I want to say that I’ve been photoblogging now for sixteen years – but I haven’t posted photos here very much lately, thanks to the lure of flickr. Maybe I should do something about that.

January 13, 1994:

Back then, before affordable digital cameras, I used an old 8mm camcorder and a video digitizer to get pictures into the computer.

(Hey, wait, does this count? From 1993? I forgot about the Kinderegg page. That web page is old enough to get a driver’s license!)

Just like I did the last two years, I’m going to spend the month of February trying to build a new musical instrument every single day. It’s not exactly a Stradivarius factory but it’s a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I have no idea what I’m going to do on February 1, and I’m trying not to plan ahead at all, but I do plan to finish off the month by collaborating once again with the Glass Bees!

Previously:
    

In the early 80’s, Brooke W. Boering created a digital art programming language called CEEMAC, and to promote it, he distributed a demo disk for the Apple II called Fire Organ. The disk contained 30 or 40 little self-contained algorithmic animations written in CEEMAC, all with a bit of randomness so they were a bit different every time. I was fascinated with Fire Organ when I was a kid, and it’s one of the things that influenced me to get into interactive art later on.

Richard Bramante has a nice page with more information about Fire Organ, including the original “liner notes,” including recommendations for what music goes well with each visual score! Digital VJing almost 30 years ago! Boering apparently performed at the SCAN 87 digital arts conference. SCAN 87, where I met people like Laurie Spiegel and Walter Wright [pdf], was another big influence on my career– though I don’t remember seeing Boering! I attended and helped out at most of the yearly SCAN festivals until they petered out around 2002.

I was inspired a few days ago to look up Fire Organ again, and get it going on a modern computer. I found an Apple 2 emulator that runs in a browser, and an archived image of the original Fire Organ disk. So, here it is for you to try: Fire Organ! (Requires Java.) Once it loads and shows the title screen, click it and then press any letter or number key to choose a score, or use the period and comma keys for random scores.

Thanks to Mark S. Ressl for making the Apple II emulator freely available!

reposted from thumpingguide.com:
On Sunday, September 20th, as part of the Conflux City Festival, we’ll spread out over Manhattan’s East Village in search of the best thumping noises around Conflux Headquarters.

Duration: approx. 2.5 hours: 1:45pm – 4:15pm Sunday Sept. 20
* 1:45pm START under the scaffolding outside Conflux HQ (34 Stuyvesant St). Please bring a digital camera or phone that can record video with sound. Look for signs or t-shirts with the thumping fist stencil!
* 2:00pm Spread out around the neighborhood or further, in search of good thumping locations. Record the best ones you find.
* 3:45pm Gather at De Robertis Cafe (176 1st Av @ 11th St) to share videos, pastries, and coffee.