THE ACT OF BUILDING WITH ONE'S OWN HANDS

last night, carlos, shane, and i met up with ricky def, (formerly just ricky) ivy, and our new friend betty for a visit to the san francisco art institute where several students were showing video & sound work... additionally, there were a few interesting performance pieces.

i was impressed by the quality of the pieces... all of them. it was interesting to get an art degree from a school that's not known for its art program. i enjoyed the experience and learned some important stuff that has helped get me to where i am today. but at the same time, i hardly felt any competitiveness while i was there. i know, i know... learning isn't a contest. but i alway strive to make my work better if somebody else is working in the same space, doing similar things, etc. i think it's natural. your work will improve if you surround yourself with people who are better than you...

nearly every piece last night was created, at least in part, using max and msp. Some of the programming was insane. of course, knowing alex has given me some familiarity with the software and the audio it can produce. but the image processing capabilities seem every bit as gratifying and intense as what can be done with sound in the app. i don't have the program in front of me, so i won't be able to name specific pieces and artists... which is unfortunate. but there were a few video pieces -- one in particular -- that were staggering. being a guy who works in video, i hate seeing things that are so alien that i can't even understand how they were created. but that's what happened last night. so now, i realize, i have to learn how to program in max.

though what i really enjoyed last night were the pieces of hardware people had created to use as controllers for their digital pieces. one woman, for example, had crafted a glove and a set of arm bands that allowed her to manipulate sound just by moving her hands through the air. the resulting piece was aurally pleasing, and her performance intriguing, as she had to move her body in very interesting ways to produce the desired sounds. but what was really cool was that the glove -- a sheer, possibly nylon glove -- had all sorts of ridiculous wires and metal attached to it. it was oh-so ts. another gentleman had a beatiful little pink and white box that he strapped on like a guitar. attached to it, was a giant rod connected with a cable. he placed one end of the stick on the ground and then rotated and undulated the stick with his hand from the top while tweaking knobs and pressing buttons on the aforementioned box. shane and i were enthralled as he had clearly invented a way to rock out -- guitar-solo-style -- while producing wicked, max-crafted, electronic anarchy. if i had one of those things, it would be hard for me to contain myself. i would jam ev. re. where.

building stuff is cool. i wish i had a better understanding of electronics so i could build some neat stuff for myself. maybe, instead, i'll just learn to program in max and befriend some of these talented art students... these guys are doing some really interesting stuff. if i wanted more formal education, that's definitely one school i'd consider.

finally, muchas gracias to betty for the impromptu dj set in our apartment last night. i only hope our neighbors enjoyed it as much as we did ;)

ps - the taco shop has been located. it's name? tacos mexicali. strangely appropriate, no? more later, and photos. Posted by ryan at April 9, 2004 09:36 AM