All started off when we were experimenting with this Behringer Audio Controller.
Due to reasons that probably should remain nameless it broke down - and that’s where we experienced this strong magnetic force it produced. We even could control it properly. So we quickly set up a piece of software to extract image data from an IDN magazine cover which eventually would not only control the buildup of our sculpture, but also the LEDs in the parts to color it.

It’s pretty crazy that you have to pay for everything on a plane these days. Especially when you end up spending a fortune on your ticket, as you didn’t book it long enough in advance… Here’s a little tip that will get you at least some FREE peanuts, beers and films to make the journey a little bit more comfortable.

The airlines don’t do credit card authentication in mid air. They store the details from the passengers that purchased stuff during the flight and do it in one bulk when they land. This creates some opportunities if you happen to have some expired or discontinued cards in your wallet.

Enjoy your flight ;)

VEGAS is delighted to present ‘GIVEITANAME’, a group show, bringing together two UK practicing artists and an artistic duo from the Netherlands. Exploring notions of unpredictable, organic processes of movement alongside the spontaneous, chaotic expansions of composition and shapes, the exhibition introduces a compilation of abstract works that are directed into symbolizing fragments or flow, transformation and change.

Paintings by British artist, Gemma Nelson blend features of apparent clumsiness and roundness of shapes in a somewhat obsessive motion that suggest the artist’s predilection for patterns and sequences. Her works bring the spectator back to the 60’s, the epoch of radical fashion, lifestyle trends and psychedelic patterns. Though decorative and feminine, they portray biological processes in cellular structures of spores and viruses.

The baroque excessiveness of Nelson’s works is echoed in the abstract sculptures of Dutch artistic duo, Heringa /Van Kalsbeek. In their spontaneous approach to the creation of their works they draw inspiration from the unpredictability of nature and allow their piecess to resemble the organic process of growth. Heringa/Van Kalsbeek are fascinated in capturing snapshots of impulsive and chaotic movement and exploring elements of life that are past their peak. Their extravagant way of portraying hybridity and dislocation of natural processes is also prevalent in the paintings of Korean artist, Eemyun Kang, who raises questions of ‘becoming’, the transformation of objects through the journey of creation and a painting itself taking on new form as a result. By her use of material and mediation between form and colour, Kang symbolizes subjects of metamorphosis and evolution in her works.

Since graduating Slade school of Art in 2007 Gemma Nelson has exhibited in a range of high profile group shows including; Bloomberg Contemporary 2008 and Saatchi Gallery’s Four New Sensations. In 2007 she was a Finalist for the Nationwide Mercury Art Prize.

Eemyun Kang graduated Slade in 2006 and completed her post graduate studies at the Royal Academy of Art in 2009. In the last year Kang has shown her work in a run of established galleries and institutions including Emerging Korean Artists, U.B.S in Seoul, The Kukje Gallery at Frieze 2009 and Withspace in Beijing. ‘Dozing River’ is Eemyun Kangs current solo show at Tina Kim gallery New York.

Heringa/Van Kalsbeek have shown extensively in both solo and group exhibitions. Their solo institutional shows include Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo; Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam; Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam; Haags Gemeentemuseum The Hague and The Museum of Modern Art Arnhem. The have fulfilled a range of commissions for art in public spaces participated in over thirty group exhibitions including those at Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft; Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Ceramic Biennale Korea and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn.

-Text by Anny Baranova

We talked about Realtime Interactivity for Music, Broadcast and Art at the annual FMX Festival in Stuttgart. The event was amazing as we got to see a lot of very interesting talk ourselves. Big thanks to all of you for having us!

FMX is an event by Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, organized by the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction, hosting the Animation Production Day 2010 (APD), a joint venture with the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart (ITFS). It is an event in cooperation with VES Visual Effects Society, AIAS Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, ACM Siggraph, 5D Conference and Stuttgart Media University. FMX is funded by the Ministry of State and the Ministry of Economics Baden-Wuerttemberg, MFG Film Funding, the MFG Innovation Agency for ICT and Media and the FFA German Federal Film Board.

Cowboys on set… (picture by James Allen from Time Based Arts)

Who: Minivegas
Founders: Luc Schurgers and Dan Lewis
Innovation in: Directing

Why you need to know about them: The modern director is tech savvy, DIY and media agnostic, as au fait with programming, apps, animation and post-production as live action, and the creative possibilities that come with that are boundless.

“Whether you’re directing a traditional live-action spot, or a rich media project, I don’t really see a difference,” says 30-year-old London-based director Luc Schurgers [pictured], who with Dan Lewis makes up Nexus- and Green Dot-repped Minivegas. “We can do pretty much everything. We do our own programming, 3D and compositing.”

A cursory glance through current projects from Minivegas, (which formed as a collective in 2005 but became a duo in August 2009), backs that breadth of creative scope. Schurgers recently shot a live-action comedy spot for Snack-A-Jack, and a CG bonanza for the Star Wars Clone Wars console game. Perfect for time-starved travelers, Happy Granny is an iPhone app that sends a real postcard of photos taken on the iPhone. In conjunction they’ve also created a hilarious, fully-animated viral and website.

In terms of matching music to visuals, however, they’re really pushing the envelope. The pair are working on a real-time, audio-reactive projection system that visualizes music for a live performance pitting labels Warp and Ninja Tune against each other. As well as running a physical gallery and creating installations, their experimental, virtual gallery manifests music as fantastic 3D sculptures of sound, while gesture-recognition technology allows users to interact with the music and move around the space.
“[Directing is] a feeling communicated, whether that’s something you do via sound analysis or live-action photography. The ideal situation is to mix projects: programming, then live action for the next one, then 3D. It keeps you on your toes,” says Schurgers. EW
www.nexusproductions.com
www.greendotfilms.com

read the full article below.

As for the visual style, Minivegas and Quayola decided to split it in two different approaches. First was Quayola’s, an audio-reactive visualisation, whose constant sliding movement put the audience in kind of a trance (picture 1), and second an experimental approach by Minivegas, which used 3-dimensional animated meshes created from fluid simulations and a highly-responsive engine to make these alive (picture 2).

Altogether, the fascinating venue and the high quality audio and visual content formed a mind-blowing experience that we certainly won’t forget in a hurry.

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