MARsPhotos

Character Artist

mar — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:16:59 +0000

In regards to what we have been looking at lately with video games, 3D characters, and avatars in second life, I thought about a friend of mine, Josh Hano. He is a character artist for a video game company here in Baton Rouge. He spends his time making 3D characters and then makes them move through a process called “rigging.” He says that rigging is like putting bones in the body to be able to make it move. He also says that it is time consuming, heh. If you click on the picture below of his “Lion Man,” you will be linked to his online gallery on comicspace (which has many of his comics, which he draws in his spare time). You can see more of his 3D work in his 3D Work Gallery. He also has a 3D head in there, which reminds me of Stelarc’s, Prosthetic Head…only because it’s odd to see heads detached from bodies…haha.

Class in Second Life

mar — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:12:02 +0000

I really enjoyed our class in Second Life. I had my doubts about it going smoothly and whether the class would be able to keep up, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think it allowed me to be more comfortable talking and expressing my opinion, plus it was nice “going to class” from the comforts of my living room.

I especially enjoyed the fact that in the first gallery, the artist happened to show up. Although we did not get to spend much time talking to him about his specific works, it was interesting to hear about the gallery and which ones were his favorites.

I will include two snapshots I took during class. The first is of our meeting place and the second is of my avatar (red mohawk) standing next to the artist, Elros, from the first gallery.

Tactical Media, Hactivism

mar — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:04:42 +0000

In regards to the readings for April 17/April 22:

1. Paul, 204-211 2. Geert Lovink,
“Tactical Media: The Second Decade,” October 2005
3. McKenzie Wark, “A Hacker Manifesto Version 4.0,” Ja. 2006

Before this class, I had never heard of the Yes Men and other artists and activists who use digital media to further their political ideas and statements. They pretend to be powerful representatives of well known world organizations and go to conventions and make outrageous comments. They also make spoof websites, one of them being George W. Bushs’ 2000 campaign website. www.gwbush.com It definitely makes sense to take advantage of the internet, video, and websites as it is easily accessed and will be viewed by many. I was astounded that these men could go to these large corporations and say and do outrageous things and not even get a response. I did not realize the ways in which some large corporations go about doing business. I like that people are out there pointing out the hypocrisy and corruption within corporations, government agencies, etc. I cannot believe that they went and pretended to be with the World Trade Organization and wore the gold leisure suit and their audience of top businessmen of the world just swallowed it without much response.

The movie was very entertaining, but at the same time was really scary how much we let go on without really thinking about it.

Other artists use ‘hactivism’ to make their statements. It is also sometimes called electronic civil disobedience, ha. Hacktivism is a term that combines “hacking” and “activism.” It is a statement about politics using technology. Hactivists take the codes for websites or programs and basically reprogram it to fit their needs. I naturally associate “hacking” with some evil person trying to break in a computer to steal information. Hactivist work is not “evil,” but it does sometimes may become very close to being illegal. In other cases, large groups of people try to get on a website all at once (virtual sit-ins), such as The Electronic Disturbance Theater, and try to disrupt service to the site. I didn’t really understand what this would really do, other than to irritate the companies. The Electronic Disturbance Theater performed virtual sit-ins in 1998 on the websites for the Mexican Government and the Pentagon.

www.theyesmen.org

Video Games

mar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:54:07 +0000

In Regards to readins for April 15/April 17:

1) Paul, 196-203

2) Wardrip-Fruin #34: Sherry Turkel, “Video Games and Computer Holding Power,” 499-514.

Ahh…video games. These readings were about video games and computer holding power. Turkel talked about video games as being almost an addiction, being compared to sex or sports. She interviewed a boy who would play game after game, trying to get the highest score and mastering it, then moving on to the next. He seemed to think about it all the time and wanted to do cooler things. Reading on in the article, I began to notice that it seemed like it was old-fashioned…she was talking about Pinball and the video games with spaceships. I realized that the article was written in 1984, which isn’t that long ago, but in the technological and game world, that was like a hundred years ago. Games have come such a long way since then. When I was a young girl, I played Nintendo. I loved it. I still love simple games like that. However, my younger siblings are a much better example of this HUGE video game trend. I never caught on to the games. Many of them are very complex. I am baffled when my twelve year old sister starts playing these massive multi-player games and is kicking butt! She is so good, and she is so young, how she learned how to do it all, or why she is so interested is mind-boggling. Those youngsters! I sound like an old woman. It all makes me feel so behind the times with technology. When I was twelve…cell phones were just becoming popular. We still played Super Mario Brothers or whatever was the popular game.

Anyway, back to the point, I understand the comparisons to sports, meditation, or sex. These games are addictive! As time has gone on since the article was written, the games (plots, what players can do, effects) have gotten more and more complex, the graphics are amazing, the characters, or avatars have gotten so life-like. For some people, video games are a way to escape the real world. To immerse themselves in virtual reality, teaming up with other people “like themselves.” It allows them to be anyone they want to be. I can understand that. However, how far is too far?

My younger brother broke his femur (big thigh bone) when he was about 12. He was confined to a bed for months. We put the computer in his room, as well as the tv, and needless to say…we pretty much never saw him unattached from the computer from then on…even after his leg healed! He was constantly in this other world, being another person, trying to take over the world or something (in the game). My first boyfriend tried and tried to get me to play these multi-player games. Games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Anarchy Online, World of Warcraft, etc.

I played a few with him, but they just weren’t my taste. I did got lost for a while playing games like the Sims. (The Sims allows you to control different avatars and live another life. Have kids, a job, get a house, have relationships, etc.)

I know how addictive games can be! Anyway, I think it is funny, as Turkel says, how the younger generation just accepts all this new technology as a fact of life. They learn to think with a machine in mind and how to respond to it. What will the program do next? They can navigate through computers, video games, etc. with ease.

I included two videos, the first of Anarchy Online, the second of Nintendo’s Super Mario brothers. I wanted to show how far the graphics and capabilities of games have come! Super Mario Brothers is very 2 Dimensional and you can only move in one direction. Effects are limited, but for the time, during the 80s and early 90s, it was extraordinary. Now, as seen with the Anarchy Online video, the characters are 3D. You can control how they look, how they move, you can change the camera views all around, and look at all the effects! I know the videos are both kind of long to post on here, but just take a quick look. Watching the whole thing isn’t necessary.

Cyborgs and Identity

mar — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:59:03 +0000

In relations to readings for April 3/April 8:

Paul, 165-174
Wardrip-Fruin, #35, Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto”
On Stelarc: CTheory articles by Stelarc and Julie Clarke at: http://www.ctheory.net/home.aspx

This video shows an artist, Rokeby, in London as a Cyborg. He walks around with all these computers on his body, taking pictures, video, and even sends his brain waves to the internet from an EEG machine at his hip. His waves then made a sort of music on the internet. If I were to come across him in the street, I don’t know what I would think. Before this class, I probably would have thought he was crazy! It must be tiring to carry all that equipment on your body. If any of us hope to be Cyborgs in the future, haha, I hope that they come up with lighter materials! Or, maybe we can build it all in our clothing…if we wear “clothing” in the future.

He talked about leaving an imprint of himself; his experiences through all of his images, video, and data he’s collected doing this art. I think the idea is nice, but also seems kind of sad. I mean, the idea of a Cyborg seems so emotionless to me, but he still has that human desire to want to be remembered; to record everything; to leave a legacy.

Artist Stelarc interested me quite a bit. He really takes “the body” and “the machine” to the next level in his performance art. He says:

“Bodies are both Zombies and Cyborgs. We have never had a mind of our own and we often perform involuntarily conditioned and externally prompted. Ever since we evolved as hominids and developed bipedal locomotion, two limbs became manipulators and we constructed artifacts, instruments and machines. In other words, we have always been coupled with technology. We have always been prosthetic bodies. We fear the involuntary and we are becoming increasingly automated and extended. But we fear what we have always been and what we have already become-Zombies and Cyborgs.” -Stelarc

The basis to many of his works is that the body is obsolete. He has hung himself from many hooks inserted into his flesh, he has performed with a six legged machine that walks, he has hooked himself up to a machine and allowed people from the internet to be able to control his body, he has performed with a third prosthetic arm. All very interesting stuff that really opened my mind…I didn’t know there were people out there like that! Very fascinating. One of the articles was about a virtual Prosthetic head. The head is a virtual animated avatar, somewhat resembling Stelarc, that one can converse with. The head is programmed to “think” and have creative responses.

The article continued on to talk about his quarter scale replica of his ear and how he hopes to make a live tissue model of his head. Wow! This project has brought up debates about what life is. The ear is treated as a “partially-living” thing. I think it is amazing what science and technology has allowed us to do. To grow living tissue clones and then attach them to our bodies?? Amazing stuff.

I included a short video of him with his walking machine, as well as one of his earlier performances with his prosthetic arm.

Another artist that peaked my interest was Stahl Stenslie with Inter-skin (1994). Stenslie is known as the father of cybersex. His projects are very erotic. This particular work is about tactile touch. The suit has many sensors and when one touches themselves, someone who is wearing the suit at another location is able to feel this. Since he considers himself the father of cybersex, I’m sure the use of this suit can be imagined. Some of his other works, such as CyberSM, are even more risque and explore different gender identites. I think the concept of being able to feel touch through the internet is very interesting! I guess his works can really cross a line for some people about whether it is art or not. Either way, it definitely allows for a new experience in cyber-space!

Rara Avis, Eduardo Kac

mar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:32:30 +0000

In relation to readings:

Wardrip Fruin #10, Roy Ascott, “The Construction of Change”
Paul, pp. 154 – 1643. 3
Ed Shanken, “Tele-Agency: Telematics, Telerobotics, and the Art of Meaning” at http://neme.org/main/620/tele-agencyor look for title in http://artexetra.com/

These readings were about telepresence in art or being able to control a piece of art (or parts of it) and participate in it from a distant location. It allows one to be able to experience a work from multiple points of view and from different perspectives (their own perspective as well as the robot’s). It raises issues about voyeurism and surveillance and how we determine identity.

With this in mind, I particularly was interested in Eduardo Kac’s work, Rara Avis, 1996, which is mentioned in Paul’s book, Digital Art.

This work by Kac is a large aviary with many small live birds (zebra finches) and a large red macaw that is actually a robot. The macaw has cameras as eyes. When a person came into the room, they saw an aviary with the large fake bird among the many tiny living ones and were then confronted with a headset. When the viewer put the headset on, they were able to see what the macaw was “seeing.” What the user usually faced was an image of them looking back at the macaw (themselves). Also, with the headset, when the viewer moved their head, it also moved the bird’s head.

I find this concept of being in two places at once very fascinating. When I was younger, I constantly imagined what it could be like to switch places with someone and to see the world how they would see it. This artwork allows someone to “see” from the bird’s perspective, to be inside the cage, looking back out. This work could also be accessed by remote users using the internet. With it’s telepresence, someone far away could see what the bird could see, move its head, and also, using a microphone, could make the bird make noises.

The large macaw was very different from the tiny living birds it shared its space with, raising questions of identity. It also showed how new communications technology, such as the internet, can cross boundaries and allow one to be “present” in many different places at once.

Other works by Kac also interest me, such as Time Capsule (1997),

where, he implanted a microchip into his leg that was a memory card that contained several old sepia-toned family photos.
That one seems like commentary about our past. There is also the glowing GPF Bunny (2000), but I think that is discussed in later readings about biotechnology and bio-art. So, I will talk about that one in a later blog.

Immersion

mar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:23:38 +0000

I’m torn about whether I like the idea of immersion in virtual reality. The idea of being in that kind of environment—where you almost believe it is real—both fascinates me and scares me at the same time. I am not asthmatic, but I do have problems with anxiety. I was really excited about the idea. I like the idea of being in a different “world” and letting go of your own world for a bit. But, then as I read on in Chapter 5 of Grau’s book, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, he started talking about people’s reactions and feelings of scuba diving and drowning and floating…and the grid with the apparent anti-gravity effect… just looks like pure panic to me… Now I’m totally nervous about experiencing (if I ever have the opportunity) an artwork like Char Davie’s, Osmose (1995) and now also trying scuba diving! Ha

You can find information on the web about Osmose and Char Davies at http://www.immersence.com/

Picture of Char Davies

Whitney Biennial

mar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:25:28 +0000

I was looking for some good web-art/net art and found this great site. It is an online gallery of a bunch of different artist’s works. It is set up in an actual gallery where you can move around and click on different pieces hanging on the wall that resemble paintings. There are some animations and other works where you can interact with it with your mouse.

http://www.whitneybiennial.com/

Toni Dove

mar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:32:53 +0000

After yesterday’s class, I wanted to look up more about Spectropia. I wanted to see if there were any video clips that showed more about what the interactive parts of this “feature film” are. This video is the closest I got. It doesn’t so much show the interactive part, but it was still pretty cool, so I had to share. It’s kind of scary…in an eerie sort of way.

“Two Movie Clips from Spectropia by Toni Dove, an interactive cinema event.

SPECTROPIA: A highly imaginative interactive cinema event, a “scratchable” movie performed by video DJs playing a movie “instrument”.

Toni Dove’s sci-fi hybrid, features time travel, telepathy, and elements of film noir in a drama set in England, 2099 and in New York City, 1931, following the Great Crash.” -tdovevideo

Nick Crowe

mar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:02:44 +0000

“Cyberspace and heaven aren’t so different,” he suggests. “You don’t really know where they are, you can’t actually go there, yet there’s a conceptual openness that allows people to enter them both.” -Nick Crowe

After the reading (pg.96-111) assigned for last Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008, I was inspired to look up some stuff about one of the artists mentioned, Nick Crowe, and found some interesting stuff, including this article I am giving a link to below. The work in our book was his Discrete Packets.

Digital Folk: Artist Nick Crowe Subverts Human-Web Interaction