Life as an Artificial Lifeform

So fluently we went from Saskatchewan to Alberta - no fancy sign or anything alerting us of the change but something strange happened on the fields all of the sudden.

Upon closer inspection it became clear what was happening - oil and gasfield exploration in the midst of agriculture. land cattle and fossil fuels would be the slogan for Alberta province.

Still straight roads it gets a bit more hilly billy.

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And modern oilpumps come in different flavors but all of them are painted in bright colors. To make them more friendly looking?

The classic oil pump.

And yeah just fields I like fields.

more fields with more gastanks they have serious natural gas reserves in Alberta. Makes it a wealthy province - even so - as we later found out - the famers get only a tiny compensation for having something like this on their fields - if they refuse then the companies go to the neighbor farmer and just drill vertically to access the same gas/oil bubble. Not nice practice if you ask me - leaving the farmers poor and the oilcompanies rich.

Huge all over the place along our journey sticking out like monuments of human technological feats - so we could not figure out what they actually transmitted because it was neither cellphone nor radio most of the time.

More jumpin moose.

Don´t ask. I don´t know.

And we found the road that leads to heaven - if you believe in such things - I don´t so it just too us further west instead of into the sky.

Two of my favorite field pictures of the whole trip :)

Me the Sunset Sucker. I mentioned already that this was the longest sunset I ever witnessed because we where driving right into it without any interruption for hours and therefore we think that must have made it longer.

With the sun just set we arrive in Edmonton. The oil refinery glittering in the distance like a scene out of star wars. It didn´t make us feel like we wanted to stay so we went on looking for a better place - that was a a real good decision - see it in part 3 of day 5.

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So from Flin Flon we set out into the sunrise and into Sasketchewan province. Like Manitoba a mostly prairie province except for the road we took it seems - because that presented us with more forest tunnels for almost six hours. Not much to take pictures you would think but some things need documenting.

For example this monster of a snowmobile - small tank might be a better description. I surely would want to try to ride that one day just to see how it feels.

The most shocking thing was the amount of dead trees on the way. You had these patches running for miles with just dead trees on them. Brian was insisting it was logging but it didn´t made sense as the trees stumps where still there. Looking at the warning signs that made you aware not to transport firewood around the country it was clear the pine beetle has struck this part of canada extremely heavily.

Yes it seems we are on the right route.

Brian recreating in the wind on a frozen lake on a little detour we took to have a break from the tree tunnels.

There was a truck on a deserted parking lot and it had these charming number plates.

Yes told you more dead trees - the only distraction on the forest tunnels - a sad sad sight - its quite hard to see the scope of the destruction on the photos - its massive and everywhere.

The main northern highway turns into a dirt road at one point. The dirt road is better then a lot of paved road in this world - I have no idea how they make it but its smooth as butter.

And this is how a clear cut looks like.

Ah the trusty professor (the car) and brian. Yes this car took us on the 10.000km journey with only one small hickup (alternator carbon sticks worn down). Very comfortable to sit in for all these long hours.

Then we came out of the tree tunnels all of the sudden and back into the prairies.

The roads get straighter and straighter and longer.

And also the territory more untrusting - pre pay for your gas or you aint get none - not that you have any chance to escape here - they could see you for miles down the road if you try.

also dead trees in the prairies.

and funky golf course signs.

Town of Willness - Land and Cattle - thats the best description for what lays ahead.

And the Moose are flying in Sasketchewan.

Now this picture might seem unpostworthy but but - the next 3 towns all looked exactly the same with the exact same towers in the middle - you will see.

Dusty roads and land and cattle.

And yes still the Moose are flying around here. Fun fact of the day moose charge cars. So instead of like deer who just stare at bright lights and stand still the mighty moose come after you. Nobody could tell me how to actually react when one does. Seeing one on the way back in the night I think I really don´t want to find out - they are freaking massive animals.

Land. Pretty Land.

Glaslyn - town two look alike (town three will be in the next entry as that was already in Alberta province).

Long Roads that seemed to never end.

Deserted houses left and right.

Very very very long roads.

Dusty long roads and the start of the longest sunset I have seen in my life.

Rythmic pretty clouds.

Town three in the row - its not really good visible but these structures were the most prominent buildings and there are just a dozen or so houses scattered around them so that made three towns in a row look so much of the same that it was like a déjà vu.

And an eye forming in the sky - I am sorry to bore you with this but please understand we just had been through five hours of tree tunnels so everything seemed to be enormously exiting.

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On Day 4 we took off from The Pas (and yes I liked that town) and went to Flin Flon - not very far away. First stop was the trainyard in The Pas - you have to understand the trains here are long - really really really really really long. Mostly just dragged by two of these super locomotives - how they do this is a mystery to me. Anyway the trainyards are unsupervised and unfenced - so anybody wants to "have fun" with a 3 km long train may go to The Pas.

About half way to Flin Flon we came to a place where I don´t quite remember the name but it came to existence because it was a portage - the Cannery Portage to be precise (the town probably was named similar). A portage is where there is a watershed - meaning there are two rives/creeks flowing in different direction not far away from each other - so you take your canoe and carry it from one river to the next so you can enjoy more free riding down the water. When first entering the town we where almost ready to swap the volvo to the bombardier snowmobile sitting around. Brian took a test drive but since snow levels where not high enough we stayed with the volvo for the time being.

Just wanting a bit lunch at the lake we met this photofriendly husky who barked at us very loudly but stopped and posed ones the camera was directed to him. So he gets his wish of a published photo I guess.

Oh and people living in this house sure ain´t getting wet feet anymore.

This is the memorial for the Cranberry Portage - a very important point - you can go to the Hudson Bay from here all down river and very far inland on the other side. Was used by the First Nations and then later by the hunters and settlers.

Leaving this place Flin Flon was (finally) coming up. This is kinda the first impression.

The mine and its smokestack rules the city everywhere

Yes real people living here who also seem to wear clothes.

As every city out west the obligatory watertower and 9000V on the multitude of powerlines

And they have culture too!

But the industrial side of town rules the impression

With a huge open pit mine in the middle.

Cute houses.

Old empty houses.

More cute houses.

Oh and did you know that in Flin Flon you can find the home of Rock'n'Roll? Well I didn´t either but it went bankrupt and was empty - seems that Rock'n'Roll is dead (or homeless).

The youth in Flin Flon (and The Pas) uses the rocks that line the streets for their graffitty playground - not sophisticated and strictly forbidden but to be seen everywhere.

The decorating commitee (oh yes that became a running joke with all these oversized statures in all these small towns) likes santa claus.

Tourism is apparently a bit slow in Flin Flon. The guy looking over the sign is actually Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin. The guy who gave the name to the town - purely fictional character - I direct you to the wikipedia entry for more information about this - its a funny.

Smokestack peaks out everywhere I mentioned that already.

The media and the church caters to the big industrial complex.

We were blessed with another super nice sunset - like pretty much every day on our journey so far. Here is the main red mine building.

Some textures we liked.

There is something about raised structures that I find appealing.

Powerline yeah :D

Flin Flon looked like the moon - there was only forest all around it but the city itself is enormously bare rocky. The trees must have been logged for the mining business.

This smokestack was captivating sorry to bore you with more.

And ähm more powerlines :)

A memorial I just liked the light on it don´t ask me what the brave men and woman of Flin Flon actually did.

Typical typical street in nice light.

I am a romantic sunset sucker.

And old buildings with lots of texture.

But yeah more sunset.

Just the perfect CD cover for some death metal or too hard to listen to dubstep :P

We went to see the Flin Flon Bombers ice-hockey match. They won handely in some league that I can´t remember. Was my first live ice-hockey match I have seen - couldn´t have lost my ice hockey virginity at a more authentic place. And yes the guys are rough.

The queen reigns them all.

Flin Flon wasn´t the best stop on our trip sadly - we didn´t find many locals and couldn´t figure out where the afterparty to the icehockey match was so we went on the next day. Still a surreal town for sure.

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I am currently writing a book on Live Cinema fusing all that I have learned by VJing over the last 11 years enhancing my three year old theory and trying to actually define a new media and art form. I am looking specifically to theories of storytelling, engaging audiences, keeping them interested all the while enhancing the general atmosphere and not loosing the spontaneity that VJing brings with it and tell a message.

At this point it is a very personal look at how I think Live Cinema would work. In an efford to make it easy to grasp and make the appeal broader I want to get a sense of what is actually needed to understand the medium. If enough questions that have not been answered in the main part of the book arrive I will add a Q&A section to specifically answer them.

Questions can range from the mundane to the specific - it can come from a musicians perspective or a vjs perspective or the audience perspective or an actors perspective - whatever your background please don´t hesitate to ask - the more questions the better.

You can either leave a comment here or send a mail to falk(at)prototypen.com

So if you have any kind of thoughts about the artform in your head that have not yet been answered please fire away - I would be very happy to incorporate and answer them.

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Sorry for the long pause. It was all a bit too eventful to keep up with the blog - the landscape just too stunning to stare at the computer, snowboarding in between and all, but we try to catch up a bit. So here is Day 3 the day we entered Manitoba. Driving from Kenoa to Winnipeg then up road 6 through the interlake all the way to The Pas. We thought it would be a beautiful drive along lakes but as you can see there was road and woods - straight roads through woods not much going on other then road and woods for hours and hours.

We enter Manitoba in the late morning.

This is how Manitoba presented itself 20 minutes drive in.

The great plains. Agriculture. More Agriculture.

And electricity crisscrossing.

Yes everything in this country looks like a movie set or a pretty postcard.

More electricity poles - why the obsession? well first of all they give depth second of all they have a visual rythm and after all we are on an educational trip and rhythm is a big part of it.

Yes thats how the street looked like for at least 5 hours and all of next day and the day after as we where to find out.

Deer crossing. I found out too late that the signs for animals change drastically from region to region - so this is the start of a series on signs - the charging moose will be photographed on the way back

I called it Barcode Road.

The only part of the lakes we got to see midway through the upper part of what is called the interlake (a dried up lake between two big lakes as we later found out) a little resting place and the start of the sunset. Since 4 hours we saw nothing but trees and road with maybe 5 cars/trucks in total. So I craved some detail.

The small lake we where allowed to see. The big lakes all behind thick tree lines.

Endless straight wide big huge I tell ya.

Long sunset on a straight road with trees by its side. Yes same road - we came through 1 town and passed two crossing otherwise road and trees but now at least some action in the sky.

No not shopped and no - no idea where he came from or walked to next intersection was 30 minutes drive away last intersection 3 hours and no you can not walk through the forst either - a mystery.

Finally the end of the 6 - that was a very very very very very long straight stretch of road - it wouldn´t be the last.

The 60 led us straight out west right into the sunshine

Yes thats exactly where the sun is - no sign really needed - but before you overlook eh. I mean there are so many trees its easy to miss the sun.

And there ends the day with a glorious sky.

Shortly later we ended up in The Pas where we stayed the night. had a nice chatter with the bar girl of "The Good Thymes" - that bar reminded me so much of the Affenclub at home in a way - very spooky. The whole vibe and people where so similar in a way. Very friendly folks out there living their own life - sweet. Sadly no camera and no audio recording here - we had to warm up to that.

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June 10th-12th 2010

Licht An!

Berlin’s original Videokunst Club, VisualBerlin reflects the richness of the city itself. With members from nine countries we are a diverse family bound together by a shared commitment to the progression of audiovisual art forms, performance and technology. Our artists have rocked festivals and parties across the globe and in 2010 it’s our turn to return the favor. From June 10-12 we will host the VisualBerlin Festival, a community driven event focusing on live performance, VJing and experimental media. The festival is an excellent opportunity to connect with an engaged audience of public and peers. Share with us your passion, your creativity, your experiments and your fun. Wir freuen uns!

Background

Founded in 2005, VisualBerlin is a non-profit community platform, providing support and a social structure for participating artists. Our interests and expertise covers everything from underground party visuals to hardware-hacking, programmatic arts, experimental performance and media philosophy. Community is at the forefront of everything we do. Since 2003 members of our group have hosted events in collaboration with AViT, the international support network for VJ arts and practitioners. In 2006 the newly-formed VisualBerlin celebrated it’s first official AViT network event and in 2010 we are pleased to continue the tradition of AViT in Berlin with the VisualBerlin Festival. The common ideals of VisualBerlin and AViT ensures that the participating artists and surrounding community is the most important aspect of each of our events.

Location

In 2010 the Festival once again takes place in conjunction with Berlin’s international design festival DMY. Over three days, guest VJs, performers and developers will have the opportunity to present their work in Berlin’s most unique locations. These headquarters will act as a hub and meeting point for all artists with free wifi, event information, technical support and a daily breakfast club for participants.
The night program takes place in external clubs, transformed by the VisualBerlin team to offer you the best setting for your performance.

Program

The festival will be a mix of curated programming and open-exchange. Innovative projects and developments will be presented daily across a schedule of workshops, performances and discussions. Additional jam sessions will take place in the lounge area giving you the opportunity to test out new collaborations, experiment and exchange ideas on the big screen.

The night program is split into three events:

• Night 1, Dubstep party
• Night 2, Chiptunes + AudioVisual Performances
• Night 3, Classic VJ/ Closing Party.

How To Participate

We will be collecting submissions for the following:

• Workshops/Seminars
• VJ sets
• AudioVisual Performances

The application form is available at http://visualberlin.org/festival

Please take care with your application and make sure you have supplied us with all the requested information. The application deadline is April the 30th, 2010.

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We made it to Flin Flon yesterday. Watched the local Ice Hockey Team win. Interesting surreal mining town. But I still have to catch up with the "old" photos so here goes a rather uneventfull day two that ended in Kenora.

Sunrise on Lake Superior

Ice Crysals

Icy Shore Sunrise

Still Lake Superior (yes its a freaking huge lake).

Long empty roads - a reoccuring theme pretty much through all our journey to this point

Empty roads becoming more straight as we get closer to the great plains.

Not much going on would be nice if these radio towers would transmit internet but they are just for radio it seems - not even basic cellphone coverage most of this part of the journey. Still they are somehow pretty.

Granit rock everywhere in all shapes and colors.

Small Lake giving us a pretty sunset.

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Little Update - we are in The Pas (spoken The Paw and thanks to Rachel for the heads up tricky town name) we are now on the way to Flin Flon - to not completetly loose track of the photos here is the next batch - still from Day 1 - I never gonna catch up again at this rate ;)

Left Restaurant in some small town

We are on the lookout for movement - the windmill was the first (and last) movement for a very long time

Empty old houses - haunting

But with modern ornamentals

and a Brian in front

who is still happy driving - super triple mirror inside

And scrap yards full of gorgeous old cars and other mobiles

Canadian Shield has granite mountains

Driving along Lake Superior - the last of the Big Lakes - People are Ice Fishing - even so the ice started melting

The little stone man figures are everywhere we go like little ghosts watching over us

Lake Superior is really big and it has nice nice nice sandy beaches that except for the pine trees (and the ice) they could also be in the Caribbean

And always the devestation to nature comes into view - mountain top mining.

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Originally planned as a snowboarding trip with a study element the weather on the ground and general things that needed to get done morphed this idea into a fully blown road round trip from Toronto to the Rockies and back - probably close to 9000km in total. While planning the trip roughly we have decided on just a very few waypoints to leave us enough room for decision making. One of those targets is Flin Flon the town where the most northern road that goes west starts. Oh and we have power and 1 Gigabyte of 23Mbit internet on board while the coverage won´t be available everywhere a lot of our route is covered so I try to keep up to date as much as possible.

Driving out of Toronto just before sunrise we have now entered the venerable canadian shield - territory of the Mohawk tibe. Harsch rock formations and beautiful meditative lakes lining the street. Our destination for the day will be Wawa on Lake Superior said to be the most beautiful road in Ontario - so we try to make it til sunset and then also get the other half on sunrise.

Internet has been extremely rare - had no cellphone coverage for 1200km so I am running behind with report and photos. We slept last night in a Motel 200km after Wawa. Today we drove along the last bit of Lake Suprerior - stunning road. Then went west direction Winnipeg to stay over in Kenory - the last town in Ontario. We are offered a stay at Brian Cousin, computer geek with fast network so I am able to finish at least the photoset of the first half of the first day. More on next internet connection.

gasstation - half price of germany at least.

Last time to see so many cars on one place our start in Toronto

Canadas Wonderland just outside of Toronto

Brian having fun driving

Sunrises in the snowbelt. Breathtaking start of the trip.

The canadian shield - still with us after 2000km - hard granit holding beautiful meditative lakes. At this time of the year all lakes should have icecovers - its much too warm everywhere. Coldsnap and snow expected next week - perfect timing for snowboarding if it happens.

The land of the First Nation of the Mohawk 2.5 hours north of Toronto

First Nation of the Wikwemikong

Lots of not so pleasant views, the blue sky was brown over the smokestack

Prime property on southside view

A horsefarm on the road

We are going west - far west

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Brian T. Moore created this installation piece from footage he shot in Toronto mixed over audio that was composed by my dub hero Saetchmo from sound snippets recorded also in Toronto all with a little bit of help from me. Enjoy. Official home for the video here.

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