Technology is the 800 pound gorilla in the room whenever I want to create anything. What software, hardware, tool, repository of knowledge, how-to, etc...can I download, buy, use, access, refer to, etc...that will make the process easier, faster, cheaper, different, more useful, etc...? Invariably, after a quick search of the trusty tubes, there is always something that I find that will make the process easier. And yet, I am likely to still go about things the old fashioned way (as a printmaker, that usually means heading to a litho-stone or an etching plate or a block of wood). Even though technology shows me that there are easier ways to do things (or that the process could be completely automated for me), and usually gives me ideas that I will use, it also shows me that anyone can achieve the same ends using the same means. As I mentioned earlier, one of the values that the internet can't subvert and reproduce endlessly is originality or uniqueness. I am not the only person to notice this phenomenon. There are a number of subcultures that have decided that the internet is about empowering our individual creative minds and not about creating uniformity. Below is a roundup of like-minded Luddites who shun the easiest and fastest and make use of the net for dissemination (or maybe just amassing fame or fortune).
How to make just about everything.
The softer side of the web.
The meat market.
Not a trend I get, but undeniably awesome.
What I want to talk about in this blogspace is the aesthetics of technology (or the technology of aesthetics) or maybe the art of the digital world (and the world of digital art) or maybe the just how computers are changing the world of art (or some combination of the above, or not). But occasionally I like to post ideas that affect the above mentioned. I ran across this article on BoingBoing a couple of weeks back and have been thinking about it ever since in the context of its impact on the world of art. It would be easy to look at this and turn away with disdain that any discussion of art and economy is distasteful and debasing to the "art." But what Mr. Kelly is talking about is the inherent value of things in this digital age. I find it comforting that some of these inherent values have not only been present in art from the beginning, but will continue even in the midst of this digital revolution.
There can be no doubt that we are spending more and more of our lives online, connected, or plugged in. As a society we are moving more and more of our "real world" activities into the virtual sphere (food gathering, looking for a mate, socializing with the fellas, finding true companionship, bettering yourself and those around you) but what does the space that all of these places inhabit look like? Where do all of the societies and groups that are formed on the internet come together to drink their bad coffee and set up their folding chairs? Perhaps one of the empowering aspects of the web is that it empowers each user to create their own space depending on their own tastes or their software. But as more and more of our daily mundanity moves to the virtual realms, our visual culture will also. Music and movies have been consumed for quite a while now via the web (both legally and otherwise), so it is just a matter of time before the internet, or our virtual reality if you will, becomes our everyday spot for visual culture.
So, the question must be asked; What will it look like? CAIDA and Akamai show us what all the information that flows along the wires looks like. But the substance of the internet is more than just empty information.
There are any number of visualizers available to let us zero in on either our own internet experience, or even what the internet looks like around a particular topic, or even better (this is so fabulous it is beyond description). but if we are really trying to make this space our new home, information just isn't going to cut it. We are aesthetic creatures. If we are going to live on the internet, who are the aestheticians, and the artists who make the experience richer? I hope this blog will help answer those questions as we go along. Below are a collection of five works to consider:
This is not in English, but the site is pretty easy to navigate. Click around and try it out. It is a fascinating take on the usefulness (but ultimately coldness) of Google maps, and the nuances of what makes a space unique.
Mark Napier has been a pioneer in net/art and has some pretty cool stuff on his site. This one (especially the "grass" option) has a particularly peaceful aesthetic to it.
File this one under signs of the times.
I can't help but want to make up my own story about what is going on here.
This one is just to freak you out and make me seem sort of hard core.