 09 happened on Jan 7th 2006, 1pm as an "Open Hack" Event in where a number of people brought projects to show, demo, and get feedback on... as well as get tidbits of technical help. Mark Allen, Tom Jennings and I acted as informal hosts. The meeting concluded with a presentation by Jonah Brucker-Cohen who was visiting from NYC/Dublin. Press about this event was in the Thursday February 2nd 2006 issue of the L.A. Times.
2005
Roachbot #3 appeared in a documentary on TV Tokyo on November 28th 2005. The crew - including director Ryo Nishida - came from Japan to shoot the robot in action on October 29th 2006.
I presented demos of Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot #3 in conjunction with
the IEEE International
Conference on Sensors on Tuesday November 1st 2005. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) conference was at UCI, with demos occuring at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.
I participated in the BioTech Art Workshop from October 10th to 14th 2005 with Symbiotica at UC Irvine. The description is as follows: "Artistic Director Oron Catts and key scientific collaborator Gary Cass from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Western Australia will run a five day intensive workshop where the tools of modern biology are demonstrated through artistic engagement, which in turn gives voice to the broader philosophical and ethical exploration into the extent of human intervention with other living things. The practical components of the workshop include DNA extraction and fingerprinting, genetic engineering, selective breeding, plant and animal tissue culture and basic tissue engineering techniques.
" My photos of the Symbiotica BioTech Art Workshop can now be seen at http://www.conceptlab.com/photos/symbiotica2005/.
I installed "Experiments in Galvanism: Frog w/ Implanted Webserver" at Banff's Walter Phillips Gallery. The project is available at http://conceptlab.com/frog/ until October 23, 2005. The project is part of "The Art Formerly Known As New Media", curated by Sarah Cook and Steve Dietz, which opened at the Walter Phillips Gallery (WPG) September 17 (2pm). "The Art Formerly Known As New Media" is an exhibition on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Banff New Media Institute. The exhibition includes works by Shu Lea Cheang, Francesca da Rimini, Sara Diamond, Garnet Hertz, irational.org, Michael Naimark, Greg Niemeyer, radioqualia (Honor Harger / Adam Hyde), Catherine Richards, Marek Walczak / Martin Wattenberg, and Maciej Wisniewski. The show will be producing a major catalogue. I also give an artist talk at 1 p.m on Saturday, September 17th.
I am doing doctoral research in the Visual Studies program at UCI (starting Fall 2005). I've been digging through a number of different areas and have started making notes of this process at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/phd/ - although this is likely out of date.
Press about the roachbot has spread through the OC Register, OC Weekly, Associated Press, MSNBC, Make
Magazine (twice), Wired, and The New York Times (with the article
reprinted in a dozen other papers).
I helped out a bit in this year's Siggraph CyberFashion
show: I did
some demos in conjunction with the show last year, and got to know (and
be friends with) Janet Hansen and Isa Gordon. At one point, they asked
me to model... but luckily they didn't need me. I
also ran into some folks during the conference: Eddie Shanken, Cheryl
L'Hirondelle, Steve Dietz, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Katherine Moriwaki and
others.
I have discontinued using my yahoo.com and vividworks.com email
addresses: my new email is my firstnamelastname@gmail.com (actually with
my first name - Garnet - and last name - Hertz - together as one
word).
Cockroach-Controlled
Mobile Robot was shown at ArtBots
2005 from July 15-17, 2005 in Dublin, Ireland. The ArtBots curators
for 2005 are: Douglas Repetto (Columbia University Computer Music
Center), Michael John Gorman (Stanford/The Ark), and Marie Redmond
(Trinity College Computer Science). The show was one of the best
show-type experiences I've ever had, and my machine was lucky enough to
win a prize as the audience's favorite project.
I presented a paper titled
"The Animal-Machine: Biorobotics, War
and Animalized Technologies" in the conference "Defense: Models,
Strategies, Media" at UCI, sponsored by UCI's Visual Studies, Humanities
Center, and Critical Theory Institute (7-9 March 2005). The talk was
essentially a survey of biomimetic weapons in a critical/cultural
context. Speakers at the conference include Etienne Balibar (UCI),
Wendy Hui Kyung Chun (Brown), Beatriz da Costa (UCI), James Der Derian
(Brown), Garnet Hertz (UCI), Eva Horn (Frankfurt/Oder), Natalie
Jeremijenko (Yale/UCSD), Julian Klein (Berlin), Peter Krapp (UCI),
Trevor Paglen (Berkeley), Claus Pias (Essen), Mark Poster (UCI),
Laurence Rickels (UCSB), Philipp Sarasin (Zurich), Felicity Scott (UCI),
Jens Schroeter (Siegen), Jennifer Terry (UCI), Eugene Thacker (Georgia
Tech), and Brigitte Weingart (Cologne).
Watch for Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot in an upcoming video
segment by Associated Press and an
upcoming story in Fader Magazine
(March 2005 issue, perhaps). There might be something in the O'Reiley
Press "Make" book/magazine. A friend that was out of the country during the
Christmas 2004 break saw the AP piece while watching TV in his
parent's house... in China.
Details of my Masters coursework etc. at UCI can be viewed at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/
- watch the slow motion blow-by-blow drama. I don't think it's a
standard MFA program: look at the link and decide. My thesis-related
work can be seen at http://turing.ace.uci.edu/~ghertz/
("Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine")
I don't quite understand why I'm still getting a lot of
traffic. During 2004, this domain saw 3.72 million page views per
month: that's around 120,000/day. (If I'd make a tenth of a cent per
page view, I'd earn about $45K/yr.)
Guest artist presentation at UCSD
in Ben Benjamin's ICAM101 / VIS140
class on 19 May
2004.
2003
Living in California pursuing graduate research under the auspices
of the interdisciplinary Arts/Computation/Engineering Graduate Program
at the University of California Irvine, supervised by Simon Penny.
Supported by UCI, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Saskatchewan Arts
Board, and a Research Fellowship at the California Institute for
Telecommunications and Information Technology.
Fly was featured on
Slashdot on 04 March 2003, which resulted in a record day in some
respects: 1,773,829 hits - 34,963,157,475 bytes - 78,892 visitors in 24
hours. This didn't break the previous record of 2,203,241 hits and
1,097,900 pageviews the last time my work was featured on Slashdot (15
Mar 15 2002). (View the
stats...)
2002
Participating in ArtSci2002, New York City 06-08 December 2002.
Within this conference, I will be acting as a mentor to consult with
other scientists/artists regarding interdisciplinary collaborations.
For more information about this event, visit http://www.asci.org/artsci2002/
or for more information about ASCI, visit http://www.asci.org.
Presenting "Ethology of Art and Science Collaborations: Research
Ethics Boards in
the Context of Contemporary Art Practice" at Crossing Over: Negotiating
Specialization in an Interdisciplinary Culture. University of Regina,
Canada. October 25 - 27, 2002. For more information about this
conference, visit http://uregina.ca/crossing_over/
Presented at the Bridges II Consortium, October 4 to 6, 2002.
Location: Banff, Canada. Bridges is an international consortium for
the study and exploration of interdisciplinary collaborative processes
in art, culture, science and technology. (More consortium information:
Bridges II
Website, with Chat
and Forum.)
I co-presented this with T. E. S. Dahms from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Regina, Canada.
Developing embedded webservers on miniature surface-mount
microprocessors, and am using it as a tool
to look the physical nature of digital activity and interactions. This
includes the
implanting of these servers into small physical objects, and configuring
the servers to be
able to trigger physical movement/activity in the physical objects.
This work is based on code and schematics from Frederic White's
"World's Smallest Webserver" webACE project. For my video documentation of this process, see World's Smallest Server.
Formerly Artist In Residence at Soil Digital Media Suite (Regina,
Canada) for a sixteen month term until July 1st 2002. During this time,
a new project Experiments
in Galvanism: Neutral Ground Webcasts is being produced with the support of the Canada
Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board and Soil Digital Media
Suite. This project included live webcasts every week
(Saturdays, 1pm to 3pm CST [GMT-6]).
Project managing a collaborative 3D realtime environment project
for artistic collaboration, funded by CANARIE (Canada's Advanced
Internet Development Organization), utilizing high speed networking
(CA*Net 3).
OutRun [current]
This project attempts to combine the real world and OutRun, an arcade driving game released by Sega in 1986. This project features a cabinet/car that actually drives. The screen, which is in front of the driver, renders the real world as the 1986 video game.
This project un-simulation the driving component of a video game, and explores the parallax between the physical world and GPS navigation.
Pixel TV [current]
A project that reuses 64 discarded televisions and converts them into a giant video game, with each television used as a single pixel in the style of a low-resolution 1970s-style LED-based game system.
Photostereosynthesis [current]
Research and development of a custom digital camera controller to acquire dimensional data in the style of Louis Lumiere's 1920s-era layered photographic technology, photostereosynthesis. Currently features six sketches and five proposals
Debt Hole [2009]
Play the economic crisis of 2009 in Debt Hole, a game mod programmed in MOS 6502 8-bit microprocessor assembly code, as seen on the Apple II, Commodore Vic 20 and the NES. Move your financial
assets through the colon of debt,
avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosure
on either side of you.
Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot (Control and Communication in the Animal
and the Machine) [2004 -
2006]
A mobile robot system literally controlled by the bodily movements and
intelligence of a giant madagascan hissing cockroach. Includes a
feedback "VR" system in which the insect is able to interpret and react
to the robot's surroundings. Version 1 premiered at Siggraph 2004, version 2 premiered at ArtBots 2005, and version 3 premiered at Ars Electronica 2005.
Experiments in Galvanism: Frog with
Implanted Webserver [2003 -
2004]
A bionic/golemic/galvanic frog with a miniature networked computer node
and custom electronics within its body. Installed as part of "The
Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture" (Grenville) and at DEAF2007. Funded by the
Canada Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and Soil
Digital Media Suite.
Posthuman System #1: Cockroach with
Wireless Video [2003]
Rethinking "the posthuman" through a Madagascan hissing cockroach equipped with a miniature wireless videocamera, microphone and 2.4GHz transmitter.
Experiments in Galvanism: Neutral Ground Webcasts [2002]
A series of ten webcasts consisting of electro/biological experiments in the spirit of Luigi Galvani's concept of animal electricity, circa 1780.
Taking galvanism as a starting point, web-controllable physical avatars were built using nitinol, small-scale web servers, custom electronics and preserved specimens.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
World's Smallest Server [2002]
Video documentation of building a webserver about the size of a match head. Supported by Soil Digital Media Suite and Neutral Ground Gallery & Artist Run Centre.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
Coretext
[2001 - 2002]
Editor, online publication with Mark Jones (Cyberstage).
Coretext is about the linkages and tensions between art, electronic culture and the world in which it exists. In it, we feature artists who use electronic media in their work and the surrounding discourse of art and technology within its socio-political environment.
Fly (http://139.142.46.159)
[2001]
Fly with implanted webserver, as exhibited at the Mendel Art Gallery
(Canada) from June 1 to September 3rd, 2001.
Coredump [2000]
Telerobotic markmaking machine project, with the primary goal of outputting raw physical gestures actuated by viewers on the net.
Slow Software
[1999]
A dotcom business model in which a company's sole product line
consists of slow-running, inconvenient, sloppy-source, bloated software.
This freestyle-programming project is accepts source code
and executable submissions to be
distributed under this brand.
The Simulator
[1997]
HTML-based work of a banal 'interactive' day. Featured as an 'Easter
Egg' at ask.com, and seen
globally in the press: Cool Site of The Day, Yahoo! Pick of The Week,
ProjectCool's cool site
of the day, Microsoft Network's Pick-of-the-Day, CNN Headline News ,
International Design
Magazine, SPIN Magazine, Yahoo! Japan Magazine, The Web Magazine, The
Washington Post, etc.
Desktop [1997]
Desktop user interface as visual object. These images were part of
'DESKTOP.IS' organized by
Alexei Shulgin, a collaborative internet project which has since been analyzed by writers as a key
work in the history
of the "net.art movement." Seen in The New York Times, Artforum and Rachel Greene (2004).
Cathedral
[1997]
Documentation of a collaborative CDROM project between Garnet Hertz and
Mike Misanchuk. QuickTime VR-based, interactive video-pieces, and
sketches of digital space. Programmed in mTropolis. Conceptual themes: body / digital /
architecture.
Interface
[1995 - 1996]
Documentation archive of telerobotic webmachine project. Includes
writings on 'Reality Interface', 'Technological Correctness' and
telerobotics. Documents include machine control interface, process
information, and images of the web-controlled robot system.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
Big URL [1995]
Documentation of a gallery installation consisting of a 16-foot-wide
lightbox, and a webcam and speaker controlled by custom software.
Emporium [1995]
Documentation of a gallery installation consisting of several hundred
TV-based images. Subject : advertisements with 1-800 numbers;
Media : xerox.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
Luminous Experiment
[1995]
Documentation of a site-specific installation: a basement excavation
[jackhammered basement floor],
with dirt, ambient groundwater, and powered television parts.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
TV + Beans [1995]
Powered television parts used in conjunction with growing organisms
[mung beans].
Documentation includes photos, video clips of the installation, and
interviews with the experiment's 'Control Group'.
(Documentation updated October 2008.)
Surrogate
[1995]
Influenced by Nam June Paik's "The Moon is the Oldest Television" (1965-67) this timelapsed VHS video explores the modern attraction to TV as a primal human hunger for light.
Information
Superstation [1994]
Hypertext, initially done as a text/Lynx-based piece, and later adapted with images to Mosaic and Netscape. Uses a pseudo-classified-ad / personal homepage format, explores linking and mailto: tags. "The details of my life lay bare to you at your computer terminal."
Speed/Growth
[1994]
Fast-paced and highly distorted, this VHS video explores the medium of television as a communication format that is biased to be a better communicator of speed than the concept of growth. This video is influenced by McLuhan's "Understanding Media" (1964) and Jerry Mander's "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" (1977).
E.A.T. Information Booth
[1994]
This project was built to provide information on Experiments in Art and Technology (1967, NY) by building a small booth that was in the style of the work being produced by members of the group in the 1960s. A telephone-booth-sized room had one side lined with mirror on wall, ceiling and floor with small lights positioned to have the appearance of an endless vertical wall of lights.
Garnet Hertz - Teaching Documents [2008]
My fields of expertise include network art, digital imaging, computer based installation, electronics, robotics, visual studies, and the history and theory of new media. My teaching experience includes studio production courses, computer programming, digital imaging, 3D environments, writing & English composition, and history & theory of electronic art. I am currently looking for interesting academic positions starting Fall 2009. Teaching related materials are as follows:
US12C: Computer Games as Art, Culture & Technology [Spring 2007 & Spring 2008]
University of California Irvine
Role: TA (Discussion Sections) with Krapp, Tomlinson & Frost. Overview: First year interdisciplinary writing and production course investigating computer games as artistic, cultural, and technological phenomena. Course includes the development of a team-built game project with an extensive design document.
US12B: Computer Games as Art, Culture & Technology [Winter 2007, Winter 2008 & Winter 2009]
University of California Irvine
Role: TA (Discussion Sections) with Krapp, Tomlinson & Frost. Overview: First year interdisciplinary writing and production course with lectures covering art practice, 3D worlds, software engineering, 3D animation and modeling, HCI, music & sound, and game politics. Course includes two essay assignments and development of a team-built game project in Second Life.
US12A: Computer Games as Art, Culture & Technology [Fall 2006 & Fall 2007 & Fall 2008]
University of California Irvine
Role: TA (Discussion Sections) with Krapp, Tomlinson & Frost. Overview: First year interdisciplinary writing and production course with lectures covering the history of computer games, game mods, machinima, interactivity, and character design. Course includes two essay assignments and a team-built game project developed in Java.
Dorkbot SoCal 11: How to Solder Workshop [2006]
Machine Project, Los Angeles
Role: Instructor. Overview: In keeping with a Dorkbot/DIY mindset, this informal workshop taught individuals the basics of soldering electronics. Co-taught with Tom Jennings.
Film 208: Introduction to Digital Media [Fall 2002]
Department of Media Production & Studies, University of Regina
Role: Adjunct Lecturer. Overview: Production course for senior film and media studies students, providing instruction in Photoshop, HTML, and digital video. Used Manovich's "Language of New Media" as a conceptual framework for studio assignments.
HTML Code: Learn to Build the Web the Old Fashioned Way [2002]
Soil Digital Media Suite, Neutral Ground Gallery, Regina
Role: Instructor. Overview: Two week workshop on the fundamentals of web development, focusing on HTML code.
Desktop Publishing Using Adobe Photoshop [2000]
Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Kelsey Campus
Role: Instructor. Overview: Digital imaging course, focusing on Adobe Photoshop.
Introduction to Adobe Photoshop [1997]
The Photographer's Gallery
Role: Instructor. Overview: Two week digital imaging workshop, focusing on Adobe Photoshop.
Guest Lectures [2000 - present]
Concordia University,
University of California San Diego,
University of California Irvine,
California State University Long Beach,
University of Saskatchewan,
University of Regina.
Tactics of Reuse in the Media Arts: A Guide to New Media for the Media Archaeologist
PhD Program in Visual Studies, University of California Irvine. Concentration: Technocultural studies, media theory and interdisciplinary arts practice.
This project takes an inverted stance to new media studies by looking at contemporary media artists that intentionally use obsolete media - outdated and "dead" information technologies - in their work. In the process, these examples are used as tools to understand the creative, historical and cultural advantages of reuse. A critical theory of a cluster of related activities is built, including circuit bending, D.I.Y., and media archaeology.
Expected Completion: Spring 2009 (currently ABD).
Advisors: Mark Poster and Peter Krapp, with committee members Cecile Whiting and Robert Nideffer.
Gramophones, Films, Typewriters & The Dead Media Handbook: Kittler's paradigm of winners and the secret histories of losers (2006, paper)
The Dead Media Project is a stockpile of fragmented silences in the archive of media history. This paper begins to tackle this archive, and reveals how The Dead Media Project, as a conceptual theme and distributed research initiative, fits alongside and against contemporary work in media theory and history. Specifically, this paper pushes two works of Friedrich Kittler - Discourse Networks 1800/1900 and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter - directly into collision with The Dead Media Project. In the process, the debris reveals potential weaknesses in Kittler's texts and hints at how The Dead Media Handbook could be literally constructed.
Tracking Media Archaeology (2006, paper)
A look at the term "Media Archaeology" as used and understood by Siegfried Zielinski, Errki Huhtamo, Wolfgang Ernst and Lev Manovich.
The Commodore 64: Perspectives from Art History, Cultural Anthropology and Film & Media Studies (2005, illustrated paper experiment)
Within this document, I try to look at the Commodore 64 from a few different perspectives - many of which I'm not an expert in. This is partially done to look at the disciplines of Art History, Cultural Anthropology, and Film & Media Studies by trying to get inside of the language and methodologies of each. Hopefully this shows some links to the vintage C64, and also highlights some disciplinary biases. I conclude the document by trying to figure out what this all means, launching a short critique toward "visual studies" and finish with a thought on the concept of "media archaeology".
Remnants of Virtuality: Contemporary Embodiment Beyond Posthumanism (Encountering the Hybrid: Posthumanism, Embodiment and Frissonic Value, Part 1) (2005, paper)
Although N. Katherine Hayles re-addresses the topic of embodiment within "How We Became Posthuman" her embrace of concrete embodiment is distanced by the influence of virtuality: in particular, a worldview popularized in the 1990s that envisioned computer-created, simulated, or transferred information as becoming increasingly real. Although she mounts a formidable attack against the Moravecian "bodiless exhultation" of human minds being eventually extracted, transported and saved on computer disc, she falls short of envisioning embodiment in its simple, concrete state: it is interpreted through the lens of metaphor. The legacies of virtuality and literature are helpful, of course, to lay foundations for considering embodied reality within the narrative of becoming posthuman. However, if embodiment is the core of our being, as Hayles argues toward, it would be logical to begin from the visceral body; embodied exegesis as opposed to virtual eisegesis. (Slides from related lecture: On Embodiment: Posthumanism, Computationalism and Definitions of Intelligence, 2004)
Beyond Flickering Signifiers: Frissonic Value and Shifting Boundaries in the Context of Contemporary Hybridity (Encountering the Hybrid: Posthumanism, Embodiment and Frissonic Value, Part 2) (2005, paper)
In "Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers" N. Katherine Hayles proposes the term flickering signifier to refer to the linguistic and psychodynamic experience of the human confronting the posthuman; the point at which the individual confronts the concept that humanity is no longer the most important figure of the universe - that information, technology and machines are the reference point to which humanity now views its reflection. Hayles' concepts, however, do not delve deeply into the psychodynamic mechanics of the moment of encountering the posthuman, and are significantly influenced by the heritage of the "virtual". In other words, her explanation of flickering signifiers focuses on positioning the concept within the frames of communication theory, literature, informatics and the internet - as opposed to the psychological experience of the individual, and why the symbolic moment creates unexpected metamorphoses, attenuations and dispersions. Hayles is on the right path and lays necessary bridgework for exploring the human/posthuman encounter but does not give voice to the embodied, personal implications of it. As such, this paper: 1. Seeks to clarify the dynamics of the exact point of confrontation of the human with the posthuman 2. Strives to articulate this confrontation beyond the heritage of virtuality, and 3. Begins to develop a framework in which this confrontation experience can be viewed within the larger contexts of consciousness and meaning.
The Animal-Machine: Biorobotics, War and Animalized Technologies (2005, lecture) MP3 Audio Recording
Animals inspire the development of technological systems by providing clever solutions to embodied, complex environments. Biomimetic systems - technologies that mimic biology - are exploited in the context of war because they augment military force with animal-machine instinct, durability, and controllability without the risk of losing "life". The 20th Century has embraced the animal-machine within the context of war, with current American biorobotics research funded by DARPA continuing and expanding this trend. This presentation will provide a visual survey of 20th Century animal-machine systems, focusing on mechanical-computational weapons that have been developed as animal-like entities. Critical and theoretical questions will be raised toward the basis of bioinspired technological development within this context: between war and the media of animal-machine hybrids. (Slides from related lecture: Animals/Machines: Explorations in Control and Communication, 2004)
Von Kemplen's "The Turk" and IBM's "Deep Blue": Conspiracies of a Hidden Human (2005)
This page is meant as a place to show documentation of John Gaughan's Turk in Summer 2005 in Dublin Ireland, and to show parallels to how the Turk worked and accusations made by Garry Kasparov in 1997 after playing IBM's Deep Blue: a chess-playing supercomputer. In essence, Kasparov accused IBM of playing a "cabinet trick" by hiding chess grandmasters in the heavily guarded room that housed Deep Blue - just as von Kemplen's chess playing automaton secretly did in 1769.
Chess, Violence and Embodiment: Pervasive Computing and DARPA's Dream of the Cyborg Soldier (2004, paper)
This paper explores a super-human ideal: a fighting machine whose undesired cognitive and embodied traits have been replaced via technological abstractions of cognition, embodiment and violence. In particular, contemporary DARPA-funded work in pervasive computing and biorobotics is explored. This mechanized cyborgian soldier indicates a larger thread in western society: mind and body are not only split, but the mind is managed and the body is technologized. In many ways this concept is a continuation of the ideals of chess: intelligence is seen as a cerebral strategy, with embodiment pulled into abstraction through technological obfuscation.
Ethology of Art and Science Collaborations: Research Ethics Boards in the Context of Contemporary Art Practice (2002, interviews, lecture, website) Lecture Notes (58K PDF File, 10 pages) Presentation Slides (25.6M Flash File)
Frameworks for ethical review of scientific research are well established and documented; however, many interdisciplinary artists and art institutions are unfamiliar with these policies and procedures, as well as the potential benefits this process offers within emergent areas of collaborative research. In this paper, we will examine currently established models for ethical review of scientific research as they would apply to interdisciplinary fields. Using the Canadian system as a basis for discussion, a practical overview of its guiding principles, conducts, application processes, terms of approval and liabilities will be presented. Issues covered will include tissue culture, animal use, genetic modification and transgenics. Relevant highlights will be presented from the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Council of Animal Care (CCAC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Examples of contemporary artworks will be explored as specific case studies in relation to the ethics review process. Proper navigation of these processes may offer guidance to artists and institutions that engage controversial subjects, use scientific facilities, or attempt to access funding traditionally oriented to scientific research.
This project consisted of interviewing Adam Zaretsky, Eduardo Kac, Stephen Wilson, and Natlie Jeremijenko on the topic of institutional research ethics boards within the context of contemporary arts practice. Excerpts from their interviews that were used in the talk are as follows:
Dorkbot SoCal http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotsocal/
Dorkbot SoCal is a monthly meeting of Southern Californian electronic/media artists, hackers and theorists. Recently, events are being held in Los Angeles. Presenters have included Tom Jennings (World Power Systems), Mark Allen and Sky Frostenson (c-level / Waco Ressurrection), Beverly Tang (Rhizome.LA / Sublimina), Lucas Kuzma (UCLA), Paul Yarin (Blackdust / RealSimSystems), Perry Hoberman (USC), Dan Novy (Flash Film Works), Spot Draves (Electric Sheep), Doug Goodwin (Reactive System), Ryan Schoelerman (elint arts lab), Annina Ruest (t-t-trackers.net), Schoenerwissen/OfCD, Andreas Schlegel, Daniel Sauter, Janet Hansen (Enlighted Designs), Brett Stalbaum (UCSD), Paula Poole (paintersflat.com), Neil Kearns, Marcos Novak (UCSB), August Black (UCSB), Dan Overholt (UCSB), Julian Bleecker (USC), Peter Brinson (USC), Phil Stearns (CalArts), Jay Mark Johnson ("Hollywood"), Jonah Brucker-Cohen (Trinity College Dublin / MIT Media Lab Europe), Casey Reas (UCLA / Processing), Osman Khan (UCLA), Sean Dockray (UCLA), Mark Daggett (Radical Software Group), Naomi Spellman (34 North 118 West / UCSD), Michael Lew (MIT Media Lab Europe), Samuel Coniglio (Space Tourism Society), Jennifer Silbert (3form Architectural), Tod E. Kurt (Hacking Roomba), Mark Frauenfelder (Boing Boing / Make Magazine), Jed Berk, Phil Ross, Suzanne Stefanac (Digital Content Lab at the American Film Institute), Allison de Fren (Ammerman Center for Arts & Technology), Greg Elliott (UCI), Simon Penny (UCI), Mr. Jalopy (Hooptyrides / Make Magazine), Bob Blackstock (Laminar Sciences), Eric Kurland, Ray Zone (ray3dzone.com), John A. Rupkalvis (StereoScope International), Dave Bullock (eecue), Rama Hoetzlein (UCSB), Damon Seeley (Electroland), Thomas Edwards, Gilad Lotan (ITP), Steven Gentner (RoboRealm), Gil Kuno, (unsound.com), Brett Doar (UCI), Jerrold Ridenour & Anthony Magnetta (Nerd Droid), Tom Koch (univac), Kevin Mack, Deborah Aschheim, David Guttman, Brian Evans (Metropolitan State College of Denver), Brian O'Connor, Eric Gradman / Brent Bushnell (Mindshare Labs), and Dan Goods (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory).
The Godfather of Technology and Art: An Interview with Billy Klüver [1995]
Billy Klüver (1927-2004) was an electrical engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories who founded Experiments in Art and Technology in 1967 as an interdisciplinary matchmaking organization between artists, engineers and scientists to work on collaborative projects.
Working in collaboration with artists Jean Tinguely, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol, Klüver was at the forefront of the "Art and Technology" movement of the late 1960's.
Still directing Experiments in Art and Technology after thirty years, Klüver (in 1995) explains the inspiration, formation, and operation of the group -- and shares some of his views of technology and art.
(Republished in Linda Candy and Ernest Edmonds, eds. Explorations in Art and Technology. London: Springer-Verlag, 2002.)
Beyond the Realm of Humans: A Discussion with Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories [1995]
Leading the San-Francisco-based Survival Research Laboratories, Mark Pauline has distinguished himself as one of the pioneers of large-scale machine-based performance. Since starting S.R.L. in 1978, Pauline has directed nearly fifty shows (as of 1995) -- scavenging and incorporating technology from the Silicon Valley into a massive spectacle of steel, hydraulics, flame, power, and fear.
Interview: Steve Dietz [2002, 304K PDF File]
Steve Dietz is the founding Director of New
Media Initiatives at the Walker Art Center
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As one of the ten
most visited art centres/museums in the US (as of 2002),
the Walker boasts a multidisciplinary
approach to its programming, which includes
new media, visual arts, film/video, and the
largest museum-based performing arts program
in the United States.
(Published in BlackFlash, The Canadian Journal of Photo-based and Electronic Art Production, Issue 19-3 in 2002.)
Ethology of Art & Science Collaborations: An Interview with Stephen Wilson [2002, 13.6M MP3 Audio File]
Stephen Wilson is author of Information Arts (MIT Press, 2002) and is Professor of Conceptual Information Arts at San Francisco State University. During this audio interview, we discuss a number of issues related to interdisciplinary arts practice, including art & science collaborations, artists producing knowlege, and research ethics boards and contemporary art practice.
(Excerpts originally presented at the Bridges II Conference, Banff New Media Institute, in "Ethology of Art and Science Collaborations: Research Ethics Boards in the Context of Contemporary Art Practice" in 2002.)
---------------------------------------- OTHER RESEARCH INTERESTS
----------------------------------------
Video and computer games
Un-simulating simulations
Critical design
Media archaeology
Technological Subversions: Misuse, Analog / Digital Hacks, DIY,
Inefficiency/Malfunction
---------------------------------------- BIO
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Garnet Hertz is an interdisciplinary artist, Fulbright Scholar and doctoral candidate in Visual Studies at UC Irvine. He also holds an MFA from the Arts Computation Engineering program at UCI, has completed UCI's Critical Theory Emphasis and is currently an affiliate of the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction in the Department of Informatics. His dissertation research explores the creative, historical and cultural advantages of reusing obsolete information technologies in the media arts, and uses these examples to construct a critical theory of a cluster of related activities: circuit bending, D.I.Y., critical design and media archaeology. He has shown his work at several notable international venues in eleven countries including Ars Electronica, DEAF and SIGGRAPH and was awarded the prestigious 2008 Oscar Signorini Award in robotics. He is founder and director of Dorkbot SoCal, a monthly Los Angeles-based DIY lecture and workshop series on electronic art and design. His research is widely cited in academic publications, and popular press on his work has disseminated through 25 countries including The New York Times, Wired, The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, NBC, CBS, TV Tokyo and CNN Headline News.
(updated May 2009)
Email: (current as of 02 Dec 2008)
myfirstnameandmylastname@gmail.com (not literally this - substitute in "garnethertz")
Studio / Demo Space:
New Media Arts Lab, Room 2100
California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Building #325)
University of California Irvine
Office:
The Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction (LUCI), Room 5069
Donald Bren Hall (Building #314)
University of California Irvine
Some links to help you get here: driving directions to UCI from freeway, parking map [park in ICS/ENG parking structure at the corner of E. Peltason & Anteater Drive). Recorded driving directions to UCI can be heard at (949) 824-8799.
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In addition to the work hosted at conceptlab.com, I have photos and videos scattered around the web. I've recently caved in and started storing sets of photos at Flickr - all of my photos hosted on Flickr can be found here.
Dead Media Research Lab [current]
The problem: How to creatively repurpose and reuse electronic waste.
Montréal Photostereosynthesis: L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat, [2008]
Production & installation sketch - site specific art production and installation concept, researching the location of the first film screening in Canada on June 27 1896 in the Palace Theatre on the corner of Boul. Saint Laurent and Viger in downtown Montréal.
Repositioning of La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895) [2008]
Video Sketch - Repositioning of La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895). This is thought of as being similar to ViewFinder (Naimark et al, 2008) but focused on repositioning historical films.
Extruded still from La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895) [2008]
3D Java Applet Sketch - Programmed in Processing. Extruded still from La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895). Conversion of a frame from the "first film" into spatial data points, extruded by levels of brightness.
25 Bipeds [2005]
A short animation test applying motion capture data to 25 bipeds in Autodesk 3D Studio Max.
Symbiotica Workshop [2005]
A five day intensive workshop with Oron Catts and Gary Cass from Symbiotica. The practical components of the workshop included DNA extraction and fingerprinting, genetic engineering, selective breeding, plant and animal tissue culture and basic tissue engineering techniques.
Font Week [2002]
Experiment making typefaces as quickly as possible, one font per day over the course of a week. Total time spent creating the seven typefaces was 222 minutes.
Audio Laser Experiments [2001]
Video of audio-modulated laser experiments, made as prototypes for Andres Ramirez Gaviria for an installation that measured and visualized sound within a specific physical environment. The laser image vibrated (changes patterns) in direct relation to the amount of sound created within the exhibition space.
Crash Buddha [2001]
I owned wangchung.com at one point, and proposed the "Crash Buddha," a hardware product as a good omen that fends off hangs, crashes, and bugs. If your computer crashed, however, the device was proposed to laugh at you through an embedded audio circuit.
64 [2000]
Concept for a net-actuated matrix of 64 lights to make
network/tele/activity visible through
the input of up to 64 simultaneous users. These sketches were done as background to the Coredump project.
Topologies
[2000]
Making network topologies and operating system architectures visible.
Simple, hand-sketched
diagrams. Conceptual references include I/O/D's Web Stalker.
Slow Porn
[1999]
The first proposed product/content line of slowsoftware.com: a website that is very, very slow. This project makes more sense with a 28.8K dialup internet connection, circa 1999. Featured on CBC Radio One.
e-Beggar
[1999]
An online e-commerce begging system which allows users to donate money to an e-commerce transaction engine with no content or product.
torture.mov
[1995]
This QuickTime clip works with the ability of the viewer to stretch and manipulate the digital video frame while it is played in a loop: a yelling individual with outstretched arms and legs.
Icon
[1994]
A 4x8 ft lightbox that was produced from an image taken at a 3-minute b/w photo booth, with the image enlarged and processed through several generations of xeroxes.
The Examined Life
[1993]
Influenced by Krzysztof Wodiczko's projections. Dual-80-Carousel Syncronized Slide Projection with cross-dissolve unit with data on cassette tape.
Mr.
Net Art 97/98 [DEC 19
1997] Jury: Rachel Baker, Natalie Bookchin, Josephine Bosma, Sandra
Fauconnier, Rachel Greene, Olia Lialina, Vesna Manojlovic, Diana
Mccarty, Kass Schmitt, Cornelia Sollfrank, Barbara Strebel, Keiko
Suzuki, Carey Young Jury
Proceedings -
rhizome.org threaded discussion Mister Net Art Contest - there are
conflicting facts as to
whether this was Mister Net Art '97 or '98. Other participants included
Joao Da Silva, etoy
(Nicolas), Alexei Shulgin, Danny Hobart, Pit Schultz, Luka Frelih,
Michael "Zuper"
Samyn, Murph The Surf, Valery Grancher, Heath Bunting, Vuk Cosic,
Ricardo Echevarria, Andrej
Tisma, and Mr Superbad (Ben Benjamin). I/O/D's Web Stalker software
application won. Some of my notes about this happening can be found at http://www.conceptlab.com/mr/.
Homework [DEC 03
1997] Natalie Bookchin
In this project an international group of net artists appropriated a
real homework assignment
- a part of the Introduction to Computing in the Arts (VA40) course at
the University of
California, San Diego, taught by Natalie Bookchin. Artists were asked
to: build a site which
uses outside links as an integral part of its identity and construction;
construct a faux
documentary or appropriate an official interface to convey subjective
content (i.e. to use the
official language of an institution to subvert an aspect of dominant
culture); and to build a
site which is new-media specific - something that would not work as well
or at all in any
other medium. Each project was graded and evaluated along with the
students in the class, A-F
(F for Fail) by Prof. Bookchin. The project, says Bookchin, 'shows how
institutional
constraints/boundaries as well as identities are easily blurred and
manipulated on the net as
well as demonstrating the easy movement of artists on the net in
radically alternative
contexts'. Role: Homework submitter. I don't remember what I
submitted exactly.
