What has been done so far

Mushroom and Charcoal Sketches
Artificial Voice Expriment 1
Artificial Voice Experiment 2
Research into living networks (fungi)
Short Daily Aims List
Python Experiments 1 (Image)
Python Experiments 2 (Video)
Media Blight

Developing Interests

TRIM1

Technically:

Trim1: In the first trimester I focused more on the play with digital media using unconventional yet simple methods for getting my message across. I was more interested in learning than doing, I nonetheless made some memorable presentations like "Skype & Cigarettes". But I felt uncomfortoble in my simple approaches to media, even though they were fun they didn't have a conceptual frame. What I made were merely manipulations on the physical sphere through the digital (for example, our perception of communication in 'Skype & Cigarettes', and our perception of space in 'Virtual Kidnapping').

Conceptually:

There was no real cohesion between my work and the goal of finding a focus. What I made ('Skype and Cigarettes' to a lesser degree) did not feel grounded in a larger theoretical frame, which I wanted it to be. I also wanted to make a larger project where I could collect my media exercises into a coherent model, but my media experiments seemed so seperate, so far apart that I couldn't begin to imagine how I would make a collection. I found an interest in the concept of "Societies of Control" by Deleuze as it had similarities with ideas I'd investigated in my bachelor thesis (a structuring of 'free' space, feedback loops).When Annette suggested Insect Media I tied my basic interests in cybernetic theory with a darker atmosphere of unescapable control.

TRIM2

Technically:

With the photobook exercise I began to work more with a solid narrative, literally. I found that making what was physical, a photobook, but connected to the virtual was a fresh breath of air. I had such big ideas for how I was going to do it! I wanted to create a narrative, what developed into Media Blight, which was both grounded in the physical and the digital; the photobook as printed media with a message about what the digital 'actually' was (according to the fictional Media Blight narrative).

Conceptually:

But something kept me from doing work, I began to doubt myself; whether I could actually do this; and this doubt went from a nuisance in the middle of trimester 2 to a full-on paralysis at the end. I could not put my thoughts in text without immediately coming up with a 'better' alternative that would save me. As time went on I spent more and more time on trying to order my ideas, focusing on one thing, which was a lost cause and it consumed all my energy. The ideas were too large, and remained too vague to put into a larger context. My doubt spread to other areas of my life until I was completely cocooned in doubt. I was afraid of telling you tutors that I didn't know what I was doing, but, of course everyone noticed. I was insecure, and so I took to stubborn pride as I suppose I thought I could solve it myself.

TRIM3

Technically:

At the beginning of Trimester 3 I was hard-pressed to regain coherency as the 'Networked Image' course had come to an end, and because of my computer (a piece of crap Windows), and my aversion to code (ironically, an aversion I wanted to overcome through Michael's classes, but I was too distracted). Now I realize that my drawing practice, and my interest in studying mycellia can only work as a support for my play with media. Traditional drawing and digital media are too far apart for me, according to what I've experienced.

Conceptually:

Networked societies and networked mushrooms as analogies for each other might be closer, but I've found more analogies with insects and society in current literature than I have with mushrooms. And so, the analogy becomes mute. I also realize that I should depend on forming ideas which relate to my work, rather than imagining concepts, to make it easier for myself (concepts consist of ideas -right?) they confuse people. I was trying to focus on hobbies and I ended up banging my head against the wall. This has affected my practice and my studies, and has taken alot of energy.

Current Practice:

Documentation

For Ellecke's documentation I would like to focus on her process of constructing layers in 2D images

Big Baby Web

What: Distorting a tweet through a web of listening and talking baby dolls, networking artifacts to create a noisy result, much like from mouth to mouth.

Tools used