>>>1 Extended Play.
>>> LAPSUS Festival: A photographic reportage
>>> LiveSoundtracks: A new concept in audiovisual experience
>>> Mi.mu gloves: Sonar+D Press conference by Mazda Rebels
>>> Day by Day: Sonar+D
>>> Open Source: A visual movement
>>> Semiconductor: Earthworks
>>> The Archives: LEV festival, Gijรณn
>>> Mutek Festival: March, 2016
>>> Nitsa Club, Sala Apolo: Live performance by VJ Ayl
>>>
Editorial Independiente dotbcn@dot.com +34660241971 All photography and copywriting by Hayley Cantor, unless otherwise stated.
>>>LAPSUS Festival
A photographic report.
>>>Festival description by LAPSUS Records
>>>Videocratz live visuals
>>>The tunnel through to the teatre
>>>Mini festival
l installation
>>>Videocratz live at work
>>> The courtyard atmosphere at CCCB
>>>Live performance by replacement artist
>>>Visual artist
t close up (videocratz)
>>>LiveSoundtracks:
A new concept in audiovisual experience.
Photo: Kyoka - Raster Noton, courtesy of LiveSoundtracks press pack.
LST#4 - 19 Abril: LiveSoundtracks – Music for Films What is Poetry in the Darkness? LiveSoundtracks is a platform with the aim of exploring the intersection between visual arts, film and experimental music. With its series ‘ Poetry in the Darkness,’ LST wants to pay tribute to travel, and ideas that are undertaken to find beauty in the dark. Creativity that combines music, images and stories, along with high impact shows the margin between theatre , cinema and live music, will be the ingredients of the cycle Poetry in the Darkness.
You can listen to the playlist here. Kyoka (Japan - Raster Noton) Rhythm, and pop-beat order after the chaos. A direct response to harsh and heavy sounds musical approach forms the basis of experimental danceable rhythm of the performances of the Japanese composer who lives between Berlin and Tokyo and is on the record label, Raster Noton. For this session of Poetry in the Darkness, Kyoka presented us with a series of animations by Joung Yumi. Yumi, born in Korea in 1981, has a very delicate and sensitive approach to
animation, using thin strokes and clear facial expressions in her characters to convey her surreal stories, such as that of ‘Dust Kid,’ which she wrote in 2009. This animation has been screened at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and over 50 other international film festivals, and received more than 10 international awards. ‘Dust Kid’ has so far been broadcast by Arte TV and Televisió de Catalunya, and screened at theaters in France. It has also been screened at several art museums, sometimes in altered formats. In 2010 Joung wrote and directed the short animation, ‘Math Test’, which was
“As I think, my brain fills with pointless worries and anxiety.� -Joung Yumi, Dust Kid, 2009
Photo previous page: But the world is not so easy as you think, animation by Joung.
invited to the official short film competition section at Berlin International Film Festival, and to several other international film festivals. Kyota, however, really brings Yumi’s animations alive, with an incredible ability to time and mix sounds to create an exquisite ambient atmosphere and a sensual experience for the audience. The choice of Livesoundtracks organisers to reduce the bightness of the projection and maintain Sala Hiroshima’s theatre as dark as possible only serves to add to this incredible intimacy created between the public, projection and sounds. I personally find the overall concept of Poetry in the Darkness to be somewhat novel, particularly in a cosmopolitan city such as that of Barcelona, where more often than not, the audiovisual experience is often guided through nightlife and visuals are regularly seen as a by product
of music. LiveSoundtracks, however, have managed to turn this concept on its head and present us with an artistic scenario in which projection guides sound, creating an entirely different dialogue in audiovisual performance. It was fascinating to discover that, upon congratulating Kyoka on her performance, it had been in fact the first time she had done anything like this before, and judging by the excitement on her face, surely not the last either. Congratulations to all the organisers at LiveSoundtracks for your dedication to providing our city with quality cultural events and in being openminded enough to try something new.
>>>
>>>Photo courtesy of LiveSoundtracks press pack
>>> Screen from AGF’s live performance at Sala Hiroshima
>>> Screen from
m Kyoka’s live performance - a still by Joung
>>> Anna Mastrolitto, the organiser of LiveSoundtracks
>>>Mazda Rebels present Mi.mu gloves for Sonar+D press conference
>>>Screen from the live performance at Mazda Space
>>>Artist wearing Mi.mu gloves
>>> Screens at the live perfo
ormance
>>> Visuals from the performance
>>>Day by Day at Sonar+D.
>>> cables at Sonar+D Market Lab
>>> Redactable, project presentation at Sonar+D, Market Lab.
>>>Day 1
>>>
>>>Day 2
>>>
>>>Day 3
>>>
>>>Open Source
A visual movement.
Photo: Richard Stallman, courtesy of
Ever wondered why everyone seems to own a Nirvana t-shirt, and why you don’t hear the Ramones talking about suing H&M for making millions selling t-shirts with their logo? It’s all down to the wonderful, yet somewhat complex developments in the world of copyright law, that can be a bit of a head-spinner if you’re not up-to-date on all the facts. Now, let’s find out exactly why you can bulkprint your own t shirt range from NASA designs, make a small fortune and why no-one will come knocking on your door with a court order. Firstly, I want to clear up some of the jargon, namely
the terms open source, creative commons and public domain. >>>Open Source The open source movement originates back to the early 1980s, when computer programmer Richard Stallman had difficulty fixing his printer. He advocated for all software to be ‘open’ in such a way that it may be collectively shared and modified, with the idea being that this way, technological advances could be made much more easily – two heads are better than one. As a result, in 1983 he wrote the The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL)
. Whilst Stallman referred primarily to computer software, open source can refer to lots of different formats, such as scripts and images, even blueprints for machinery and housing nowadays, under the same basic concept that sharing is caring. Want to start a small scale farming business? Marcin Jakubowski has opensourced a set of blueprints for 50 farming tools that can be built cheaply from scratch. Call it a “civilization starter kit.” So what on earth does all of this have to do with t-shirts? If you’re still left feeling a little miffed or want to know more about the movement, check
out this easy to digest video, which explains the entire concept through lego. It turns out that the more we share, the more we are able to help and build communities as well as solve serious problems, such as the housing crisis in London – by creating tools such as WikiHouse, an open source house designing system. What does this have to do with t-shirts? >>>Creative Commons If it wasn’t for the developments made in copyright law made by Stallman, the idea of Creative Commons may never have been born. Inspired by The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL), the Creative Commons licenses were released in 2001, responding to a growing need in more varied copyright legislation due to explosive use of digital media. This is where t-shirts suddenly become incredibly relevant. As a t-shirt designer, or someone wanting to launch an online clothing brand, the Creative Commons licenses are of immense interest (as they are to me as a graphic designer and copywriter for the Printsome blog). Why? Because here, my friends lies the difference between
making or not making your first fortune. Consider the Creative Commons to be official types of permission for the use of others’ work, whereby you may or not be able to make money from someone else’s design, have to credit someone or not. Firstly, here are the current different licenses, with their varying levels of ‘freedom’ of use. It is always recommended that you consult the official website for the conditions of each license. >>> Public Domain To be as clear as possible regarding terminology, describing something as ‘public domain’ is essentially equivalent to saying that it is licensed under CC0 in terms of Creative Commons, although equally, a public domain mark exists – you can read more about it here. “CC0 gives creators a way to waive all their copyright and related rights in their works to the fullest extent allowed by law.” In a nutshell, if I were to decide to print t-shirts or other apparel using someone else’s designs, this would be the license I would look for, as it enables you to copy, modify and redistribute, EVEN for commercial purposes.
Now, for some interesting examples of designs and case studies in light of what you now know about how copyrighting legislation is evolving. I always wondered to myself how it was possible that huge commercial clothing lines, such as H&M, New Look and Primark are able to ‘get away’ with making a profit on the sale of band t-shirts. It baffled me that any group (particularly ones that have dwindled and probably not making so much money these days) would allow for the commercialisation of their merchandising without consent. Naturally, I came to the conclusion that perhaps designers at H&M had had a little chat with Kurt Cobain when he was alive and that he had signed something to say it was all dandy by him (Ok, go ahead and laugh at my innocent mind). It turns out that even before Creative Commons existed, some work just slipped through the net in the world of copyright law. In the case of the infamous illustration by Cobain, that eventually became recognised internationally as the band’s logo [it] does not meet the threshold of originality needed for copyright protection, and is therefore in the public domain.’ You can read more
about precisely what this means here. >>> The Superman logo There are also many famous logos and designs that you would imagine are already in the public domain and actually aren’t. This would mean that `rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable’. In layman’s terms, this generally means that the work is so old, it has already been shared so frequently that it is considered to be public property – such as the work of Shakespeare and famous composers, for example. Some cases, however, are a little more borderline. The Superman logo is a good example of such debates– it is actually owned by DC Comics, Inc. A subsidiary of Time Warner (c)2015. Though there has been much debate about whether is should already be considered public domain or not. With particularly famous logos, you can use Wikipedia as a relatively reliable reference with regards to copyrighted material. Click on whichever image is of interest to you and just below it will state details about its copyright license, and sometimes, where no license is applicable, you will be able to download the original.
>>>
“NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted” http:// www.jsc.nasa.gov/policies. html#Guidelines There you go, it’s written in black and white on the official website. So, I wasn’t joking, if you want to create an entire NASA themed clothing brand you absolutely can, particularly as they also waiver copyright on a great deal of other material including video footage and photography. Here’s a great example of an iconic image appearing to be in public domain until… The Warhol foundation started to use the image for ipod covers, iphone cases and other products (nearly 50 years after the original released of the album). So, to be clear, The Velvet Underground used an image legally for the cover of their album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico,’ as Warhol managed the band and designed it for them. Later, the band decided that the image was now their trademark and attempted to license the image. Who do you think has the right to license the image? Well, the original artwork was of course created by Warhol, however, neither had actually
copyrighted the piece, both claiming it as an intrinsic part of their identities. The image seems to remain unlicensed, though personally, I wouldn’t want to take my chances. After all, the whole world know that this image has had copyright issues. So, do you think it should be considered as already in the public domain? Let us know what you think. Don’t fancy designs that are so well-known? Now for the fun part. It’s a little hard to believe at times that there are people so passionate about their designs, that they are willing to give their hard work away for free. Whilst researching to bring you the most up-to-date information on copyright developments, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon one of Ryan McGuire’s websites, Gratisography.com. If you take a look at the website, you’ll find a very varied and unique set of high resolution professional photos, free of copyright restrictions. So free in fact, that just one click on an image and it’s downloading to your hard drive. Nothing in life is this free, I thought. I would always recommend that should you have any doubts regarding whether or not you can use someone’s work or whether or not the
idea you have in mind would breach copyright, you should get in touch with the artist. Which is exactly what I did. “I don’t really mind if my images are printed on shirts and sold. It’s nice that people are able to build a business and make a living off the images I share with the world for free. Although I don’t require it, as a professional courtesy it is recommended list the photographer in the description of the shirt being sold.” So there you have it, I strongly urge you to check out Ryan’s website, as well as his new project, Colorlisa a collection of colour palettes inspired by the world’s most famous artists.
>>>
>>>The NASA logo
>>Semiconductor Earthworks
>>>
From top to bottom, left to right. 1_ Collection of works by Semiconductor at the stage of research, photo of projected video at SonarPLANTA. 2 _ SonarPLANTA presentation video. 3_ SonarPLANTA presentation video. 4_Still from the Earthworks installation at SonarPLANTA.
Last week, Audiovisual City had the extreme pleasure to attend a press conference for Sonar +D, where Semiconductor, otherwise known as British artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, pioneers of the digital and natural world, explained their most recent project ‘Earthworks’ to small room of keen journalists. Their work takes scientific data from nature (earthquakes, volcanic activity, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, motion of stars, data from satellites) and depicts it through tangible and beautiful pieces of art. Sound, image and experience converge to report the phenomena of the world we live in, both natural and altered
by human activity, through creativity. The artists consider themselves simultaneously as digital artists, as well as explorers of nature – scientists-come-visual artists. Their imaginative and innovative projects have led them to take part in many prestigious artistic residencies, including with NASA, where they completed their work ‘Magnetic Movie.’ https://vimeo.com/1166968 Earthworks is a piece that represents the process of formation of the Earth and the constant changes that take place in its structure and landscape, from those
caused by natural phenomena (earthquakes, erosion) to those caused by human activities that determine a new geologic era: the Anthropocene. Five large screens arranged in zigzag are the basis for this multichannel video installation. ‘Earthworks’ displays HD animated graphics that represent movement of strata in minute detail: layers merging and separating in constant movement driven by seismographic data from phenomena, such as earthquakes, volcanoes or glaciers, that this British duo transform into a surrounding flow of sound. This seismic data was collected from the IRIS(Incorporated Research Institution for
>>> The explanatory video of the installation
“Art needs no agenda to approach the subject.” - Joe Gerhardt. Since they are dealing with one sample per millisecond, (the full data collection and interpretation is still in progress) they had to subjectively decide to include the sound they discovered depending on whether or not they found it ‘interesting’ or not. Here, we can see how Ruth and Joe’s work truly blurs the boundaries between science and art, where subjectivity and objectivity meet to create a visual piece that can be interpreted and enjoyed by all. They are not concerned about the scientific accuracy of their work, but more so about the language of science itself, remembering at all times that it is innately biased, since humans invented it. The key is to alter the time and space reality in which we experience certain things - in this case the vibrations caused through natural disasters, in order to reinterpret and experience them from an alternative perspective. “They are not concerned about the scientific accuracy of their work, but more so about the language of science itself.” These artists certainly don’t claim to know or understand
Seismology) public archive and from the surroundings of PLANTA–the quarry of Fundació Sorigué near Balaguer (Lleida)– with assistance from experts in geotechnology from the School of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona. Thus, this work adds fresh, living data directly related to the Anthropocene era. Semiconductor introduces the use of scientific methods in its creative process; in this case the use of geomodels, a technique used by geologists to study the formation of the land by applying various physical forces dyed colored sand in order to observe its behavior. Similarly, “Earthworks” animated graphics react differently depending on the sound that is applied to them at different times. Much of their work comments upon the way in which the language of science mediates nature itself, since science is the language that we use to ‘explain’ our observations. Earthworks, therefore, is no different, as it enables the non-scientist to view data that they would otherwise be unable to interpret. Though the artists admit that the data is not 100% scientifically accurate, they obtained the data using public domain files of recordings of earthquakes from
around the world, searching specifically for dates and locations of specific interest. They explain how since recordings are continuous, that they have a copious amount of data to sort, much more so than any ordinary computer would be able to manage. This is where the University of Barcelona comes in. It turned out that the laboratories at the UB were some of the only accessible facilities with the necessary analogue data modelling equipment required in order for the pair to carry out their investigations. In order to make the seismic data audible to human ears, the couple have to increase the frequency of the sound wave data in order to bring it into audible range. The interesting thing about the data, the couple say, is that it actually sounds like what it is – the gradual changing of the landscape. With their data based projects they often make their starting point sound and transform this into visual data, however, the process can take the opposite direction: it depends entirely on the nature of the project in hand. In this case, they began by simulating the visual element of the data by using colourful layers of sand, creating landscapes through replicated waves forms.
>>>The Archives:
LEV Festival, Gijรณn (2014)
>>>Atom TM, Raster Noton in the theatre at the Laboral
>>> Expo at the Laboral. 2014
>>>The cathedral at the Lab
boral, Gijรณn
>>>Awaiting the next performance in the theatre at LEV festival
1_ Installation at el Laboral, Gijรณn
>>Mutek Festival, Barcelona Marzo 2016
>>> AFLOAT from above at Bart’s Teatre
>>> AFLOAT from the front row
>>> Visual sequence details
>>> Dedo live jam at Fรกbrica Estrella Damm
>>> Live performance, at the Institut Franรงais
>>>NITSA Club, Sala Apolo
Live visual performance by VJ AYL
>>>Atom TM, Raster Noton in the theatre at the Laboral
>>> Expo at the Laboral. 2014
>>>Awaiting the next performance in the theatre at
LEV festival
>>>The cathedral at the Laboral, Gijรณn
>>> The botanical gardens, Gijรณn