A magazine's new way to cover new media
Art lovers turn to glossy art periodicals to keep track of what's hot. More and more multimedia art, though, can't be documented in print. Periodicals run still photos from videos and other new media, but who can gauge the quality of a video from a single shot?
Enter Michael Mittelman . Back in 2003, he documented work at the Boston Cyberarts Festival and put it on a DVD. Aspect, the DVD magazine that chronicles new media art, was born.
This month, in conjunction with the Cyberarts Festival, work by some better- known artists Mittelman has published can be seen in "Selected Works From Aspect Magazine" at Axiom Gallery.
"My goal is to get artists to see what else is going on so they don't repeat themselves," Mittelman says. "Every artist gets a video camera and slaps someone in the face. There are hundreds of slap-in-the-face videos."
Mittelman works full time as a software developer. Aspect is his side job and his passion.
In mid-January, Aspect Volume 8, "Early Works," is running late. That's what happens, he discovers, when you invite big artists to contribute instead of culling through the harvest of an open call.
Up at nights with his 3-week-old daughter, Mittelman is tired. The DVD is being distributed, but there's still the post-mortem to do, and a release party to schedule.
"The down side is it's late," he says. He's thorough but easygoing -- part earnest artist, part class clown. "The upside is . . ."
"We pulled it off," puts in assistant editor Liz Nofziger . Mittelman, Nofziger, and interns Meghan Tomeo and Julia Handschuh convene every Wednesday.
Meanwhile Volume 9, "Performance," is ahead of schedule. Tomeo has completed the graphics; she has to get cracking on the cover and the insert. Handschuh orchestrates schedules and delivery of the material.
Glitches are inevitable. Artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have hit a snag: They didn't own the rights to music in the performance they videotaped for Aspect.
"They didn't want to change the music, so we changed the piece, but then we had to find a new commentator," Mittelman explains. Curator Marjory Jacobson , familiar with Cardiff and Miller's sweet and haunting "Opera for a Small Room," signed on.
The Aspect network of artists and commentators is worldwide. Handschuh is in touch with Chilean Alexander Del Re to record commentary for Boston artist Marilyn Arsem's video of "Undertow," in which she drapes herself in seaweed and lies on the floor.
"He has the equipment to do a professional recording," reports Handschuh.
A week later, Mittelman greets Bill Arning in the snow outside a Boston recording studio. Arning , curator of the MIT List Visual Arts Center, will record commentary for Peter Welz's "whenever on on on nohow on/ airdrawing," a collaboration with choreographer William Forsythe . Welz's piece was shown at the List Center last year.
"There might be an occasional explosive, percussive cough," Arning warns.
"This should be eight minutes long," Mittelman says. He and Tomeo will edit the audio down. "It's amazing what Mike does in editing," Arning marvels. "Talking, you need to be extemporaneous, but the final is like a written, edited essay."
Aspect, the only new-media DVD chronicle that has had any staying power, is crucial to curators and teachers, Arning says. Aspect's target subscriber base is educational institutions. Video art has been difficult to access. It's easy to reproduce, but the art market trades on rarity. Aspect's artists give permission for their art to be screened.
"There are issues of control," says Arning. "It used to be as a curator you could call a gallery and say you need a copy of an artist's video. Now you sign a form, there are fines. It's hard for teachers to show a clip."
Arning dons headphones. The video starts, and he launches in. He's remarkably erudite for someone working without a script.
Aspect is no moneymaker. Artists, commentators, and interns don't get paid. "The money goes toward the next production," says Nofziger, a new media artist who devotes 1 1/2 days per week to her Aspect job.
"My philosophy is to look bigger and more professional than we really are," says Mittelman. "Before Liz came on, there were six staff members, and they were all me."
In late February, production on Volume 9 chugs along. Performance artist Rob List's video comes in at 45 minutes. With List's go-ahead, Mittelman cuts it drastically, down to four minutes.
Commentator Alexander Del Re has delivered his audio. "It sounds like space travel," notes Tomeo. "I'm confident the audio mastering guy can smooth it out," Mittelman says.
By March 12, all the audio, video, and graphics are in, and the staff pores over them for typos, synching, and navigation issues. On March 15, Volume 9 is wrapped and shipped to the replicator.
"The final hurrah was not much of a hurrah," Mittelman says. "It was quiet and calm. We caught some things and walked it out the door."
The hurrah really comes Thursday, with the Volume 9 DVD release party at Axiom Gallery.
Then there's the rural-themed Volume 10 to think about, and Volume 11, "Arte de las Americas."
"A lot of commentators don't have English as a first language," Mittelman says. "Do we subtitle? Or how do we get them translated? It's a whole other ball of wax. But then, every volume is. That's what we do." 