Stranger than Beauty

Visual Noise

2008-06-09T12:37:00.003-04:00

An animation that I did for Steven Antosca's such a pure force is included as part of the 86 Collective digital art project that is on view at The Lab at Belmar from June 18th to July 20th.

RUCKUS, REPEAT, RUCKUS: Visual Noise is a video art exhibition that explores the spectacular and dynamic dimensions of the digital art medium. Meaning to suggest an urban environment, the metaphor of noise is an aesthetic experience that is neither contemplative nor decorative, but continually draws attention. Works will be more abstract than narrative and more sensory-based than conceptual with compelling visual and audio effects and imagery.

Located at 404 S. Upham Street in Lakewood, RUCKUS, REPEAT, RUCKUS will be open to the public from June 18th – July 20th. The hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday 12-6pm; Sunday 12-5pm; Closed Monday.

P.R. Jumps the pond

2008-06-09T11:57:00.002-04:00

P.R. will be screened as part of the Globians Shorts Reel for the Globian Documentary Film Festival in Potsdam and Berlin. Globians is an annual international documentary film festival focusing on world cultures, urban issues, world religions, cultural identities, gender issues, sub-cultures and many other timely topics.

The Globians Shorts Reel will be presented on Saturday August 16th, 2008 at the festival house Old City Hall in Potsdam and on Saturday September 7th during the Berlin festival rerun at Babylon:Mitte. The Babylon:Mitte is Berlin's preeminent art-house facility with a long tradition since the silent era of movies.

P.R. and Drop Screenings in New York and Atlanta

2008-04-11T14:18:00.005-04:00

If you missed PR at last weeks 15th New York Underground Film Festival, don't despair. Two films will be screened later this month in New York as part of the Brooklyn Arts Council's 42nd Film Festival. My film P.R. will be screened on May 1st, 2008 at the Long Island University Kumble Theater as part of the A Contemplation of Violence program. And my film drop will be screened on May 8th, 2008 at the Long Island University Spike Lee Screening Room as part of the The Power of Art program.

If you are in NYC, hope you can make it!

Also, this week Drop is showing at the Atlanta Film Festival which looks like a great event, I wish I could be there!

Temporal Interference Performances

2008-03-31T00:27:00.002-04:00

I will be staging Temporal Interference once again at a dance festival - Performatica in Pueblas, Mexico this week - April 3, 7-10 PM.

On the way back from Mexico Jane Franklin Dance has agreed to a performance here in Denver as well.

The Denver performance will be a free concert at the King Center, University of Colorado Denver on April 5, 7:30 PM, 2008 (download the press release with King Center performance details.

Looking forward to it and hope to see everyone there!

Dorkbot Denver

2008-03-22T12:33:00.003-04:00

Finally! Went to my first Dorkbot since moving to Denver, it was great! Saw a local developer from Cycling74, Darwin Grosse, gave brief intro to Max/MSP/Jitter. Looks like Cycling74 will release the much anticipated Max 5 sometime in April, can't wait for that. John English showed his highly efficient electric bike and a great set by Ate Bitten, a guy using 8-bit sound and video, really cool stuff.

Nice to see such a good crowd, it reminded me of DC's very active Dorkbot chapter. Looking forward to meeting more noise musicians, programmers and people doing strange things with electricity.

Second Prize in Black Maria

2008-02-20T01:23:00.005-05:00

I am very happy to report that an animation I did "P.R." has been accepted into the Black Maria Film Festival. This is a great festival, they feature very good cutting edge work and have long been a champion of independent film. The film won a second juried prize- I like how they summarized my work on their site:

"This biting work is a conceptual deconstruction of an ill-considered pronouncement by a noted televangelist. The artist “metamorphizes” one icon into another as he turns media-driven culture against itself. P.R. is a compact, yet effective protest against right-wing reactionary thinking."

What a great commentary! What I liked about the piece is that I felt like I didn't have to really do anything at all, I just let the subject speak for himself and it all just fell into place.

This Monday, Feb. 25th the Black Maria will be right down the street in Boulder, CO, I may have to skip out of class early to go see it on the big screen.

This year I have also had another animated film "drop" accepted into both the Byron Bay Film Festival in Australia and the 30th annual Big Muddy in Carbondale, IL. I'm really happy to see this work getting out there in such fantastic venues. I feel I've been quite fortunate and it's really motivating me to finish up some other animations I've been working on.

Transparency in Design

2008-02-11T00:04:00.000-05:00

I had not heard of this system before, but it's a clever visualization solution to show the public the quality and conditions of their environment in an easy to read format. A colored glow indicates what the Ph balance is of NYC's water at any given time. Cool!

New York City Ballet

2008-01-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

Paula Scher has designed a new logo for the NYC Ballet company that is very clean and classic. Great design!

DIY Government

2007-12-04T00:35:00.000-05:00

Two articles caught my eye this weekend, artists are taking government into their own hands and improving cities themselves. Why not? If we wait for our governments to actually fix anything we could be waiting a long time.... But, on the other hand, what if the artists are not that good at fixing things either?

Second is a cure for famine - stop listening to advice from developing countries! According to the NYTimes, Malawi found that it's better to look at what developed countries actually do (namely subsidize farming) rather than what they tell others to do. Malawis suffered a devastating famine several years ago and not wanting a repeat invested in fertilizers. It's a great read and I think it questions conventional wisdom in the west over the last 20 years or so.

Find yourself

2007-12-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Google has invented another cool way to track your movements and thoughts, it's the Google phone locator. What's interesting about this is that it doesn't rely on GPS data, instead it locates your phone based on the cel towers that you are utilizing when calling up the Google page.

I also like the information graphic that is being used to demonstrate how it works. It's a sort of low-tech, high-tech hybrid that is very informative and clear, but not as dry as a typical infographic.

DIY furniture

2007-11-30T13:40:00.000-05:00

This article has two things that I find interesting, one is the ability to print out your own manufactured designs using 3D printing technology and machinery. Second, is that this is the Provisions Gallery blog. Provisions is a gallery dedicated to art as a force for social change. They have had many amazing shows over the past few years.

Information Visualization Winners

2007-10-03T00:22:00.000-04:00

The National Science Foundation has announced it's winners for the 2007 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. I love the winning image by Kai-hung Fung, not so much for what it is but for what it isn't, a picture of a nose.

MAP show coming up

2007-08-15T23:33:00.000-04:00

In addition to my relocation, I've been busily working as a co-curator on a new show that will be at the Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, MD. It's part of their Curator's Incubator program which allows new curators to get their feet wet creating an exhibition.

Susan Serafin is my partner in this, and we're real happy with how it's all turning out. As soon as I have a link to the invite I will post it, but to save the date the opening will be September 28th, along with an artist talk. The show itself will open Sept. 13.

Denver is nice!

2007-08-15T23:20:00.000-04:00

And I'm not just saying that 'cuz it's my new home. Denver is a really cool city. It's a lot more "urban" than I would have imagined before I moved here, and at the same time it's very down to earth. A great mix of brew pubs and world class museums.

It's been quite a busy summer as we relocated both our studios to Denver, and preparing for the start of classes this fall at UCD. I've met some great artists here in Denver and with all that's going on in the city it should be a lot of fun getting to know the area better.

Kennedy Center Performance

2007-05-20T07:29:00.000-04:00

Temporal Interference was presented at the Kennedy Center last week, just search for Leister in the Millenium stage archives. The description says that I "played" the Theremin, but that's not really true. I basically hit a start button, and the software starts a 23 minute sequence of programs, the dancers themselves are playing the Theremin through their motions. The sounds are only marginally controlled by me, as you watch the dancers move you can see that they are triggering the sound and video live.

My wife had her animation used in the next piece called In Hiding, both of these were choreographed by Jane Franklin. We were both really happy that it all worked without a hitch and the audience reaction was great.

Concert this Sunday!

2007-05-02T07:50:00.000-04:00

This is one of the "rare" chances to see the Theremin in action before we move to Denver, where I'll be teaching new media. It's called Electric Possible and I'll be performing with artist Edgar Endress.

Should be fun, electricity, noise and video, what could be better for a Sunday night?

Busy Weekend!

2007-04-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been slow in posting, I've been extremely busy preparing for several events going on this weekend. First, my wife Becky Heavner is presenting at Gunston Hall in Arlington. Her contribution to this dance performance, "In Hiding" is 16 minutes of animation that are projected onto panels allowing the dancers to interact with her imagery and Gina Biver's composition. The choreography is by Jane Franklin Dance. It's being performed on Thursday, April 19 and again on Saturday April 21.

Second, I will be part of The Floating Lab Collective's Protest on Demand DC-based performance. If you want to participate you can log into the Floating Lab website and make your request for this coming Friday, April 20 and Saturday April 21.

Third, I will be performing a new piece as part of Multimediale called Proximity Politico. It takes place at Provisions Gallery on Saturday, April 21 starting at 8 pm. There will be a number of performances and installations at Provisions, really nice work being featured so check it out.

Fourth, on Sunday, April 24th I will be presenting a 19 minute animation to accompany Steve Antosca's composition such a pure force for cmf iv, the Contemporary Music Forum which will be presented at the Corcoran Gallery in DC.

So... there's a good chance I won't be posting much on my blog this weekend! If you come downtown to see some of this, be sure to check out a great new media installation: Alberto Gaitan's Remembrancer installation at the Curator's Office on 14th street. It grows and changes everyday, looked great at the opening but should be much more interesting as time goes on.

What does it mean to be an artist in DC?

2007-04-10T17:29:00.000-04:00

Or a curator for that matter. Check out the latest video from MultimedialeDC.

Also, do you have an issue that you care about? But, don't have the time/energy or resources to come to DC and protest? We can help! The Floating Lab

Show Opening today

2007-03-20T11:42:00.000-04:00

My wife, Becky Heavner, is well known as an illustrator, but she is also a passionate quilter. A new show of her quilts is opening today at the 233-One gallery, 301 King Street in Alexandria (Enter through Room 2300). She is showing among other things, a fabulous bear claw quilt and several mixed media quilts.

It's really fascinating to see how she 'draws' with fabric, keeping some elements of her painting but also with an interest in the tradition of quilting. The show opens at 3 PM and will be up for about a month.

MultimedialeDC

2007-03-12T18:58:00.000-04:00

MultimedialeDC is a new art festival that is coming to DC in April. It has a mission to create discourse in the DC arts community regarding art, society and politics. Niels Van Tomme and Randall Packer are organizing it and I am happy to be doing a performance piece as part of the festival.

It's an interesting idea, and you would think that DC is already heavily focused on art, but that would be more in politics, not as much in the arts. I've seen much more political work outside of DC than inside the beltway, so hopefully events like this will change that.

Much of the event takes place at Provisions Library, a really nice reading room/library that focuses on art with a social purpose. Provisions also has been quite generous by hosting our local dorkbotDC meetings. Dork meets Politics, now there's a nice visual...

Happenings

2007-03-12T13:24:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy few weeks here in the studio and with my recent installation/performance. I'm happy to report that the show was a success and we had NO technical mishaps... that's a biggie when you're dealing with new media! I was able to write up a max patch that automated the whole performance, launching each of the 5 pieces automatically and it worked great.

I really appreciate everyone over at the Warehouse Theater, it's a great venue, very active and the people who run it are great supporters of the arts. It's wonderful to find a place like that in DC.

In the next couple of weeks I will be posting an update, it looks like we're going to perform Temporal Interference on a much larger scale, it should be quite interesting seeing how that affects the piece.

I just got back from Denver, a lovely city and some great schools out that way. All in all a very productive trip... Becky is working on a new piece, that will be projected and feature Flash animation of her new cut-out shape style, I'll post updates as I get them!

Performance photos

2007-02-26T10:34:00.000-05:00

Finally got some good photos (thanks Becky!) from opening weekend of Temporal Interference, we had a great turnout Saturday, and the dancers were amazing. Everything went smoothly from my point of view, basically checking to make sure that the interactivity was there with the sensor responding appropriately.

It was really fun working on this installation/performance, I am looking forward to future collaborations. This coming weekend is the last chance to see this particular piece though, so if you're interested, go here. It's at the Warehouse Theater in DC and features Gina Biver's compositions along with dancers and choreography from the Jane Franklin Dance Company.

Dorkbot Demo

2007-02-20T09:49:00.000-05:00

Dorkbot's tonight at Provision Gallery in Dupont Circle, I plan to be there to do a brief demo of the Max/Jitter patch that is running the installation through my Theremin. If you haven't been to dorkbot, and you're into electricity/performance and art, it's worth checking out. Last month's was SRO.

Interactive performance screen shots

2007-02-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

People have been asking me to describe this performance in more detail, just what exactly is going to happen during Temporal Interference? Well tonight we had a full dress rehearsal and here are some screen shots of the video elements. It's hard to depict in still images, but basically three dancers move throughout the room and their proximity effects the video and sound. I'm really happy with how the sound came out, Gina Biver's work is excellent. The choreography is complex and I think it goes well with the piece in general. It's really cool to see what people can do with their movements to activate a space and it's a pleasure working with the dancers at Jane Franklin Dance company.
It's been a busy few weeks or I would be posting more, just got back from NYC and saw the Alex Katz show at the Jewish Museum. As an illustrator I really like Katz's work, is somewhat decorative but with a real presence. As usual, the Cooper Hewitt had a terrific show of design-oriented work, including Nicholas Blechman's Nozone Magazine.

I'd like to say that I will post more regularly, but I've got quite a few projects coming up, so who knows!

Toyz Machine

2007-02-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I find a site that really stands out, toyzmachin.com is one of them. It's all in French, so I can't be 100% sure what it's about, but I'm pretty sure it's an illustrator/animator's portfolio of work. Pretty fun stuff.

I love the character designs and Flash animations, as well as the general "game" quality, all things that I find interesting right now.