Mary Steward's 'Creativity Lecture' kick-off for Art Week 2009

Mary Stewart, Artist in Residence, was chosen to kick off the much anticipated and exciting “Art Week” at St. Mary’s College. She delivered her Creativity Lecture in Cole Cinema on Monday evening October 26, 2009. It was well attended and she did not disappoint.

Full of energy and wit, Stewart managed to provide us with exercises to get past artist’s block and open our imaginations to engineering new projects. Exercises designed to stimulate trains of thought, recombination of thoughts and ways to access previously unassociated elements were not just fun but enlightening.

I was impressed with how quickly she could teach her word association trick she had designed to access subject matter. More than that, she addressed a major roadblock experienced by many artists: the inability to consolidate. Most artists are encouraged to focus on “expanding their minds”, but selection might be a greater challenge. I appreciated Steward’s advice to first open and then “contract”. She gave the analogy of a snake eating. It must first open wide to partake, then contract to force the morsel in the right direction, an ever expanding and contracting process.

Stewart shared not just her intelligent approach but her exuberant joy of the art experience. She provided concrete methods to enhance our ability to create while finding ways to make the process more painless. In essence, she made it simple.

Interrupted Lives: Human Migration in War and Peace

The Boyden Gallery presented the works of Keiko Ishii Eckhart and Amze Emmons during the Fall 2009 session of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Both artists addressed the migration of common people. Both used similar mediums: graphite, acrylics and cut outs, although Eckhard used silkscreen, and very well at that. Eckhart sought to study migration patterns based on her personal family history. Her historic perspective was shared by many Japanese families during pre-war and WWII political policies. Emmons, however, used a variety of urban situations to demonstrate his belief that all spaces, and the division of these spaces, are political. The Boyden Gallery added another aspect to the human migration experience by including an interactive Google Earth installation, allowing show attendees the opportunity to map their own migration.

Eckhardt's studies were based on the effects of the war between the United States and Japan when working class immigrants were caught in the middle. The story she told incorporated many official documents, records, and personal journals into her pieces in order to confront her family’s migration nightmare. While her great grandfather opted to remain in America, ending up in a Japanese internment camp, the great grand uncle had returned to Japan in time to survive the bombing of Hiroshima. Both individuals were dramatically caught in the tangle of world events they were powerless to predict. Eckhard proficiently illustrated the influences these forces exerted on the futures of themselves and their following generations.

Emmon’s work dealt more current situations; homelessness, urban transportation, and urban plights. He used pencil and acrylics as if they were strong watercolors to present his migration issues. I’m not sure about his point of view concerning migration except that he felt it was about appropriation and re-appropriation of space, and most of my understanding of his point came from his lecture. Barriers were a big element in all of his pieces and he did manage to capture a ghostly emptiness of city dwelling. To me, however, much of his worked seemed sloppy and unrefined. He may have lost me as an audience as I was preoccupied by the unfinished quality his work. I do not think any single piece he offered could have stood alone and I believe it was the sheer number of pieces that carried his theme into the show.

It seems to me that Eckhard’s work would, and should, have been more political than the social issues presented by Emmons. This is simply because she is looking at a war between huge powers, while Emmons is addressing more common urban issues like transportation and homelessness, which in our experience is more economic or even weather driven. Eckhard’s work felt personal. She captured my attention and projected me into the work where I could feel the pain, fear, and frustration of world changes and migration insecurities I may never have addressed without her. I found Eckhard’s work more esthetically pleasing than Emmons. Her sense of color was more appealing to me. Her colors were more earthy yet delicate than the bold, primary colors used by Emmons. His presentation, possibly by design, was more primitive in many ways.

The Google Earth installation which was added to the show “for audience participation” was fun for anyone who had not ever tried it before. I think it could have been improved if the migrations of all the individuals who mapped their personal migration could have been accumulated with all the others. It might have been a good demonstration of how much Americans, or at least college students, move about. It could have been titled “Peace time movements of the St. Mary’s College population” and strengthened the shows intentions to present migration during war and peace.

BetaSpace: New Media Art

http://www.betaspace.org/

While looking for a new New Media Artist, I stumbled upon this ‘new’ website BetaSpace: New Media Art (2003). While looking around inside this ‘new’ site it dawned on me that it is a pretty nice piece of new media art itself. Eric Cheng, Liam Aleguire, Jay Kelly and Ethan Smith met at Cal State University Hayward and joined their collective talents together to create a venue for a New Media Art community and platform. Their mission statement:

“The BetaSpace project was originally conceived by four Graduate Students in California, with the goal of creating a platform for more artistic, personal expression on the Internet. Almost one year after its initial launch, the BetaSpace project has evolved into its current form- an organic, online new media art venue that will continue to evolve and grow based upon the response of its audience base.” (BetaSpace:New Media Art)

Although their initial concept has changed somewhat, their website is uncomplicated and enjoyable. Art selection is easy and the offerings are interesting.

I like the ‘evolution’ this site has gone through: the exercise of adaptability. BetaSpace is a great example of having to alter the form, format and even the intention as it discovers new problems or requirements through time and virtual space, activities of real artists, activities of life.

The original logo was very simple and relatively meaningless. It was updated to reflect the website creators' inspiration by the Dadaists in particular Marcel DuChamp. A modernized version of The Fountain (1917) serves to represent their artistic expression and message, that new media art is art.

The original concept for the site was to have a community which selected new art together but the originators have altered that approach. Public nominations are still accepted but now the website creators decide which will be posted.

Still an interactive community, they have a really cool approach to New Media discussions. BetaSpace has divided the forum into three forums; the ‘Community’, ‘Right Brain’ and ‘Left Brain’. The community “focuses on expanding our diverse community” (BetaSpace). It allows networking with other artists, discussions about art and critiquing of posted art. The Right Brain forum is about the exchange of ideas and feeling. They accept verbal and non-verbal commentary and provide an ‘anti-commercial’ section for artist protesting art for money. The Left Brain forum is for the discussion of technical aspects of New Media art. Divided into sections (like Dreamweaver MX) participants can post questions and/or offer assistance to each other.

This sorting approach to the complexity of New Media Art discussion really appeals to me. I have found New Media Art twice as challenging as the “old-fashioned” pen and ink approach. To produce any quality product one has to be able to envision, compose and then manipulate complicated, ginormous programs like Google Earth and Dreamweaver.

Although there are four creators, everything seems to be divided into three as exemplified by the three galleries: Rinalifervey, Ace, Etrismoonefiess. While the gallery names and/or the reason for gallery divisions eludes me, it is still quite easy to click around to see the online art and artist statements.

I like this site better than Rhizome (http://www.rhizome.org/ ) or Mark Tribe’s New Media https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/New+Media+Art) sites because of the streamlined approach and user friendliness. I hope Billy adds this website to his class resources for the next Intro to Digital class for two reasons: support the venue for New Media Art and provide more alternatives for students’ selections.

'Full Metal Jacket Elves by KoogerNewgin1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydF9rHC02Hg

The Full Metal Jacket Elves (FMJE) video is an 'inappropriate soundtrack' video art clip that dubs the original intact audio of Sgt. Hartman's boot camp motivational speech over an edited visual Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer elf workshop scene. Credited to KoogerNewgin1, it was initially posted in February 2007 but no other information for 'him' seems to be available. Now available on 352 websites, the well-done video circulates in e-mail attachments and Facebook uploads every Christmas season (YouTube.com).

I selected the FMJE clip after viewing the disappointing clips of some similar artwork from the Inappropriate Soundtracks show by John Michael Boling and Ceci Moss newly opened on Rhizome.com. These clips reminded me immediately of the FMJE clip which by comparison is a superior product. The anonymous video editor of FMJE did a truly excellent job of matching audio with video. His creation is a delightfully wicked, tongue-in-cheek version of what a sweat shop Santa's toy shop would at Christmas. It is hysterically fun and shockingly funny to watch although it not formally acknowledged as art.

Anonymous posting seems to belong to much of video art. The only reason I can think of for not taking credit for a marvelously entertaining piece like FMJE would be that some may find the product controversial or offensive. The materials are appropriated from copyrighted materials and law suits could ensue. Perhaps there is too much controversy surrounding combination of childhood movies with adult content. Perhaps the fun of making the clip has to be satisfaction enough for these artists. Perhaps the trouble and unlikelihood of getting permission for such questionable combinations makes anonymous posting an unfortunate requisite of new media art appropriation.

References:

Boling, John Michael and Cecil Moss. [Internet]Inappropriate Soundtracks. Available at

http://www.rhizome.org/

KoogerNewgin1. [Internet] Full Metal Jacket Elves. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydF9rHC02Hg

'Hypochondria'

Hypochondria 2006

http://monicaong.com/art/hypo.shtml

Malaysian New Media artist Monica Ong’s intention with her art is to “investigate social hierarchies and cultural silences in the context of public health” (Ong). Hypochondria 2006 is one of her investigations into the mental health of her uncle and the story of how it affects the care-giving close knit family.

Ong grabs the viewers attention with the ghostly photograph of her uncle mounted on a simple wooden box and hung quietly on a wall. The image is unworldly and engenders an uncomfortable curiosity. Without written instructions, Ong draws the viewer into voluntary interaction with the stethoscope hanging next to the photo. To hear the story the viewer must place the stethoscope into their ears and listen to the audio box as if they are the doctor experiencing the helplessness of the afflicted man and his family and the sadness of the healer’s inability to cure.

The chilling recording of her uncle’s hushed and frightened conversation with Ong’s father and her quiet voice with her overview of his story creates a grievous painful account of the drama within the family. Although initially I felt the recording was far too long and monotonous I think she uses the lengthy piece to illustrate the ongoing, never-ending anguish of mental illness.

Hypochondria is gallery-hung at Rhizome but is available online at her own website as well as Twitter and Facebook. She uses the social networks to present her social commentary, which I thought was interesting although you must friend Ong to view her works on Facebook.


Facebook.com http://www.facebook.com/monicaong

Ong, Monica. [Internet] About me. Available at
http://monicaong.com/about/index.shtml

Rhizome.com [Internet] Monica Ong Available at http://www.rhizome.org/profile.php?1025211

Twitter.com, [Internet] Monica Ong. Available at
http://twitter.com/mongmedia

'Five Elements' by Rashaad Newsome

http://www.rashaadnewsome.com/content.php

http://eyebeam.org/projects/five

Eyebeam resident Rashaad Newsome combines modern dance performances with computer technology that interpretes the performers’ maneuvers into line drawings. Newsome choreographed standard movements from different styles of vogue dancing to produce the ongoing collection named Five Elements. Each addition to the collection includes live dance performances, original music, video recording of each dance, video recorded computer drawing and the final “translated” hard-copy line drawings.

All three basic styles of vogue dancing lend themselves to capture by line drawing. Once you see Newsome’s work, dance-to-drawing seems the natural, obvious next step. Old Way Voguing from 1930-1980 “is characterized by formation of lines, symmetry, and precision in the execution of such formations and graceful, fluid-like action” . In 1990 the New Way Vogue dance style became popular. New Way is more geometric and mime-like, with rigid movement patterns used to demonstrate the the dancer’s entertainment skills and coordination. Finally, Vogue Fem is “the most extreme” version. It includes exaggerated feminine movements with ballet jumps, acrobatics and flips.(Wikipedia).

According to Eyebeam.org, Newsome is interested in “vogueing and its use of body language and gestures as a means of communication” (Eyebeam.org). Five Elements is based on the five elements of competitive vogue dancing; hands, spins, catwalk, duckwalk, and dips.

Newsome’s original choreography is based on studying two dancers he hired to perform the different styles of vogue. He created dances from this research and choreographed them to his original music which is loosely based on chamber music and possibly his weakest talent. Dancers practiced his routines before performing for a live audience. These performances were video recorded. At the same time the computer-generated drawing was produced onscreen by the computer interpreter .

'Five Elements' chronicles the evolution of this urban dance style. More than that, it may be chronicling the subtle changes in urban societies. I think his video recording could be of historical interest to urban anthropologists. The basic elements of vogueing have been evolving since the 1930’s and are considered the origin of several dance forms, including break dancing. Vogue routines have made it into the mainstream via dancers like Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. Vogue movements reflect changes in urban values, morays and disciplines. The line drawings could become a record of emotional currents that change with the each generation. Right now, Newsome’s productions are pleasing to the senses and interesting to both urban and rural people as a new take on performance art. His line drawings may be the next evolution in abstracts.

References:

Eyebeam.org. [Internet] Five. Available at

http://eyebeam.org/projects/five

Newsome, Rashaad, http://www.rashaadnewsome.com/

Wikipedia [Internet] Vogue dance. Available at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(dance)

BUST DOWN THE DOOR AGAIN! WITH DRUMS AND STRINGS GATES OF HELL-VICTORIA VERSION Y0UNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES

Professor Young Hae Chang, Korean artist, and Marc Voge, American poet, joined their artistic skills together to produce powerful graphic animations. They employed the Flash animation tool to combine color, text and music videos under the name Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. They produced BUSTED DOWN THE DOORS! in 2000. In 2004 they revised the original text color from red to black, added the Korean translation of the existing English text and changed the soundtrack (Tribe and Jana). The re-release of the video as BUST DOWN THE DOOR AGAIN! GATES OF HELL WITH DRUMS AND STRINGS-VICTORIA VERSION was a smart move by the artist. With the possible effect stimulating interest by allowing comparison of the two versions, they may have intentionally or unintentionally increased interest in the rest of the company productions. It did for me. Unfortunately, the complete original video of BUSTED DOWN THE DOORS! does not seem to be available and I found only a few frames of the original version to compare the two.










2000 version











2004 version
Forced by the rhythm of the music and the synchronized, rapid pace of the changing screens of black and white text, the VICTORIA VERSION is so powerful it raised my heartbeat and my blood pressure with the effort to keep up with the intense story of a midnight invasion by unknown armed assailants. Beginning with a dramatic numeric countdown I already felt some sort of increased tension. The dramatic story line is presented in capital letter of cold, harsh font. It elicits the fear-sensation that should accompany this terrifying tale. Without the drumming rhythm reinforcing the threat, some of the intensity may not have been captured. The unknown-ness of who the attackers were in BUSTED DOWN THE DOOR! made me question how safe I feel in my country, triggering an uncomfortable insecurity that I may not know all of the possibilities . The addition of the Korean translation suggested that perhaps raiders do bust doors down at midnight in countries like Korea which added to the nightmare-feeling.

The Brown University review of BUST DOWN THE DOORS! (2000) added an insight into one of the reasons for the videos’ effectiveness, pointing out Young-Hae Heavy Industries used the first, second and third person pronouns to afford more than one narrative perspective (Brown University).

The VICTORIA VERSION maintained the same text as the original but added a THE GATES OF HELL photo from Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries work installed in the Rodin Gallery, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea. The installation GATES OF HELL display consisted of red text of nine Internet refrigerators depicting the artists’ “unusual way of presenting Net Art. Advertisers would have us believe that the Internet refrigerator puts the housewife at the cutting-edge of modern, hi-tech life. We titled our piece THE GATES OF HELL because, on the contrary, we feel that their refrigerator helps keep women in the kitchen.”. While their opinion is appreciated on its own merit, the addition of the GATES OF HELL photograph as intro to BUSTED DOWN THE DOOR!, it
creates more questions than answers. They may have GATES OF HELL photograph
intended to use one piece of art to promote another piece
of their work but unintentional created confusion that detracts from the BUSTED DOWN THE DOOR! story.


The online version of BUSTED DOWN THE DOORS AGAIN! WITH DRUMS AND STRINGS THE GATES OF HELL-VICTORIA VERSION I viewed online at Young-Hae Heavy Industries website does not include the GATES OF HELL photo. They may have decided to reduce any confusion or distraction this color image created. Envisioning the color intro page as opposed to the monochromatic “YOUNG-HAE HEAVY INDUSTRIES PRESENTS” on the current intro page, I think it’s more powerful the way is currently presented.


Tribe, Mark, Reena Jana, New Media Art – Introduction. Available at https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/New+Media+Art+-+Introduction

Brown University (Anon). [Internet] Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Available at
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Young-Hae+Chang+Heavy+Industries

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. BUSTED DOWN THE DOOR! WITH DRUMS AND STRINGS GATES OF HELL-VICTORIA VERSION. Available at http://www.yhchang.com/BUST_DOWN_THE_DOOR!_Rodin.html

The Twentyfivefold Manifestation by Brody Condon

SonsbeekLive: the TwentyfiveFold Manifestation was an outdoor performance art live game/exhibit. The event took place in historic Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, The Netherlands during the 10th Sonsbeek International Sculpture Exhibition. The annual show is well-known for its efforts to involve society in art. Works were installed in the natural forest setting where organizer Brody Condon incorporated his game TwentyfiveFold Manifestation “as a work of live public art” viewed by the thousands of exhibition attendees. Condon intended to enhance Anna Tilroe’s art show ‘Granduer on a human scale’ about “the urge, the dream, the conflict and the struggle that linked to this aspiration” (http://www.sonsbeek2008.nl/read/en/home). Concurrently, the game offered individuals complete immersion in a ‘futuristic’ world. A total of eighty players/performers participated in intervals of three days at a time over summer of 2008.

Although each character had an improvisational role, the game had a highly-organized structure. It was designed as an exercise of physical, psychological and emotional experience of a fantasy, futuristic, ritualized society. Each three day ‘episode’ was composed of 30 players in basic ‘bands’ of five character types each. Bands of players converged with other groups of players in the future holy forest’s tower where the all resided together to vie for favors from the 'Immortals'. They immersed themselves into an unfamiliar world of deity worship manifest in the objects of art borrowed from sculpture exhibition. Each participant could play as many times as desired and paid the Euro40 for each ‘session’.

The “Forest Guardians of the Immortals” (Condon and his assistants) worked pre-game directly with the participants through the Internet. Bands and groups were constructed, roles were arranged online prior to arrival at the park. An interesting variety of roles were combined for each episode, including the Archivist, the Scholar and the Navigator. Roles were not assigned but discussed and adapted.


The goal of enhancing the exhibit was considerably thought out for both the show attendees and the game participants. The opening exhibit event was a procession that took the art ‘to the streets’. Local Arnhem residents carried some of the portable art show objects. Volunteer game players carried one of their players in costume as their contribution to the parade of art. The procession had a multi-faceted affect: casting art in a celebratory light, introducing the ‘game’ as an art exhibit and introducing the players to the various objects representing their embodied deities, a huge part of the game play.

To justify TwentyfiveFold Manifestation as a New Media art piece is a little bit of a stretch. It’s classification as such is probably based, at least in part, on Condon’s reputation for modified computer games like Adam Killer. Condon has a reputation for a long-term “interest in blurring games and life” (Rhizome). Without Internet communication, however, this performance art may not have been attempted. Promotion was on line. Participant selection and entry was online. Band selection and modification was online, etc. etc. The smooth, rapid flow of information was essential for this complicated game play/art exhibit to be successful. The possibility of this human experiment was potentially disastrous without the intense, daily communications between the organizers (the Forest Guardians of the Immortals) and the participants. Its failure could have dramatically marred the “Granduer” exhibit if this addition failed. Success was ‘virtually’ guaranteed by the Internet.

The game does rub elbow with the ‘sci-fi’ themes of ‘retro-futuristic’ societies recovering from near destruction. Technology was also available during play, given to players by “the Immortals”. Specifics were not supplied in the Player’s Guide.

Classification as New Media Art may be justified in yet another way. Although not an entirely original game (i.e. Survivor), it was an entirely unique approach to promoting an outdoor sculpture exhibition. This performance art certainly added a human dimension. The reverent use of art objects as icons or images, acted out by the performance artists may have stimulated a reminder that art should be treated with reverence. Players who worshipped the art and viewers who watched their rituals may have been reminded of the indefinable nature of art, the ‘Granduer’.

Although, I found no reviews of either the success of Condon’s experiment or the Sculpture Exhibit, there were plenty of listings available on Google.com that encouraged interest and attendance. Based on my experiences with live performances I would guess SonsbeekLive: the TwentyfiveFold Manifestation generated greater interest and depth for the exhibit contributing to the annual show and Brody Condon’s reputation in the New Media Art world.

I do think it would have had a very different feeling than the interactive reenacted roles I have experienced, like the role of Godiah Spray at Historic St. Mary’s City or Civil War reenactments. In Condon’s game, players treat park visitors as “wandering spirits that are simultaneously feared and respected, as well as impossible to communicate with” (Sonsbeek Players Guide). Players were informed they were allowed to create their own way of coping with the ghost but it is unclear whether visitors were informed unless they read the Players Guide before arriving at the exhibit.

The only reference to visitor behavior in the Guide was “the artviewer will experience the game like birdwatching”. For me, this one ‘rule’ was the only not well-thought detail of the game. Human curiosity could make the desire to question or communicate with players a point of contention since they did not get a choice in the matter. This, to me would, most likely, create dissatisfaction for the at least some of the viewers, that they were not allowed to interact with the characters they were presented.

I hope it was a successful experiment. The Player's Guide seemed constructed to make the participatory experience valuable and designed to attract attention to the Granduer Show. Brody Condon continues his efforts to blur the lines between life and games.

References

Rhizome.org. Previous Posts, Enchanted Forest [Internet]. Available at
http://www.rhizome.org/editorial/fp/month.php?month=200807

Sonsbeek 2008. Unique tradition. Legendary reputation [Internet]. Available at http://www.sonsbeek2008.nl/read/en/home

Sonsbeeklive.org. The Players Guide [Internet]. Available at
http://www.sonsbeeklive.org/playersguide.html

"Climate Shifts" 2007-8

Climate Shifts 2007-8

by Christa Erickson

Christa Erickson used an RSS news feed of news, weather and time to highlight and compare how different focuses and concerns manifest at various locations around the world. She used weather and headline news to establish differing local group psyches of "political, environmental cultural, and temporal influences" (Erickson).

Projected overhead onto the underside of an umbrella, she used a light pollution projection for background to locate the current, local news headlines. The 12 sections of the umbrella top were assigned hours of a clock with projected hands that spin and show current times at the different locals.

I surmised that Erickson meant to communicate she was covering the world in time and space. Her installation is attractive, inventive and thought-provoking. It creates a positive feeling about issues we are not always comfortable considering. An umbrella infers coverage: perhaps covering the news, covering the globe, covering the hot topics of the day. Those of us under the umbrella are included. There is a kindness about it. Umbrellas imply safety: a place where we can safely look at not just our differences but our commonality. We all have weather after all.

The elevated location of the umbrella forces us to look up and suggests a positive future for all of us under the umbrella. The distance away from the viewer gives us space to think while, at the same time, space to separate ourselves and take a look at how other people view the shared world.

One addition I think would add another little element to her "glimpse into the collective" would be a computer to enter the viewer's home address with a projection of "You are Here" so that we can place ourselves into the world she has projected.

This project was funded in part by a Fellowship from Sculpture Space, Utica, NY, an artist-in-residence facility. Erickson generously included her programmer's name, Raed Atoui, as a contributor. I appreciate her doing that as it seems to be over-looked by many of the new media artist

Reference:

Erickson, Christa, Internet available at http://emedia.art.sunysb.edu/christa/artist.html

Net Art Generator
1999
by Cornelia Sollfrank

According to the start up screen for Cornelia Sollfrank’s Net Art Generator, “a clever artist makes the machine do the work!” The Net Art Generator software evolved from Sollfrank’s Female Extension, her 1997 project which produced 289 different net art pieces by fake female artists. In order to expose her perceived bias for male artists in the Art World, cyberfeminist Sollfrank flooded the Extension competition hosted by Hamburg Art Museum Gallery of Contemporary Art of Hamburg, Germany with fabricated female entries (Tribe and Janna) . To facilitate production of the large number of individual and unique works for each of the bogus entries, she created a complex net art generator by combining four generators commissioned from different computer programmers. She combined their different solutions into one version with all of them available on a start up screen. Each generator culls images and text from existing HTML materials selected from different search engines and randomly combines and reassembles them into collage art (Media Art Net).

While Female Extension deliberately evokes questions about societal favoritism toward males, Net Art Generator begs more subtle questions about art in general. Are machines capable of producing real art? If machines can produce art, is the art as valuable to us as art from humans? Do we value the artist or just the product? Since the original images are appropriated by the art generator who owns the art? Who gets credit for the art work? Does the randomness of the images eliminate any possible meaning or message? Have we reduced “art” to selections of pleasing images or even not so pleasing images? What is art?

Answers to some of my questions may lie in the results of the Extension competition. She didn’t win. Not one of the 289 fake creations she entered placed in the top three. Sollfrank used her loss to three male entries to claim bigotry toward women. I suspect her products were inferior to the winners. I expect the judges were highly qualified to make impersonal, objective evaluations. I expect it was a diverse panel with judges like Feminist Valie Export participating (Tribe and Janna). I suspect they looked for qualities absent in Sollfrank’s work, possibly substance and well-thought-out creativity.

She may have won if she had presented Net Art Generator as her entry. The software she produced may be the real art as opposed to the art produced by it. The software is creative and powerful. Although it leaves questions of authorship open for debate, it is a time saver. The images have depth and interest. I still don’t know if they qualifiy as anything more than commercial art.

For me, fine art should have meaning or evoke emotion. Perhaps less restricted thinkers experience their own emotions out of randomness better than I do. For me, the art generator may be better employed as a “jumping-off” point where the software image could be deliberately manipulated to produce thought and meaning behind the products. As a time saver, I can see using a generator to quickly look for interesting textures and color combinations, backgrounds. As a final museum quality art product I agree with the judges decision: the images fall short of a Gallery competition winner.

References:

Media Art Net. [Internet]. Cornelia Sollfrank, Net Art Generator. Available at http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/net-art-generator/images/7/

Tribe, Mark and Renee Janna, New Media Art. [Internet] Cornelia Sollfrank. Available at https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Cornelia+Sollfrank

ASCII History of Moving Images

http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/film/

Vuk Cosic created ASCII History of Moving Images in 1998 by reformatting seven historic, well-known film movies; each from a different genre, each with a different twist on the computer language he applied to the clips. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters were used in place of pixels which gives the viewers the illusion of more three-dimensionality (Wikipedia). The variety of shapes and sizes of the characters gave the film images a textural quality while maintaining a simplified, flattened appearance of historic snippets of Lumiere, Eisenstein, King Kong, Star Trek,· Blow Up, Psycho and Deep Throat. First shown in Stedelijk in October 1998, you can view the seven clips at his Official History of Net.art Volume III (ljudmila.org)

He generated the film images out of monochromatic, neon green ‘light’ characters, reminiscent of computer terminals of the 1980s on a black screen background to keep the antiquated feel to his project. His fight was to keep this and other aging media alive. He used ASCII to evoke “not only a peculiar episode in the history of computer culture but a number of earlier forms of media and communication technologies as well (Cosic). It successfully represents the translation from one time to another, from one format to another, from one media to another (Shulgin).

ASCII History of Moving Images is an excellent example of Cosic efforts “to point out the radically new nature of media, staging as opposed to hiding its new properties”. As and engineer and artist (an “enginartist” perhaps), Cosic pushed the limits of standard application of computer products. As he puts it, “ the basic idea was not to accept the off-the-shelf products because it implicitly means the acceptance of the limits of the Engineer’s creativity” (Cosic).

Cosic stated his treatment of two out of seven of his film remakes. For the 1930s film Luminere he chose to superimpose digital over the image and then translate into ASCII. He applied a mosaic filter, a “Mondrian-like abstraction” for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. While he did not state his reasons for the rest of his selections in this project, I believe they were eye-catching (Blow Up), familiar (Star Trek) and erotic (Deep Throat). The addition of Deep Throat was a surprise but, let's face it, sex sells. Cosic actually states that it's not about the art, it's about money. More than that, it's astonishing how well the sex scene carries through pixelation using ASCII characters. Our minds seem to be able to fill in all the important parts.

One more interesting effect he added to over the screen was a "scratch". I loved the special effect the scratch line helped capture. I think it was the finishing touch to elicit the feel of very old films. It adds the same antiquated feel or familiarity we get from the Star Trek and Psycho clips. Perfect for online art, he lives up the the coined net.art label that has been attached to him.

References:

Cosic, Vuk, The Official History of Net.art, Volume III [internet. Available at http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/film/

Cosic, Vuk, Untitled Document [internet]. Available at http://www.wuk.at/kunsthalle/archiv/1999/SiQ99/e7.htm.

ljudmila.org. ASCII Architecture [internet] Available at www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/film/

Shulgin, Untitle Document [internet]. Availabel at www.wuk.at/kunsthalle/archi/1999/SiQ99/e7.htm.

Wikipedia, Vuk Cosic [internet]. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuk_%C4%86osi%C4%87

Wasting the Bay

Wasting the Bay revision

Wasting the Bay

Cody on Cage on Joyce by Cody Trepte

Cody on Cage on Joyce (2008) is “a writing through a writing” according to the artist’s own description (Trepte, Rhizome.org). Cody Trepte pays tribute to two of the artists who inspired him: James Joyce and John Cage. He gives us a powerful sense of artistic legacy (Trepte), updating their early works using his random word generation program. Trepte employs 21st century technology to rework the text of Fourth Writing through Finnegan’s Wake (1972). Written by avant-garde artist John Cage, Fourth Writing was, in turn, based on randomized selections of Finnegans Wake a novel written by James Joyce in 1939. Joyce’s contribution to this litany of randomization is, in itself, idiosyncratic (Wikipedia). Joyce spent almost 20 years combining over 60 languages into an invented strange language for the book he wanted “to convey what goes on in a dream, during a dream”.

Like Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and Cage’s Fourth Writing through Finnegan’s Wake, Cody on Cage on Joyce pokes light-hearted fun at our need to make sense out of nonsense. In all three works, letters as well as words are combined at random. Capital letters appear anywhere within a group of letters, suspending our normal rules of language to create that dream quality.

Unlike Joyce’s or Cage’s work, however, Cody on Cage on Joyce is not static, finalized into a permanent text. It is plastic, changing with each ‘refresh’ of the browser. Trepte felt the internet was the perfect medium for Cody on Cage on Joyce (Trepte) and I agree. Although the text is considered “unreadable” (Rhizome.org) the fun of this project is to try: try to read it, try to make sense of it, try it on again. The project has the feel of a magic eight ball where we eagerly await the next ‘answer’, no matter how absurd. After each new selection we have an opportunity to generate a new story of our very own. Each new refresh has a charming quality of personal possession since nobody else will ever have exactly the same version. My inability to post a section of the text from the "launch Art" site, makes that feeling even stronger. I accessed the work at Rhizome.org but it is also available on CD.

The poetic-verse structure of Cody on Cage on Joyce elicits the comforting sense of rhythm that poetry provides. It is enlightening and delightful when we experience the limitless power of our brains to create new connections and produce our own story from the available ‘nonsense’ and randomness. Personally, I found it is endlessly entertaining.

Citations:

Trepte, Cody. …might be good. Artist Space: Cody Trepte [Internet]. Available at http://www.fluentcollab.org/mbg/index.php/artistsspace/index/94.

Trepte, Cody. Cody on Cage on Joyce [Internet]. Available at https://webmail.smcm.edu/OWA/redir.aspx?C=ba769135409f4b159836432cdf201072&URL=http%3a%2f%2frhizome.org%2fobject.php%3f48567

Trepte, Cody. Statements: Cody Trepte [Internet]. Available at https://webmail.smcm.edu/OWA/redir.aspx?C=ba769135409f4b159836432cdf201072&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.codytrepte.com%2findex.php%3f%2finfo%2fstatements%2f.

Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, Finnegans Wake [Internet]. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_Wake.

Review of DIALTONES: A TELESYMPHONY

I found DIALTONES: A TELESYMPHONY brilliant. Creative and inventive, this complicated acoustic production was performed entirely from the pre-programmed sounds of 200 wireless mobile telephones. The unique approach and completely original composition by Golan Levin and Scott Gibbons was first presented in 2001 in Lintz, Austria at the TAKEOVER: the 2001 Ars Electronica Festival and again at the Arteplage Mobile de Jura in 2002.

The Dialtones project was both organizationally and technologically complex. Levin, Gibbons and co-creator Gregory Shakers, along with a handful of others, combined the phone sounds we hear in our daily modern life to expose the “overlooked” potential for a new artistic venue. Intent on illustrating the “hype, hate and hypnosis surrounding the mobile phone” this team set out to expose us to “what we might learn about our interconnected selves, in their high, pure tones” (Dialtones: A Telesymphony).

Achieving their goal required careful preparation. Audience cell phone numbers had to be registered at Web kiosks prior to the concert. New dialing and ringtone sounds were assigned and uploaded to participants’ phones after registration. Corresponding seat assignment tickets were then issued before entry into the concert hall. Levin, after obtaining his Master's degree from the MIT Media Lab, wrote the software which allowed a live troupe of musicians access to the 200 phones, up to 60 phones at once (Rullman). The visual-musical software instrument which activated audience phone tones choreographed both the sound tones and lighting effects. There were two sets of lighting effects; overhead spotlights that highlighted the activated cell phone participant and streaming, computer-generated screen graphics on stage to further entertain and stimulate the audience. According to the artists’ statement, the creation “affords a diverse range of unprecedented sonic phenomena and musically interesting structures”.

I feel the artistic success of Dialtones resulted from the clear intent (and collaboration) of the team. They were deliberately using sounds we often find distracting and irritating to enlighten us to greater possibilities. To me, that is what art is about. By staying within the actual limitations of the basic sound range and duration of mobile phone devices, they unlocked a deeper appreciation for the music of the ‘phone-as-instrument’ in me. The accidental coughs and unplanned audience reactions remind us that this was still interactive art and human involvement was part of the performance of the highly electronic presentation.

If you want to see the entire concert it is available at several websites (Dialtones : A Telesymphony). There are a few sample snippets here and there on YouTube (youTube.com)

I watched the available samples with my eyes open and then with my eyes closed. The two approaches felt very different but both felt complete and relaxing, almost comforting. A very pleasant experience, the only possible criticism I have about Dialtones is that it was too relaxing, too hypnotic. It dazed me. Some elements of drama were missing. This may have been due to the limitations of the actual 'phone-as-instrument' device. Reviewing the actual thoughtfulness and complete focus of the Dialtones: A Telesymphony project team, that was probably their desired effect.


Dialtones: A Telesymphony , available at www.flong.com/storage/experience/telesymphoney/index.html.

Rullman, Brien, Telesymphony: Music for Cellphones available at http://www.modsquare.com/editoral/features/138-telesymphony-music-for-cellphones.html.

YouTube, Mobile Phone Concert: Dialtones @ Ars Electronica 2001. Avaiable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1G-YesiBB8

You Tube, Mobile Phone Concert: Artist Interview. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3IhQKRob9g.

Ken Y. Goldberg: The modern all-around guy

Ken Goldberg is currently the Director of the University of California Berkeley Center for New Media, along with several other appointments: Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, a joint appointment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a few others. Goldberg graduated suma cum laude from University of Pennsylvania in 1984 with degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Economics and got his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1990 (Wikipedia). The man is not only a genius, he is a very busy genius.

He may look like your average guy (and he may be on other planets) but he is so much more. http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html He is both inventor and artist extraordinaire. His contributions to electronics, robotics and the Internet are prolific. His donations to New Media Art are overwhelming; intrinsically linked to his electronic and engineering capabilities. A short list begins with his Ph.D. dissertation and weaves in and out of his art:

First algorithm for polygonal orientation used to orient any parts rotations.
Invented/patented kinematically yielding gripper along with 6 other patents
First robot with Web interface
Untitled (1987) an artistic composition blending math and art
Inter Caetera Divina (1992) combined history, robotics and art
Telegarden (1995-2004), online for nine years at Ars Electronica Center in Austria

Online and on-going game Ouija (2000-2009) Internet-joins up to 20 remote players
Infiltrate (2003) virtual representation of what a real fish sees.
Demonstrate Interactive Web connected to telerobics project of 2004
The Tribe (2005), a film about the Jews and Barbie.
Ballet Mori (2006) electronically commemorates the San Francisco Earthquake
using Earth seismic activity to produce music accompanied by modern dance

His interests seem to match his intellect; apparently unlimited. His many current projects run the gamut but include:

Opinion Space, an information gathering and comparing site,
CONE Welder, a NSF/Smithsonian project with robot cameras and wild birds
Steering Flexible Needles Through Soft-Tissue, Berkeley/Johns Hopkins project

Algorithmic Automation, a project to bring researchers together with manufacturers

Although all of his works are inspired and impressive the one captured my fascination, awe and respect for Goldberg's works is Demonstrate. Goldberg and Deirdre Mulligan installed Demonstrate at the Berkley campus of University of California in 2004. The interactive Web site with telerobotic video cameras celebrated 40 years of the Free Speech movement which was born through activist demonstrations on that campus in the 1960s. Anyone with a computer could observe the day or night activities of Berkeley's Sproul Plaza in a sort of ‘Big Brother’ manner (Tribe). The project was designed to provoke discussion on visual privacy (Goldberg and Mulligan). Anyone with Internet access could participate. For six weeks, the remote audience was allowed to take pictures at various distances, including close-ups, post their comments and add to others comments. Over 1100 photos were taken. Along with the commentary and commentary on the commentary, the saved data is available on line at http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/art/ along with other projects of Goldberg’s electronic portfolio.

Citations:
Goldberg, Ken, 2006 [Internet]. Available through http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/
Tribe, Mark, New Media Art Introduction [Internet] Available through https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/New+Media+Art+-+Introduction
Goldberg, Ken, 2006. Ken Goldberg: Artwork, [Internet]. http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html
Ken Goldberg and Deirdre Mulligan. Too Close For Comfort: Free Speech, Privacy, and the Demonstrate Project". Talk or presentation, 15, September, 2005 [Internet]. Available through http://www.truststc.org/pubs/6.html

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ken Goldberg [Internet]. Available through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Goldberg.

Digital photos resolved to 72 ppi

Laurel blooming in my woods

My son Robert

Spirea

Columbine

Big crabs

My mom, Maxine

Darcy and her friends being artistic

Matt Wiest, me and Bela Fleck

Does 'Stump' create awareness of printing paper comsumption?

To illustrate of the worlds' negligent overuse of paper, Natalie Jeremijenko ingeniously brings our personal wastefulness into focus. By combining her backgounds in science, engineering and art she produced a synthetic virus called Stump (1999) available on CD-ROM (Tribe and Jana).

Stump calculates printer-paper use into a rough equivalent of virtual pulp. This pulp accumulates into virtual tree rings. After a medium-sized tree ring caches, a page is automatically printed to remind users of their heedless destruction of a living natural resource; our trees. The printed pages are eventually stacked to form an ever-increasing stump size. Stump demonstrates the environmental baby-toe print made each time we print a document 'growing' into a yeti-sized carbon footprint. For those of us unaware of our gluttonous consumption, Stump could put us on a paper-consumption diet that could lead to a lighter carbon footprint and a healthier planet.

While sincerely intentioned and a brilliant environmental display,

the printing of the tree ring pages produced by the program are

an oversight of Jereminjenko's project. Adding more to world paper consumption until an actual paper tree, or at least a stump, is produced seems anti-reductionist. Perhaps an advance version will have the virtual 'stump' instead of a real one.

Since no action has been taken to add Stump to computer basic start-up programs it is unlikely there will be tremendous impact on enlightenment of most print-copy users. Perhaps Apple could take the enlightened initiative (LOL). Purchasing Stump independently also seems problematic. Although it was produced as a CD-ROM in 2000 for voluntary participants to upload, I found no outlets to purchase a copy.

Stump is printed on a

full-sized page of paper.

(Brucker-Cohen)

References:

Brucker-Cohen, New Media Meets the Environment, Green Museum.org, http://www.greenmuseum.org/c/new_media/. Accessed Sept. 05, 2009

Tribe, Mark and Reena Jana, New Media Art, Brown Univerisity, Profiles: Natalie Jeremijenko. https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Natalie+Jeremijenko

My still stunningly beautiful mother, Maxine, is incredibly well and an active senior citizen. She participates in many charities including Meals on Wheels and Cancer Pads and is active in all of her church functions. She still drives a car. Since her recent cataract surgery she doesn't even need to wear glasses!

Last year when I went 'home' for Thanksgiving my mother asked me, her oldest daughter of eight children, to give her a birthday party in her part of the country; Detroit, Michigan. Of course I said "yes" especially since it was a landmark birthday: her 80th. I had five months to plan the event from here in St. Mary's County.
Now-a-days most party preparations can be done long distance or on the internet but her photoalbums came home on the plane with me. Some of them were artifacts she inherited from the early 1900s but she continued photographing her family life for all of her 79.5 years. Some of the photos in the album were damaged or faded, even torn and water-stained. I decided they all needed to be scanned and repaired. That was the beginning of THE PROJECT.
I purchased Adobe Photo Elements 7.0 and began learning "by-the-seat-of my-pants" and with the help of my library boss, Carol Morris, and Media Service dude Andy Keiper. I managed to scan all 1200 photos and produce 9 complete photoalbums. One was the antique photos of her family before she was born. Each of the other eight represented my mother's life, one decade for each of her eight decades.
This Digital Photography class would have been so useful for that project. Truth is, it still will be. There were many photos I did not have the skill to repair or improve. After completing the first set of tutorials I am already better equipped to handle THE PROJECT, as it will never end. The damaged pictures can still be repaired for my mother (and my) enjoyment. Her new decade began with pictures of her birthday, kicking off her new 9th decade.

During all this photo work. I asked my mom if she had any wedding pictures. She was really unhappy that nobody had brought a camera to her wedding in front of a Justice of the Peace.

"But", she said, " I do have a picture of me wearing the dress I got married in and your dad holding my shoulders. Can you make that into a wedding picture for me?"

What can you say to your 79.75 year old mother? I said I would try. Here is a copy of the album page with the newspaper article cut out she wanted made into her wedding picture. My mother and father are the little tiny people in the middle of the group. She did not want anyone else in the picture.

A lot of help, much 'lassoing' and 50 resolutions later, the wedding picture was complete. I was short one copy when I went home and gave my hard copy away. When I locate the final product I will post it or perhaps have Prof. Billy show me how to get it out of Adobe, but that "wedding picture" was the best gift I gave her. It filled a hole in her heart she had been wearing for 60 years!