Since my recent move to New Haven, CT, I now have a private room
for my studio and work space. It's been a while since I've had a
dedicated space for this purpose, so I was very excited to set
up my things again.
I've had a number of studio spaces over the years, and even the
ones I had for an extended period were prone to me moving
everything around periodically, so I've gone through a lot of
trial and error to find the best way to arrange things for my
purposes. Since I work with a lot of AV equipment, I've felt the
temptation — the same one I've seen others in this medium get
pulled into as well — to create some kind of Ultimate Signal
Chain where all of my gear can remain plugged in and patchable.
This seems to work well for shared studios and recording spaces,
but in my own space, I like to create bespoke setups for
whatever my current projects require. For example, sometimes I
want to use a bunch of electronic equipment, while other times I
just need table space for drawing or doing something messy with
inks or other liquids.
So I have decided that it's better to just keep a few things out
on my desk by default:
my desktop computer
a television screen that accepts analog or digital inputs
a multichannel audio interface
some speakers
a paper notepad
my modular synths (including both audio and video modules;
these aren't as ubiquitous at the other items in this list,
but I like having a tactile synth playground available on
short notice, and they are really annoying to put away and
take back out)
If I want to use other equipment for a specific project or
performance, I can bring it out and plug it in just for a few
days or however long I need it for. There is even enough space
in my room to set up additional folding tables to extend my
surface area if needed. If I'm preparing for a performance, it
is actually helpful to quarantine everything I'm bringing with
me to a separate table anyway; it makes it easy to pack, and
helps make sure everything will fit on the table I'm bringing.
With these methods in mind, my studio is organized around three
areas:
my desk (pictured and described above)
shelves for storing equipment and supplies
a nook with a beanbag chair for reading, and a meditation
bench.
I do most of my reading on the couch and at the table in our
living room, but I like having a private space to relax as well.
Below, you can find my attempt to draw my studio as an isometric
video game level. There are a few things you can't see because
they are on the cut-away walls: another window, a small closet,
and several wall-mounted cable hangers for cables I need quick
access to.
Here are a few other details about my desk setup:
I added a triangle of wood to soften the inner corner of my
L-shaped desk, and make it nicer to sit at my computer which
is positioned diagonally in the corner.
My desk has motors to adjust the height, but my modular synth
case is best positioned vertically, so I built a wooden frame
that attaches to the desk and provides a surface for it to
lean against without touching the wall.
The two chairs I use at my desk are a stool and a special
chair that allows me to sit cross legged at my desk. I have
found that using chairs without backs has greatly improved my
posture and back pain.
My split mechanical keyboard is also helpful for ergonomics,
in addition to being fun and customizable. I made wrist rests
for it by tying off a pair of socks filled with dried beans.
I made a little organizer out of cardboard for storing shorter
modular patch cables by draping them over one of my speakers.
I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of my studio! I love seeing
other people's spaces as well, so if you share yours, let me
know.
I wanted to post something like this around New Year's, but I
missed the window where I could publish it without mention of my
lateness. But I have a good excuse: I was fully in the middle of
moving! As of January 1st, we are officially leasing a lovely
apartment in New Haven, CT.
Even though 2025 is already well underway, I'm taking a moment
to reflect on the past year. Here are some of the things I did
in 2024:
Rebuilt my artist website (the one you're looking at now!) to
use 11ty, a static site generator. It was a lot of work, but
the effort I put in will make maintaining and updating this
site about 1000% easier. (More about this in the
colophon.)
Attended my fourth vipassana meditation retreat, and completed
a 100-hour meditation teacher training program. I haven't
taught any meditation classes yet, but the things I learned
have helped me deepen my meditation practice.
Taught my first college course as an adjunct professor:
Intro to Animation at Hamilton College. (I actually
taught two sections, so my first two college classes!) This
was a wonderful experience for me, and I hope to get more
opportunities to teach again in the future.
Taught two online classes through
Polyphase Portal: one about HTML & CSS, and one about video feedback.
Each one met weekly for a month. I preferred teaching IRL, but
it was cool to be able to include folks from outside my local
area.
Lived in various free and inexpensive alternative spaces in
the forests of Upstate New York, including a few months of
house-sitting, a converted barn, and most recently, a 30-foot
yurt. Although I've decided to move back to a more urban area,
I really enjoyed getting to spend more time in nature,
regularly being in the presence of waterfalls, cool rocks, and
all sorts of animals.
Survived another year without a full-time job.
Saw a total solar eclipse for the second time in my life.
Attempted to go on a summer road trip that was aborted quite
early on.
Built a shed on my parents' property. This was my largest solo
woodworking project to date.
Played 4 shows, co-led 2 video art workshops, and did an art
installation, a group show, an artist talk, and 2
presentations at
open source meetings.
Compared to 2023, when we spent 5 months driving across the U.S.
in a van, I spent almost all of this year in one area (New York
State). But it has felt like just as much of a strange,
meandering journey as the last year did. And while I still
haven't quite landed somewhere that feels like a long-term,
sustainable lifestyle, I feel like I'm moving in the right
direction, fumbling towards a balance between my
sometimes-conflicting needs for freedom and structure, for
unhurried time and financial stability, and so forth.
I don't know exactly what happens next, but I'm curious to find
out. So onward into 2025, and whatever this weird timeline we
all inhabit holds for us next.
On Friday, December 13,
Andrei
and I visited our friend
Anna Oxygen's TV Club class at Hamilton College (where I'm also teaching
Intro to Animation this semester). TV Club is a class Anna
created for the Digital Arts program that gives students the
opportunity to explore video art, livestreaming, and
performance. For their final episode of the fall 2024 semester,
we provided an analog video art playground, and livestreamed its
output as we walked the students through the setup and then let
them experiment with it.
Here is an abridged cut of the episode; the full length stream
is archived on the Hamilton TV Club
Youtube Channel.
Since I launched my Zine Club project
this past spring, I've been mailing out an edition of Mystery
Objects every 2 months. The goal is to surprise people with the
contents of their packages, so I try not to post any images of
the Objects until after they've reached their recipients. Now
that the Club has been running for a while, I can share a bit
about the first few Objects I've created.
My very first Mystery Object was actually three objects - a set
of stickers, based on my drawings of three "Exquisite
Machines."
The second Mystery Object was a foil postcard print. The
abstract designs were created digitally, and the asemic
"text" captions are a fictional writing system from a
world-building project I started in the quarterly e-zine that I
had just published the month before, titled
Self-Same Life Forms of Aritana Occ.
I liked how the silver foil came out, the way that the metallic
ink protrudes slightly from the card, and how the spreading of
the ink gives the lines a more liquid, blobby quality. There is
a subtle gradient in the background, which I think ended up
being a bit too dark to notice.
Also, I was experimenting with creating a print that was also a
postcard; the other side was stamped and addressed. But the
cards ended up being a bit fragile, and scuffs from passing
through the mail system were very visible on the matte
cardstock. In the future, if I make small printed cards, I will
enclose them inside of envelopes instead of sending them out
into the world naked.
The third Mystery Object was a set of 16 printed cards called
The Life Cycle of Aritanian Flowers. In the accompanying info card, I suggested that these were
flashcards created for students learning about the stages of
growth and reproduction of a fictional type of plant found in
Aritana Occ. The idea thus far with the world-building project
of Aritana Occ is that it is a dimension occuped by fractal (or
"self-similar") life forms. All of the images on the
cards are drawings based on frames of video feedback.
I printed these cards myself, and I also cut them down and
punched the rounded corners. Since I was making over 20 sets in
a variety of paper colors, I ended up having to print and cut
several hundred cards, and the process took a bit longer than
expected. In the future, I probably won't do this again by hand,
but I was pleased with how they came out. I thought that perhaps
the cards could also be used for divination, and some of the
recipients seemed to share that idea and took photos of them
arranged in tarot-like spreads.
Addendum: visit
this page to
see all of the cards and find information on how to print your
own deck.
The most recent Mystery Object that I sent out was manufactured
using the process for creating printed circuit boards (PCBs).
However, the designs on the board are entirely abstract and
serve no electronic function whatsoever. As an electronic artist
and tinkerer, I've come across some projects that take advantage
of the medium of circuit boards as an art form, and I wanted to
experiment with making something like that myself.
I was vaguely aware of the process of designing a circuit board,
creating gerber files, and getting them made through an online
service, but I had never done it before. I downloaded
Kicad
and learned a bit about the different layers that comprise a
PCB: the fiberglass board, the conductive copper layer, the
colored solder mask, immersion gold, and white silkscreen, as
well as the board outline, which can be any shape. I designed
the layers so that they would create a cohesive pattern, with
copper, gold, and white silkscreen on one side, and the other
side white silkscreen only.
The dark blue solder mask I chose ended up being very opaque, so
the additional layer of copper underneath the solder mask wasn't
really visible, but you can kind of see it in the form of a
slightly embossed edge around the "Discordian Knot"
design. The resulting object was very satisfying to hold, and
also quite durable, as I've been using it as a keychain for a
few weeks now. I learned a lot from this project, and I hope to
create more PCBs-as-art-objects in the future.
Here is a video I made of a few of these Objects so you can see
them existing in time and space:
So, that brings us up to date on the latest Mystery Objects, at
least until I send out the next batch in December. Creating
these Objects and snail-mailing them out to people around the
world has brought me a lot of pleasure. If you're interested in
receiving strange Objects like these in your mailbox
periodically, check out the link below and consider becoming a
Zine Club Member. The more people join, the more time I can
spend creating weird art.
In August, I performed live visuals for two shows in the Hudson
Valley. The first one was on August 21 at
The Avalon Lounge
in Catskill, NY, where my video projections augmented the music
of two electroacoustic duos:
Lunar Slopes
(Snark & Jeff Rieger), who are local to the Hudson Valley,
and
Matthew Ryals
and
Stephan Haluska, who were on tour together and who hail from NYC and
Cleveland, respectively. It was great to return to this lovely
and welcoming venue, and to get the opportunity to collaborate
with friends, old and new. Here are few scraps of video footage
from this show:
The second show, which I helped organize, was held at a private
space in Kingston, NY. I performed visuals for sets by
Snark
(who also helped organize the show),
The Spookfish, and
headfullofhammers. Bungey Colle, another co-organizer, was sadly unable to make
it to perform.