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Newsticker, link list, time machine: HOLO.mg/stream logs emerging trajectories in art, science, technology, and culture––every day
August 2020
Nxt Museum opens in Amsterdam, dedicating 1,400 m2 of modular space to immersive new media works at an architectural scale. To demonstrate, founders Merel van Helsdingen and Natasha Greenhalgh showcase eight expansive installations by the Algorithmic Justice League, Lucy McRae, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, United Visual Artists, Yuxi Cao (image: Dimensional Sampling, 2020), and others, in the “Shifting Proximities” exhibition.
Speaking on behalf of his brain-machine interface company Neuralink, Elon Musk introduces the world to Gertrude the pig. The star of Musk’s YouTube livestream, she demonstrates how the company’s skull implant prototype monitors neural firing related to her sensitive snout.
“Particularly now, in this economic environment, the promise of all of the jobs created—which would be in the tens of millions—and the promise of lower costs to every American family is probably is a more compelling argument than for the moral righteousness of not burning gasoline anymore.”
“Beyond addressing representation and role models, I plan to use my position to create resources that tangibly promote the sustainable incorporation of marginalized communities.”
Propelled by a huge increase of online purchases during the pandemic, and in the midst of the worst economic upheaveal since the Great Depression, Jeff Bezos’ net worth increases $4.9 billion, making the Amazon founder and CEO the world’s first-ever person to amass a $200 billion fortune.
“The feat was repeated in November 2009 when Joe Davis, a self-described ‘bio-artist’ in residence at MIT, hooked his smartphone to the Arecibo telescope and sent the genetic code for RuBisCO—ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase / oxygenase, a common plant protein—in the direction of three nearby stars.”
In a wry activation of collection holdings from a bygone era, praise is due to the curators of “Conflict in My Outlook,” a freshly-launched online exhibition focused on the “erosion of boundaries between online and offline, public and private.” Nestled amongst contemporary artists Zach Blas, Natalie Bookchin, and Elisa Giardina Papa, the University of Queensland Art Museum show includes a 1930 painting by Kenneth Macqueen that delineates the majesty of ‘the cloud.’
“Oftentimes, cisgendered white-identified and white-presenting people are recognized as the forward thinkers in discourse about cyberculture…. The romanticized discourse around the 1990s and, in particular, the birth of cyberfeminism often prioritizes white women as the core contributors.”
Developed under the direction of Golan Levin at the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Lingdong Huang and Tatyana Mustakos release PEmbroider, a new library for Processing that merges craft and computation. Whereas existing embroidery software is costly and proprietary, PEmbroider offers a “free, cross-platform, open-source, lightweight Java library for generative embroidery design.”
“Strangely enough, the V-2 rocket became over time a very strong symbol. Using this symbol, making it the world’s largest seed bomb, fully biodegradable and harmless made a lot of sense to me.”
Epic Games has lauched a lawsuit against Apple for “unfair and anti-competitive actions.” Tensions flared between the two companies when Epic added in-game currency to Fortnight, which Apple argued violated its in-app payment policy—and pulled the game from the App Store. Epic has fired back with not only a lawsuit, but a brilliant parody of the “1984” ad that put the Macintosh on the map.
One of the world’s largest radio telescopes, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is out of commission after a key support cable snapped, gashing the central dish and rendering it inoperable. Damage and repair assessments are already underway, but expectations are that the faiclity will remain offline for months.
“It would be approximately 130 years until the power needed to sustain digital information creation would equal all the power currently produced on planet Earth, and by 2245, half of Earth’s mass would be converted to digital information mass.”
“Andy Warhol’s Early Colored Liz, which sold for well over $20 million, goes for $203.25 here, while his Campbell’s cans for $18.15, all payable via PayPal. Picassos are currently even cheaper.”
Paolo Pedercini, head of radical game studio Molleindustria and the Pittsburgh game art gallery LIKELIKE, announces the online restoration of what is arguably North America’s first interactive film: I’m Your Man (1992) is a 20-minute short that was produced to showcase Loews Theatres’ interactive cinema technology. Touted as the first step toward virtual-reality cinema, the entertainment giant retrofitted select New York locations with seat-mounted controllers that let audiences vote on branching narratives. The experiment proved a failure and the equipment was removed in 1994. Thanks to TweeVee, LIKELIKE’s JavaScript engine for interactive video, the oddity can be experienced again.
The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) published new guidelines for gene naming, including for symbols that affect data handling and retrieval. “For example, all symbols that auto-converted to dates in Microsoft Excel have been changed,” the HGNC announcement states. “Finally!!!” responded computational biologist Mudra Hegde—and many others—on Twitter.
Beyond The Uncanny Valley
Capitalizling on the post-Instagram popularity of installations by Yayoi Kusama, James Turrell, and Random International, Pace Gallery’s new Superblue initiative is launching a series of venues dedicated to big, immersive art—despite bans on public gatherings. Essentially functioning as a broker, the venture will promote and circulate large-scale, experiential installations with a ticket sales and royalty-based business model, showcasing artists including Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, teamLab (pictured), and JR. The first venue is set to open in Miami in December.
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