:: Monday, October 04, 2004 ::
NET.SWAP: jules et jim (2004) - ctgr, jimpunk and maya
BY: Kate Southworth
This is a soft bitter work that starts off as a quirky flow of little red, green and white popup windows hopping about the desktop, and ends brimming with intensity and sadness. It is a re-make of Henri-Pierre Roche’s novel Jules et Jim--an obscure story made famous by Francois Truffaut’s 1962 film adaptation. Like Truffaut’s film, this piece is tightly edited to that the first part (perhaps up to the Script Alert), giving us a sense of the lively frivolities of sexual and emotional good times.
As the relationships between the fictional threesome get kind of complex, Maya, Jimpunk and ctgr treat us to an onslaught of freeze-frames, jump-cuts and terrifyingly dizzying movement. At one point, when my desktop was shuddering under the rhythmic flickering of several grey and blood-red windows, the onslaught became too severe and I hammered at the keyboard trying to find an escape. I was ignored, and the pulsing taunts continued, made more extreme by a tiny pause, a little breath that seemed to offer me some control, some voice. I walked away, and when I returned, all was calm and an elongated mock browser window sat quietly to the left as Kraftwerk’s Computer Love played gently alongside. Now if that isn’t tainted and twisted love, I don’t know what is.
http://www.kalogera.net/dada/
posted in collaboration with Furtherfield.org
ORIGINAL POST: Sunday, September 19, 2004
BY: Kristen Palana
Winged Sandals is an Australian site dedicated to bringing the stories and characters of ancient Greek mythology to life for a new generation. The site is primarily targeted towards 6-12 year olds but is not so over simplified that adults cannot enjoy and learn from it. In fact, it was my friend (an adult) from CourtTV.com that sent me the link, because he was captivated by the Flash animated interpretations of the stories of Orpheus in the Underworld, Perseus and Medusa, Demeter and Persephone, and How Apollo got his Oracle.
The story of Orpheus in the Underworld is my particular favorite, because it has an interesting modern spin. In this version, the plot is the same as in the ancient myth, but here, Orpheus is a romantic rock musician and his wife Eurydice turns quite Goth when she is in the land of the dead. The music has a modern alt rock feel, but synchs with the story and captures the mood.
Winged Sandals also has in-depth character information called "Who's Who in Greek Mythology," as well as the history of ancient Greece, descriptions, and interactive games and activities meant to educate about Ancient Greek lifestyles, art, and culture.
This project has been developed from an original concept by Rosie Allimonos.
Concept Development: Rosie Allimonos, Dee Hannan, Dr Christopher Mackie, Annabel Orchard, Abby Robinson.
ORIGINAL POST: Wednesday, September 22, 2004
BY: Peter Luining
EXCERPT: The second part of Read_Me was the Dorkbot city camp, which was (opposed to what some might think) not a camp with tents that were put up somewhere in the city. For the camp, the Read_Me team worked together with the organizers of Dorkbot New York and London. And for those who don't know, Dorkbots are informal meetings where artists, etc. do presentations of their work. Dorkbot's slogan is "people doing strange things with electricity;" for the Read_Me festival this slogan was changed to "people doing strange things with software," a slogan that was also printed on T-shirts that were handed out to all participants. The city camp was held, for the largest part, in Aarhus Art Academy that, in addition to a presentation space, put several spaces at the disposal of the festival, one of them being made into a special chill out (meeting) space. In the evening, a local underground club and an art space were used for some special performances.
click here to read complete review.