SYNERGY: PANIC (weekly image corruption)
Ed Stastny
SYNERGY:PANIC
The On-Going Live Image Exchange and Manipulation
Festival of Hearts, Minds, Community and Fun
(founded January 1994)
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PANIC began as a one-time real-time image collaboration
and manipulation party, coinciding with a digital media
event called smartBOMB. The object was to, simply, take
live images from smartBOMB (a rave-style event that
took place at a nightclub in Minneapolis), send them up
to an FTP site, have participants download them from
the site, manipulate them in odd and stimulating ways,
then send them back up to the site for the world to see
(and more importantly, the denizens of smartBOMB).
Well, smartBOMB didn't go as well as anticipated, so the
participating artists of PANIC took it upon themselves
to send their own images up for manipulation. They had
so much fun that they decided to make it a weekly
social-art event to meet up on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
and talk while they up and downloaded images. Those
without IRC access still participate via FTP alone,
sending the occasional text message on top of an image
or in email to other participants.
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TO PARTICIPATE, you need only have access to FTP and
image manipulation/processing software and/or hardware.
The group meets on weekend evenings and late-nights
mainly, but the occasional spontaneous collab has, and
will be, known to happen.
YOU SHOULD have an ID# (such as "A0") to help delineate
which images you contribute. To get an ID#, merely send
email to e...@cwis.unomaha.edu requesting one. You can
obtain a current list of participants by FINGERing
e...@cwis.unomaha.edu.
UPLOADING IMAGES is simple, just FTP to:
sunsite.unc.edu
and go to the /pub/multimedia/pictures/OTIS/PANIC directory.
DOWNLOADING IMAGES is as simple, all uploads are immediately
downloadable in the same directory.
IMAGES WILL BE NAMED with the ID#'s of the participants.
You'll see a filename like "f1a0d3-smile.jpg" and know
immediately that the file has been worked on by three
people..."f1", "a0", and "d3". Whenever you manipulate
and upload a file, you should add your ID# to the left-
side of it. For example, if you manipulated the above
image, and your ID# was z9, you would name it....
z9f1a0d3-smile.jpg
WHEN YOU UPLOAD an original, or "base", image...keep the
name short (3-5 characters is nice) and be sure to put your
ID# first (example: a0-nice.jpg). If you're unable to get
an ID number from me before you participate...just use your
initials instead.
CONSULT your local net-gurus if you have questions about
FTPing and such. I'd love to help, but due to time restraints,
all I'll be able to do is send you a prefab FTP tutorial.
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OTHER FUN FACTS AND TIPS ABOUT PANIC
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WE MEET ON IRC channel #OTIS.
SOME HAVE USED VIDEO frame-grabbers to get live shots of
themselves or their environment. The fullest potential of
this "live slice of life" interaction has yet to be
realised. If you have access to such equipment, USE IT.
ANOTHER METHOD of real-time image capture has been
suggested for those without frame-grabbers...poloroids
and a scanner. Of course, this brings up a whole 'nother
set of hardware hurdles.
IMAGES CAN BE SUBMITTED all week long, not just during
the soires. Feel free to upload a pick of yourself on
Wednesday...you'll be a whole new person (if even that)
by Sunday morning.
REAL LIVE IMAGE collaboration is available via IRC by
using a Macintosh program called HOMERPAINT which allows
you to draw real-time with others on the *same canvas*.
It's still rather primitive as far as paint programs go,
but it sure is fun to scribble (albeit with a mouse) on
another's live drawing. HOMERPAINT is available via
anonymous FTP from a variety of locations.
TO SEE RESULTS of PANIC manipulation parties, please
check out the megs and megs of images in the ~/OTIS/PANIC/lastweek
directory. PANIC images are cycled out every two weeks.
Last week's images are put in ~/PANIC/lastweek for perusal
and sampling. The previous contents of "lastweek" are
deleted every week. Am I making sense?
EXQUISITE CORPSES (you draw the head, I draw the body,
she draws the legs) have been a reoccuring exercise of
the PANIC get-togethers. Come and try your hand...or foot....
or...
EVENTS ARE NOW BEING SCHEDULED to participate with and
utilise the live PANIC goings on. Art openings, raves,
concerts, poetry readings, net-gatherings etc will
soon be feeding pictures live to PANIC for corruption
and reconstitution. The brain-filters of a world of
wired-arties will make even the most secluded citizens
immortal...if only for a week. If you're planning
a net-linked event, please consider PANIC for your
eye-catering needs.
EVERYTHING NEW AND NOVEL is welcome..tried and true is
worshipped...old and tired is revived...
--
e...@sunsite.unc.edu | OTIS digital net-gallery, GIFs, JPGs, animations
PO BX 241113 | FTP: sunsite.unc.edu (/pub/multimedia/pictures/OTIS)
Omaha, NE 68124-1113 | aql.gatech.edu (/pub/OTIS)
e...@cwis.unomaha.edu | 141.214.4.135 (projects/otis)