HIGH TECH LOW LIFE: CONCEPT EVOLUTION carrying on from the first pdf, here is where i hit the peak (middle) of the project overall, having to re-evaluate the direction of the project after some critiques and crises, and in the process discovering new applications of my interests and skills.
table of contents initial project description and progress issue two final product - zine pages revised project plan revised research experimentation: FIRST TRACK epiphany on brick lane PLAN FOR STAGE THREE/EXHIBIT PLANS critical analysis
DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS: A QUICK RECAP OF THE ORIGINAL IDEA AND EARLY PROGRESS, ON TO THE MAIN ISSUES WITH THE ZINE AS WORK CONTINUED (COLLABORATOR DROP OUTS, LACK OF STOCKIST INTEREST), WHICH PUSHED ME TO SEARCH FOR MORE TO ADD TO THE BODY OF MY PROJECT. DECIDING TO FINISH THE ZINE MYSELF AND MOVE ON IN THE NAME OF
!
a glimpse at a zine piece
EXPERIMENTATION AND EPIPHANY: EXPLORING THE VAPORWAVE GENRE IN ALL IT’S FORMS, INCLUDING AUDIO, AS MUSIC IS A LARGE PART OF THE GENRE AND ONE I HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY EXPLORED. IN WANTING TO ADD MORE TO MY PROJECT, I EXPERIMENT WITH VAPORWAVE MUSIC GENRES AND DIGITAL MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES, PRODUCING A SINGLE, BEFORE FINDING THE SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEM ON BRICK LANE.
audacity, one of the freeware programs used to produce vaporwave music
special addendum: health crisis link listing
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REVISED MISSION PLAN FOR PART THREE: having finished the zine leaving it as-is for now (maintaining the prints plan for the exhibit), adding stickers for the table at the exhibit, producing at least one solid track with single/album art, and printing stickers of my glitch art to put up around brick lane and other public art areas/permitted graffiti spaces around the uk (including birmingham, incorporating easter break into the projecT) to be tracked on social media etc.
graffiti spotted on brick lane
initial project concept and progress
To provide a quick recap of the beginning third of the project, my plan was to reach out to other collaborators and produce a zine with other glitch artists on the subject of technology and emotion, which fell through in several ways: the stockists (even those who had agreed previously in person) denied my enquiries about stocking my zine in person anywhere, with over six different refusals to stock. (some pictured here, side) on top of this, many of my collaborators ended up having to drop out last minute due to family emergencies, work concerns, or other reasons, so i had to make the call to redact my google form for collaborators. (pictured here, bottom, and on links page) Due to the time constraints of the deadlines, I decided to wrap up this issue of the zine with my own material (originally intended to be filler works if needed and small individual sections/articles otherwise), ending up with 15 pages total. (smaller than the previous zine, naturally, but not by much.) I FEEL IT IS THE WEAKEST OF MY ZINES MADE SO FAR, BUT IT STILL HOLDS UP RESPECTABLY AS IT’S OWN PRODUCT. HOWEVER, AS IT IS NOW ONLINE ONLY, IT IS NOT PHYSICALLY SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH, AND NOT ENOUGH FOR THE TIME LEFT ON THE PROJECT. NEEDING TO DO MORE, I PUT THE ZINE UP FOR DOWNLOAD ON MY ISSUE (SEE LINKS PAGE FOR PDF DOWNLOAD/BROWSER VIEW LINK) AND DECIDED TO EXPLORE OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE VAPORWAVE GENRE, PARTICULARLY THE NOTORIOUS EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC/AUDIO SCENE.
issue two final product - excerpts from zine
revised project plan - vaporwave music
i have done a great deal in the vaporwave genre as far as visuals and aesthetics go, but in terms of other elements of the genre, i am still inexperienced. i have experimented with digital sound before, largely in the way of voice sampling for experimental short films in the past (available on my youtube channel on the link page), but i have never composed a song before or experimented with sampling or any other sound engineering on that level. plunging into the deep end, i began to research the history of vaporwave music, including common techniques, software suggestions, and elements found throughout the genre in order to inform my audio experimentation. in one week, starting from having never attempting anything of this magnitude before, i taught myself how to use some digital audio software (including several i had never heard of before, using demo trials) and produced a single initial track to learn the tools and get a feel for the style of the genre. (i also created the visual for the track as it is uploaded on youtube.) i want to continue to experiment with audio and visuals, perhaps making a gifloop video (as is the most common form of vaporwave music video) and continue to challenge myself to such a degree. i have not been as engaged in my work in a long time, perhaps due to burn out or stagnancy, and being forced to re-evaluate my project like this has forced me to push myself to my limits in terms of experimentation and testing my ability to develop and utilise skills quickly and effectively to produce something of quality. i also want to utilise some of my anachronistic equipment, such as my dictaphone (for audio sampling) in order to produce a low-fi effect suitable to the tone of my overall project concept. my revised research included many youtube tutorials for producing vaporwave music and several tracks by genre artists considered iconic and staples of vaporwave music. i also listened to several related genres that fall into the vaporwave category, such as city pop, future funk, 8bit, japanese 70s pop, japanese jazz, 80s japanese soul, seapunk, witch house (which is what my track ended up resembling most), and several other more experimental genres (like ambient digital and nu-synth).
revised research
experimentation: first test track - youtube is on link list page
epiphany on brick lane: sticker graffiti after working fairly relentlessly trying to figure out how to make my test track, i took an inspiration break to brick lane for an afternoon, in order to clear my head and try to get some fresh air in an attempt to focus and perhaps get some new ideas. i always enjoy the public art around the area, but as i was walking through, i noticed more and more stickers being posted (as opposed to paste-ups and other more traditionally common graffiti mediums), and i noticed a uniform trend in shape and size of many stickers: about postcard sized on average, square or rectangle, strategically placed in high visibility areas. i realised that much of my work could be made into durable graffiti-quality stickers, to be printed in multiple designs and perhaps featured at the exhibit as well, or sold at some point. i immediately began looking into sticker printers in London (already found Eastend printers and Print pal London, among others) in order to make and finalise designs (as well as printing some select, more popular designs from previously in the high tech low life project line) and have them printed and delivered or picked up in time, as well as placed. over easter i will also be in Birmingham for a while, to visit my fiancee’s family for the holiday. as there are public art areas there as well, i will be ideally taking stickers with me to place there, featuring my art and social media information for self promotion. pictured on the right are some of my photos from that afternoon along brick lane, with many more on my instagram page (listed on the links page).
stage three plans and exhibit plans
my exhibit plans do not need to change much, as i already had a flat space booked for zine or prints, and stickers can be displayed similarly with no issue. as for stage three, as previously mentioned, i will be continuing my experimentation with audio/visual vaporwave material, and i will be producing works for print as stickers (at least postcard sized or similar) to place in legal street art areas in multiple cities, including birmingham while i am visiting for easter if at all possible. i will photo document the sticker postings/locations, and feature them in issue three of high tech low life, which will include the original image versions of the stickers as well as photos of the process, also to be featured across social media online. at the very least, i hope to have stickers and prints available as my final tangible products (quality hardcopy zine printing is impractical and untimely at this point), and for internet-only content, my music experimentation will be uploaded to my youtube channel and perhaps even burned onto disks with unique disk vaporwave disk art available at the exhibit, like a mix tape, if it ends up logistically possible to do so.
critical analysis
i feel as though while it has been incredibly stressful to have to shuffle my project concept around, it is a good lesson in remaining flexible and working quickly on your feet should your entire concept collapse under you. i had to make many adjustments, scrap entire sections of my concept, restructure it, abandon other parts in progress, and get creative about new directions to take my project in to make things work and have some decent final products, at the same time, in doing so, i was taking great risks, as i have never attempted to fully compose a song before, and was working largely with unfamiliar software to me in a form of art i am not quite familiar with. i am pleased with my first attempt, which was mostly to get used to certain elements of vaporwave music (paulstretch, elongated to distortion vocal tracks, unique sample pools, etc.) and to the software controls and basic functions. I was surprised to find such strong inspiration in brick lane on a break from attempting music production, although i did go there with the intention to continue making some kind of progress on my work. i think that my work is suited very well to sticker form, and that certain pieces (and the new pieces i am continuing to make for the project) will especially pop out against brick or painted walls, or even against other graffiti in public art spaces.
special addendum: health crisis
i was taken to hospital on the 28th of march due to acute physical distress caused by prolonged high stress and sleep deprivation related problems, among other chronic stressors (explained in depth to several tutors for the sake of keeping everyone informed of my medical situation, in the event i should have a panic attack while at the studios, or something similar.) i was not admitted to hospital, but was treated via gp as outpatient and released in the afternoon. however, i feel it is pertinent to mention the incident here, as it is related to university stress, and how my related issues are starting to physically affect me as a result. i update my instagram daily (available on link list page), so if any further related health incidents are to occur, i or my partner will post about it on that page, as well as on other social media (also listed on links page). the photo on the right is from my emergency trip to guy’s hospital for examination.
link listing
ISSUE two PDF:
https://issuu.com/effluviah/docs/htllissue2final
experimental track (youtube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxgMDE_7p2U
google docs for collab signup:
https://goo.gl/forms/Xt6U678IxDoda5Dw1
glitch art site:
tumblr.com/effluviah
instagram:
instagram.com/effluviah
twitter:
twitter.com/effluviah