March 4th, 2010
In the collection of SFMOMA from the installation, not the book. A new favorite:
© 1977 Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan
December 29th, 2009
After a surge of surprised/positive tweets about Avatar right after it started in the US, I went to see a late screening at the nice Cobble Hill Cinema on Court Street in Brooklyn. And, while I totally agree with Annalee Newitz’s criticism of it being a white guilt-fantasy, it is a remarkable film. A few thoughts:
3D
I would have bet a lot of money that 3D projections, which had been around as the future of cinema for decades would never, ever make it to be mainstream. We’re just so conditioned by watching tens of thousands of two-dimensional representations that we create the missing dimension in our heads. But well, here we are, sitting in the cinema with glasses on (which funnily in our case must have had the polarizing filter lenses in the wrong way). I still think it may be just a phase and stem from cinemas trying to keep up with P2P networks, but in the case of Avatar it really did add to the immersiveness of the experience and mostly it was used somewhat unobtrusively in terms of cinematography.
Biotech SciFi
Avatar appears to occupy an interesting slot in the range of science fiction’s visions of the future. While there are many other similar approaches, especially from David Cronenberg (such as The Fly and eXistenZ), Avatar may be the first very high-profile movie that pushes the public imagination from a future dominated by electronics to a future where highly advanced biotechnology is depicted as what radically separates it from the present. Actually and more precisely, it sits at the very edge of two visions of futures where electronic equipment is needed to connect to the genetically engineered body but the wish to transcend this separation and become purely biological is one of the core motifs of the narrative. Also note that the notion of transcendence makes it radically different from the electronic transhumanism of a Hans Moravec for example.
Similarly, Pandora’s biosphere is populated by amazing creatures and part of the appeal of the movie is clearly to indulge in the obviously artificially created animals and plants of the planet, with many reviewers pointing out the aesthetic pleasure of seeing something that looks real and natural but clearly cannot be. Which brings me to the next point:
The Uncanny Valley
With Avatar we may have reached the point in pre-rendered computer generated imagery where (with the exception of the Na’Vi maybe, who miss the suspension of disbelief maybe by one generation of technology) the artificial has become practically real. Most of the flora and fauna looks perfectly natural yet unnatural and–is not revulsive or such at all, which would be the prediction of the Uncanny valley hypothesis.
We’re very finely tuned to human features, so that might explain why humanoids will definitely be the last to seem real. But it may be time to put the hypothesis to rest and accept that the valley was not very uncanny after all and is as good as crossed.
In Avatar, there almost was an inverse effect when after two hours or so of predominantly artificial creatures the first humans are being composited into the images and they do look flat and artificial in direct comparison.
Ecotopia
When I was in San Francisco this September, Alexis Madrigal borrowed me a wonderful book which I always meant to write about (elsewhere). It’s called Ecotopia and thematizes an alternate history scenario where northern California, Oregon and Washington segregate from the United States to become Ecotopia, a wholly sustainable nation with emphasis on co-habitation with everything natural. The plot revolves around a journalist called Will Weston being send to report and learn about Ecotopia’s ways (there had been no contact between Ecotopia and the US for twenty years), but of course he falls in love with a wild local lady and ends up converting to an Ecotopian after realizing (seeing) how much he prefers Ecotopian life. Having recently read this, Avatar almost seems like the movie adaptation of that book. From the way that the Na’Vi co-exist with nature to the scenes where an assault of helicopters is defeated, I am almost sure that this has been an inspiration.
Games
Maybe it’s just the aesthetics, but never before has a movie given me such a similar feeling to playing a game. The film obviously heavily borrows from games like World of Warcraft (especially in terms of riding flying creatures), but I’m wondering whether it might be due to the added feeling of immersion through 3D which in games comes from the interaction?
More: also read Fabagit’s take on it, as a representative went with me and has such a different way of processing it.
December 22nd, 2009
December 8th, 2009
I’m very happy to say that Social Collider, the collaboration between Karsten Schmidt and me for Google’s Chrome Experiments is part of Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A in London which opens to the public tomorrow.
Image taken from Karsten’s generative identity for the show
The exhibition explores three themes, Social Collider will be part of the Network section: “This networked world has provided the basis and tools for works of art and design that are multi-sited and global. Networks are saturated with the traces of our lives: messages we send, blog entries we post, borders we cross. Artists and designers are drawing on these traces of human presence, and using the ‘memory’ as the basis of new works. Translating our digital tracks into readable and understandable visualisations, they tease out the threads of our digitised activity.”
For more information about Social Collider please have a look at Karsten’s comprehensive documentation of the project.
Decode at the V&A’s Porter Gallery, 8 December 2009 – 11 April 2010
November 17th, 2009
Along with other experts in shifting perception, I’ll be representing The Golden Institute as a specialist in speculation at tomorrow’s Knowledge Shots performance hosted by Fabulous Agitation and Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
Knowledge Shots is a platform for instant knowledge sharing, micro lecturing, experimental story telling, ad-hoc consultancy and brainstorming. We’ve gathered a group of experts in various fields to help participants approach research and projects from a new, another angle + cookies. We’ll take over rooms 303 and 304 of the Gottesman Libraries on Wednesday, Nov. 18 between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. All are welcome to walk in and share your current research and projects with our experts. We’ll embark on a collective brainstorm, experiencing new ways of understanding and rejoicing in the wonders of instant association.
Rooms 303 & 304, Gottesman Libraries (Russell Hall)
Wednesday, November 18th
7.30 – 9.30pm
November 11th, 2009
Science Gallery in Dublin have produced a couple of really nice videos about the projects that are part of the exhibition What If… until mid-December.
I felt like crap that day, losing my voice (and was actually hiding from the film crew), but I’m thankful that they managed to grab me after all.
