This is the personal statement that will be part of my course application to do an MA in Art, Design and Media by Project at Portsmouth University from September 2005, over 2 years part time.

I did my degree in Interactive Arts, graduating in 1997. As the course

title suggests, the course ethos was derived from a fine art degree,

but using technology (in whatever form that might take) as our media

rather than paint, print or traditional sculpture. We were exploring

technology and interaction, using electronics, video, in addition to

the fledgling internet / web and early versions of Macromedia Director.

My main interest was robotics, although this probably makes it sound

grander than it was; more accurately the systems I created were in the

camp of responsive devices; little pieces of sculpture that responded

using sensors to external stimuli. Easier to just say robotics! I spent

some time over a summer with a animatronics and special effects company

which gave me some insight into both the technology and the industry.

At that time, the predominant critical discussions focussed on

“Interactive Arts”, a term which has since rather fallen by the

wayside. But in those theories were certainly the precursors to many of

the modern computer interaction buzzwords.

After my foundation and 3 years at University, I had finally come

(albeit a little late for my degree) to a realisation of one of my key

fields of interest : the interaction between the real and the virtual.

More specifically, bringing the computer beyond the KVM (keyboard video

mouse) interface. Within a few years of my graduation, this field,

which I had previously only known as a part of interactive art, had

it's own moniker - Physical Computing. Since then, it seems to have

garnered all sorts of sub-categories, such as calm computing / media,

ubiquitous computing and locative computing.

Also as the web has evolved, so too has the relationship between the

platform and the media. Increasingly terminology such as ubiquitous

computing is referring as much to the ‘media’ as to the physical device

it is running on. On the other side, advances such as WIFI, GPS and 3G

are creating possibilities, such as locative computing, where the

‘media’ is informed by geographical location.

However, in amongst all of the technological and theoretical

advancements in this field, I began my journey from a Fine Art

background. As much as there are enormous possibilities in the design

and implementation of physical computing devices and media, and the

associated theoretical discourse, there are many practitioners in this

field to engage in those activities. I myself am more interested in

using these technologies purely as another medium to express myself as

an artist.

So, what does this mean for an MA in Art, Design and Media by Project?

Well, it means that my project will undoubted encompass the use of some

form of interface that is beyond the KVM model. It will probably use

RSS and WiFi, being a couple of the most dominant transformational

technologies in computing today. And, it will be informed both by the

technology, and the environment the final piece will be situated in, as

it will almost certainly be a site-specific installation.

As a minor addendum, this site represents the beginnings of my research for this course

My Marlboro CMOY Amp: “I finally discovered that the CMOY Amp is a very simple but apparently powerful and good-quality amplificator, designed by some audio geek called Chu Moy. Instead of making money out of his design by selling or patenting it, he published the full information on the HeadWize site, so anybody could comment on it, or propose some new improvement to make it even better.”

No, this is not a rant about how bad a switch from PPC to Intel could be… I don‘t really care personally, as long as we get better / faster Macs that still run the same software under the same OS, and the build quality is the same (I really don’t want to be getting into that hardware incompatibility business).

Actually this is about something far more trivial. It would upset me no end, if when Apple start advertising their new Intel based Macs, they are forced to use the nasty Intel Inside logo and jingle thing … just ewww!

So that's my 2 pence (in the UK here you know) worth!

Bags: I love bags. I also love boxes, but that is another story. I guess I am always on the look out for the perfect bag; one that can carry as much or as little as you want, has enough pockets for your geek needs and looks great.

The perfect bag should also not look like a computer bag, but be sufficiently well padded to protect your shiny G4 powerbook (or Intel whatsit sometime next year!!). Bonus points are awarded for an easily accessible mobile phone pocket, iPod holder and somewhere to keep your nootbook (of the paper variety). It should also be indestructible (anything that I own needs that quality!!)

My current bag is a Kipling Hacker bag that I have had for some 5 or 6 years and is still going strong. My only criticism is that although it is light, hard-wearing (solid metal fixings help enormously) and protects my laptop pretty well, it does fall down on the lots of pockets front. This is definitely a small gripe that does nothing to diminish it‘s usefulness especially in the face of it’s long standing service. It also has something else going for it … I bought it in a half price sale - a bargain at £50 or so.

So where from here? I'm well impressed with Kipling, so here are my top picks from them last time I looked at their site (As a total aside, I found the site a pain to use - too flashy and over-designed).

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All very different, but all have merits!

An oldie but a goodie!

IconTown: “IconTown is not just another website offering icons for download - it's an international project where each structure you see is a contribution from people who love making icons.”

EDUN.IE - Home of EDUN Apparel: "groovy clothes - created and traded fairly. and well designed too - what's not to love?! (unless you need to be a rockstar to afford anything from the range!)"

Cyanotype printing technique: “The cyanotype process, also known as the blue print process was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842 and is still performed today by many darkroom enthusiasts. ”

Class!

Money Trees From My Dog Sighs: "

The images above are from a series called ‘money tree’.

My dog sighs' tells us:

‘It’s late spring over here and the pavements are coming alive with weeds. The flowers pasted to the walls are 5 and 10 pound notes folded and rolled to create flower heads. Each note has been subtly changed with serial numbers replaced with my tag ‘my dog sighs’"

(Via Wooster Collective / A Celebration of Street Art.)

Just for my records!

A leitmotif (also spelled leitmotiv) is a recurring musical theme, associated

within a particular piece of music with a particular person, place or idea. The word has also been used by extension to mean any sort of recurring theme, whether in music, literature, or the life of a fictional character

or a real person.

The German word Motiv is borrowed from the French motif, meaning motive or theme. Prefixing it with Leit-

(coming from G. leiten, to lead), produces Leitmotiv (G. pl. Leitmotive), meaning “lead motif”.

A leitmotif is usually a short melody, although it can also be a chord progression or even a simple rhythm. Leitmotifs can help to bind a work together into a coherent whole, and also enable the composer to relate

a story without the use of words, or to add an extra level to an already present story.

The word is usually used when talking about dramatic works, especially operas, although leitmotifs are also used in other musical genres, such as instrumental pieces or video game music as well. The Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz is purely instrumental, but has a recurring melody representing the love of the central character. Berlioz himself called this an idee fixe. There is also some similarity with Beethoven's use of motto themes - in his Fifth Symphony, for example, when one particular melody is representative of fate.

Richard Wagner is the composer most often associated with leitmotifs, and his operas make liberal use of them. His cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen, uses dozens of leitmotifs, representing characters, things, or situations; while some of these leitmotifs occur in only one of the operas, many occur throughout the entire cycle. However, leitmotifs had been used by other composers before him, most notably Carl Maria von Weber, who was probably the first to make extensive use of them. The first use of the word “leitmotif” in print, however, was not until 1871, when critic F. W. Jahns used it in describing Weber‘s work. The first use of the term with reference to Wagner’s music was apparently in 1887 by H. von Wolzogen, the editor of the Bayreuther Blatter, in discussing Gotterdammerung. (Wagner had used “Grundthema” (basic idea) in speaking of his leitmotifs.)

Since Wagner, the use of leitmotifs has been taken up by many other composers. Richard Strauss used the device in many of his operas and several of his symphonic poems. The Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu used them in many of his Final Fantasy RPG series soundtracks, where many characters in the games had their own musical “theme”. The Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev made heavy use of leitmotifs in his work Peter and the Wolf, a musical story with narration; in it, each character is represented by a specific instrument in the

orchestra, as well as an associated melodic theme.

They are also very common in movie scores; a well known example is the Star Wars Imperial March associated with Darth Vader and his

previous self, Anakin Skywalker, in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones respectively. Among Westerns, perhaps the most famous film to make use of leitmotifs is Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. The television soap operaDynasty also used musical themes for each character, as did the action cartoon **Batman: The Animated

Series. Angelo Badalamenti wrote possibly the most famous television example, Laura Palmer's Theme on Twin Peaks**.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Really neat way of presenting current news - applicable to anything really - top flickr photos maybe?

10x10 / 100 Words and Pictures that Define the Time / by Jonathan J. Harris