research in motion: utopian & scientific

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    1Research in Motion

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    Research In Motion

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    I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see

    nothing of America other than the coyote

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    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

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    Coyote, Trickster-Transformer ...

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    I. Coyotes Magick

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    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

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    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.

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    11Research in Motion

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    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

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    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.

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    15Research in Motion

    Coyotes Gift

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    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

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    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]

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    18

    RIM CEO Emanuel Chuzzy Yebs

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    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!

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    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.

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    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).

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    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.

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    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

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    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.

    -->>--->>>-->>>--->>>--->>>>-->>

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    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

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    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!

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    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

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    29Research in Motion

    (see Winnebago Trickster Cycle, 12)

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    The human spirit shakes hands with the material

    Access to Tools

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    31Resear

    ch in Motion

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    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

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    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.

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    Models / Chaoskampf

    Chaoskampf: struggle against Chaos

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    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.

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    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

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    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,

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    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),

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    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.

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    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