UK 2008 | DVD | Colour | Stereo | 01’34 Min
Courtesy Edition Medienturm, Graz

The term “Pattern” is little short of summing up a graphical and conceptual genre in new media - traditionally one might simply say swatch or ornament as well. In electronic arts the term describes a process driven by a structured formula, whereby a fluid matrix emerges through the repetitive assemblage of single elements, permanently rearranging itself by algorithmic means. This digital method applies mostly to the design of graphical elements, referencing classical abstract examples, or rather developing them further through the application of current technical possibilities.

David Muth breaks with this common practice, and he does so by working with this story in a pictorial and humorous fashion. Muth photographs patterns of industrially manufactured covers that adorn the seats of public transport and obviously don’t promise any additional artistic value – to a greater degree their masking abstracted compositions seem to be precondition for diverse usage, resistant against contaminants. In close-ups Muth zooms into the encountered graphical structures and blends them with further patterns, as if he would like to invoke a discursive massacre. Applied arts meets fine arts, abstraction meets the real life.

Text by Sandro Droschl.

“A Matter Of Fact” - an exhibition curated by Eelco van der Lingen and David Muth, kindly supported by Stroom, Heden, and the Gemeente Den Haag.

The show is concerned with notions surrounding space and reality and combines sculpture, video and sound works by 9 artists from the Netherlands, Austria, the United Kingdom and France.

“Deconstruction allows for a kind of affirmation - a chastened non-triumphant one, to be sure, but an affirmation all the same. Human action, in the face of the realisation that access to the ultimate truth has been denied, is all the more admirable, all the more humane”, remarks José Borghino in a note on Jacques Derrida.

Participating Artists:

Frank Halmans, Tijmen Hauer, Annja Krautgasser, Eelco van der Lingen, Josh Müller, David Muth, Lynn Pook, Oscar Stegehuis and Edd Vossen.

17.11.2007 - 15.12.2007, DCR, The Hague, Netherlands

A few more images can be found here.

David Muth (video) | GCTTCATT (music)

Video, October 2007

The video piece “You Are The Sony Of My Life” is an amalgam of concise visual language tightly fused with the whimsical, flickering soundtrack by GCTTCATT.

The piece starts with an image of a white plane, which subsequently becomes perforated with bursts of oblique linear elements. As the soundtrack moves on, these acoustically driven perforations merge into larger geometric shapes. A fine grid of interwoven horizontal and vertical stripes is revealed progressively over time.

In David Muth’s piece it seems to be the soundtrack that sculpts the image - by adding and removing visual material, filling certain image regions or dissecting the visual plane. In return, the film acts as a visual amplifier for the audio. “You Are the Sony of My Life” is an ‘Absolute Film’ in more than one sense: it is not only entirely abstract, but also rejects the illusionist principles of animation. There is no hint of a visual space populated by animated shapes. Constrained by the regime of the scan line, the visual organization of the piece remains entirely rhythmic.

Text by Dietmar Offenhuber.

High Resolution Stills 01 // 02 // 03 // 04

Music For Bodies is a NESTA funded research project initiated by Kaffe Matthews, focusing on the construction and exploration of new instruments in order to create sonic experiences for both body and ears.

A series of multidisciplinary think tank meetings is taking place to identify possible directions for the project, whilst the core team consists of architect Alex Haw, music artist Kaffe Matthews, and musician and programmer David Muth. One of the team’s current research strains focuses on how to combine the experience of the body, space and sound, with the aim of establishing a compositional vocabulary for “Music For Bodies” instruments.

For information on events and exhibitions please visit the Music For Bodies website.

David Muth (video) | Farmers Manual (music)

Video, August 2006

The animation “371 Adv3″ visually explores rhythmic patterns through abstract minimalism. Specially written software generated the imagery.

Past screenings of the video include Ars Electronica’s “Generative Animation” program in 2006, curated by Lia and Miguel Carvalhais.

We Are Car employs a running motorbike engine controlled via MIDI as a musical instrument in order to record and subvert selected rock classics, exploring parallels of emotional thrills induced by acceleration, speed and rock.

The project’s final outcome eventually manifested itself as a CD release, with each CD being accompanied by an especially commissioned perfume based on motor oil. The launch event took place at the ICA in September 2006.

We Are Car is a collaboration with Chris Lum aka Xper.Xr, and was funded by Arts Council England.

A few more images can be found here.

Video, Austria 2006

The video piece “The Metamorphosis” deals with the resonance of the eponymous Kafka text in different individuals. If language is a place of convention, where the individual is subordinate to both permanent and unnoticed correction by society, then this circumstance has to be investigated. “The Metamorphosis” seeks to explore the shift in meaning of the original text during the continuous exchange of reciters.

Fairy Clocks is a generative animation based on a drawing by Peter Myers, an artist with Asperger’s Syndrome. The software investigates his method of drawing, often detailed, precise and repetitive, by the means of algorithms.

The piece was shown at the Tricks of the Psyche event at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre in London in 2006.

The permanent installation at Stoke Newington Media Arts School concludes a one year long research project carried out by the school’s pupils concerned with various aspects of the topic “Energy”. Forty-eight custom made light panels mounted onto the chimney of the school building are translating video and audio created by the pupils participating in the project into abstract patterns and animations of light.

The installation was a collaborative effort between Soda and the school’s pupils and staff, with additional electronics engineering undertaken by Shadowrobot. The launch event took place in October 2004.

The “Energy Project” was funded by ACE Creative Partnerships.

Photoseries, Wels, Austria 2004

Depending on what you are looking for, choose an area, a more or less densely populated town, a more or less lively street. Build a house. Furnish it. Make the best out of its appearance and its surrounding. Choose a season and an hour. Invite the most appropriate persons, provide music and alcoholic drinks. The lighting and the conversations should of course be in tune with the occasion, as should the weather or your memories.

If you made no mistake in your calculations, the outcome must be satisfactory for you.

The “Psychogeographic Game of the Week”, Guy Debord, first edition of the magazine ‘Potlatch’, Paris, June 22, 1954.

Tryptichon is an audio-visual performance combining contemporary dance, psycho-geography and GPS technology. The project was realised in concert with Mukul Patel and Manu Luksch from AmbientTV.net.

After the first stage of development of the location-aware performance environment, which was funded by Arts Council England, the project was shown at the DMZ festival at Limehouse Town Hall, London, in November 2003.

The project’s framework was then extended, explored and further experimented with during a one-month residency at NIFCA (Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art) on the small Finnish island Suomenlinna. At the end of the residency the work was presented at the Pixelache 2004 festival, with a performance at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki.