March 17, 2006
Work From the Past
I was pestering someone to show some of their work on their MySpace page and realized I have never posted any of my sculpture work. I majored in sculpture as an undergrad at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. The department is excellent and I enjoyed the conceptual nature of the program. i found a lot of emphasise was placed on thinking about how different things communicate different ideas to different people and it has stuck with me in all of the directions I have gone.
I was pestering someone to show some of their work on their MySpace page and realized I have never posted any of my sculpture work. I majored in sculpture as an undergrad at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. The department is excellent and I enjoyed the conceptual nature of the program. i found a lot of emphasise was placed on thinking about how different things communicate different ideas to different people and it has stuck with me in all of the directions I have gone.
This is the first thing I made my freshman year - I was studying a lot of Art History and had to memorize lots of Madonna and Child works. I decided to make a version with a plexiglass madonna with a see through tummy with this fetus inside my own "Madonna and Child"
Crack cocaine was still sold in little plastic files back then and a friend of mine found a crack vile with rock cocaine still in it. I mad ethis cage to house the vile. In the center, there is a steel tube cut in the middle with a plastic tube containing the crack vile. This was also mounted on a pole about 8 feet off the ground. You had to climb up the pole to see what it was. - Welding was fun - I miss it!
This I created in a bronze foundry class. Working in the foundry was very cool. It is a long process to make the bronze cast but woth the experience. I was looking at a lot of Rodin and I guess this is influenced by his "Gates of Hell" (the big doors on the Rodin Museum in Philly).
This was one of my favorite pieces. More conceptual... It was installed on the wall in a Gallery at school and is titled "Candy, Coins and Condems". They were all placed in little plastic bags like they sold "dime" bags of pot on the streets.
I was trying to get across the idea of living in an instant gradification society. Condems for sex without the intent of reproducing and probably casual is a means to personnal gradification. The coins are tokens from arcades. A video game gives you fun for as long as the credits last. The last being candy is also a little piece of pleasure. 
This was the last piece I made - ever. I never did another sculpture once I graduated. I did this as the final project in my Senior Studio class. I through all "high art" ideas out the window and produced something I thought would just look cool. To my suprise it broke the barriers that the conceptual work created and was appreciated by everone at the school. Even the nuns next door really liked it. I've allways wanted to make work for everyone. Not just people who "understand" art and the history of it.
Posted by Dane Troup at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2006
Mr Bones
Mr Bones is a project I created in the fall as part of a class in Digital Design at Philau.edu. I just added the preloader and the front and end credits for web viewing.
Posted by Dane Troup at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
Podcasting
It is interesting to observe the explosion of media distribution being caused by the popularity of portable media players. The reality is that the technology and similar files have been available on Websites for sometime. I think that radio’s discovery of how it can be used, libraries being created and identifying it as a “new” media by labeling it podcasting has added to it being viewed as something more than shared audio files.
The audio file sharing popularity began with the PTP networks like Napster. The centralized portal where people can find and share their files caused the initial explosion of digital audio files. Most files were music that had been recorded and distributed on CD and then copied and shared. The interesting thing of the podcasting is that new files are being created for the distribution through the web, saved and shared through portable media players. It is no longer a copy of something that existed for other purposes.
From what I have seen/heard the podcasts don’t veer to far away from what we now hear on radio. I did notice that the ability to control playback was an added benefit. Some of the how-to files could be paused if you needed to prepare something or rewind to hear something that may not have been clear. Still there are several layers to be added that will make the experience richer. I think that Apple’s release of the video capable iPod will enable the ability to add a visual complement to the audio broadcast (something essential in this medium). As non-radio podcasters enter the arena and people no longer follow that model, there will be a interesting media created that we have yet been able to conceptualize.
The big drawback I see in the direction is, not in the technology but the company driving the development, Apple. They are creating a proprietary format and they control the largest, most popular libraries of content. This has never been a good direction for a networked technology and as devices become cheaper to produce and better methodology for clearing the rights to content is created, Apple will run into problems with their business model. I think they cannot see the forest past the fruit.
Originally for:November 1, 2005
MD23: Theories of Electronic Communications II
Sean Carton
Posted by Dane Troup at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
LIVING IN POSTMODERNISM I -Sender and Receiver
The following is a comment on these links:
Lyotard The Postmodern Condition and Wikipedia:Postmodernism
In a world where information is a commodity and information that is not deemed “valuable” in the monetary sense is falling by the wayside, I would have a hard time disagreeing with Lyotard. Computerization of information has infiltrated the larger nations and is continuing to spread to every corner of the globe. Google anything and you will get a million avenues of exploring the information.
Along with the huge amount of content available there is an ever-increasing number of access points. The home entertainment system is merging with the desktop computer to create a single portal for both information and entertainment. Mobile device advancements have taken the information access to an instant exchange regardless of time or place.
The opportunities that are presented to the marketplace are huge and the competition is great. Everyone is jockeying for the users time. This creates the “Language Games” that Lyotard covers. If “to speak is to fight” then what will the user fight for? Will they be willing to sacrifice their time and or money?
What will make information marketable to the producer of the content? Is it the ability to win the fight with the user? To capture the users time and integrate sponsorship or have them pay for the privilege to access the information.
A knowledge economy that puts emphasize on the monetary value of information puts the responsibility in the hands of the receiver or end user. If the user is to be the judge of value, because it is their money or time that will end up supporting the information, they then must approach evaluations with a critical eye. It’s the informed user who will get the most bang for their buck. But in an age where presentation is surpassing the nuts and bolts of knowledge delivery, how can the receiver make informed decisions.
What does this mean for information that does not fit into a pretty package? There is pressure to deliver information with substance and to create the package that will win the war with the receiver. Whether it is scientific or narrative I believe the receiver will have high expectations of knowledge and not settle for second best.
With such a large amount of options to choose from, it has never been more important that the sender prepare their argument in the best possible manner.
Originally written for:September 6, 2005
MD23: Theories of Electronic Communications II
Sean Carton
Posted by Dane Troup at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Peer To Peer File Sharing: Good or Bad for the Music Business?
Today the idea of having a system that allows property to be copied and distributed with no control by the creator or owner is at the core bad for any business. Nobody will win if creations are public domain right after they are released. The idea of sharing creative ideas and creations is a good concept but the current business practices don’t fit into this model. The bigger issue is laws and businesses that have established themselves under the pre-existing ideas on copyright laws and what it will mean for them to have to become flexible in a changing market and where will they find profit today and tomorrow with their property.
The music business like many other creative arenas has a faction that creates for the sake of the art and pushing the boundaries and sharing ideas to expand the medium. There is another group on the other side who looks to profit from the audiences’ desire to obtain and hear the music and finally the groups that fall in between the two and feel they should be rewarded financially for their hard work and creative efforts.
How is music different from any other protected digital file? If a P2P was created to distribute software it would last about two seconds. So what is the bigger picture going to be as to how this should shake out? Music and video fall into the realm of entertainment and need to be aware of the Internet as being a giant distribution channel. The playback and content selection is at the users discretion and the files exist to be grabbed, saved, reviewed and possibly shared at a later date. When it comes to the Internet, in its present state, it is difficult to control the distribution points or to pinpoint any one hard drive as being responsible for any on thing. It exists as a single entity and the creators of the content need to learn to create content keeping that in mind.
As the world enters this electronic space there will be less control to govern activity of users in other countries. All the more reason to look for answers that work with the direction of an always on, always connected world.
Creative Commons’ ideas on having multiple categories for rights management is a step in the right direction. There is a lot of content out there presently that people would love to share and I think it would help to advance the field. The idea of everything being available for anyone to hack, sample and republish is intriguing as far as what the outcome may be. The thought of an onslaught of mediocrity based on quality work is frightening but after that is sifted through quality work would emerge. There should remain distribution channels that would prevent a free for all when something enters the market.
Locked or encoded technology should be at the discretion of the owners. There should be an expected period where a product can generate a return for the artists in order to allow growth. Big business and lawmakers need a flexible structure that will generate a return on investment but also free up the content to easily move through the networked space.
That being said, I think Peer to Peer file sharing is bad for the music’s big business. P2Ps are turning their whole world upside down and are forcing them to re-examine how they operate. They will need to spend a lot of money on making a lot of mistakes until they discover where they need to be. When Apple created iTunes, they all jumped on board and now that it is a success they want to start raising the prices. Greed will always be their driving force and eventually they will all probably liquidate their libraries to an online service like iTunes because the reality of it is, much smaller companies will be able to offer bands the same services for a lot less but the big companies will not want to compete.
The music industry will survive and prosper probably in a better state then it exists now, benefiting the artists and forward thinkers not the ones peddling CDs.
Originaly written for:
November 8, 2005
MD23: Theories of Electronic Communications II
Sean Carton
Posted by Dane Troup at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)