Unknown Alphabets - Gif

Been considering using the humble gif as the format for my final alphabet.  I can think of nothing more suited to the concepts of internet culture, memetics and repetition then a Gif.  The one below interests me in particular as it acts as a really nice metaphor for the spreading of ideas.  (Source: iwwo, via my-tumblrisbetterthanyours, via http://ultrazapping.tumblr.com/)  -

Graphic Design Memes

I have been considering the function of memetics in contemporary graphic design as part of my on going secret alphabets project.  Trends, like the memes I have previously studied for this project, show the spread of ideas from designer to designer, as certain aesthetics are seen on blogs, emulated and mutated in the work of designers whos work is then fed back into the blogs sphere to further perpetuate the memes growth.


In response to this I have been trawling a selection of design blogs recording some of the most prolific trends, upon which I intend to base my alphabet.  The following blogs have been the basis for my research -


http://www.manystuff.org/?cat=1

http://graphic-porn.com/

http://www.qubik.com/zr/

http://www.lanciatrendvisions.com/en/trend-wall

http://ultrazapping.tumblr.com/

http://www.buamai.com/image/tag/graphic-design

http://reform.lt/

http://www.baubauhaus.com/graphic-design/page/1

Some sounds for SIP - London Oversound

The first few sound sample recordings I made for my sound art self initiated project are on Soundcloud and can be found here - http://soundcloud.com/you/sets

Not all uploaded yet, but all images, videos and samples for the project have been made and passed on to my collaborators..  Very excited to hear the results! STill not sure of that title though.

Secret Alphabets Research - Witch house

I have sort of gone back to the drawing board with this project lately, after my attempts at growing bacteria yielded interesting yet ultimately unsuitable results. 
Since then I have been reconsidering the topic of memetics and looking for other examples upon which to base my alphabet.  


I started thinking more about other internet based memes, aside from those of the humorous kind, the majority of which have either proved too juvenile, obscure or complex to form a decent basis for a writing system and as such I started looking at the culture of Witch House, a musical genre which was born and almost entirely sustained via a network of internet blogs, forums and myspace pages.  


As a genre title Witch House is in its self something of a meme, as explained in this interview with Travis Egedy of the group Pictureplane - "Different people started posting about it on blogs, and it sort of became an internet meme. And someone attached the name witch house to the sounds that bands like Salem were making—the slowed down, spooky, Goth juke kind of stuff." "...But, at the time, when I said witch house, it didn’t even really exist...".


Despite coming under criticism as a loose and poorly defined genre, there is a unified asthetic of typographic and visual trends that have become intrinsically linked to the genre, in particular, the use of obscure keyboard symbols as band names, e.g;  †‡†, †▲βU∩∩Y▲† and GL▲SS †33†H.  As the genre title might suggest, these aesthetics are all linked to themes of the occult and have also inspired a slew of beautifully LO FI videos and animated giffs from fans and musicians a like, some favorites I have posted below

Despite only really gaining recognition fairly recently, this genre is now (by internet standards at least) old news and the buzz around it has dissipated, its attempts at exclusivity and uber underground aesthetic the source of a fair amount of ridicule.  What really interests me about all this however, is that this genre is a perfect example of memetics working to produce something artistic and creative and perhaps most importantly, the use of typography as a meme.

Call to prayer - Self initiated project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnjY0AO1gI

Very much hoping to capture some sounds like this from the mosque on Kingsland road for my project. Beautiful and unusual.

Psychogeography Sound Map - Self Initiated Project research

http://www.ryanraffa.com/parsons/blog/883/psychogeographic-maps-sound-prototype-1/

Another interesting piece of work concerning sound and mapping.  This project is very closely related to my own, in that it incorporates is based on the concepts of psychogeography and uses the recorded data of a journey to compose music.  Very nice though a little too avant garde for easy listening.

London Orbital - Self initiated project research

As a child enduring torturously long car journeys to visit my father, I would contemplate the dismal scenery of the motorways and fields our journey traversed with a sense of suspended animation. The relentless repetition of identical features - fledgling trees in there plastic supports, grey concrete overpasses, the rhythmic flitting of the of the central barrier, amount to a kind of purgatory, a never-ending slide show of mundane images, like the moving backgrounds of a cartoon chase scene, passing the same house again and again and again.


Its no wonder then, that I would resort to playing mind games, where an imagined character would run along side our car, effortlessly leaping over obstructions, jumping from bonnet to bonnet or perhaps a lazer beam, stretching far into the distance and slicing everything we passed in twain.  More often still these games were an effort to distract myself from the travel sickness that dogged these early journeys.


This desire to discover narrative in the bleak expanses of man-made traveling systems is at the heart of Iain Sinclair's book and Chris Petit's film of the same name; London Orbital, an exploration of the M25 that not only succeeds in capturing the road in all its banal glory but in revealing a multitude of unexpectedly related themes.  To watch a preview, please visit the link below - 


http://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/filmstobuy/category/6/product/8/london_orbital.html 

This is a fascinating piece of work and undoubtably related to my current project, in that it deals with the atmospheres and themes of traveling in a space that is essentially a means to an end - the road.  Much as with the train track, these places are not designed to entertain us.  They are functional, practical testaments to the demands of our society.  Yet anyone who has spent any time on a motorway or the train, will recognise that these journeys are not devoid of thought, indeed for many they are times of reflection and meditation and it is this aspect of road travel that London Orbital so brilliantly, if at times unsettlingly records.