I've been doing some more studio work with computer controlled laser beams. It's mainly in preparation for an installation I will be doing at this year's Shambala Festival, but I also have some plans for some gallery based laser work.

Previously I have used a DMX device to control the laser. This gives a fair amount of control, but doesn't allow the animation capabilities of more powerful lasers to be accessed. For this I've started using an ILDA controller. It sounds technical, but basically this allows me to precisely control the beam and to send animations files to the laser. This allows for some amazing effects.

My next task is to try to use Max/MSP to send ILDA information to the laser. This will allow me to synchronise sound, video, lights and the laser animations.

I've produced a presentation with voice over for my MA. It was produced for a Colloquium next week, but may be of general interest to people wanting to know more about my artwork. The file is in QuickTime format click on the colloquiumpresentation link to view it. Send any feedback to me at seanclark@gmail.com

The East Midlands based Digital Arts Forum has launched a new Web site. It's a considerable improvement over the previous version and well worth looking at. The new manually-checked registration process should also stop the spam problems that plagued the old site. Registration is free.

I went to see Japanese noise musician Merzbow playing with the Dirty Electronics Ensemble.

It was an hour of quite intense "noise" made with 25 "sudofuzz" boxes and various laptops an other strange electronic instruments.

For something that could have been perceived as a racket(!) it was actually rather engaging and had a definite sense of composition.

I can't really claim to be a noise devotee as such, but I can now see where the interest lies. There is both a breadth of sound and temporal quality in the music which - to me - compensates for the lack of obvious melody and rhythm.

It also has a great "full-on" sensibility which resonates with my liking of anarcho-punk artists like Crass. Saying that, I can't guarantee Mr Merzbow is going to end up that high up in my last.fm statistics. More occasional listening I think :-)

The past month's activities have very much focussed around my exhibition as part of Phoenix Digital. For this I've installed two ArtScanners, run my 'We Are Not Alone' piece in two venues and have had 'Anonymising Webcam' running for almost four weeks.

The work has been well-received and the comments - especially at the two launch events - have been very positive. The next step for me, at least in terms of my MA research, is to learn from this exhibition in order to finalise my main MA piece.

I've already started this process of analysis and am already pretty clear how the 'Autopoiesis I' piece will work.

Firstly, it will use a similar environment to 'We Are Not Alone' (see above). This took place in the Phoenix theatre space, giving very good control of the lighting, as well as providing a wide stage area for user interaction (the stage was basically lit with a single spotlight in the centre).

The work will also use the same video camera/screen configuration as 'We Are Not Alone', allowing the user to interact with the piece via their own life-size image.

Unlike 'We Are Not Alone', the image on the screen will consist of images of the users *plus* pre-recorded images. These images will be video sequences in the style of my 'People Walking' images. I plan to re-record the sequences though this weekend.

Two sources of recorded video images will be combined with the live footage in order to give the viewer a sense of walking, and interacting, with a crowd. Each video stream will respond both to the viewer and the *other* video stream, providing an environment in which three elements interact to create the art-system.

I probably won't make use of face tracking in the MA peice itself (as I had originally planned) but I may use it in the interactive presentation of the work at Camberwell Collage. Alternatively, I may use barcode scanning to drive this presentation. I *really* liked the whole ArtScanner aesthetic of using the barcode scanner to retrieve 'art' images. It's something I want to explore more.

I now need to produce the new piece of work and show it towards the end of April, or early May. I am planning an invitation-only showing of the work. Ideally in a theatre or large gallery space with good lighting.

I ran a second installation of 'We Are Not Alone' at the Phoenix Offsite launch. Interestingly (as I knew would be the case) the very different lighting of this space, compared to the Phoenix Theatre was quite challenging.

The deep, dark space of the theatre was replaced by a much smaller room-size space with while walls which reflected alot of light.

In the end of had to change the work so that it composited the video layers on *white* rather than black. This lead to a very different visual look for the piece, but it still had the playfullness of the Phoenix installation.

An ArtScanner pod has been installed at The Depot at Rutland Street in Leicester. Go to www.artscanner.org to upload your work to the site.

The DNA Sculpture I have been working on with Geoff Broadway is just about finished. After having to get some replacement electrical parts from the USA, Geoff completed the final bit of wiring and the piece is now available for installation. A video of the piece can be seen on my YouTube page.

Friday saw the launch of the Phoenix Digital programme. Together with Tom Hall and Eric Rosoman, I was one of the artists whose work was being featured.

The event was very well attended and seemed to be equally well received. I was particularly pleased with the reception for my 'We Are Not Alone' piece (see above) which was being shown in the main auditorium. The piece overlays six time-delayed live video loops to create a highly-engaging interactive space. I was going to run the video loops on about a two minute delay, but in response to the space I decided to change this to just four seconds between each loop. This was a good move and encouraged much more interaction than I had been expecting. See some pictures from the piece on my Flickr page.

My ArtScanner and Anonymising Webcam pieces also worked well and will be fully documented at the end of the show. For now I'm now trying to promote ArtScanner (www.artscanner.org) as widely as possible to encourage involvement.

seanclark@gmail.com
www.cuttlefish.org

Artist’s Statement

My creative practice is concerned with the creation of digital ‘art-systems’ that explore the relationships between the viewer, the viewed and their environment. I refer to my artworks as ‘art-systems’ since it is the very interaction with them that forms the central structure the work. They are ‘digital’ because I predominantly use digital technology to create my work.

When interacting with my artwork the viewer/participant becomes a integral part of it. They forever change the piece and ensure that it remains in constant motion. In some cases, such as with the pieces Anonymising Webcam and We Are Not Alone, images of the viewer are the sole visual-aesthetic elements of the artwork, with my role as the artist being to create an environment (through the use of digital technology) that allows this visual-aesthetic element to emerge through the interactions of the participants.

In other artworks, such as with ArtScanner, the viewer plays an active part in entering material into the system and facilitating the flow of material between devices and locations. Again, as an artist I have created a system that supports a range of interactions that result in a physical artwork (the environment surrounding the ArtScanner ‘pod’) being created by the viewer/participants.

While engaging with my work I would encourage you to consider the processes you are involved in, and not to simply concentrate on the visual-aesthetic aspects of a piece. Consider how the images on screen arrived at their destination, and how your interaction changes them.

Anonymising Webcam

Most security systems aim to identify us. The Anonymising Webcam attempts to conceal the identity of the people on the screen, whilst simultaneously demonstrating the sophisticated face tracking capabilities of surveillance systems.

We Are Not Alone

We Are Not Alone creates a physical space in which prior interactions can be brought back to the present. The image on the screen is a composite of past and present and reminds us that the past is always with us, not just in our personal memories, but increasingly through the technologies we use. Security cameras, cash machines, search engines and mobile phones can all be used to record our movements and interactions and we are rapidly moving towards a world where everything we do will be recorded in some form.

ArtScanner

ArtScanner allows people to upload images to a Web site and have them displayed in a gallery or exhibition space via the scanning of barcodes. The barcode acts as a gateway between the physical world and the world of computers. Seemingly innocuous, to some they symbolise a world where everything is categorised and our every move is ‘blipped’.