Soup to Software
Five years in, I am switching up the name of this newsletter to reflect and reestablish what I have been writing about.
Since I started this newsletter, I have tried to take an even-keeled approach to imagining digital experiences and running a business to make them. My aim is to frame the work that I do in a way where each piece or project’s character shines. This started as monthly email updates. While the frequency remains, I changed platforms for publishing and archiving these posts. I have also altered my stance with regards to posting on social media. Given these changes, which I will visit in detail below, I felt it right to update the name of my newsletter. Soup to Software feels right. Let me explain.
Soup to Software is a pun on the phrase “soup to nuts”. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it basically means “from beginning to end”. Its origins stem from American traditions of multi-course meals where soup was often served first and nuts last. I like this pun because it represents me and my practice in a descriptive way. First, I relish in the tedium of handling each stage of my craft myself. Auteurs like surrealist director François Truffaut impacted my thinking about craft at university. I want to approach my work in the same way. Knowing firsthand how things work at each stage of a project is one way to honor the approach of an auteur. Second, I enjoy cooking. So much so, I often wear an apron when I sit down at my desk.1 The ritual of standing in the kitchen, chopping, assembling, and composing a delicious meal exercises many of the same mental muscles as creating a digital experience.
So that is the name change. But, why change at all? In 2020, I decided to wind-down my social media posts. At the time, I did not want to bolster platforms that were not aligned with my values as an artist. As time passed, it has become a simpler reason: I do not want my value to be contingent on social media. My process is slow. The experiences I make (hopefully) speak for themselves. But, they are not able to be directly experienced on social media platforms. My works are not videos or images. I use videos, images, and other source material to create my work. While the accessibility of social media is enticing and lucrative for some, a recap video or a swipe through of different images does not do me or my work justice. Writing in slightly longer format, however, does tap into the context concerning my work. So, a newsletter made sense to me. For the time being, so does cross-posting it to Substack.
To celebrate this name change, I made a simple “interactive soup” which you can see a video recording of me using the webpage above.
-Jono
Visual Music Code Improvisation: Mallow by Curling. Jono Brandel.