Spinning a Learning Web

Says it all. A video from artist Philippe Lejeune as part of the Timeframe online exhibition.

Re:TimeFrame Exhibition ~ nightmare on Seesmic ~

So I went for a virtual walk through the online Timeframe video-art exhibition currently showing on Seesmic, and what did I find?

Well for a start, fascinating pieces that are clearly the beginnings of something other than the ‘funniest video’ type format usually found on YouTube, and which … you can bet your bottom dollar … are then virally transmitted around the web. Timeframe’s videos (at their best when confined to a minute or two) are clearly ‘arty’ with a perspective that frames them within the ‘take me seriously’ category. Some are derivative, playing with the medium itself, grabbing images from computer games and resassembling them into a game-free context. They’re little dynamic, colourful beauties which do indeed hark back to the punchy rhythms of online gaming.

Then there are the personal statements, tiny stories that play with time and perception … blurry, out of focus images moving in slow motion force the viewer to delve deeper into the representation. Cuts and pastes of an evening with an artist and a bottle of booze and pills have their own realist tension. More abstracted and dislocated images are coupled with soundtracks that blend the human voice, breath, sound effects and music … these can be eerily and compellingly disturbing or hilarious in turn.

The artists appear from time to time to interact with the viewers … the viewers interact with one another, a glass or two of wine is shared (screens are clinked for the ‘cheers’) and all in all it’s quite a jolly, non confronting experience … and an exciting one. We’re in at the start of what I have no doubt will be a new way of creating and showing work locally and globally.

Organiser and artist Christi Neilsen deserves kudos for getting this show together, as do the 10 artists who have gone public in a big way with this seminal exhibition. It all ends today but of course, will remain in the Seesmic timeline for a revisit. Click under Moving Stuff up there at the top of the left-hand sidebar and look for Timeframe. Enjoy.

I posted two days ago about Christi Nielsen and her innovative art show called TimeFrame which has just opened using the Seesmic video platform. TimeFrame will be showing for the next 72 hours or so.

Here’s the thread which will continue to update as the hours roll by. Check in and join in if you feel inclined. Just hit the reply button. Timeframe has been designed so that viwers can talk with the artists and others who stop by. I’d advise your viewing Christi’s first post which lays out the parameters of the show.

I’m going to drop in and out and comment if it’s appropriate and probably drink a little wine … later on! Why don’t you join us.

TimeFrame ExhibitionAnd we’re off!

If you haven’t discovered it yet, give BlipFM a try. BlipFM has a Twitter-like interface where you can see what others are listening to from the great BlipFM catalogue of music. You can search by artist or title to see if your favourite is there, and then other BlipFM DJs (you are a DJ on BlipFM) get to see what you’re listening to. They can send you what are called ‘props’ i.e., little virtual thanks for particular choices, and you can do likewise when something turns up that you like … all very interactive and fun as well as enabling you to make a great playlist, a list of favourite DJs when you get to know their taste, and to comment on your own choices. As well as old favourites, new stuff and random oddities, it’s also host to new music from composers and bands hoping to get known further.

I packed out my office of 21 years last week as I listened to my BlipFM playlist on the computer.

You can send blips as a hello to someone else on BlipFM. One of my ‘favourite DJs’ in the UK sent me one this morning. It’s autumn over there, she knows I love Chet Baker, so here it was waiting for me in my email. I simply embedded the link. Enjoy!

Now here’s something to lok out for this coming weekend. LA-based artist Christi Nielsen has organised a virtual art-show on the video platform Seesmic. The interactive nature of the platform means the 10 artists and who knows how many viewers, will be able to view and comment on the varied artworks and the comments themselves. Should be a lively affair with the potential not only to spawn further virtual exhibitions, but also to extend the art-talk to perception and accessibility, privilege etc.  What the art will look like and the experience feel like is what the experiment, in part, is all about.

You can get more on this here at Christi’s site and follow the conversation beginning with Christi’s introduction here in the Seesmic embed. You can even add your own thoughts by clicking the reply button.

Drop by from Thursday 25 September PST (and for we Australians, that’s going to be from Friday 26) and anytime for 3 days. I’ll miss the wine and nibblies that usually accompany these affairs, but intend to BMO.

TimeFrame Exhibition on Seesmichttp://www.christinielsen.com/html/events.html