Reading 6 Questions

Do you agree with the author's statement that there is a trend towards externalization and objectification of the mind's operations?  Why or why not?

What do you think is more engaging for someone viewing a work of art: physical interactivity or mental interactivity?  Why or why not?

Final Writing Assignment

The ever-growing presence of digital media in the world has led to a large, diverse group of artists that identify with this relatively new style of art.  The great thing about digital media is that it allows practically limitless creativity compared to the more traditional art mediums.  This was quite evident when looking through the various artists and noticing just how different each artist's work was from another's.  The two artists I ended up chosing were Jason Van Anden and Christian Marc Schmidt.

Jason Van Anden

Anden is a self-proclaimed new media activist, artist, inventor, and robot maker who is based in New York City.  His education includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Syracuse University as well as attending the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.  What is unique about Jason is how he uses technology to create living art.

Anden's Neil and Iona, which can be seen in Fig. 1, is the work that I chose for him.  Neil and Iona are "emotional sculptures" according to Anden.  Through the use of sculpture, drawing, robotics, and software programming, two beings were created that can interact not only with one another, but the audience as well.  They interact using movement, sound, and hand-drawn facial expressions.  They can essentially be considered sculptures brought to life through animation.

Anden found inspiration for Neil and Iona while attending group therapy sessions.  While reflecting on the behavior of the other people in his group, in order to better understand his own behavior, he noticed that they often repeated their behavior just like a loop in a computer program.  This inspired him to portray these patterns by developing code to animate these sculptures.

Fig. 1: Neil and Iona, an interactive exhibit created by Jason Van Anden.

Christian Marc Schmidt

Schmidt is a designer and new media activist based in Seattle.  His education includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design in New York City and a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Yale University.  He has a diverse array of design disciplines including print, environmental, and interactive designs.  He has also completed various media installations.

All Horizons is the piece that I chose for Schmidt.  He selected 150 photographs under a creative commons license in which the horizon was the subject.  The photographs were then arranged serially and shown in progression with one fading into another, into another, and so forth.  As the video progresses, the horizon slowly descends lower and lower on the screen.  Schmidt stated that he wanted to reflect a universally shared perception and experience of space that are not limited by where someone lives or their culture.

Fig. 2: All Horizons by Christian Marc Schmidt.

Discussion

These two artworks are quite different from one another.  First of all, Anden's work incorporates an element of interaction that is noticeably lacking in Schmidt's work.  Another is that Neil and Iona is a combination of animation and sculpture while All Horizons is a combination of photography and video.  In spite of these differences, these seemingly different works of art do indeed have some similar traits.  They both feature a combination of art forms.  Also, both incorporate moving pictures.  The hand-drawn facial expressions of the robots can be considered moving pictures and All Horizons is a slideshow.  These artworks have symbolic similarities as well.  Both allude to the fact that there are inherent similarities shared by all humans.  I attempted to contact both artists, but unfortunately neither of them responded.

References

http://rhizome.org/profile/christianmarcschmidt//

http://rhizome.org/profile/jasonvananden//

http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com/

http://www.smileproject.com/

Reading 5 Questions

Do you believe that the digital revolution signals a growing obsolescence for visual art?  Why or why not.

Is there a significant difference between the code-based nature of digital media and the image-based nature of both photography and film?  Why or why not?

Project 6: Interventionist Media

For this project, I wanted to comment on today's medical system.  Many people resort to researching their health problems themselves online.  Our medical systems main focus is on treating people with medical emergencies and keeping them alive.  In my opinion, our current medical system should pay more attention to chronic conditions that afflict millions of undiagnosed people and on improving quality of life for those people.

Reading 4 Questions

1. Paolo Virno defines virtuosity is an "activity which finds its own fulfillment in itself, without objectifying into an end product, without settling into a 'finished product,' or into an object which would survive the performance."  Do you agree with this definition?  Must an activity not result in a product for it to be considered virtuoso?

2. In your opinion, where does data visualization become artistic over simply being a functional or pragmatic visual?