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CAN September 2006: Computer Art story (New Media Series III)Brave New World: Computer Art and the New Media RevolutionBy Vittorio Carli
O, wonder! --(Miranda in William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”
Computer art is by far the most protean art form because it reflects the constant changes in technology and software. But many critics have severely criticized the “lazy” use of computers to make “instant art,” which admittedly can take as much effort as Kool Aid. Artists are now focusing their creativity on numerous forms, such as
algorithm, gallery installation, performance art, Web site, CD-Rom, DVD,
video, image, sound and animation… Some artists, including James Faure
Walker, have even combined computer art’s many subgenres—in So sprawling has the idea of “new media” become that lines are even blurred between art and science—genetic manipulation, as in the dayglo green colored bunnies “bred” by Eduardo Kac for art purposes (dubbed, by Kac, “transgenic art”). The expression new media is used to describe emerging art forms that rely on technology. As more artists supplement traditional media with electronic methods, the line between, the line between new media and traditional art becomes increasingly blurred. Many even argue that digital enhancement of media is now so entrenched that it no longer qualifies as new media. For instance, traditional artists such as Erin Brauer are using computer programs to paint instead of a brush, with the added advantage of easy corrections. Brauer told me that using Adobe Illustrator is like making mouse into pencil and drawing except you work in layers. Every line is on top of something else, so you have an extra level of decisions to make. “It’s initially easier than drawing, but it gets harder as you get deeper into its applications,” Brauer said. Using the program also allows Brauer to experiment with different color combinations. Since Brauer learned she was pregnant, she switched from using oils, which contain cadmium, among other substances, that could potentially harm an unborn baby, to Illustrator programs. Her pregnancy has changed her art even over the mere 14 weeks she’s known of it.
One of Brauer’s untitled digital works depicts a vomiting man in a body
suit with a penis sticking out. The muted, soft, feminine colors (pink, teal
and white) have a tranquilizing effect—at odds with the piece’s harsh subject
by imaginatively parodying overly intellectual, unemotional type art
pandering to the critic. Thus the man becomes a walking artist statement,
with a skintight and transparent disguise. It’s actually the product of
Brauer’s reaction to one circle of the Photographer/artist/gallery owner and curator Robin Monique Rios uses digital media to enhance and color her work, but disapproves of people that use it as a “crutch.” Rios owns 4 Art Inc. Gallery, where she curates all shows. (Readers can see some of her work at http://www.4artinc.com/artists/featured_artists/featured_artists_name_rios.html.) Her remarkable piece, “1000 Thoughts,” depicts a digitally manipulated brain. Scientists believe we only use 10 percent of our brains and her added hues and layers suggest some of the mysterious aspects of thought, human personality and the “other 90 percent.” These works and other pieces in Rios’ Observation Series manipulate MRIs and X-rays that capture people’s internal structures, encouraging the viewer to look beyond the physical. Rios believes that by looking beyond surface, people can concentrate on what’s essential and escape the “corporate rat race.” (Rios admits to once being part of that race.) “For me, good art should take me than five minutes [to make], so I am hard on artists who show me [work],” Rios said. “I don’t want people to just say, ‘I’ve seen that filter before’ or ‘I know how to do that.’” Rios also contradicts those who declare digital art no longer “new.” “It’s difficult to see digital media as art,” she said. “It’s not accepted yet, although it’s starting to be.” Josephine Lipuma (http://josephinelipuma.blogspot.com),
aka VJ Pooky, practices VJing, or video jockeying—a rapidly evolving form
manipulating video, performance and other media solely for the Internet.
Complex and multilayered, her work leaves one with renewed faith in the
uneasy marriage between art and technology. The work takes storytelling,
allows an interactive twist, and creates a “disruptive narrative,” or
“gynesis.” The name gynesis comes from Alice Jardine, author of “Gynesis:
Configurations of Women and Modernity.” One of Lipuma’s new media influences
is
Disruptive narratives valorize the feminine by exploding traditional male views. Lipuma’s “Frammenti: Love/Damnation/Redemption,” breaks with linear thinking (traditionally associated with masculinity) by incorporating randomness. On a video level, the work has the same feel and conveys the same sadly sinister atmosphere as old J-Horror (Japanese horror) films. The “Frammenti” project consumed four years of Lipuma’s life and she views it as a sort of career “thesis.” She wrote the program and software that helped “run” facets of the complex piece, mixing and randomly manipulating video feeds to create spectacular projections—and then added elements of live performance and live remote feed to an original video. Through multiple plasma screens, every motion of the live performances and live feeds change the original video. There is music, intermingled with sounds of suffering, for an audio component (also altered by live and random sources). For “Frammenti…,” Lipuma overlaid a movie with three different love stories involving three characters (played by Riess), including a Breeder viciously breeding (birthing a rabbit and tying in pagan fertility symbols), a Bride Wedding Terrorist and a Love sprite—all various incarnations of a ghost bride played by fellow artist, model, photographer and performance artist Alison Reiss. Throughout the story, the ghost bride grieves over love never physically consummated, in eternal mourning for her unborn child, who is eventually redeemed.. Successful multi media works such as “Frammenti…” alert people to the new possibilities in combining art with technology or brave new worlds. Breakthroughs in new technology become breakthrough in new media and, with no signs of technology slowing down, we are bound to see new media continue in new and exciting directions. It may take us to a brave new world more fanciful and unexpected than anything in Shakespeare.
Vittorio Carli teaches film, literature, and humanities at
CAPTIONSTOP PHOTOStill from Josephine Lipuma’s video/interactive Internet project, “Frammenti: Love/Damnation/Redemption”
BOTTOM PHOTO “Toilet,” digital art by Erin Brauer |
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