Contemporary Magazine has two articles online that particularly interested me: Ryoji Ikeda and an overview of Ars Electronica.
This discussion of Ikeda’s reflections on technology, nature and philosophy are indicative of our current cultural situation, which I often consider as a renaissance. This is partly due to the way the Internet has changed art by decreasing the barrier to distributing your own work: it’s as if we’re experiencing a cultural rebirth without even realising it (perhaps blinded by the technological fetishists and practical applications):
Video images of landscapes are progressively abstracted into a language of data, while fragments of text punctuate the onscreen projections, blurring the lines between nature, science and philosophy. This is both image and anti-image, abstraction and absolute representation, the transformation of the image into pure maths, yet at the same time creating a new aesthetic.
The article on Ars Electronica is particularly apt in light of my current explorations in software art. Some of the comments are representative of “digital art” as a whole, in that it is becoming less self involved and more contemplative:
If the symposium felt a little stuck, this year’s many exhibitions made it clear that digital art has turned a corner. The best works consciously distanced themselves from the whizz-bang obsession with technology itself, moving towards a more contemplative vision, where technology served as an invisible vehicle for pure aesthetic experience.
Comments Off
Casey Reas is an advocate of software art, one of the creators of Processing, and quite prolific in his output. He wrote an overview of Processing for Ars Electronica, and several other papers.
Comments Off
Steve Sacks discussed his Bitforms gallery and approach to digital art distribution in an article for Ars Electronica, 2003. He begins by saying:
I started bitforms to explore the realms of digital art. To redefine categories and levels of artistic engagement. To discover new art. To educate both new and old school collectors.
…
The types of work we show include: Reactive sculpture. Data visualization. Sound and video installations. Digitally derived sculpture. Photo manipulation. Mixed media. Software art…
He discusses ‘framed software art’ and ‘unframed software art’. Framed software art is “The software is typically unique and embedded in a frame or custom housing“, and unframed software art: “can be framed or displayed in any way the collector desires. The art can be interactive and passive. Networked and stand-alone.”
Whether an artist presents their work in a conceptual frame or not depends on the nature of the work itself. Sacks is concerned with the perception of digital art, so the creation of Bitforms and similar galleries in some ways counters opinions such as:
… the “screen saver” comparison. Society has chosen to consider screen savers with very little regard—they are temporary visuals. Another challenge for the legitimacy of this type of art.
I experience this type of comparison when I share web-based art with friends. They often treat the works as toys or distractions, instead of trying to determine what the artist is trying to achieve. In some ways I think distributing digital art on the web often fails to take advantage of the medium. Dynamic websites became popular in the 1990s because people could create a dialogue others within communities who used the sites. Therefore, I’d like to see digital art allow people to discuss the art and potentially talk to the artist themselves. Whether or not this should be done or will be successful depends on the nature of the art itself.
Sacks leaves us with this promising conclusion:
Software art is empowering. Engaging. Endless. Whether or not it becomes a valuable collectable, I am convinced that it will be a part of the art nomenclature. Its beauty and possibilities are too alluring. The artists are too talented. And the world deserves a new creative outlet.
Bitforms
The gallery’s website is here. I took some time reading about each artist and looking at their works. The mediums used are diverse, from digital photography/sculpture (3D printing, selective laser sintering) to interactive software art displayed on LCD screens. The artists are incredibly prolific:
Comments Off