aisyalam

There’s a lot going on in terms of getting organized to leave, administrating expenses, taking care of housing bureaucracy (like today campus security handed me a form about my personal computers that I was supposed to have filled out within 24 hours of arriving), and so on, but I managed to get a full day’s work in on campus anyway. A bunch of time was spent writing a letter of recommendation for a close friend who wants to go on a Fulbright to Australia next year, so had to do a spot-on job with that, but also did NJIT coursework, and a little prep for tomorrow’s performance at IIUM (International Islamic University Malaysia). I also had a nice long meeting with the new Dean of the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Hal Thwaites, who has a vision and I’m sure will bring positive direction to MMU. Later in the day I also met with Dr. Beik, with whom I further discussed our upcoming “Neuro Net” collaboration (which Amy is calling “The Rumi Simulator”). Anyhow, Beik and I made a plan of attack, which will involve me returning to the US and delving into the four or so Rumi translations I have in my poetry library, while he does the same with some Persian editions. We have to begin by building a vocabulary for the “poet” and then train the software to speak the language. Along the way we’ll probably identify key themes taken up by the poet in order to devise a navigation system. If all goes well, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t, this should be a very interesting project—presuming we can get the machine to talk. And if this scheme works and manages to bring a reasonable facsimile of Rumi back to life, I’m thinking we should tackle someone like Bob Creeley next time. But that remains to be seen.

The gig in Cheras the other night went well. Although the hour was late by the time I got on stage, being there (on stage) with such unusual works in a rather foreign place (it was my first trip to Cheras and did I ever get lost on the way there) brought me back to life. The strange texts I read during the first half (a TRAVESTY text made with “Song of Myself,” an old ZenMOO session, the Durian poem, and a SPAM poem) were fun and matched with good soundtracks, then I switched gears, donned a white sheet onto which 165 of our Malaysia images were projected while a few soundtracks played and I read a few of the Malaysia poems (from beneath the sheet). This setup had a great visual effect, and I will use the same technique tomorrow I think (using some of the same materials). I also brought along a few new (native, handcrafted) instruments, which I jammed on when I thought to do so. I made a new (in)version of the Cyberjaya poem and re-titled it “Backwards poem for Siew Wai” (because the gathering was in part her birthday celebration). Four other artists, including Siew Wai, showed there work, and there was something superb in each performance. Aziz used Max to process sounds (mainly words) live—while projecting his actions with the software on the screen, which was an important aspect of his presentation. Another fellow, Fairuz, improvisationally mixed videos while accompanied by a live musician (also improvising). A fellow named Haron, played what I’d call “intuitive” guitar while chanting a few songs in a language nobody could really understand. Everyone got together at the end and played an impromptu rendition of a birthday song for Siew Wai. I’m still shocked by these art gigs where no booze is present, but everyone enjoys themselves, and projects stimulating art just the same.

After the gig tomorrow I’ll head over to the 153 Gallery to hear a lecture there. We’ve just printed out a bunch of new images—which would have been solid additions to the show that’s up now, but will have to wait to be seen until Amy’s show at Blair Academy in the fall.

Lots of last minute things to do, including seeing people and places that will be missing from our lives for awhile. We nixed the plan to go to Melaka on Wednesday, and instead decided to take in a movie at the 3D IMAX in KL, a nice meal nearby, and some shopping for software. It won’t be the same as Ikan Panggang by the sea, but we can do without the 5 hours in the car (especially since in a week we’ll be cooped up in an airplane for 21 hours)…