johnalsobennett-blog

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DESCENT

Brilliant digital artpiece created by Peter Burr, Mark Fingerhut with music by Forma is an executable file that performs on your PC desktop. Part music video, part demoscene production, part art history remix, and runs slickly on your computer (the GIFs above do not do it justice).

It is highly recommended to download the file for the best experience, but if you prefer you can watch a screen capture below:

In 1562, Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder completed a painting called “The Triumph Of Death”. In this panoramic landscape the sky is blotted out by black smoke; ships and dead fish litter the ocean shore; and an army of skeletons experiment with myriad death techniques. The living are badly outnumbered and the variety of fated tortures seems endless. There is little room for whimsy in this tableaux.

Over 200 years earlier, a nasty plague, commonly known as “The Black Death”, left a cruel and massive mark on European civilization, wiping out half of Europe’s total population. This was a quiet pervasion of death - an invisible pathogen carried by herds of tired rats. This plague triggered a series of social and economic upheavals with profound effects on the history of medieval Europe, guiding its survivors into the sort of self-inflicted darkness pictured by the Elder Bruegel.

Looking back at this historical trajectory, Peter Burr, Mark Fingerhut, and Forma have created a spiraling interdimensional narrative aptly titled DESCENT - a meditation on one of humanity’s blackest hours. Taking the form of a desktop application, descent.exe gives the user a brief glimpse of a world descending into darkness - an unrelenting plague indifferent to the struggles of the user. There is a silver lining, however, tucked into the software’s final sweep. An equanimous watcher, reduced to a single eye, looks on as the plague of rats that has infested your desktop destroys itself.

Link

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Listed: Forma

Marc Dwinell, formerly of Bright, founded Forma in 2010. The group has always been a trio and always played electronic instruments, but who those three people are, what they do with them, and what label they’re on has all changed. The current line-up, with John Also Bennett and George Bennett, embraces improvisational methods and even a few non-electrified instruments on the double LP Physicalist, which Kranky released in 2016 (Dusted review here). Given the narrative flow of the record’s open-ended pieces, it makes sense that Forma’s list is of great movie scenes.

Keep reading

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Descent.exe

DESCENT by Peter Burr, Mark Fingerhut, and Forma

In 1562, Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder completed a painting called "The Triumph Of Death". In this panoramic landscape the sky is blotted out by black smoke; ships and dead fish litter the ocean shore; and an army of skeletons experiment with myriad death techniques. The living are badly outnumbered and the variety of fated tortures seems endless. There is little room for whimsy in this tableaux. Over 200 years earlier, a nasty plague, commonly known as "The Black Death", left a cruel and massive mark on European civilization, wiping out half of Europe’s total population. This was a quiet pervasion of death - an invisible pathogen carried by herds of tired rats. This plague triggered a series of social and economic upheavals with profound effects on the history of medieval Europe, guiding its survivors into the sort of self-inflicted darkness pictured by the Elder Bruegel. Looking back at this historical trajectory, Peter Burr, Mark Fingerhut, and Forma have created a spiraling interdimensional narrative aptly titled DESCENT - a meditation on one of humanity’s blackest hours. Taking the form of a desktop application, descent.exe gives the user a brief glimpse of a world descending into darkness - an unrelenting plague indifferent to the struggles of the user. There is a silver lining, however, tucked into the software’s final sweep. An equanimous watcher, reduced to a single eye, looks on as the plague of rats that has infested your desktop destroys itself.

This video is a recording of descent.exe running alongside Fingerhut's deepdesktop.exe.

DOWNLOAD DESCENT.EXE (PC ONLY)

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Disquiet Vol. 1

I contributed a collaboration with Christina Vantzou to this benefit compilation put together by Keith Kenneth (Helios) and his wife Hollie. Other contributors include Ryuchi Sakamoto, Loscil, Windy and Carl, Jefre-Cantu Ledesma, Liz Harris, Deru and so many more. 100% of proceeds go to non-profits that support the environment, investigative journalism, women and minorities. Digital available for preorder now, vinyl and CD coming soon via Western Vinyl. 

More info here. Bandcamp and soundcloud below. 

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peter burr (animation) and i (music, sound design) made a cartoon for adult swim’s ‘Off the Air’ “words” episode. starts around 1:28 into the episode. 

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This November, Forma does a run of North American tour dates with our fellow Kranky artist Steve Hauschildt.

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made it 

Forma

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Check out my new full portfolio website over at www.johnalsobennett.com.

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PATTERN LANGUAGE | by Peter Burr | September 2016 3-Legged Dog Production / Creative Capital Award Sundance Story Lab With Mark Fingerhut, Brenna Murphy, and Porpentine Music and Sound Design by John Also Bennett Opening Reception: Sunday, September 25th 5pm - 8pm Regular Hours: Monday, September 26th - Thursday, September 29th 12pm - 5pm Studio B At 3LD Art & Technology Center 80 Greenwich Street, NYC "Pattern Language" is a term coined by architect Christopher Alexander describing the aliveness of certain human ambitions through an index of structural patterns. Some advocates of this design approach claim that ordinary people can use it to successfully solve very large, complex design problems. In this installation, Peter Burr employs the vocabulary of Alexander’s system towards the construction of an endlessly mutating death labyrinth, projecting this world inside an immersive multi-channel video environment.

http://www.3ldnyc.org/pattern-language.html

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Forma’s Physicalist is available everywhere today on 2x LP, CD and digital. The release show is tonight at Park Church Co-Op in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 

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I am premiering a new piece for piano, synthesizer and strings on August 26th, 2016 @ my loft in NYC, The Schoolhouse (330 Ellery Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn). Also performing are Laraaji, Leo Svrisky, Britton Powell, Energy Star and our friends RVNG Intl. taking care of music selections between pieces. Sure to be a wonderful evening.  

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forma - physicalist from 'physicalist', out september 23rd 2016 on kranky ltd

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forma - improvisation for flute and piano

from ‘physicalist’, out september 23rd 2016 on kranky ltd

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video: john also bennett

for looping installation along side two to three pulse laser holograms

filmed in brussels, belgium with a phantom high-speed camera

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Here’s a mix I made with Christina Vantzou. I arranged and performed synthesizers for her new record No. 3. Fact Magazine says our mix is one of the week’s best.

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Playing synthesizers with Christina Vantzou's orchestra in Belgium in April 2015. I'll return to Belgium in August for a performance at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

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Some very nice gifs from Cave Exits, which features original John Also Bennett music and sound design.