Steve'sMethod'sWikiPage26-9-19: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:50, 26 September 2019

Session one

what why how

What: Vicinity Point is a sound installation, idea of which was built upon a desk research on associative memory and social media black boxes, and a notion of them reinforcing each other in terms of exploiting users’ attention and thus forwarding platforms’ interests. The installation itself had a simple setup: two sound monitors facing each other with large plexiglass panels between them forming a corridor for the visitors. Associativeness of memory is considered to be one of the ways in which human mind operates in regards to memorizing information and retrieving it later on. Social media black boxes represent the algorithms which log users’ every move on the platform in a particular way. This helps the platform to target its users as specifically as possible, which advances the tools of attention economy.

How: Sound aspect was derived from field recordings i’ve made in Dnipro of the few distinct places in town and later manipulating them to some degree, which would represent a metaphor of pixelating an image or obfuscating data in a way that original would be recognizable.

Why: The point wasn’t to try to let the visitors guess where the sounds came from but to convey the idea that even when one is provided with only the bits of the original and it triggers particular associations based on one’s past knowledge and experience, with an effort it’s still possible to figure out what was the source and why was it delivered only in these bits. Users’ attitudes towards social media and their disregard for their own privacy while handing over their personal information was always frustrating to me. This is why delving into this subject was only natural and logical for me as i wanted to know more about the mechanisms behind these platforms and the reasons they worked so well.

(<<btw: this is not my text)

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-What - A sculpture made out of focus is a proposition on how to read my performances, a thought experiment. A protocol that is being generated on the basis of my immaterial performative practice and the nevertheless tangible strength of focus, the attention flow that is generated in between the performer and the public, that I observe cautiously and experience strongly. In real-time improvisation, focus is the prime matter for sculpting. The reflection, theanalysis of it is also the basis for its future developments, rearticulations in other media, the postproduction of experience that the performances generate.
+What: Vicinity Point is a sound installation, idea of which was built upon a desk research on associative memory and social media black boxes, and a notion of them reinforcing each other in terms of exploiting users’ attention and thus forwarding platforms’ interests. The installation itself had a simple setup: two sound monitors facing each other with large plexiglass panels between them forming a corridor for the visitors.  Associativeness of memory is considered to be one of the ways in which human mind operates in regards to memorizing information and retrieving it later on. Social media black boxes represent the algorithms which log users’ every move on the platform in a particular way. This helps the platform to target its users as specifically as possible, which advances the tools of attention economy.
-How - Following a question on how to make my performances more inclusive and interactive, I responded with a fact that has always been obvious to me - the public is already included, a crucially essential part of any performative act. The public is the one that grants the performer with focus and time, creating the very possibility for the encounter between content and the subjects, subjectivities present.
+How: Sound aspect was derived from field recordings i’ve made in Dnipro of the few distinct places in town and later manipulating them to some degree, which would represent a metaphor of pixelating an image or obfuscating data in a way that original would be recognizable.
-Why - The world is contaminated. Visual pollution is the hypocritical, hidden and omnipresent germ. On a daily basis we are confronted with the overflow of images that tend to be meaningless, or there to serve the consumerist system we are a part of. Trying to avoid the production of imagery that would worsen the visual pollution, I took the decision to divert my practice towards the performative, where consensuality is a precondition. The attention of the public is gifted to the performer, not stolen from them. Distraction is the basic tool of "the capitalist beast". I believe that the gifted, consensual attention holds a possibility to reach further into the subjective mind, suggesting and opening up perspectives, otherwise blocked by gleaming pollutants.
+Why: The point wasn’t to try to let the visitors guess where the sounds came from but to convey the idea that even when one is provided with only the bits of the original and it triggers particular associations based on one’s past knowledge and experience, with an effort it’s still possible to figure out what was the source and why was it delivered only in these bits.  Users’ attitudes towards social media and their disregard for their own privacy while handing over their personal information was always frustrating to me. This is why delving into this subject was only natural and logical for me as i wanted to know more about the mechanisms behind these platforms and the reasons they worked so well.
 '''(<<btw: this is not my text)'''
 ==Session two==