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"BAR-MIN-SKI: CONSUMER PRODUCT"
CREATED BY WEBSTER LEWIN, JERRY HESKETH & BILL BARMINSKI
What is "BAR-MIN-SKI: CONSUMER PRODUCT", you ask? This CD-ROM was created in an attempt to capture both the work and the personality of L.A. artist Bill Barminski. Hopefully, it allows users to go beyond what the standard documentary film or artist's catalog would deliver and comes close to the experience of actually getting to know the artist himself. The program contains numerous video clips, original music and other audio and, of course, a large number of paintings. Each of the six sections of this CD-ROM is independent of the others, yet each works to create a desire to seek out more information hidden in other parts of the program.
RealAudio 28.8 "BAR-MIN-SKI: CONSUMER PRODUCT" is available to the general public on a Macintosh and Windows, cross-platform, CD-ROM (US$100.00). This disc has became a cult classic in it's limited edition form, which came packaged "free" with a special $99 can-opener.
Like Bill Barminski's paintings, and music, Consumer Product takes a satiric look at the mass-market imagery that has become so much a part of our culture. It is both a documentary of an artist and an interactive game. Bar-min-ski: Consumer Product contains over 160 of Bill Barminski's paintings, his original music, dozens of his underground comics (including the complete Tex Hitler series), video interviews at his studio, plus "SUBVERT", an interactive ad-venture where you are a professional advertising executive whose job is on the line. This mix of content makes for highly engaging and humorous political art.
This CD-ROM has been exhibited at Museums and Festivals all over the world, most recently at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, as part or "BURNING THE INTERFACE", "ELECTRA 96 at the Heni Onstad Artcenter in Hovikodden, Norway, and at the 25th International Film Festival Rotterdam as part of the "EXPLODING CINEMA" program.
The disc has also been featured on National Public Radio affiliate, KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic and Millimeter magazine's Nowmedia 1 CD-ROM, about multimedia title developers. It was recently featured in WELCOME TO CYBERVILLE, a documentary film by George Haggerty for Channel 4 (U.K.) and The Discovery Channel (USA). "BAR-MIN-SKI: CONSUMER PRODUCT" received an Honorable Mention for Interactive Art in VOYAGER's "NEW VOICES, NEW VISIONS" competition and at the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica '95 in Linz, Austria. It was the only CD-ROM out of hundreds submitted to receive any official recognition there. Last summer it was presented a Siggraph as part of the Lounge@Siggraph '95 Interactive Communities exhibition. "BAR-MIN-SKI: CONSUMER PRODUCT" was presented at the
1994 Toronto International Film Festival and at The New York Festivals
Interactive Multimedia Competition at Image World (where it was awarded a
Bronze Medal). It was one of ten CD-ROMs presented in 1994's Art Futuro
at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia in Madrid. The program
was also displayed at the Dallas Museum of Art as part of the 1994 Dallas
Video Festival.
 
FIND OUT ABOUT OUR NEXT CD-ROM - THE "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CLAMPS".
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