“To understand the present means carrying out a kind of rough-and-ready archaeological investigation of world culture, which proceeds just as well through re-enactments as through the presentation of artefacts – or again, through the technique of mixing.” – N. Bourriaud

Hvorslev Art Association presents: ALTER MODERN TIMES Live audio visual performance by Joel Dittrich

With several projectors and speakers; layers of pictures, layers of audio, layers of connotations are re-mediated, re-edited, re-mixed, re-used and misused. It is a journal based work in progress art project (video /sound /graphics /photography), which sprung out of the idea of what energies displacement creates, thoughts on what´s next after postmodernism and a will to explore and invent alternatives to the 9-5-lifestyle. The title is inspired by Nicolas Bourriauds´s book “Altermodern” (Tate Publishing, 2009) and by Charlie Chaplin´s film “Modern Times” (1937).

Ultimately this three month stay in New York City will enlighten me, confuse me, ALTER me – something that I will be able to use as an artist, as a teacher and a disobeying villain.

ABOUT

January to april 2010 I displaced myself from Stockholm to live in an artist loft in Brooklyn, New York. I study (video) art theory at School of Visual Arts, a course called “The Fourth Dimension: Video, Space and The Broken Screen”. I walk the streets, go to different art meetings, nightclubs, stores, tourist attractions, gallerys, museums, home partys, the cinema, etc. I interact with people and ask them why they travel, or more correctly, how they (dis)like NYC. I *save* some of what I think stand out, makes a strong impression, alters me. As this stay is already kind of divergent I felt the urge to also simultaneously go back to my roots in art, which is painting. There for I also take a course at Parsons New School For Design, named Abstracting The Figure – where we draw and paint from nude models.

This citation from the foreword of Altermodern pretty much sums up the base of my project. ”Artists are looking for a new modernity that would be based on translation: What matters today is to translate the cultural values of cultural groups and to connect them to the world network. This ‘reloading process’ of modernism according to the twenty-first-century issues could be called altermodernism, a movement connected to the creolisation of cultures and the fight for autonomy, but also the possibility of producing singularities in a more and more standardized world. /- – -/.” “Under the threat from fundamentalism and consumer-driven uniformisation, menaced by massification and the enforced re-abandonment of individual identity, art today needs to reinvent itself, and on a planetary scale. /- – -/ It is neither a petrified kind of time advancing in loops (postmodernism) nor a linear vision of history (modernism), but a positive experience of disorientation through an art-form exploring all dimensions of the present, tracing lines in all directions of time and space. The artist turns cultural nomad: what remains of the Baudelarian model of modernism is no doubt this flânerie, transformed into a technique for generating creativeness and deriving knowledge.”

This project was made possible by the support from Favrskov Art Committee and the work of Hvorslev Art Association. Camera: Charlotte Antser, edit: Joel Dittrich. Many thanks to, in random order: Marie Marqvard, Jane Susanne Andersen, Lone Christensen, Greta Bay, Vicki Nielsen, Hanne Maagaard Jensen, Lilly Friis, Ejvind Andersen, Thorkild Petersen, Christian Marqvard, Charlotte Antser, Alberto Fernández, Erik Södersten, Fredrik Stjärne, Ricardo Fernandez, Martin Söderblom, Jens Larsson, Gudenådalens Ungdomsskole, Ulstrup Skole, Ulstrup Fonden, Share NYC, O-Space NYC

PERFORMANCES

- Share (Issue Project Room) New York City [US] 21 february and 16 march
- O-Space (One Arm Red) New York City [US] 04 march
- Hvorslev Art Association (Ulstrup Castle) Aarhus/Ulstrup [DK] 16-17 april
- Volt Festival (Ström i P2/Sveriges Radio, Uppsala Koncert & Kongress) Uppsala [SE] 5 june
- Norberg Festival (Mimerlaven, Kraftwerk) Norberg [SE] 29-31 july
- Berlin [DE] TBA

Hecate /DJ, lyrics [DE]
Joel Dittrich /live visuals [SE]

A first work in progress performance of Alter Modern Times, at Share (Project Issue Room), Brooklyn, New York, 21 feb 2010.

The title is inspired by Nicolas Bourriauds´s book “Altermodern” (Tate Publishing, 2009) and by Charlie Chaplin´s film “Modern Times” (1937). It is a journal based art project (video /sound /graphics /photography), which sprung out of the idea of what energies displacement creates, thoughts on what´s next after postmodernism and a will to explore and invent alternatives to the 9-5-lifestyle.

This citation from the foreword of Altermodern pretty much sums up the base of my project: “Under the threat from fundamentalism and consumer-driven uniformisation, menaced by massification and the enforced re-abandonment of individual identity, art today needs to reinvent itself, and on a planetary scale. /- – -/ It is neither a petrified kind of time advancing in loops (postmodernism) nor a linear vision of history (modernism), but a positive experience of disorientation through an art-form exploring all dimensions of the present, tracing lines in all directions of time and space. The artist turns cultural nomad: what remains of the Baudelarian model of modernism is no doubt this flânerie, transformed into a technique for generating creativeness and deriving knowledge.”

About the venue: “ISSUE Project Room provides an open and versatile environment where both established and emerging artists can conduct, exhibit and perform new and site-specific work according to their respective visions. Through an evolving collaboration with curators, artists and educators, ISSUE Project Room fosters a wide-range of artistic projects that challenge and expand conventional practices in art.”

Alter Modern Times live audio visual performance:

- Share (Issue Project Room) New York City [US] 21 february and 16 march
- O-Space (One Arm Red) New York City [US] 04 march
- Hvorslev Art Association (Ulstrup Castle) Aarhus/Ulstrup [DK] 16-17 april
- Volt Festival (Ström i P2/Sveriges Radio, Uppsala Koncert & Kongress) Uppsala [SE] 5 june
- Norberg Festival (Mimerlaven, Kraftwerk) Norberg [SE] 29-31 july
- Berlin [DE] TBA
- San Francisco [US] TBA
- São Paulo [BR] TBA

Stupid Beauty is the working title of my one man live audio visual performance, which will premiere at Ulstrup Castle, Denmark 16-17.04.2010. More information soon. Edit: New name for the project is Alter Modern Times, see following posts.

These photos were taken during a live visual set I did at an obscure and wonderful techno party in an industrial building outside Stockholm.

Discussing different ways of interpret Formless in our live visual performance.

The idea was to develop a certain set of rules starting out in a text I wrote 2008, where I discuss possible ways of following the four basic “rules” of Formless while performing as a live visual artist.

The one day workshop ended wth a one hour group performance.

We moved the table down from the scene to the main floor, to give the audience a better view.

“Story of The Eye”

We did´nt use a video mixer. Instead we filmed our screens with this camera being passed around, wired to a laptop running Modul8, with a slight frame delay or “ghost effect”.

Base material; ketchup in water (although mediated).

The camera circulated every two minutes or so.

Pulsating flicker.

Så här en månad innan jag och Martin Söderblom blir examinerade lärare i Konst, Design och Visuell Kultur, fick vi förfrågan om att hålla i två dagars undervisning i visuals på Sigtuna Folkhögskola. Det var givet att tacka ja då det är vår ambition att få in denna rika uttrycksform och breda studieämne i fler skolor, inte minst med tanke på potensialen för sociokulturellt lärande genom större samarbeten med t. ex. dans-, teater- och musikutbildningar.

Första dagen började vi med att föreläsa om visuals; historia, kontexter där det förekommer, kort om några teoretiska bitar hämtade från VJam Theory [Realtime Books 2008], om hård- och mjukvara, fundamentala grunder såsom loopen som idé och “in the now” eller (non)time och 3.5 D som är mina egna uttryck/idéer. [Dessa redogör jag för i min C-uppsats "Live Visuals och VJ-ing", ej publicerad i skrivande stund.] Bl. a. visade vi Lightsurgeons/D-Fuse från DVDn som kommer med boken “VJ: audio-visual art + VJ culture” [Laurence King 2006] och min egen film “(Non)Time Will Tell / In 3.5 D” (2008) som är den konstnärligt gestaltande delen av mitt examensarbete.

Studenterna fick också en snabbintroduktion till Modul8, främst för att ha idéer för vad de senare skulle kunna göra med looparna de producerade under handledning resten av första dagen. De jobbade både enskilt och två och två. De filmade, redigerade och exporterade i rätt format och codec. Ett par jobbade med klassisk animation som lutade åt manga. En annan använde klipp filmade i sommras vid ett nedlagt tivoli i Berlin. Ett annat par experimenterade med att filma lysdioder och displayer. Vi gav dem temat puls, vilket också är en del av begreppet Formless (G. Bataille), vilket jag och Martin själva jobbar med nu sista terminen på Konstfack.

Under första dagen hade också jag och Martin tid att möblera om föreläsningssalen, rigga tre projektiorer, transparanta dukar och en TV, fyra datorer, videomixer, högtalare, installera Modul8 2.5, osv.

Dag två började med en djupare genomgång av Modul8. Var på vi drog igång ett VJam med live visual performance, som sedan pågick hela dagen, till några olika DJ-mixar med deep och progressive housemusik. Studenterna turades om att VJa live och många fortsatte jobba två och två då. Andra installerade demoversionen av Modul8 och satt med sin egen laptop och undersökte möjligheterna mjukvaran eller fördjupade sig i vår litteratur medan de köade till datorerna som var kopplade till mixern.

Vi valde att inte gå in på FreeFrame-filter och inte heller så mycket moduler utan höll oss till de mer fundamentala sakerna som A till B-mixning, LumaKey-ing (skapa transparanta lager), pixeleffekter, global BPM-kontroll (för att styra rörelser i takt till musiken), 3D-effekter animerade i realtid, för att undersöka det virtuella rummet i kompositionen/projektionen. Några studenter var intresserade av att kunna jobba på PC, varför vi också gav enskilda introduktioner till Resolume 2.4.
Vi blev väldigt glada över att Sigtuna Folkhögskola blev så pass intresserade, att de planerar att köpa in ett antal licenser för Modul8, i akademisk/utbildningsversion. Denna säljs vid köp av fem, tio eller tjugo licenser med 66% rabatt, vilket ger ett pris på ca 1000 kr st (ord. pris ca 3000 kr st).
Slutligen presenterade vi ett antal länkar för de som vill fördjupa sig och söka sig vidare t. ex. mötespunkten vjunion.se som jag är en av grundarna till och vjtheory.net som samlar den lilla mängd kvalificerad teoretisk text som finns om samtida visuals/VJ-ing. Vi tipsade om videokonst/musik klubben fLiM och festivalerna New Media Meeting och Norbergfestivalen där jag kommer agera curator för ett treårigt visuals-projekt med både svenska och internationella performances. Mer om det i kommade inlägg!

Här citerar jag några ord från den skriftliga utvärdering studenterna fick göra:

“Jag tycker den här workshopen varit både intressant, lärorik och bara så kul. /—/”
“It was awesome.”
“BRA! :)”
“Bra med mycket praktik och ‘hands on-tänkande’. Ni ger positiv och bra energi. /—/”
“Det var kul. Något ovanligt som man aldrig har provat förut, men tekniken skrämde mig lite. Känns som att man måste kunna en del om datorer för att det ska kännas bra.”
“I stort sett mycket roligt. Det enda mindre bra skulle väl vara att vi inte hade mer tid. /—/”
“Det var kul som f*n! Grymt kreativt och det var ganska lätt. Det fanns hur mycket olika grejer att göra som helst! Det var helt nytt för mig och därför blev jag så fascinerad. Kommer eventuellt fortsätta med det här om jag kan. /…/ TACK!”
“..Kul och jättespännande med att lägga på en massa olika effekter på bilderna som man hade lagt in i programmet och det blev roligare med musik :). Skulle gärna behövts fler dagar och hålla på med det, skulle säkert lärt oss att använda mer effekter. Men jättekul som sagt :).”
“/—/ Tack så mycket för att ni skapade bra stämning! Det var liksom riktig studio!!”

STUDENTS EVALUATION
I quote a few words from the written evaluation the students were doing:
“I think this workshop was both interesting, educational and just fun. / – / ”
“It was awesome.”
“GOOD! :) ”
“Good with much practice and ‘hands on-approach’. You provide positive and good energy. / – / ”
“It was fun. Something unusual that you never have tried before, but the technology scared me a little. Feel like you have to be a part of computers in order to feel good. ”
“In general a lot of fun. The only less good could well be that we had more time. / – / ”
“It was fun to f * n! Cruel creative and it was quite easy. There was how much different stuff to do at any time! It was completely new to me and why I became so fascinated. Will possibly continue with this if I can. / … / THANK YOU! ”
“.. Fun and very exciting to put on a lot of different effects on the images that had been built into the program and it became more fun with the music:). Would like to need more days and keep on with it, would certainly have learned to use more effects. But great as said). ”
“/ – / Thank you for creating a good atmosphere! It was like real studio! “

DIDACTIC ANALYSIS
My entire process in Focus Art 30 credits is strongly colored by the criticism of the educational institutions in society. The vast majority live in a kind of passive spectator mode – åskådarkultur. As described in the book Deltagarkultur (Participation Culture), by the group Interacting Arts. They also mention how the school often inhibits creativity and perhaps just different forced deltagarsituationer, some pupils / students to defend themselves against it. Students formed to stand alongside and spectators, to occasionally get up on stage and become spectators. They also mention workshops as examples of deltagarkultur, where individuals act in dialogue with each other: “The participants produce deliberate suggestions of dialogue with each other, thereby creating a new life for themselves and the Community.” (p. 122)
Thus, it is necessary to create the conditions for participation that are perceived as inclusive and welcoming rather than binding. How do this?
To furnish the room is often an interesting effect, dramatizing the moment and place. Enables time and space. Instead of each student working individually with individual projects, which were then reported at a specific time, the student is standing on an “elevated” position with the spectators in front of them, so we did the whole day two to a single large joint VJam.
My room furnished us and built up a sort of studio / control room / scene that was visitors’ gallery. Although we prefer saw that they were active two and two at each computer, so were the elections be free to decide for themselves. The idea was that four computers at the time would be connected to three interlinked projectors via an analog video mixer. The students were then instructed to try to develop and test the alignment between their komposotioner – let the mixer show 50/50 between the two students / computers, responding to each others kompostioner – switch back and forth between students / computers to create new uppbrutna narrative of pulsating dialogue. What took place was an almost violent attack on the basic material and its meaning, in a relatively common process in the absolute present.
This inter-subjective experience of reality goes beyond only take in and swallow the one-way suggestions. A sort of visual seminars that without doubt has the characteristics of horisontalitet, pulse, entropy, and if not low material, at least suggestions directly controlled by the body and (after) images, contours, traces of the same in the media of the spatial unit.

These pictures are stills of my live visuals at Norberg Festival 2008. The show was performed with a 12.000 ansi lumen projector and covered the side of the Mimerlaven, which is an old mine building, about ten floors high.