Interview with Palindrome./amberfest08
Which art project do you attend to amberFestival with?
The Oklo Phenomenon by Palindrome Intermedia Performance Group
What is your aim with your art work?
To express philosophical questions with aid from new interactive technologies.
How does your project works?
How? You mean, what technologies do we employ? Motion Tracking (EyeCon software, video cameras), MAX/msp custom music and stage lighting patches. LED lighting.
Could you describe your process of creation?
I choreograph, and look for parameters within the movement vocabulary which lend themselves to interactive media. This may sound abstract, but it is actually very direct. Every movement has qualities or shapes that leave a “mark” in the mind of the viewer. If you connect media to those moments, they become doubly strong, and surprise us in a special way. We just started this process with our piece — that is, we are continuing to develop the piece!
How long have you been producing digital art?
Since 1995. Before that, i worked with interactive electronics (since 1973!)
How do you describe your art as an artist using technology?
Technology in the last century killed interactivity in the performing arts. Today, when people want to listen music, they dont get together with a musician, or go to a show, they play a CD. My art is a quest to re-invent interactivity in the computer age.
What made you choose digital media as medium?
It allows great flexibility and control. You’re working with datas and interfaces which are not as durable as classic materials like paint, marble etc.;
What do you think of filing digital art to pass them on to the future generations?
Dances, at least modern dances, are not “passed on” to future generations anyway. Very very few dance pieces live longer than a few years — many only last a few minutes! So for me the question is a strange one. Videos do not preserve dance in the same way that CDs preserve music. The human expression of movement is far too rich and complex (and 3 dimensional!) to show on a video screen. Students might do it for an assignment, but who normally sits around watching videos of dance? Its not like music. On the other hand, digital preservation of videos has helped me in my work. I pull up files old dances to study what worked, and what didnt for next time. I couldnt do this in the days of analogue video. The process was too cumbersome and slow.
Do you have aesthetic concerns while producing your art?
What a question. I would like to say “no”, just to be funny. But, yes.
What do you think of the interaction between technology and human?
Fascinating!
Do you think technology leads to passivisation of its users? Are we interactive or interpassive? Why?
‘This is the question i was addressing above. The basic answer is Yes, but Im not sure that it is necessarily so. This is what i am studying in my work.
Interview: Çiğdem Zeytin
