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Ithaca Ambient Festival |
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Microcinema Ambient Media on Plasma
Ambient media occupies the forefront of new media practices. Ambient media migrate as a new meme across formats and platforms. Whether on plasma screens in high-end hotels and hospitals, on video walls in boutique stores, on cell phones, or downloaded to iPods, ambient media merges as an experimental visual sensibility with disciplined, elegant design.
Ambient media traverses between the analog and the digital, often playing with the borders between both through hand processing or algorithms. Filled with visual and mathematical puns and references to analog objects rendered virtual, ambient media extends avant-garde media practices into the uncharted realms of design for public environments. Ambient media is the new frontier of the art of the moving image.
The long takes, slow editing, and repetitive looping of ambient media contrast with loud, noisy, panic-producing corporate-dominated media. In our current hyperedited media landscape, ambient media functions as a visual form of Zen meditation, a pause from the press of daily life.
Ambient media emerges out of the soundscaping ideas of ambient music advanced by Brian Eno, with the idea of music as background rather than foreground. Its lineage stems directly from the 60s counterculture where slide shows, overhead projectors, and film loops provided screenwashes for happenings. It also has historical antecedents in live video journal projections at clubs and raves as well as the microcinema movement, which screens work beyond art cinemas in nontraditional spaces such as churches, bars, clubs, and museums. Ambient media parallels the slow food movement: it brings media into local environments like plasma screens and clubs, rejects media monoculture, and advocates a variety of forms to be savored.
This year FLEFF partners with Microcinema International, Inc., to showcase ambient media on all the plasma screens on campus and at our pre-festival rock concert benefit at Castaways. Microcinema houses the largest collection of ambient media in the United States. And even better, for those of you who want your home screens washed with art and design, all of the FLEFF ambient media is available for purchase by consumers at www.microcinema.com.
This year’s ambient media selection will be screened during the Tribute to the Beatles Rock Concert at the Castaways and also run on all plasma screens on campus during the week of the festival.
Featured Titles Screenwashing on Plasma Screens across the Ithaca College Campus
Borealis: Dimensional Fluid Light and Sound for Visual Meditation and Atmosphere
by Lynne Augstein
2006
Borealis is the first DVD release of Sausalito, California, based light artist Lynn Augstein. Borealis is a one-hour music and light immersion featuring Augstein’s transparent light waves accompanied by deep, cellular sound, from ambient music artists Steve Roach, David Parsons, Ranga, Om, A Produce, and Dwight Loop. All images are made from halogen light sources. Borealis is experiential light projection art, drawing on a long tradition in the use of light and color as a creative medium. |
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Bubbles*
Moving Images by O
2004
Born out of the “funky oil” experience, Bubbles develops a fascination with the colors of the rainbow, chakras, and science. In each bubble sequence, speed, movement, and malleability are governed by the frequency of the sequence’s color. The result is seven bubble pieces, treating seven color moods. The viewer can use Bubbles in a therapeutic way or just for pleasure by enhancing and complementing the atmosphere of the space in which they are played. No sound. Choose your own musical accompaniment. Includes alternative seven black background bonus tracks. |
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Color + Modulation*
by Rob Tyler
2006
Color + Modulation is a collection of eight ambient 16mm films that have been painstakingly hand painted frame-by-frame and digitally manipulated on a desktop computer. Working with acrylic and metallic paints, as well as with a pallet of permanent ink pens and spray paint canisters, this film project took seven years to complete. These film paintings have been described as both visually stunning and atmospherically beautiful, as each of these movies transforms ones video screen into an abstract canvas full of playful motion and smooth explosions of color and shape. Original music accompanies each sequence. |
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Colorcalm*
By Design
2005
Ambient works by three of the world’s legendary creatives, set to music
Following the release of Colorcalm Skies, By Design brings together several of the world’s most creative designers and musicians. Inspired by the idea of finding new uses for the television, these legendary designers have created ambient design to add atmosphere to your home. Featured are Art Barcodes by Irma Boom with music by Michael Nyman, Food Coloring by John Maeda with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Colour Wheel by Peter Saville with music by New Order/Terranova, and Blue to Red Elegia by Peter Saville with music by New Order. |
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ColorCalm Skies*
2004
ColorCalm Skies is the world’s first DVD featuring ever-changing color designed to soothe the senses. Produced in association with Pantone Inc. and Hollywood’s leading digital content studio Comchoice, ColorCalm Skies sets a new standard in the fast-growing area of ambient media and atmospheric décor. |
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Finding Eutaw and North
by WeWorkForThem, the creative duo of Michael Cina and Michael Young
2005
Finding Eutaw and North is the second DVD from the groundbreaking design firm WeWorkForThem. It includes six new videos, featuring the title video track, a 34-minute ambient architectural interpretation of the mean streets of Baltimore, Maryland. Mixed live on custom video editing software and featuring an original soundtrack, Finding Eutaw and North pioneers mesmerizing new terrain in experimental audio-video narrative. |
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Fly
Moving Images by O
2004
Fly was inspired from the artist’s childhood experiences, while being driven across Europe in a second-hand BMW by his parents on summer holidays. Between fights with his brother in the back seat the child would be fascinated by the carnage on the windscreen of his father’s car. Bugs and flies met their untimely deaths at high speed, only to be unceremoniously wiped away by the windscreen wiper. |
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Four Colours Grey
A Cinematic Digital Painting by Elliot Grey
2004
An infinite loop composed of 51 unique digital paintings. These spectacular images change color, morph, and slowly dissolve into one another. |
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Modular Moves 1*
2004
Innovative kinetic designs for the contemporary living space, influenced by geometric and organic forms prominent in modern interior design. Choose from two color palettes: cool or warm. |
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Noise Driven Ambient Audio and Visuals
by YouWorkForThem
2006
Noise Driven Ambient Audio and Visuals is a compilation of experimental noise/ambient videos created by C505 and music by KNBS. A far cry from music videos, the pieces are more analogous to experimental/abstract film and video art. C505’s aesthetic shuns the pursuit of 3D digital realism and sanitized graphic design and instead embraces the layered residue of analog distortions and glitches. Uniquely, both the sound and video are created simultaneously by C505 and KNBS, yielding a woven relationship that feels symbiotic instead of driven by one or the other. C505’s favored techniques include, video feedback loops, video flicker induction, CRT distortions created by magnetic fields, and capturing various visual and audio static from a multitude of analog sources. Over 50 minutes of content, this DVD also contains guest director work such as Associates in Science, Lew Baldwin, Day-Dream, Jonathan Turner, and WeWorkForThem. |
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Op Art 1*
2005
Black and white geometric designs created from simple shapes give a sense of spatial illusion and vibrating effects that beguile the eye. |
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Plasmaquarium
Aquarium DVD
2004
Turn any TV into a high-end aquarium with the Plasmaquarium DVD. The Plasmaquarium DVD features nine different aquariums with dozens of saltwater and freshwater fish, tropical fish, eel, and even our exclusive shark tank. This DVD replicates the look of a high-end custom aquarium. |
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Plasmavironments: Fireplace and Waterfall
2004
Turn any TV into a virtual fireplace, waterfall, or ocean view. The DVD includes a natural looking gas log fireplace, a steady loopable gas fireplace, and several ocean and waterfall scenes. |
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Spotworks*
The Evolution of Visuals, Scott Draves
2004
Five video tracks sync with electronic music by jhno, Spool, dj vordo, and mbb. Three more tracks sync with music by techno-violin sensation Kenji Williams (ABA Structure), including an original track not released elsewhere. See three unique and original styles, each with a documentary explanation. Includes looping tracks with solid backgrounds. |
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Wallflowers 1
2004
Classical floral imagery with a twist. A visual suite created from the exquisite photography of Davies+Starr. Flowers morph, mandalas bloom, and insects create elegant patterns. |
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* FLEFF Library Series |
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