A. Bill Miller

A. Bill Miller:

An off-the-grid artist who relishes the computer “glitch” and has made a name for himself as a media artist.

some things working on for MKE Psych Fest

some things working on for MKE Psych Fest

summer 2012

 

Its almost the end of July and I have yet to make a 'proper' here in regards to what I've been up to. I guess that is what I'm about to do with this one... which will also likely be one of the first 'normal blog' posts I've actually made here... ever. lol

We traveled back to the Midwest for all of June. While we there, I had the pleasure of doing some live video performances, visits with friends, and general family hangouts. I lovingly called it a 'tour/family vacation'. Overall, the experience was amazing... I saw so many awesome old friends, family, new friends, hot weather, cities I haven't lived in for years etc etc etc. I didn't keep a tour diary (lol) but I'm going to consolidate some of the gridworks related stuff that I did with some links/dates.

June 8 - Enemy Sound Chicago - 'grdwrks_6000_p1'

This was my first official performance of my new audio/visual project. So glad to be there with other great artists in such a cool space. You can see more photos from the show here on my site. Also got a copy of video recorded of part of the performance... will post that soon(ish).

June 14 - Turf Club St. Paul - 'grdwrks_6000_p2'

My second show was at a rock club with bands. Thanks to Dylan (The Band Teenage Strangler), it was great to be back in the Twin Cities hanging out. I got to see a lot of old friends. In addition to the 'grdwrks_6000' piece, I developed a few live/interactive video sketches to share during the bands. One of my favorites was during Three Snake Leaves (Darren from Boy Dirt Car) - a noisy experimental trio. The video piece I used during their performances used live video input and broke it into two time-warped overlays... making for a weird video glitch that matched the sound very well I think. Its difficult to capture in a photograph (example on right). (More Photos)

July 8 - Frank's Power Plant Milwaukee

This was a last minute sort of thing, but also just as fun as anything else I've done. At Franks Power Plant in Milwaukee, we set up the same live/interactive video stuff at the end of the bar. Occasionally I changed the patches or switched them up and also did some live mixing. It was also 'Metal Monday' so there was sweet music and Iron Maiden played that night at Summerfest (which I didn't go to). Since it was pretty laid back I had a chance to get some GIFs of the video's while they were running.

Other Stuff

Caught up with the Overpass Light Brigade as they were working on some signs. I've started to make some GIFs for them. They get some really great documentation of their work and its fun to play around with. Its also nice to be able to experiment with their message(s) as I'm on the same wavelength.


Also have been continuing to create GIFs for Sheroes in Toronto. Its hard to believe the project is finishing - after an entire year. I've made a lot of GIFs for them and I really enjoy the work as well as all the cool stuff everyone else has been putting together for their parties. I'll still be updating with the Nina Simone work, but here is where my collection is from Sheroes.

I'm helping out and participating/co-hosting Open Web Studios with Kelani Nichole for Little Berlin Gallery in Philly. The next version is going to next Monday - July 30 - on the INTERNET.


Finally (for now), I started making more gridfont7 GIFs. All of them are on this page and I will continue to add more as I make them. If you don't remember, I released gridfont7 at the beginning of the year. Its a typeface made up of simple line drawings and is flexible in that it can create a wide range of gridforms and be used in any software once you've installed it. Super fun!

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That does it for now. It's been a busy summer... and its not over yet. More to come, and I'll try to keep things up to date.
CHEERS!

A/Vworkssssss

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getting ready for show in Milwaukee tonight
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        9pm @ Borg Ward Collective
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          823 w. national ave.
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             A/Vworkssssss 
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intimate evening of audio video exploration
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Multiple Screen Projection Reminder

Note To Self:
experiment more with projection again!!!!!
(*disclaimer: I usually don't post like this, sorry)

Just saw a really great article about UW Milwaukee's Arts+Tech night at Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. Its a fun event that I used to go to every semester while I was in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to take part in one. Its a great chance to see what people are up to in the program and its usually somewhere between gallery and demo.

At the end of the article linked above, I noticed an image of a multiple screen projection. This is what I spent my last year of grad school working on. So I kinda had something very similar in Milwaukee in 2008 but nobody really cared about it at all then... our show didn't get a mention anywhere in Milwaukee press.

I'll post the images below for comparison purposes only - its a really great concept and I want to do more with it sometime. I'd trace it back to documentation of Bill Viola's "The Veiling" - that's how I got interested in thin fabric screens. But I was also interested in making projection become physical planes of a sphere shape - go figure. I haven't met or talked to the artist in Milwaukee - Yoko Hattori, so I can't say what the work is about other than that it looks somewhat narrative. Regardless... high five on getting some positive attention up in there!!!

Yoko Hattori


my project "Grid:Current"

Fine Line Magazine Issue #2 (more)

Fine Line Magazine Issue 2 comes out this week!

Fine Line Magazine Issue #2

I'm really excited about this! A little of my work will be included in Issue #2 of Fine Line Magazine. This magazine is really great... I got the first issue a few months ago. Its put together in large part by Cassandra Smith & Jessica Steeber who used to run a great space in Milwaukee called the Armoury Gallery. The reason this project is great, and why I'm so excited, is that it is a magazine with really no advertising or articles... its kind of a curated show in print form. As the say:

Fine Line is a hybrid between the gallery and traditional magazines; free of advertising, reviews, previews, and biographies, Fine Line instead presents carefully curated thoughts and ideas. It is released quarterly.

Fine Line Magazine Facebook includes pictures and announcements. And, here's a recent interview about the project from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

10,000 Jiggawatts

Some work of mine will be shown at the exhibition 10,000 Jiggawatts In Milwaukee. The show is developed by 62d which has been doing some great shows up there. From what I can tell it should be a really cool event and its going to be at two spaces in Milwaukee: Small Space & Jackpot Gallery. I'm excited for this show because it will include work of mine that hasn't been seen in Milwaukee (outside of the Internet). Actually, some of the work hasn't ever been shown outside of the Internet. The show is Friday, Sept. 24 from 6-10pm - I really wish I could get back for this one.... if you get there, let me know and send me pics!

And, as a teaser, here are some examples of my work that will be shown:






This stuff will be projected, so way different than here. It will be great to see the work larger so if you're in Milwaukee you should definitely check it out! The other artists in the show: Jeremy Kunz, Peter Puskas, Tim Stoelting, and Garrett Wiens-Kind

MARNmentors Installation

From the show that opened last night:

MARNmentors Exhibition

I'm in a show that opens tonight. Here's a quick preview from the install and the postcard. I'll post more images after the opening which is later tonight.

Samples from Kate Brandt Pink

This week all posts will come from the work I made for the exhibition Kate Brandt Pink at the Union Art Gallery in Milwaukee. One reviewer in Milwaukee referred to my work as computer generated. That assumption is easy to understand, but isn't at all entirely true. As this blog demonstrates, the drawings I create using ASCII are each created individually and I layout each character as if I were making marks on paper - drawing. From there they become a lot of different things, but they aren't really "computer generated". Additionally, the work explores the concept of the technological post-human - although this isn't a straightforward investigation of gender politics, it could be said that it is about bringing up these issues in ield that is supposed to be entirely objective: code.

End Rant
Begin Artworks for the week.
I'll post 3 of the original ASCII drawings, 3 of the drawing collages, 1 animated GIF, and 1 glitch. These last two come from the video, which I won't post here (yet).

Video Art Screening in Milwaukee

"gridworks2000-anim09" will be screened in Milwaukee tonight at this event. Hope you can make it!

Join us: 10th Street Gallery

October 2. 2009 @ 7pm
Video Art Screening Series!

Video Art Screening Series:
Celebrates the diverse approaches to video art and experimental film production in the city of Milwaukee.

Featured Artists:
Jesus Ali
Brandon Bauer
Laura Bennett
Maria Bolivar
Kate Brandt
Ted Brusubardis
Kelly Hendzel
Caroline Kastelic
A. Bill Miller
Dayna Moses
Richard Mutz
Annushka Peck
Brian Perkins
Joseph Reeves
Marla Sanvick

Address: 628 N. 10th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, 414-271-1371
Tickets: $5 at the door

Phosphene : Video Art Spontaneous Installation

Here's some images from the show I've helped organize. Its at Borg Ward in Milwaukee during Milwaukee Noise Festival this weekend only.





Phosphene : a Video Art Spontaneous Installation at Borg Ward Collective in temporal accordance with Milwaukee Noise Festival. Televisions. Video Loops. Art. Music. Noise. One Place. One Weekend.
Sept. 24 - 26
The Borg Ward
823 W. National Ave
Milwaukee, WI

Upcoming in Milwaukee

Just a heads up, I'll be taking part in a performance event in Milwaukee on the date 9/9/09. There are 9 performances going to be taking place at the same time - 9 times actually... all centered around the number. I'll keep you filled in as I learn more. The above image is an example of the sort of thing I'll be doing, but it will be more intense. I'll be drawing the number nine constantly for most of the event with live projection and time-lapse capture. In the final stage of the performance (9th) I'll project the animated sequence and meditate on the process and whether or not I've revealed the hidden truths of 9 and achieved true "nineness".

The event is organized and presented by In:Site Milwaukee which sponsors temporary public art projects in Milwaukee. I'll keep you posted with more as I learn more.

And While I'm at it, I'm also working on another event in Milwaukee, scheduled towards the end of September. Arrangements are still being made for a video art installation of some sort to be held at Borg Ward Collective during Milwaukee Noise Festival which has been happening every year for quite awhile... it promises to be another interesting event. As a side note, the Borg Ward has a new message board, which might prove to be a useful networking tool for the space as it offers both art and music regularly.

Back to regularly scheduled programming.

Sunday News

Just a quick update, then we'll start with more drawings on Monday again. Tonight was the second Upgrade! Milwaukee and the presentations were great. Nadav Assor showed some things close to my heart: digital camouflage, and layered video. His work looks really interesting because of the performative nature of the way in which the works become realized. Maria Bolivar also presented but I'm at a loss for a link right now. I was in school with her for a bit and her presentation was about her MA installation that brought issues surrounding her involvement and remembrances of the National Strike in her native Venezuela. This work was really interesting when I saw it last Spring.

In other news: just got notice I'll be included in the festival Pixilerations [v.6] in Providence, Rhode Island this coming Fall. I'm excited about this one because the general topic has to do with the current economic climate. My recent work, "gridworks2000-anim09" will be screened (also recently screened at Terminal in TN, Crosstalk in Budapest and soon to be in FILE in Sao Paulo). This work was created as a way to remember and recreate a series of work that I created while working in information visualization at Master-List2000. Although I am not at liberty to disclose the nature of my involvement with that organization, I can say that I was "laid-off" some time ago. Part of our severance agreement was that I destroy all copies of work created for them and allow them to own the only true copies but still retaining the rights to reproduce anything that I cared to from memory only. As a side note, (and still within my rights to disclose) I was never made entirely aware of the nature of the information that I analyzed for them. Anyway, I'm glad to see that the video is going to be seen more. And, since I'll pick back up the drawings tomorrow morning, its worth mentioning that the drawings posted here are a part of the same body of work described above. gridworks2000 is a subcategory of the Gridworks Collection Project Archive and takes on a few different forms most of which are first posted and made visible here.

Upgrade Milwaukee

My friend Maria will be presenting! Here's the info:

For more information: http://digiwaukee.net/upgrade/

Upgrade! Milwaukee presents Nadav Assor and Maria Bolivar!
Sunday July 12, 7 - 9 PM
MOCT, 240 E Pittsburgh Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Please come to the second Upgrade! Milwaukee, featuring Nadav Assor (Israel) and Maria Bolivar (Venezuela)!

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On Nadav Assor (also a founding member of Upgrade! Tel Aviv):
“I am greatly interested in theories and explorations of urban architectural, emotional and ideological sub-structures. One tactic I use in exposing and reshaping the structures around me is digitization, in the sense of reduction to a primal, reconfigurable matter. The transformed digital matter is recast into its original context, physically manipulated in an ongoing live process that ranges from the absurd to the violent. The outcome often presents various transgressions or inversions of the technological, socio-political structures that served as a starting point. Many of the mechanisms inherent in my work require palpable, physical effort or struggle to manipulate, thus exposing the constant friction between body and media. I do not want my devices to ‘run smoothly’.
My work has been shown in Berlin, Chicago, and in many Israeli venues, including several showings at the Israeli Center for Digital Art, the C.Sides International electronic media festival, the Laptopia festival, the Center for Contemporary Art in Tel-Aviv, The Haifa and Bat Yam Museums and more. I have received a 2006 Leumi (the Israeli national bank) award for excellence in the arts.
I am currently pursuing my MFA with full fellowship in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.”

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Maria Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She was significantly influenced by her father, Cesar Bolivar, who is a well-known film director in Latin America. After attending the most important design academy in Venezuela: El Instituto de Diseño de Caracas, Maria spent three years as a professional designer. Due to the violence and her involvement in the 2002 National Strike in Venezuela, Maria was forced to come to Milwaukee in where she received her BFA in communication design from the Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) in 2006. Maria is currently pursuing a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee with an intermedia focus.

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Upgrade! Milwaukee is a regular gathering of digital creatives - artists, musicians, performers, writers, curators and the public - that fosters dialogue and creates opportunities for collaboration within the local new media community. It features 1-3 guest speakers at each event, held at a rotating venue: informal, free, and open to all. We welcome suggestions for speakers, panels or gatherings. Upgrade! Milwaukee will continue to grow as a local node within the global Upgrade! International (UI) network.

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Upgrade! is an international, emerging network of autonomous nodes united by art, technology, and a commitment to bridging cultural divides. Its decentralized, non-hierarchical structure ensures that Upgrade! (i) operates according to local interests and their available resources; and (ii) reflects current creative engagement with cutting edge technologies. While individual nodes present new media projects, engage in informal critique, and foster dialogue and collaboration between individual artists, Upgrade! International functions as an online, global network that gathers in different cities to meet one another, showcase local art, and work on the agenda for the following year. There are currently over 30 nodes in UI, across North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Second Life.

Documentation - Present Music: Flight Box

screened during intermission (without sound)

Announcements!

Its not too late to attend the Present Music Event - Flight Box (Saturday, Mar 28). This event will screen my "gridworks2000-anim09" video which is also available as a DVD single and can be purchased from my website (click the buy now button). It will also be screened next month at the Short Film Festival @ Terminal Gallery @ Austin Peay State University (TN).

For a limited time only at the Borg Ward, I'll be projecting a video experiment with something recently discussed online. There aren't gallery hours, but if your down there for a show, you may see it. Next week sfSound will be performing there as organized by UWM PSOA. I'll be in Portland at FATE conference, but should be back in time for that performance.

Present Music: Flight Box

………… "gridworks2000-anim09" will be screened for the first time publicly at this event…………
………… I'm not sure how it will be shown, but it will be there…………

Present Music

Flight Box Concert & Paper Airplane Contest

Saturday, March 28

Milwaukee Art Museum

700 Art Museum Drive

6:00pm Doors Open
6:30pm Launch Your Plane
7:30pm Concert Begins

You could win a roundtrip flight on Midwest Airlines!!!

See a Video Preview
http://vimeo.com/3754410

Present Music returns to Windhover Hall for a performance event that includes Kamran Ince’s Flight Box, a piece originally commissioned for the opening of the Calatrava. Other odes to flight and birds, the sky, moon and stars will fly by and through this concert in works by Karen Tanaka, Henry Brant, Sebastian Currier, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Join a power to the people paper airplane flying competition, see kathryn e. martin’s airplane installation and explore video installations created by DoneBestDone and the UWM Department of Visual Art.

Airplane Rules of Entry and Tickets

www.presentmusic.org

Get Tickets Here

Tickets from $16

Friends of guest artists save 25%

on advanced orders before 3/26 with the code “friend”

Buy online or save the online vendor fee by calling 414-271-0711

TIMM

This is my Milwaukee

still off topic for this place... but I can't help posting. I've been following this off an on for the last few months. Its an ARG, with a wiki here for the most of the background info and links. My favorite though is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal coverage.

Anyone know how to solve this:
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