anonymous waves - new headquarters now open!


We are proud to open our new headquarters at 169 Carp Street in Bega. Opening hours are 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday. Homeless persons shelter operates from 7pm until 7am seven days a week. Feel free to drop in and meet the friendly staff. Take a seat at reception and someone will saw you shortly...experience free art, free music, free advice and freedom..

emptywhale and anonymous waves - a collaboration (of sorts)



For the HD version and downloadable files go here...

Apologia: This one represents the closest I (we?) have come to online collaboration, and the first video where I actively tried to work in with the music in terms of the atmosphere it creates, without wishing of course to make a music video per se. Art always comes first! In discussions with emptywhale about process we agree that once a creation is in the public domain one relinquishes control over how it might be used other than the Creative Commons licensing that stipulates it is not to be used for commercial gain, and acknowledges the original source. We agree that collaboration can lead to opening new doors that might not have previously been considered or explored. And there is no approval process in place, although in making this I have been very conscious of what emptywhale will think. Our desire for approval from others is a very strong emotion! The start point is mutual admiration for each other's creativity, and the desire to learn...

So, what exists remains...

anonymous waves comes from a line in the poem "Anecdote" penned by Francis Picabia in 1918. It reads:

You see, I am crazy to imagine it
I am a man with nimble fingers
Who wants to cut the threads of old pains
False folds in my anxious brain
History in arabesques memories
I am only happy on the open sea
Where one goes further
On anonymous waves.

I had done an earlier interactive visual poem with anonymous waves as it's title but have now decided to make this my new pseudonym, and the launch of an umbrella for new projects, including new media, public domain activities, online collaborations, interventions, the creation of a Netlabel and the gradual archiving and replacement of this blog. Time to move on...

Leg Show


Been working on another video lately using soundscapes by emptywhale but this one sort of popped out of the blue yesterday using some older footage that had remained dormant until now...

Tunnel vision

Bob Georgeson, Tunnel vision, 2013, Photomedia

I have been thinking about ambiance a bit lately and wondered if there was such a thing as ambient art, and reflected on many people's desire to use art as wall decoration or filler, and how we don't really interact with this on a daily basis. It is very much part of our surroundings...

So, did the obligatory Google search, and came across this company that call themselves Ambient Art (based in Australia I am sad to say). The blurb goes like this:

Have the view you have always dreamt of!

Hundreds of people everywhere are transforming their homes with the help of Ambient Art!

So what is Ambient Art?
  • Ambient Art is a portable indoor/outdoor PVC mesh screen
  • Filters the sun but still lets air flow through
  • Hides unsightly views (like the garage shed or nosey neighbours!)
  • Easily erected in just minutes
  • Wide range of ready-to-go images for you to choose from
  • Your design can be changed to suit your moods or seasons
  • Customised images (your high quality photo) available by request
  • Creates a unique ambience for your balcony/deck/entertainment setting
You can choose from our ready made views where you'll find everything from tropical islands to Japanese gardens or send in your own. No longer any reason to leave your holiday dreams behind!

I am obviously in the wrong business...

Ambient addendum

The man across the road obsessively uses his petrol driven blower to remove leaves from the concrete slab in front of his house. A neighbour shatters the afternoon peace on his ride on mower. He mows every Thursday afternoon regardless of whether the lawn needs it or not. Wattlebirds squawk as they aggressively chase a spinebill through the garden. Up the back kids laugh and squeal on the new trampoline they got from Santa. The breaking surf can be heard in the distance. My computer gently drones away in the background. This the soundtrack to our lives...

I was thinking about these things yesterday while listening to, and penning the post on, emptywhale's latest release 'That Grey Place We Go'. I marvel at their ability to create these works of art, to develop the structures and moments that have the capacity to take you unexpected places and thought patterns that seem to emerge from nowhere. I wonder for a moment about the technical aspects of who using what can make these sounds, then decide it doesn't matter how, all that matters is now...

I am a relative 'newbie' when it comes to the ambient genre, although accepting I have probably listened inadvertently to 'ambient' music in the past without realising it. And what is ambient, or any classification of music anyway? My first love has always been jazz...but who can define what that means anymore? And, shock horror, I have even been listening to some classical sounds lately! And in cyberspace threads start to appear...

I had accidentally come across Erik Satie on UbuWeb in the same way as I had with emptywhale on The Internet Archives, and had used music from both as sound tracks to some recent video work. It turns out that Satie is considered a precursor of ambient music. He also wrote the music for Rene Clair's 1924 dadaist film 'Entr'acte'. The film was scripted by one of my main influences Francis Picabia, and starred, among others, Marcel Duchamp whose 1957 talk 'The Creative Act' I had used as soundtrack for another video, a video that was greatly influenced, at least visually, by Brian Eno, the father of ambient music.

In recent discussion with emptywhale about possible collaboration Chris had followed his own path in finding out more about Herbie Hancock, whose 'Funk Hunter' I had rather lazily used in another video, but had never been happy with, wanting a more menacing effect. He had come across, and really liked, a 1974 Miles Davis track called 'He Loved Him Madly' written as a tribute to Duke Ellington. It turns out that it was a major influence on Brian Eno.

And so on it goes...I am a HUGE Miles Davis fan, never tiring of listening to his music, and drawing constant inspiration from his adoption of change as part of the creative process. His capacity to always push ahead, try new things, and yet remain true to his discipline propels me to write this post, not for you dear reader if you have ventured this far, but as a reminder to myself to build on the new directions in my work that developed through 2012. I will always have a soft spot for eros and thanatos, but in 2013 my hand reaches out for the handle of a new door...

That Grey Place We Go


Dark ambient outfit emptywhale have just released the second album 'That Grey Place We Go'. You can download it for free (yes, that's right folks, for free!) from the Haze netlabel website here, or if you prefer The Internet Archives here...

A brilliant follow up to 'fearscapes'...six delicious soundscapes of meditative magic that suggest that the 'Grey Place' is not so much a destination but a metaphor for the world we inhabit. Highly recommended if you like your music atmospheric and thoughtful, and with a hint of self-deprecation thrown in to keep you sane...maybe...

Well, I did say...

...I was going fishing. A nice catch of our favourite table fish. A 45 cm Flathead with 5 plate sized Tailor. Yum! The Flathead was caught on a soft plastic lure, the Tailor on a metal slug at a slow troll in the tinnie. Definitely my preferred form of angling. This post for CK in  the UK :-)

Renunciation

Lets kick off the new year with piety! Why? Am I feeling guilty about too much indulgence over the silly season? Of course not! Don't be silly in even starting to think so. It is simply because it all gets more depraved from here on in...

Postcard c.1920's?

Philip Hermogenes Calderon, St Elizabeth of Hungary's Great Act of Renunciation, 1891, Oil on canvas, Tate, London

An interesting comparison between the gravures interpretation against the subtlety of the original painting. If you don't know the story here is the Tate's description: 

"Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) was the wife of Lewis, Landgrave of Thuringia. After his death in 1227 during one of the Crusades, she entered a convent and devoted herself to good works. Before becoming a nun, she passed through a spiritual crisis, torn by the need to renounce the world, and therefore her children, in order to fulfill her desire to serve God. Pressed by a domineering monk, Conrad, whose natural affections had been starved by celibacy, Elizabeth finally vowed that 'naked and barefoot' she would follow her 'naked Lord'. Calderon's picture shows this moment of self-abasement.  
Calderon took his subject from a play by Charles Kingsley, 'The Saint's Tragedy', first published in 1848. It was based on fact."

Poor Elizabeth...dead at 24, sanctified sure, but ending up the salacious subject matter of late 19th Century 'Salon Art', where the plethora of nude women in subservient poses is as much of a crime as her very brief life. More details about Elizabeth from Wikipedia...

...and on that note I am off to listen to the latest emptywhale release 'That Grey Place We Go'. Happy New Year...