From News to Noises: Rhizome.org

From News to Noises: Rhizome.org

When I first looked at rhizome I focused more on the main page and the nature of the site to post art related news at a very up to the minute pace. However I have begun to realize how much more this site has to offer. As I left the main page of the site I moved into the Art Base where people post there online art in many forms, flash art, video art, audio art. One piece in particular that I liked was called "Birdsongs: The Language Gene" by Debra Swack.

What the Bird Song Piece does is that it allows us to hear bird chirp or song composed into music. Debra Swack tells us that “Birds not only sing songs but improvise upon their creations. In fact studies have shown that they never sing a song exactly the same way twice. A typical song is only a few seconds long but can consist of fifty or more individual notes that can be as short as a ten thousandth of a second. A bird can sing a song up to five times faster than a human can utter the equivalent in syllables” (Swack). In addition birds also have the ability to sing with themselves. The piece itself uses many different bird calls from many different birds non of which relate to each other or sound remotely alike, but at the same time create a choir of birds and a musical piece that works, it sounds like song.

Rhizome also has a Text Base w3hich almost serves like a forum in nature. It “contains the conversations, commentary and listings of events and opportunities that have passed through our mailing lists over the past decade” (rhizome.org).

Rhizome seems to be a great tool for New Media communication. It gives readers the ability to access news relating to the field, communicate with each other and even post their works.