Visualizing Ideas: New York City in Pastiche

PSFK introduced me to something rather interesting. The project itself can be found at Christian Marc Schmidt’s website. It is described as a collective composition of New York City which visually combines the geographic neighborhoods of New York with the digitally communicated ideas floating around in the blogosphere. This piece culminates with the virtual/verbal representation of New York organized by its many neighborhoods.

Pastiche—A Collective Composition of New York City, by Ivan Safrin & Christian Marc Schmidt from Christian Marc Schmidt on Vimeo.

My first thought when stumbling on this piece was a flash back to good old Jay Gould and his Oral History of the World. But the difference here is this piece is fundamentally written by the world and does actually exist. It most certainly is art of the communal and experiential kind, harking back to the days of the Dadas who, through those questionable Cadavre Exquise, formed works of art not centered on the talents of any one person but existing through the collaboration of the group. That is the heart of this project and though it has its creators: Ivan Safrin and Christian Marc Schmidt, it can only exist through the contributions of the blogosphere.
thoughts and reactions…

-huysmans

The Art of Talent: Evgeny Kissin

In the world of artistic discussions performance has been considered an experiential artistic work because with every performance of a piece the piece changes and takes on new character. I have always loved that about staged art, no matter how many times you see it, each time is unique. So the questions of artistic value for a performance become divided based on whether you are trying to analyze the creation of the original idea or that of the current interpretation. The problem with revisiting the classical works is that the original idea is not necessarily preserved to the creator’s specifications, then again Barthes that might not be a problem.Thinking a little bit about the intensely complicated issues that were only briefly described above I have had the enjoyment of listening to Evgeny Kissin at Carnegie Hall. He is no composer and therefore is not a creator of musical compositions and yet has been credited as one of the most talented artist playing piano today. This is an interesting form of art if you really look at it, yes it is easy to define him as an artist but the way he is “creating” art is not necessarily in the tangible world. The pieces he performed are credited to others, to the composers who first wrote them. It can be compared to how a copy artist might practice his trade by painting the work of a great master. However that comparison fails to recognize the performance aspects of staged art. Though the copy artist will add his own take to the painting, the ultimate goal is to make it look like the original. A better example would be that of Picasso who recreated Velázquez’s Las Meninas in his own style. Kissin isn’t appreciated because he sounds like everyone thinks the piece should but rather because of his phenomenal talent to do what ever he wants with the piano. His hands can be anywhere, his timing is flawless and his style is unique.

He is an athlete of the art world and just as the art of athletic performance can be valued in its own way; his ability has the artistic potential in his movement, in his sound, and in his style.

So is this a different way to look at the arts? Can we judge an artist for his talent in the field? Can this form of art be considered a revival of the talent driven art of the salons? And what about the Dadaist who will consider this nothing more than a copy? Beyond any question or answer that can be conceived the reality in my opinion is that the creativity needed here is more hidden and harder to define than with an artist in the traditional sense, and yes in this sense I am including the Dadas in the category of traditional since they were creating. It’s a creativity that is in the way a piece is interpreted, in essence perhaps the best comparison is to a translator. In literature a translator is creating her own interpretation of the work of art and is therefore cultivating a new art work in the simple fact that the words change. Since it is not a one to one relationship between two languages, it is far from that as Saussure defined for us in the beginning of the 20^th century. And in finding the best way to make that interpretation, a new work of art is born, and the translator becomes an artist. The same is happening here. In Kissin’s interpretation of how the notes on paper and the markings associated with them should be converted into sounds we hear. That conversion is creation and Kissin, the artist.

Thoughts…

-huysmans

The right video game influence or giving in to sin.

Globeandmail.com published this moralistic Call of Duty story.

Is this the answer to the violence question? Or does this further connect real violence with video game violence? In that case  could scenarios like this lead to more “real” violence as a result of video games? But on the other hand couldn’t this be seen as parenting taken to the next level–> not a fight or struggle but a compromise and a teaching moment.

And to bring this to the whole artistic element of a video game–> is this in essence limiting the full artistic experience the true artists of this game designed? Can’t this be seen as a new type of censorship, similar to the idea of watching R rated films altered for a PG audience? Then couldn’t this moralistic addendum be seen as an alteration or rather a limitation to the true artistic experience possible with this game work of art?

What’s this public think?

-huysmans

Preserving a President

Preserving a President

13 Presidents, each freezing their time in history with a library.

Question 1: Does 13 make it a tradition?

Question 2: What does America see as the purpose of this “tradition”?

Question 3: What should be the purpose of this “tradition”?

Now for the question the Times is asking:

Question 4: Should we keep this “Tradition”?

Personally speaking as I like to do, I think the end of this short post is what is most interesting. Will Obama’s technological influences inspire him to construct his library differently, or even perhaps digitally? Could Obama start the Second Life Presidential Library Tradition?

Thoughts?

-huysmans

Understanding Art… Question 1:

If it is in a museum… is it art?

Here are some profound answers:

http://www.google.com/search?q=museum&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Art

Googling Question: This is not for the faint of heart.

The Internet verse Tradition Part 1

It began as a discussion between one of my closest friends and myself years ago. But now with us both beginning our professional lives it is time for the discussion to move up a notch and to become a series of dialogues I hope to have here.

The topic is grand and vague and in most cases too confusing to understand what the hell is going on, but somewhere in the language lies a very interesting debate over the future of human interaction and the creation of art. The Role of The Internet, on its surface a seemingly endless answer with parts that are constantly growing and changing with or against time. But that simple yet confounding fact does not exempt the internet and its future from discussion, just the contrary actually. So now it is time to begin again. Pay close attention Mark, I’m ready to do this on your turf now:

The first concept I have been struggling with is the idea of separating two very distinct areas of the Internet’s development (I don’t mean to say there are only two but rather that there are two that this will focus on, or at least that there are two I don’t want to get confused over). The first is the internet as a tool of communication, as the great democratization of information distribution, where as my friend reported he was able to hear about the Hudson crash through Twitter faster than any “credible” news media service could deliver. Now the second area is the Internet as a medium for the creation and publication of art and it is in this title that I want to explore. I want to look at the pros and cons of the Internet as the democratization of publishing, or rather I want to look at the idea that the Internet is doing such a thing to begin with.

The question at hand is whether or not editors and “credible” publishing services are needed as filters for highlighting what is actually worth reading. On the opposite side of the fence, that of the internet users, the editors are replaced (or augmented by) the sheer populairty given select published pieces by the masses. Thus the question really is: Should the masses control what is read or the editors or some combination of both? We should start with that last addition, perhaps the internet has no intentions of destroying the traditional methods of publication and critisicm, but if that were true than we shouldn’t have seen the destruction of nearly every newspapers book review section save the Times. So it is clear that we can agree a change is happening, and that this change is destroying, to a certain extent, the authority of traditional editors and critics.

But maybe it isn’t destroying them, maybe those critics and editors are moving to the Internet, are combining with it to create a new format for finding the next great literary publication. Along with that point is the Long Tail effect of the Internet to allow for every possible niche market to find itself and its companions, but in order to find what you are looking for in that respect you have to be pretty experienced with how to search, is that an assumption we can make about the masses?

Anyway that’s enough for part 1, I apologize for introducing a lot of differing points but I had to start somewhere. The real question I have for the Internet is this: How will it protect the minority opinion in art if the masses are always dictating the path?

-huysmans

3D animation… a new style of film?

Since its inception I have experienced 3D animation as I would a roller coaster in an amusement park; something that entertains and excites for only the time you are experiencing it. I never walked out of a 3D film movie thinking it was anything above possibly entertaining for the time in the theater. It was always presented as one of those “look at the spectacle we can make” or “watch how we bedazzle the screen and almost startle you a little.” That was true of EVERY 3D movie I saw up until this past weekend.

Enter Coraline.

I am not a movie reviewer and I won’t even pretend to have opinions about movies that should be listened to by any great number of people, I mean I convinced my friends to see The Weather Man on my birthday (and I actually liked it). But for this film I will forcibly put on the reviewer and critic hat and say this is the first work of art to be done in the medium of three dimensional animation. There are no gimmicks, no cliche tricks here, just pure artistic beauty coupled with an intriguing and thoughtful plot that had me analyzing it while walking home.

So here is to a new style that will hopefully develop from Coraline’s success. But more importantly here is to the unlocking of a new theatrical experience that has been up to this point trapped behind the glass walls of consumer art.

Best review you’ve ever read? Why?

There has been a lot of discussion lately, especially within the restaurant community, about a restaurant review published on June 11th by Frank Bruni of the New York Times on Ago in Tribeca. Needless to say this was arguably the worst (as in most negative) review by the New York Times (at least that I am aware of) and yet has received the best (as in most acclaim) praise. Here is where the “artistic” relevance to this blog comes from. Is all the praise this review is receiving due to its excellent description of the restaurant? Or is it receiving praise because it has transcended its “primary purpose” (that of a review) and has become a work of literature worth reading? To the extent are more people reading this particular review because of its style, humor, and overall creativity rather than because they are curious about the restaurant?

I am particularly enjoying this issue as being one who regards both the creation of a restaurant as well as the writing of a review as artistic endeavors, or at least as having the potential to be artistic endeavors. So to that end has this review become artistically active because it has so distanced itself from having another purpose, that of informing its readership to the quality of this restaurant. But if it is failing to do that then in reality its a bad review. I’m sure many familiar with the review would defend its informative capabilities and they would probably be right to do so, however one must also acknowledge the bizarre circumstance by which the reviewer was reviewing, its one of those “the wrong person to let that happen to” kind of cases.

What interests me about this scenario is (and this may seem abstract or even dumb to some of you) that this review can almost be seen as say a film adaptation of a work of literature, but one that has surpassed the original work and established itself independently. In regards to the restaurant, Ago doesn’t really serve a purpose, this bizarre wall of wine could have occurred anywhere. What I really mean is that there is nothing unique to who the restaurant is that produces this result.

I’ve made some assumptions along the way here that lead to arguments once had on Literature’s Next Frontie, where does journalism fall in the world of art? With reviews we have a similar situation as there is a primary difference between a reviewer and a writer, that of purpose. A reviewer has a job to do that must fulfill basic requirements in order to be published, a writer is free to write what ever he or she chooses (though it better be good in order to be published, and don’t ask me what good is because since I am not a publisher I do not have to make that terrible decision).

Thus let us turn this into a discussion on two points: First, can a review be art? And if it becomes art, does it then no longer exist as a review? Second, where does this particular review fall and from where is it receiving the praise? For a more culinary crafted discussion on this review please visit Coffee Straws.

Cheers,

Huysmans

The Eco Zoo: Printed digitally

if:book posted on a rather interesting animation project called The Eco Zoo. The site is built using Papervision, which simulates a two dimensional design in a three dimensional space. The Eco Zoo has used this flash based program to create an environmental message through a series of pop-up books all presented in this point and click world. As if:books commented, the site suggests a comparison or even competition between print and digital forms of pop-up books. After visiting the site and reading through the different eco friendly stories told I must say its a beautiful site and the message is a good one. But the real question posed by if:books and the one I’d like to discuss here is what are the implications of such creations on the realm of printed works? Or to take from the great Edward Said, what does a site like this tell us about how the internet perceives its own artwork?

This site is a perfect example of the internet imitating the book, each pop-book individually asks the user to turn the page by pressing next, at which point it animates a page turn to reveal the next two-dimensional display. What can be said also about this form of presentation is its connection with the intent of the material. The moral of the site is to take better care of our environment. Therefore to better present that, the site masks itself in a “physical” looking environment to help establish the connection between the text and the subject.

I encourage our readers to take a look at this site as well as if:books post on it and ask the question about what this suggests in regards to how the internet looks at itself. I personally believe that a digital representation of a pop-up book can never replace the real thing, just like a digital representation of a painting does not detract viewers from seeing the original. There is something tangible and real about a physical object, an aura (Walter Benjamin) that cannot be replicated. The internet will become critically and artistically equivalent to text when it discovers its own forms of representation.

To the Eco Zoo! and remember to recycle,

Huysmans

The Wii versus the Xbox 360: which furthers the artistic development of the gaming culture?

Let me first say that I acknowledge the many who are instantly discouraged by such a title as it automatically assumes artistic merit in video games. But for the members of the Comparative Blogging Foundation, that is an easy assumption to make. I would love to engage the very basic question of that merit but first I’d like to start with the question answered and work backwards. Assuming that there is artistic potential in the video game world, which system (between the Xbox 360 and the Wii) is furthering the artistic development of the gaming genre? I do not think there is an easy answer to the question and have personally witnessed both sides defined their viewpoints fiercely. But I will say this:

In observing the interactivity that has come to represent many of the installation art exhibitions of the current era, perhaps the Wii’s desire to further the interaction between the user and the game is a better development. With the Wii, the user is required to actually act out the actions of his or her avatar as the narrative develops. Without the user’s physical input the game would not proceed thus suggesting that the art of such games cannot exist without the user. An idea that has come up here before, that of the need for viewers for the art to actually exist.

But to contradict that, the users involvement is already required with the Xbox, in fact one could say that the user is required to participate in a less obvious fashion. Or to use an almost cliche art term, the user has to participate in an “abstract” way with the use of buttons and joysticks. Also on the Xbox side is the power that system operates with. With the processing advancements only capable by a system backed by Microsoft, the Xbox 360 has opened the figurative doors for game designers to animate almost without limitation. This freedom allows for the traditional artists of the genre (the graphics designers and game developers) to fully flex their creative muscles and create extraordinary worlds and character development that would have been unthinkable even with the original Xbox.

But on the other hand when has art been measured by processing power? Are movies today more artistic than in the 30s? I am not convinced that such advanced processing power is the key to better development. After all it is not the power that creates the art but rather the artists working with that power. To better explain this point I would like to bring in the Disney films. I feel that one would be a thin ice to suggest that the Pixar films of today are more artistic than the classic Disney films of the 30s and 40s. Well let me restate that. They may find the Pixar films to be more artistic but they certainly wouldn’t attribute it to the computer power behind the films. What it ultimately comes down to is the designers behind the games.

But, going back to the Wii for a second, that is true about the designers when dealing with what a game can do. But when you are talking about redesigning the interface between the user and the game, that has wide reaching ramifications that should not be overlooked by simply stating that the designers are the real artistic developers. I am of the opinion that experience counts more than presentation. And by that token I must align myself with the Wii camp and say that a focus on the experience will ultimately pay off.

But this is not about conclusions, this is about discussions. So I know open up the forum: Which system, given the Wii and the Xbox 360, will bring out the art of gaming?

-Huysmans