I visited Sao Paulo Brazil on November 17th, to participate in a panel discussion for Brazilian Digital Culture 2010, organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. I was invited to discuss the relationship of transmedia and Remix along with Maurício Mota (Os Alquimistas), and moderator Newton Cannito (Secretary for the Audiovisual/Ministry of Culture). What follows is not so much a summary of the panel discussion, but rather a reflection on my views on transmedia and Remix, after evaluating my participation. But first, I will begin by giving some general impressions of the day I spent in Sao Paulo.
The following are videos from a performance that took place on November 11, 2010 at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, for the Exhibition, A Modular Framework.
Brian Mackern performs his remix of the film, the Stalker by Tarkovsky
Arcangel Constantini remixes noises and video games live for the audience
Image: Still from Brian Mackern’s performance of Cinema.tik, in which he remixes film clips from Tarkovsky and Hitchcock among other directors. Performance took place on November 11, 2010 at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador.
Besides the two openings for the exhibition, A Modular Framework, there were two extra days of events. On November 10, there was a panel discussion with the artists. And on November 11 there was a performance by Arcangel Constantini, Brian Mackern and Antonio Mendoza.
Image: Detail of the Museum of Santa Tecla, where the second opening for the exhibition, A Modular Framework took place on November 12, 2010. The museum is a former prison, where some revolutionaries during the war of the 1980’s were held. The artists who shared this space appear below. The first opening took place on November 9, 2010 at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador.
Image: Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador’s entrance with banner announcing the exhibition, A Modular Framework.
As previously noted on Remix Theory, I curated an exhibition at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador that brings together artists from Latin America, or artists who have ties to Latin America, and have been producing new media work since at least the mid-nineties. The exhibit takes place from November 9, to December 17, 2010.
The exhibit takes place in two venues, the Cultural Center and the Museum of Santa Tecla. In this post I will share brief descriptions and images of the installations that took place in the cultural Center, in subsequent posts I will share images of the exhibit at the Museum, as well as talks and performances that took place throughout the opening week. Images of the opening of November 9, 2010, follow.
Some images from the events for the exhibition A Modular Framework are available on Picassa. Images by Gonzalo Vides.
Above: Arcangel Constantini remixes noises and video games live for the audience, November 11, 2010. Other images present Brian Mackern, Antonio Mendoza, and Arcangel Constantini mixing image and sound live for an audience at the Cultural Center of Spain, El Salvador: Live audio-video performance
Also see images of a panel with the artists in which they discussed their art works and creative process. The panel took place on November 10, 2010: Conference
I curated an exhibition for the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, which takes place in both the Cultural Center as well as The Museum of Santa Tecla. Information below in English and Spanish.
CURATED BY EDUARDO NAVAS
NOVEMBER 9 TO DECEMBER 17, 2010
CENTRO CULTURAL DE ESPAÑA EL SALVADOR
Calle La Reforma #166,
Col. San Benito
San Salvador, EL SALVADOR http://www.ccespanasv.org/actividad.php?act=864
Mayra Barraza, El Salvador
Giselle Beiguelman, Brazil
Arcangel Constantini, México
Electronic Disturbance Theater y b.a.n.g. lab, USA
Belén Gache, Argentina
Brian Mackern, Uruguay
Antonio Mendoza, Cuba/USA
Fernando Orellana, El Salvador/USA
Paul Ramirez-Jonas, Honduras/USA
Isabel Restrepo, Colombia
Gustavo Romano, Argentina
English:
A Modular Framework is an exhibition that brings together artists from Latin America, or artists who have ties to Latin America, and have been producing new media work since at least the mid-nineties, when new media and digital art began to take shape. Most of the works included in this exhibition are recent, and were chosen as examples of diverse and rigorous art practices. The artists, themselves, while they crossover to art practice at large, are pioneers in digital and new media art in their own countries, and for this reason they were invited to participate in A Modular Framework.
I consider this video as well as Mcintosh’s mashups of video and sound. According to the basic definition of a mashup, which is to juxtapose two elements as they normally appear in order to create something new, one is able to notice the independence of image and sound while also recognizing how well they come together to create a cohesive yet disjunctive narrative that questions the very definition of propaganda.
During the recent Open Video Conference (OVC), from October 1 – 2, 2010 the video “Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in ‘Right Wing Radio Duck'” was screened by Jonathan McIntosh, who runs the blog Rebelious Pixels. The video so far has received 388,801 views and counting. Also listen to a Glenn Beck response.
Here is the excerpt from McIntosh’s website:
This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed from dozens of classic Walt Disney cartoons from the 1930s to 1960s. Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck.
I’m very happy to be collaborating with Mette Birk, Mark O’ Cúlár, Owen Gallagher, Eli Horwatt, Martin Leduc, and Tara Zepel on a chapter contribution for Networked Book.
ABSTRACT: The text on video remixing contributed to Networked Book is the result of an ongoing collaboration that started in January 2010, when Owen Gallagher invited Mette Birk, Mark O’ Cúlár, Martin Leduc, and Eduardo Navas to join a ‘Remix Theory and Praxis’ online seminar. In April, Navas invited Tara Zepell to join the group.
The text explores concepts of remixing not only in content and form, but also in process. The aim of the collaboration is to evaluate how the creative process functions as a type of remix itself in a period when production keeps moving toward a collective approach in all facets of culture. The emphasis on video remixing is the result of a collaborative rewriting activity among the contributors, who each wrote independent paragraphs that went through constant revisions once combined as a single text. Video was selected as the subject of analysis because members have a common interest in time-based media, and also because video remixing is at the forefront of media production. One of the group goals is that the text becomes a statement of what video could be as a reflective form of the networked culture that is developing at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The text is in constant revision and readers are encouraged to join in its writing.
