ART EVENT # 2: Photojournalism Class: Beneath the Surface

This art event was the opening of the exhibition in Boyden Gallery featuring the work of the Photojournalism Class. The work revolved around the student’s experiences with local St. Mary’s Community members. The focus being on local residents who are either underrepresented, unknown, or unappreciated. The setting of the exhibition was intimate and quite, but the visitors to the gallery were filled with excitement and interest. One example of a student’s work comes from Michelle Ladis who spent most of her semester documenting firefighters from a local volunteer station. She not only got to learn about firefighting but she also learned about the firefighters and their lives and commitment. In her work one can see the attachment michelle aquired while being with the firefighters. The images were personal almost. Often focusing on the faces of the firefighters and tense moments during drills and real emergencies. This exhibit definitely reminded me of images from newspapers and the like. It’s definitely a different genre of photography but it never lacks meaning, message, or artistic content. Many of the photographs are images of the figure caught in action.

Artist Entry #11

Michel Gondry

So this isn’t exactly an artist entry from Rhizome but I thought it might be interesting to talk about Michel Gondry considering he has been brought up on a number of occasions in class. It seems that much of his work has related to project we had been working on. Additionally, michel gondry has several videos on youtube in addition to his music videos, and commercials. I think this artist is extremely accessible to the masses. His work may be seen as commercialized…as he does work for musicians and companies such as levi’s. However, his work still generates great interest because it is unusual and on the artistic side of things and often thought provoking. One thing I’ve noticed after watching several of his music videos is he often uses repetition as a key element. Additionally, he often makes the viewer see one thing and then he changes that element into something completely unexpected. I think these surprises in form are often what’s so captivating about his work. He also uses digital art to enhance the hyper reality and surrealistic nature of much of his work.

Artist Entry # 10.

Analog Environments by jstchillin (Caitlin denney, and parker ito)

This is a piece of artwork by two artists jstchillin. When I clicked on the link I was not expecting what I saw. A new virtual world popped in front of me. There were several places in which I could click and enter a new world. This new space seemed a lot like an art exhibit/virtual spaceship. It seemed that there was 3d art at the end of separate hall ways. I then read the description. Apparently, jstchillin, is interested in the curatorial process and creating a virtual curated exhibit. I think this is an interesting take on curating because the exhibition space is created by the artist. So I feel that the curator aspect is very apparent, almost more apparent than the artwork being displayed. Because im in curatorial studies this interests me a lot. We often talk about the visible/invisible curator. Here the artist and the curator are the same thing. However, I think this wasn’t solely meant to be an exhibition. I think this was meant to be an abstraction of curating and exhibitions.

Artist Entry # 9

Artistic License

Andy Deck

This is an interesting piece of digital art. Basically this is a program that allows visitors to create their own “artistic license”. It’s humorous in a way. Essentially visitors can either create a fake identity and print out their own licenses. This is in some way a commentary about what makes an artist and artist. Is it information on a piece of paper, like many other jobs? Or is It about the process and what you create? This allows anyone to have “artistic license” its also a play on words that people often use when describing someone’s ability to creatively change something due to their “artistic license”. According to rhizome there was an exhibition featuring this piece and let visitors print out and laminate their licenses. Additionally, because this piece is online it reaches more people. Anyone and everyone can make this license and become an “artist”.

ARTIST ENTRY # 8

Claire Evans, Aaron Flint Jamison, & Jona Bechtolt

The Marfa Ring

This is an interesting piece of web art. Well, I’m not sure if its art or experimentation. Essentially, the marfa ring is a webspace in which several websites revolving around the town of MARFA TEXAS are located on one webpage. These sites are made by local residents and businesses in marfa. One webpage was devoted to alien activity in marfa containing amateur videos and photographs. Another site simply displays the price of gas in Marfa. It’s a neat way to really portray the personality of the town. Additionally according to rhizome, this “Ring” causes these cites to come up more frequently on google when visitors search for Marfa. This gives people a different perspective of what marfa is really about. I am having difficulty seeing this as digital art. This is more of a webspace tool. It allows Marfa to become more accessible to visitors to the “marfa ring”. I suppose one way this could be considered art is by its use of appropriation and locating these sources to create one whole webspace.

ARTIST ENTRY # 7.

Andrey Yazev

Shake (2009)

This is a really strange piece of digital art. Essentially it looks like the scroll bar on safari web pages. However it is a bunch of these scroll bars placed next to each other. The piece is interactive so the viewer needs to “shake” the bars. This causes the image to move and blend all of the bars together. I thought that it was interesting because it allowed you to move the bars in a manner in which they normally don’t move. For instance, in the scroll bar on a safari webpage the scroll bar can move up and down. Here, the bars move into each other, bend, jump and move side to side, sometimes in a wavelike motion. This allows you to physically bend the scroll bar. It also reminds me of when my computer is slow or has an error and suddenly as you move the browser there are mirror images of that browser all over the computer screen. I also think its an interesting note that the screen has no scroll bar itself. Instead the scroll bar is all in the center. SO, I think this has a lot to do with placement, repetition and movement.

The Ghost of Vannevar Hacked my Server

The Ghost of Vannevar Bush Hacked My Server is a website that continually reloads. Every so often and image of "the ghost of Vannevar" appears. He is formed from varying shades of 101010100111010o101010101000101. Which is computer code. This really only made sense to me once i looked up who Vannevar Bush was. During part of his career he worked on constructing an analog computer. I could see how this could be connected to the visual art presented by Michael Demers. I actually really didn't like this piece of digital art. I felt it was repetitive and lacked any other meaning. I suppose this could be a visual pun. Through this i mean that because Vannevar had great influence (I assume) on computers he has prematurely "hacked" into our computers (or servers). And because the digital code is a type of analog he, visually, is made out of an analog (part of his life work). Additionally, i believe there is a purpose to the continual and random reloading of the web-page. It's sort of like the pattern for the computer code (1000101 etc...) Its random but there are only two options for the next element...1 or 0. In this instance, Vannevar either appears or he disappears. Maybe this is a commentary on how the computer can take a life of its own..not in the sense of a robot...but as a different entity that "hacks" or oversees all that you do. I'm probably way off target...but i would really like to hear someone else's opinion. Because for the most part my reaction to this piece is, "huh?".

Art Week~ Open studios in AA hall and a review of the week

Because i am part of the curatorial studies class i had the opportunity to see multiple studios open up for art week. It was really interesting especially to see the studio SMPs open. I think its often important to see works in process. It gives great insight into the building of a complete set of works. Most of the studio SMPs are still in the brainstorming process. Mary Gotschalk is working on a story based painting project. Montse is working with texture and i noticed beginning pieces that have female figures in them. I think it would have been neat if the smps had written descriptions or information about the projects. The professors additionally had their studios open. Sue Johnson, carrie Patterson, and Billy Friebele all had their studios open along with displays of their artwork. Carrie Patterson had a few of her pieces left over from Placing Color. It was really neat to see her work space, again giving insight into the development process of creating art. She had an entire station of brushes paint and a table full of blocks being prepared for a new art work. The visiting photography professor also had her studio open. Most of her work dealt with photographs from a different country. Most of the photographs were portraits and they exhibited the lifestyle of these people. In terms of artweek as a whole i think it was a major success. I hope it will continue to be a feature every semester. I think it really solidified the art department as a whole group and working entity. It also really created awareness of the different art projects and how important many of them are. I think it inspired people to maybe become more involved in the department. I really think its great that we have art events and lectures throughout the year. But, something like this, where we feature art in process or simply art theory, is just as important. It shows that art is important and interesting even when it isn't a finished product ready to be placed on a white wall in a sterile exhibition. It would be neat to try and incorporate other departments. I think this was attempted in the Professor Throwdown at the end of the week. That could really show how art is an integral part of other departments and the school as a whole.

Artist Entry~ Sveriges Radio

I stumbled upon this piece of new media art through BetaSpace, a new media art source. The Title of the piece is Let Them Sing It For You. Basically it is a program in which you can type in any words of your choice. They can be a famous quote, your own words, or a sentence (or several). Once typing in your words you press the play button. Then, from a data base of songs, the program will "play your words". Essentially it is a database full of words taken from songs. So, for instance, one might put in the word "never" and the database will play "never" from some song that they took that word from. I tried out this program. From the website there was little to no information about the program so i had no idea what the program was going to be. I was wondering who "they" were. I entered the words, "How is this art? Can you tell me please? Is it because you use appropriation? Good luck finding that word in your database." And sure enough the program played my words through a bunch of words from songs...but, of course, appropriation was not found. The program used a series of words that, when placed together, sort of sounded like appropriation. There really isn't any writing on this piece of art so i'll make my own assessment. I think this piece of new media art is amusing at best. The most apparent thing to me is that it definitely uses appropriation. I think one thing that is interesting about this is that music is a huge part of culture, especially popular music, which is where most of the words come from. Another interesting thing is that even though each word has its own melodic sound the final piece that is played doesn't sound like music. It is disjointed and maybe even unsettling to listen to. I think this piece could be highlighting how music is created and how one cannot simply string together what makes up a library of popular music and create a new song.

AFTER CRITIQUE

BEFORE CRITIQUE

Changes:  I made the hindu god on the left a little bit darker blue so that he didn't blend in so much with the twitter symbol.  Additionally, I faded out the edge of the twitter image a little bit.  Then, i added a few more religious symbols to cover the spaces on the bottom.  However, it was really hard finding different images.  I think i actually prefer the before image.

THE END OF TELEVISION: ARTIST ENTRY

THE END OF TELEVISION was a broadcasted artistic event. Essentially the event occurred when all televisions in the united states switched from analog television to a digital transmission. This change caused the analog televisions to become obsolete, however, Ian Page and a collaboration of artists found this change as a significant and useful time to collaborate and broadcast their own art. After the switch from analog to digital these artists broadcasted their own art on the analog signal within the Pittsburgh area. So, according to Rhizome, The End of Television was the only broadcasting program on Analog television at that time. I see this art piece as a type of appropriation. The artists appropriated the free space that the now obsolete analog television provided. Additionally, this art work is making a statement about the role of television in our lives. When you think about it, during the time of the switch there must have been a few people watching T.V. on analog televisions. They would have been watching a regularly broadcasted program and then suddenly would be thrust into viewing new media art in place of their regular program (i.e. a sports game). Additionally, there is this idea that many people had already switched to digital and so as THE END OF TELEVISION is playing and describing the pitfalls of T.V. millions of people will miss this program as the now obsolete and empty analog rambles on. I think this project is a great use of the empty space that analog would be taking up, and i think its neat to broadcast different new media artists' work. However, i think it would be great if the program continued...but because analog is obsolete now the artists' work might not be viewed. I also thought it was interesting that the program had pieces of art that highlighted problems with our society's habits of watching T.V. I think this should have been the essential part of the broadcast. It would be interesting if there was a posted video of the entire broadcast.

There is one part of the broadcast that caught my attention. The program featured a group called HiTEC, 5 mins into the video, which reminds me of a lot of the noise we here and see on television. I'm not sure if that was the intention of that part of the program.

LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO

ARTIST ENTRY~Maurice Benayoun

Maurice Benavoun created World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War. This is a highly interactive art installation. Essentially viewers enter the art space where they can interact with a virtual reality. The viewers move through space comprised of frozen pictures of war scenes, which creates one giant war space. The viewer is instructed to "take pictures" with the "camera" provided. Every time a viewer "takes a picture" the subject of that picture becomes a white silhouette within the virtual reality space.

In this art work, Maurice Benavoun is commenting on photography's power in redefining space, events and people. I think he might be saying that photography essentially strips away the original essence of an event or person and makes that person or event more tangible to the person who took the picture. However, even though photography makes that event/person tangible to the photographer the event itself or the person him/herself become less connected with reality because now they are only associated with the photographs.

I think that Benavoun chose a war scene as the main environment for the art exhibit because there are many startling and memorable, emotional moments that come from war photography. However, i think his intended message becomes lost because of the intensity of war. I believe that the subject of war itself outshines the idea of taking photographs and essentially owning the moment. Although, it could have been his intention to chose a emotional subject matter, such as war, thus in the process of taking photos and stripping those moments away we are stripping away the realness of war and making it tangible and less frightening through photography. Also, the virtual landscape is rather eire because of the combination of the stillness and the seriousness of the photographs.

Artist Entry~ ACCESS

ACCESS by Marie Sester is a piece of installation art that truly blends the boundaries between internet, real time as well as modern day technology. This installation is one of many that address the qualities of surveillance systems that are ever present in todays modern world.

The public installation can be found in Karisrue Germany. Essentially, anyone with an internet connection can log onto the ACCESS HOME PAGE and interact with the installation. Upon entering the installation via internet, internet users can track individuals that walk into the installation space. The individuals are unaware that they have walked into the installation. The web user can track the individual by following them with a beam of light that receives information from the internet user. Additionally, the individual will hear targeted audio. The sounds that the individual hears are only audible to the individual.

This is any interesting project because it is a commentary on surveillance and the boundaries of privacy. My initial response to this project was that it sounded a little bit like invading privacy. But overall, the public has responded positively to the project. I mean, how neat is it that we can actively interact with people all the way over in Karisrue, and visually see their reaction to our actions?! I also think its neat that this installation creates a dialog between the person on the internet and the person in Karisrue. The installation is therefore worldwide. Not only does it stay in Karisrue where it is visible to multiple individuals walking through its space, but it is also brought into the homes of millions world wide. This is one of my favorite things about digital art. It bridges the gap between real time interaction, space, internet technology all the while commenting and giving a new perspective to the technologies (ie, surveillance, internet) we use everyday!

Bad Photos

What's On my Desk?

So i decided to scan a bunch of images of items i found on or in my desk. Just thought it would be a neat compilation of things i use/see everyday! So basically, i scanned these images at a 300 resolution, then on photoshop i reduced the resolution to 72 to make it more blogger friendly.  Anyhoo, i swear this stuff is organized on my desk haha.

Artist Entry: MISPLACED RELIQUARY~ PAUL CATANESE

Link to Rhizome:

http://rhizome.org/object.php?49318

Visit the artwork here:

http://www.paulcatanese.com/artwork/misplaced/index.html#

Misplaced Reliquary (2004) by Paul Catanese is a piece of digital artwork that combines the internet, gaming technology and a touch of old world nostalgia. The project was commissioned by Rhizome.org. Essentially, Misplaced Reliquary is a collection of images of animal bones. The bones are set up as if they were the prized collection of a well known biologist or field researcher. However, the images are displayed on a portable game system called a Gameboy Advance. In the gallery where this artwork was displayed a field journal is placed next to the game system, explaining and describing each item displayed within the Gameboy. The description of each item includes field notes, where the item was found, what the item is, and any other scientific description. The images are downloadable onto anyone's personal Gameboy Advance. Therefore, this artpiece is portable, and can only be viewed in the way the artist originally intended. Online the images can be viewed on a virtual Gameboy Advance. The fieldnote journal is also entirely visible and readable online.

What is most interesting is the combination of elements within this piece of artwork. While viewing the images one might think that they are looking at a collection of pieces that would be found directly in a Natural History museum. What works best about this piece is its portability as a piece. Its capable of being viewed in the context it was originally meant for. Anyone can own this piece within their own Gameboy Advance. I think that the artist is trying to bring a museum like gallery into a place that is usually meant for gaming interaction. But this alone brings interaction into the piece. The viewer controls which images to view and where to view them. virtually bringing a pocket collection wherever they go.

This exhibition brings many of the digital imaging elements such as internet and technology. Even the photographs are made through digital photography. Paul Catanese even remarks that he was interested in exploring the idea of gaming through the "hunt". In this way he searched for fragments of bone much like a biologist might do. I suppose what he means by hunting, is that in many games one is in search of something. So he incorporates a real life hunt, then displays his findings within a gaming device.

First Post

So how do i post stuff?