After analysing the article by Matt Soar “Making (with) the Korsakow System”, the class broke down the main ideas of why Korsakow is a unique and useful tool, and it made our group question and reflect on whether we were really getting the most out of the software or were we just making a project around the parameters of what it could do.

The main element from Soar’s reading that immediately jumped out to me as being relevant to our project is this idea of an intimate/small scale work, one that is based more so on creating a personal experience than making a vague piece that connects with no one. As our project is quite experimental and could be considered vague, we very much toe this line of whether what we are making will actually connect with anyone or not. With the main aspect of our project focusing on music and how watching the same video consecutively with varying music cues, will you have a unique experience, one that connects with each viewer differently, both in the individual videos, and the combination of watching it in multiple. I think for our group with is very difficult to judge until after the work is completed, as it is really hard to know whether the work will actually connect with people on a purely conceptual level as that is really not how music operates, as it is heavily tied to our emotions.

This is also where the notion of variability from Lev Manovich’s book “The Language of New Media” comes in, as this is the main new media element that Korsakow works in, as it gives the controls of the project over to the viewer, creating a multitude of variables. Our project works in a different style of variability than a lot of Korsakow projects, as our variability comes from how our viewer combines their multiple viewings, as the order of videos they watch will greatly impact both the context and emotional connection to the work, as what we immediately watch after another piece directly influences all past and future things. This is where my curiosity with our project peaks as this is not an idea I’ve seen explored in interactive documentary or in other forms of online content, but one I think is really important to express, as when we are online consuming a ridiculous amount of content that makes connects with us in a variety of ways, shouldn’t we question if what came before is influencing what we just watched?

“The human being is a self-propelled automaton entirely under the control of external influences. Willful and predetermined though they appear, his actions are governed not from within, but from without. He is like a float tossed about by the waves of a turbulent sea.” – Nikola Tesla