4/29, 12 Noon-2:00pm CST
LSU Access Grid node w/ Artur Matuck, Univ of Sao Paulo
In conjunction with Dr. Susan Ryan’s seminar on Global Conversations in Media Art, Patrick Lichty will utilize one pane of Louisiana State University’s Access Grid to transmit a live VJix of excerpts of his wristcam video series “8 Bits or Less”. The video clips are experiments with Casio Wristcams which record images of 120x120 pixels in size, 8-bit grayscale, lossy JPEG compression. The result is a highly textured, grainy image that degrades further when scaled to larger video dimensions, but create interesting videoscapes when processed through live video synthesis.
In
using this schema for performing a live video set on the Access Grid,
which is a multi-casting, high resolution conferencing system which uses
the Internet II as a basis for communication, 8 BoL Live uses the Grid
while playfully questioning the technological determinism inherent in
the digital arts (resolution equaling verisimilitude, processing speed,
planned obsolescence, etc.). Note that this critique is not specific to
the use of the Grid, but is formed by the difference between the low-bandwidth
media (using 8-bit technology) being sent over the latest telecommunications
technology. It is not so much the Grid which is held circumspect, but
the need for resolution, frame rate, speed, etc. as somehow being necessary
for expression in digital arts.
