http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqjKWEWI3ok
Johannes P. Osterhoff http://rhizome.org/profile.php?1067554
My last artist post is from www.rhizome.org and is probably the one that I have found the most enjoyable. Johannes P Osterhoff is an artist out of Berlin, Germany, who focuses on work with interfaces. This is a new spin on digital work because it works it a different way. Johannes creates life size “icons” and buttons that he finds aesthetically pleasing and then creates a real life art piece out of it. One of these pieces, for example, is the “submit button” which we are all familiar with but he replicates it in such a large size that you think of a different meaning of the word.
The most interesting piece that I found was a video called “windows real” in which people move around in a field holding large scale icons, recreating the default setting for windows. In the piece, he describes different actions you can do on the computer and then acts them out. The piece is rather humorous but also quite intelligent. The idea is outside of the box which lends it more credit than a typical youtube video.
I like the way that he is challenging the viewer to experience the usual stimulus in a completely different way. They did such a nice job collaborating to make the piece identical to Windows which takes a good bit of precision. I get a sense of a comment on the newer processing systems and the struggle to still ground your digital art in something more tangible.
All information taken from Rhizome Art Base.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Art Event #1
SMP Presentation
On Tuesday May 4, 2010 I attended a series of Art & Art History Presentations at the Boyden Gallery in Monty Hall which covered several artists and their works over the course of their college career. Each artist started the presentation by explaining their initial interest in the art major and their personal definition of art. The graduates identified their experience in art just entering school here at St. Mary’s and then showed how their art progressed with the influence of the other artists that inspired them. They each had constructed a power point with images of their own work from high school on and also images from the artists that the graduates looked up to. To add to the project, each student had taken a corner of the gallery and created a culminating final art piece. The pieces seemed to be a representation of their definition of art at this point in their life.
One artist that I found particularly interesting was Stephanie Johnson, an art major who focused her efforts in digital photography, who also happened to be a student in one of my art classes. She defined art as something that is designed to create some kind of change of attitude, a sudden surprise that happens as a result of some visual stimuli. Her final project, Stenciled Remarks, dealt with human nature and relationships, specifically how the things that people say that hurt you or shock you, tend to stick with you and eventually become a part of you. She had taken pictures of subjects in the nude to make them seem vulnerable and then had stenciled remarks that people had said to the subjects over the course of their life that really hurt them. The comments were often sexually charged and related to body image. These comments shock viewer and create a sense of empathy for the person being portrayed. Overall, it was a really intimate project which struck me as being rather courageous. This artist obviously had dealt with harmful treatment by other people and she was tackling these issues head on and in the public eye. I also found her project to be very relevant to psychology because the way we think can be defined by social norms and people can experience unfortunate situations as a result of these social norms.
SMP Presentation
On Tuesday May 4, 2010 I attended a series of Art & Art History Presentations at the Boyden Gallery in Monty Hall which covered several artists and their works over the course of their college career. Each artist started the presentation by explaining their initial interest in the art major and their personal definition of art. The graduates identified their experience in art just entering school here at St. Mary’s and then showed how their art progressed with the influence of the other artists that inspired them. They each had constructed a power point with images of their own work from high school on and also images from the artists that the graduates looked up to. To add to the project, each student had taken a corner of the gallery and created a culminating final art piece. The pieces seemed to be a representation of their definition of art at this point in their life.
One artist that I found particularly interesting was Stephanie Johnson, an art major who focused her efforts in digital photography, who also happened to be a student in one of my art classes. She defined art as something that is designed to create some kind of change of attitude, a sudden surprise that happens as a result of some visual stimuli. Her final project, Stenciled Remarks, dealt with human nature and relationships, specifically how the things that people say that hurt you or shock you, tend to stick with you and eventually become a part of you. She had taken pictures of subjects in the nude to make them seem vulnerable and then had stenciled remarks that people had said to the subjects over the course of their life that really hurt them. The comments were often sexually charged and related to body image. These comments shock viewer and create a sense of empathy for the person being portrayed. Overall, it was a really intimate project which struck me as being rather courageous. This artist obviously had dealt with harmful treatment by other people and she was tackling these issues head on and in the public eye. I also found her project to be very relevant to psychology because the way we think can be defined by social norms and people can experience unfortunate situations as a result of these social norms.
Artist Entry 7
Once again on www.rhizome.org , I found an art piece that I found rather interesting because it was a computer based program that also incorporated music. Sebastian Schmieg, is a Berlin-based student who focuses on new media created a piece called LMB, or Last Midi Background. LMB is an internet radio that plays a continuous stream of randomly picked MIDI music. The twist is that all of the songs are songs being played are background songs that are being played on other websites.
This artwork plays off of the concept of importance. It is as if this program generates a stage for the songs that are considered of “background importance” to the other information on the web. It also deals with the appropriation of data, like many other digital pieces which involve randomly generated data which separates the artist from the artwork.
I think that this is again a piece of art that is still a conceptual piece. It is not aesthetically pleasing to most, and provides little hint at the meaning without the artists statement. I think that creating art in the digital age should be about communication and connection. LMB was designed to show a loud colorful web and it doesn’t really communicate that to me.
All information approriated from Rhizome Art Base.
This artwork plays off of the concept of importance. It is as if this program generates a stage for the songs that are considered of “background importance” to the other information on the web. It also deals with the appropriation of data, like many other digital pieces which involve randomly generated data which separates the artist from the artwork.
I think that this is again a piece of art that is still a conceptual piece. It is not aesthetically pleasing to most, and provides little hint at the meaning without the artists statement. I think that creating art in the digital age should be about communication and connection. LMB was designed to show a loud colorful web and it doesn’t really communicate that to me.
All information approriated from Rhizome Art Base.
Artist Entry 6
My sixth artist entry is David Jimison, also found on www.rhizome.org, is an inventor and artist who is interested in music, fashion, mobile technology, and computing technology and creates everyday helpful robots. His company, Fever Creative, does consulting work and commercial inventions has consulted for Time Warner, MTV and Library of Congress. His robots have been featured in publications like BBC and his inventions have won awards from Nokia, MTVU, Cisco, and Siemens. David is also a “Fellow” featured on www.eyebeam.com
One interesting invention that struck me as peculiar was his “Too Smart City” project. It is a set of three pieces of furniture, embedded with intelligence and robotic features. Within it is a bench that can lift and dumping a user if recognizes vagrancy, in other words dumping the homeless that try to sleep on it. Also included is a sign that addresses lawbreakers as they walk by and a trashcan that analyzes the trash and pitches it back at you if it is the wrong trash. These items are described as “intersections between the immediate physical needs of the people using them, and the complex rules and indirect reasons that govern their design.”
This is a really interesting piece of art for me because it two-faced in concept. At first glance, the pieces appear to be some brand new gadget that will enhance our lives, however it is created to be a sinical look at the “smart” world around us. It definitely touches on the idea that with technology comes restrictions and control. It is suddenly not the perfect scenario. There is also a tendency for our gadgets to actually work against us: computers crash, the automatic check out is actually slower than the human hand, etc.) I think that this is very well thought out digital piece.
All information taken from Rhizome Art Base and Eyebeam
One interesting invention that struck me as peculiar was his “Too Smart City” project. It is a set of three pieces of furniture, embedded with intelligence and robotic features. Within it is a bench that can lift and dumping a user if recognizes vagrancy, in other words dumping the homeless that try to sleep on it. Also included is a sign that addresses lawbreakers as they walk by and a trashcan that analyzes the trash and pitches it back at you if it is the wrong trash. These items are described as “intersections between the immediate physical needs of the people using them, and the complex rules and indirect reasons that govern their design.”
This is a really interesting piece of art for me because it two-faced in concept. At first glance, the pieces appear to be some brand new gadget that will enhance our lives, however it is created to be a sinical look at the “smart” world around us. It definitely touches on the idea that with technology comes restrictions and control. It is suddenly not the perfect scenario. There is also a tendency for our gadgets to actually work against us: computers crash, the automatic check out is actually slower than the human hand, etc.) I think that this is very well thought out digital piece.
All information taken from Rhizome Art Base and Eyebeam
Artist Entry 5
Christopher Manzione is another artist that I found through the www.rhizome.org ArtBase. He earned his BFA in sculpture and then went on to Maryland Institute College of Art which happens to be in my home town of Baltimore. He is most concerned with the blurred line between industry and nature. This occurs in certain spaces today without our immediate knowledge.
His newest project is a digital artwork which deals with an application for smart phones. Just as many other applications, his “Virtual Public Art Project” is designed to expedite the process of site seeing and or to provide further information about a location. While some applications allow you to go to a site, pull out your iphone, and get information about a place like a restaurant, Manzione’s Virtual Public Art Project attempts to create a site specific sculptures which display a virtual layout of the physical environment at the designated site. Users can then pull out the phone, search for a specific place, and tour the site, in advance, in the same way that you would explore a video game level. They can view the place from any angle and debate whether or not to head down a certain path or see something they couldn’t normally discover.
I love the idea behind this project, although I think the motive behind it may be a bit more ominous than my reaction. To me, initially it seems like magic to be able to see a place and walk the paths without being there. However, knowing that the artist is concerned with the blurred line between industry and nature make me think that Manzione created the piece because he wanted to show that people can now, and essentially already walk around around fixated on their gadgets without even stopping to experience a natural environment. However, the artist might also find this to be a world of fantasy instead as if to question the idea of reality like in The Matrix series. In essence, however, I would consider it thoughtful experimentation with 3D modeling to say the least
All information taken from Rhizome Art Base
His newest project is a digital artwork which deals with an application for smart phones. Just as many other applications, his “Virtual Public Art Project” is designed to expedite the process of site seeing and or to provide further information about a location. While some applications allow you to go to a site, pull out your iphone, and get information about a place like a restaurant, Manzione’s Virtual Public Art Project attempts to create a site specific sculptures which display a virtual layout of the physical environment at the designated site. Users can then pull out the phone, search for a specific place, and tour the site, in advance, in the same way that you would explore a video game level. They can view the place from any angle and debate whether or not to head down a certain path or see something they couldn’t normally discover.
I love the idea behind this project, although I think the motive behind it may be a bit more ominous than my reaction. To me, initially it seems like magic to be able to see a place and walk the paths without being there. However, knowing that the artist is concerned with the blurred line between industry and nature make me think that Manzione created the piece because he wanted to show that people can now, and essentially already walk around around fixated on their gadgets without even stopping to experience a natural environment. However, the artist might also find this to be a world of fantasy instead as if to question the idea of reality like in The Matrix series. In essence, however, I would consider it thoughtful experimentation with 3D modeling to say the least
All information taken from Rhizome Art Base
Artist Entry 4
Another artist that intrigued me when I was surfing www.rhizome.org was Noah Pedrini. He’s a digital artist who uses interactive art to focus on the changing face of contemporary society.Although this artist primarily works with digital art, Pedrini works in “found object” art and also writes fiction and plays the guitar. It is unclear from the page what education Pedrini has obtained, he has done several digital works such as “DrugQuilt,” a digital quilt commenting on the overmedication of America, and “AnthroPosts,” a program dealing with post-it notes which I found particularly interesting.
Anthroposts is a program which organizes a collection of Post-it Notes incorporated with audio clips of ordinary people reading the quotes aloud. The post-it note collection is ever-growing and allows the viewer to have an appreciation for the individuality of the note and is meant to reflect the “communication bursts” that society experiences today. That is, a large portion of the communication that we receive is only a quick tweet, text or email away. This is an impersonal means to transfer information and is a new trend in today’s society.
After launching the artwork, I thought it was rather interesting to hear these random things. Once again I am more impressed with the concept of this piece than I am of the actual program. Initial information is necessary to have a sense of meaning in the piece. It does, however have an important message to convey about the changing face of comtemporary society.
Anthroposts is a program which organizes a collection of Post-it Notes incorporated with audio clips of ordinary people reading the quotes aloud. The post-it note collection is ever-growing and allows the viewer to have an appreciation for the individuality of the note and is meant to reflect the “communication bursts” that society experiences today. That is, a large portion of the communication that we receive is only a quick tweet, text or email away. This is an impersonal means to transfer information and is a new trend in today’s society.
After launching the artwork, I thought it was rather interesting to hear these random things. Once again I am more impressed with the concept of this piece than I am of the actual program. Initial information is necessary to have a sense of meaning in the piece. It does, however have an important message to convey about the changing face of comtemporary society.
Artist Entry 3
One artist that I found on http://www.rhizome.org/ is Jordan Tate. He is a 3D and digital artist who also works with digital photography. He graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor’s of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies, and then went on to obtain a Master’s of Fine Arts in photography from Indiana University. Jordan is a Fulbright scholar 2008-2009 and is now a permanent faculty member at Alberta College of Art and Design. He is most known for his “Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms” a piece of artwork which reflected a change in culture that is occurring.
Tate also runs the contemporary art blog http://ilikethisart.blogspot.com./
His artwork on rhizome is a collaboration of his work and the work of Adam Tindale another faculty member at Alberta who teaches in the department of Interaction Design in the Media Arts and Digital technologies. Lossless 23, is a digital piece that takes digital photos taken of older photos and applies a “pixel sorting process.”The artwork is then a piece which focuses on the information or data in the computer rather than an image. The process rearranges the metadata so that strange changes occur in certain areas of the photo as a result of altered values of hue, brightness, and saturation. The resulting pictures are rather “photoshop-esque.”
The concept behind this piece is that the information is not changed or lost but just reorganized. This could be a comment that the portraits themselves are real people and they are reorganized and altered overtime. Yet, the people remain the same people and you can still recognize them. The original pictures that are used are faded and pastel-like. They look as if they were of a different era and cause the extreme hue changes to look out of place and bizarre. Because it does look a bit random, my initial reaction to the piece is less than fantastic, because I don’t find the piece grabbing or aesthetically pleasing. However my opinion changed because of the background that I could gather from the artist’s description. So much of creating a meaningful artwork is based on the conscious individual choices that are made during the process. So, conceptually, the piece has a lot more to offer.
All information and images taken from Rhizome Art Base
Tate also runs the contemporary art blog http://ilikethisart.blogspot.com./
His artwork on rhizome is a collaboration of his work and the work of Adam Tindale another faculty member at Alberta who teaches in the department of Interaction Design in the Media Arts and Digital technologies. Lossless 23, is a digital piece that takes digital photos taken of older photos and applies a “pixel sorting process.”The artwork is then a piece which focuses on the information or data in the computer rather than an image. The process rearranges the metadata so that strange changes occur in certain areas of the photo as a result of altered values of hue, brightness, and saturation. The resulting pictures are rather “photoshop-esque.”
The concept behind this piece is that the information is not changed or lost but just reorganized. This could be a comment that the portraits themselves are real people and they are reorganized and altered overtime. Yet, the people remain the same people and you can still recognize them. The original pictures that are used are faded and pastel-like. They look as if they were of a different era and cause the extreme hue changes to look out of place and bizarre. Because it does look a bit random, my initial reaction to the piece is less than fantastic, because I don’t find the piece grabbing or aesthetically pleasing. However my opinion changed because of the background that I could gather from the artist’s description. So much of creating a meaningful artwork is based on the conscious individual choices that are made during the process. So, conceptually, the piece has a lot more to offer.
All information and images taken from Rhizome Art Base
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Artist Entry 4/7/10
Mattia Casalegno is an Italian experimental artist who works with interactive environments and audio/visual artwork. Although he currently resides in Los Angeles, California, he works with a Rome -based new media crew, a project called Kinotec, which he co-founded. One of Kinotec's projects that I found particularly interesting was called "Unstable Empathy."
Unstable Empathy is an interactive piece of digital art involving two participants who have to interact. Kinotec has created a "reactive environment" which is stimulated by the participants in real time. However, the participants dont move or use a controller to alter the environment, the environment actually changes depending upon how emphatic the people are. This is a documentation of the initial reaction that a person has to another person: the immediated physiological response. The brain activity is measured by electrodes placed on the the participants' heads and depending on how stimulating their interactions are, the environment will change accordingly. This becomes even more interesting when the participants realize what is controlling the visual and audio changes that they experience. The resulting experience is what appears to be a complicated organization of spiraling lines which change in width and speed. You also hear an ambient blend of tones similar to that of a wind chime.
Overall, I beleive that Unstable Empathy is a thoughtful experiment playing with a combination of sound and visuals. It would be very entertaining to be a part of. One theme that is evident is
the theme of relationships. Although it is represented in a different way, the pictures and sounds changed based upon the relationship of the two poeple in the chairs. For example, two strangers would have different emotional exchanges than two best friends and the resulting trigger of the electrodes would change the art. Another concept that is being played with is the hand of the artist. Although the artist, the person who envisioned the artwork, is the person who is beig displayed, there is a collective consience of all three; the participants are also displaying their emotions as well.
My only qualm with this piece of art is the fact that the audience is so restricted. Watching the video with the sound accompanying it tends to just sound like a looping sound with a screen saver on. Why are the people who particpate not shot on film or recorded? Wouldn't it make sense to have the sound of the people with the visuals. Or maybe the sounds generated by the brain with the video of the participants. Overall though, I still think that it was a great concept to experiment with.
Unstable Empathy is an interactive piece of digital art involving two participants who have to interact. Kinotec has created a "reactive environment" which is stimulated by the participants in real time. However, the participants dont move or use a controller to alter the environment, the environment actually changes depending upon how emphatic the people are. This is a documentation of the initial reaction that a person has to another person: the immediated physiological response. The brain activity is measured by electrodes placed on the the participants' heads and depending on how stimulating their interactions are, the environment will change accordingly. This becomes even more interesting when the participants realize what is controlling the visual and audio changes that they experience. The resulting experience is what appears to be a complicated organization of spiraling lines which change in width and speed. You also hear an ambient blend of tones similar to that of a wind chime.
Overall, I beleive that Unstable Empathy is a thoughtful experiment playing with a combination of sound and visuals. It would be very entertaining to be a part of. One theme that is evident is
the theme of relationships. Although it is represented in a different way, the pictures and sounds changed based upon the relationship of the two poeple in the chairs. For example, two strangers would have different emotional exchanges than two best friends and the resulting trigger of the electrodes would change the art. Another concept that is being played with is the hand of the artist. Although the artist, the person who envisioned the artwork, is the person who is beig displayed, there is a collective consience of all three; the participants are also displaying their emotions as well.
My only qualm with this piece of art is the fact that the audience is so restricted. Watching the video with the sound accompanying it tends to just sound like a looping sound with a screen saver on. Why are the people who particpate not shot on film or recorded? Wouldn't it make sense to have the sound of the people with the visuals. Or maybe the sounds generated by the brain with the video of the participants. Overall though, I still think that it was a great concept to experiment with.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
David Bowen, artist
Click Here For Full Artist Website
David Bowen is an installation artist who specializes in kinetic artworks and robotic systems. He graduated with a BFA degree from Herron School of Art in1999 and then continued on to receive his MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2004. He is now an art professor but is still actively creating work.I discovered his work on rhizome.org where his installation titled Remote Sonar Drawing Device immediately caught my eye. The device consisted of two sonar sensor arrays, one placed in Minnesota and the other in Spain. The sensors placed in Minnesota corresponded to the drawing arm that was in Spain and the sensors in Spain controlled the drawings in Minnesota. The audience was encouraged to stimulate the sonar sensors in both places. Below is a map of the distance that the information had to travel before being converted to a physical form as an artwork.
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I decided to investigate his other installations and found that many of his pieces incorporated robotic technology into pieces design to document some sort of personal experience. The theme of nature is very prominent in many of his installations which is a rather different subject matter to express in such a technological advanced medium. For example, David created a hydroponic system which fed a plant. As the plant grew, it activated a scanner and printer which printed an ink jet photo every 24 hours of the plant's profile. It provides this very logical "computer-ish" documentation of a plants growth. It's almost as if the plant is trapped in a facility with tubes coming in and out of it and it is being forced to have test preformed on it.
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This is an image of growth rendering device installed at the Rochester Art Center. It produced a 50 foot scroll of drawings of a pea plant as it grew, thrived, whithered and died over a 3 month period. (taken from David Bowens Website to better descibe the picture.)On the most basic of levels, I believe that the two contrasting concepts were presented in such a way because they represent the ways that technology exploded and how it has left many older ideas in the dust. On the other hand, it is also a way to present a linear drawing in a completely new format, one that detaches the artist from the paper. Instead of actually drawing, the artist is creating an idea which indirectly is creating its own art.
All information taken from David Bowen's Website on Rhizome.org
http://rhizome.org/profile.php?1042811
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
My First Post
Hello Fans!
This is my first post in my new blog. I never imagined that I would make a blog even though many many people are beginning to do so. It was very easy to create and I guess it is almost like a digital journal which I can quickly update and add pictures or whatever. I can also add a google search bar and all kinds of cool stuff. I can also add a relevant advertisement and get paid for it. However this blog is intended for class so I guessing that it will not be allowed.
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