meanings lost and found

Stefan Themerson and Language - Videos - LUX

2012-02-24T14:53:00.001Z

Part of LUX artists' moving image online exhibition: Language Lessons
Click below:
Stefan Themerson and Language - Videos - LUX

cooperative calendar 2012: February by Fabrizio

2012-02-01T09:05:00.016Z

by Fabrizio La Palombara

Smile for London: Shaken to Heat

2012-01-24T14:53:00.003Z

Word in Motion in Camden town Jan'12, with R Holland

smile for london I word in motion

2012-01-11T15:33:00.006Z

This project brought on a collaboration with inspirational poet Rick Holland.
On a London Underground screen from January 16th.
smile for london website
article on dexigner

Interactive Visual Poetry

2011-10-10T12:07:00.003+01:00

A friend recently brought to my attention Unidentified Game Object by Paolo Pedercini (August 2009) from molleindustria (Radical games against the dictatorship of entertainment). It is a fast paced interactive visual poetry piece that seems never-ending.
Here are some stills I grabbed from it and I would definitely advise you to have a go.

on show

2011-06-13T20:46:00.005+01:00

Stills from the animated simulation of the Word Machine based on the Rules. I visualised the machine as translation process governed by input and output.
Input: rolling list of sentences
Output: macro viewpoint that zooms out to constantly fit the whole as it grows and micro view shows the new sentence added.

The Word Machine Rules

2011-05-18T19:39:00.000+01:00

Euler angles

2011-05-09T22:29:00.000+01:00

sound experiments

2011-03-16T12:58:00.002Z

I have started experimenting with how the machine could output the measurement of sentences with sound. Using a similar logic to the one applied in the angles and the use of colour, the audio output of the machine is produced by layering different sounds that represent the different angles at each different axis..
There is also a general background sound which is connected with the background colour.

meaning has colour

2011-03-06T13:54:00.002Z

Continuing with the rules of the word machine I noticed how in all 3d programmes the x, y and z axis are attributed Red Green and Blue. As the viewer slides the angles of each axis off and on the colour of the axis is taken away from the colour balance of the background.

work in progress show: Shoreditch Town Hall 8th-11th Feb

2011-02-15T15:29:00.003Z

photographs by Marek Kultys and Preetika Sah

Meanings lost and found #02: The Word Machine

2011-02-15T14:31:00.007Z

"to refuse to fix meaning is, in the end, to refuse God"
R. Barthes, 1977

The second and final part of my project with language is the Word Machine.
The ethereal word machine mulls around responses to concepts that are ambiguous. In an attempt to map meaning, it spits those responses out in a tree of connected strings of collective verbal expression.
If meaning however is in our minds and not in words, sentences or objects, then pin-pointing it and mapping it is impossible.

The content that the Word Machine is using are single sentence statements from a collection of varied sources representing the/a collective unconscious. For the prototype, I'm using responses from 65 people to Wittgenstein's 'the limits of my language are the limits of my world' and quotes from my research [see previous blog entry for initial sketches]. Once the parameters and rules of the 'machine' however are set and defined, it should be possible for it to use any starting point for a different map/tree as long as there is relevant input and subject matter settings. Other potential subject matters besides 'language' for the machine to map will be: desire and time.

still from a visualisation of the sentence selection process

From a database of sentences the machine selects responses to connect in 3d space. The starting point is a key statement in regards to a subject matter. In this case"the limits of my language are the limits of my world". The 'machine' is looking for the first word of the succeeding sentence to match the last of the preceeding.
i.e. The limits of my language are the limits of my world/ My world is not your world.
The angle the new sentence is placed to join the previous one is according a a set of 'meaning parameters'.

The Word Machine will place the selected word in 3d space in an angle in all 3 axises (x, y, z), eacho of which has been assigned it's own meaning parameter of polar opposites measured in quarters (-90º, -45º, 45º, 90º) in relation to the machine's point zero.
The X axis angle stands for macro v/s micro, Y axis stands for quantative v/s qualitative, Z axis objective v/s subjective.

The viewer will be able to add her/his own sentence in the list and also explore each parameter separately and the structure as a whole in 3d space. This is still in working progress.

still from an initial simulation of the word machine in cinema4d

and a few more words on the limits of my world

2010-12-30T11:44:00.009Z

word words words to infinity

2010-12-30T10:59:00.000Z

the limits of my language are the limits of my world

2010-12-16T19:06:00.003Z

I created the following 'chains' or 'strings' with responses from different people to Wittgenstein's sentence: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world". In the second and third example the angle is relevant to agreement and disagreement to the original phrase. Parallel to the original being in agreement and vertical in disagreement.

2010-11-11T18:07:00.004Z

My recent project "word echo" is featuring at the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival at the BFI in an onscreen installations showcase this weekend...

void with a fist

2010-10-13T15:13:00.007+01:00

I watched Enter the Void in the cinema and from the beginning it was like a punch in the face (nothing less than expected for Gaspar Noé). Let alone the film itself but these titles are as if they are destroying the whole notion of opening titles. End credits and opening titles are all in one and its a mish-mashed blast of type and effects that I would in a different situation most probably find idiotic but in this it works so beautifully. Maybe beautiful is the wrong word here but for lack of a better word at the moment if will have to do.

a/v performance

2010-09-20T12:27:00.003+01:00

True Fictions - Live Performance Trailer from THE LIGHT SURGEONS on Vimeo.

Coming out of my language enclosure for a bit. I went to The Others on Saturday to see some audiovisual performances as part of the Hackney Film Festival where I saw the live performance of "True Fictions" by The Light Surgeons.
I'm very interested in the use of multi-screen projections and I thought that in this case it worked quite well. It was very engaging and well shot and edited with good music and it drew you to sit down and watch it.
On the other hand what I don't really understand is what this gains from being a live performance and what does performance mean in this case. Food for thought.

cut ups

2010-09-09T16:04:00.000+01:00

digital man is a tribal man

2010-08-19T13:54:00.000+01:00

the circle is complete

2010-07-16T22:41:00.010+01:00

the world in a coffee cup

2010-06-08T15:23:00.003+01:00

I feel like my research is starting again from zero. Anyway here is Godard doing the wittgenstein and I like it. Wish I was watching the film now, a few months ago.

88 constellations: interactive film most brilliant

2010-06-06T22:23:00.005+01:00

click image to watch

immersive poetry

2010-05-27T09:43:00.011+01:00

This is an extract of the two animations that I've created. They are both two different viewpoints of the same thing in a way visualising the throught process on the left and the words and phrases on the right. The sound is a result of a voice recording I made of my friend Dave and samples from Nick's sonic art compositions which i have compiled here to match with the motion and speech. Next step is to work on panning the audio and experiment with different projection compositions for the immersive space.

what I'm thinking about language at the moment

2010-05-27T09:35:00.001+01:00

Immateriality of Language

2010-04-27T10:48:00.005+01:00

AD HUC 1991
Eduardo Kac
White light transmission computer generated stereogram.

AMALGAM 1990

Eduardo Kac

silver halide white light reflection hologram.

While researching about language art and the materiality of language I discovered language art and the immateriality of language and came to realise that in fact this relationship of the material and immaterial is what I am really interested in.

I was reading about the Holopoetry of Eduardo Kac and decided that I had to see a holopoem myself to understand what he was writing about .I found Ad Huc one of his Holopems in Jonathan Ross's Hologram Collection. He was more than helpful in inviting me to see his collection and showing me more relevant examples like Amalgam which he let me take pictures of (The picture of Ad Huc is one of Jonathan Ross's own).

With these examples here what interests me is that the letters are not really there. With them being holograms you have to look somewhere between yourself and the surface of the hologram to see it and what you see depends on the light and your point of view. The letters are like ghosts. Especially in Amalgalm, the letters seem to have a texture which plays even more with our perception.

For me this creates a loop of the whole notion of concept, language, communication and the written word. First we have abstract concepts that are in our minds (in mentalese as Steven Pinker refers to it), then with language we can make these concepts audible so that we can communicate them with others. The written word in turn makes spoken language visual. By it being printed or written on paper it starts becoming a tangible thing, it starts becoming a material. In letterpress (relief printing) you can touch the relief of the letters that can be printed, with three dimensional type you can even hold the letters in your hands and feel the curves.

Digital technology is now part of our every day lives, even though I haven't researched this particular thing, I am pretty sure that most of the written material we come in contact with on a daily basis is digital, on our computer screens and on mobile phones etc. Does this in any way change our relationship with written language, the process of reading and the process of writing?

What works like Amalgam highlight for me, is how the written word itself which is the most material form of language has entered back into a space of abstraction.

gravitational pull

2010-04-23T15:42:00.005+01:00

getting on with it at the moment, here is an experiment with dynamics and initial compositing.
sound: nick del'nero

A dialogue between the soul and body [by M. Phillips]

2010-04-13T11:47:00.001+01:00

[A conversation between two computers. One read a verse aloud and the other transcribed it through voice recognition and vice versa. The process was repeated until Andrew Marvell's poem "A Dialogue between the Soul and Body" had been completely re-written.]

I just stumbled upon this during my research. I am very interested in this "chinese whispers" effect between digital technologies / the "meaning-noise" that is created from reading out something written to writing something spoken to reading out something written etc.

POEMAS CONCRETOS

2010-04-13T11:31:00.002+01:00

Audiovisual adaptations of the concrete poems “Cinco” by José Lino Grunewald (1964), “Velocidade” by Ronald Azeredo (1957), “Cidade” by Augusto de Campos (1963), “Pêndulo” by E.M. de Melo e Castro (1961/62), and “O Organismo” by Décio Pignatari (1960). Director: Christian Caselli.

David Lynch does the Alphabet

2010-03-28T21:23:00.000+01:00

Patterns in time

2010-03-05T19:11:00.001Z

So as to move away from my no-frills minimalism and to play about with textures [which I really enjoy]
I've been experimenting with things that fluidly change in time. Like ink in water, bubbles bursting etc.

Poetic environment project

2010-03-01T15:20:00.070Z

Socrates "Phaedrus"

The discovery of the alphabet will create forgetfulness
in the learners souls, because they will trust to the external
written characters and not remember themselves
...
You give your disciples not truth but only the semblance
of truth; they will be heroes of many things and will have
learned nothing; they will appear omniscient and will generally know nothing.

T.S Eliot "Burnt Norton"

[...] Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not say still. [...]

I am drawn to language, how it is used and what it means to different people, how it can make concrete some of our abstract thoughts and understanding of our world.
It often mystifies me how these lines and circles create meaning as well as how easy it is to misunderstand it.

BEFORE

For my 1st Brief I did an animation [Time#01] with the text from T.S Eliots Burnt Norton [from Four Quartets]. I was particularly drawn to the idea of parallel dimensions that the poet hints to that follow on from '... the path we did not take". This is directly linked to my interests in parallel narratives, timelines and space.
Inspired by the Cats Cradle game and I created a sphere with the interconnected verses of the poem.

NOW

The poem explores the notion of time and consciousness as something that exists beyond time. My interest lies in visually exploring the notion of time as an abstract concept tied to space as a non fixed changing and relative fabricated structure which is the poem itself.

I wish through this to share the experience of the linguistic/verbal meditative journey of the poet but to also form a dialogue with it. The animation and camera point of view having a dialogue with the words, through the use of space and timing.

Each part of the poem is a separate structure that is a type of a constellation with each verse a separate star/column, moving individually but attached to the structure/mechanism. In this way the shape continuously changes and words/verses overlap offering a different reading to the poem.

In this way I am hoping to offer the viewer a sense of the abstract relative notion of time and the words which try to describe it and instead of understanding a particular meaning and didactic message in a verbal sense, which the poet offers, to get a feeling instead in a non-verbal manner through motion and sound. Words are fabricated structures and mechanisms and verbal meanings are subject to points of view and interpretation.

AFTER

I selected parts of the poem that I am most drawn to and put them together into a new poem which the camera will narrate:

a storyboard has started to emerge:

and this is the initial sketch of the post-cinematic space I want to create:

Kinetic sculpture examples

2010-02-09T13:43:00.005Z

Multiple Organism [2009, a solar kinetic sculpture by Daniel Chadwick]

Play Art [Istvan Haraszty]

Both at the Kinetica Art Fair, feb '10 [excuse the bad quality I filmed these on my mobile]

I'm looking at kinetic sculptures at the moment to see how my poem structures will move and interact.

Here is another clearer example of Daniel Chadwick's solar kinetic sculptures

Looking more into kinetics and interaction I came across Theo Jansen's creatures which are acting of their own accord depending on their environment.

and Ruairi Glynn's Performative Ecologies

In both cases I find these creatures/robots very poetic.

Experiments in "type-structures" and motion

2010-02-08T17:39:00.004Z

Notes on Modernist Poetry

2010-02-01T13:01:00.002Z

Main characteristics and driving forces in the mode of writing:

-extensive use of free verse

- the questioning of the self through "dislocation of the "authorial presence" [through techniques such as: collage, found poetry, visual poetry, the juxtaposition of apparently unconnected materials and combinations of all of these]. These challenge the readers expectations of the poetic experience.

- clear focus on the surface of the poem [focus on the literal meaning of the words on the page rather than any metaphorical or symbolic meanings].

Wiliam Carlos Williams 1944 “A poem is a small (or large) machine made out of words”.

Collage as a literally technique [similar to the cubist practise and other visual artists] was used by Eliot in the Wasteland (with notes by Ezra Pound). This apparently "moved English language modernism towards a poetry of the fragment that rejects the idea that the poet could present a comfortingly coherent view of life".

How the above relate to T.S Eliot's Burnt Norton [which I'm using for a project]

In Burnt Norton Eliot relies on speech –a narrator who speaks to the audience directly. The scene that the narrator recalls provokes a discussion "on time and how the present, not the future or past, really matters to individuals. Memories connect the individual to the past, but the past cannot change. The poem then transitions from memory to how life works and the point of existence. In particular, the universe is described as orderly and that consciousness is not found within time even though humanity is bound by time. The scene of the poem moves from a garden to the London underground where technology dominates. Those who cling to technology and reason are unable to understand the universe or the Logos("the Word", or Christ). The underworld is replaced by a churchyard and a discussion on death. This, in turn, becomes a discussion of timelessness and eternity, which ends the poem.” (from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Norton)

The poems narrations reflects Eliot’s belief that humankind is affected by Original Sin, that there is a choice of following the good or evil path and that one can atone for their sins. One must leave the time-bound world and look inwardly and poets must seek perfections, not bound by time so as to escape the problems of language (Pinion, F. B. A T. S. Eliot Companion. London: MacMillan, 1986. ISBN 0-333-37338-3)

Ackroyd, Peter. T. S. Eliot: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. ISBN 0-671-60572-0 :

There is an emphasis on the present moment as being the only point in time that really matters (because the past cannot be changed and the future is unknown).

Memory must be abandoned to understand the current world and humans must realize that the universe is based on order. He sees god in that order and humankind by believing in him can be saved from the bounds of the material universe.

The rose-garden is an imaginative space that serves the function of representing potential within human existence. An imagined reality. Words exist in the mind and this allows this imagines reality to be shared between the narrator and the reader. However the narrator then claims that such a place has no purpose.

My thoughts:

This theory of order doesn’t take into account the theory of chaos. Could that lead into a different interpretation?

Personally I do not agree with the "God" conclusion that the narrator offers but I am interested in the journey he takes us through in the poem. Once again the journey is what matters for me and not the destination. I am interested in taking the viewer through this journey in a way that is controlled by both me and the viewer. Could this leave a more open ended conclusion that is not so “godly”? Could it be that there is a different kind of order within chaos?

Ah Pook is Here [1994]

2010-01-30T18:45:00.001Z

... is a Movie

2010-01-27T15:27:00.001Z

Bob Cobbing

[This Book is a Movie: An Exhibition of Language Art & Visual Poetry, ed. Jerry G. Bowles & Tony Russell, 1971, p.82-91]

Concrete poetry [from Roland, ICA's magazine, issue 2 june-august 09]

2010-01-18T23:49:00.000Z

dynamic text = dynamic meaning

2010-01-18T00:47:00.004Z

I was looking at different examples of typography in motion. It all sprang out from title design went into brand identity and then got a bit of life of its own in visualising text and language in animations which stand on their own or music videos.

This visualisation of text I feel is directly influenced from concrete poetry. On the one hand text is explored visually as a form and on the other the way the text is animated can reveal a subtext in meaning [eg. "I met the walrus" below].

I am drawn to language, how it is used and what it means to different people, how it shapes our thoughts and understanding of our world. It often mystifies me how these lines and circles create meaning as well as how easy it is to misunderstand it.

For my 1st Brief I did an animation with the text from T.S Eliots Burnt Norton [from Four Quartets]. I was particularly drawn to the idea of parallel dimensions that the poet hints to that follow on from '... the path we did not take". This is directly linked to my interests in parallel narratives, timelines and space.

I would now like to take this further and reinterpret the poem dynamically, concentrating on the idea of parallel narratives.

If every word changed continuously with a synonym would this create the possibilities of new meaning and interpretations, thus strengthening the focus on parallel narratives?
Would this become more prominent if the verses changed position?

By using something like PostScript and RandomFonts as a starting point for my interpretation of the poem and adding the change of words with synonyms as another rule multiple different poems could be created.
fig. Example of different forms the first verse could take.

type in motion eg#01

2010-01-12T16:21:00.011Z

I like how the illustrations are exploring what is being read in between the lines.

thoughts and questions:
+ the typeface size and motion clearly relates to the anger and power of one character and puny-ness of the other
- positioning of the text and motion of typography feels very "print" based to me. It is following a particular style of type-in-motion-graphics that has been quite fashionable the past few years.
I don't necessarily believe that type-in motion and for screen needs to follow similar grids as it does for print nor that it shouldn't. I just wonder whether it is becoming a bit of a tired old technique.

Why choose to animate a particular text that you simultaneously hear being spoken?

Parallel Narratives: travel and destination

2010-01-12T15:58:00.004Z

An experiment with multi-screen display (here compiled on one single video).

Inspired by one of the cities (Desire) described in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, I tried to create a loop grasping the feeling of traveling to a destination which as soon as you start approaching you are already dreaming of how to leave it in a different way for a different destination.

so now I have a blog

2010-01-12T15:46:00.003Z

hallo