are u craving a good long read on the internets? I have had this essay by Kate Wagner bookmarked for a hot minute and finally made time for it. as someone on the older side of digital native myself (I think we got our first family computer with AOL when I was about 6 circa 1993??? idk, @wayhip, can u confirm?), this really hit home on what makes me most sad about what the internet has become: the erasure of that gritty, personalized interactivity that made it so exciting in the first place. as an actual child, I began to learn basically all the skills I now use to make art and make a living by tinkering around in fan communities, webrings, and pre-Facebook message boards.
tbh a lot of my motivation to start this community & newsletter was missing that kind of weird, slow, personalized curation. are any of y’all old enough to remember when your new favorite band was thanks to an .mp3 that someone from Makeoutclub sent to you?
I have been thinking and journaling a lot on this problem of sanitization and app-ification of the digital, and hope to explore these issues in some new projects to share w/ y’all in the coming months.
resource roundup!
did u miss yesterday’s special post about the global #climatestrike? well u can check it out here. 💕🖥 an artist’s guide to computation 🖥💕 is a posi vibes newsletter, but for me that also means being posi & active about real actual political things as a facet of a creative practice. get off Twitter and feel active in the world!
imo people are generally really terrible at explaining Git, especially in professional contexts. my own first experience with it was a jr backend dev basically being like, “idk just type this stuff or whatever” and then rushing off to Chipotle for lunch. so, here’s the first installment in a super friendly series designed to make the most important Git tasks super easy to grasp.
Other Orders is a new project by Sam Lavigne for sorting texts and tweets. it provides some clever and poetic contrast to the recommendation engines that power the feeds on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. what does it look like when the text of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is sorted based on goth-ness or similarity to @dril? you can tinker with the tool via the link above or clone it from Github here to run it locally on your own texts.
I hate whiteboard interviews! I think they reinforce bad industry culture and also I just personally don’t wanna do one! eat my shorts!! this thread on surviving them is solid as hell and loosely applicable to application/interview situations in general:
I haven’t played with D3.js in a hot minute, but here’s a lovely & very visual introduction to the library by Amelia Wattenberger. I love the very meta d3 visualization of… d3 modules. I found it to be a good refresher as someone who is familiar with the library but hasn’t used it cohesively in over a year, and it feels like it would be friendly for a beginner as well.
this is a pretty particular and high-level breakdown of a clouds shader, but even if it’s a bit out of your wheelhouse I think it’s worth looking at stuff like this now and then to get a sense of how different people tinker their way through creative problems. it’s easy to feel intimidate by larger scale projects, but even the clouds have a person somewhere doing all the gritty work, step by step.
📅 upcoming events!
Thurs, Sept 19! MU! Eindhoven, Netherlands: MU presents Josephine & Data Bosma on Computer Grrrls:
Josephine has been a critical observer of and writer on digital culture for decades, while Data develops herself as a post-digital artist. For the first time, they will be together on stage, as they will discuss a selection of Computer Grrrls works from their perspectives and their personal experiences with digitality and cyber feminism.
this event will be in English and looks rad if you are in the area! you can learn more and get tix here.
Sat, Sept 21! Triangle Arts Association! Brooklyn, NY USA: the Tech Learning Collective will be debuting a new workshop to teach you how to run your own server! tix are $150, with a discounted rate of $99 for queer and femme folks. you can learn more here.
also Sat, Sept 21! School for Poetic Computation! NYC, NY USA: have you been watching Carol & Tuesday on Netflix? do you want to take your own stab at writing pop songs via computational techniques? SfPC is hosting a workshop presented by Jamie Brew and Todd Anderson on writing lyrics with algorithms. you can learn more and get tickets on Eventbrite here.
also also Sat, Sept 21! Alpha House Artist Co Operative! Sydney, Australia: 𝐸𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓇𝑜𝒞𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 is back with a special international edition presenting work by US-based practitioners Sharing Turtle™ and Evan Meaney. start your Saturday with coffee, turtle-themed yoga, and art! this looks worth checking out!!! you can learn more here.
opportunities!
CICA Museum invites new media artists worldwide to participate in the 6th International Exhibition and Publication on New Media Art. the selected artists will be featured in the 6th International Exhibition on New Media Art at the CICA Museum and in the book “New Media Art 2021.” you can learn more and apply by October 11 here.
Olin College of Engineering is seeking applicants for its creative residency program, an initiative that’s part of Sketch Model, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to bring artists and other creative practitioners to Olin’s campus to awaken the political and cultural contexts for technology for the 2020-2021 academic year. this looks pretty open in terms of who can & should apply, and the kind of support and personal flexibility you would have. you can learn more and apply by November 15 here.
applications for Meow Wolf’s DIY Fund 2019 are open until September 30! you can learn more and apply here.
Eyebeam is seeking a development intern to work with their Director of Operations on grant writing and research. you can apply via Facebook or via the rolling internship application here.
the European Media Art Platform has an open call for media artists in the fields of digital media with applications due by December 2. you can learn more here.
Rhizome has a rolling open call for their 2019-2020 microgrants! you can learn more & apply here!
Pioneer Works is holding their first-ever open call until September 30 for residencies for 2020-2021 for artists working in Visual Arts, Music, Technology, and/or Narrative Arts. you can check out the application portal here.
School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe is at it again with a 4-week course on designing spatial experiences for waiting and escape rooms. you can learn more and apply here.
Artengine is hosting a Digital Economies Lab, as a year-long exploration of “the wonders and anguish of making art and culture in the 21st century.” you can learn more and apply here.
POWRPLNT has an open call for volunteer teaching artists. check it out and consider applying here!
House of Electronic Arts Basel and the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology of the Zurich University of the Arts have an open call for artists for a residency and production program. submissions are due by September 22, and you can learn more here.
the Sundance Institute has an open call for their 2020 New Frontier Story Lab. the deadline is Oct 1, so get going! more info here.
just for lulz!
shameless plug alert!
holiday season is around the corner and that means you are probably gonna have your roster of parties with family and colleagues who you maybe feel kind of awkward about, idk! who among us hasn’t seen the office manager roll in a case of beers for mandated company holiday fun and been like please kill me.
some personal pals are rebooting their genuinely very fun card game Game of Phones via Kickstarter and you should check it out and consider it as a solution to all your problems. if you think you are the queen of being on your phone at a party, here’s your chance to shine. use your meme skills for social gain!!! you can sign up to support the campaign and get the game here.
*~housekeeping~*
if you have anything in the works that you are excited about (an event, a workshop, a new project), please send me all the details. the next newsletter will cover the week of September 23 – 29, but I’m happy to promote events further in the future as well and keep them on the calendar.
