Superstring Theory

(dumped)

Goodbye, Year of the GIF

I made this GIF* two years ago to bring in 2009. I felt very positive about the new year having spent the last 6 or so months discovering animated gifs and net based art. The following New Year, I was completely inactive, being almost midway into a 6 month hiatus where I didn't post here or image dump on tumblr, and pretty much kept myself in the dark on the subject. Little did I know, I was missing the first half of the year of the animated gif.

Luckily, I did keep lightly in touch thanks to a few favorite blogs via Google Reader and noticed that dump.fm was getting quite a lot of attention from Tom Moody. I kind of wrote it off as another Tumblr (which I quickly realised wasn't exactly true), and a couple initial visits to the site didn't really encourage me - which can be the case for many first time visitors - as it can be a bit difficult as a newcomer to interject in what feels like a private party. What finally got me excited was the (brief) digital pog renaissance (currently immortalised on one of dump's "pages"). I made a couple new pogs in excitement, sad that I missed the dump session itself.



The feature I enjoyed most (but which no longer exists) was the calendar of themes/assignments. They set it up so that everyday, or most days, a theme would be thrown out there to work from, which would then result in a page like the pog page listed above. It was a great way to get the ball rolling and focus the brainstorming (I'm a subscriber to the idea that limitation breeds innovation). It also made it a lot easier to join in on the conversation, but I digress ...

Tumblr and dump.fm helped bring a new gif based aesthetic into the mainstream, expanding from the insider/web-only context to art exhibitions around the globe, articles in mainstream press (online and off), and even a few music videos directed by favorite gif artists. Although the animated gif as a format may not translate well outside of the browser, it's the look that appears to be making the outroads. I'll be interested to see what happens in the new year.

* On a gloomier side note, I thought about the above GIF because, yeah, it's another new year, but also because Horatio (the grey one) passed away on Christmas Eve. She was Mark and my first cat and was the sweetest, loveliest cat. She wasn't without problems, she had a chronic health problem that was often quite distressing - for her and us - but her passing (due to cancer) was very sudden and very very sad (she was only 8). RIP Horatio, you were the best!

Anonymous Delivers

Posted in the comments of a previous post.



I'm posting it here (slightly resized) because the images don't show in the Blogger comments like they would dump.

"Casual GIF Theory"

Been thinking about GIFs lately with all the recent articles (trying to get my thoughts in order before trying to express them). Seems to be happening to others as well. Namely, Tom Moody's discussion with John Michael Boling on the subtleties of the animated GIF, which has been missing in mainstream writing.

Is this the advent of GIF theory?

I thought I was being really clever, but then nobody faved it.

*edit* Sneaky Tripod place holders #imanoob

nom

Spiritual Internet: Dump Altars

Tom Moody, 2010

I think the above dump is the closest to a definition of what a dump altar is. Basically a triptych (or more-tych) which combines a central image propped up by peripheral pillars that will act to emphasise the central image as an object of worship (usually ironic) or will play with the central image to create a visual pun or joke (or at least, that's how I interpret it).

To give you an idea just how popular it is as a dump format, take a look at http://dump.fm/altars/ which is updated any time a combo is dumped that follows the format.

I haven't dumped many altars during my sporadic visits to the site, I tend to go for the single image posts or duos - http://dump.fm/lalblog/altars

(post written after a reminder brought to you by Tom Moody's recent interview about animated gifs and dump)

Best Use of Mortal Kombat GIFs

Chariots of Mortal Kombat Fire (seecoy, 2007)



Nightwolf Beach Party Vacay (noisia, 2010)



Introducing Nightwolf Again (noisia, 2010)



Rockin' Back in MK3 (Scott Mathews, 2010)



Cyrax Falling (Jasper Elings, 2010)

New Age Default: Dump.fm Weekend

So I went to the dump.fm weekend opening last night at New Gallery London in Camberwell. The exhibition is one part of the short series New Age Default curated by Ben Vickers.

I was curious to see how the exhibition was going to be laid out, because how do you exhibit a live chat stream slash image dump? I guess Ryder saved everybody that problem with dump fullscreen, and it was pretty nice to see a bunch of random supersized gifs projected on the wall, though you do miss out on the multi-image combos. In addition, there were two computers signed in as NuGallery1 and NuGallery2 for in-gallery anonymous dumping, an image dumping webcam known as DumpBooth and a hotdog under a pillow (part of a series called Adding to the Internet by Justin Kemp)


(left: folks enjoying dump, right: DumpBooth)

It was kind of interesting dumping in a different environment. I usually have a hard time keeping my concentration up while dumping because it usually happens at night after having worked all day. When you consider how low your attention span needs to be* to keep up with the incessant chat and imagery - not to mention the fact that I'm sitting on a lumpy couch with a slow laptop burning my legs while I do this - you might not be able to keep your energy levels up for very long, so brighter lights, louder music, cold beer and a bunch of hipsters leaping in front of a webcam behind you can made for some exciting (anonymous) dumping.

* [EDIT] This sounds really derogatory, but I mean it in the most positive way. TV and the internet are always accused of lowering people's attention spans, but I think that's what makes everybody capable of taking in so much information at once. I'm just saying that I'm not fast enough for dump.


(left: dump by jeeeelings, right: dump by noisia)

It was good to see dump being exhibited. Mostly because it's only exhibit-able as an interactive piece (art gallery as internet cafe) and so doesn't lose what makes dump so amazing, but also because, for some reason, internet based work and new media just isn't that popular in London. It's been going gangbusters in New York, Toronto, and even Berlin, but doesn't have the audience here. I briefly chatted with Ben, and he's got a bunch of plans in the works to help change that, so I'll try and keep in the loop to support any future projects (and by support, I mean go to).

Cosmic Puke

dumped

Was going to dump this yesterday but got bored doing it. Finished it today. It was maybe worth the effort.

Dog tunnel gif dumped by AGT528, Sonja gif from the internet.

Broccoli Revisited

Animated gif saved on delicious. Don't know where from.

Surf Camp: An Amateur-ish Essay on the Sub-Amateur

There's been a bit of discussion taking place recently about the two camps of net art, where the "insider" and "outsider" sit within these camps, and how chill time plays a role within this construct.

Duncan Alexander's categories are (briefly):

Camp 1 which is more caught up in the art historical context. "The net is their vehicle for dissemination, and they stand out from the online flow. Rarely do these works link outside of themselves; if hypertext is involved, it is internal to the site."

Camp 2 which bases itself more within the "net historical" context. "What matters in camp two's work - or what is emphasized by the artists - is not so much the individual artwork as the artist's oeuvre and net presence."

So camp 1's work tends to be a bit tighter, and can stand on its own as art when presented "outside" of the net. Whereas camp 2's work thrives in the net context, and often loses meaning or relevance once removed from it's place of inception, which tends to usually be the surf club, tumblr or dump.fm (that's not to say these works won't be presented outside of their natural environment, though they'll usually be accompanied by a link back to let you "in" on the joke).

In the comments, Tom Moody likens Alexander's camp 2 to what others have termed as the "amateur and sub-amateur". The amateur is self taught, they create for the love of the craft or art and, motivated by this love, will develop their skills and technical know-how to better express their vision. The sub-amateur is also self taught, but to a point. They are more interested in the subject matter and therefore will often resort to (if not seek out)"defaults", or pre-determined settings found in the instrument or programme of choice.

Here is Gutherie Lonergan's handy table differentiating between the "Hacker" and "Default" approaches to net art to break up the text.



This all seems to suggest that the current string of net art all falls under the "amateur" tag, which I think is only because the "pro" group is still being groomed, if they aren't already emerging from the art school new media and computer art BFAs and MFAs that have been popping up over the last 5 or more years (my alma mater started a computer art course in 2006/7, before I even had a clue). In either case, we still have amateurs that are well entrenched in the art world, with many art school trained artists repeatedly popping up in gallery based animated gif exhibitions throughout the world. So, moving back to the beginning, the amateur is in no way the outsider when it comes to the artworld.

But what about the sub-amateur's relationship to the established artworld? What about those surfing dudes and dudettes that make shitty (not meant as a derogatory term) gifs and take part in the online chatter but don't exhibit, or plan to exhibit, beyond their own tumblr blogs? The actual "slackers of the art world"?

The jstchillin manifesto, to me, seems to imply the leisure aspect of net art. Both the amateur and sub-amateur take "chill time", but where one will draw from their chill time to produce work, the other chills for the sake of chilling. You could even go as far as saying that the sub-amateur are the ultimate decadents, consuming copious amounts of digital tat without giving any "thing" back beyond online in-jokes that are usually ugly and hard to look at; they are the virtual leisure class (this such a generalization and total contradiction, but I'm saying it anyway because it's dramatic and sounds cool).

The sub-amateur could be seen as the outsider for remaining outside of the gallery and focusing not on the product but on the act of chilling itself, and perhaps they are. As Moody put it:

[...] the term outsider sounds cruel and judgmental and snobby but all it means is "one who makes art heedless of a context larger than one's own computer (or studio, or computer/studio)."

But the sub-amateur is too self aware - of their activity as an aesthetic act and of their position in the history of (net) art - to be the outsider. In fact, the tendency to function as a collective also places them deep within an inside that is constructed by themselves: you had to have been there to understand why I put this seemingly random face on this other seemingly random body and captioned it with this bit of nonsensical text, but trust me it's terribly clever and funny as fuck.

The unique thing about chill time, though, is that, unlike most other leisure activities (I'm going to ignore the possible can of worms that is craft), there are plenty of byproducts and documentation that come out of it, which are the blog posts, collections, mash-ups, and even archived discussion. Even if the product isn't the point, it will still spread around the internet as people try to latch on to it by reblogging or further deconstructing the information to make something new. Authorship can definitely become an issue, and if you're that interested in the credit you can rest assured that infamy and an audience can still follow. Alternatively, you can also just sit back, chill and revel in the satisfaction of seeing something you didn't put that much effort into make the rounds across the net or, better yet, go viral.

Enlarged, simplified and slightly cropped broccoli gif.

Anigifs of Fruit and Veg MRI Scans

Some really nice gifs on this blog that I came across via Yay Hooray.



Some are eerie and very organic (in the sense that they look like organs) while others are really entertaining and surprising. I especially enjoy the corn and watermelon. Who knew that the seeds grew in spirals within the melon? I did not.

Mega Hoser Anigif

I don't know who made this, I came across it on the Animated GIFs from Delicious rss.

The stereotypes are kind of endearing when you've lived away from home for a while.

Greenman is Green

Recent dump, with some timing adjustment.

Turf War

Memes about people you know

or; Seeing yourself in a meme is a bit like seeing yourself on the big screen at a sports event (or in the background during a news or local interest piece on TV).

They have absolutely no relevance when seen out of context, but god they're funny!




You had to be there.