spot blog

the earth from above

Burning Man

I'm going to Burning Man this year after a one-year hiatus. I'll be camping with Nephology at approximately 4:20 and Earth. I have two projects this year: 1) supporting Nick Thompson's You Are Here installation, and 2) providing video and live VJ performance for various camps, including Disorient and Sol System. I'll also be a frequent visitor with my friends and family at the Blyss Abyss and any manifestations of Bianca's Smut Shack, my first home en la playa.

psychotherapy

Tonight Digital Psionics' Dark Nebula (btw notice the fractal flame in the banner on his page!) is playing live in a outdoor event about two hours north-east of San Francisco. I'm doing the visuals. Line-up and ticket details on their site.

wenatchee and siggraph pictures

spotworks reviewed by neural.it

SPOTWORKS reviewed by Neural.it:

Scott Draves è un artista con invidiabili abilità tecniche. Negli anni ha prodotto il progetto aperto e multipiattaforma 'Bomb', uno dei primi visualizzatori musicali software e il raffinatissimo 'Electric Sheep', uno screensaver distribuito per la creazione di affascinanti creature artificiali. La sua cultura artistica affonda le mani nella scienza e nella storia della scienza, riuscendo ad astrarre i processi e a coniugarli alle loro possibilità estetiche. In questo dvd sono raccolti video ricavati da tre filoni seguiti da Draves: Bomb ed Electric Sheep, appunto e da una manipolazione visuale dell'opera di uno scienziato dell'800: Ernst Henkel. A prestito, infatti, sono state prese le sue visionarie elaborazioni illustrate, elaborando le immagini attraverso i processi di composizione del dub. Dal cosiddetto 'digital zoom', ossia il progressivo passaggio dalla visione dei singoli pixel all'immagine complessiva, alla sovrapposizione delle aliene creazioni di Henkel, i video mettono in pratica un processo frattale e ipnotico, che basa le sue spettacolari stimolazioni percettive su una proprietà per noi fondamentale: la simmetria. Il continuo specchiarsi degli elementi e la loro creazione condivisa (concetto salvaguardato anche nella licenza Creative Commons delle opere), nobilita estetica e cultura scientifica. E infatti la scienza e le sue leggi che si nascondono dietro ogni calcolo informatico, riemergono attraverso una cultura visuale che se ne appropria, attribuendogli un senso pieno e contemporaneo.

back, siggraph press

Actually, I'm not home yet, but I am online ;)

After siggraph I flew to Seattle for three days of vacation with my siblings and nieces in a cabin on Lake Wenatchee in the Cascades. Very relaxing. The pictures from all this will appear soon. In the meantime, here's the low-hanging fruit:

I was one of 14 people interviewed by the siggraph media team, the result appears here.

Electric Sheep was also described as a highlight of the show in the official art gallery press release.

transvision04

Because of the scheduling conflict with siggraph I cannot attend in person, but there should be some kind of Electric Sheep installation or video at the TransVision04 conference on "Art and Life in the Posthuman Era" at the University of Toronto, August 5 to 8.

siggraph

I'm going to siggraph for the first time in 14 years. It's in LA and I'm driving down today. I'm going early to set up an Electric Sheep installation for the art show. It will be in the Concourse Foyer, Room 153A of the LA Convention Center. The gallery hours are:

Sunday, 8 August	1 pm - 6 pm
Monday, 9 August	9 am - 6 pm
Tuesday, 10 August	9 am - 6 pm
Wednesday, 11 August	9 am - 6 pm
Thursday, 12 August	9 am - 5 pm

and I'll give a presentation on it in the session "beautiful things" at 1:45-3:30pm thursday in Room 515B.

If you'll be at the conference and would like to meet me just drop an email and we'll set something up.

spotworks reviewed by en'trance magazine

SPOTWORKS reviewed in the August 2004 issue of en'trance magazine:

If you're looking for a new DVD full of mind-blowing visuals to play at your next party, or just to go on a personal journey with, check out Spotworks. This is a highly impressive collection put together by Spot Draves, VJ and Software Artist from San Francisco. Not only is it altogether different and unique from the usual visuals produced these days, there is an element of brilliance with these images, as Spotworks has succeeded in creating a new breed of electronic life form. The DVD consists of 5 spectacular pieces, my favourites being the Black and White Dub sections, where Spot has employed the artwork of Ernst Haeckel, and takes you on a mind bending spiralling journey into a strangely familiar world of creatures and life forms. Simple yet complex, you'll have your eyes glued to the screen as the hypnotic journey unfolds. The soundtrack is also worth a mention, featuring the likes of ABA Structure and other talented producers to add to the journey through this strange and wonderful world. The DVD also features Electric Sheep, a collaborative visual project seeded by Spot, involving thousands of participants' work via one website. Imagine images tweaked and developed by thousands of people, and put into one piece, and you've got Electric Sheep---artificial life forms created by many "Shepherds", as Spot would call them. Mind bending and highly intelligent mesmerising stuff, I'd encourage anyone into pushing the boundaries of graphic art/design to check out what Spot Draves has been up to. This is cutting edge and futuristic stuff bound to blow your mind.

Becca Dakini
musiceditor at entrancemagazine.com

Wow, thank you Becca!

worldspirit trailer

Oh this is getting exciting! Kenji has released the trailer for WORLDSPIRIT in quicktime and flash. Looks great! Buried deep in there somewhere is the Death and Rain music video made of Electric Sheep.

Klein Bottle Hats and Moebius Scarfs

Klein Bottle hats and Moebius Scarves are only the beginning of Cliff Stolls (yes the science fiction author) Klein Bottle Empire... Inspired by the recent boingboing post.

spotworks availability

spotworks is available from major online trance shops as Psy-Shop , Saiko Sounds, and Chaos Unlimited. Thanks Mick & James & all my distributers!