REALLY COOL LINK

This is awesome and I wish I would have seen this before our final project was due, it is exactly what kind of things I think my professor was looking for ... it is very very interesting and I think that it must have been a fun challenge to accomplish what they did.

~B~

Thoughts on "New Media Artists vs Artists With Computers"

As I skimmed this article and a rebutle to the article I began forming my own thoughts and opinions to the views. They both discuss how artists use computers to aid in their art and wether or not it means they are just an artist with a computer or if they should be clasified as new media artists. I would probably be classifed as an artist with a computer but the way that they talked about those types made me very upset. I am a mac lover and would use nothing else for my line of work. Does that make me not an artist because I use a program to aid in my work, its like saying a painter is not an artist if he used his tools like a paintbrush. There are certain things in an artists life that help them to become better artists and creators. Personally, the Adobe CS3 suit is like my paintbrush as a graphic designer. Knowning how to use these programs is a special thing and not everyone has that priveldge of being good at it or even being able to being to understand it. I think that people need to relax and let things be how they are naturally. New media artists and other artist use computers and all in different ways. Call yourself what you will and if thats what you have given yourself as a title no one should challenge that. They should respect that you made a decision and one can change their minds as they grow and mature as an artist.

~ B ~

Finals Week

I kinda just wanted to do a short little blog post talking about how this semester went. This is my senior year and this semester was just as hetic as ever. I really thought things would slow down as you became a senior and rounded up your college career, however that certainly was not the case. This semester in 280 was a struggle for me at sometimes and at other times things would just click and everything with a project would go smoothly. The hardest project for me by far was the video clip montage part of the project. I have always had a hard time working with video and doing what as a graphic designer would do in a print situation in video. It was a totally different dynamic and gave me a really hard time. I feel as though it fit into the class but it was asking quite a lot from someone who doesn't work with video or sound manipulation to do and to accomplish an A was an even harder task. The other projects, although I was sometimes perplexed with what I was suppose to do, usually turned out well and were an interesting exploration for me as an artist and graphic designer. Overall the challenges and hard times helped me to learn and to be able to push myself as a person and graphic designer and as an artist.

~ B ~

Marisa Olson on "OURS: Democracy In the Age of Branding"

This is another great article from Rhizome who talked to Marisa Olson, the co-curator of the new exhibition called, "OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding." The exhibit has both a place in New York City at Parsons and an online segment, which has been a new way to explore so many things and now a new way to explore art. The exhibition, on a whole, looks at how democracy has become situated as a consumer brand in order to disseminate American values worldwide. The online portion of the show specifically examines subversive strategies emergent from network culture, and how these methods may produce and disseminate ideas that may work against the sway of branding. In light of the recent success of Barack Obama's campaign for presidency, largely due to Web-based grassroots organizing, the scope of "OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding" seems to take on a whole new significance.

Overall, it's a further way of recruiting people's participation, faith, and responsibility. Saying "We" gets us all to buy in, while also making us all culpable for what happens to our country. This is hugely important. So it's a smart move and an exciting turn in a country that came to feel as if it had gone to the dogs.

Throughout this interview the topic of branding and participatory media is discussed in some detail. The co-curator talks about how she thinks art activism will change now that things have changed dramatically after the presidential election was decided. She thought that art will change in light of seeing things more positively through the campaign slogan "yes we can." However, the way that this exhibition decided to use the internet to portray some portions and to get people involved was the most interesting part of what they discussed. To me this is a very good idea for people to get involved and to become more active and personal with art as well as everything else.

~B~

POSING

Here are my images for part one of the POSING project.  I find this to be an interesting project so far.  I love photography and being able to photograph is the best so I can't wait for the second part of the assignment. 

 

The Future of Computer Art

"The use of computers in art leads to a compatibility of the instrumentarium - to a closer link between the different art forms which, owing to the different classical methods and instruments, have been separated and taught in different institutions. It is one of the decisive aspects of the new situation brought about by the introduction of the computer that there is no longer a reason for dividing art into different forms, be they classical or modern."

Herbert W. Franke, scientist and German artist, wrote a piece describing the future of computers in the arts in 1987. By all accounts he predicted almost everything precisely. Which is extremely interesting due to the fact that its quite hard for me to even imagine what the internet and computers will be doing for us even five or ten years from now.

The author explains that computer art is still in its initial stages of development, for it has been in existence but a short time and the underlying technology is not yet fully mature. He anticipates that high-resolution screens will lead to better images and that improved computer performance will permit real-time animation of photorealistic images. Three-dimensional representation will stimulate visual artists to work and think in new ways, for their concern will no longer be the problem of perspective, which will be handled by the computer, but rather the spatial design of objects and sceneries that can he expanded at will beyond the image on the screen. In its final stage of development, computer art might also be able to include elements of literature and to develop a plot in which the user, through interaction, can play a part.

~B~

Seeing all the News from Today

"All technology must move toward the way things were before humanity began changing them: identification with nature in the manner of operation, complete mystery. 

Art, once so elegant, has been transformed by representation into an object, cluttered and confused not only by operating systems and applications, its once-accepted inherited discourse, but by the words and the theories used to prescribe its very being.  these prescriptions are themselves shrouded in a language that, disconnected from the world as it is, is no longer

 useful.  To recapture that connection, it is necessary to find and use a tool that will leave no traces, that, in other words, will allow an unmediated relationship with the thing in itself. 

The problem is more serious: we must dispense with computers altogether and get used to working with tools.  It can be put this way too: find ways of using computers as though they were tools, ie, so that they leave no traces.  That's precisely what our computers, video cameras, amplifiers, web-servers, projectors, cameras, mobile phones, etc., and even the internet, are: things to be used which don't necessarily determine the nature of what is done." 

Martin John Callanan

Callanan began a project where he wanted to see what was going on in the world so he took the covers of newspapers and magazines from across the world and posts them daily on a webpage. I think this is a really awesome idea and its an interesting concept to be able to see all of this at once.  Literally scrolling through pages of headlines all at once is a great way to be able to compare what really matters all the way in Israel or China.  Its a great feeling to know that its possible to know whats going on across the world as well through a few major images and some text, which isn't even being read.  The images tell you what important. 

Callanan strikes an interesting conversation from his quote on top as well about how the internet takes away from art, yet he is using it as a tool to show his art.  Pretty ironic and interesting ... definitely something to think about. 

~B~

The Art and War of Collage

Everyone has in some point in their lives done a collage. Its a very common thing to do as a fun art project as a kid and even useful for adults if they are collectors of things like cigar labels, magazine cut outs or even pictures. But for many artists it has become a way to make a political statement and to make art. Martha Rosler did exactly that, she was fed up with the coverage of the Vietnam War and how America would portray the images of war in magazines that corresponded with images of advertisements of living rooms and family friendly images. It was dirt and blood and blown up bodies flowing seamlessly with images of art hung living rooms, mattress ads, and sophisticated kitchen designs. Rosler had had enough.

I personally as a graphic designer and especially a lover of designing layouts, know that you have no choice as to where the ads go in a magazine and that they have to be spread out evenly throughout the magazine. Besides that factor of being a little unrealistic, as art this is a very interesting concept that Rosler created. I think that the colors in the ad pop and are positive and then the juxtaposition of the military images and dead bodies gives the people in America the war in their homes. Although it is not direct it hits home and is familiar to everyone with a kitchen, bathroom or a bed, whatever the advertisement the majority of the people reading or looking at the magazine will be able to relate.

I really think that the collage compositions also are really working to effectively portray the message that Rosler wanted her audience to receive. Rosler cut out just the right images that would work into the certain compositions. It adds to the mood of the work and the message.

~B~

Publicity Images

In John Berger's piece, "Publicity Images" from the book Ways of Seeing he discusses some very important and relevant topics to an up coming project of mine.  The major issues that Berger covers is how publicity images seen all over through advertisements, on billboards, on television, even just walking down the street people see ads that are telling them they need this product to be transformed and to live a better life.

"Publicity persuades us of such a transformation by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable.  The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour.  And publicity is the process of manufacturing glamour" (131).

Advertising, especially today, has almost become over powering.  Personally, its how I find out about the newest gadgets such as iPhones, through publicity images Apple has created a huge following and people want or even crave their products.  I have grown up watching television which is a port for publicity images to be seen.  Then as I got older the technology age kicked in and the internet became a new way for publicity images to be seen.  In todays world I am a graphic designer so now I have become part of this publicity image.  Although, its a job its also something I love doing but at the same time making people want things is not exactly what I do but I do have to pull people into my work so that the message will be reached.  As far as advertising goes I could very well end up working for an AD firm in a few short years and I will be fine doing that because this is how the world turns.  People have the option to buy what they want, if they are buying things because of the advertisements that they see then I am doing my job excellently.  

Females are big suckers for wanting the REAL designer bag and

its not because of the direct advertisements, its because of what they stand for and who else carries them and how jealous their friends will be when they see them with a real designer bag.  A brand such as Louis Vuitton does this to women all over the world and now to the rich, spoiled ten and eleven year olds.  

"The spectator-buyer is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product.  She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an envy which will then justify her loving herself" (134). 

The above statement I agree with completely.  As a female myself, I am subject to this, when I get a new glamourous purse or pair of shoes I feel brand new and excited and show it off to all my friends and even people I don't know will come up to me and comment on how they love my newest purchase.  This makes women feel good and it makes them want more.  As shallow as that may be, its the truth and its how our world turns and works.  

~B~ 

War Mail Rocking Back to the 80's and Looking Fly

This week I found an interesting interview type article that explored Jeremy Bailey's work. It mostly focuses on his piece called "War Mail" which is a logo for a performance art piece. He talks about how he was inspired by the 80's and the other meanings behind the simple logo. As a graphic designer I found this to be very interesting because of the concept and thought behind the logo. Bailey did a lot of research before he even started to come up with the concept and he was able to accomplish so much with so many little elements.

"I often try and reflect current cultural trends/aesthetics in my own artwork work to discuss the interplay between the way information is designed and the way it is received. In other words, the way things look right now have a lot to do with the way things are right now and vice versa." - Jeremy Bailey

The thought process behind Bailey's work and how he wants to include both current trends and how those play into the information of the graphic or logo. The way it looks will definitely change the way it is received. As an artist he has to figure out what he wants his audience to understand and perceive from what he is designing. It is an interesting way to design because as a designer myself I know that design is about problem solving for a client. He instead is using himself as the artist and client to show his unknowing clients or the audience what they did not know they wanted to see. It makes me really excited to know that graphic designers are not just working for people but doing and making art with their graphic design knowledge. I found Bailey and his work very interesting and would recommend everyone take a look at his work.

Read the article here!

~B~

Digital Stitchings

This week as I began to explore websites for an interesting article to write about I was able to find one almost instantly that I liked and was interested in. Although I found the artist and the work very interesting, I was having a hard time sitting down and actually reading it and then coming on here to blog about it. Today I finally sat down and made myself do it. Today is a very special day for me and for many other Jews around the world. Its Yom Kippur, the day of atonement or the day of at one ment. This is the one day I should not be using the computer and here I am writing my blog entry for the week.

As I began researching more about this weeks artist, Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, and how she uses the tactile and technology to make art, I realized how interesting it is that today is the day I chose to write about her. Rachel Beth as an artist is interested in technology and being able to touch or feel. She explores how things like a kitting pattern can look exactly like html written codes that computer scientists write on a daily basis. So to me the one day I'm not suppose to be near technology and I should be getting closer to my religion through prayer and fasting, I'm chosing the tactile and the technology instead of fasting from it for the day.

Rachel Beth's current project that she is working on involves the use of Nitendo's Wii and her favorite thing kitting. She came up with the idea for the virtual kitting by wanting to represent code and at the same time the motion of knitting. Egenhoefer became interested in tracking the way peoples hands move and the intricate details of maneuvering a stitch. I think that this new media project is very interesting and definitely something that really has not been explored before. Not only is it intreguing that she loves kitting so much that she wants to make it a game but also its striking how this is not only going to be a game but its also a major art project. I find it so interesting how the everyday can turn into unconventional art. It makes art seem common place by having involved in our everyday lives yet at the same time its so unique to be living in a time and place where that is allowed to happen. I really love Rachel Beth's work and think that its great that she is a young woman who knits and is making art by invovling technology and pop culture.

Read an interesting interview with her here.

~ B ~

Blogger Skins

Have you ever randomly Googled a friend or person you might not know that well just to get to know them better?  Or even to find dirt on that person? I know that most people probably have, I know my friends and I do it for fun to see what comes up.  We can always seem to find something funny, even if its not about that person specifically.  Through my research and exploration I have found out that image Google searching has become an art form.  I would have never thought of it but the artist Marcin Ramocki did!  

He decided he wanted a project based on a time-specific capturing of images within Google image searches.  He was very interested in the art of blogging and bloggers.  So he chose five art bloggers, Tom Moody, Paddy Johnson, Regine Debatty, James Wagner and Joy Garnett.  He then began performing specific image searches on their names.  He then decided to take the first one hundred images and imported  them, in the order of their appearance, into an HTML editor and then continued to compile them into an image map.  It reflected the original Google layout and popularity of the searched items. 

This concept that Ramocki came up with is just really interesting to me.  I find it even more interesting because my own personal time that I have spent looking for images on Google often yields strange results that have nothing or little to do with what I have searched.  In Ramocki's searches it appears that he really is exploring this and how Google performs its searches.  For each person that he Googled the images that appear are all almost classified as random and unique and not pertaining necessarily directly with the people with whom he had originally searched.  I'm glad at least that I'm not the only one coming up with completely random searches and images.  But what does this say about Google?  It just means that its not a perfect source but an interesting one that will broaden your ideas and thoughts based on your search. 

~ B ~ 

Big Box Reuse

Have you ever wondered what happens to places like Costco or Target when they shut down? Well a lady by the name of Julia Christensen decided that she wanted to not only find out what happens but she was going to make it about art as well. Julia Christensen basically decided that she was unhappy with how communities were handling large pieces of corporate real estate. Places would shut down and then nothing would happen with them. She decided other things could go in their already built foundations.

I think that this concept is really innovative and economically smart. Why waste a good space when a church congregation or another store could use the space. It saves time and money and gives people a place that is recognizable and useful to whatever purpose they intend to use the space for.
I also really like how she is using the map above to show spots that people have done the big box reuse or are in the process of doing a big box reuse. It enables viewers to see if its going to happen in their neighborhood or if it hasn't happened and they want it to happen they will be able to see it.

This is an interesting an innovative thought process that is useful. I would love to see it happen more often instead of wasting time tearing down huge buildings just to rebuild another building. It does not make sense either for the building to just sit there and not be used. I just started thinking about how many buildings probably sit there for years abandoned without use when there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people who could be living there or at least have a shelter to go to.

~ B ~

Chain Reaction

While looking for an article for this weeks blog entry I went to Networked Performance as well as Rhizome and started exploring their sites for an article. I realized that both sites had information about a four day festival that Upgrade! International curates each year. This years theme is called "Chain Reaction".

I found it interesting that the theme really illustrates Upgrade! network. Chain Reaction is a place for all new media to be explored in a new and interesting form of a city-wide digital art and networked cultural festival. They have several exhibitions, screenings, and live local and streamed performances as well as other programs, lectures and workshops that explore facests in the field of digital art. This meeting is going to bring together artists, curators, and art producers from all over the world.

Chain Reaction illustrates and portrays Upgrade! International due to its creativity that gradually grew into a international group that influenced each other continually through permanent communication. Through the gathering of all the artists, curators, and art producers in Macedonia it will cause a positive chain reaction within the attendees and art in general. It explores the issues of international cultural development and growth worldwide and locally in the world of digital networks. Expectations for this event are high and Upgrade! wants it to be a catalyst for dialog, future collaborations and understanding of new cultures.

"The artistic program shows current tendencies in the use of hardware and software development for artistic means. The artists presented here are the emergent creative force on the international new media art scene. Some of the works have been part of other exhibitions and festivals, and others have been created exclusively for this event. One of the dominant principles that have emerged in this collection of works is the blurring of the boundaries between art, cultures, technology and physical surroundings. This blurring is not about fading out; it is about illuminating and distributing new kinds of practices. It is about multiple modes of participating, navigating and deconstructing."

The Chain Reaction festival seems like a place where all of these brilliant artists are able to come together and expand their knowledge of new media art and meet others who will enlighten them. I really like the idea of being able to come together with new people, it is a great opportunity for new inspiration, which could lead to a great piece of new art. Meeting people from all over the world is also a great way to make long lasting connections with different cultures and people that could help you out in the future with in an art career. I also find Upgrade! International to be an interesting corporation. They seem to have started out on a small creative spark that grew into an international phenomenon.

~ B ~

Absence/Presence: An Interview with Charles Cohen

After reading Interview: Absence/Presence: A Conversation with Charles Cohen and viewing some of his work, I decided I would focus my entry based on his series entitled The Buff Series. This is the first time I have heard of the artist Charles Cohen, however, what he explores through and in his art is something I think about all the time when viewing and making art. Being able to explore his work and reading his responses have helped me to reach a better understanding of this form of new media art and of Cohen as an artist.

At the beginning of the interview Cohen discusses how he uses "cut-outs" to create an effect where the viewer or audience of the piece recognizes a void and fills it with his or her thoughts or perceptions. He then goes into his next phase which he calls the "abstract effect" where the intellectual activity happens for the viewer while viewing his work. The viewer then experiences the "reflexive effect" of Cohen's work by having expectations from the art piece as well as Cohen having expectations from the viewer about his work.

Cohen then goes on to say how this in turn by involving the viewer in the decision of what the project is illustrating and proving creates co-authorship with the artist.

"The viewer dissects all viewing experiences to the degree where the subtleties of the construction of meaning are understood and, perhaps assumes co-authorship with the artist."

Although he makes an interesting point, I personally have never really thought of the viewer as a co-author, I believe Cohen take an extremist view on the viewers role of his art. Now that I do, I still don't know if I totally agree with what Cohen is saying because although the viewer creates assumptions about the artwork the artist is the one who creates the actual work of art. The viewer does not take part in the conceptualization or the actual creation. When Cohen goes as far as saying the viewer becomes a co-author I believe that statement to be a little extreme. Instead I view the viewer as more of an opinion holder and not always the artist.


Cohen goes on to say that the void in his series creates or opens a thought process for the viewer. This I completely agree with, for I believe that great art makes the viewer stop and really think about what is happening in the work. I also think that one of the greatest compliments that an artist can receive is hearing that their work make the viewer stop and stare and think. In Cohen's case he wants the viewer to stop and place themselves into his imagery and begin to think about what is going on in the piece and what they are identifying with not only as viewers but as part of the art work. Through this thought process Cohen discusses interactivity as an act of intimacy, distance, and alienation through his art towards the viewer.

Cohen says "co authorship is the standard for interactivity... the Silhouette draws attention to the process of making the image as well as the motivation, draws viewer into the equation, making the narrative relative to the present moment. This reflexivity with in the image, for the viewer and between the image and the viewer is interactivity"

Most people believe that interactivity has to do with technology, but Cohen truly believes that through technology the viewer just becomes alienated and distant from the world of art. Cohen wants to "alienate the viewer as well as highlight a form of beauty in the lack of knowledge" through his use of the cut outs in his work. It really allows him to explore the involvement of the viewer and their thought process of his works.

~ B ~

Platforms, Platforms, OMG Platforms!!!

As I was scrolling around some different art related websites, an article on The Aphrodite Project really caught my attention. If you have never heard of the project basically they design platform heels that include alarms, and LCD screen and even GPS devices, the shoes are intended for prostitutes and strippers. The creator of this project, Norene Leddy, named it after the Greek Goddess of Love, Aphrodite. The platforms come with imagery and sounds relating to the theme of Aphrodite. The unique and unmistakable design of these shoes as well as the over all concept are truly genius. Leddy describes her mission for the heels by saying,

"The shoes address creativity and art-making as well as practical issues of design and marketability. It is my hope that in addition to creating beautifully crafted objects, the project will contribute to the current international debate over the regulation, decriminalization, and legalization of prostitution."

The design aspect of this product may reach a small market but the ideas behind the product reach a limitless market. Although these shoes are intended for prostitutes, the idea behind the shoes seems to have created a huge buzz on the art scene. The thought of technology, safety, and style all coming together is how the concept is being discussed all over the design world. The layout of the buttons and screens allows for a flawless look and feel to the platform that doesn't protrude and does not add more weight and deformity to the shoe. The Platforms hold a familiar yet futuristic and trendy feeling due to the high tech technology used and the familiarity comes from the fact that these are shoes every woman and most men have seen or wore before. I think that these shoes are definitely adding to the safety to prostitutes and they speak a lot about where new media art is heading. Not only are the platforms pieces of beautiful art, the work of art itself has become useful, trendy, and technology savvy. I think that concept is a very important part of design and being a graphic designer myself I know how the concept can make or break a design. And as far as shoes go I love all kinds of shoes and these are the only ones that I have seen that can do anything remotely this awesome!

~ B ~