#Susan Kozel

[stormyoceans]

human interaction was reduced to its simplest essence: touch, trust, vulnerability - susan kozel

[larryland]

A Talk by Media Theorist Susan Kozel at EMPAC

A Talk by Media Theorist Susan Kozel at EMPAC

Troy, NY — On March 29, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host media theorist Susan Kozel to discuss her research on the convergence of philosophy, dance, and media technologies. The talk, titled When Performance and Philosophy Become Design Materials: Dialogues Between Dance and Interaction Design, will start…

[eco-art-fx]

Beth Carruthers

http://bethcarruthers.com

BIO

Born and raised on Canada's wild West coast, in the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, I am a researcher, writer, educator, and multimedia artist known for my investigations into the role and transformative capacity of cultural and creative practices in human-world and interspecies relations.

I am fortunate in having had an unconventional childhood that nurtured a wide-ranging creative and intellectual life. As an adult I have focused on the transformation of relationships between a humankind caught in the inertia and legacy of exploitive industrialism, and a fierce and wildly beautiful sentient world. I have pursued my enquiry into how best to nurture cultural transformation and change through a transdisciplinary approach bridging arts, humanities, and natural and social sciences. Since 2005, I have been developing the idea of deep aesthetics, which provides a flexible framework for thinking with and through experiences and interactions with world and being, and how cultures are informed, formed, and transformed by these experiences and interactions.

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work over some years as both student and colleague with the accomplished group of scholars and researchers of an early generative centre for work on the cultural aspects of human-environment relations.  From the late 1990s until its dissolution in 2006, Lancaster University's interdisciplinary Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy became known as the "green think-tank of Europe". This affiliation provided a rich ground for the growth of my work over the past 2 decades.

I am grateful too for the wisdom and friendship of my early teachers, media artist, writer, and Governor General Award holder, Sandra Semchuk, and painter Geoff Rees, whose work graced the first Rio Summit on climate change; also, my graduate advisors at Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts + Technology, and at Lancaster's IEPPP: Merleau-Ponty scholars Dr. Susan Kozel, and Dr. Isis Brook.

​

My appreciation for the generous sharing and teachings of Coast Salish and Cree friends, colleagues, and communities over the years is great; they have helped better situate me in, and deepen my knowledge of this place and it's cultures, alongside my love of it.

[term2year2letsrumble]

a bunch of new sources

1.  Art, technology and consciousness - mind@large.       Author(s): Ascott, Roy.       Published by: Intellect Books, , 204p, ill, 24cm.       Copyright year: 2000       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=26479       Items:         *  AUB Library M (709.04 ASC) 032530       -----------------------------------------------------------------     2.  Sensorium - embodied experience, technology, and contemporary       art.       Author(s): Jones, Caroline A. ;       Published by: MIT, , 268 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.       Copyright year: 2006       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=12043       Items:         *  AUB Library M (709.05 JON) D00631       -----------------------------------------------------------------     3.  Art & today.       Author(s): Heartney, Eleanor. ;       Published by: Phaidon, , 440 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm.       Copyright year: 2008       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=13543       Items:         *  AUB Library M (709.04 HEA) F00794       -----------------------------------------------------------------     4.  Closer : performance, technologies, phenomenology.       Author(s): Kozel, Susan. ;       Published by: MIT, , 355p. ; 23 cm. (hbk).       Copyright year: 2007       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=10970       Items:         *  AUB Library M (792.04 KOZ) D02786       -----------------------------------------------------------------     5.  The gendered cyborg : a reader.       Author(s): Kirkup, Gill. ;       Published by: Routledge in association with the Open University, ,       1 online resource (348 pages) : illustrations.       URL:       https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/aib/detail.action?docID=1397045       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=51219       Items:         *  AUB Library M       -----------------------------------------------------------------     6.  Algorithmic life : calculative devices in the age of big data.       Author(s): Amoore, Louise ; Piotukh, Volha -- Role: editor of       compilation.       Published by: Routledge, , xii, 198 pages ; 24cm (pbk).       Copyright year: 2015       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=24556       Items:         *  AUB Library M (303.483 AMO) A11230       -----------------------------------------------------------------     7.  The prosthetic impulse : from a posthuman present to a       biocultural future.       Author(s): Morra, Joanne. ; Smith, Marquard.       Published by: MIT, , vii, 297 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. (pbk).       Copyright year: 2007       Notes : Originally published: 2006.       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=17667       Items:         *  AUB Library M (617.9 SMI) D03861       -----------------------------------------------------------------     8.  The posthuman.       Author(s): Braidotti, Rosi. ;       Published by: Polity Press, , 229 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.       Copyright year: 2013       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=26802       Items:         *  AUB Library M (306.46 BRA) F16595         *  AUB Library M (306.46 BRA) F16586       -----------------------------------------------------------------     9.  Tokyo cyberpunk : posthumanism in Japanese visual culture.       Author(s): Brown, Steven T. ;       Published by: Palgrave Macmillan, , viii, 256 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.       Copyright year: 2010       In online catalog:       https://libsearch.aub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=12935       Items:         *  AUB Library M (306.0952 BRO) F01490

[kpwearables]

Final Presentation: Touch Sensing Sweater

I initially wanted some sort of wireless data collection and purchased a Bluetooth breakout board from Adafruit. I mistakenly did not buy the sewable one and the one I did get had a lot more connections than I was anticipating. But I tried to make it work using various forums online and the ICSP (in circuit serial programming) part of the Flora. But once I made all the connections and loaded the code into Arduino and my Flora, it didn’t work.

So while the sweater is able to measure when it’s being touched on the sensors using a microcontroller, I could not collect the data wirelessly. So I chose to use my LED lights to measure when I was being touched in public spaces for user testing (instead of carrying my open computer that is connected to my sweater onto the subway).

There are four stroke sensors on the sweater. I surveyed a handful of people in my office about where they get brushed up against the most on the subway and other public places and what makes them the most uncomfortable. And I landed with sensors on the outside of either upper arm, one on the upper back, and one on the lower back (as close to the butt as possible with a sweater). The microcontroller lives in between the two sensors on the back.

The audience is people interested in exploring the relation of touch and anxiety. Not necessarily being touched, but being in crowded spaces where it’s unavoidable. The users, for the moment, are only me. Until I complete the full scope of the project and collect some initial data, I wouldn’t want to add any other users.

Because I am the user, I did a phenomenological approach to user testing/research. I used a portion of Susan Kozel’s book Closer: Performance, Technology, Phenomenology, specifically the Method section that she goes over in a video lecture she did for Stanford. She advises a mindful approach to research by calling your attention to your body and what it’s feeling ‘testing’. She says to notice what you see, hear, touch, how space feels, and how the inside of your body feels in relation to the outside. And then to take a break that can span from a moment to a year or longer before doing a ‘brain dump’ of all these things you experienced. Because I didn’t have a lot of time, I took a moment and will briefly synthesize now what I felt:

For testing I decided to take the sweater to the place that inspired me to begin this project, the subway. Because I was unable to complete the wireless data collection, I decided to have the LEDs on through battery power and just take notice of them getting brighter and duller. I felt EXTREMELY self conscious because the LEDs were very noticeable and mostly on the entire time. I kept noticing people looking at me and as a person who doesn’t like attention, I felt embarrassed. The sweater needs to be more inconspicuous because I don’t want my anxiety about people noticing the sweater to affect the outcome of HR and GSR data (which I will eventually include). Also, this wasn’t a factor when I wore the sweater because it was around rush hour and people were trying to get to work, but I wouldn’t want the sweater to make people intentionally avoid me. Another reason why I don’t want any output on the sweater like LEDs.

It’s also important to note that I don’t think the stroke sensors are working exactly as I want them to. But I think that’s because of my construction. There was only one LED that was off unless it was being touched.

I want to continue this project and eventually complete it all the way through the art installation. I need to create more prototypes altering some of the aspects of my stroke sensors and trying different forms of touch sensors (like capacitive or actual pressure ones using velostat). I’d also like to consider using small wires instead of solely soft materials. Conductive yarn and thread are awesome, but they become more difficult when you need to cross lines you’ve made.

The portion of this project that I completed this semester has really taught me how iterative this process must be. And also how important it is to have help! I need to learn more about circuitry and coding.

[miavaughan-smith]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv7Vp3NPKw4

Susan Kozel: Phenomenology - Practice based research in the arts.

Phenomenology: The reflective study of how things appear to our conscious awareness (and how the world appears to us in terms of out subjective experience). Reflecting upon our everyday experience. 

NATURAL ATTITUDE VS. PHENOMENOLOGICAL ATTITUDE

Becoming aware of the structure of out lives, exploring this rather than taking it for granted. Finding the essence of experience.

Clifford Still ‘I chose that my art be engaged in that which exalts the spirit of man.’ Showing work in groups, immersing the viewer in his large scale paintings, creating a phenomenological experience. 

The root of phenomenology is ‘phenomenon’, which is an event, or an occurrence. This is a subjective experience based methodology, expressing a return to a lived experience, anchoring abstract thoughts in the process. Can be referenced to Merleau-Ponty’s fascination with Cezanne, focussing on the relationship between the eye, the hand, and the creation of a painting (bare in mind that early phenomenologists did not ground their methodology in creative processes). Phenomenology is often used to anchor practice in research:

- Theory & practice

- Mind & body

- Solitary experience & shared experience

*Phenomenology can be used to overcome these three difficulties in creative practice*

Phenomenology is a process, it can grow with you (intuitive sense, learning through experience). Bodies are more than just ‘meat’, ideas are embodied in the body through experience. One person’s bodily experience may resonate in another. A shift of perspective needs to occur. 

[mariamitsi]

Understanding Performance

Reading a chapter in Susan’s Kozel (2007) book, it could be concluded that performance is not just about display but it is about our deepest thoughts and feelings. Performance has the power to transcend language, exploring the performer’s inner world and being affected by the outside world to act aesthetically through a dialogue of emotions between space, body and audience.

Kozel, S. 2007, Closer: Performance, Technologies, Phenomenology, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[nscdlibrary]

Closer

We’ve added another exciting new title to the library collections this week…

Closer: performance, technologies, phenomenology by Susan Kozel

Main Book Collection 700.105 KOZ

In Closer, Susan Kozel draws on live performance practice, digital technologies, and the philosophical approach of phenomenology. Trained in dance and philosophy, Kozel places the human body at the center of explorations of…

[vjsmag]

Closer: Performance, Technologies, Phenomenology - http://www.vjsmag.com/closer-performance-technologies-phenomenology/

In Closer, Susan Kozel draws on live performance practice, digital technologies, and the philosophical approach of phenomenology. Trained in dance and philosophy, Kozel places the human body at the center of explorations of interactive interfaces, responsive systems, and affective computing,... #Books

[affexity-blog-blog]

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels (2013) @ Re-New Digital Arts Festival, Copenhagen. Oct 2013 at 18:00. 

Video shot & edited: Jeannette Ginslov

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels is a project exploring affect in urban spaces. Dance improvisation and screen dance techniques for video capture and editing are the main artistic modalities. The element of Augmented Reality (AR) lets the choreographies be suspended as hidden layers of media living in physical space and on personal mobile phones. An extra dimension of archived material is added, letting AR be part time-machine part performance of memory. This artwork can be experienced individually, or as part of coordinated groups, or you can see the AR media combined with a live performance on 31 October. The AR tags are placed all around the outside the Nikolaj building. You will need the free AR browser Aurasma (download here) running on your mobile phones to access the media.

Location: Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen

Artists: Jeannette Ginslov (video, edit & concept), Susan Kozel (artistic direction & concept), Wubkje Kuindersma (live and video dance), Camilla Ryd (images & interaction design), Jacek Smolicki (sound), Daniel Spikol (technical production), Oliver Starpov (video dance).

AffeXity would like to acknowledge support from the following organisations: Malmö University, Medea, Re-New Digital Arts Festival, Det Kongelige Teater, Svenska Filminstitutet, Vetenskapsrådet, Nikolaj Konsthal and Anton Van Niekerk/Hatfield Travel for sponsoring airfare for Jeannette Ginslov. http://www.hatfieldtravel.co.za/

AffeXity is an ongoing project included in the the Living Archives research project.

See http://affexity.se/ for more info.

[affexity-blog-blog]

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels Daytime Showing 02 Nov

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels Daytime Showing 02 Nov for Re-New Digital Arts Festival

  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.647575291960956.1073741826.278531612198661&type=1&l=6bdbe2383c

Photos: Daniel Spikol

[affexity-blog-blog]

Images - AffeXity: Passages and Tunnels Nikolaj Kunsthal Oct 31, 2013 København

AffeXity: Passages and Tunnels

For all photos go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_spikol/sets/72157637184344354/

Nikolaj Kunsthal Oct 31, 2013 København Exposing somatic and affective layers of our urban spaces through dance improvisation and screendance.  With: Susan Kozel (artistic direction & concept), Jeannette Ginslov (video, effects, & concept), Wubkje Kuindersma (dance), Oliver Starpov (dance), Camilla Ryd (images & interaction design), Jacek Smolicki (images & sound), & Daniel Spikol (technical direction)

Many thanks: Anton Van Niekerk/Hatfield Travel for sponsoring airfare for Jeannette Ginslov

http://www.hatfieldtravel.co.za/

[affexity-blog-blog]

Today 31 Oct! AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels ....see you there! Part of the Re-New Digital Arts Festival at PB43 in Copenhagen, installation around the Nikolaj Kunsthal. Photo: Jeannette Ginslov. Poster: Daniel Spikol

Try to make this one work! Download http://www.aurasma.com/  sign into iTunes. When downloaded and signed up, go to Aurasma and search for AffeXity - Passages and Tunnels, then click follow. The app will now work if ou hold it over this image!

[affexity-blog-blog]

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels

Dance and Augmented Reality combine to make up the Augmented Choreography of AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels.

October 2013 Copenhagen Denmark

Part of the Re-New Digital Arts Festival 2013, Oct 29 – Nov 3, 2013.

AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels is a project exploring affect in urban spaces. Dance improvisation and screen dance techniques for video capture and editing are the main artistic modalities. The element of Augmented Reality (AR) lets the choreographies be suspended as hidden layers of media living in physical space and on personal mobile phones. An extra dimension of archived material is added, letting AR be part time-machine part performance of memory. This artwork can be experienced individually, or as part of coordinated groups, or you can see the AR media combined with a live performance on 31 October (see times and instructions below). The AR tags are placed all around the outside the Nikolaj building. You will need the free AR browser Aurasma (download here) running on your mobile phones to access the media.

Location Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen – Nikolaj Plads 10, 1067 Copenhagen, Denmark

Artists Jeannette Ginslov (video, edit & concept), Susan Kozel (artistic direction & concept), Wubkje Kuindersma (dance), Camilla Ryd (images & interaction design), Jacek Smolicki (sound), Daniel Spikol (technical production), Oliver Starpov (dance).

Times Visit the Nikolaj with your own mobile phones any time from 17:30 on Tuesday, Oct 29, until Sunday, Nov 11. Tags are attached to the outside of the building.

Each day, from Tuesday, Oct 29, until Saturday, Nov 2, from 17:30-20:30 someone will be there to help you with the tags and the AR browser.

Two performances will take place, integrating dancer (Wubkje Kuindersma) with the layers of media running on mobile devices on Oct 31 at 17:15 and 18:00. We will provide a few extra mobile phones and iPads if you need one. A local area wifi will also be available. On Saturday, Nov 2, at 14:00 you can join a group and experience the media with others.

Instructions (You can follow these instructions from home or once you reach the Nikolaj)

You will need the Augmented Reality browser Aurasma to access the media of AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels. It is free from the App Store, download here

Start the Aurasma app and click on the A-shaped icon at the bottom to go to the home screen

Tap the magnifying glass icon (circle with line) and enter AffeXity: Passages & Tunnels in search box

Tap on the channel in the search results and then tap the Follow icon

You are now connected to the channel

From the main aurasma page, tap the [ ] icon to begin viewing the media. Place your phone in front of the image tag and wait for the purple circle to indicate the media is downloading.

AffeXity would like to acknowledge support from the following organisations: Malmö University, Medea, Re-New Digital Arts Festival, Det Kongelige Teater, Svenska Filminstitutet, Vetenskapsrådet, and Nikolaj Konsthal.

AffeXity is an ongoing project included in the the Living Archives research project.

Poster Design: Daniel Spikol

[affexity-blog-blog]

AffeXity Phase 01 Residency 21-27 Nov 2011

AffeXity Phase 01 Jeannette Ginslov Residency at Laboratorium

Narrative Report

21-27 November 2011

Phase 01 Residency

AffeXity Phase 01 includes an informal internship for Jeannette Ginslov at MEDEA, Malmo University, end Sept to mid December and a Residency at the Laboratorium from the Dansens Hus Copenhagen 21-27 Nov 2011. Ginslov was invited by Prof Susan Kozel to the informal internship and obtained the residency at the Laboratorium by application. Further applications are being made for the next few phases.

Phase 01 culminates on 16 December 2011 with a showing of all seven screendance videos generated at the Laboratorium. It includes a panoramic video of the MEDEA space as well as the Argon Augmented Reality browser on iPads and iPhones for the attending guests. Over four hundred academic as well as industry people are expected to attend the event at the MEDEA K3 Malmö University. 

Phase One  - Shoot and edit for affect and opacity

Ginslov researched affect and the haptic together with dancer Wubkje Kuindersma during this residency. Screendance videos were shot in and around Copenhagen where the "carnivorous" was employed to explore, nudge, sniff and tease out affect and haptic moments found in locations in Copenhagen. By working with certain parameters each location brought to the dancer, movement and camera moments of affect, nuances, rhythms and temperatures. Overlays and opacity levels in the edit further amplified this.

Discussions, Research and notes JG & WK

Affect and haptic

22 November

Looking for choreographic process and parameters to find affect

Questions:

1)    What affect is in the building?

2)    What tension, rhythms, frictions?

3)    What energies, vibes, sensations?

4)    Physical responses 

5)    Emotional history

6)    History

7)    Ambiguity

8)    Resonances of the space

9)    Sounds

10) Smells

11) Temperatures

12) Colours

13) Textures – the architexture

14) Presences between, inside, inside the cement

15) Shapes - negative and positive

16) What are the affordances in the space?

In each location these questions were asked. The dancer WK improvised with these parameters and reflections, neither using mimicry or representational movement to capture and draw out the affect of the space that she tuned into. JG captured this with the “carnivorous camera” and amplified this in the edit.

Documented research on Affect and haptic imagery may be found in Ginslov’s article for the K3 Seminar:

Jeannette Ginslov will uncover the differences between the haptic and affect, the technological mediation and capturation of affect and the haptic in screendance, arriving at resonances, tactility, "shimmers", the ineffable and experiential...in other words the capture of life forces - the camera becomes carnivorous.

Meeting in Copenhagen: 25 November 2011

Susan Kozel, Jay Bolter, Timo Engelhardt & Jeannette Ginslov

@ Architects Centre Cph DK

Photos by Jeannette Ginslov

  Jay Bolter (left), Timo Engelhardt (right), Background: Copenhagen

  Susan Kozel, Background Copenhagen

 Photos taken by JG November 2011 for AffeXity Research

Visual imagery for the exploration of Affect and “shimmers”, temperatures, resonances

       Icy shimmers, temperatures, textures

Indexical / trace

 Shimmers, fleeting, “inbetweeness”

      RESIDENCY DESCRIPTION

DAY 01 MON 21 Nov JG Setting up of Lab – keys, alarms, space, contract. JG - cameras boot up, prep tapes, files for Video Cameras PD 170, Samsung HD and iPad 2. JG making timetable and research notes for the videos. JG researching for the K3 MEDEA Seminar Wed in Malmö WK & JG meeting – research area, timetable. 

DAY 02 TUES 22 Nov JG & WK Setting up of Lab & out door recce. JG & WK 12.30-15:00 Shoot Day 01 – DV PAL, HD, iPad. JG digitized footage and wrote paper for Seminar. 

DAY 03 WED 23 Nov JG, SK, TE 10-12h30 JG in Malmö. Delivered paper at MEDEA K3 Malmö University for Seminar: “Uncovering the differences between the haptic and affect”– See paper. 13h30-15h00 Meeting with SK & TE & iPad with Argon try out. JG edited clip #1 Carlsberg

DAY 04 THURS 24 Nov JG & WK WK & JG Shoot Day 02. 10-14:00 In studio with the lights – WK Foot dance. 12.00-15.00 Edit short clip for Fri – HD, iPad

DAY 05 FRI 25 Nov. JG, JB, TE & SK. 10:00 JB, SK, TE & JG meeting at Café Wilder – re: Argon and clips. Meeting about AR technologies & videos. 13:00 JG & WB Shoot Day 03

DAY 06 SAT 26 Nov.  JG Digitized all footage and edited. Clip #2 Ghost Hands, Clip #3 Delicate Passage, Clip #4 Laughing Bells, Clip #5 Red Walls Feet, Clip #6 Red Wall Dreaming

DAY 07 27 SUN Nov. JG finalized clips #1 to #6 with special effects. JG exported clips. JG digitized Familiar Stranger. JG to upload all clips at DH on Monday. JG to deliver report & keys to SP at DH. 

16 December. MEDEA. Launch event of Phase 01

 The Outcomes of Phase 01 Laboratorium

These preliminary test videos used Copenhagen as a backdrop for capturing affect. All videos have been uploaded onto YouTube for easy access. They are unlisted. To view them one needs to click the link. Only those with this link may access them. All the videos below will be screened 16 December 2011, at the MEDEA end of year function. The videos listed below will be screened on a wall projection in the MEDEA Lab space.

 All Videos

Directed, Shot & Edited: Jeannette Ginslov

Dancer: Wubkje Kuindersma

Videos Produced by Walking Gusto Productions © 2011

Videos

Clip #1 Carlsberg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlCMJ7Numg

Clip #2 Ghost Hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mExoLrKyFoU

Clip #3 Delicate Passage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE0fWBuXfoI

Clip #4 Laughing Bells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYrvAHswcd0

Clip #5 Red Walls Feet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbm7BNYVfU

Clip #6 Red Wall Dreaming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh5l1r1FEd0

Familiar Stranger – Choreography, Performance and Concept by Wubkle Kuindersma. Direction, camera and edit by Jeannette Ginslov. This was also shot this during the Laboratorium and explored affect and the haptic. It is 04:30 mins long and is a video installation work. It will be featured at the MEDEA evening, on another monitor.