User:Mathijs van Oosterhoudt/int asses

My practice and interest in the fields of media has always been somewhat split between both directions that Media Design & Communication has to offer; Lens-based and Network-based. Whilst this split is certainly present, I often find that the same methods, thoughts and interests are present in both. Through explaining and comparing a few projects I'll try to explain these methods and my specific focus.

During the second trimester I've sent in a proposal for the V2_ Summer Sessions, called Netspace. Netspace is an interactive installation which crawls the web and makes a database that sorts found images, videos, text and audio based on their geographical storage location to create a three dimensional collage of said data based on their closeness in reality rather then their contextual closeness. Where you'd normally browse the web from page to page through subject and contextual links by using hyperlinks, one can now 'browse' it through it's relative physical server-location.

Browsing is done through walking in a three dimensional gaming engine, where one's direction determines which data is retrieved next, for example walking forward moves you north, whilst turning around and walking back moves you further south. By viewing the web in this way, we can make links or compare the presumptions and connotations we have of a certain physical location, city or place to it's digital representation or presence on the web, thereby also questioning what connotations or prejudices people have on countries and their web presence (Is Nigeria really a place full of spam? Does North Korea really have no web presence?)

This came forth from a project I did in the previous trimester, geoWords, a project where photos related to certain tags are represented on a world map to show their location of origin. The actual photo itself is not shown, but what's left is a map of locations in which photographs where certain photographs with specific tags are taken. A clear example would be searching for Beijing, which lights up Beijing. However, it becomes more interesting when you do searches or comparisons for things such as aluminum vs aluminium or searching for particular events, like nuclear disasters.

An older project I did before I started studying at the Piet Zwart, Memoirs of Madam Brinvillers, is a constantly changing piece which generates poetry from live incoming spam e-mails, re-ordering lines and combining multiple e-mails to create poetry that isn't so much about it's content but rather it's programmability, using rules used in Oulipou poetry.

In all three of these and many more, the central theme is that of re-using data. The 'output' of the works whether static of dynamic are all heavily influenced by the input of a third party, often using data which is readily available but serving a different purpose, or simply presented in a different manner. I try to convey my interest in these forms of data by shining a different light on them with or without alteration. The interesting use of grammar and spelling and creative use of words in spam becomes more apparent when you present them in a context in which creativity is expected, rather then in it's normal context where it's seen as a way of scamming people.

A simple summary of this comes down to Third party input → Change → My output.

Reading Jos de Mul's text on digital recombination made me feel this is a rather generic thought-process or workflow, as he sees it as the basis of all computer or software-art, where all are based on a set of simple operations (Add, Browse, Change and Destroy). Whilst theoretically it might be possible to reduce every piece of new media art down to these operations, it also seems like it's possible due to their generic meaning to apply these same operations to any form of art. What I find an important distinction however between my approach is that the input is always one made by a third party, and not created from the ground up by me.

The same theme is one I find extremely interesting in film as well, but harder to apply. One I often find myself returning to in a love / hate relation is found footage. I hoard everything I find that fascinates me, whether it's photographs, old letters, hand-written diaries, used mix-tapes or post-its that I find out in the street with interesting texts, especially when taken out of context. Combining these in films has been a long-term goal of mine, but one I find it hard to find a useable form in. For now I am focusing on trying to lay links between the various materials and create an order.

During the second trimester I have been finishing up a film that I've been making with a good friend of mine on the subject of analogue photography. Whilst most was shot already, parts were lacking material and during my stay in Berlin I managed to interview a photographer on his travels during an older project, in hopes to combine it with a mix and match of material he shot at the time. Filtering through dozens of hours of old DV tapes has been messy but worthwhile.

I applied for Networked Media with the intentions of further finding out what I want to do with these interests and increase my theoretical knowledge in this field, which had been lacking from my previous education (BA in Audiovisual Design), whilst further working on projects of my own and incorporating new ideas or techniques. Having the freedom to do experiments without a fear of failure or need to succeed, but rather experiment to explore from where new projects can be made, whilst having access to people skilled in the same or similar fields for possible feedback.

I generally prefer learning new techniques or materials in a way which is less related to a project I am working on, before applying it to what I truly want to do with said technique or material. The problem I find with this is that it might not always result in a properly presentable project, despite being very important for my thought-process. For example, the goal of learning electronics and acquiring better hardware skills is not to create or understand how a camera works, but the knowledge acquired by doing so is knowledge I hope to apply to future projects.

All in all, the second trimester was a hectic trimester for me. With four hours of travel daily and the many Stock workshop days during the weeks, little time and especially little energy was left to focus on projects or self-directed research, which eventually drove me to the point where I felt unable to continue in the same manner, which then lead to moving to Rotterdam, which happened in the last weeks of the trimester, but ended up creating an even bigger chaos due to all the packing, organizing and re-locating. For me the issue this trimester was not my practice itself, but rather the lack of time to apply my practice or do any research to begin with.

The goal for the third trimester is to get things back on track. Having moved to Rotterdam has given me the time and energy I need to start focusing on my work once more much to my joy, which hopefully you'll soon be able to see in a bit more physical representation of work and the coupled digital representation on my wiki page.