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haha
Friday, November 30, 2007
can i paint media art?
wait, wait, wait.... wait....
wait...
if i can pay someone to paint something, and it is done all online, and i can make some bullshit with processing or something and have people paint it, is it still media art?
funny
wait...
if i can pay someone to paint something, and it is done all online, and i can make some bullshit with processing or something and have people paint it, is it still media art?
funny
Giant Robot VS Murakami
so i went to see both the murakami show and the giant robot show and they both taught me what to do and what not to do (i think we should all take at least these two things from each show we go see).
first murakami
i'm going to regurgitate some things the curator spoke about during the walk, so sorry if you have heard this before. his sculptures,
the lonesome cowboy really connected with this whole american influence on japanese culture statement he is all about. look at the lasso of the cowboy the ejaculation makes. perfect statement. the other just doesn't have as strong of the same americanism (is jump rope american?). what a great subtle juxtaposition of such distinct semiotics!
The rest of the works are of similar strength, there's much better writing on them out there, i just wanted to point out this work because i still feels as an american, it is the strongest (i mean seriously people, unless your from akihabara, how well will you really understand the depth of the statement about otaku culture? i mean so many of his pieces have such strong asian references for semiotics that you just wouldn't understand it and would only appreciate the superficialness of the work.
ok, now for giant robot.
i will forgive them for 3 big things mainly because i'm sure they are new to this (for any other institute, this wouldn't be forgivable) 1. SPACE, all the works were soooooooo squashed together, the impressiveness of the work detracted from the placement. 2. STATEMENT, i mean, other than an assembly of works by people they like, i can't see much of a connection between the works. and i don't buy their statement about it being a show about asian american pop art, but more about that later. 3. WHO PUT A HOLE THROUGH SASHIE MASAKATSU'S WORK! wtf people, i was there at the opening, and this must have happened either before the opening or when they were setting up. you patch that shit up man! shit, he's the best one out of the entire lot of them!
ok, after all that, what really bugs me is, why is gary baseman in this show!
his work is so based on american cartoons and his influence on asian artists is questionable at best! (they should have has kozyandan instead) i mean it's gary baseman! i know exactly how he got into the show and it is very gary baseman of him. but he started his illustration style and ideology way before japanese anime became big in the US (and i wouldn't put it past him for just saying he was influenced by it just to sell more paintings).
but in the end WHO CARES because it's giant robot, and they can put up anything they like, and that's so much cooler than just an art show. it's not about art, it's about what they like, and what they like defines so much of what asian american culture now that whatever they think influences asian american culture either has or will so the point is really mute!
haha
on a side note, did anyone spot the 16 short throw nec projectors that LV had for their storefront inside the show? you can not see a seam in the projection overlap area and they are all perfectly synced. it's quite impressive
first murakami
i'm going to regurgitate some things the curator spoke about during the walk, so sorry if you have heard this before. his sculptures,
the lonesome cowboy really connected with this whole american influence on japanese culture statement he is all about. look at the lasso of the cowboy the ejaculation makes. perfect statement. the other just doesn't have as strong of the same americanism (is jump rope american?). what a great subtle juxtaposition of such distinct semiotics!The rest of the works are of similar strength, there's much better writing on them out there, i just wanted to point out this work because i still feels as an american, it is the strongest (i mean seriously people, unless your from akihabara, how well will you really understand the depth of the statement about otaku culture? i mean so many of his pieces have such strong asian references for semiotics that you just wouldn't understand it and would only appreciate the superficialness of the work.
ok, now for giant robot.
i will forgive them for 3 big things mainly because i'm sure they are new to this (for any other institute, this wouldn't be forgivable) 1. SPACE, all the works were soooooooo squashed together, the impressiveness of the work detracted from the placement. 2. STATEMENT, i mean, other than an assembly of works by people they like, i can't see much of a connection between the works. and i don't buy their statement about it being a show about asian american pop art, but more about that later. 3. WHO PUT A HOLE THROUGH SASHIE MASAKATSU'S WORK! wtf people, i was there at the opening, and this must have happened either before the opening or when they were setting up. you patch that shit up man! shit, he's the best one out of the entire lot of them!
ok, after all that, what really bugs me is, why is gary baseman in this show!
his work is so based on american cartoons and his influence on asian artists is questionable at best! (they should have has kozyandan instead) i mean it's gary baseman! i know exactly how he got into the show and it is very gary baseman of him. but he started his illustration style and ideology way before japanese anime became big in the US (and i wouldn't put it past him for just saying he was influenced by it just to sell more paintings).but in the end WHO CARES because it's giant robot, and they can put up anything they like, and that's so much cooler than just an art show. it's not about art, it's about what they like, and what they like defines so much of what asian american culture now that whatever they think influences asian american culture either has or will so the point is really mute!
haha
on a side note, did anyone spot the 16 short throw nec projectors that LV had for their storefront inside the show? you can not see a seam in the projection overlap area and they are all perfectly synced. it's quite impressive
Photography and the modernization of technology
i recently watched a bbc news report about the serious problem stock photographers are facing due to the large influx of non-professional photographers into the market of stock photography. armature photographers armed with a canon rebel and photoshop now can make stock photography and sell it with relative ease and thus relatively cheaply. what does this mean for stock photographers? their coveted profession is now disintegrating before their eyes and they will either have to do shoots that are either technically too impossible (thus creating a narrow market for the product) or conceptually much stronger. two things we really do need school for.
now why do i mention this, i think it's interesting. photographers in the past held onto the their world because the high costs involved in properly developing images and time so the average joe couldn't take 1000 shots in a month and learn what they went wrong and correct it. also, the large reliance on developing techniques to create spectacular colors and compositions was another monopolizing quality of the past. a simple person with a point and shoot just didn't have the necessary time or money to be shooting at such amounts or on such film.
then comes photoshop and digital cameras. these things replaced the cost of film, thus allowing everyone to shoot 1,000 per month (i think i once averaged 10,000 in one month) and pick out the good ones. they learn from this experience, and if something doesn't come out great, you don't need to learn proper dark room techniques anymore, a simple photoshop correction will do it (and no one really cares about it being "authentic", hell, you'll be lucky to see something that isn't photoshopped these days (i know, i used to work photoshopping models skinnier).
there's even online sites which allows amateur photographers to post up the photos they have taken and sell them. obviously in the future, stock video will go the same way, it's really just a matter of time and bandwidth.
now what does that mean? i think it points out the flaws of technological reliance and the strong need for conceptualization. no matter how cool you know how to engineer something, it will always eventually become ubiquitous. i think the projector is going to become this soon, so many artists are like, look, i can project something! (and i mean myself as well) and that's it. once projectors are cheaper and everywhere, no one will care anymore because everyone can make themselves.
this brings up a funny point my classmates have shared before, you know how alot of media art or digital art all look like screen savers? why not make then into screen savers and distribute them? as more prevalent the image of the piece as a screensaver, the more cheap the original will look and there's nothing the artist can really do about it. (it's like how ikea cheapen the look of minimalist furniture, which is another example of need for concepts and higher technical excellence due to technological development).
another solution i just realized is brand marketing, but that requires still a little conceptual work. i was thinking about how murakami can withstand the assault from the LARGE explosion of asian artists now all making cartoon styled work but with none of murakami's conceptual statements (THE GIANT ROBOT SHOW WAS SHIT). but illustrative style is still something technology can not emulate. photography is easy because you can photograph something that another photographer shoots, and the two can look very much alike (i mean, you won't be able to shoot a jeff wall simply because many of his things are so staged that it's too costly for the average person, but that's under superior technique+concept).
so photography is in trouble, unless you are graduated from some conceptual photography school or you photograph famous people (sam taylor wood). sculpture is still ok, form is still like illustration of painting, so it's safe as long as people don't find out about this service where you send a photograph of what you want painted to china and they send back a painting (to expedite this process, go here). with media art, everyone is subject to not only the problem of not being taken seriously as art, but also the progress of technology can put the amazing into the mundane quickly, just look at terravision (sorry joachim). but there's nothing wrong with that, people need to get over it and accept that this is the future. as artists, we are somehow above what everyday people can do and that is what gives us value. we must all adapt to progress. those who can't adapt die
now why do i mention this, i think it's interesting. photographers in the past held onto the their world because the high costs involved in properly developing images and time so the average joe couldn't take 1000 shots in a month and learn what they went wrong and correct it. also, the large reliance on developing techniques to create spectacular colors and compositions was another monopolizing quality of the past. a simple person with a point and shoot just didn't have the necessary time or money to be shooting at such amounts or on such film.
then comes photoshop and digital cameras. these things replaced the cost of film, thus allowing everyone to shoot 1,000 per month (i think i once averaged 10,000 in one month) and pick out the good ones. they learn from this experience, and if something doesn't come out great, you don't need to learn proper dark room techniques anymore, a simple photoshop correction will do it (and no one really cares about it being "authentic", hell, you'll be lucky to see something that isn't photoshopped these days (i know, i used to work photoshopping models skinnier).
there's even online sites which allows amateur photographers to post up the photos they have taken and sell them. obviously in the future, stock video will go the same way, it's really just a matter of time and bandwidth.
now what does that mean? i think it points out the flaws of technological reliance and the strong need for conceptualization. no matter how cool you know how to engineer something, it will always eventually become ubiquitous. i think the projector is going to become this soon, so many artists are like, look, i can project something! (and i mean myself as well) and that's it. once projectors are cheaper and everywhere, no one will care anymore because everyone can make themselves.
this brings up a funny point my classmates have shared before, you know how alot of media art or digital art all look like screen savers? why not make then into screen savers and distribute them? as more prevalent the image of the piece as a screensaver, the more cheap the original will look and there's nothing the artist can really do about it. (it's like how ikea cheapen the look of minimalist furniture, which is another example of need for concepts and higher technical excellence due to technological development).
another solution i just realized is brand marketing, but that requires still a little conceptual work. i was thinking about how murakami can withstand the assault from the LARGE explosion of asian artists now all making cartoon styled work but with none of murakami's conceptual statements (THE GIANT ROBOT SHOW WAS SHIT). but illustrative style is still something technology can not emulate. photography is easy because you can photograph something that another photographer shoots, and the two can look very much alike (i mean, you won't be able to shoot a jeff wall simply because many of his things are so staged that it's too costly for the average person, but that's under superior technique+concept).
so photography is in trouble, unless you are graduated from some conceptual photography school or you photograph famous people (sam taylor wood). sculpture is still ok, form is still like illustration of painting, so it's safe as long as people don't find out about this service where you send a photograph of what you want painted to china and they send back a painting (to expedite this process, go here). with media art, everyone is subject to not only the problem of not being taken seriously as art, but also the progress of technology can put the amazing into the mundane quickly, just look at terravision (sorry joachim). but there's nothing wrong with that, people need to get over it and accept that this is the future. as artists, we are somehow above what everyday people can do and that is what gives us value. we must all adapt to progress. those who can't adapt die
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Media Art that will never be Media Art
i hate media art, well, i hate what people consider media art. i mean, you see all these stupid projects that have use for them, USE, that has a purpose, god damn it, it just leaves the taste in your mouth that they intend to try to pawn it off to some company inorder to sell as a product or something (when in truth, the companies just come and steal the idea and sell it themselves). i recently had an encounter with a man at the STRP show, he asked me about my flowers piece. he asked whether the moaning was the only sound you can make the flowers speak in. i replied you can make it anything you want. he replied, why not just let anyone control the sound or change the sound to whatever they want. i said, options makes it a tool, no options makes it a statement. i think this says something very important about interactivity.
now for some art, this is tim hawkinson's piece EMOTER
the piece moves various photographic elements of randomly creating various expressions and viewers can't help but read into what they mean
how he communicates random is very interesting, i mean, it's so easy for programmers to write random() to create a random number. he interfaces it with a tv set gathering random tv signals which the viewer can see and uses that to control the faces. the tv is definitively random and uncontrollable for the viewer.
this is definitively media art, but you will never learn about it from any media art conferences or shows. and, ok personal opinion, this kicks so much ass, way more than any media art pieces out there.
now for some art, this is tim hawkinson's piece EMOTER
the piece moves various photographic elements of randomly creating various expressions and viewers can't help but read into what they meanhow he communicates random is very interesting, i mean, it's so easy for programmers to write random() to create a random number. he interfaces it with a tv set gathering random tv signals which the viewer can see and uses that to control the faces. the tv is definitively random and uncontrollable for the viewer.this is definitively media art, but you will never learn about it from any media art conferences or shows. and, ok personal opinion, this kicks so much ass, way more than any media art pieces out there.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
look, Gundam!
this is the hand of god by....
by.....
Freerk Wieringa
that's the guy
it's a big gigantic hand that moves and can do the finger
instant audience and newspaper favorite
but other than that
it's total shit! (i even told a newspaper reporter that)
i mean, the idea of an enlarged hand of god has been around a long time, and probably most beautifully rendered by michaelangelo. what does a moving one do? add more reality to it? it just looks like he sawed off the hand of a gundam and displayed it. i mean, what's the point of making something that will eventually become common place? just wait a few years and the robot masters will be back and enslave us all, when that happens, a big gigantic robot hand won't look too out of place
by.....
Freerk Wieringa
that's the guy
it's a big gigantic hand that moves and can do the finger
instant audience and newspaper favorite
but other than thatit's total shit! (i even told a newspaper reporter that)
i mean, the idea of an enlarged hand of god has been around a long time, and probably most beautifully rendered by michaelangelo. what does a moving one do? add more reality to it? it just looks like he sawed off the hand of a gundam and displayed it. i mean, what's the point of making something that will eventually become common place? just wait a few years and the robot masters will be back and enslave us all, when that happens, a big gigantic robot hand won't look too out of place
i am too sad to tell you, really
oh, i never talked about why this is named this at all.
i am too sad to tell you is a piece by bas jan ader
one of his best, maybe his best best
it involves a man, who uncontrollably starts to cry, so painful and hard, that you can not help but feel the pain
rene daalder is coming out with a documentary on him
it was the inspiration for the www.iwanttogooutwithyou.com piece
i am too sad to tell you is a piece by bas jan ader
one of his best, maybe his best best
it involves a man, who uncontrollably starts to cry, so painful and hard, that you can not help but feel the pain
rene daalder is coming out with a documentary on himit was the inspiration for the www.iwanttogooutwithyou.com piece
I promise better
ok, i need to post more interesting things, and not about what i do, about what others do
i'll start by talking about rafael rozendaal
this is his work
he is just, in my opinion, the best of the neen stars
as you know, neen is what moved me to make my websites
rafael is what made me not care
ha
check out all his works
www.newrafael.com
i'll start by talking about rafael rozendaal
this is his work
he is just, in my opinion, the best of the neen starsas you know, neen is what moved me to make my websites
rafael is what made me not care
ha
check out all his works
www.newrafael.com
Just returned from STRP
I have returned from the land of Bas Jan, flowers, and bike lanes. I stayed at the Benno Hotel, this little hostel type hotel attached to a restaurant|bar run by hot blonde waitresses.
The room was annoyingly small, not small small, to the point where it is ridiculously small, but big enough of a small where it's just annoying and not comical.
and for some reason, the room had 3 remotes, yes, 3 remotes for the tv...
go figure
I got to the show and was shocked that they painted the box the wrong color. It was neon green! ok, it wasn't their fault, they based it off the color of the print out from the pdf i sent them, i should have sent them specific color numbers instead. oh well. the set up people were super helpful, especially the lighting guy who had to put up with me and my anal squaring of the light to exact specification (it took about 3 hours to set up the light properly at the right height).
The show was good, 19,000 people came, i had to replace the flowers once a day basically because people's constant touching just overwhelmed it. there's no point in hiding the fact that most people came because of the Chemical Brothers concert (which was totally awsome since i got an artist pass to move around freely)
they were ok, i thought the music was a little boring actually. but the visuals were amazing. they featured artists from Susan Kare to Simon Goulet to our own Sachiko Kodama! (and i can see some banksy influence in there as well)
the biggest critique i have with these shows is, people who go to these don't treat the works as valuable things and treat it instead like toys. because of that, 3 of the installations broke. there's just no respect for the pieces. parents let the kids stand on the pieces, teenagers kick the piece, and someone even spilled beer into two of my flower speakers!
what is up with that! I mean, the way people behaved completely changed when i put a sign up on the piece showing a price. not only are people more cautious in touching the piece, the price tag itself attracted people's curiousity
i got some nice photos in the morning on my 20 minute walk to the space where the show was at
the show ended pretty well, not much people on the last day, but got massively wasted with all the people from STRP that night (and someone put a buncha things in my pocket like someone's glove and an air freshener....) franz dj-ed and gave us free booze and i got a cut on my hand from broken glass. that's a recipe for a great night
...
oh i didn't tell you the best part
a guy came up to me and said:
guy: i really really like your work
me: thanks
guy: no, i don't think you understand, i am so moved by it
me: well, thanks alot, i really appreciate it
guy: i want to give you drugs
me: *gasp
haha
The room was annoyingly small, not small small, to the point where it is ridiculously small, but big enough of a small where it's just annoying and not comical.and for some reason, the room had 3 remotes, yes, 3 remotes for the tv...go figure
I got to the show and was shocked that they painted the box the wrong color. It was neon green! ok, it wasn't their fault, they based it off the color of the print out from the pdf i sent them, i should have sent them specific color numbers instead. oh well. the set up people were super helpful, especially the lighting guy who had to put up with me and my anal squaring of the light to exact specification (it took about 3 hours to set up the light properly at the right height).The show was good, 19,000 people came, i had to replace the flowers once a day basically because people's constant touching just overwhelmed it. there's no point in hiding the fact that most people came because of the Chemical Brothers concert (which was totally awsome since i got an artist pass to move around freely)
they were ok, i thought the music was a little boring actually. but the visuals were amazing. they featured artists from Susan Kare to Simon Goulet to our own Sachiko Kodama! (and i can see some banksy influence in there as well)the biggest critique i have with these shows is, people who go to these don't treat the works as valuable things and treat it instead like toys. because of that, 3 of the installations broke. there's just no respect for the pieces. parents let the kids stand on the pieces, teenagers kick the piece, and someone even spilled beer into two of my flower speakers!
what is up with that! I mean, the way people behaved completely changed when i put a sign up on the piece showing a price. not only are people more cautious in touching the piece, the price tag itself attracted people's curiousityi got some nice photos in the morning on my 20 minute walk to the space where the show was at
the show ended pretty well, not much people on the last day, but got massively wasted with all the people from STRP that night (and someone put a buncha things in my pocket like someone's glove and an air freshener....) franz dj-ed and gave us free booze and i got a cut on my hand from broken glass. that's a recipe for a great night...
oh i didn't tell you the best part
a guy came up to me and said:
guy: i really really like your work
me: thanks
guy: no, i don't think you understand, i am so moved by it
me: well, thanks alot, i really appreciate it
guy: i want to give you drugs
me: *gasp
haha
i am too sad to tell you
ok, i started a blog, there's too much shit and fucked up things in the world, i needed something to keep track of it all
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