#181 - Useless object
This week we've got musical fakes, dancing, and only a few references to you-know-what. That's deliberate, by the way. I could swamp this newsletter with the 'what' of digitally-delivered cultural activity (and I might highlight a few things) but I'm much more interested in explanations of the 'how' and discussions of the 'why'. Anyway…
Jukebox is a "neural net that generates music, including rudimentary singing, as raw audio in a variety of genres and artist styles". It's crazy how this stuff is developing.
On a similar note, here's 'Jay-Z' doing the big soliloquy from Hamlet.
For the second email in a row, here's something I've written: Questions about the cultural sector’s pivot to digital. It's mostly me pointing at stuff and going 'what the heck's all this about?'.
I'll be talking through some of those questions as a guest on a live edition of the Digital Works podcast on Wednesday this week. Come listen in and say hello.
Dance
Mark Morris, one of the world's leading choreographers, takes dance to Zoom "The truth is," he continues, "I'm not making up a dance. I'm making a film. But I'm not an auteur, I don't understand this technology. I'm not a video artist." Ooh, I'd been talking to someone about exactly this concept.
Online dance parties are curbing loneliness, building community and reviving clubbing. "Club Quarantine is far from the only online party that has popped up over the past two weeks". It's a popular one, though. Fascinating to see whether these are here to stay.
Has Coronavirus Turned Instagram Into What It Actually Should Be? "Literally overnight, the exhibitionistic nature of Instagram was sublimated from being mainly a tool of narcissistic self-promotion (to be sure, it still is) into what could be the highest form of itself: a tool for education, nurturing an authentic community".
Immersive
Performance artist Marina Abramović breaks new ground—in mixed reality. "the 19-minute performance follows Abramović, whose phantom-like virtual image appears in a vibrant red dress as she explores the space and its borders".
Uncharted Territory Is the Norm. A roundtable with Toby Coffey, Sandra Rodriguez, Mads Damsbo and Myriam Achard. Honestly, I tried paying attention but the kerrazy avatars and the lag were way too distracting.
Immersive tech in the UK arts and culture sector. An overview from Calvium's Jo Morrison on Museums + Heritage Advisor.
UArts has made a strategic commitment to virtual reality. Here’s a first look inside the matrix "Today is make-a-“useless-object” day at Artmaking in Virtual Reality class at Philly’s University of the Arts, and senior Azalea Rosado is crafting a pair of virtual spiked underwear".
Miscellaneous
Concert Roulette. Alternative Classical have added a dash of serendipity to some classical music streaming options.
The art category on Glitch. "Weird, fun masterpieces from talented artists, and the tools to create your own".
Technology in Troubled Times. From the Met Opera. "In order to survive, the Met had to drastically change how it operated".
How they built it:
Building the Hammer Museum Video Archive (so far) "This post describes the collaborative, iterative process of designing the public-facing video archive (so far)"
Assassin’s Creed: Teaser | LIVE with Bosslogic. A really high profile videogame decided the best way to reveal its next setting was by livestreaming Photoshop for 8 hours.
AMC, largest cinema chain in US, announces boycott of Universal. “The results for Trolls World Tour have exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability of PVOD … As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats”.
A Single Digital Presence for UK libraries: the project and the platform. "This week we kicked off an exciting phase of work with our delivery partners, dxw. We’re working together to prototype and test the concept of a digital service for public libraries".
Browse livestreams, recordings, and resources from cultural organisations
streams.culturaldigital.com
Thanks for reading. Please share things with others, and be safe.
Chris Unitt
PS: a shout to a couple of things I'm doing very soon:
a session on Broadening Your Online Engagement (supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund)
another for Ticketing Professionals on making analytics work for ticketing, as part of their new webinar series