by Pete on April 24, 1997 at 19:20:32:

In Reply to: Re: art & technology: an issue of audience? posted by alex galloway on April 24, 1997 at 03:03:00:

> Benjamin Weill wrote:
> the use of technology once again raises the issue of the importance of
> mastery in the practice of
> the arts. Indeed, art as often been evaluated in terms of the artist's
> "hand skills", her r his ability

"new media" does require hand skills IMHO:

The ability to draw/control a mouse,
Pressure sensitive graphics tablets,
3D input devices - VR gloves, "The Monkey", Microscribe Arm,
The keyboard --
Eye/hand coordination/memorization/configuration of hotkeys and
commands.
And of couse you can capture existing media -- w/ 2D/3D scanners, sound
boards.

> to paint or scuplt well, etc. the intricacies of technology often call for
> a collaboration between the
> artist as "concept" developer and the technician as the person who is in
> charge of implementing
> those concepts.

The artist must learn the technology. You need to know how to mix color
so that you can paint... If painting is what you want to do -- learn
to mix the colors!

> There has been extensive discussions as to what an artists
> needs to know about
> technology to experiement with it. It seems interesting to note, however,
> that the use of video (at
> least in its early stage) did not seem to raise such issue: artists
> appropraited the technology and
> freely experimented with it.

It's easier to make "bad" video art than it is to make "bad" digital art
--
there a lot more buttons to press ;)

> even I found myself wishing for a nice, clean design-y interface after
> seeing Ken's challenging work.) But then again, the technology can't be
> too flawless. It becomes a target when it's too clever and clean.
> Critics respond as if technology "tricks" render the artist into a David
> Copperfield kind of performer.

What is trompe l'oeil?

If I knew how David Copperfield did his magic tricks, I would no longer
be interested in his artwork.

> Alex Galloway weighed in:
> : I think new media art gets stuck with regard to this aesthetic. It seems
> : that when technology is involved, people still want to see simple,
> : coherent, pretty things.
>
> I've thought about that too... how can digital art make use of a degraded
> form?

My only hope is that digital art is not degraded
due to ignorance of the medium (ie: drawing w/ Windows Paintbrush ;)

> many types of tech-based artistic production have capitalized upon their
> own technological
> shortcomings to produce degraded forms. the super8 camera, the xerox
> machine, the tape
> recorder... I just can't see new media art that uses no javascript, no

Digital art degraded forms :

Mach banding, anti-aliasing or "jaggies", artefacts or "crawling" --
(animations, .JPGs), moire interference patterns, jittering, low
color depth, "intentionally" lowered resolution, low polygon counts,
Ascii art, Ansi art, RIP art, "loader" art, module music, file
corruption,
Photoshop filters ;)

I just discovered something yesterday -- I was rendering a human body
and
I was using red and green spotlights ... the final render had
checkerboard patterns of yellow/violet/green/red -- very wierd.

follow ups:

• Re: expectation & degradation Nino Rodriguez 15:30:14 5/05/97 (4)
  • Re: physical information [was degradation...].] Joseph NECHVATAL From: jnech@imaginet.fr (NECHVATAL Joseph) 11:22:37 5/06/97 (0)
  • Re: expectation & degradation alex galloway 15:37:48 5/05/97 (2)
    • Re: expectation & degradation: PORT murph the surf 11:15:22 5/06/97 (1)
      • Re: expectation & degradation Joseph NECHVATAL 11:19:42 5/06/97 (0)
• Re: trompe l'oeil rachel greene 17:09:12 4/29/97 (2)
  • Re: trompe l'oeil anonymous 23:27:44 8/28/97 (1)
    • Re: trompe l'oeil anonymous 12:08:56 1/14/98 (0)

e-mail:

subject:

comments:

: > Benjamin Weill wrote:
: > the use of technology once again raises the issue of the importance of
: > mastery in the practice of
: > the arts. Indeed, art as often been evaluated in terms of the artist's
: > "hand skills", her r his ability

: "new media" does require hand skills IMHO:

: The ability to draw/control a mouse,
: Pressure sensitive graphics tablets,
: 3D input devices - VR gloves, "The Monkey", Microscribe Arm,
: The keyboard --
: Eye/hand coordination/memorization/configuration of hotkeys and
: commands.
: And of couse you can capture existing media -- w/ 2D/3D scanners, sound
: boards. 

: > to paint or scuplt well, etc. the intricacies of technology often call for
: > a collaboration between the
: > artist as "concept" developer and the technician as the person who is in
: > charge of implementing
: > those concepts. 

: The artist must learn the technology.  You need to know how to mix color
: so that you can paint...  If painting is what you want to do -- learn
: to mix the colors!  

: > There has been extensive discussions as to what an artists
: > needs to know about
: > technology to experiement with it. It seems interesting to note, however,
: > that the use of video (at
: > least in its early stage) did not seem to raise such issue: artists
: > appropraited the technology and
: > freely experimented with it.

: It's easier to make "bad" video art than it is to make "bad" digital art
: --
: there a lot more buttons to press ;)

: > even I found myself wishing for a nice, clean design-y interface after
: > seeing Ken's challenging work.) But then again, the technology can't be
: > too flawless. It becomes a target when it's too clever and clean.
: > Critics respond as if technology "tricks" render the artist into a David
: > Copperfield kind of performer.

: What is trompe l'oeil?

: If I knew how David Copperfield did his magic tricks, I would no longer
: be interested in his artwork.

: > Alex Galloway weighed in:
: > : I think new media art gets stuck with regard to this aesthetic. It seems
: > : that when technology is involved, people still want to see simple,
: > : coherent, pretty things.
: > 
: > I've thought about that too... how can digital art make use of a degraded
: > form?

: My only hope is that digital art is not degraded 
: due to ignorance of the medium (ie: drawing w/ Windows Paintbrush ;)

: > many types of tech-based artistic production have capitalized upon their
: > own technological
: > shortcomings to produce degraded forms. the super8 camera, the xerox
: > machine, the tape
: > recorder... I just can't see new media art that uses no javascript, no

: Digital art degraded forms :

: Mach banding, anti-aliasing or "jaggies", artefacts or "crawling" --
: (animations, .JPGs), moire interference patterns, jittering, low
: color depth, "intentionally" lowered resolution, low polygon counts,
: Ascii art, Ansi art, RIP art, "loader" art, module music, file
: corruption,
: Photoshop filters ;) 

: I just discovered something yesterday --  I was rendering a human body
: and
: I was using red and green spotlights ... the final render had
: checkerboard patterns of yellow/violet/green/red -- very wierd.



 

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