- Playing
- David Byrne Does PowerPoint
- From
- Jackson Braider
Loaded on some 400 million computers worldwide, Microsoft PowerPoint has, according to some, liberated the shy from the terrors of public speaking. For others, like Edward Tufte, PowerPoint has reduced thoughts to bullet points and the act of conversation to monologue.
But even the most enthusiastic proponent of the ubiquitous presentation application could never have imagined that it would come to this: PowerPoint as artistic medium. Yet in his most recent release, Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, visual artist/musician/writer David Byrne has made art with PowerPoint, transforming a banal conveyor of word, image and sound into a curiously lyric, often ironic form of expression.
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Piece Description
Loaded on some 400 million computers worldwide, Microsoft PowerPoint has, according to some, liberated the shy from the terrors of public speaking. For others, like Edward Tufte, PowerPoint has reduced thoughts to bullet points and the act of conversation to monologue. But even the most enthusiastic proponent of the ubiquitous presentation application could never have imagined that it would come to this: PowerPoint as artistic medium. Yet in his most recent release, Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, visual artist/musician/writer David Byrne has made art with PowerPoint, transforming a banal conveyor of word, image and sound into a curiously lyric, often ironic form of expression.
3 Comments
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Review of David Byrne Does PowerPointAbout a year ago an essay appeared in The New Yorker about the ubiquitous Microsoft program, PowerPoint. It proffered the ideas that PowerPoint had a built-in power to structure the way people composed presentations and that it stifled creativity. This piece about David Byrne by Jackson Braider shows that this is not true. The secret to PowerPoint is to start with a blank page - don't use a template and let one's mind roam. This is an artistic piece about a much maligned piece of software, which is a tool, like a keyboard, a camera, a guitar. Mr. Braider found someone who uses this particular tool with imagination. Because of the popularity of PowerPoint, this piece has wide appeal and would fit in well in a business or arts segment. |
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Review of David Byrne Does PowerPointA sound rich piece about a strange interesting technological topic. This piece is also surprisingly visual and informational. This piece might fit best on a techy show, but could be just about anywhere. It is very offhand and liberated, willfully crossing some lines that you won't hear crossed on public radio (which, to this reviewer, is a major feature). |
Broadcast History
Aired on WZBC, Boston, 2/27/04
Transcript
DB: I was doing some readings on a book tour. And I wanted to present it as if it was some kind of religious sales pitch because it has that kind of motivational speech feel to it.
And so it was that David Byrne fell for the charms of Microsoft PowerPoint, a presentation application that finds itself on some 400 million computers worldwide:
DB: It's designed to be fairly intuitive and -- I just started playing around with it and began to realize -- I could make these interesting things. .,,, I could use this thing to make them all into a presentation that ran by itself. I don't know what they are, but I can do it. (6:16)
Byrne's PPT opens up with a series of silhouettes entering the screen, sometimes singly, sometimes in a cascade against an imitation wood masonite panel. Some of the dark profiles look kind of normal; others have been stretched and distorted. Then come the...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
"Jungle Jane," royalty-free audio file packaged with PowerPoint
Two untitled works by David Byrne, courtesy of Moldy Fig Music
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Kari Chapin
Posted on January 24, 2005 at 03:47 AM | Permalink
Review of David Byrne Does PowerPoint
I must admit that I found this piece searching through PRX for things I like. When I found a piece on one of my favorite musicians, I had to listen.
I would like to say that while this piece is visually rich, I think the listener needs to have some knowledge about PowerPoint. I do not, and therefore did not really understand much of what was said. Clearly two sides of the PowerPoint camp are represented in this piece which I liked, but I didn’t come away learning anything new. However, the way the PowerPoint presentations are described is very good, and I could see them in my mind.
I think this piece would work well if there was a strong lead in explanation of PowerPoint and what it could mean to the listener. Also, it seems to me that the very first word we hear is cut off which makes the opening of the piece a bit harder to understand. I must add that I really enjoyed the music at the end. It is kind of spacey and had a computer-y feel to it and I thought that was neat.