Programmed Visions: Software and Memory by Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, MIT Press:

New media thrives on cycles of obsolescence and renewal: from celebrations of cyber-everything to Y2K, from the dot-com bust to the next big things - mobile mobs, Web 3.0, cloud computing. In Programmed Visions, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun argues that these cycles result in part from the ways in which new media encapsulates a logic of programmability. New media proliferates “programmed visions,” which seek to shape and predict - even embody - a future based on past data. These programmed visions have also made computers, based on metaphor, metaphors for metaphor itself, for a general logic of substitutability.

Chun approaches the concept of programmability through the surprising materialization of software as a “thing” in its own right, tracing the hardening of programming into software and of memory into storage. Continue reading

Decode Me by Mushon Zer-Aviv and Guy Saggee (with code by Zohar Arad). Mushon says “It is a code based online campaign for DECODE, an exhibition of code based works. Participants are invited to “decode” their FB profile image into a triangle pixels combination and stamp their share on the timeline. Every day at midnight the participant with the largest share on the timeline (longest time before next decode) gets a free ticket to the show.

The show opened this last Friday and would go on until mid-March, by that time we expect the Decoder of the Day to lead with just a few minutes share…”

Computational Culture: Double Book Launch with presentations by Olga Goriunova and Adrian Mackenzie :: December 8, 2011; 5:30 - 7:30 pm :: New Academic Building, LG01, Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, London.

Computational Culture is an online open-access peer-reviewed journal of inter-disciplinary enquiry into the nature of the culture of computational objects, practices, processes and structures. The journal’s primary aim is to examine the ways in which software undergirds and formulates contemporary life. Computational processes and systems not only enable contemporary forms of work and play and the management of emotional life but also drive the unfolding of new events that constitute political, social and ontological domains. Continue reading

RiTa† is an easy-to-use natural language library that provides simple tools for experimenting with generative literature. The philosophy behind the API is to be as simple and intuitive as possible, while still providing adequate flexibility for more advanced users. The download comes in two flavors: 1) the ‘core’ package, containing the jar files and documentation, and 2) the ‘TTS’ package that adds text-to-speech support. Additionally, statistical models for tagging, chunking, and parsing are available for more advanced users (see ‘Stat-Models’). RiTa optionally integrates with Processing and is both free and open-source. Continue reading

Radius Episode 16: My Hard Drive Is Experiencing Some Strange Noises (33:35) — by Gregory Chatonsky — is the sound of a defective hard drive disk picked up by a contact microphone. The acoustic wave is instantly processed by software that repeats and amplifies the sounds creating a resounding echo. It will be transmitted for three consecutive days: November 17, 18, and 19 and one single day on November 30 at 3:00 pm CST.

Gregory Chatonsky (b. Paris, living in Montreal and Paris) holds a multimedia advanced degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a Masters in philosophy from the Sorbonne. Continue reading

The Oil Show :: November 12, 2011 – February 19, 2012 :: Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) at Dortmunder U (3rd floor), Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse, 44137 Dortmund, Germany.

We have reached Peak Oil – the maximum capacity of global crude oil extraction and production. After Peak Oil, the total global oil production cannot be increased. In the future, demand will always exceed supply. The global struggle for resources will intensify. Despite this our dependency on oil is growing further. We cannot, or do not seem to want to do without oil. We are seriously dependent.

The works in the exhibition deal with our dependency on oil and the economic, political, and social entanglements and consequences of this growing dependency. Continue reading

Turbulence Commission: PuréeData by Ted Hayes [Optimized for Google Chrome]:

PuréeData is a web-browser interface for a single shared sound environment that allows live, collaborative patching for anyone, anywhere. Visitors interact with a shared PureData audio synthesis patch and listen to the results as an MP3 stream, with no software to install or set up. The project is open-source, and all are encouraged to modify, improve and set up their own PuréeData servers.

PuréeData is a 2011 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence website. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation. Continue reading

The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age by David M. Berry Reviewed by Jussi Parikka, Leonardo Reviews.

“Probably no one who reads Leonardo publications needs to be convinced of the centrality of software for modern art, culture, or academia. Yet, outside these circles, I think there is demand for such books as David Berry’s The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age. At times, software studies still gets some of the crowd squirming in their seats in academic conferences, and either slightly worried or bemused reactions from representatives of more established academic disciplines. Surely code cannot be read and written like Shakespeare, appreciated the way you do Milton or object of such cult as Austen – or the cinephilic attachment in film studies to certain genres and films?” Continue >>

Also see Furtherfield’s review.

Continue reading

Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia (POCOS) :: October 11-12, 2011 :: The Lighthouse, 11 Mitchell Lane, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK :: Online registration.

Preservation of software art presents challenges in many fronts, including complex interdependencies between objects; time-based and interactive properties; and diversity in the technologies and practices used for development. This exciting two-day symposium will provide a forum for participants to discuss these challenges, review and debate the latest developments in the field, witness real-life case studies, and engage in networking activities. The symposium will promote discussion on such topics as: Continue reading