Category: timeline

Posted on

The Wire Salon at Cafe OTO

The third in a series of events hosted by The Wire magazine looking at the impact of AI on contemporary music making. Tickets

Generative music systems were around long before generative AI. This event looks at a previous history of music as a series of inputs, workflows, and rules-based processes, from Fluxus onward. What are the choices that inform generative music systems internally (in scores, programming, and technical possibilities) and externally (in power structures between performers, users, and corporations)?

Generative AI also generates its outputs from massive datasets, and can be ‘trained’ on the work of thousands of anonymised creative artists. Debates are heated about copyright, ownership and originality, and the consent of artists and creators to be used in these massive datasets. What does Generative AI say to the rules we have about what constitutes agency and identity, and the distinction between self and other in relation to information transmission and exchange? Looking into plunderphonics, folk, sampling and copy cultures, were or are other paths possible?

Loré Lixenberg and Elaine Mitchener are both vocalists, composers and improvisors working in the realms of new music, experimental music, music theatre, performance and visual art. For this Salon they will perform a selection of early process-based scores in which the rules are transparent and all too human. 

Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) is a multidisciplinary British artist recognised for her immersive audiovisual collages and unique approach to mass media as contemporary folk art. Her contribution to this Salon will lift off from her ongoing advocacy for open access to creative content, and her practice of freely sharing her work online and championing the principles of the gift economy. Bennett regards sampling as a potent metaphor for culture and consciousness’s interconnected and ever-shifting nature. In her view, everything exists in a state of flux, and meaning is always relational rather than fixed. Through her practice, she draws attention to the fluid dialogues woven throughout cultural production, challenging conventional ideas about originality and the boundaries of artistic ownership.

Mattie Colqhoun (Xenogothic) is a writer, researcher, and biographer of Mark Fisher. For this event they will be presenting on the implications of AI for blogospheric topics from the 2000s-2010s, regarding hauntology, salvagepunk and accelerationism as three different approaches to the cultural production of the new and how the recombinatory processes of AI sampling are changing our relationship to appropriation and sampling in music. 

The event will conclude with a panel moderated by writer and Wire contributor Robert Barry.

https://www.lorelixenberg.art
https://www.elainemitchener.com
https://peoplelikeus.org
https://xenogothic.com
https://www.thewire.co.uk

Posted on

The Library of Babel at WFMU’s Monty Hall / cohosting with Hearty White

Friends of and friends at WFMU! I’m cohosting with Hearty White this Thursday 13 March as part of our wonderful fundraising marathon – pledge here!
Update – Hearty had covid!
So Pseu Braun stood in for the Q&A, and Ken cohosted as Hearty!
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/150057
https://pledge.wfmu.org/donate

Then straight after the show we will rush downstairs and are delighted to present The Library of Babel, followed by a conversation with Hearty White.

Get your tickets here.

WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).
Thursday, March 13 · 8pm EDT. Doors at 7:30pm

First there is experience.
Then we attach a story to it.
The Library of Babel is a vast library of words. Some combine to make stories of consequence, others are nonsensical.
The library is complete.
Yet searching it is futile.
“The Library of Babel” is a new musical movie by People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett), a journey through cinema and sound where the actors are set adrift from their story, left with pure experience.

All proceeds from this event benefit WFMU

Posted on

The Library of Babel screening and discussion

Monday 11 November, 6pm

Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory
Urbana

View on Map

https://cas.illinois.edu/node/2915

Introduction by special guest Hearty White

Inspired by a 1941 Jorge Luis Borges short story, The Library of Babel (2024) explores themes related to the complex interplay of infinity, knowledge, and the cosmic fabric, presented through the metaphor of a vast, seemingly infinite library. In the story, the librarians are isolated, focused on an almost religious or existential quest, struggling to find meaningful texts amidst an overwhelming number of nonsensical or irrelevant books. The library itself has no goals or intentions; a canvas onto which searchers project their quests for meaning. The narrative delves into the angst and crises of those that explore its depths, raising questions about our ability to manage, navigate, and find meaning from vast amounts of information. In her film inspired by the story, artist Vicki Bennett relies on an amalgamation of audio-visual collage and intricate editing techniques to reconfigure, decompose, redirect, and recombine images with sounds that are often already ingrained in audience’s collective consciousness. Rather than adhering to a linear progression of events, her thematic narrative unfolds in layered complexities, offering a fragmented but coherent tale achieved through a blend of various sources and an ‘exquisite corpse’ approach.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Bennett and White on their independent and collaborative creative journeys in seeking meaning, social connection, and joy through the mediums of radio, video, and performance.

Hosted by: College of Fine & Applied Arts. Thanks to Kevin Hamilton.

In conjunction with: Department of Media & Cinema Studies, Department of Musicology, Department of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, Illinois Public Media, School of Art + Design, Spurlock Museum, University Library

flyerDownload

Posted on

Mise en Abyme – new AV installation at Museu de Aveiro

“Mise en Abyme” by Vicki Bennett (October 2024)
Museu de Aveiro/Santa Joana, Avenida de Santa Joana, 3810-329 Aveiro, Portugal
2-20 October 2024 https://www.aveiro2024.pt/en/

In this widescreen, multi-speakered spatial cinema installation created for Aveiro 2024, Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) delves into the existential depths of human experience, using dense collage and a recursive narrative to explore the intricate dance between dualism and interconnectivity. Entitled “Mise en Abyme,” the installation thrusts viewers into a realm where actors are liberated from the confines of their scripted existence, navigating a sea of pure, unmediated sensation. Traditional storytelling is reimagined, employing a fusion of audio-visual collage and sophisticated editing techniques to dismantle and reassemble digital narratives, creating a tapestry woven from images and sounds that resonate deeply within the collective unconscious through their historical associations. The thematic narrative, unbound by linear constraints, unfolds through a series of layered complexities, offering a fragmented yet coherent tale forged from a myriad of sources and the innovative ‘exquisite corpse’ technique.

“Mise en Abyme” aims to use storytelling as a vessel to navigate beyond preconceived notions and internal narratives, inviting audiences into a space where the boundaries between self and other, between individual and collective experience, begin to blur.

The Artistic Technique

Vicki Bennett creates a sophisticated blend of audio-visual collage, layering historical and contemporary images and sounds to create a rich, immersive experience. The recursive narrative structure allows for a non-linear exploration of themes. The use of the ‘exquisite corpse’ technique further enhances this experience, as disparate elements are juxtaposed and interwoven, creating a seamless yet complex narrative tapestry. This method not only highlights the beauty of randomness but also demonstrates the interconnectedness of seemingly unrelated elements.

Brochure for Aveiro 2024