GMU:Dataflow I WS12/Jeremy

Hugo Ball at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, 1916 photographer unknown

"I took this course because I liked the name of it. The idea of data, flowing, unobstructed, to my own designs. It was a nice idea for me. I didn't even bother to think of what that data might be ..."

Immediately after learning the basics of how PD works I was slightly worried because it seemed that the things which I was interested in, were not the things that PD was typically used for. I shared these thoughts with someone, saying: "I just don't think I'm using PD in the right way," to which they said: "There is no right way to use PD ... PD doesn't even care what it's being used for ... it can be used for anything." This was reassuring for me.

My Project

background

From the very beginning I wanted to use PD to perform some kind of human function, to reveal some form of judgement or thought process which would speak about its own inability to do so. And so I wanted to create some kind of patch that would interest itself in the nature of computer programming, while also displaying some level of critical self awareness.

the image

I decided to pursue the idea of a dadaist art review. I was thinking about the ways in which the Dadaists used the idea of automatic and chance-based occurances in order to remove or at least diffuse their own artistic control and intention over an artwork.

This led me to the idea that images could be an interesting starting point, and that I could use PD to perform some kind of human (albeit dadaist) function and that this 'performance' would vary in accordance with the image used.