idk if ur as much of a podcast nerd as I am, but this week’s episode of Sawbones, a medical history podcast, has a surprising relationship to interactive media and art. normally the podcast deals more with the relationship between ancient practices and modern medicine, but this week’s is full on web 2.0. it focuses on the infamous “Corrupted Blood incident” in World of Warcraft, and how that virtual pandemic provided models for real-world research in epidemiology, all thx to a programming error. sometimes a bug is a feature, and sometimes a bug is a buckwild opportunity to study human behavior at scale! the ep is worth a listen and I recommend the podcast wholesale.
also if u can’t get enough WoW content this week, Angela Washko’s “The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft” is always worth a revisit.
resource roundup!
as someone in the middle of a portfolio redesign, I rly like this advice from Ali Spittel about how to make a portfolio that best reflects your work and goals. if ur a creative, ur portfolio should be too, but u also shouldn’t be bending over backwards to make companies love u (companies aren’t people! they can’t feel love!!!!). anyway, Ali Spittel is great, and she really nails this balance between being yourself and having a strong public face for your industry.
CSS can do that! no rly!! ok, not all of these examples are cross-browser compatible, but you can get pretty far with just CSS3 these days. back in my day, when we wanted a gradient, we had to make a tileable gif in ClarisWorks and….
here’s a lil tutorial on using a JS plugin called Rellax to animate a page with lots of elements scrolling at different speeds. this is def doable w/o a plugin but believe u me it is a nightmare, lol. this way looks way easier to implement and debug.
did u no that u wanted a video of John Maeda talking about apple symmetry? well now u no! this is sort of a WIP/explainer for one of the illustrations for his book How To Speak Machine, which is now available for preorder & will be out this fall. v cute!
here’s a follow-up to the Neural Networks Primer I linked a few weeks ago, with this article digging in on convoluted neural networks. I’m glad to see this series is still going! if only I could make some time to actually digest it….
and, idk this is just kind of terrifying????
opportunities!
the Experiential Space Research Lab has an open call for immersive art experiences that provoke radical re-imaginings of the living world.
We encourage media artists with an entrepreneurial spirit and systems orientation to apply. In the Incubator, we will work together to prototype, develop, produce and market an experiential space, which is modular and can tour to other locations. Successful artworks may be offered opportunities to install in various sites, beyond Gray Area.
if ur in the Bay Area, there are 2 upcoming mixers on May 30 and June 20 to answer questions and provide a space for artists to meet potential collaborators. deadline is June 23 so u should hustle!
Edgecut is a new repository for the future contemporary of art and technology, and submissions are open for pitches! they’re seeking 2 types of work: 1) maker notes from artists and technologists, process pieces, reviews and reflections on recent live events, original research, video, Tweetstorms, fragments and manifestos, 2) stories and essays about new technology, cutting edge art, and the broader cultural and social conversation around them. you can learn more here and send pitches of 3-5 sentences to edgecutmagazine@gmail.com.
Eyebeam’s 2020 Residency is now open for submissions! apply by June 21 to be considered for this 6 month research and experimentation-focused program for creative practitioners. for this program, Eyebeam is shifting its focus to be more responsive to artist needs and the larger community. check out their FAQ for more details.
Toronto New Wave has an open call for interactive, VR, AR, XR and new media works for the 2019 program! the submission deadline is July 2, so you still have some time to put in some work on this one. they’re prioritizing new works completed after January 1, 2018 and projects intending to premier at the festival. get on it! you can fill out a submission here.
from March 18-22, 2020, the third edition of festival DIGITAL SPRING will take place in Salzburg, Germany. this year’s theme is STAND BY. there’s an open call for non-commercial media arts projects as well as a four-week residency from the end of February through the end of the festival. the deadline is June 30, 2019 so get on it if this sounds up your alley! more details here.
Google Arts & Culture and Google AI present Artists + Machine Intelligence Grants – the grants will support six artists with technical mentorship, core Google research, and funding. I always feel a lil wobbly about big corporate grant opportunities, but if it fits your practice, go for it. in this case, you get to keep ownership of your IP, which is always the biggest risk. apply by Monday July 15!
do you want your own project to be featured in this newsletter? I’ve set up a new open call submission form so you can send your work my way. WIPs are welcome!
📅 upcoming events!
Friday May 31! The Cornerstone! Galway, Ireland: the final exhibition of ‘Future Landscapes: Enhancing Seen and Unseen Landscapes with Mixed Reality’ will open this Friday. this is the culmination of a 4-week workshop running at NUI Galway in a collaboration between the Moore Institute and Galway 2020. it’s facilitate by friends-of-the-newsletter School of Machines, Making, and Make-Believe, so u know it’s legit. learn more here.
Friday June 7! Grey Area! San Francisco, CA USA: Rush V1 is a choose-your-own-adventure immersive club experience presented as a collaboration between LEVYdance and Gray Area. if you’re into contemporary dance, immersive storytelling, interactive art, or all of the above, and live in the Bay Area, this looks rad as hell. more info is available here, and you can get tix here.
Saturday June 15! Wonderville! Brooklyn, NY USA: Wonderville NYC in collaboration with the Tech Learning Collective presents: A Dark Web workshop by and for Femmes and Allies! this digital safety workshop is open to all and is facilitated by the Tech Learning Collective’s femme-identified cybersecurity instructors. it’s a two-hour mini-intensive focused on the Tor Project. don’t worry if you’re new to cybersecurity – this will be a safe and welcoming environment for learning how to make the most of Tor, a free digital safety tool. this crew is legit, and I highly recommend this event if you’re in the NYC area! tix are $45, or $30 for queer and femme-identified folx. u can learn more here.
Tuesday, June 18! Wythe Hotel! Brooklyn, NY USA: Eyebeam is turning 20 with a “Fête of the Future” benefit at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn this June. it’s definitely a splurge, but the event includes visuals created by THE FAMILY with art direction by Eyebeam resident Yo-Yo Lin, artist-led experiences up for auction from alumni Zach Lieberman, Lauren McCarthy, and Taeyoon Choi, as well as a live performance from Jasminfire. tix are available on Eventbrite.
just for lulz!
u thought we were done w/ WoW this week! guess again!
*~housekeeping~*
as always, submit to the open artist call if you have anything in the works that you are excited about! I swear I’m actually going to read through them and start pinging people (lol). and if you have an event or opportunity to promote (anywhere), please send me all the details. the next newsletter will cover the week of June 3 to June 9, but I’m happy to promote events further in the future as well and keep them on the calendar. also next week I am on VACATION for my BIRTHDAY so next week’s newsletter will probably be banked early and be a bit short! sry I rly need some beach time.
