This is the first really interesting CD-Rom, we've come across...
(BIZARRE)



ROSE IS A ROSE IS A...
(Sorry, only for the Mackintosh!!!)








Read what the English magazine 'BIZARRE' (June 1998) wrote:

Rose... is a multimedia project from Australian John Watermann. It features a 
combination of freaky and disturbing animations (babies vibrating in a Jacob's 
Ladder flashback style, planes crashing, people who don't look well), his music 
and noises and a selection of weirdy slogans.  This is the first really interesting 
CD-Rom, we've come across, which isn't intended to be either informative or 
educational. It doesn't really have a point but doesn't need one; it's cleverly 
arranged (you navigate your own course through the vast amounts of material 
and can interact with the animations) and basically top-quality weirdness.


or 'OUTBURN #7'

This multimedia project combines experimental atmospheric sounds and noise loops 
with a barrage of unusual, thought provoking, and sometimes tedious, but always bizarre
visual images and interfaces. Composed of three segments with about 40 'movies' each, 
as well as three separate audio tracks, the viewer must navigate through the pictures
and hidden buttons until they reach the end or get thoroughly baffled by an image and 
give up.



Well, we don't want you to give up!  Therefore, for the first time, 
we have supplied you with a special key (just click on the thumbnail)
to unlock the secrets of ROSE IS A ROSE IS A... You can make a printout and 
use it if you are getting really stuck (spoiling of course your last full 
enjoyment of this millenium). It also gives you some indication 
of what to expect...








CD LINER NOTES
 
When Margaret  Thatcher  belted: "A crime is a crime is a crime 
is a crime...", she joined ranks with those unfortunate breakfast 
announcers,  ad-men and journalists, who probably never read a single 
line by Gertrude Stein in their life. G.S. didn't use  the phrase:  
"A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose..." What she actually wrote was: 
"Rose  is a rose is a rose is a rose...", meaning the girl"s name and 
comparing it to the flower.


Concocted in the same lab, which spewed out those 5 infamous editions 
of 'lean yellow supporting' - currently taken off the internet - John 
Watermann has opted for a deliberate rebuff against strenuous and 
frustrating downloading times and given us his bizarre world neatly 
packaged on a CD ROM, plus some never released bonus tracks from 
his vast audio archive. Over three years in the making (from the end 
of 1994 till December 1997), thus was born a work which contains 
levels of disturbing information concerning not so much traditional 
stories enhanced by photographs, movies, animation and snippets of 
literature, but rather the pseudo narrative process per se, letting 
the unity of the work rest on a deliberate non-unity between its text 
and images. In other words, the viewer has to be prepared to integrate
 a nonlinear, very much disjointed body of random fragments into a 
coherent structure or he will quickly fall to the road side. 
Watermann's crazy language therefore will only hold its own frightening 
reality until toppled over by the interpretation of the viewer. The aim 
right from the very beginning was never to enforce any intended meaning
 of the author, but rather let the viewer's subjective interpretation deal 
with the material and take ultimately control.  For those who accept that 
value judgements are only power plays and who can deal with the lack of 
meaning by creating their own reality, will be highly rewarded by this 
challenging project.

Known mainly as a musician and sound artist, Watermann has used an 
especially developed noise random generator for some of the animations, 
resulting in ever new noise constellations, which can run in the background 
for days or weeks on end. Can you guess the degree of mayhem awaiting you? 
"Nothing wrong with your computer, it's meant that way", warns the message 
coming up for the ever timid soul



Distribition: Staalplaat or Artware