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Volume 01, Issue 8+9: Edited by Joel Swanson

[ Scale 8+9 , 22mb .pdf file with links to online media ]

The end is neigh, so new works are called for. SCALE 8/9 edited by Joel Swanson offers a diverse range of pieces roughly orbiting the concept of "Apocalypse." There is no clean way to define it in one sentence. SCALE has always sought out the end of things, but only in an effort to return to another beginning. This cycle continues here. New works beget newer works, and "The Workshop From Hell" should be a day marked on calendars.

A word on SCALE 8/9: Apocalypse, for all of its definitions, has come to represent the community consciousness of its own (personal) mortality. It is an understanding that not only do singular entities loose their ontological status, but whole categories and category makers simply "poof." How can one begin to reveal this ending? Do we go back to the primordial shoes/soup in order to retrace the ineluctable vector of our demise? The play of words, of meanings, is not wasted here; laughter is one of the ways to reclaim ourselves. And as Mark Amerika points out through the cadavers of texts heaped high: "Did [we] mean..." when we clearly did not, or rather we did but the meaning was not the end; in fact, there are many endings. Perhaps less clearly, as Keyes suggests, there are also many portents of doom, but an endless supply of unsubstantiated hope, a pleasure in our despair because we "always come out untouched." Even our hope is owned, or at least its symbols. The covenant between God and Noah's descendants was symbolized by the multicolored ring between rain and light; a series of colors Swanson has remediated in the new universal language. Yet despite God's seeming penchant for human destruction and disruption (and the Reader should take note of who gets the Biblical blame here), it's the universal desire for Babel that still unites: Clark and Dulin's noise is perhaps the most clarion response to the din of apocalyptic hype; it is the end that keeps going because it refuses the system of ontology that might end; system-less it is the new meta-ontological cockroach. Egenhoefer returns the personal, responding to the massive hysteria by rekindling the intimate. On the other hand, Chutiwongpeti reminds us that apocalypse is also about revelation, and how we still work towards understanding, while Marshall smartly argues that "unproductive destruction" can be viewed as a mode of resistance, "of the possibility to engage in massive-scale potlatch." In all, SCALE 8/9 offers a number of voices amidst the clamber. A community of redefinitions that preclude an end, offer revelation, and in all ways celebrate one stop on an endless (hybrid-Barney) bus ride, SCALEs apocalypse arrives just in time.

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Volume 01, Issue 6+7: Edited by Mike Podolak

[ Only Journal , 23mb .pdf file with links to online media ]

SCALE 6+7 takes a new turn with its first online-only issue. The advantages of this are numerous. For the first time SCALE is able to test its ability to function in a centralized manner but in decentralized space. The result is present in these pages; and while it was not without its adaptation strategies and difficulties, the newly dispersed SCALE continues to undergo successful iterations. The online-only version also enables the possibility of including truly non-print formats (multimedia, web, etc). As a result the pool of submissions reflects the new expanded multimedia (more open) policy. In fact, SCALE has found yet one more way to scale up and out, while keeping to its primary goals of encouraging a lofi surface for exchange.

This issue of SCALE gathers submissions from a wide range of places, including New York, Colorado, Wisconsin, Southern California, and Portugal. SCALE 6+7 also includes an especially notable contribution from Brett Stalbaum, Lisa Jevbratt, Christina McPhee, and Andrea Polli. Their essays, collected under the title Big Data, engage some of the different problematics of data massives through their art practice, as well as their writing. Interestingly, other contributers also critique and question different normative models, from "scensterism" to questioning the "infinite" to the all too finite in Brandon Schakola's meditation on Colombine, naming and music. Lastly, though perhaps most importantly to this issue, numerous software and sound pieces are also included. The possibility of including these alternate models of critique, communication, and "speech" are crucial to SCALE's goal of expanding the range of ways we can share in a journal the various ways we already communicate. Including sound, software, and other non-textual modes in SCALE only makes sense. Including sound, software, and other non-textual modes only makes sense.

Guest editor Michael Podolak was perhaps the best choice to make for such a diverse undertaking. Podolak's present engagement in painting, sound/music, and critical theory made him especially sensitive to the different needs each submission required. Whereas a standard editor might exceed in organizing texts, Podolak's diverse background also gained him the ability to aptly organize the excellent non-text pieces. Furthermore, to a large extent the quality and range of SCALE 6+7's submissions relies on Podolak's hurculean effort to reach out, work at, and curate this issue from concept to outlet, all while working diligently on his numerous other projects.

The next issue of SCALE will feature artist and scholar Joel Swanson. Joel Swanson is active in the Southern California new media art scene, as well as Colorado and elsewhere around the world. His primary focus involves data conceptualization in new media, and a concentrated interest on sexuality and semiotics. SCALE will continue as a digital-only publication at least until UC-Autumn (October 2004). Lastly, as SCALE members disperse into the world (to Korea, Berkeley, NYC, and everywhere else), it continues to reinterpret its goals, limits, and interests. We encourage new members to get involved, to step up and submit, and to keep the lines open.


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Volume 01, Issue 05: Edited by Neil Stuber

[ Full Journal as a PDF file ]

SCALE No.5. was released to the public on Monday, June 13th. A special Supersonic release was also available the opening night for the octocollegium art show (Supersonic) at Art Center's new wind tunnel (Saturday, June 12th, 2004).

This issue is a formidable moment for SCALE. As the guest editor Neil Stuber extensively redesigned SCALE, reintroducing the journal to itself: issue No.5 is supremely lofi, zero-threshold, anything-goes, and conceptually deep. No.5 is also strengthened by the parallel community, CVS, and includes a number of chapter excerpts from CVS's present iteration. Lastly, No.5 is proud to feature a special limited-run inclusion from gl0tch (Mike Podolak). The deep creative vision that Stuber weaves from among the visual submissions joins the conceptual and creative assets of the CVS authors and gl0tch, and yet this is only the beginning.

Like other classics, No.5 will be a benchmark for SCALE. It also concludes the fiscal year for SCALE, and heralds a new path; one that will keep the focus on lofi/ low threshold as community members test the social thread that brings SCALE together. Post No.5 SCALE will assume a primary digital format, as well as open its possibility to alternate funding scenarios. As the community grows and disperses, so too does SCALE. SCALE's "local" is now "global" in spite of the fact that it will always be local: home is always to be among your community; and the community now extends around us, and beyond us.

SCALE has also changed with the dynamic of its groups by implementing an open-forum board designed to keep it from ossifying. The board, SCALED-B, also calls attention to the fact that SCALE has worked tirelessly at its home campus to include as many different disciplines as possible. SCALE now plays host to at least four different departments, not including the Visual Arts. Part of this change includes the critical funding provided by UCSD-GSA beyond the generous funding awarded by VisArts. The growing network results in the best issue yet.

As always, SCALE encourages community growth and involvement. Submissions for the July issue are already being sought, and new ideas are constantly being generated. Get involved, pick up a shovel, get cozy beneath the radar.

To receive a copy of Scale No.5 you can pick one up at the VAF mailroom, or send a request to Patrick Deegan. An online PDF version is forthcoming.


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Volume 01, Issue 04: Edited by Patrick Miller

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Part of the benefit in using a scaling model is the ability to accomodate and retool for a given circumstance. Scale is an exceptional example of this: the number and type of submissions has changed from issue to issue, with each issue being uniquely responsive to its community. Scale 01.04 is clearly different in may ways. First, there are a good deal more non-text pieces that explore the various interactions between a person and society; second, the texts in Scale 01.04 seem to follow this trend by exploring specifc social flows, from Perth to poetics, and from software to meta-data. In all cases, the focus on the dynamic between a singularity and the group is evident: in the lowest denomination of a dollar in LA to the common denominator of play, memory, and social accountability. From one moment to another, the shift of ideas finds a corresponding model in the dynamism of Scale.

Special to this issue is a feature article by Ruben Ortiz-Torres. LA based artist Patrick Miller was our guest editor, bringing to the shift in scales his own particular model of mixing. Various events are also sclaed to emerge, including the Massive event at UCSD on Friday, May 21, 2004 and a new 7" record release from Joe Winter. Scale is continuing to re-examine its relationship to various CVS models while it continuously updates its interface. Possible changes include new style guidelines and alterations to its content delivery system. In the coming month Scale will also debut in the SoCal art school massive "Supersonic," with a special edition.

Scale sincerely thanks the continued support of UCSD's Visual Arts Department, and the dedication of its core community. As always, there is a continual open call for submissions for your content which is used to make each month's final issue.

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GUEST EDITOR: Patrick Miller

Patrick Miller is a Photographer, Artist, and DJ based in Los Angeles currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Visual Art at UCSD. Miller's conceptual concerns have shifted back and forth over the last several years from: examining found objects and situations through collecting and photography; to examining his relationship to photography's demise through ink drawings, Photoshop drawings, and photographs; to creating different contexts for DJs and artists to present their work.

Miller's current project attempts to produce his first serious sculpture(s) from a mass of wood, plastic, wire, tape loops, and cassette players.

Check back periodically at http://abstractmachine.com/ to view Miller's past productions and to see if anything comes of his current sculptural ambitions.


Volume 01, Issue 03: Edited by Temenuga Trifinova

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Scale announces the release of version 01.03. Scale 01.03 incorporates several new developments including guest contributions from Joseph Goguen and Lev Manovich, a maturation of print run formats and printed-journal ethos, and our first guest editor, Temenuga Trifonova. The issue contains a selection of experiential remixes ranging from the literary to the poetic and including variations of the conceptual to the performative.

Scale-as-process continues to undergo change within its community of core users. As a result of a flurry of activity in New Media, from the recent 040404 conference at UC-Berkeley, to discussions on the Scale-list, and the up-coming Narr@tive conference at the UCLA Hammer, Scale is considering several exciting future options. With Scale's commitment to a local-global approach -- an approach that seeks to promote the activities of its community -- Scale has implemented a monthly guest editor who curates/mixes the submissions for the print edition. The guest editor operates differently from traditional editors: instead of altering the text, the editor conducts the composition of the print journal, designing and ordering the final edition from the current pool of submissions. Scale has also preserved the transparency of its submission mechanism and the community that supports it by providing access to all of the submissions from the pool online indefinitely. In this sense Scale is evolving into a multifaceted journal, presently centered around an edited print edition, but encompassing numerous parallel versions.

Upcoming issues will host new guest editors, the possibility of alternative transparent systems for the journal, reviews, as well as new guest contributions. Please consider submitting your work at: http://scale.ucsd.edu/

A big thank you to the UCSD Visual Arts Department (http://visarts.ucsd.edu/) for their generous and continued support of SCALE.

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Scale 01.02: Fresh Off The Printing Press, Get Your Copy Now

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The latest edition of Scale is now available. Free copies are available in the VAF mailroom, and on the web at http://scale.ucsd.edu

Scale 01.02 maintains in practice the implementation of several key ideas such as lofi assembly and an easy submission process for developers. The publication of Scale continues now with new features, such as a semi-automated submission procedure, an open/public viewing space for all submissions prior to publication, a more durable print edition, and the integration of various style guidelines as well as certain design attributes (i.e., the new Scale-able logo).

The radical of Scale's ideas continues to undergo development and improvement. The open/public viewing space operated in conjunction with a Wiki space in the distributive writing zone (http://dwz.ucsd.edu), where some of the submissions were developed collaboratively. The Wiki environment also took advantage of the CVS (Concurrent Versioning System) model of implementation (http://cvsbook.ucsd.edu), and continues to help in the scaling of CVS' praxis. Scale 01.02 has also reaffirmed its commitment to lofi project realization. Lofi, as it has come to exist for Scale, is the high bus-count, low threshold process of integrating people, ideas, and communities. Throughout Scale's upgrades and changes, these parameters have maintained their center in Scale's ethos.

Scale 01.03 will host a new guest editor, and feature submissions from a range of new media intellectuals. Please submit your work to the upcoming issue (submissions due before midnight on 03/31) at http://scale.ucsd.edu.

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The First Issue "Journal." Volume 01, Issue 01

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Currently published under the moniker "Journal," http://cabbage.ucsd.edu/journal is a lofi platform whose aim is to proliferate discourse on aesthetics and computation. In the inaugural issue the focus was on exploiting "low"-tech solutions to the normally cumbersome dilemma of devising "new" forums. How quickly could a platform be established to promote views with the fewest deferrals, delays, disputes, and digressions? Having participated in numerous similar projects - with larger budgets and more self-aggrandizing goals - the answer was apparent: the content and people were already able and present, and the means were quick and easy. The lofi standard will continue in subsequent editions, with planned changes of various features, including "printing houses." A limited number of 1st-run free hard-copies can be found in the VAF mailroom, please join in, take an issue, and say 'no' to blahblah and 'yes' to lofi.

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