Final Project

Check out my final project of the semester!

http://onlineidentityartexhibit.weebly.com/index.html

Final - Compare/Contrast

For my final project I decided to continue my social media project Facebook Intruder. It’s seemed obvious that there was much more to explore with the idea than I was able to do initially.

My final is called Facebook Intruder: Reign Of Giras. Contained in this project, are the combined materials from the initial Facebook Intruder as well as the new material. I think they inform each other quite well, but also, I think that it is necessary to explain the project – from inception to finish.

The largest difference between this project and my initial Facebook Intruder is how I am documenting the work. A PDF with screen shots (as I did initially) wasn’t very satisfactory. So, based on the suggestions that I received in the critique of that project, I’ve decided to print out the screen shots create a scrapbook. Contained in the book, are pasted screenshots as well as notes, explaining them.

Taking the project into a physical form was really satisfying. I think that it makes the process of the project seem more substantial. I addition to that, I think that I was able to reinforce the overall purpose and aesthetic of the project, by crafting and decorating the book.

Facebook Intruder

Facebook Intruder (2012)

With this project I created an alter ego Facebook profile. With the profile I attempted to permeate the online social networks of complete strangers. In doing so, I’ve begun to gauge the legitimacy, pertinence and availability of social interactions that stay on Facebook having never begun with physical interaction. I chose Facebook as the forum for this investigation because of it’s overall popularity as well as the relative exclusivity of it’s social networks.

Below are examples of the screens shots and descriptions that I used to document the process:

 

8 – Commenting on a picture of one of my newly acquired Facebook friends.

 

14 – Although I was taking the friend-request process much slower that I did previously with the “Ferris” profile, Facebook still eventually intervened by no longer allowing the Max Gira profile to request friends. The duration of this limitation is not made clear although all other aspects of the profile still functioned.

 

15 – First conversation with a Facebook friend. The friendship was terminated by the other party soon after.

Social Media - Pre Internet

With my project Facebook Intruder, I aim to explore the permeability of online social networks (specifically Facebook) by way of a fabricated online profile. Executing this project and achieving its goals without the Internet would be impossible. The entire objective of the project is to gauge the legitimacy and pertinence of social interactions that stay online and never cross into physical interaction.

That being said, if the goals for the project were slightly altered, I imagine that a variant of it could be executed pre-internet through written letters and the post office. Who knows how often mailing a letter to a random person and striking up a dialogue actually happens, but its lack of immediacy would certainly make the line of dialogue between the parties much different than a line of dialogue between random people online. I figure doing this through mail to be how the concept of “pen-pals” was initially formed. In that regard, it’s not an unfamiliar concept.

Social Media Artist

Man Bartlett

Born: 1981

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

His work includes drawings, collages and online performance art.

Often often uses Twitter to communicate/carry-out his social media projects. Works include:

#TheseusHand - A project where he had people tweet pictures of hand jesters which form either a one or a zero. The images were then used to create a series of instructions.

#GreyMatter - A project where people contacted him via Twitter or in an art gallery and told Man where they were from. Man would then then represent this place by tying a piece of colored string to a dowel rod.

#24hClerk - A project where people contacted him via twitter and told him their dreams. He would then "price" these dreams on a chart.

manbartlett.com

Twitter

I made a Twitter profile a few months ago out of fear of no longer being “with it.” I figured that its pervasiveness into pop culture had denoted its pertinence. Every politician, musician, artist, etc. that I was interested in had an account and seemed to be reaping its benefits. Since then, I’ve periodically logged into my own account to try and get something out of it… to no avail! I continually found myself asking myself different variations of, “who cares?” or “what is the point of this?” or “what does this mean?” or “how do I do this?”

Thankfully this “Twitter assignment” has given me the opportunity to spend significantly more time with it than I had before, exploring its facets. In doing so, I‘ve begun to turn the corner with my understanding of its purposes. Before my more thorough investigation, I figured that Facebook could provide everything that I needed out of social-media websites. This leads me to my (obvious) Twitter realization… unlike Facebook; Twitter provides a streamlined forum for people to connect with complete strangers who share the same interests. It’s a great tool to find out the very latest news, facts, etc. on whatever you’re interested in.

Appropriation Work II

Its That Time

2012

A composite vector-graphic image which was composed entirely from appropriated imagery from the short film, The Nature of Sound (1948). I found the footage from the short to be very reminiscent of Cold War educational and propaganda films that I’ve seen. I think it is that sense of paranoia and dread that I get from those films that informed this piece.

Compare, Contrast

Although they were both appropriation assignments, working on the collage and the “remix” were completely different processes, for me.

The most obvious difference was the materiality of the two. I don’t think that I’ve cut up magazines and pasted them together since grade school (I don’t really miss it, either). On the other hand, working with video is a familiar process.

The largest difference between them was that the collage assignment had a more defined objective (to create a piece that represented our strengths and weaknesses) while the remix assignment did not. Having a defined objective like that makes the creative process much easier, but at the same time I feel like the results are much more contrived.

Not having an objective for the remix, forced me to search for what the material meant to me. Ultimately, I found the footage to be very reminiscent of Cold War educational and propaganda films that I’ve seen. I think it is that sense of paranoia and dread that I get from those films that informed my piece, It’s That Time.

I’ve never vectorized images from video footage before, and I really enjoyed the process. I think that it allowed me to take the raw material from the video really far away from its source. Initially, I felt that it was necessary vectorize the images from the video because the resolution of the footage was so bad. Later, I decided to exaggerate the affect because I think that it increased the anonymity of the images, which reinforced the piece conceptually.

Appropriation Work

It Came From Planet B! Videos

2012

Duration: 4:16 and 3:21

I appropriated video and sound from collection of youtube videos to create 2 video intermissions for the theatrical production, It Came From Planet B! The videos continued the narrative of the production during costume and set changes. The majority of the footage was appropriated from an array space/alien movies and television shows.

Below are some stills from the videos:

 

Corinne Vionnet

Born in Switzerland in 1969.

Corinne's most popular work to date is a photo series called Photo Opportunities. The images are Photoshoped composites of tourist photos of famous landmarks (Leaning Tower of Piza, Eiffel Tower, etc.) which she appropriates from the internet. Often using hundreds of photos, she stacks them onto each other and then alters the opacity to create an impressionistic image of the landmark.

Here are some examples from the series:

Dlectricity (friday)

It’s really exciting to see an art festival can take over the main drag of downtown. It's this type of event that really elevates Detroit's "hipster" status. Detroit is more and more becoming a cultural hub of musicians, art and artists. Being an artist, who lives and works in the Detroit area, I’ve relatively recently begun to feel like is the right place to be. Events like Dlectricity reinforce this.

The installations that took over entire buildings were my favorite. In the work Visual Music by Kye Potter and Julia Dzwonkoski, video and images were being projected onto the entire face of a building. Also, the piece Work by Mark Moffett with Time Productions projected video from inside of a building onto the windows, which created a mesmerizing effect.

Aside from the art itself, what really stood out to me was MOCAD being open for a no-cover party. To see the community together, enjoying modern art, was awesome. The work that was inside called Vision in a Cornfield was very bizarre and fun to examine.

Unfortunately the rain and cold stood in the way of exploring more of the pieces (no umbrella). Overall, I think that Dlectricity would benefit greatly from being scheduled about month earlier. Exploring these pieces on a summer night would’ve been prime.

Game VS Art

I’ve never really considered a game to be an art form. Sure, the production of games and art is similar in that they are both a creative processes, but I’ve never thought that the intentions behind them were similar (art: to express, game: to win). I think that the idea of a game being art it is a relatively recent idea, which emerged out of conceptual art movements of the 20^th century.

I think that in order for games to be considered art, the act of playing or the end result of playing must fulfill some conceptual goal, in the same way that finishing an artwork cements an idea or a goal. The methods/guidelines for this goal are obviously quite ambiguous and are part of the creative process.

Another similarity between an art-game and more traditional artwork is in the variables that exist within their respective processes. The results of both are dependent on variables such as: circumstance, personality and skill.

But despite common variables, the main difference between the two is still chance. Chance is what consumes games and is what makes them what they are, while the ideal in traditional artworks is more often than not, to remove chance.

Aleatoric Music

Aleatoric music is defined as music where part/all of the composition of the music is left to chance or to the whim of the musicians.

Steps to creating such a "game" could be as follows:

1. Gather musicians/instruments into a room.
2. Select one of the musicians to be the "Composer."
3. Make a series of cards which are adorn with symbols that have pre-determined meanings. The symbols would signify general musical ideas such as: "play something fast," "play something low," "slow the tempo," etc.
4. The Composer would collect the cards and begin presenting them (at their discretion) for the other musicians to play to.

The results of this would be Aleatoric music.

Here is the link to the John Cage piece that I showed in class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJMekwS6b9U

Here is a link to an Aleatoric water instrument video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ_KijiwQHE

New Media Game

Title: Quik Pix

Description: Spell "I LUV NEW MEDIA ART" using photos of signs outside, around campus.

Objective: To be the first to spell "I LUV NEW MEDIA ART" and return to the class room.

Rules: The letters have to be photographed in the correct order. More than one letter can be captured in the same photo as long as they are in the correct order. Each photo has to be taken of a separate sign. The photos have to be taken of signs that are physically attached to the campus (no photos of car license plates, blimps, t-shirts, etc.)

Show and Tell

Title: “Window Over the Kitchen Sink (Complete History of the Earth – Article: 2.9144617 × 10^26)”

Artist Statement: Windows always frame a space that is separated from our immediate space. By doing this “framing,” our view out of (or into) a window elicits a perceptual distortion of what the other side is actually like (i.e. doesn’t it look warmer out there than it actually is?)… Windows crop the view, obscure with glare, muffle the sound, block the smell, and in general, insulate from that environment.

     With “Window Over the Kitchen Sink (Complete History of the Earth – Article: 2.9144617 × 10^26)” I created a “window” that exaggerates the perceptual distortions that are inherited from a window-view.

Date: 2012

Medium: Digital Photography, Installation

Dimensions: 21in X 17in X 6in

Description: It is a Photoshop composite image (of both appropriated and original photos) that is printed on translucent paper and is mounted between acrylic glass over a “light-box.”

In Progress Critique

I’m never really comfortable showing unfinished work. I realize that it’s an important aspect of art education but I think that it disrupts the completion of and final impact (on anyone who’s seen the in-progress work) of the completed work in a lot of ways.

I really enjoy being surprised by art; I always avoid “behind-the-scenes” type material until I’ve already experienced the work. Having knowledge about the process of how the art was created allows my mind to wonder onto other things besides the work itself. I find myself thinking, “…Oh, that’s how that was done” or I might seek out the artist’s intentions in the work (the one’s that I already know to be there), etc.

Also, I think that any critique or suggestions in the middle of the process of making work can be either: helpful (in the best of cases) or confusing (in most of my cases). I often initially have really strong ideas about how I want the final work to look, feel, sound, etc.  I like to try to see those ideas through to the end and stumble across other ideas along the way. The issue that I have with other opinions before the work is complete is that they can possibly throw me off of my initial ideas. Anything that increases the chance of me second-guessing myself is something that I like to avoid. With all of that said, I don’t think that our class in progress critique had any negative impact on the completion of my project.

Without completed work, we have to sell their ideas alone. This seems like a very important skill to develop for use in more real-world art situations. The in-progress critique as well as the project proposal forced me to think about how to express my intentions with the project through words, which can be difficult to do.