"That's great...but I guess the question then is...Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise?"
Zeitwarp - Interview - Lisbon, Nov 2023
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE #1
GROOVERUNNER
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE is a series of recursive artworks including physical installation, digital/video MP4 collages, PHREAK MUSIC 'Blip-Beats' and augmented reality enabled physical art prints.
Inspired by a throwaway comment in an interview discussing the proliferation of both AI music and bot listeners on the major streaming platforms, the title of the series is a reference to Philip K Dick's 1968 sci-fi novel that became the basis of the 1982 film Bladerunner.
D.A.D.O.E.N. #2
SOUND & VISION
At the same time I was working in the the studio on a new piece for The NO$TALGIA Show that was due to be exhibited at Rare Effect #3 in Lisbon.
It was a physical installation that would become a digital collage and AR artwork. It was another adventure in the reverberations of retrofuturism and halcyonism, juxtaposing vintage technology with a cyberpunk futurist DJ - with FEEDBACK LOOP spinoffs into sound, vision and AR.
The next time I walked into the studio and looked at it, everything just fitted together. The name, the concept, the themes and the physical elements.
D.A.D.O.E.N. #3
FEEDBACK LOOPS
Once the original visual elements were assembled- and photographed - they were then used as the graphic score for a 16 bar 120bpm blip loop composition.
This audio was used in turn as the seed to remix the original visuals both as static and dynamic video images.
A total of 9 images were selected from the output of this process to form the genesis release of AR enabled Art Prints.
AUGMENTED REALITY
AR ART PRINTS
The 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise' Art Prints are available in a choice of four sizes and three editions.
Reproduced on superior quality 250gsm silk art paper, the prints are finished with gloss lamination.
Sizes start at A4 and increase all the way up to A1.
The physical prints are standalone artworks in their own right, however they can be activated in augmented reality to show the accompanying digital 'Sound & Vision' remix artwork.
They are available either through selected gallery partners & print platforms or direct in the Zeitwarp HYPERMARKET.
ADVENTURES IN AR
The audiovisual digital remix of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise #1' is featured in this YouTube video from the Zeitwarp channel.
Watch in 1080px HD to avoid compression or blurring by YouTube.
RETROFUTURISM FOR THE WIN
NEVER EXPLAIN
In common with the rest of the multi-form artworks within The NO$TALGIA Show, the conceptual subtext of DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE is an examination of transience, obsolescence, transformation and the broader implications of the Nostalgia/No$talgia phenomenon.
However, the work also focusses on the phenomenon of 'retro-fascination' within the context of the second law of thermal dynamics and its implications for an 'only forwards' Universe.
How do halcyonism and futurism co-exist and cooperate within a turbulent present and an entropic future? Is the appeal of the past an enabler of a macro form of arrested development with implications on culture, society, economics, climate and politics?
Superficially the images - and the entire series itself - is a commentary on the proliferation of both AI music production and bot listening within the online streaming economy.
As Terry Matthew quite brilliantly summarised it in a piece for 5 Mag:
"This is the logical endgame of streamonomics: bots making music strictly and perhaps solely to be listened to by other bots. The only human interaction would be your monthly subscription fee."
