Roads leading to a-pam ...

The "Maps for disorientation" call issued by "web-side 1.0" attracted our attention immediately as it fitted in so well with our interests and lines of research and work. We shall therefore make a brief description of the works we carried out previously which revolve around these concepts. Because we see no difference between a-pam(del nas) and those projects, but rather the continuation of an evolving line of research which we have been pursuing for some time. In a certain way they form part of the same global project.

Thus, in the following section we shall briefly describe some of TAG's works, highlighting the concepts they share in common with the a-pam(del nas) project.

VAT - Visualitzador d'Arbre de Textos (Text tree viewer) (2003)

Structure created by the VAT v.5.0 from a forum which we use as an example.

The VAT shares with a-pam(del nas) the fact that it is a system of viewing a non-linear structure by way of a "map" or "network of connections". In this case it is a method of viewing the structure of a ramified text, such as that of a Forum with different lines of conversation.

Here the intention is, to a certain extent, the contrary to that of a-pam(del nas). The VAT sets out to show the structure of a conversation in a more or less clear (and thus "orientational") fashion. To do so, it uses various strategies to prevent the graphic representation from becoming too complicated. Even so, in its current version some superimpositions are still generated, depending on the structure.

To understand how a-pam(del nas) works, it may prove useful to see the results of previous versions in the VAT's development in which representation of the structure was determined by a higher degree of randomness.

Structure created by the VAT v.2.0 from the same forum as we used in the example with the VAT v.5.0.

Structure created by the VAT v.2.0 from the same forum, instructing it to recalculate.

Structure created by the VAT v.2.0 from the same forum, instructing it to recalculate again.

Two things are interesting to note. First, the difference between the representation of the same Forum offered by the VAT v. 2.0 and the VAT v. 5.0. This tells us that not only the graphics decisions but also the optimization mechanisms are important. The second observation involves the differences in the three representations of the VAT v. 2.0 that we have reproduced. The structure of nodes and links is always the same, but the variability in its representation is extremely high. This is so because random factors intervene in, for example, node position, ramification angles, the distance between nodes at any given moment and so on. The structure generated by the VAT v. 2.0 is too unclear, its variability indicates that it is supplying little information about the nature of the structure under study. This leads the user to desist in "getting into it", in trying to understand it.

For a-pam(del nas) we wanted to take advantage of the potential observed in the line of tension between the VAT v. 2.0 and VAT v. 5.0. We chose a strategy similar to the VAT v. 5.0 to offer users the possibility of "getting into the map" and browsing with a certain degree of clarity at a local level. However, the greater the distance that separates the nodes from the user's position, the more the representation strategy resembles that of the VAT v. 2.0.

The VAT is a system which uses the data from a discussion Forum created with PHP and MySQL. On the basis of this data it generates a bit-map graphic representing the structure of the Forum conversations..

The VAT operates using Mozilla 1.0 or Netscape 7.0 or higher (not IExplorer). An example of the VAT in operation may be found at:

www.enlloc.org/php/vat/ [information regarding VAT development]

www.enlloc.org/php/vat/visual5/visual_query.php?vat=d [structure generated by the VAT v.5.0 from an example forum]

www.enlloc.org/php/vat/visual2/visual_query.php [structure generated by the VAT v.2.0 from the same example forum. Use the browser's "refresh" facility to force the system to revise the representation and provide variations]

Tol tol tol - Dynamic maze (1998)

Views of the outside and from the inside of the "tol tol tol" maze, respectively.

We called this project a "dynamic maze", a classification we could also apply to the structure generated by a-pam(del nas). However, instead of using "external" data (from the www in the case of a-pam(del nas)) "tol tol tol" has its own "laws" which bring about the changes in the maze's configuration. The maze is made up of a number of modules enclosed in an octagonal grid with three co-ordinated axes. Each position on the grid is assigned a colour (which the module occupying it acquires) and certain musical co-ordinates. The aforementioned laws related to the distances between notes regulate a system which creates a melody indicating the route to be followed. If the user fails to follow the path indicated (i.e. does not go to the module corresponding to the next note) the configuration of the maze is changed (the modules change position within the grid).

The user's viewpoint is local and he or she must make suppositions about which route to follow. This focus from subjective experience is also to be found with a-pam(del nas).

"Tol tol tol" was developed as a three-dimensional environment generated in real time using the VRML language for the geometry and javaScript and Java for the behavioural programming. The MIDI code is employed to generate sound.

This project won the "Barcelona Möbius 1999" prize.

You must have the Cosmo Player plug-in installed on Netscape for "tol tol tol" to operate. You can download the VRML file and read documentation on the project at:

www.enlloc.org/tol

Urban drifts

En el nostre interés per explorar des del punt de vista de l'experiència subjectiva les estructures no-linials hem adoptat una pràctica artística utilitzada per Following our interest in exploring non-linear structures from the viewpoint of subjective experience we have adopted an artistic practice used mainly by Situationists but which has ramifications throughout the history of 20th century art (Dadaism, surrealism, Fluxus, land art and so on) and significant connections with the way Aborigine peoples understand the world.

We have adapted the Situationists proposal of urban drift and psychogeographical research to suit our interests and discovered significant points of contact between the exploration of urban structures and the act of browsing and trying to understand the complexity of computer networks.

We now realize that, surprisingly, we are not alone in this type of work and that there are numerous collectives all over the world working along similar lines.

In the following section we set out some of the experiences carried out regarding the practice of urban drifting.

Urban short cuts (1999)

An intervention involving two performers which consisted in their setting out from two separate points in a city and leaving a trail wherever they went, with the aim of trying to find each other. Neither of them knew where the other was, the only clue being the trail. In common with a-pam(del nas) as well as with most of the other projects explained here, the experience emphasised the local (subjective) viewpoint and the exploration of a non-linear structure (in this case, the city).

The project was carried out in May 1999 in the context of the 4th Ruta d'Art Jove in Premià de Mar.

Documentation on the project may be found at:

www.enlloc.org/deriva/dreceresurbanes1999

 

Drifting workshop (2002)

An activity organised in the form of a workshop. The participants were divided into groups of two people and invited to practice urban drifting in the strictest sense of the word (walking around the city absolutely aimlessly) for a certain length of time. The groups were handed one transparent sheet on which a map had been photocopied, and another which was completely blank. Each person documented the route taken on one of the sheets, without consulting the other. Finally, all the groups met up to discuss the experience compare their route records using an overhead projector.

The activity was carried out in June 2002 in the context of the 7th Ruta d'Art Jove in Premià de Mar.

The differences between subjective experiences and occurrences with respect to the act of drifting were evident. It was also interesting to contrast the differences between one type of "objective" record of the route (the one made on the map) and a "subjective" record (that made without a map). The similarities with representation systems used on the Internet based on the latter type of images were discussed at length.

A description of the experience together with reproductions of all of the maps generated may be found at:

www.enlloc.org/deriva/derivataller2002premia.htm

 

xMataró3R2003 (2003)

An urban intervention carried out by just one person. Three routes were followed. The first had an origin and a destination, and on the way from one to the other the person recorded the decisions made at each road junction (straight on, turn right or left). That sequence was subsequently applied in two other journeys in the town. Thus the first route generated an algorithm which was later applied to a different structure of streets.

This action combines the use of algorithms to explore urban non-linearity with the subjective experience of "letting yourself be taken" through the town without knowing where you will end up. In contrast to a-pam(del nas) the person doing the walking makes no decisions as to the route to be followed but, in a certain way, interprets the specific application of the algorithm and transforms the surroundings through his or her personal experience.

The project was carried out in Mataró in the context of the 2nd Mostra d'Art Jove exhibition in May 2003 and its documentation was exhibited up to early July in the Sala F of the Foment Mataroní cultural centre. Visitors were able to obtain a copy of the algorithm to apply it wherever they wished.

The intervention is documented on a website where the algorithm is also available under an open code license:

www.enlloc.org/deriva/xmataro2003

 

Desorientation Map of Premià de Mar (2003)

This map was published coinciding with the 8th Ruta d'Art Jove (May 2003) and sent by post along with the event's programme as well as being made available to visitors to the Ruta. The map originated in the AutoCAD file created by the town council's technical services department and the names of streets and squares, landmarks and buildings were changed, at the same time as elements from other towns or imaginary places from literature were introduced. The modifications were made seeking a balance which would allow the map to be used as a guide to drift through the streets losing recognisable references and then finding them again.

The idea was to offer a public service: a map which helps disorientate yourself at a time when this is becoming increasingly difficult to do. This work represents a line of continuity with activities based on urban drift and sets out to recover the act of walking as an element of symbolic transformation of space.

The coincidence with the call's title leads us to believe that there is something floating in the air that makes this type of proposal necessary. The "Disorientation Map" shares with a-pam(del nas) the fact that it accentuates the subjective experience of navigation within a non-linear structure and, instead of a conventional map, offers users an alternative which "frees" them from the bonds of orientation. It also coincides in the provision of a minimally navigable structure in which situations of disorientation or low-level orientation are produced. If the map were absolutely unnavigable the disorientation could not be produced, as users would reject it from the outset. It is when we believe we recognise elements of orientation that disorientation effectively occurs, when the imaginary model we were building fails us.

The project is documented on the following web page:

www.enlloc.org/deriva/mdpm

Wikipool (2003)

"Wikipool" is software which works over a server and facilitates simultaneous connection by various people. It is based on the idea of the 'wiki' (user-editable website), which it converts into a space for publication in mobile layers, texts or images. It may be used as a site for communication, a place for collaborative publication or as an environment for collective creation where happenings can be organised on-line.

In common with a-pam(del nas) it allows multi-user connection and shares the fact that something is being built through combined efforts. The basic difference between the two is that in the experiences with "Wikipool" all the participants see the same thing. In a-pam(del nas) the data is shared (nodes and links between them) but is presented to each participant in a different way.

"Wikipool" and a-pam(del nas) also share the use of the deep reference for remote images as a gesture in the stand in favour of this practice.

The programme uses dynamic HTML run by a MySQL database managed from PHP. It has been used in the context of co-operative net.art workshops as a system of networked collective creation.

"Wikipool" is available for use on-line (the experience can be made more interesting by having several people connected at the same time). As the access page indicates, user requirements include a browser capable of supporting DHTML layers, such as Mozilla 1.0, Netscape 7 and IExplorer 5.5 or higher.

www.enlloc.org/tallers/200305golferichs/wikipool-acces.htm

 

hMosaicoop (2002)

"hMosaicoop" is a highly decentralised cooperative net.art project. It invites participants to create a mosaic of 32x32 pixel icons and publish it on a server (each participant has to find their own means of publication). Once this is completed they can then carry out exchanges with other participating icons, one icon for another. The other people's icons will remain posted on the same page for deep reference through the URL housing the original graphic. Thus the possibility is opened for the other person to intervene in the pages where his or her icons are located and change the graphic. Each "external" icon will contain an associated link to its original page. This creates an "exhibition" network of icon compositions beneath which there exists a "social" platform of bilateral negotiations.

As in the case of a-pam(del nas) the project employs deep reference, though in "hMosaicoop" there is no "appropriation" of a third-party graphic but rather the creator of the graphic grants its use in an exchange process.

It is difficult to draw a map of the project because it is distributed over different servers and a site analyser is unable to follow the links. This can be done however with The Web Stalker which builds maps of links irrespective of the site. In fact, a-pam(del nas) could be an alternative system to browse for projects like "hMosaicoop".

Graph of hMosaicoop connections generated with The Web Stalker

The project was initiated in February 2002 and has been developed in several net.art workshops; contributors also include people who found the project through the website.

The call for participants is still open as is the request for translations into any language and the creation of "mirrors" on other servers. The project's page in "enlloc" is:

www.enlloc.org/-/hmosaicoop