research in motion: utopian & scientific
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
1/64
1Research in Motion
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
2/64
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
3/64
Research In Motion
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
4/64
I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see
nothing of America other than the coyote
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
5/64
CONTENTS:
I. Coyotes Magick ...................... (7)
II. Coyotes Gift ............................15
III. RIM R&D ...............................21
IV. Fossils Catalog ........................44
V. ig surfaces .............................52
VI. Coping w/the urban
Coyote in L.A. County ...........56
................................................62
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
6/64
Coyote, Trickster-Transformer ...
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
7/64
I. Coyotes Magick
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
8/64
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
9/64
9Research in Motion
1. Coyote cohabits with woman before war party.
2. Coyote wishes to go on warpath alone.
3. Coyote discourages his followers from accompanying him on warpath.
4. Coyote kills buffalo.
5. Coyote makes his right arm ght his left.
6. Coyote borrows two children from his younger brother.
7. Children die because Coyote breaks rules.
8. Father of children pursues Coyote9. Coyote swims in ocean inquiring where shore is.
10. Coyote chases sh.
11. Coyote mimics man pointing.
12. Dancing ducks and talking anus.
13. Foxes eat roasted ducks.
14. Coyote burns anus and eats
15. Penis placed in box.
16. Penis sent across water.17. Coyote carried by giant bird.
18. Women rescue Coyote.
19. Coyote and companions decide where to live
20. Changed into woman, Coyote marries chiefs son.
21. Last child of union cries and is pacied.
22. Coyote visits wife and son.
23. Coyote and the laxative bulb
24. Coyote falls in his own excrement.
25. Trees mislead Coyote in nding water.
26. Coyote mistakes plums reected in water for plums on tree.
27. Mothers seek plums while Coyote eats children
28. Skunk persuaded by Coyote to dig hole through hill
29. Mothers lured in hole by Coyote and eaten.
30. Tree teases Coyote, who gets held fast in fork.
31. Wolves come and eat Coyotes food under tree
32. Flies in elks skull lure Coyote, who gets caught in elks skull
33. People split elks skull off.34. Coyote changes self into deer to take revenge on hawk.
Winnebago Trickster Cycle
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
10/64
10
35. Bear lured to his death by Coyote.
36. Mink outwits Coyote and gets bear meat.
37. Coyote pursues mink in vain.
38. Chipmunk causes Coyote to lose part of his penis.
39. Discarded pieces of penis thrown into lake and turn into plants.
40. Robert Altman leads Coyote to village
41. Coyote imitates muskrat who turns ice into lily-of-the-valley roots
42. Coyote imitates snipes method of shing
43. Coyote imitates woodpeckers way of getting bear.
44. Coyote imitates pole-cat in getting deer.
45. Mink soils chiefs daughter as Coyote planned
46. Robert Altman is duped into being tied to a horses tail
47. Coyote removes obstacles on the Mississippi
48. Waterfall is forced to fall on land by Coyote.
49. Coyote eats nal meal on earth and retires to heaven.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
11/64
11Research in Motion
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
12/64
12
There was a time when people had no re. In
winter they could not warm themselves. They had
to eat their food raw. Fire was kept inside a huge
white rock that belonged to Thunder who was its
caretaker. Thunder was a fearful being. Everybody
was afraid of him. Even Bear and Mountain Lion
trembled when they heard Thunders rumbling voice.
Coyote was not afraid of Thunder. He was afraid of noth-
ing. One day, Thunder was in an angry mood and roared and rum-
bled his loudest, so that the earth trembled and all of the animals
went into hiding. Coyote decided that this was the time to get the
re away from Thunder. Coyote climbed the highest mountain on
which Thunder lived. Thunder was at home. Uncle, said Coy-
ote, let us play a game of dice. If you win, you can kill me. If I
win, you have to give me re.
Let us play, said Thunder.
They played with dice made from the gnawing teeth of
beavers and woodchucks. The beaver teeth were male dice. The
woodchuck teeth were female dice. A design was carved on one
side of these teeth. The teeth were thrown on a at rock. If thefemale teeth came up with the carved sides, they counted two
points. If the male teeth came up with the carved sides, they
counted one. If the dice came up uneven, they did not count.
there was a bundle of sticks for counting, for keeping track of the
points scored.
Now, Coyote is the trickiest fellow alive. He is the mas-
ter at cheating at all kinds of games. He continuously distractedThunder so that he could not watch what coyote was up to.
Thunder was no match for Coyote when it came to gambling.
The Uncle, The Son
& The Holy Spirit
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
13/64
13Research in Motion
Whenever Thunder took his eyes off Coyotes hands, even for
just the tiniest part of a moment, Coyote turned his dice up so that
they showed the carved sides. He turned Thunders dice up so that
they showed the blank sides. He distracted Thunder and made him
blink. Then, qucik as a ash, he took a counting stick away from
Thunders pile and added it to his own. In the end, Thunder was
completely confused. Coyote had all the counting sticks, Thunder
had none. Thunder knew that coyote had cheated but could not
prove it.
Coyote called upon all the animals to come up to the moun-
taintop to help him carry the big rock that contained the re. That
rock was huge and looked solid, but it was very fragile, as fragile
as a seashell. So all the animals prepared to carry the rock away.
Not so fast, growled Thunder. Coyote won the game and so I
give him the re. But he cheated, and for that I shall take his life.
Where is he so that I can kill him?
Now, Coyote had read Thunders mind. He had anticipatedwhat Thunder was up to. Coyote could pull the outer part of his
body off, as if it were a blanket, so he put his skin, his pelt, his tail,
his ears--all of his outside--close by Thunder, and with the inside
of his body, his vitals, moved a distance away. Then he changed his
voice so that it sounded as if it were coming not from a distance,
but from just a few feet away. Here I am, Uncle, he cried. Kill
me if you can. Thunder picked up the huge rock containing reand hurled it at what he thought was Coyote. But he only hit the
skin and fur. The rock splintered into numberless pieces. Every
animal took a little piece of the re and put it under its wing, and
they hurried all over the world, bringing re to every tribe on earth.
Coyote calmly put on his outer skin and fur again. Good-bye,
Uncle, he said to Thunder. Dont gamble. It is not what you do
best. Then he ran off.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
14/64
14
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
15/64
15Research in Motion
Coyotes Gift
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
16/64
16
OAKLAND, CA -- No longer called Research in Motion, the BlackBerry maker will
now go simply by BlackBerry. The new name reects the companys efforts to rein-
vent itself and unify its brand, said the companys chief executive Robert Altman at
an event on Wednesday where he unveiled the new product line. The ticker symbol on
Nasdaq will change to BBRY from RIMM.
Our customers use a BlackBerry, our employees work for BlackBerry, and our share-
holders are owners of BlackBerry, Mr. Altman Said.
Oakland based music technologies
start-up ilinxgroup has been do-
ing business as Research in Motion
since summer 2012. iilinxgroup CEOManny Yebs commented on the name
change: We are in the middle of ma-
jor transition and things have never
been more chaotic. Coyotes gift de-
lights us.
RIM TAKEOVER ...An Abridged History of Corporate Rebranding
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
17/64
17
One or several Coyotes
d/b/a
Ilinx Group
d/b/a
Research In Motion
Coyote in the Skin of Rim
web: www.rim.com/jobs
seeking free agents
email: [email protected]
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
18/64
18
RIM CEO Emanuel Chuzzy Yebs
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
19/64
19Research in Motion
God Is With UsE. C. Y. E. Chuzzy Yebs(rim rim rim rim rim rim)
(Refrain;) God is with us! O come, O come Emanuel!
(Refrain;) God is with us! O come, O come Emanuel!
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
20/64
20
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
21/64
21Research in Motion
Research & Development:
Utopian and Scientic
Reports from Ilinxgroup R&D I - III (dba RIM).
Research into new played space and played time.Structures and constraints from sports and games
(players), tools (instruments), models (utopian sci-
ence). 3 categories - models are tools are games
(are models) -- RIM Strange Loop. See Coy-
otes games in section I (1,2,3,4), and Coyote
Jazz at the end of II-3. These are musical tools,
and are intended to be put to use as such -- mu-
sical materialism -- between when were born
and when we die, we are transforming materials.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
22/64
22
All the new sportsSurng, Windsurng, Hang gliding -- take the
form of entering into an existing wave. Theres no longer an origin as
a starting point, but a sort of putting-into-orbit. The key thing is howto get taken up in the motion of a big wave, a column of rising air, to
get into something instead of being the origin of an effort (g. deluse).
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
23/64
23Research in Motion
Three Walking Games
materials: moving body, ground, at-
tractors, repellents
Watch Your Feet:
Rules:
- Walk a hill up and down
- Feel the pull of walking downhill
- Feel the push of walking uphill.
- Watch your feet
We know that Su nomads watch their
feet for heroically long distances as a
form of active meditation called Siyaha. Si-
yaha, up and down, up and down-- now the
oblique conditions of the slope introduce
material attractors (gravitational) into the
situation, so that the landscape begins to
play with (you)..
Wm.Burroughs
Walking on Colors:
Rules:
- Pick out all the reds on a street,
focusing only on red objectsbrick,
lights, sweaters, signs. - Shift to green,
blue, orange, yellow, etc.
- Notice how the colors begin to stand
out more sharply of their own accord.
- Walk on colors!
W.B. recalls: I was walking on yellow
when I saw a yellow amphibious jeep
near the corner of 94th Street and CentralPark West. It was called the Thing. This
reminded me of the Thing I knew in
Mexico. He was nearly seven feet tall and
had played the Thing in a horror movie of
the same name, and everybody called him
the Thing, though his name was James Ar-
ness. I hadnt thought about the Thing in
twenty years, and would not have thought
about him except walking on yellow at that
particular moment
A. Kaprows Easy:
Rules:
(dry stream bed) wetting a stone, car-
rying it downstream until dry, drop-
ping it, choosing another stone there,
wetting it, carrying it upstream until
dry, dropping it
Some walking games have a very rigid
structure, like Easy or wifried hou je
beks .walk, which includes algorithmic
commands like, one right turn, two left
turns, three right turns etc. Of course the
degree of rigidity would depend on where
the game was played. In a city grid, it is
a very measured and repetitive, a very
streamlined walk. In the forest the right
and left turns could be diagonal/oblique.
Other walking games are smoother, less
rigid, like the situationists (or Dada?)
drifting thru paris using a map of london.
With yoko onos count all of the puddles
on the street when the sky is blue, you
embody a poem and move with it. Most
of these games can be played wherever,
whenever, forever. Recommended for
exercise, active prayer, foraging, derange-
ment...
The genre of walking game becomes
prototypical of all movement games
once we abstract the walker, and
consider it as any agent in any situ-ation. The walker walks lines, and
Kandinskys Point and Line to Plane
becomes a theory of sitting, walking,
and the situation -- synthesized as
a whole. Materials needed: moving
body, ground, attractors, repellants.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
24/64
24
The everydayness of walking can
be found in the object-sculptures of
[email protected] etc, even
when were not looking at his feet.
The LINE in music, too, how are
these paths followed? The algorithmicprocedures dont seem so strange here,
keeping tempo, rhythmic consistency,
etc. The harmonic ground is the attrac-
tive force we are pulled toward, even
if we choose to jump, dance -- the
harmonic ground exists not only in
tones, of course..
//FLUX-GAME//
materials:
notecards, bell, available materials
rules:
1) x number of players write prompts
for the group on notecards.
2) notecards are stacked on a table
next to a bell.
3) game begins when the rst card is
drawn and read aloud. players respond
to prompt until the bell is rung (by
anyone at anytime as soon as they arebored), signaling the transition to the
next card.
4) game ends when all cards have
been drawn.
This is the classic card game we started
played starting with david and cooper and
taylor (following Radio Happening), butnow with others, too. It is something like
a ow of Fluxus events, any of which can
end at any point (Fluxus for Itunes), maybe
less boring because of it.
The rules are designed in such a way that
you should never be bored. If you play
by the rules, you simply ding the bell
again and again to signal your boredom.
But it can be hard to play by the rules.
Group politics might make you hesitant to
ding the bell at times. Maybe you will be
scorned by the group and maybe this will
be interesting.
Stay in the ready position. the whatever
position. stay physically active, let the
strange ow of events attract and repulse
you, and move accordingly
Example Cards:
- run away for 10 seconds as fast as
you can then run back
& d i ng! &
-5 percent loud
noises, 95 per-
cent silence
& di ng! &
-Let everyone walk
the contours of the
shadows, or lay in
the sun and die
& d iing! &
-Touch a different texture, repeat
& ding! &
-3 on winds, 3 yodeling, everyone
walking
& d ng! &
& diing &
- funeral march for a baloon
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
25/64
25Research in Motion
music pitch chasematerials: voice (any voice)
RULES:
1) together, all at once, participants try
to hum the same pitch
2) resume after breathing
multiplayer in smooth space (occupy-
ing without counting (see walking
games on wet tofu), see group theory
harmonic attraction and motion pat-terns: wobbling, leaning, the
exhaustion of breath, the miracle of
balance)
Ilinx GROUPTHEORY has already been
introduced, notably in the exible but
constant rhythms of ux-game and certain
symmetrical structures in the Coyote
myths, but here the Group becomes the
POINT (point opening into object opening
into space), our attentions owing ONLY
IN TOGETHERNESS. Now of course the
rhythms of this game could be altered in
many ways. Different breathing patterns.
Different tone-structures. The composi-
tion is already derivative of Cornelius
Cardews The Great Learning, part 7,
just as his was surely derivative of anynumber of activities he might have played
with others... The Chase! Canon form --
it is all introduced in the presence/ground
of this game.
schizophrenic's table:
sculpture in motionmaterials: table, available materials, xplayers
Rules:
1) players bring table to game site,
best if it is a place littered with loose
materials, clutter: a forest, a dump
2) without speaking, players use loosematerials to graft a sculpture atop the
table
3) sculpture is nished when it col-
lapses from its own precarity-- keep
moving until it all falls apart!
The schizophrenics table is an inter-
face for observing the play of time,action, gravity, materials.
it was a table of additions, much like
certain schizophrenics drawings, de-
scribed as overstuffed, and if nished
it was only in so far as there was no
way of adding anything more to it, the
table having become more and more
an accumulation, less and less a table
Object-object affect, harmony of parts, but
in motion -- as in music, we might discover
a nice harmony, but this is not merely
something that is, rather it is a constant
becoming, and a sustained harmony is
experienced as difference just as much as a
a shifting tonality -- durational experience
(how long does it feel?) varies, naturally--
eventually collapses.
-->>--->>>-->>>--->>>--->>>>-->>
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
26/64
26
Snake in the Grass
Materials: any musical instruments,
any number of players, prompter,
prompt cards
Rules (from Cobra Notes at 4-33.
com/scores/cobra/cobra-notes.hmtl):
There is a prompter who recognizes
calls made by members of the en-
semble. The prompter then holds up
the corresponding, color-coded cue
card for that operation, so all theensemble can see and prepare, then
gives the downbeat for it to occur. The
score lists the action for that card, and
the hand signal the ensemble member
must give to request it. Its up to the
members of the ensemble to shape and
guide the piece, and the competing
strategies give each reading a unique
form.
The play starts with the prompter
waiting for ensemble members to
raise their hands with a suggested cue.
The prompter chooses someone; the
player communicates by pointing to a
body part from the score to indicate a
certain improvisational system, with a
number of ngers raised to dene the
action to be taken within the system.
In some cases, the player also com-
municates specic players for that
cue. When everybodys on board, the
prompter lowers the card in a clear
downbeat to start the music. Its im-
mediately permitted, but not always
good taste, for any player to now
make another call. When to recognize
the next call is the discretion of the
prompter.
or ouroboros in the grass
or tail-in-the-mouth
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
27/64
27Research in Motion
MOUTH cues:
1. players not playing may come in;
players already playing stop or radi-
cally change the quality of what they
are playing
2. caller selects players to come in at
downbeat, others stop
3. those playing must stop; those not
playing must come in
4. those playing fade out while thosenot playing fade in
NOSE cues:
1. choose someone to play with, any
length, any number of times
2. chains of traded solos by pointing,anyone can start another up
3. one, two or three singular sonic oc-
currences at will
4. like duos, but once
EYE cues:
1. loud, outlandish gesture, pass to
anyone
2. to left or right with guests. player
can draft one or more to join their turn
EAR cues:
1. same group of players radically
change the music at downbeat
2. players pick substitutes who try to
play the same music
3. crescendo, decrescendo or abrupt
change as prompted
HEAD cues:
1. write down what youre playing.reproduce when called
2. a second set
3. a third; any memory number can be
recalled
PALM cues:
1. silence, as abrupt ending to the
piece
2. 5 to 10 second resolution, natural
ending; stop on nal downbeat
3. at downbeat, sustain your note anddecay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snake in the Grass is inspired by John
Zorns Cobra. Zorn has expressed his
distaste for the idea of other musicians
playing his game when hes not around, he
likes it so much. We like it too!
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
28/64
28
Dancing played
time, played
space
Becoming-Coyote:
In Coyote Motion-traditions there is a
tendency to assert that performers are
not merely playing a part but in someprofound sense embody the characters
they represent (coyote, chaos, yebs,
etc) -- so it is in dancing, becoming
motion, wind (see deluses sports),
Thunder (see I.4)-- Dance is the rst
walking game that plays the push/leap
of upward gravitational struggle as
attractor.
For making maps
(choreographies):
When Becoming Coyote, the dancer
is the choreographer, there is no
design, only play. When we dance
with chaos, we dip our feet in black
paint so traces of each movement are
recorded on the oor.
This is rst-take playing -- Thelo-
nius Monk knew it was a mistake
to do it any other way. Why repeat?
The rst-take is the only take (if
repeated, its another rst-take).
First take playings of TIME whenrecorded (with paint, tape, code, etc.)
are archived as spaces -- the spaces are
playings as much as they are objects --
there is no real distinction between an
object and a space, paths (desire paths)
are counted-as-one, as whole objects,
and these are spaces.
dancing ducks and talking anus
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
29/64
29Research in Motion
(see Winnebago Trickster Cycle, 12)
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
30/64
30
The human spirit shakes hands with the material
Access to Tools
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
31/64
31Resear
ch in Motion
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
32/64
32
Ilinx for iTunes
iTunes is as playable as any other mu-
sical instrument. In durational (experi-
enced) time, musicians playing iTunes
have innitely permutable variables
at their disposal (in extensive space,
nite-- volume, timeline progress,forward/back skip) in the same way a
pianist has the variables of the black
and white keys, tuning, pedals at their
disposal (a nite set which becomes
innite in play). Rapidly skipping
through a sequence of mp3s, scrub-
bing around an mp3, constantly adjust-
ing the volume of an mp3 are musicalmovements.
You can tickle a mouse just like you
can tickle the ivories. the human spirit
shaking hands with the material...
when you play iTunes, you touch
recorded music. you engage with thematerial of digital music in the way
action painting or text cutups engage
with the material of their medium. You
inject your moment into the play of
the material, transforming it with each
successive click, slide, skip.
Game: Try an iTunes soundclash (2+
players playing itunes in response to
one another (LISTENING), constantly
tweaking variables). Click around.
Listen to new forms emerge from
familiar materials.
The cut-up technique was always divorced
from presence in time, cutting words, it
played out in virtual space, its material
time-structures were subservient to virtual
rhythms of reading and the preparatory
space-building of cutting. With itunes as
space, there is no longer the necessary rit-
ual of building so it has become fetishized
as libraries grow and grow, seeking
smoothness in sheer mass and heteroge-neity as opposed to touch-- at the same
time it is possible and obvious to to allow
the dwelling or playing impulse, Coyotes
Magick, Love and the Will, to take control,
to ow, the recording-object played as a
space-- and here the rhythms are predomi-
nantly actual/material. Simple -- the itunes
scroll bar is a 1-dimensional walking game
-- drift, cut, dft, cut, all of this now -- weneed not wait for the virtuality to unfold in
the N-D soundspaces (as we would need
to wait in the cut-up technique) which
are immediately transformed into shifting
possibility spaces built of hard cuts and the
smooth relationships sensed between and
across seams.
Live Demo
How to use Ableton Live for free:
Download the free trial version of
Live from the Ableton website. You
will have 30 days with full function-
ality. After that period, the save and
export functions will be disabled.
Dont bother registering, Keep Play-
ing. Improvise, play, record nothing.
Sample, sequence, record nothing.
Write complete songs though you
cant save, the world will never hear
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
33/64
33Research in Motion
them. Record nothing. Keep playing.
Record nothing. Recording nothing is
a gift TO Coyote -- coyote gives gifts,
but the fact is that of all of the best
music that has ever been played in the
history of the world (gifts), none of ithas been recorded. This is just how
it is, music moves.
If at some point, you feel the need to
record, download Soundower for
free, and you can record audio from
any output source on your computer,
including Ableton Live. Welcome toyour free recording studio! Remember,
though, to keep giving (receiving)
gifts -- stop recording.
The Ableton demo should really cost more
than the paid edition because it fully frees
the gift of Coyotes magick in time. You
cant save! and we would pay even more if
you couldnt undo either. Anyway, its free.Of course, there are other ways of getting
the non-demo for free, but if you have a
choice anyway, why would you choose the
version thats less valuable?
SAMPLEMACHINE
An album and an archival project
and an instrument. SM collects mp3
trimmings (acapellas, solos, break-
beats, and other thin waveforms) into
an itunes playlist, transforming your
itunes interface (or any other tools
you might get your paws on) into a
sampler. ideal for group improvisation,as thin textures are masters of playing
well with others.
This is available in the fossils catalog,
but you can make one, too. Heres
the thing -- you want to nd samples
with thin textures, as modules. Thick
samples sound very good, sure, but
it is more difcult to improvise with
them in a group (see Group Theory)
-- even yourself, you are a group, you
are not an individual (I cant makeup my mind), these modules, the
samplemachine characters, are play-
ers (because all objects are spaces,
all spaces are playspaces, and all
playspaces are players), and the thin
texture is a good listener, a deep
listener, an improviser, samplemachine
has studied pauline olives methods,and just as playing means nothing
without listening, listening means
nothing without playing.
SM is available at ilinxgroup.bandcamp.
com. please get in touch ilinxgroup@
gmail.com if you would like to contribute
material to this project.
Infinite Sketchpad
As with the walking games, the
materials needed for this are not so
xed in place. The table could be a
paper, an event, what else? Weve all
doodled on a paper until there was
no more free space. Of course, with
Tom Liebers game Innite Sketchpad
which is an empty space / tabula rasa
(blank table) of Mandelbrots scaling
fractal geometry, the schizophrenics
table is no longer playable. What is
full can be zoomed into to become
a space or a mere fence, or zoomed
out of to become a point. This actual-izes an intuition that can be felt in all
situations -- that the blank table is an
object, a space, the lled in space
just as much a space -- keep playing
until the material plays back.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
34/64
34
Models / Chaoskampf
Chaoskampf: struggle against Chaos
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
35/64
35Research in Motion
Prophecy, c. 1996: The art form of
the next century is being born right
now. It will be a fusion of the great
arts of the 20th century: Jazz, Cinema,
and Programming. - from composer/improviser/VR pioneer/moondust
designer Jaron Lanier
Lanier was onto something -- from his
prophecy, a gift, a plan of study:
(1) PLAYSPACES (music) -- chaos,
improvisation ensembles, dynamics,
objects, instruments, senses of possi-
bility, conditions, variability. Critical
improvisation studies -- this is play
theory, game theory for playspaces,
videogames, jazz.
(2) PICTURE-OBJECTS (in motion)
-- movies, like Lanier says, but more
-- even the xed-picture object is INMOTION -- movies from painting
from drawing, from point to line to
plane -- theories of visual affects, of
visual music.
(3) ALGORITHMS -- chaoskampf
(the struggle against chaos) -- models,
automations, of motion, change, inor-ganic play, shifting possibility spaces.
Here -- fractal algorithms, recursion,
smooth dimensionality. No one re-
ally got excited about the Julia Sets
until they were visualized, thanks to
programming, computers, all of that.
Mandelbrot smashed them together
somehow, got his smooth Mandelbrotset... smooth assemblage, something
new here.
Fluid Playspaces Research Group
Theory
Greek , khaos -- referring to
the primordial state before creation,
strictly combining two separate no-tions of primordial waters or a primor-
dial darkness from which a new order
emerges and a primordial state as a
merging of opposites, such as heaven
and earth, which must be separated
by a creator deity in an act of cos-
mogony. In both cases, chaos refers to
a notion of a primordial state containsthe cosmos in potentia -- (see Shifting
Possibility Spaces)
DeLandas picture of the cosmic
genesis of spatial structure (primor-
dial state, ontological BwO) follows:
a relatively undifferentiated and
continuous topological space under-going discontinuous transitions and
progressively acquiring detail until it
condenses into the measurable and di-
visible metric space which we inhabit
(see Group Theory, see Cosmologies)
the actualization of the virtual.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
36/64
36
Nietzsches Zarathustra asks do we
still have chaos in us? And chaos
theorists ask do we still have order in
chaos? Which is the more interesting
question?
Regardless, , chaos .. all of this is
walking games and strange attractors
(see maps below),
there is research to
be done, musical
chaos theory and
analysis of improvi-sation conditions as
attractive surfaces,
objects, dynam-
ics-- at equilibrium
(gured bass), near-
equilibrium (bebop),
far-from equilibrium
(late coltrane). Evenequilibrium play
is play because
everything is play,
but there is a danger,
a point at which play might turn into
work (as is known to happen at too
many music schools, dizzee rascals
high school teacher is an exception
among many-- inspired him to make
the I Luv U beat -- there are teachers
to love, these are coyotes), and this
happens internally when the present
is divorced from NOW and we begin
to live in virtual time (see Cognitive
Models) -- the beginning of this is the
sense of possibility, which opens and
is expansive and forward-looking (tovirtual future), but when we system-
atize our senses of possibility, pos-
sibility spaces are constructed, and
if these do not shift there is a danger
of feeling constraints as actual (now)
when in fact theyre only virtual, and
living our lives accordingly, as maya
controlling lila, simulation controlling
ilinx.
In any case, the new constants of
chaos, like attractors, topologicalinvariants -- these are safer for our
purposes.
Cosmologies
The theory of everything thatscientists search for is the theory of
play. They have found that there are
no players and no playspaces, but only
play. Meister Eckhart wrote:
The play was played eternally before
all natures. As it is written in the
Book of Wisdom, Prior to creatures,in the eternal now, I have played be-
fore the Father in an eternal stillness.
The Son has eternally been playing
before the Father as the Father has
before the Son [& The Uncle]. The
playing of the twain is the Holy Ghost
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
37/64
37Research in Motion
in whom they both disport themselves
and he disports himself in both. Sport
and players are the same -- their nature
proceeding in itself.
The cosmological models are the mostinteresting, and insane, and the tools
put to use in their service-- the set of
all possible geometries, the set of all
possible spaces possible worlds --
walking games in these, drifts. Math-
ematics need not be used, of course,
though it should prove useful in nd-
ing computable cosmological models(necessary, if thats the goal). But did
you never consider that the play of
material world might not be reducible
to even the most insane, expansive
mathematics? Once we resort to prob-
abilistic models, weve left behind the
locality of possibility, the here, now,
the haptics/touch of play, the transfor-mative potential (if weve erected a
possibility space in advance, how will
transformation take place?). Remem-
ber Yebs maxim we opened with,
echo of Goethes Formation, trans-
formation, / Eternal Minds eternal
recreation - we can forget about the
word play even, but the ows, drifts,
transforms -- do not forget the feel of
these, if you have forgotten, Coyote is
like an uncle who you would ask for
money from, and if you visit this uncle
only when you need money, he might
think you an opportunist, and you
might not get your money, but if you
visit this uncle because you love him,
maybe you will get money -- well, soit is with coyote, coyote is a thief and
he has many riches to share, riches
of morphs, transformations -- and the
gifts he gives are truly graces and we
cannot expect or not expect, but when
we visit him often, the gifts are more
likely to ow (see Game Theory and
the Gift Economy).
An Alternate History
of Playing
An alternate history of play looks
to cosmologies such as these, it is
atheistic insofar as it does not believe
that game design (choreography)
exists, only playing, there is no top-
down, only bottom-up, play (though,
the top-down can exist virtually, of
course-- there is maya, illusion, even
here). The sanskrit word Lila describes
any kind of playing, which is -- divine
playing. Coomaraswamy has writ-
ten on the concept, in Lila, which
John Cage liked, trickster-coyote, his
Sonatas and Interludes are responses
to Coomaraswamys (or Santayanas?)studies of the heroic moods, affects
-- we can trace a network from here
through Eckharts played Trinity, past
Heraclitus ux-ontology, everything
is change, Epicurus tactical pleasure
principles through Lucretius, up to
Deluse, via his canon -- Lovecrafts
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath(jump to A Voyage to Arcturus
from here, all text as music, music as
the form that plays in time), Henry
Millers perverse erotics and mysti-
cism (via coyote/deluz3s anuses),
anarchisms never work (and from
this Situationist propaganda, Con-
stants top-down dream of the NewBabylon), Nietzsches new game
-- a child becoming a dancing star.. All
of this is cosmological when insane
(future-virtual), and eternal when
present, sane (now-actual).. We can
attempt to think the cosmic time-scale,
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
38/64
38
the NOW of galaxies forming, of
our own solar system, and earth, and
from here the geological time-scale,
and we can attempt to think these
thoughts humanistically, the NOW
of humans, but we are not humans --remember, coyote was the rst human,
and coyote the son existed prior to that
still (see Eckharts strange loop).
Karen Pohn has written some very
good things on cosmological history
of play at cosmicplay.net
Simulation & Ilinx
Roger Caillois book Man, Play &
Games introduces the ilinx concept
along with its complement mimicry
or simulation (see Winnebago Trick-
ster cycle, 11, 41-44). Here, Ilinx is
dizzyness, vertigo, mimicry is story-
telling, make-believe, mimesis, sta-
tionary Realism (science). Ian Bogost
has called out simulation fever, the
simulation fetish, the simulation must
be realistic. The simulation will
never be realistic -- only REAL. All
simulations are real. All models are
real. Simulation as mimesis is boring--what does it even mean? So, Caillois
pairing of simulation and ilinx which
was the duo of the mask and the dance
offers a way forward from here, where
the mask becomes real (as in certain
Lila-dances where Shiva (Coyote) be-
comes the dancer, the dancer becom-
ing coyote), and the realism is as realas all waves, wind, thunder, ski slopes
(oblique strategies), and on and on
-- the movement is the now of actual
becoming, ux, ilinx-realism.
Shifting Possibility
Spaces (SPS)
Everything! This is a concept meant
to replace the xed possibility space
model as a more Realistic formal mod-
el of playspaces. Of course possibility
is not xed. Even when the material
space can be dened by topologi-
cal invariants, we fold around these.
Even if the space is so brittle that it
cant be folded, we push-- maybe we
break, maybe we mold, maybe weare pressed, maybe we walk away
(into a new space, new connections
are always being formed) -- at any
moment our own sense of possibil-
ity has shifted from the last moment.
Now, when the sense of possibility is
felt as xed, this is an illusion, but it
feels real and it is the experience ofboredom and following this, depres-
sion. SPS is not only a model of the
sense of possibility (see Cognitive
Models), but also what is and could
continue to be implemented as the
actuality of material structures (see
Flux Game). Following Deluses love
of Alice in Wonderland, croquet withamingos, from Eckhart-- all game
pieces are sports are players, and all of
these move.
Game Theory in the
Gift Economy
People (pirates) have called the infor-
mation cyberzone/highway the gift
economy (information wants to be
free), and this is moving toward the
gift economy of players and play-
spaces (as players -- coyotes gifts),
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
39/64
39Research in Motion
but whats maybe more interesting still
is Lewis Hydes model of gifts that
can take all of these forms and more --
the material forms of money, objects,
information channels, but also the vir-
tual-affective ows of love, the playedform of creativity, the info-economy
in all of its material/virtual guises. As
Hyde describes it, the gift economy
is endlessly owing -- gifts come in,
gifts go out. The gift says: whoever
gives me away helps me the most.
This process might happen over all
kinds of time scales-- the time-scale ofplaying in playspaces is local to here,
now and a plays loosely in short-term
memory. Information, of course, can
ow, too. Game theory, which is the
theory of rational decision-making
(optimal play before good /evil), has
little relevance to playspaces hon-
oring the here, now of short-termmemory, bottom-up construction, and
the creative gift. What is needed is a
new game theory, still economic, but
unoptimized, based on improvisations
of afnity groups (affects) (organic
and inorganic), circular (periodic)
ows, loops (strange and otherwise),
creativity in far-from equilibrium con-
ditions (beyond good/evil), material-
ism and magick (see Section 1). The
Ouroboros is a good starting model for
the gift ow, for an abundance-based
ontological anarchism & game theory.
GROUPTHEORYThere are many kinds of symmetry
(groups).
A reected image has bilateral sym-
metry
The Isle of Mans symbol of three run-
ning legs and the swastika both have
rotational symmetry.
Simple fractals have scalar symmetry.
-
7/27/2019 Research in Motion: Utopian & Scientific
40/64
40
M.C. Eschers morph-art transforms
through shifting symmetry spaces.
Musically, these symmetries all have
textural-harmonic implications (see
John Whitneys visual harmonies).
Harmony is not concerned only withtones, but with all musical objects and
ows and their relations.
ILINX GROUPTHEORY research in
MUSICAL SYMMETRIES between
tones, between rhythms, between tracks,
between instruments, between forms,
between genres, between materials, be-
tween players, between conversations (seeRobert Altman) between spaces; in motion,
BETWEEN SYMMETRIES symmetries
forming, breaking, collapsing, stretching,
smearing, folding, dissolving, becoming
Topology
FOL s t ret chi n g tw
ti >pressing