This series of linked MacroMedia Shockwave movies grew out of a materialist project. A scan of a favourite paragraph from a novel by William Burroughs captured the texture and shadow of a paperback page -- its characteristic grain and the intriguing manner in which the light tumbles into the dark tunnel of the spine as the book is curved in the hand or upon the scanner bed.
The original piece unfolds over a 16 minute long download on a 28.8Kbps hookup. It is a Shockwave movie that is looped. Since it is a streaming type of media, it begins playing as the media that compose it become available. Since it is looped, the movie gains gradual completion. A fast connection undermines the aesthetic intent of contemplation.
Of course such patient materialist pieces are not for every taste. Although traces of the concern for the "loading loop" is still evident in Cage Meets Burroughs, its mouse rollover and point-and-click interactive features help the viewer/user behave in a less cinematic fashion with the piece. As viewers become considered as users architectural metaphors may come to the fore. But the user is also a pilot conducting a performance. In both cases, that of the single longish materialist piece and that of the set of linked movies, the user can consult the browser's message window to check on download status. The frame provides cues.What you can do with found art and a little awareness of the browser environment and a taste for chance occurences. There is also a wonderful little study in the art of scrolling which if you access the html file with automatic image load turned off becomes a kind of green stamp collecting meets quilting a runner event
Another dialogue of the dead. A work in progress.
A course outline for Introduction to Digital Images
Earth Washing: A treat for text-in-motion aficionados
Rhetoric of Multimedia: clips from a 10-minute digital video lecture