Encounters with the live art document: A Manual

How to?

2007-04-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

does anyone know how to do this?

Show a blueprint of a gallery and a bit of the surrounding area on a computer screen in the gallery.
Participants are equiped with sensors that track their movement within the gallery and the surrounding area.
Particpants are: the parasite and anyone on the audio tour.
This movement/group is shown on the screen in real time and the participants are represented by points connected by some kind of visual thing...a digital effect like a cloud - so they look like a translucent blob moving around, but you can still see the points.

No Meeting.

2007-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrows potential meeting is called off.
Conflicting times and little response.
Maybe in a couple weeks.

Variable media conservation practice

2007-03-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

This link outlines a template that some conservationists are using to contemplate the complexities of documentation and preserving media art.
Variable Media Questionnaire

2007-03-25T16:21:00.001-07:00

my instructions are in the form of a
ms word document with links. it is best read onscreen.
if you would like me to email you a copy, please
email metheparasite@yahoo.ca with synchronicity in the
subject.

Snomax

2007-03-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

(http://www.telemet.com/snow/snomax.asp)

Make Snow

Since 1987, Snomax® Snow Inducer has been helping ski resorts around the world by increasing productivity and efficiency of snowmaking through the use of its ice-nucleating proteins that induce the formation of ice crystals at all snowmaking temperatures.

What exactly is Snomax?

Snomax is an active protein, which enhances the conversion of droplets of water from a snowgun into snow. The protein is derived from a tiny bacterium called Pseudomonas syringae. This naturally-occurring bacterium is found readily in Nature, from grass to trees to vegetable and cereal crops and even in the air we breathe.

Snomax Technologies grows Pseudomonas syringae in a controlled environment in sterilized fermentation equipment. Processing involves freezing the micro-organism, similar to the process used to produce freeze-dried food, to yield a protein as the end product. The resulting pellets are then sterilized in the same type of equipment used to routinely sterilize surgical instruments. The by-product of this process is Snomax, a very active ice-nucleating protein.

How snow is formed?

The molecules in water are in continual motion. It is the energy of this motion that determines the temperature of the water and which prevents any intermolecular structure from forming. Most of us think that water freezes at 32 degrees F. But in fact, pure, distilled water can be "supercooled" to as low as -40 degrees F before it freezes.

For freezing to be initiated, sufficient energy must be removed from the water to allow the molecules to slow down and align in a latticed hexagonal array.

An ice nucleator performs this function by attracting the water molecules and slowing them down. Thus a nucleator can be simply defined as a foreign particle in the water that starts the freezing process.

How does Snomax work?

Snomax is mixed in water to form a concentrate that is metered into the snowmaking water supply. Every water droplet thrown from the snowgun is then seeded with the Snomax nucleators. This is important because the key to efficient snowmaking is to freeze as many droplets as possible before they hit the ground. If the droplets do not contain nucleators, a great many of them may not freeze before they hit the ground.

Source water that has been treated with Snomax contains anywhere from 1,000 to over 100,000 more nucleation sites than untreated source water. This means that every droplet of water has a site for ice crystals to form.

Another feature of Snomax is that it functions as a high temperature nucleator, which simply means that it is capable of initiating the freezing process at a higher temperature. Studies have shown that Snomax is effective up to almost 27 degrees F. Most natural water additives are not effective at temperatures above 15-20 degrees F and are therefore classified as low temperature nucleators. Thus, water with Snomax added will freeze faster, more completely and over a wider range of conditions.

Snomax and environmental safety

Each day, people throughout the world are exposed to billions of harmless bacteria - in the air they breathe, the food they eat, the beverages they consume. In fact, one shovelful of average topsoil contains about as many living organisms as there are people living on this Earth - about 3 billion. Among those microorganisms is Pseudomonas syringae, the source of the Snomax Snow Inducer protein.

Pseudomonas syringae is so commonplace that an average of 40 organisms is found per cubic meter of air worldwide. A single tomato leaf can yield as many as 10 billion of these organisms. In fact, a study conducted for the Canadian government concluded that if Snomax were used at all of the country's 70 ski resorts with snowmaking, the total release of live microorganisms would be no more than what could be recovered from 100 leaves in a farmer's field.

The strain of this bacterium used in Snomax has been proven to be a safe non-pathogenic organism. Key agencies that have regulated the commercial development of Snomax include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service and Environment Canada.

Regulatory agencies in Canada, Norway, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, and Australia - countries that are known as some of the most environmentally conscious in the world - have also studied Snomax and have approved it for commercial use. More than 35 independent scientific studies (many government required) over a six year period in the U.S. and several other countries have all come to the same conclusion - that Snomax poses no health or environmental threat whatsoever.

Teaming up

Snowmaking dictates a team approach to achieve the right blend of equipment, water, air, energy and labor for coping with variable weather conditions. It takes know-how to integrate successfully the many variables at work. The Snomax Support Team offers the requisite skill, experience and dedication to help operators put together a truly effective snowmaking system, one that scientifically and systematically integrates all the variables.

Losslessness

2007-03-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

As someone that works with recordings, I feel that my proper place is neither here nor there. I am drawn toward working with recordings in part because I tend to feel that they provide at least something like a stable, if ridiculously limited, reference from which I may consider an event. By stable, I mean that the experience of viewing and / or listening to a recording more than once gives me the feeling that the patterns that comprise the recording have remained the same while I get to be the one that cannot help but change. I often give up a bit of my ability to perceive an event I am directly involved in so that I may consider the frame of a recording device. I am then thinking of what the event will seem like while observing from a possible future. I don't feel that I did this very well during the parasite performance. I think I trusted that whatever happened would be alright, and was then disappointed at how little the recordings held of what I remembered. I wish I had filtered my memories through the recording machine.

The source recordings for these sketches are in the mp3 format and were gathered using a hand-held recorder. They don't sound very good. There is a lot of information missing that I can still remember. Some of the sounds were re-recorded by myself a few hours after the original performance. I re-enacted things that I had observed other performers doing, and tried to follow Chris's text score for as long as I could. The sketches are a mixture of documentation of the actual performance and re-enacted sounds. Nothing is quite as it was, just so you know. The sketches themselves are 16-bit stereo AIFF files; they have also been saved as an audio CDR. I have recompressed the sketches for distribution as mp3 files, but as this has meant a further loss of information, I wouldn't recommend they be preserved in this way.

The sketches aren't meant to exist in a particular space. I also often listen to audio recordings using headphones. In this way I get to ignore a world of relevant variables. They may be transmitted over radio, Internet (here, the mp3 files are probably most suitable) or lent in the CDR format. If the AIFF or audio CD files need to be re-encoded in the future to be heard, please try to do this in a lossless format, and keep in mind that I'm probably laughing a bit at the idea.

instructions

2007-03-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

To the archivist of the future:
thank you for the extension. this project continues to change for me as time passes, so its helpful to extend the decision-making as long as possible.

My contribution to the event and its documentation took place in the form of a series of NOW bulletins placed in locations around the central performance site to absorb the snow, mud and salt for different durations. These pieces of paper typically used to alert people to the present are now soaked in the stuff of the parasite. They are irreplaceable, since they contain residue from weather conditions, passersby, running water - situations which would be impossible to reproduce. They must be archived in order from the longest soaking time to the shortest. This can be deduced by following the written notes on the back side of each and proceeding in reverse order. Their material presence is essential to retaining the memory of the event.
Since the parasites activation at the workshop, my work has continued to multiply. This multiplication was the movement that I incepted from the beginning, this is proper to the piece. I now present you with the three forms of the work to date:

The paper present:
As an artist, I have no idea how to archivally preserve coloured bond paper with laser ink and handwritten pen, salt, snow, grass-stains, etc. Right now I have them in a black garbage bag in my studio. They have dried out, so the garbage bag keeps them dry and keeps the sun from bleaching them. Nothing can be placed on them, because they will crush and lose their contour. They cannot be photocopied, scanned or migrated. They must be kept as close to their current state as possible.

Future growth:
After the event, I retained several Now Bulletins that were unused during the event. These can be used for the future. Should the work be displayed, I would like these to be used to chart the duration of the exhibition. In this case, one "original" must be used as a template from which to photocopy more future bulletins. One "future" bulletin will be mounted for each day of the exhibition in an archival ziplock filled with snow (this will melt, so it is only important that it once was snow). Each day of the exhibition a member of the gallery staff will puncture a pin-prick in the bottom of a bag. The water will leak out that day, and for the remainder of the exhibition the condensation in the bag will produce mold. This mold will chart the age of the event/document. At the end of the exhibition, these are to be digitally photographed and then the originals are to be disposed of. Please see the note at the bottom as to instructions for the digital photos.

Digital freeze-frame:
I have also scanned some of the work. These exist as jpeg images. These jpegs are currently on my computer and are files that are commonly accessible image files as of 2007. These files are to be maintained as digital files, transferred to cd, dvd or other mediums, but are not meant to be exhibited as printed images - I do not intend them to exist in paper-form, only as digital information or pixelated projections.

Archivist of the future:
This is a work that continues to multiply. I will maintain the paper and digital forms of the work in my personal estate.
As a living artist, you may consult me to direct you in preserving the work. I will use a highly accurate and specific method to choose which form to privilege in which situation. All three forms should be maintained as stated above. In the event of the work being remounted after my death or after I lose interest, I would like you to consult a medium, a psychic, or a ouija board, who (or which) will direct you on my behalf.

Meeting.

2007-03-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hi ya,

Just wanting to get an idea if people are into this meeting? I know its a really busy time.
What if we aim for Thursday evening? The 29th 7pm?
Im not sure on where, I imagine we could use the ceramic seminar room. I will check when we agree on a time.

Halifax Gathering?

2007-03-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

I'm curious if the people in Halifax would be interested in gathering to discuss this project's process? Possibly once the manual is complete or after the opening?

Any ideas?

I thought it would be great to talk about how we came to our decisions.

link to Alain Depocas article "Digital Preservation: Recording the Recoding"

2007-03-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Some of you have probably seen this already, but I hadn't until today:

http://www.aec.at/festival2001/texte/depocas_e.html

Extension for instructions: Saturday, March 24

2007-03-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Clarification for writing the manual instructions:

1. I need detailed instructions from each one of you as to how you want the documents conserved in time. Imagine that I am an archivist who knows nothing of the event but wants the details about your objects/art works in order to preserve/conserve them for 100 or more years.

This may include specific technical requirements needed to view the documents. Ie. Do you need photoshop, an internet browser to view digital files? What happen when the browser becomes obsolete and no longer operates?
If it is performance of a performance, what are the specific parameters for viewing and experiencing the action through time?

2. The instruction (plus images or non images) are needed for the content of the manual. The manual serves two purposes:
a) It is a performative document/ art work in and of itself;
b) It is the conceptual and actual template/schematic from which all subsequent archival conservation, research and presentation of our project may be drawn from.

3. The manual will form the bases for constructing the exhibition of our archival live art documents for the FOFA show. In other words, Josh, Cam and I (and everyone else by default) will become quasi-archivists who will construct an installation of the documents as closely as possible to each one of your written instructions. We will send you a draft for approval and additional suggestions.

Phase Space Schematic of the Project To date

2007-03-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Peach: content generation
Light blue: folding the frame of the document in the form of a manual
Dark blue: display of document in space (to be expanded upon receiving content for manual)

To download the jpg:
Phase Space Schematic of Project

More sound files

2007-03-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some more from the series of recordings.

Audio clip 1

Audio Clip 2

Audio Clip 3

Preserving the future?

2007-03-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Cam, I am wondering how I, as the current archivist of the objects that you collected during the live event, should deal with the issue of proliferating mold?
I suppose that means that I havent done my job very well. Most respected experts in the field would never let bacterial gowth occur on any preserved objects. That would defeat the purpose, wouldnt it? Or is this the way the objects should migrate "naturally"? Perhpas this is in line with my thoughts on the virus as a kind of archive that could work with cellular processes to migrate memory?

Please send instructions asap so that I know how to conserve your artifacts and memories according to your intentions!

A Viewer's Construction.

2007-03-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hi ya everyone,
Here is a draft, I'd appreciate any feed back.
Thanks,
Chris

Dear Archivist of the Future:

My participation in the Parasite performance of March 3rd 2007 will endure through the viewer’s perception. Actions of mine will be re-created in the spectators understanding of the work; the viewer will construct the documentation.

Dear Viewer/Participant:

Please examine the provided photos; foresee you’re self through the following steps.

Please follow numbered photographs with each exercise:

1.Approach dock
2.Walk down the ladder to your left.
3.Step down until feet are two steps above ocean level.
4.Stay in standing position for ten minutes.

The photographs indicate the space but have no visual references of a performance. Documentation of the performance is created through a viewer’s theoretical reenactment. Understanding is created through the viewer’s visualization; continually creating the confirmation of a performance.

On March 3rd the parasite performance gave me the idea of climbing down the latter to explore unconventional areas of the dock. This idea is the ephemeral material; it is explained through language but documented by the viewers knowledge. Once the viewer can imagine the piece the idea has carried on another existence, it has been documented.

These photos and text exist as a work sheet; an exericse in constuctioning a document.

Rajee's Manual Instructions

2007-03-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'd like there to be a designated space for archivists and the audience to sit on the floor of the gallery, and start to rub their hands on the floor in a rhythmic motion (maybe the video of me doing it should be projected onto the wall, so they could have an example)--they have to rub their hands on the floor for a duration of time, and then someone must past them some snow, which they will then rub on one of their arms, also for a duration of time. It's up to the performer to decide how long they want to repeat both actions, the idea is for them to start developing bumps on their arms, which they will then photograph.It would be nice if we could have a polaroid camera to take the photos, then post it on the wall ( we can have the scanned image of my arm on the wall and have all the other photos that are taken, beside it), or a computer screen where we can upload the photos onto it, and maybe create a slide show ( in the slide show, the image of my arm will be the first image, then everyone elses). This is how i'd like to conserve my document and experience of the event. I'm up for any suggestions, Thanks

sound file test

2007-03-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this mp3 and file hosting will work - I have a small series of sketches which haven't got the greatest EQing, but I'll still work on them. The sounds can also be pulled apart and used in different ways. If this one works, I'll follow with the others tomorrow.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/3/19/904001/workshop1.mp3

tagny's manual instructions

2007-03-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

Instructions for the archivist of the future:

Quick Time Memory
A series of QuickTime videos taken during the performance event ( March 3, 2007)

This series of QuickTime videos is to be migrated through multiple forms through duration of time. The first evolution of video is to be archived online via Blogger (http://quicktimememory.blogspot.com) and You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/theparasites.com) as of March 16, 2007. The series is to be saved for unlimited access and reproduction by the public domain until the two networked entities upgrade to such an extent that the html code becomes obsolete. For all research purposes and public exhibition of these works, it is recommended that viewers access the blogs (and add comments) via wireless or land line internet connections found in cafes, private homes, public institutions, etc. Printing a take away card with the blog address for the curious audience/visitor is ideal for the dissemination of the video archives.

Before the inevitable extinction of the online archive and QuickTime video format codex, migration to Beta tape and DVD with original codex for QuickTime is recommended. When video is no longer conserved on tape and a more stable of form of storage is invented, then all the video clips may be migrated to the new media. The most important aspect of the work is to emulate, as closely as possible the scale, speed, sound and resolution quality of the QuickTime video. However, changes that occur through migration of forms, is not detrimental to the work.

With the change in conservation methods of new media and performance works, it is conceivable that there will be a major shift in the role of the archivists and artist. The creative problem solving talents required for solving current issues of migration of form, concept and media may mean that archivists will no longer mimic and conserve the authenticity of art, but manifest it. The distinct and separate set of expertise and roles currently performed by artist and conservationist may no longer be the norm in the near future.

If this is the case, then the QuickTime video is to be migrated through changing forms indefinitely until biotechnologies may be safely used to activate artistic works in the cellular memory of human bodies. It is conceivable that this integration of art and science may take a duration of time that exceeds the current temporal frame of the Gregorian calendar.

For the conservation of this work, the Emiliania Huxleyi virus is the desired archival medium. Currently (as of 2007), the Emiliania Huxleyi virus 86 is thought to potentially extend the life of its host, the marine algae called Emiliania Huxleyi that bloom on the oceans surface and absorb carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere. The virus seems to postpone cell death through the production of ceramide, and to control climate through the production of a gas called Dimenthyl Sulphite, helping clouds to form.

The transduction of digital algorithms conserved from the QuickTime videos with the genetic coding from the 86 virus, may be created in the form of a vaccine or an oral pill. Testing for such an archive must not pose a threat of harm to living beings. Upon inoculation or ingestion, humans may be able to experience the sensation of feeling and smelling cold winter ocean air, hearing the sound of waves and seagulls, feeling the duration of time pass. This archive of the future may prove particularly evocative when experienced in the region of Halifax where the event took place- a region that may have changed substantially with global climate change.

These instructions are based on speculative prediction. If these conditions are not and cannot be actualized, then the work is to dissolve and deteriorate into obsolescence.

New links posted

2007-03-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Dont forget to check out the 4 new parasite links (on the right hand side bar). Ruby has a number you can call to hear her audio documentation.

2007-03-16T06:38:00.001-07:00

It's hard to see the bumps on my arm. I also took some photos the day after the event; i'll get those developed.

Options, options.

2007-03-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Josh,

Its great to see the energy your putting into this. I felt a question arise when reading the different options you have given your self.

Is viewer interaction a focus of yours? If I remember correctly it was a part of one of the three pieces you wrote of. I'm thinking it might be a question that you could consider.
Chris

Sensation-Nonsensation- Numbness

2007-03-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

Before the one hour live event, our group "parasite", had to choose a qualitative focus and a medium as our means of researching, experiencing and documenting the movement and duration of the event. I felt very connected to temperature-touch as my qualitative focus, and skin/body as my medium. As we were walking towards the site of where the event was going to take place, I kept on repeating to myself, "we are parasites; we feed off each other and our environment, use your body, let go."

When the live event started to unfold, I was watching the rhythm, actions, and movements of my group, and started to participate. Keeping my qualitative focus and medium in mind, I took off my coat, sat down, and started to rub my hands on the wooden boards in a repetative rhythmic motion. I felt like I was meditating and feeding off my fellow parasites' energy. Also by doing such a repetative procedure, for a duration of time, I became very aware of my body. For instance, I would start thinking about the position my body was in at the time, and how being in that same position for almost an hour, wasn't good for my body, especially because I was hunching over. My hands were frozen, so that made me think about arthritis.

I enjoyed watching my group co-operate. I would observe how we all offered snow to each other, like gift giving; the experience was very harmonious. Everytime a member of my group would offer me a chunk of snow or ice, I would take the snow and rub it on my arm for a duration of time because i believed that the snow carried evidence of them, their energy. I wanted to take the traces of them that was in the snow, and mix it with traces of my body -- unifying them, our environment, and me, my idea of a "parasite"

Using my body as an archival method, was quite interesting because it's a method that is not permanent as the marks will stay on my skin for a duration of time. I had this idea in mind, and when our live event was over, I thought about ways in which I could keep documentation of my frost-bitten arm. When we were back at NSCAD, I got Melanie to take photographs of my arm, then we brokeup into groups to discuss ways in which we could archive the document. I was paired with Ruby, and we talked about ways that we could re-enact the live event or migrate it. After our discussiion, I came up with the idea of color photocopying my arm, so that we could have an archive of my document right away; Ruby accompanied me to the print shop where I did just that.

It's been almost 2 weeks since our workshop and live event, and my arm has fully healed; there's no longer any traces of my document on my skin, only digital photos, and the color photocopy.

I've been trying to upload the color photocopy of my arm , but i'm having trouble. I'll post it as soon as I can figure out the reason why it's not uploading on my computer.

movies

2007-03-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

undead

2007-03-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

to the archivist of the future:

how I would like my work preserved.
Well, first of all, why is nobody posting to the blog? are they letting the moment of the event and its memory die before they revive it? are they happy to just let it have happened and not preserve its memory in that state of forever being not what it was? I don't know. Dying, letting yourself die, letting your work be what it is without extending its life into an unnecessary unending future, should anything be archived? I remember the event as it was for me, different from what I wrote about it, but I wrote as close as I could to my memory at the time that I wrote it. My memory of performing the action of trying to remember and in doing so plunging myself into the frozen panicked state of excess, suspended falling and losing control because I was trying to maintain it. Does the very attempt to archive and preserve destroy the life of the original event? Should I wait to write about it until I have the perfect decision made and then execute?
The event itself was about simply diving headfirst into the future, into action before decision, into finding form through movement. Now the blog is halting, waiting, in a state of retention. I would like to keep the energy and freshness going.
But I don't really know how I would like to install the work.

I'm going to take a poll.

Workshop people, even you people from England, please respond and tell me which installation and preservation idea you prefer I want to know what people think and if you are checking and if you have any other ideas please let me know:

1) mount the bulletins on the wall in any arbitrary order with a magnetic metal strip along the bottom of the wall, on this strip I will have captions printed on magnets that people can rearrange.

2) arrange old archives on the wall in chronological order (following the archive list) beside or below this there will be each of the archives of the future dated and suspended in ziplock bags of ocean water. For each day of the exhibition puncture one of the bags so water slowly drips out of the bottom. The archives of the future will gradually become mouldy under the plastic and obscure the information on them.

3) bind the archives in a book. beside the book have a pen with instructions that ask people to describe on a blank space where they were on March 1st between 11am and 12pm and to write on their arm where they are now.

archivist of the future - I would like the work preserved in its original form on paper. The decay of the materials is an implicit part of the piece and should not be retarded or discouraged by migrating the work to any other form.
It can be installed in a gallery on a wall or table according to any of the 3 directions, and the installed formation can be photographed, videotaped or recorded to hologram, however this will always stand as a supplement to the paper that holds the melting snow in its ripples and smudges, and cannot be reproduced accurately.

I'm not committed to this, it's just an idea and I want to update it and improve it as I get feedback - so please people, write in! tell me what you think!

The Quicktime Archive

2007-03-08T15:51:00.001-08:00

MELTING

VIRAL

MACROICE

TOUCH

FALLING

The quicktime archive moves through the nostalgic past. Stuttering. Muttering its intimate memory through the miniature frame. There is a rhythm that slides through the interval. Glitches move a duration.

These memories are novel despite their sudden recollections of a cached past. The drop out, fall out...generates a lag time. Between motion and stasis in the temporal frame there is movement. Imperceptible. This is what I remember from the event on March 3-- rhythm of the lag, the bleeding of continual transitions felt in an intensive dynamic unity of singular relations.

The encounter with these undead memories is viral. We perform retroduction. That is, we look at the event in retrospect, and in doing so, fold elements of the past into futurity.We transduce the sensation of duration in the interval of the lag. We inflect. We become viral. Dead and undead- pulled through the substrata of the biophysical, biodigital and cultural.