artists #4

010011110101101.ORG is an art duo that produced another work revolving around internet security. They made a statement about the issues of placing private information in what can be very public forum if you are not careful. The artists allowed everything they did on the computer to be fully accessible for viewing on the internet. Further enhancements of this project involved allowing heir actions to be GPS tracked and phone conversations tapped.

New Media Art makes an interesting comment that the artists made themselves truly vulnerable and exposed in the name of art. Also, New Media also brought up a valid point that the viewers became voyeurs to some point. This project ties in to Marshall Mcluhan's idea the "the medium is the message". It is not the material hat viewers read or listen to that is the true artwork of the piece, but the way in which it is being presented that expresses the true message of the project.

These artists are prime examples of truly becoming part of your art. They remind the viewer that we are all vulnerable because we are living in the electronic age, and that we should all think twice about what we are putting on the internet...because what if everyone could see it?

artists #3

Vectorial Elevation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is perhaps one of my favorite projects of the new media examples. Seeing an installation project of this scale really made me reflect on the vast possibilities with new media and design technology.

Until now, my study of and work in art had been completely stationary. Drawing, painting, color theory...even work that I had done in the field of graphic design had been static, unresponsive pieces. I had mainly designed in photoshop and illustrator, very little animation. And while these mediums have all served me well, they had never really exposed me to the idea of involving the viewer in a much more tangible way. My mind has been spinning in this course as I try to keep up with learning new software and how to think in very different terms when it comes to digital art. Hopefully, with these new techniques and the freedom to develop our final product as an independent idea, I can incorporate my current interests in art with new media ideas.

The element of audience participation is something that I have found very interesting in this course. I think that is why I particularly enjoyed the lessons on camera and mic use. Those elements literally allow the viewer to climb in and become part of the artwork. In Hemmer's project, the viewer gets to design the outcome of the lightshow, and therefore "become" an artist themselves. Because of this, I think that these types of viewer-involved works are an asset for exposing the average person to artistic experiences.

artists -#2

A group of artists known as Knowrobotic Research developed the above project entitled Minds of Concern::Breaking News as part of an exhibit commenting on art and internet hacking. The project involved an interactive online space in which the user could sample clips pulled off the internet by "port sourcing. Ultimately, this body of work was meant to comment on the ease of hacking on the internet and to remind people of the "big brother" aspect of using such a public source of information.

The interactivity of this project reminded me of the flash work that we have been doing in class. Much of the presentation seemed to involve simple buttons and movie clips with animations that we have practiced. The element of invasion through peoples' computers also reminds me of issues with our use of cameras and microphones on the web. It makes sense that our computers prompt us to allow camera and mic elements, because I now realize how simple it would be for someone to program cams or mics to access our home computers through seemingly innocent websites.

The Minds of Concern site was eventually shut down because internet service providers claimed it violated their use policies. I think in this case we can all agree that the website was shut down because it was actually making a very valid point about internet security. I found this piece important because it reminds us that as artists we have the right to create whatever we want, but when it comes to public domain and the web there are that many more censors and critics to deal with.