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| start [020200109 115035] – [presentations and publications] joost | start [020250110 131119] (current) – [welcome!] joost |
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| ====== welcome! ====== | ====== welcome! ====== |
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| This is the public start page of my personal librarinth: an online scrapbook that I am using in the course of the research project 'Dialogues with Machines'. I am undertaking this project as a researcher in the [[http://kask.be/en/education/courses/media-art/|Media Arts Studio]] of the [[http://kask.be/en/research/|KASK Conservatorium / University College Ghent]], and I am pursuing a doctorate in the arts with it as part of the [[https://www.ugent.be/lw/kunstwetenschappen/en/research-groups/spam|S:PAM, Studies in Performing Arts and Media]] research group at the University of Ghent. My promotors are Christel Stalpaert and Edwin Carels. | This is the public start page of my personal librarinth: an online scrapbook that I used in the course of the research project 'Dialogues with Machines' that ran from February 2017 to October 2024. I undertook this project as a researcher in the [[http://kask.be/en/education/courses/media-art/|Media Arts Studio]] of the [[https://schoolofartsgent.be/ee/en/research/|KASK Conservatorium / University College Ghent]], and it resulted in a doctorate in the arts as part of the [[https://www.ugent.be/lw/kunstwetenschappen/en/research-groups/spam|S:PAM, Studies in Performing Arts and Media]] research group at the University of Ghent. My promotors were Christel Stalpaert and Edwin Carels. |
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| | The most tangible public results of this project are a written thesis and my film #59. The public defense of the PhD took place on the 28th of October 2024, and the committee consisted of [[https://creationmusicale.be/en/compositeurs/charo_calvo|Charo Calvo]], [[https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/gertrudis.vandevijver|Gertrudis Van de Vijver]], [[https://jerrygalle.com/|Jerry Galle]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul_Van_Bendegem|Jean Paul van Bendegem]], with [[https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/maximiliaan.martens|Maximiliaan Martens]] as chair and [[https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/pieterjan.maes|Pieter-Jan Maes]] as the secretary. |
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| | The successor of this page is the [[http://labyratoire.joostrekveld.net/|labyratoire]], the online scrapbook of a new research project 'Systems that Matter'. |
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| ===== research description ===== | {{:public:defense.jpg?direct&458|}} {{:public:dialogues_submitted_rot.jpg?direct&442|}} |
| | ===== thesis ===== |
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| A recently updated short description of my research goes as follows: | The abstract of the thesis runs as follows: |
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| Artists who work with technology often develop their own tools as part of the articulation of an aesthetic language. My research starts from the comparison of this process with the mutual transformations of devices, procedures, concepts and scientists that take place in a scientific lab. I am investigating the mutual construction of tools and artist, as a way to take a conceptual and practical step in my work and position it more explicitly relative to recent developments in the exact sciences. Central to formulating such a position will be to reflect on the dialogue between humans and technology, focusing on the point where concepts and materials interact. By engaging in a dialogue with devices and the cultures they are part of, I want to open a space of alternative technical possibilities. These are musical, poetic as well as utopian, and form a critique of a purely functional approach to technology. | "This dissertation constitutes the written part of the artistic research project //Dialogues With Machines//. In Joost Rekveld's practice as a media-artist, the notion of a //Dialogue with Machines// refers to a back-and-forth between devising and observing. Implicit in this back-and-forth process is a relative absence of hierarchy between verbal thinking and making, and between the maker and the made.\\ |
| | The essays collected in this dissertation are attempts to uncover possible sources of the agency of machines. In the long essay //Liberate the Machines !//, a theoretical and historical context is given to the making of Rekveld's film //Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59//, a feature-length abstract animated science fiction film that looks at the experiences shared by humans and electronic circuits during the Cold War. It also narrates Rekveld's personal experience of a dialogue with machines in the process of producing this film and in devising the analogue computing tools that were used for making it. These two strands come together in a view on the interaction between humans and computing machines and the role of media-archaeology in investigating this relation, interpreted as an example of the mutual construction of humans and their technology. Under the title //Seven Devices//, Rekveld wrote seven media-archaeological essays. Topics are discussed from the history of electronic analogue computing, animated automata, cybernetics and self-organisation, each constituting a different approach to reflect on the agency of machines." |
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| | The full text of the thesis can be found [[http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JAJH6XA7BD5QC1DVKYNHV9RD|here]]. The first essay, //Liberate the Machines !//, is in the process of being published as a book, with generous visual documentation and historical material. Please [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?page_id=1243|let me know]] if you would like to be notified when this book becomes available. |
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| Having technology as the other side in a dialogue implies that it has some degree of autonomy. To articulate my thoughts about this, I am looking into concepts relating to surprises caused by human inventions and artefacts.\\ | ===== film ===== |
| Mathematics is perhaps the archetypal example of such surprising 'otherness', when described as the science of unexpected consequences of definitions and rules written down by humans. Many mathematicians have written about the autonomy of mathematical objects (Lochak, Lautman, Zalamea), and there are interesting discussions by mathematicians of the role of notation and material realization in mathematical creativity (Chatelet, Rotman). The chaotic systems that were discovered in the 20th century are dramatic examples of the complex and unpredictable behaviours of simple equations (Abrahams, Ueda).\\ | |
| A second important track for thinking about a dialogue with technology are ideas about the autonomy of technological development; since the Industrial Revolution there have been many analyses of technology as a dominating or liberating force that is not under the control of humans (Ellul, Winner, Simondon, Marx, Shelley).\\ | |
| A third track, relating more directly to practical activities, consists of fairly recent ideas about the agency of materials and devices in science (Pickering, Barad, Rheinberger, Latour). These ideas link to the concept of the posthuman (Stiegler, Hayles, Haraway), non-human semiotics (Uexkull, Hayles, Sebeok, Cariani), studies of encounters and serendipity (Morizot, Merton, van Andel) and implicit types of knowledge (Polanyi, Suchman). | |
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| Practical work in this research project has started from the historic technologies of analog computing and electronic modeling. The medium-term goal of this is to build an analog computer optimized for the synthesis of HD video signals (a project of several years that is now nearing completion) and to make a series of moving-image works with it that give a voice to the physicality of the systems that produced them.\\ | Some more information on the film //Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59// can be found [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?p=2707|here]] and in the first essay in the thesis that will soon become the book mentioned above. |
| The longer-term goal is to use the culture of analog computing and electronic modeling as a vantage point from which to explore the artistic potential of chemistry, nanotechnology and other technologies that deal with matter on the molecular scale. The newest of such technologies tend to be thought as a confluence of nanotechnology, biotechnology and information science, as a form of 'programmed matter', where new material possibilities are opened by controlling individual molecules (Drexler). As a way to formulate an alternative approach, I would like to investigate replacing the concept of 'program' with 'analogy' in these contexts, evoking a way to think accross patterns occuring in multiple situations without an underlying idea of hierarchy or control between those situations. This has clear links with the practice of unconventional computing, as a means to question and undiscipline notions of computation and information. | |
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| | {{:public:film59_still_a.jpg?direct&515|}} {{:public:film59_makingof.jpg?direct&385|}} |
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| | You can [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?page_id=1423|subscribe to my newsletter]] or follow me on social media to be notified of upcoming screenings, or you can [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?page_id=1243|contact me]] if you are interested in screening it. |
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| ===== presentations and publications ===== | ===== presentations and publications ===== |
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| * presentation at Alchemy Filmmaker [[http://alchemyfilmfestival.org.uk/2017/symposium/|symposium]] in Hawick, Scottish Borders (March 2017). | * **presentation** at Alchemy Filmmaker [[http://alchemyfilmfestival.org.uk/2017/symposium/|symposium]] in Hawick, Scottish Borders (March 2017). |
| * [[http://arts.codes/articles/vol1/article5/article.html|article]] about analog computing in Arts.Codes online magazine (May 2017). | * [[http://arts.codes/articles/vol1/article5/article.html|article]] about analog computing in Arts.Codes online magazine (May 2017). |
| * presentation at the [[http://www.ens-louis-lumiere.fr/formation/recherche/actualites/au-fil-de-leau/12-13-octobre-2017-colloque-arts-filmiques-a-lens-louis-lumiere.html|symposium]] "Arts Filmiques et Expérimentations Optiques Contemporaines" at the ENS Louis-Lumière in Paris (October 2017). | * **presentation** at the [[http://www.ens-louis-lumiere.fr/formation/recherche/actualites/au-fil-de-leau/12-13-octobre-2017-colloque-arts-filmiques-a-lens-louis-lumiere.html|symposium]] "Arts Filmiques et Expérimentations Optiques Contemporaines" at the ENS Louis-Lumière in Paris (October 2017). |
| * [[https://iffr.com/en/2018/films/57|premiere]] of #57 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 2018), and a [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?p=2070|blogpost]] about #57. | * **[[https://iffr.com/en/2018/films/57|premiere]]** of #57 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 2018), and a [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?p=2070|blogpost]] about #57. |
| * artist's talk at the Moscow International Experimental Film Festival (September 2018). | * **artist's talk** at the Moscow International Experimental Film Festival (September 2018). |
| * [[https://vectorhackfestival.com/guests/rekveld/|keynote and artist's presentation]] at the VectorHack Festival in Zagreb and Ljubljana (October 2018). | * **[[https://vectorhackfestival.com/guests/rekveld/|keynote and artist's presentation]]** at the VectorHack Festival in Zagreb and Ljubljana (October 2018). |
| * [[https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/film/dialogues-with-machines-joost-rekveld?program_id=11851256|Film programme]] curated for the Eye Film Institute in Amsterdam (November 2018). | * **[[https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/film/dialogues-with-machines-joost-rekveld?program_id=11851256|Film programme]]** curated for the Eye Film Institute in Amsterdam (November 2018). |
| * artist's talk at the 'Golf' festival, Haarlem (December 2018). | * **artist's talk** at the 'Golf' festival, Haarlem (December 2018). |
| * artist's talk as part of the 'Memoires Vives' exhibition at the Zebrastraat, Ghent (January 2019). | * **artist's talk** as part of the 'Memoires Vives' exhibition at the Zebrastraat, Ghent (January 2019). |
| * artist's talk at the Digital Media Program of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (January 2019). | * **artist's talk** at the Digital Media Program of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (January 2019). |
| * exhibition of installation #71.1 during the Sonic Acts festival at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (February 2019). | * **exhibition** of installation #71.1 during the Sonic Acts festival at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (February 2019). |
| * artist's talk at Creative Coding Utrecht (May 2019). | * **artist's talk** at Creative Coding Utrecht (May 2019). |
| * exhibition of installation #71.1 at iMal in Brussels. (November 2019) | * **exhibition** of (partially reworked) installation #71.1 at iMal in Brussels. (November 2019) |
| | * **seminar** at the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). (February 2020) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Design Art Technology department of ArtEZ, Arnhem (May 2021) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Institut für Musik und Medien, Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf (July 2021) |
| | * **artist's talk** at Media Arts Technology, University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) (October 2021) |
| | * **Lasertalk** Brussels at iMal, Brussels (December 2021) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Design Art Technology department of ArtEZ, Arnhem (April 2022) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Collegium Helveticum, Institute for Advanced Studies, Zurich (May 2022) |
| | * **exhibition** of video and in-progress analog computer plots at the exhibition "Wave: Moonshot Part Three", Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (July-September 2022) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Vectorhack Festival in Zagreb (October 2022) |
| | * try-out **screenings** of my film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the Vectorhack Festival in Zagreb and Šibenik (October 2022) |
| | * try-out **screening** of my film "Ueda's Shattered Egg, Prologue to #59" (2023, 14 minutes, 2K DCP) at the "Eureka!" event in the Beatrixpark, Amsterdam (October 2022) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam (November 2022) |
| | * **artist's talk** at the Digital Media Program of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (November 2022). |
| | * **screening/performance** of "Ueda's Shattered Egg, Prologue to #59" (2023, 14 minutes, 2K DCP) during the opening night of the Inscience Science Film Festival, Nijmegen (March 2023) |
| | * **artist's talk** during the "Shifting Cosmologies: More Than Human XR" lunch series, V2 Lab, Rotterdam (May 2023) |
| | * try-out **screening** of my film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the Anifilm animation film festival in Liberec, Czechia (May 2023) |
| | * **artist's talk** "Dialogue with the Tool", Tetem, Enschede (May 2023) |
| | * **premiere** of my film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (May 2023). A review by Dana Linssen (in Dutch) can be found [[https://filmkrant.nl/artikel/joost-rekvelds-mechanisms-common-to-disparate-phenomena-59/|here]]. |
| | * **artist's talk** "Liberate the Machines !", live visuals performance and screening of film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" at Conflux festival, Rotterdam (June 2023) |
| | * **screening/performance** of "Ueda's Shattered Egg, Prologue to #59" (2023, 14 minutes, 2K DCP) during the "Obviously Unthinkable #6, the Art of Cold War Science" event at iii in The Hague (September 2023) |
| | * **presentation** "Tending to Machines" during the "Alien Organicisms" panel at the 2023 conference of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, in Tempe, Arizona (October 2023) |
| | * **screening** of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the Light Matter Film Festival in Alfred, New York (November 2023) A review by Michael Sicinski can be found [[https://www.patreon.com/posts/mechanisms-to-59-93233800|here]] or [[https://kemono.su/patreon/user/14177788/post/93233800|here]] and a shorter review can be found [[https://st.letterboxd.com/film/mechanisms-common-to-disparate-phenomena-59/|here]]. |
| | * **screening** of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the International Science Film Festival Inscience in Nijmegen (march 2024) |
| | * **screening** of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) as part of the feature film competition of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan (march 2024) |
| | * **screening** of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) as part of the feature film competition of the Kaboom Animation Film Festival in Utrecht/Amsterdam (april 2024) |
| | * **talk** "A Stroll through Technological Worlds" in the "Sensorial Otherness" panel, part of the "Shifting Cosmologies: More Than Human XR" track of the Politics of the Machines conference in Aachen, Germany (april 2024) |
| | * **talk** "Exaptation and the Analogue of Fabric" in the "Evolutionary Pathways" panel, part of the "Holistic life of the machine – The machinic beyond – What is it like to be a machine ?" track of the Politics of the Machines conference in Aachen, Germany (april 2024) |
| | * **talk** "Lightning Empiricism: Analog Computing and Homology" at the "Future Tense Symposium 3.0" at the UCI Beall Center for Art + Technology in Irvine, California (april 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at Anthology Film Archives in New York, as part of the Prismatic Ground Festival (in an amazing pairing with the Indian abstract film "SYZYGY" by Akbar Padamsee from 1969) (may 2024) |
| | * participation in the **panel** "Computing Using Physics; What Can AI learn from Analog Computing ?", that I co-organized at the CPDP.AI conference in Brussels (may 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) in Cinema OffOFF in Ghent, Belgium (may 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the Slovenian Cinematheque in Ljubljana, as part of the Adela Festival. Before the screening there was a lecture by Wolfgang Ernst on analog computing, afterwards we had a panel discussion (june 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) in Cinematek, Brussels, Belgium (june 2024) |
| | * **talk** “Lightning Empiricism: Thinking Through Devices” at the Hugarflug artistic research conference at the Icelandic University for the Arts in Reykjavik (september 2024) |
| | * **talk** “A Palimpsest on the Electronic Analog Art” at the Vasulkas Reloaded Symposium at the Vašulka Kitchen in Brno (october 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at the Vašulka Kitchen in Brno, as part of the Vasulkas Reloaded Symposium (october 2024) |
| | * **talk** “Dialogues with Machines” at the Center for Audiovisual Studies at the FAMU, Prague (october 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at MIMIK in Deventer, as part of the Instruments Make Play festival organized by De Perifeer (october 2024) |
| | * **public PhD defense** “Dialogues with Machines” at KASK in Ghent (october 2024) |
| | * **screening** of “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” (2023, 79 minutes, 2K DCP) at KASKcinema, Ghent (october 2024) |
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| ===== this librarinth ===== | ===== this librarinth ===== |
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| The idea and form of this librarinth are inspired by the [[https://libarynth.org/|libarynth]] that has grown as part of the activities of [[http://www.fo.am|FoAm]], who describe it as: "a hybrid between a library and a labyrinth, a maze of pages in various stages of completion. It is a deeply intertwingled collection of documents, notes and randomness". | The idea and form of this librarinth are inspired by [[http://www.fo.am|FoAm]]s [[https://libarynth.org/|libarynth]]. They describe it as: "a hybrid between a library and a labyrinth, a maze of pages in various stages of completion. It is a deeply intertwingled collection of documents, notes and randomness". |
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| For now, there is not much to see here, as I have just started on this research project, and also because I am still navigating the question of how to reconcile my desire for openness and sharing with the need for a walled garden where ideas can safely unfold. Parts of this garden will open up soon and will be listed below, other things will find their way to my [[http://www.joostrekveld.net|blog]]. Eventually, all that is here will become public. If you are really interested, you can try asking for guest access, which will open [[guest start|this door]] for you.\\ | Even after completing this project, I am still navigating the question of how to reconcile my desire for openness and sharing with the need for a walled garden where ideas are allowed to be fragile. Over time the issue has also arisen that the pages on this site contain the material for several potential articles or other publications, so sharing before writing and publishing those has become a less obvious thing to do. So far, the path of least effort and resistance has been to just keep everything private, but not without regrets. The idea is that parts of this garden will open up and be listed below, other things will find their way to my [[http://www.joostrekveld.net|blog]]. Eventually, all that is worthwhile in here will become public.\\ |
| | If you are one of those with guest access, your password will open [[guest start|this door]] for you.\\ |
| You can always contact me [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?page_id=1243|here]]. | You can always contact me [[http://www.joostrekveld.net/?page_id=1243|here]]. |
