Jason Snell

Mostly I was just star struck and we chatted about ITP in the early 2000’s. We finally got around to chatting about generative code and he sent over a link and asked to stay updated.

https://available-anaconda-10d.notion.site/That-Creative-Code-Page-c5550ef2f7574126bdc77b09ed76651b

Met with Hakani and my peer group. I enjoyed seeing the development of my classmates topics and got good feedback on my work. I had gone through it last night in Nun’s group, so I had a better sense of what to focus on (which was the questions, and the 3 electropsychedelic experience types I’ve had).

Hakani encouraged me see what was my Artist Statement (I think it’s the history I wrote out, including the experiences when I was younger and the influences / inspirations dating back to undergrad) and what was the art (researching and testing a specific thing, for example, the buffer in conscious and can that be detected when sonifying brain activity in a deep meditation).

I visited Nun’s peer group because after hearing everyone’s topics in the big group meeting, I wanted to follow and hear more about projects in her group (as well as Beth’s and Danni’s). Perhaps it’ll take too much time to keep up, but it’s worth a try.

I planned to just be an observer but Nun wanted me to present my work first. I shared, asked if people were understanding or had questions, but didn’t get much feedback or it didn’t seem to spark much conversation. I’m not sure if its because its too specialized, or its a topic only interesting to me. I’ll see what the response is in my group with Hakani tomorrow.

A VERY engaging zoom meeting (most stressful, intense, interesting one I’ve ever been on) because of the level of attention and accountability asked of each of us. Very effective model, each person being put on the spot with no notice. Shockingly effective.

I met with Sarah earlier in the day (I had somehow deleted the group meeting notification or didn’t put it in when I was in Berlin last month) so having two meetings in one day didn’t leave much processing time on ideas, so some of this is post 1-1 processing.

I see a potential path of a series of related or sequential questions:

• What is specific to the EEG that is special, using it as a tool, using brainwaves as a medium? What can an EEG do that a that an EKG or EMG or motion sensor can’t do in terms of making art? What are the affordances specific to this device and this organ (the brain) for making art?
• When using the EEG, what is controllable by the user? Can experienced users control more features, or is everything accessible to a new user? What is not controllable, and is that data useful? Can emergent or subconscious activity be revealed with an EEG, and to what use? If it’s not controllable, what is the user experience of that? Would that be any different than a randomized generator choosing values?
  • Think of Penijean Gracefire’s description of what the brain does:
    • Is there a pattern?
    • Does it have to do with me?
    • Can I control it?
• What aesthetics are the most effective at giving the user a sense of control, or producing the most phenomenal biofeedback experiences?
• How would I describe the phenomenon I’ve experienced with EEG biofeedback?
  • Comments from Bryce Willem on this:
    • “‘Shifts in Awareness’ and going on to define this as a category of phenomena could good route into this territory. The tricky bit is that phenomena is a broad terms that can encompass anything that can be perceived in consciousness. This includes changing content – like colors in the world, musical relationships, but also moods and mental states that you become aware of. From how I’ve understood these experiences you’ve described and from the list you just gave, it’s more about changes in the state or quality of conscious awareness. A patterns between all these is that you are aware of them as states, whereas default consciousness is not typically aware of its state or quality, but rather just focused on an object with one’s attention. This is a change in the bandwidth of attention to both perceive the content change but also perceive the change in conscious awareness itself.”
• Can I replicate these experiences in myself? Can I replicate this experience for others? What conditions produce X results?

Second meeting with Sarah. I had lost my group meeting notification for tonight somehow (glad I saw it in today’s email) which is probably why I had made my second meeting with her this late in this month’s window.

Discussed what I’ve been researching (early EEG artists, dub aesthetic), and dug more into what my questions could be. It moved around, trying to find what would be something new (since I’ve been doing EEG work for a few years).

I feel pushed in a positive way, in a way I don’t typically get because most of the time people say “oh that’s cool!” and don’t push harder.

Had a meeting with Marina, who is only in the office hours system for a few more weeks. We started our conversation talking about cyborgs (Rebis) then pivoted to Rafale, Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology piece. I mentioned my EEG / PPG soundbath this Thursday as well as the Synchrony experiment from Connections Lab. I talked about my climate activism and policy work, and an idea that came up in Berlin of doing an installation where people’s movement in a room causes it to go from pleasant to hellish, and they are incentivized to move more slowly, together.

How do we use art and performance to create impact? People are primed for different experiences, like they are open to different things whether they walk into an exhibit, a protest, a show, a policy meeting. Marina suggested Ways of Being which I added as an audio book on my phone (the only way I have time to read things).

We also discussed moments of epiphany vs sustained daily change, and what has more impact. She mentioned the tool she made with Sarah, the 2×2 grid, and charting projects on that grid, using epiphany and practice, and high and low impact (or some other metric).

Also had a sidebar about naps, nap ministry, the nap room at Moma, Shi Lea Chaeng, and political resistance via napping (I’m a pro napper and big fan of this idea). I attended a nap event in Berlin in 2018 or so.

Meeting notes:

https://jasonjsnell.notion.site/Marina-Zurkow-d12e350c69e54127bfcc5d10a4882af2

https://jasonjsnell.notion.site/Mood-Board-00156a452f5c4f4cbd405e7a30df3c0a

Post to reply to Rothberg’s 2/14/23 email about finding inspiration.

I often jump to parallel or adjacent mediums for a new perspective. For example, I often make music. So I might go to a gallery of paintings and see a Rothko and wonder “what would this visual image sound like?” or go into nature and see droplets flying off of a waterfall and wonder “if those were notes in a song, what would the composition be like?” or in a science context, looking at DNA protein and think of “what sound would a muscle building protein make as opposed to a cerebral / brain protein?”

Switching mediums myself also helps my ideas stay fresh. If I feel burned out on making music, I can make some drawings or small paintings (doesn’t matter if I’m good at it, just draw anything like a daily practice, get ideas out, get used to a new way of expressing ideas, even if its scribbles). Also switching tools helps me. If I’m always making beats with a drum machine, what would it be like to make a beat with just synthesizer sounds instead? Or just using field recording samples?

Another key elements is restriction. It’s one of the best ways to get my mind to think more creatively. Imagine the task of “make a painting” and it may be hard to choose a subject or style. But what about “make a painting with one color” then I really start to be creative. Let’s say I choose red. Is it all the same red? Do I cheat and add a little black or white paint to get different tones of red? Do I cover the canvas all with red, or just make a red shape? Suddenly I have way more ideas than if my palette is unlimited. Same with music: make a composition, vs make a composition with one instrument, or one drum sound. It pushes me into a place where I need to be creative with my problem solving.

Really enjoyed hearing everyone’s topics evolve and the opportunity to give ideas and feedback on the projects.

After my last Rothberg meeting, the idea came up of focusing on my body of work, looking for themes. Do I have my own manifesto or can I articulate what my existing work is about? Why am I interested in this work?

Phenomenon: Moment of creation, relationship with the work (willfulness, surrender, creation) – a very hallucinogenic- or spiritual-like phenomenon of relational emergence.

In the past I’ve used the term “generative containers”, emergent spaces, or womb-like space where art / life is created.

I’m fascinated with getting closer to the present moment, the now, the moment where life is emerging, being created, to bring myself and others out of their heads and into this emergent moment.

Interactive work → a type of art that affords this type of live, in the moment, emergent relationship with the viewer.

Could some of my work be making a song in real-time in front of others, them watching the creative process? I’m doing this daily for 50 days, but like usual, only posting the result, not the process or moment of creation.