Netmage 2005: The no.signal Proposals

For Netmage 2005, the entity known as no.signal put forward two proposals. The presentation was built as a small interactive page: visitors were invited to click buttons to read more about each project. The page identified no.signal as a concept by e/n, with tech and design by egzero.org, and asked viewers to use a recent browser at a resolution of at least 1024x768. A further button led to other projects, and another returned to the main page.

What survives of that presentation is less a manifesto than a set of materials. The page framed the two proposals as sample materials, gathered under the headings audio, video, and www, and credited to g.davis, s.roux, and m.casalegno. The emphasis fell on exclusive new collaborations and on a trailer made specifically for the Netmage proposal.

The Collaborators and the Materials

The names attached to the proposal are Greg Davis, Sebastien Roux, and Mattia Casalegno. The page presented their contributions as a compact portfolio rather than a finished programme. Two collaborative works by Roux and Davis were listed as exclusive: the audio pieces tidalpool and good decision. The same two titles also appeared as video, described as an exclusive trailer for the Netmage proposal. In other words, the proposal offered both sound and moving image versions of the same pair of titles, positioning them as the centrepiece of the submission.

Around that centrepiece, the page collected other material. From Curling Pond Woods, dated 2004, came two audio pieces by Greg Davis: Brocade and Centermost. From Pillow, released on apestaartje in 2004, came Sebastien Roux's II. From the E.A.G.D.B.E compilation on 12K, also dated 2004, came Roux's Biratori. Two videos, kinotek_1 and kinotek_2, were credited as using S. Roux's music. Finally, two web addresses were listed: www.autumnrecords.net and www.kinotek.org.

How the Proposal Was Presented

The structure of the page is worth noting because it reflects how netlabel and electronic art proposals circulated at the time. There was no long argument for why these works belonged at Netmage. Instead, the page acted as a listening and viewing station. The visitor chose a category, clicked, and encountered a title. The trailer for the proposal sat alongside older, already-released tracks, so the new collaborations were framed by prior work rather than isolated from it.

The page also carried a note for visitors whose browsers could not display frames, directing them to a related document. This small technical caveat is a reminder that the presentation depended on a particular way of browsing, and that the experience was designed as much as the content was.

What the Record Shows

The available context supports a modest set of facts. Netmage 2005 received two proposals under the no.signal name. no.signal is described as a concept by e/n, with tech and design by egzero.org. The proposals were presented with sample audio, video, and web materials by Greg Davis, Sebastien Roux, and Mattia Casalegno. The exclusive new collaborations were tidalpool and good decision, by Roux and Davis, offered in both audio and video form, with the video described as an exclusive trailer. Additional audio came from Curling Pond Woods (2004), Pillow on apestaartje (2004), and the E.A.G.D.B.E compilation on 12K (2004). Two kinotek videos used S. Roux's music, and two websites were listed.

Beyond those points, the page does not explain the selection criteria, the duration of the works, or the outcome of the proposals. It does not describe the venue, the dates of the festival, or the response to the submission. Readers looking for a full account of Netmage 2005 will not find it here. What the page offers is a snapshot of a proposal in transit: a set of titles, credits, and formats assembled to make a case through examples rather than argument.

That restraint is itself informative. The presentation treats the work as the statement. The two proposals are not summarised in prose; they are demonstrated through audio and video, with the trailer standing in for the event to come. The page remains a record of how a collaborative electronic art proposal was packaged and shown, and of the specific works that were put forward under the no.signal name for Netmage 2005.