Sound / Music
This link will take you to works that are audio-only.
Video
View my video work here. Most of these involve sound as well.
Writing
If you are tired of looking at pictures and video, follow this link to essays, articles, and poetry.
Photography
Images captured with cameras (primarily digital).
Category-Resistant
This catch-all non-category covers web-based projects, Flash experiments, dance collaborations, and other miscellany.
Home
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My name is Nathan Altice. I am currently enrolled in the Media Art and Text (MATX) PhD program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. For my own studies, the ‘TX’ portion of that acronym tends to focus on video games as both textual and material objects. That is a fancy way of saying that video games are viable objects of critical study; they have cultural and technological histories that a) depend on their hardware/software configurations, and b) extend beyond those configurations to affect other textual objects (including film, the visual arts, and even individual selves).
The ‘MA’ portion of the acronym includes a variety of media. I am primarily a musician, so most of my work involves audio in some capacity. I play guitar, sing, and own a bevy of synthesizers (despite being a poor piano player). I dabble in video, poetry, and all varieties of computer programming (knowledge of many, master of none). Across all media forms, I am generally interested in constrained hardware/software platforms, ‘lo-fidelity’ means of production, software glitches, and obsolete technologies. As a result, my work is continually occupied with vintage video game systems, ‘misused’ consumer-grade technology, and the aesthetics of error and play.
In their book Racing the Beam, professors Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort introduce the field of ‘platform studies.’ A platform is a standardized configuration of hardware (circuits, processors, controllers, etc.) and software (operating system, firmware, file system, etc.) design. These unique configurations influence, control, and constrain creative production, often in subtle ways.
For instance, Bogost and Montfort focus on the Atari VCS (or 2600), an odd but enduring platform designed for playing video games. Specifically, the entirety of its video and audio hardware was geared toward playing only two video games: Pong and Tank. The Atari’s history beyond those two adaptations involves an ever-progressive series of creative workarounds and artistic coding meant to push the machine beyond its initial expectations. The limitations of the machine, dictated by its peculiar TIA (Television Interface Adapter), led to many unexpected forms of creative expression. As the authors explain:
The element of the Atari VCS that stands out when the system is held up to other platforms is the TIA. Even if the machine had been built with a different processor, or had been shipped with controls of some different design, the constraints of the TIA—two sound channels, the line-by-line rendering requirements, the sprite-missile-ball graphics, and so forth—would have left this hypothetical, modified Atari VCS with a similar look and feel when it comes to programming and play. The TIA is strongly tied to the nature of the television’s CRT display. (142)
Video game consoles are excellent platform examples, since they are designed, marketed, and experienced as a single, encapsulated package. Major platforms such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sony PlayStation, and the Nintendo DS each offer unique hardware/software configurations that influence or constrain the realm of possible creative production. But video games are not the only valid examples: the iPod, the Roland TR-808 drum machine, and the Tandy TRS-80 are a few among hundreds of distinct platforms.
My work frequently approaches creative tools as platforms, whether they are consumer-grade digital cameras, vintage video game consoles, or pawn shop cassette recorders. I like the boundaries and limitations of outdated technology in particular. Early computer systems were often drastically limited in their memory, storage, and processing speed. The best programmers and designers of that era had to code efficiently and creatively.
In today’s computing world, it is often an effective creative strategy to employ self-imposed limitations, or more often, to use the tools you have on hand, when professional equipment is either too unwieldy, inaccessible, or expensive. It is equally important to revisit obsolete technologies, since they often possess untapped capabilities when wedded with modern technique and technology.