it's a log. & the log doesn't judge. - the log has something to tell you.
one day there were a lot of computer drawings on my harddrive. some years of drawing with pixelish pixels & pixels that still had corners, experimenting with software and converting formats in front of a screen. @day @night - all day.
the artist quit the studio and went home office.
I decided to get them out of the computer mainly because I was interested in the translation of computer paintings & drawings and their specific nature into a physical object in the "real world" and what that does to the process of painting or the nature of a painting more general. I decided to use mainly mass production processes to produce a number of unique copies. And to my surprise there are many paralles in digital drawing and computer based stitching,embroidery, weaving & knitting.
here I document a bit the process and thoughts around that experiment.
wie schon bereits an anderer stelle im log erwähnt, hin und wieder fällt arbeit der radio natur an.
freitag (27.3.) und heut samstag 28.3. kam mir die ehre zu teil für cashmere radio mal wieder die fm freuquenz zu kuratieren. Immer eine tolle sache - auf 88.4 in berlin & 90.7 potsdam. SO viel macht !!!
hier mal das program :
kann man fast alles nachhören über die cashmere seite & das archive. es gibt einen kleinen nachtrag zu der sendung mit jentle ben, da das syndikat erstmal nicht geräumt wird, und netter weise auch Iris Dankemeyer & ein paar weitere genossinen & genossen - sehr schnell solidariät bekundigten & sich mit mir in kontakt setzten.
Wir haben dann ein kleines extra interview noch mit Felix Kurz gemacht, teil der freund*innen der klassenlosen gesellschaft und mitherausgeber des kosmoprolet & ein kleines lied wurde ebenfalls geschrieben.
das ganze ist noch ein parr tage zum download online (3.4.2020), wird dannach sicher aber nicht archiviert.
link
auch vielleicht an der stelle erwähnenswert. cashmereRadio wurde vom frieze magazin als kleiner tip angegeben was zu tun ist wenn man zuhause "gefangen" ist. : )
die geburtstagstulpen sind nun verblüht und entsorgt. den einen tag hatten sie viel getrunken und ließen dann die köpfe hängen, das ganze wasser war alle - hab dann nochmal wasser nachgefüllt und die stile etwas gekürzt. sie standen dann noch ein paar tage stramm in der vase.
es gab reaktion !!! : ) , die mutter schrieb zurück und hat sich sehr über die entwicklung und umsetzung der arbeiten gefreut & auch das ich mich tatsächlich nochmal gemeldet habe. naja. handwerk & leidenschaft verbindet & ich fand es auch sehr charmant ausversehen ins bcc gerutscht zu sein, dadurch nun wiederum einen austausch mit einer anderen generation von stickerinnen zu habe und zu merken das uns gleiche dinge umhertreiben.
some detective game here. there was another reaction... someone asking to add scales / dimensions of the produced pieces. mh - I understand but I don't want to add it. as this is a log, a documentation of a process and the noise that comes with it, adding scales and giving that reassurance towards reality and the seriouse existence of everything you see and read on here, would destroy the poetic and narrative fantasy aspect of the log. It is important that the log is fiction as well as it is real. one decides - that is the exchange of the log.
once the log is finished. there will be by-products the dimension, size is not so important and only matters for the physical space / aspect of the experiment. The opening could be something like a proof that not everything on here is fantasy. but who knows ?
Nevertheless - something about that question of size is interesting to me. most of the digital drawings are very small, if one would print them out 1:1 - they range from 2cm² to max 9 cm² - the biggest original digital file in the selection is 33,8cm x37,8 cm, they are color-indexed (that makes a few things much more easier). A lot of time is spend with rescaling them and figuring out what are the best resolutions to reproduce them without completely destroying the colors and complexity as well as respecting the software and the machines they are produced with. Very interesting challenge, no experience on my end, but learning a lot - as there are many limitations and restrictions. This again also helps to become creative about the process of reproducing and to an extent : "it is of interest to show the translation process more than the actual product. hard to describe - something like the silence in-between the digital virtual and the woolly comfy feel good product that has no corners any more or appears "unsharp" and soft."
I scanned a few notes to give a bit more inside about calculations, dimensions and how to adjust that to a physical space.
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space + ideas how to use it (january/february 2020) |
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recalculation/ juxtapositioning architecture & dimensions of single works (february/march 2020) |
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| scalings original digital work to .dst files for final products (march 2020) |  |
If you red the log well, you probably saw a floppy disc in one of the pictures? yes most of that stitching machines still operate with 3,5" floppys 1.44mb capacity. the .dst files/ machine instructions are very small files and as long as everything is compatible with each other it seems the most convenient way to operate. :JUMP IN TOPIC: I got invited from a record label called tmrw-label, to release music on a 3,5" floppy. they recently started a sub section of their label called 3.5 bpm - and release floppy discs. what a coincidence. my inner detective was very excitied when realising that there is another part of my life that is all of a sudden also working with floppy discs.
what's up with the floppy disc scene ?
And here again we run into the thing about size and dimension. 1.44mb is not much - and that "1.44mb" are more a fictional fantasy value than a real messure to work with. It all depends on the formatting and again there are even a lot of tricks - to get more capacity. Spend two nights researching about it and spaming the label with information. : ) ya detectives they never sleep.
some results:
- siber-sonic on the web since 1996 !!!
- lowendmac on the web since 1997
- the retrocomputing board ( for sure ; ) this one is wild -a beatnik -read with care:
After researching a lot it worked out to format the floppy different so that there is a bit more space on it and I slightly had to adjust my compressions to make everything fit in 2 .ogg files. Guess soon it will be available - I might add an update once it is released.
retro-computing, I often encounter that or the nostalgia about it, same for the digital drawings and paintings as well as tape dj sets in a club. cool rerto vintage, 8-bit mh : ( I don 't mind that categories very much, but there is little about vintage or retro to my approach in visual as well as in audio culture and the reasons why I decided to work like that. Maybe there is something about obsolete media - and that all formats and media should be compatible with each other - and treated equaly - basic open-source - like the dia-projector has as much value as the 4k projector in ones gallery. the tape is as valid as the cd as the usb: they are all storage devices - being born in a time where all this was easly accesible to mainstream, co-exsited with each other and went thru quick technological changes - it feels only natural to respect all that eras of storing data, looking at images with "back-light", so called screens and memories made & saved on there, equaly. Finding new ways to "update" how some of that stuff still fits in todays world is a thing that interests me a lot as well as primitive or rudimentary software and hartware and how to make those things communicate with each other, the work arounds and use as well as mis-use them as tools to express one self. maybe in opossite to using technology to extend / replace one's identity. So ya it is little about the aestetics of it or any nostalgia - Still sometimes it feels like it is important to clarify that.
am samstag war wieder diychurch für cashmereradio aus dem home studio. diesmal mit der künstlerin jentle ben, welche eine sammlung von interviews und momentaufnahmen rund um das syndikat, kollektivkneipe und kiezurgestein, seit 1985 in neukölln/berlin, gemacht hat.
Das syndikat wurde damals von den anwohnern der weisestrasse ins leben gerufen und soll nun am 17.4.2020 geräumt werden. Es gibt da einiges mit dem vermieter zu klären - aber das will keiner machen - weil vermieter 100köpfige briefkastenfirma ist.
naja - ob es dann gut ist die leute da raus zu schmeißen - darüber kann man sich streiten und auch sonst ist es vielleicht nicht so schlau linke freiräume und strukturen kaputt zu machen - während ein großteil der gesellschaft recht ungebremst nach rechts abbiegt bzw. gerade wohl auch der unpassendste zeitpunkt ist solche themen an zu sprechen (bzw.)² es sehr einfach ist sie zu übersehen in all dem stress.
die probleme werden die probleme bleiben - soviel ist klar. hier noch ein weiterer link zu der ganzen thematik um das syndikat.
des weiteren wird in der sendung viel musik von das neue brot gespielt. infos dazu hier. Lukas H findet ebenfalls einzug mit einem sehr schönem interview das alles & noch viel mehr findet man auch auf seinem gut upgedateten blogsport.
link zu online radiosendung.
2 neue arbeiten in auftrag gegeben, und ein paar e-mails anonymisiert plus, der stickerei mit welcher die folgende konversation stattfand, eine email geschrieben und erste resultate präsentiert. bin sehr gespannt wie sie reagieren.
kontakt aufgenommen mit einem gallery project was ich sehr spannend finde, auch mit dem gedanken an mail- art ähnliche konzepte für moderne kommunikation und wie dezentrale ausstellungs ansätze in den galerie kontext übersetzen ohne eine tech-demo zu werden oder den galeristen traurig zu machen. naja. es wird sicher dazu bald mehr geben.
hier die e-mail konversation, eventuell sollte ich nochmal einen VHS kurs zum thema rechtschreibung und satzbau besuchen.
today it all came a bit different. there is aspects to the momentary COvId-19 situations that are supporting the way I work - and people got back at me to explain that there are no orders any more. And that they have more time now, they really like the work and can help with reproducing the digital paintings and even for cheaper money cause there are no orders.
in the picture to the right, you see a re-edit of one of the .dst files that are already produced.
this time it is stitched on a silkscreen print of a fish.
Today I also red that since no one is going to venice.
the water became clear again & the fish started to come back to the city.
[the stitching was already made yesterday and took 95 minutes]
on the other hand the people who work with the stitching machines got a lot more rules & laws and have to close for a while. Strange to make that dessicions.
I decided to take an one day break. did a video tutorial for cashmere & helped for radio corax.
the mashine had to work for two hours and made 53692 stitches
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first comment via imgur:
even if the process of computer drawing and computer based stitching is very simillar there are some steps in between, just like the yarn is limited to a certain amount of colors - so is the colorindex of the drawings as well. It took a lot of calls and calling again and writing emails to understand and learn more about the technices I decided to use.
Most of the drawing / colorcodes were made with an ascii drawing tool one can find online here. the idea behind it was more or less to post drawings in /sally the home of ascii art on the jollo irc network. those drawings always have 16 colors and a back- as well as a foreground. and one can post them realtime in the irc chat.
The other part of drawings was made on a nintendo 3ds, with an application called pixelmaker, and as one can create her or his own palette - they are sort of indexed too.
I later learned that the drawings need to be translatet in an instruction sheet for the machines. The most common format so far seems to be the .dst format. there is little open source software for that kind of stuff. so again calling and writing emails - finding people that are able to translate the drawings and also willing to do it. As every drawing will pretty much be a unique copy people are not very motivated to work on it.
But after many calls and emails - I found a few people all over germany that like the work and also feel challanged to help me produce it.
I became friends now with them. we often call each other talk about life and work, private & professional. there is even a computer stitching shop around the corner from where I live. I go there now nearly every day, I learned about a new format. .ref which makes it easy to scale images once they in that format. I got to see some of the software as well and also learned more about the software and how to find people that know how to make use of it. there is still 3 drawings left that need to be translated - they are very complex and it will take time, also because there is always other works to prepare for stitching and they are easier and in huge amounts. nerver the less the process is slowly taking shape. and with regards to the outside world - it might be even a good thing that everything is very slow and that it will still take a while until there is an exhibition together.
some docu pieces:
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wir alle brauchen sie. ich bestelle alles 3 mal
komm schon ; ) 