Reading #6

1. The author talks about how digital media can be easily accessed at any point of the film unlike analog media which is not as easily accessed. Do you think this instant gratification takes away from the appreciation of the art piece as a whole? 2. Do you think the creation of "interactive" media is beneficial to the understanding and creation of digital art and media or does it detract?

Artist Research Project

Art has the amazing ability to communicate the same vision across all languages and cultures. It is this sense of universal understanding that makes art such a wonderful tool for expressing a thought or message. When it comes to the creation and displaying of works, the options are limitless. For my two artists, I decided to go with the theme of “Art outside the gallery.” I believe it is important for every individual to have the opportunity to experience how powerful art can be. The two artists I chose are public artists; meaning that they present their work on streets and public buildings for all to see. This form of exhibition gives those who may not commonly find themselves in a museum or gallery a chance to appreciate what the artist has to say. It also acts as an excellent form of advertisement for the artist themselves. With the advancement of various forms of social media, the artist has the potential to go “viral” within a matter of days. This form of art displaying proves to be beneficial to the viewer and the artist. The first artist I chose is a man by the name of Benoit Maubrey. Maubrey is an artist who works and resides in Berlin, Germany, and is the director/founder of Die Audio Gruppe in Berlin. Maubrey began his work in 1982 and has continued to wow audiences with his innovative ideas and concepts ever sense. Die Audio Gruppe’s medium of choice is quite unique, and consists of mostly found electronics such as loudspeakers. Maubrey’s specialty is taking the found audio equipment and transforming it into wearable “electro-acoustic” clothing which is then used in public performances. Audio actors dawn the elaborate and often strange looking clothing to perform choreographed routines that certainly grab the attention of all bystanders. The form of exhibition is very appealing to Maubrey, “By building loudspeakers into clothes I could intervene in any given environment in a temporary cost efficient way.” The idea of a cheap way of having others view work is very appealing to me as an artist myself. The first thing that attracted me to Maubrey as an n artist is his use of recycled materials and fashion which happen to be two of my favorite things. Personally, those two mediums are my favorites when it comes to creating art pieces there are so many unexplored options when it comes to “upcycled fashion.” I was very intrigued to learn more about he creates these very unique works of art. When it came to choosing a piece to focus on, I had a very difficult time deciding on which one they were all so unique and fascinating. One of his more popular bodies of his work is the “audio Ballerinas.” These performances involve a group of performers all wearing special tutus constructed of audio equipment as shown in the picture below: The manner in which Maubrey and Die Audio Gruppe constructed these moving pieces of art is astounding. The technology within the skirt is beautiful, intriguing, and can produce sound at the same time creating the potential for an attention drawing showcase. I viewed many of the audio ballerinas’ performances and each of them was so unique and awesome! I have attached some of my favorites below. Many aspects contribute to how seamlessly the various parts of Maubrey’s performances work. I really love how the audio performers who wear the skirts are capable of moving and flowing with the sounds that the skirts produce the choice to have the art in movement makes the impact of the viewer much more memorable. As the visual aid to the sounds continues within the piece they morph together and become one moving being with the sound. The use of sunglasses on the performer was a brilliant idea in my opinion. Sunglasses create a sense of uniformity among the performers and creates an image that does not distract attention from the art piece itself. I loved how dynamic each of the performances was. Each dancer would have their own sound that would emit from their skirt at different frequencies. Each performance would start off slowly with just one performer’s radio frequency sounds coming from the individual skirts at a time, and then as the performance progressed, the dancers’ skirts would all begin to emit sound at different frequency. That portion of the performance can only be described as beautiful chaos. So much movement and audio is occurring at the same time creating an image that the viewer is sure not to forget. Proving that Maubrey’s choice of showing his work is very efficient. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rnjTq2cXk In this piece I especially love the use of the dancers performing at separate times to establish their unique sound and then blending the all together to create a new sound. The accuracy of the dancers and the timing of the sounds coming from the skirts created an almost surreal dream-like experience for me. I felt as if the skirts themselves were controlling the performers instead of the performers controlling the skirts. The viewer is then brought back to reality when the final performers turns their skirt off and they all hang bent at the waist as if robots needing to be recharged. That aspect of the performance plays very well into the theme of technology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAW6783rOX0 This performance gave me Goosebumps as I watched it. The eerie effect of the emotionless performers dragging rakes along to the hum of the skirts was bone chilling. The nails on the chalk board like effect was very powerful performance and stopped any passer by dead in their tracks as you can witness in the video. The performers have an extreme presence about them as they press into the public space and continued to drag the rakes. The cringing nails on the chalk board vibe it gave me was intriguing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M05KY5dt0o This final video was one of the more dynamic and comical of the Audio Ballerina series. It began with the rakes as the one above did, but then took a different turn. The crowd became part of the performance as the dancers began the twitch and weave through clusters of people while repeated words about batteries rang throughout the plaza. It was really cool to see the expressions of confusion and awe on the on looker’s faces. It was truly a treat to be to research Benoit Maubrey and Die Audio Gruppe’s work. Its amazing to see how everyday sounds an objects can come together to make something so much more than their original purpose. My second artist is a man by the name of Stephane Jaspert an artist living and working in Paris, France. Like Maubrey he is an artist who prefers to have his art in the public for all to view. His work may seem small but that is what drew me to it in the first place. Jaspert is a street artist who paints on cobblestones in downtown Paris. Jaspert’s was of interest to me because of the large message that he wanted to make with his small art. Jaspert uses his “contemporary cave art” creations as a vessel to make statements about cultural differences that often appear in the tourist populated city. He often paints fads or symbols that are popular in today’s internet culture to add another layer of history to the already historical cobblestone streets. As I looked through Jaspert’s portfolio of work I couldn’t help but think about how the everyday symbols that I recognize on the stones relate to people in other cultures. Jaspert’s work may not seem as impressive as someone who does large murals, but I think he deserves recognition. The piece of Jaspert’s work I chose to focus on is titled, “Cheeseburger,” and in fact that is what it simply is; a cobblestone disguised as a juicy cheeseburger. The attention to detail like in all jaspert’s work is very precise giving a realistic look to the rock. I love the idea of taking a normally circular object and placing it on a cube plane. The amount of character that radiates from this tiny piece of art is so cool to witness. To us Americans a cheeseburger is a normal everyday food. Other cultures that pass by may not view the image in the same manner. Perhaps another culture may view the piece as making fun of American culture seeing that you are practically stepping on it, or maybe it sparks the inspiration in someone to learn more about a new culture. The subliminal message that is hidden behind the purpose of Jaspert’s work is a very meaningful statement. These “ready-made fossils.” Are put out by Jaspert for all to see spreading the word about his art and message, and all the artist has to do is place the rock in the right spot. Seems like a pretty practical way to advertise your art, make a statement, or even just making a passerby’s day a little more interesting. I attempted to contact both Benoit and Stephane, unfortunately I did not receive a response from either artist. I even practiced my German skills in my email to Benoit! I still hope to eventually hear back from them to learn more about their work. This project was a really wonderful way to explore artists whose work isn’t as well known, but still plenty impressive, and I am very glad I had the chance to do it. Sources: http://www.benoitmaubrey.com/ http://rhizome.org/ http://jaspert.free.fr/ http://youtube.com/

1. The Author talks about the modern fascination with old analog media and film does the modern content of film fit with the "vintage" style of the analog? And will this method continue to be used or is it just a fad of current digital art? 2. Do you agree or disagree with the concept that the internet has made many works of art generic through convenient research accessibility?

Reading #4 questions

1. on page 7 the Critical Art Ensemble states that interventionist media is more of a disturbance than a work of art. does this critical view alienate the right to free speech and to express our own opinions? or do you agree with the fact that some interventionist content can be disturbing or vulgar? 2. "Tactical gizmologists" are said to be fuelled by the sense of DIY, do you think that a tactical media artist feels a sense of protection through the internet that he or she would not be able to have in the open public?

Interventionist Media

For this assignment I chose to make my own version of the Victoria's Secret website. Often the media falsifies what a real woman should look like, and causes many women to feel self conscious about their image and strive to be something they are not. Victoria secret has many pictures on their page depicting a body shape that is not common.