I haven’t posted anything for a while - about time I did! I’ve just been to California for a couple of weeks, which was fantastic. The first part of my trip was to Los Angeles – here I spent a few days at the Center for Visual Music, who have recently been bequeathed the archives of Oskar Fischinger, a pioneer in early abstract cinema and visual music. I was looking at scores, diagrams, sketches and writings, most of which have been unseen for decades. I also visited Fischinger’s house in Long Beach to talk to Barbara, his surviving daughter, and her dogs. This research is towards a large-scale project examining Fischinger’s creative process.
The second part of my stay was spent at Stanford University, where I gave several talks; in the Music Department, CCRMA – amazing place; met John Chowning and Max Matthews(!), and the Intermedia Lab – a new institute devoted to interdisciplinary and multimedia work. I also presented a retrospective of my work, including a new sound and video piece, soon to appear here!
Possibly a strange picture to choose for this post - this is from the Musee Mecanique, an arcade full of ancient seaside entertainments (everything from old ‘what the butler saw’ stereograms to very very early video games machines), which I found entirely by accident in San Francisco and absolutely LOVED.