Henry Warwick emails the empyre list today, an online discussion forum where I am an invited but AWOL panelist, with some questions for the panelists, the majority of whom are also AWOL. I guess I could be accused of raiding empyre for content, but this is all public record--read on and see what you think. He writes: I would like to see some greater sense of critical analysis in the
discussion here regarding what is the artistic use of the blog vs.
"other" uses (online diaries, etc.) Also, a discussion of the
(un)conscious underpinnings of this art (dependence on fossil fuels,
resource extraction, geography as a class "formant", integration of
technology as a social object, etc.) and how these issues are expressed
or repressed in the works of the artists presented. I think I can handle this query, with reference to my work-in-progress "Wormy Animation":
1. It's diaristic in that it's a pencil test of a longer work and I'm uploading frames as I make them. The GIF is art, though, not a diary. The finished GIF will be the finished art but by posting the pencil test I'm making it available for discussion as art (I don't expect a lot of discussion, to be honest, especially from the empyre-rs, who were speechless on 3/4 of the panelists' art).
2. The supposed excessive burning of fossil fuels vis a vis Internet use was a petroleum industry canard from the late '90s. In any case, I feel whatever I burn blogging is far, far outweighed by not driving a car.
3. "Wormy Animation" has much to say, I feel, on the subject of geography as a class "formant." (My best high school term paper lead sentence.) Growing up in Midland, Texas, having a college education, and living in NY for many years I am far more prone to make noodly art that displays, nay, revels in a bourgeois lack of concern for the oppressed. At the same time, the amorphous blobs, supposedly sublime objects beyond the reach of history, intertwine fecally as if yearning for the primal mud of the real, the invigorated soil of the peasant classes, which in Midland isn't so vigorous (it's in the desert) and depends heavily on pumping the aquifer dry. The underground water has much naturally occurring fluoride which is benign, healthy even, but has the unfortunate side effect of staining the locals' teeth yellow (including mine, a little bit--dentists have been trying to sell me on "bonding").
4. Integration of technology as a social object. Yeah.
5. "How these issues are expressed or repressed in the works of the artists presented." Well, as the artist I think I am very qualified to talk about what I am repressing in my work. See answers 2 and 3.
-"Wormy Animation" has much to say, I feel, on the subject of geography as a class "formant."-
My best high school lead sentence was "Man's interest in animals stems from his desire to eat them". If you blank out, just substitute "worms" for "animals". (I think it really does cut to the chase)
when completed, is the anim going to be seamlessly cyclic or will there be a jump-cut when it loops? the staccato effect of the present loop messes with my eyes - which is good! had a look through your previous animation posts. tell me more about the anime clips
Thanks for commenting, L.M. and rich. I intended for this to be a seamless cycle, 'cause that's the most logical and hypnotic use of a GIF. I'm liking this in its present form, though.
The anime clips were kind of learner GIFs, though I'll probably keep doing them from time to time. I found what looked like a loopable passage (or just some moment in the film I really liked), took a series of screen shots, cropped and resized, animated them in a GIF builder program, and then experimented with lowest possible resolution so they could go on the web. Some of them are enlarged in your browser using HTML. All these techniques were useful to learn when making my own GIFs. Not a very substantive answer content-wise. This must really disappoint Henry Warwick, in that I am not able to articulate "(un)conscious underpinnings of this art" very well. I chose the subject matter because it "looked weird" or "looked cool."
What do you mean by seamless cycle? Are you referring to more images per second? or are the images per second a fixed number and adding more images slows down the illusion (I've never used a GIF builder, so I don't know how it works)
i mean that the animation loops seamlessly so you can't spot where it starts or finishes. at the moment it almost creates the illusion of this but there's a definite jump as it restarts.
Yes, it's eight sequential frames and then they abruptly start over. Whereas the piece below is 27 frames that continuously morph. My intent for Wormy Animation is to have it also morph without a jump. (I can also make it more "seamless" by adding transition frames.) 
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Henry Warwick emails the empyre list today, an online discussion forum where I am an invited but AWOL panelist, with some questions for the panelists, the majority of whom are also AWOL. I guess I could be accused of raiding empyre for content, but this is all public record--read on and see what you think. He writes: I think I can handle this query, with reference to my work-in-progress "Wormy Animation":1. It's diaristic in that it's a pencil test of a longer work and I'm uploading frames as I make them. The GIF is art, though, not a diary. The finished GIF will be the finished art but by posting the pencil test I'm making it available for discussion as art (I don't expect a lot of discussion, to be honest, especially from the empyre-rs, who were speechless on 3/4 of the panelists' art).
2. The supposed excessive burning of fossil fuels vis a vis Internet use was a petroleum industry canard from the late '90s. In any case, I feel whatever I burn blogging is far, far outweighed by not driving a car.
3. "Wormy Animation" has much to say, I feel, on the subject of geography as a class "formant." (My best high school term paper lead sentence.) Growing up in Midland, Texas, having a college education, and living in NY for many years I am far more prone to make noodly art that displays, nay, revels in a bourgeois lack of concern for the oppressed. At the same time, the amorphous blobs, supposedly sublime objects beyond the reach of history, intertwine fecally as if yearning for the primal mud of the real, the invigorated soil of the peasant classes, which in Midland isn't so vigorous (it's in the desert) and depends heavily on pumping the aquifer dry. The underground water has much naturally occurring fluoride which is benign, healthy even, but has the unfortunate side effect of staining the locals' teeth yellow (including mine, a little bit--dentists have been trying to sell me on "bonding").
4. Integration of technology as a social object. Yeah.
5. "How these issues are expressed or repressed in the works of the artists presented." Well, as the artist I think I am very qualified to talk about what I am repressing in my work. See answers 2 and 3.
- tom moody 6-10-2005 12:35 am
-"Wormy Animation" has much to say, I feel, on the subject of geography as a class "formant."-
My best high school lead sentence was "Man's interest in animals stems from his desire to eat them". If you blank out, just substitute "worms" for "animals". (I think it really does cut to the chase)
- L.M. 6-10-2005 2:45 am
when completed, is the anim going to be seamlessly cyclic or will there be a jump-cut when it loops? the staccato effect of the present loop messes with my eyes - which is good! had a look through your previous animation posts. tell me more about the anime clips
- rich (guest) 6-10-2005 2:24 pm
Thanks for commenting, L.M. and rich. I intended for this to be a seamless cycle, 'cause that's the most logical and hypnotic use of a GIF. I'm liking this in its present form, though.
The anime clips were kind of learner GIFs, though I'll probably keep doing them from time to time. I found what looked like a loopable passage (or just some moment in the film I really liked), took a series of screen shots, cropped and resized, animated them in a GIF builder program, and then experimented with lowest possible resolution so they could go on the web. Some of them are enlarged in your browser using HTML. All these techniques were useful to learn when making my own GIFs. Not a very substantive answer content-wise. This must really disappoint Henry Warwick, in that I am not able to articulate "(un)conscious underpinnings of this art" very well. I chose the subject matter because it "looked weird" or "looked cool."
- tom moody 6-10-2005 7:01 pm
What do you mean by seamless cycle? Are you referring to more images per second? or are the images per second a fixed number and adding more images slows down the illusion (I've never used a GIF builder, so I don't know how it works)
- L.M. 6-10-2005 8:39 pm
i mean that the animation loops seamlessly so you can't spot where it starts or finishes. at the moment it almost creates the illusion of this but there's a definite jump as it restarts.
- rich (guest) 6-10-2005 8:49 pm
Yes, it's eight sequential frames and then they abruptly start over. Whereas the piece below is 27 frames that continuously morph. My intent for Wormy Animation is to have it also morph without a jump. (I can also make it more "seamless" by adding transition frames.)
- tom moody 6-10-2005 8:56 pm