| |
Bush's 'trail' functions as an associative
thread. In his era, the idea of interconnecting ideas within a machine
which could be shared across a network with others interested in similar
ideas, or trails of subject matter, was an unrealized, but desirable
potential. Circa 2003, to a large extent the Web-and-PC duality serve
this purpose. But not to an entirely satisfactory end - otherwise
postmodern tendencies would cease to attempt to force together things
of seemingly disparate meaning (or at least to personalize) in order
to cull a new conversation between elements somehow inter-connected
via previously unseen themes. |
|
| |
The mash-ups, or the practice of pairing
elements of a song or entire songs together to create a third 'new
song', prove this point. Ideas exist in community, and postmodern
human beings find themselves regularly fiddling with objects which
typically seem fixed or static in order to make them fluid again.
Mash-ups in and of themselves are audio art objects generated as response
to a current trend whose ambition is to make 'bastard pop', rather
than compelling, enduring work of 'high-theoretical' importance. But
the intention and drive which motivates this process stems from a
higher critical view which observes the pattern versus the sequence
- which takes a static object's parts and foresees their interplay
within a larger continuous whole which can be edited, remixed, annotated... |
|
| |
Sitting in a chair with a pair of headphones,
listening to a collection of mash-ups maintains a finite trajectory
of interest. Passive interactivity is also not interesting - checking
a box and clicking "render" and getting the same or very
similar results as everyone else dampens excitement about engaging
in so-called interactive interfaces. Active-response artwork and web
interface interaction, coupled with an impetus to personalize and
create trails, is far more compelling and enduring; communal, personalized,
yet public trails offer an opportunity for fascinating responses.
But the key underlying element still must be a process which causes
a shift in perception thus affecting how the mind responds to itself
and to its own individualized trails of associative patterning. |
|
