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iotaNews Aug- Oct 2009

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 The iotaWeekly  – September 28-October 4, 2009

 

 

Clip of the Week
“Undulation” (2007) by Harvey Goldman

“Whether water-like distortion or spirals viewed laterally, Harvey Goldman’s Undulation explores variations of sinuosity. The color forms flow, their smoothness juxtaposed with interspersed angular line patterns, serving to reinforce the winding motion by its contrast. This collaboration with composer James Bohn creates a brief but dynamic and constantly evolving world.”–Dawn Hollison

The complete film can be seen along with other historical and contemporary works in the iotaSalon this Thursday, October 1st, at UCLA’s Department of Design | Media Arts.

To learn more about the artist and his work, please visit his website.
Site of the Week
CRCA – Center for Research in Computing and the Arts“The Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California, San Diego whose mission is to facilitate the invention of new art forms that arise out of the developments of digital technologies. Current areas of interest include interactive networked multimedia, virtual reality, computer-spatialized audio, and live performance techniques for computer music and graphics.”
Artist of the Week

Sylvia PengillySyvlia Pengilly is a retired professor of music theory, composition and electronic music who previously taught at Loyola University in New Orleans and currently resides in California. Her collaborations with musician Michael Rhoades yielded four of the works found on her DVD collection, “Six Videos,” available from The iotaStore.“Impossible Spaces” (2007) will be featured in October at UCLA at the iotaSalon and Pengilly will be in attendance.

For more information about Pengilly and her work, please visit  her website.

The iotaWeekly – September 21-27, 2009

 

 

Come Closer Clip of the Week
“Come Closer” (1952) by Hy Hirsh

Watch a clip from a classic in abstract animation, Hy Hirsh’s “Come Closer.” The complete film can be seen along with other historical and contemporary works in the iotaSalon coming in October to UCLA’s Department of Design | Media Arts.
Site of the Week
UCLA Department of Design | Media ArtsHome of the upcoming iotaSalon on October 1st, UCLA’s Department of Design | Media Arts is also home to a program committed to encouraging and inspiring and training a new generation of designers and media artists through new technologies and innovations. Explore their website to learn about the faculty, see exhibitions of exciting new work by current undergraduate and graduate students, and check out the calendar for upcoming events and lectures by visiting scholars, artists, and entrepreneurs.Find out more about the iotaSalon, here.
Artist of the Week

Michal Levy“Since childhood, music, dance and painting have been an important part of my life
and have contributed to my passion for exploring the visualization of sound.”–artist’s websiteThe creator of the wonderfully joyous, jazz-infused, and colorful “Giant Steps” (2001) and “One” (2007), Michal Levy is an Israeli-born artist, designer, and animator, who studied saxophone in the Jazz Music Department at the Talma Yelin High School of the Arts in Tel Aviv. She went on to study Communication Design at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, spending a semester as an exchange student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Levy currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she works as an art director for a major corporation.

“One” (2007) will be featured in October at UCLA at the iotaSalon.
For more information about Levy and her work, please visit  her website.

The iotaWeekly – September 14-20, 2009

 

 

Slither Clip of the Week
“Crusty Effluvia” from Slither (2002) by Jeffers Egan

Watch a clip from “Crusty Effluvia,” one of five films collected on Jeffers Egan’s anthology, Slither, where cryptic biological images float through Egan’s eerie visual worlds accompanied by a haunting score provided by Jake Mandell.

To learn more about the artist and his work, please visit his website.

Purchase “Slither” at The iotaStore.
Site of the Week
NoTV Visual Music“As a cross-media platform NoTV aims to present new developments in the contemporary Visual Music-scene, researching all possible ‘variants’ of visual music aesthetics (through the development of new technologies, new kinds of presentation), and analysing the philosophical and technological consequences of this ‘synaesthetic revolution.’ NoTV Visual Music therefore presents itself as an innovative VJ label, a progressive platform fusing video art with electronic music through our DVD’s , ClubTV broadcastings and live VJ events.”
Artist of the Week

Ben Sheppee“Sheppee currently lives in Tokyo performing/exhibiting internationally. Working as a visual artist since 1998 last year he accomplished recognition in the worlds Top 20 VJs charts (DJ magazine #13) and is widely known for his efforts running the label lightrhythm visuals…Originally an installation artist – Sheppee would carry 8 slide projectors to each gig and produce lightsculptures at underground events in London. Relocating from the UK to San Francisco in 2003 his art form was encouraged by visual gurus on the west coast and he moved into video as well. Working closely with Dimension7 studios he developed an aesthetic, and starting publishing his work and the work of others under the name “Lightrhythm Visuals Ltd”, his most recent release being a collection of eleven audiovisual works, each remixed by a major name in the VJ scene, and compiled as a multi-angle DVD with hidden tracks built into the menu system…”–lightrhythm visuals

The iotaWeekly – September 7-13, 2009

 

 

Flesh Flows Clip of the Week
“Flesh Flows” (1974) by Adam Beckett

Watch a clip from Adam Beckett’s “Flesh Flows” (1974) and experience the signature shifting and sensual organic forms of this influential animator, the subject of the August 17th retrospective, “Infinite Animation: The Work of Adam Beckett,” presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in conjunction with The iotaCenter.

To learn more about Beckett, his work, and iota’s efforts to preserve his legacy, please visit The Adam Beckett Project.
Site of the Week
COLOURlovers :: Color Trends + PalettesAbstract animators obsessed with the infinite possibilities of color will absolutely love COLOURlovers, “a color and design community for creative inspiration and sharing the love of color. Here you will find over one million color names, hundreds of thousands of color palettes and patterns, comments and ratings. Interviews with top creative professionals regarding color and articles covering current color trends and news are uploaded daily.”
Artist of the Week

David Stout“David Stout is an interactive video-sound artist and one of the world’s leading laptop performers exploring real-time cross-synthesis of sound and image. He is the recipient of the Harvestworks Interactive Technology Award and the Sun Micro Systems Award for Academic Excellence (2004) and a nominee for the both the WTN World Technology Award (2003) and the International Media Art Prize (2004). His work in interactive media includes electro-acoustic scores for stage and screen, live cinema, video-dance, data-base narrative, noise performance and telematic video events that emphasize multi-screen projection as an extension of performer, audience and environment.”–artist’s websiteFormerly a professor at the College of Santa Fe and Director of the MOV-iN Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Stout currently works for (iARTA) the Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts at the University of North Texas.

The iotaWeekly – August 31-September 6, 2009

 

 

Clip of the Week
“Ghosts 8” (2008) by Shawn Faherty

Watch a clip from Shawn Faherty’s stunning music video for the Nine Inch Nails song “Ghosts 8,” created with Side Effects Software’s Houdini. The video was also accepted into the 2009 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival.

“Shawn began by filming himself on a green screen playing guitar while the song played back at half speed. This gave him ample time to reach key positions during the music. This slowing of the time also helped when keying out the background since there were more frames to work with. The frames where brought into Houdini through a File COP, where they were adjusted for brightness, contrast, and color. A special Edge COP was also used, and some sequences were helped along with the use of the Fog and Over COPs.”–Side Effects Software
Site of the Week
Dancer UniverseDance has long been a source of inspiration for abstract animators including Norman McLaren and Jules Engel. Engel has sited seeing the Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo as a huge turning point in his life when he discovered his love for movement and has encouraged his students that when live dance performance is in town, “If they can afford it, see it.” However, if you cannot afford it, there is always the online branch of Dancer Magazine: Dancer Universe.Dancer Universe provides a great resource not only for dancers and dance enthusiasts, but also for animators interested in movement. Explore the numerous videos capturing the variety of movements from a variety of dance styles: ballet, jazz, modern, broadway, hip hop, and ballroom. The site also contains a variety of writings on dance including regular blogs as well as feature articles like the July 2009 article, “Loïe Fuller and The Body in Motion.”
Artist of the Week

J. Walt AdamczykJohn Adamczyk, known as J.Walt, is an interactive designer, filmmaker, graphic artist, and composer. He has created a number of films, videos, interactive attractions and performances. He has been at the forefront of interactive art, expanding the uses of interactive graphics into uncharted territories. He is an award-winning pioneer of computer-generated puppetry, having created digital puppets since 1987. He grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1988. Since then has created a number of interactive attractions for Disney, Sony, and others. He organizes the Los Angeles Abstract Film and Video Workshop, a monthly gathering of artists. J.Walt’s work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica, Siggraph, Sinking Creek Film Festival, New York Animation Festival, and others. He lives with his wife and three children in Altadena, California.His 1987 works “Incidents” and “Recurrents” were recently screened at the iota co-presented event “Calculations: Pioneers of Computer Animation” at Echo Park Film Center.
J. Walt continues to present his live-animation program, “Spontaneous Fantasia,” across the country and hosts the Los Angeles Abstract Movie Workshop for both aspiring and established abstract film and video artists.

For more information about J. Walt and his work, please visit his website.

The iotaWeekly – August 24-30, 2009

 

 

Clip of the Week
Video Out (2005) by Meredith Finkelstein and Paul Vlachos 
Underground artists and entertainers from today’s club and rave scene talk about their creative roots, their tribulations and their dreams. Hear tales of the ‘Homeboy Shopping Network’ and flamethrowers in illegal clubs. Follow talented young pixel pushers who dream of moving up to the world of fine art and big money. Their work plays throughout as avant-garde video artists and clubland VJ’s tell the story of live video art over the last thirty years.Winner of the “Best Documentary Feature” award at the Winnipeg International Film Festival and a “Grand Festival” award winner at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, Video Out was also an official selection with the Dallas Video Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, The New York International Independent Film Festival, the Westcliffe Digital Film Festival, the Alameda Film Festival and the Black Earth Film Festival.Purchase “Video Out” at The iotaStore.

For the latest news and projects from 13BIT Production, visit their website.
Site of the Week
Machine Project“Machine Project exists to encourage heroic experiments of the gracefully over-ambitious. We provide educational resources to people working with technology, we collaborate with artists to produce site-specific works, and we promote conversations between scientists, poets, technicians, performers, and the community of Los Angeles as a whole.”Located in Los Angeles, CA, Machine Project hosts a variety of technology-themed concerts and screenings as well as instructional classes in subjects as diverse as programming iPhones, crocheting and building your own electronics. Those who caught iota’s recent screening at Echo Park Film Center, “Calculations: Pioneers of Computer Animation,” would undoubtedly be interested in the talks that Machine Project hosts regularly like the July 2009 lecture, Computer Interface: A Video History, led by MIT Media Lab PhD student Jamie Zigelbaum. Right next door to the Echo Park Film Center, Machine Project is a must-visit venue for visual music filmmakers and fans looking for inspiration in the realm of the mechanical.
Artist of the Week

Michael BetancourtMichael Betancourt is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and avant-garde theorist. He has been making movies, site-specific installations, and non-traditional art forms (and exhibiting his work in unseen, unusual, or public spaces) since 1992. Journals such as Leonardo, Semiotica and CTheory have published his essays and he has edited five books on visual music technologies invented by artists such as Thomas Wilfred, Mary Hallock-Greenewalt, and Oskar Fischinger. In 2005, he produced The iotaCenter’s “Visual Music From iota” DVD anthology.For more information about Michael Betancourt and his work, please visit his official website.

Infinite Animation: The Work of Adam Beckett – Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council and The iotaCenter

 

 As one of a core group of animators in the early years of Cal Arts’ Experimental Animation program, Beckett had an inimitable style and often twisted vision of the world. He made only six films, began two more, and had a short but influential career in the visual effects industry. This included a credit as head of the Rotoscope and Animation Department on the film Star Wars (1977). Tragically, the completion of his films and the flourishing of his career were cut short by his tragic death in 1979.

In remembrance of a life well lived and artistic vision well realized, this special evening will feature a lineup of panels and screenings co-moderated by iota board member and Beckett biographer Pamela Turner, along with visual effects artist Richard Winn Taylor, with several of Beckett’s contemporaries speaking about his films, personality, and effects innovations. The program will also include the premiere of Beckett’s elusive unfinished work Life in the Atom, recently restored by the Academy Film Archive. In conjunction with the event, there will be an exhibit of Beckett’s artwork as well as artifacts from his estate.

Hosted by visual effects artist Richard Winn Taylor and Adam Beckett biographer Pamela Turner.

When: Monday, August 17, at 8 p.m.
Place: Linwood Dunn Theater, 1313 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028

For more information, please visit the event page.

 

The iotaWeekly – August 17-23, 2009

 

 

from Carnival (1963) Clip of the Week
Carnival (1963) by Jules Engel 
Made in France and less abstract than the majority of Engel’s work, Carnival is a surrealistic tromp through an absurdly nightmarish cartoon carnival where the workers are inept as well as masochistic (for the amusement of its patrons), the rides are broken and the magic acts turn violent. An ironic twist is the film’s whimsical visual style, which is clearly influenced by Engel’s years at the UPA Studio.This title and fifteen other works by Jules Engel are included on iotaCenter’s new Kinetica Video Library release, Jules Engel Selected Works Volume 1, which is available through our store. Click here for more information and to purchase.
Site of the Week
Preservation InsanityWhat kinds of special factors go into a film preservation project, especially one involving the special considerations of experimental film? iota works closely with preservationist Mark Toscano on maintaining and preserving works from our collection. Outside of his job at the Academy Film Archive, Mark maintains the informational and anecdotal blog Preservation Insanity, which details some of the issues inherent in realizing a preservation project for experimental films.Of particular interest to iota’s community might be the following posts – 1) Hell Split Flexion, about some discoveries Mark made while examining the original hand-painted negative of Brakhage’s film, and 2) Know Your Enemy, about Ektochrome Commercial (ECO) film stock and how its use by animators and experimental filmmakers can cause particular problems for the preservationist down the line.
from Ace of Light (1984) Artist of the Week
Sky-DavidA graduate of CalArts, Sky-David (formerly known as Dennis Pies) has created several beautiful abstract films with pastel on black paper (Luma Nocturna) and paints and inks on white (Sonoma). He also given dance performances with his animations: his film Dissolve in Light uses a central film with a spiritual/mythological narration, while he, dancing, carries a screen reflecting other animated imagery.The above image is from Sky’s work Ace of Light (1984), a film that explores the concept of verbal construction as a pure visual stream. Animated to Sky’s voice reading a poem aloud, the film, according to Sky, “allows a great deal of room for the viewer to construct the mystery of that narrative.” After filming some sections on paper and others using clay on glass, the negative was projected through an ariel image projector on the Oxberry Animation stand into water, with cels of a bird blocking light from the projector, and re-filmed frame by frame by frame. The film took three years to complete. Ace of Light is available for viewing in iota’s Study Center at our offices in Culver City.

Calculations: Pioneers of Computer Animation | August 13, 2009 – Presented by The iotaCenter and Echo Park Film Center

 In an effort to enlighten both art and technology, artists worked with computers to create an aesthetic specific to the machine decades before Hollywood CGI spectaculars. At IBM, Bell, and in their own home-built labs, they generated visionary spectacles from mathematical precision–complex abstractions, stroboscopic patterns, kinetic rhythms, and volumetric illusions. Tonight’s program is an introduction to these early pioneers and a cross-section of some of their finest works. iota is working with local venue Echo Park Film Center, in conjunction with Chicago-based artist Jodie Mack and Amy Beste to bring you this program.

For more information about the program, visit the event page.

When: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 8pm
Where: Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado (at Sunset) in Los Angeles

Map and Directions

 

The iotaWeekly – August 10-16, 2009

 

 

from 1/3 v.1 Clip of the Week
1/3 v.1 (2006) by Chiaki Watanabe


Experience the audial and visual intensity in an excerpt from “1/3 (one over three),” a 2006 piece from award-winning abstract artist Chiaki Watanabe with music by Tristan Perich.Find out more about Chiaki Watanabe at her page at The Visual Music Village.
Site of the Week
Cartoon Brew

Bringing “the latest news and trends in animation to over 10,000 different artists, entertainment execs and cartoon aficionados,” Cartoon Brew is a fantastic resource for the experimental and character animator.

This renowned animation blog features the writings of animation authorities Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi who not only post on the latest happenings in the world of animation, but also highlight incredible finds from the animation of the past for rediscovery by new generations of animators.
Adam Beckett Artist of the Week

Adam Beckett

A star among many rising stars, Adam Beckett had a great influence on his fellow students in Jules Engel’s then newly-formed Experimental Animation program at CalArts. Both prolific and talented, Adam is still remembered by those who participated in the vibrant film festival community of the 1970’s, and who were aware of the evolving animation and experimental film genres. Between 1970 and 1975, Beckett completed seven groundbreaking films: “The Letter” (with James Gore), “Dear Janice,” “Evolution of the Red Star,” “Sausage City,” “Flesh Flows,” “Heavy-Light” and “Kitsch in Synch.” Two larger independent animations, “Life in the Atom” and “Knotte Grosse,” remain unfinished due to Beckett’s work in the growing visual effects industry and his tragic and untimely death in 1979 at the age of 29.

Although Adam Beckett’s personal films are over 30 years old, they still resonate as unique and relevant in the ongoing discourse of art animation. Join The iotaCenter and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Science and Technology Council for “Infinite Animation: The Work of Adam Beckett,” an August 17th event celebrating the life and work of this unique vision.

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