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Reading Response: Interview with Constant Dullaart

While exploring Constant Dullaart’s website I noticed that a textbox appears whenever you enter and leave the site. It is interesting how the artist wants his viewers to read this text before exploring his artwork and before leaving the page and exploring the rest of the internet. Is this his sort of personal and artistic manifesto? The last sentence of the text caught my attention the most. The artist quotes George Simmel from Bridges and Doors stating, “In the immediate as well as the symbolic sense, in the physical as well as the intellectual sense, we are at any moment those who separate the connected or connect the separate.”

This quote reminded me of the interview between Cecilia Guida and the artist when they discuss Dullaart’s artwork titled, “Youtube as a Subject.” I believe that this Youtube play button, which is the focus of the work, represents how technology can simultaneously connect and separate us like the quote describes. Watching Youtube videos can connect us with other users through their videos or comment sections, but they can also separate us from one another in the physical realm as we plus in our headphones to watch. It interests me to think about how we have become so accustomed to seeing particular imagery like the playback button on Youtube or like symbols on Facebook or Instagram. 

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Reading Response: Black Vernacular by Martine Syms

I found Martine Syms’ essay, “Black Vernacular: Reading New Media,” to be one of the most thought-provoking readings assigned to us thus far. The author poses very interesting questions about blackness and art throughout the essay including, “can my identity be expressed as an aesthetic quality?” I think that this question the author poses early on in the article structures the rest of the reading as she discusses various different African-American artists and their practices. My favorite artist mentioned in the reading was Keith Obadike. I found myself laughing at his 2001 project, Blackness for Sale, because of how accurate and pertinent it is to contemporary, 21st century culture. The fact that this listing was deemed inappropriate and removed from eBay is extremely ironic because the artist’s descriptions of blackness are so appropriate to how non African-American people perceive blackness. It is thus evident that most people are so uncomfortable with discussions or definitions of race and ethnicity that they would prefer to have them removed from the internet. 

One of Keith Obadike’s quotes in particular caught my attention in the article. The artist states, “There are Browsers called Explorer and Navigator that take you to explore the Amazon or trade in the eBay.” This quote made me especially aware of how language can seem to be unbiased yet can carry hidden or implicit biases. The words explorer and navigator refer to the history of white people conquering other ethnic populations and selling them as slaves for their own advantage. In the context of the internet these terms might seem harmless, but taken in the context of history they bring about other more harmful connotations.  Martine Syms also argues throughout the essay that blackness defines itself in absence. This made me start to think about how whiteness is often the default, even the white pages of the book, Mass Effect.

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Reading Response: Brenna Murphy Interview

I found Ian Glover’s questions about how the artist, Brenna Murphy, transforms her physical experiences of the world into digital art to be the most interesting. More specifically, I particularly enjoyed the artist’s explanation of her self-portrait, Enchanted Loom. The artist describes how she is able to transform sensory elements she encounters in nature into the digital realm through computer programs. This process of creating textures and shapes digitally that correspond with physical, natural observations fascinates me.

I related to the artist when she spoke about spending hour after hour using computer programs to create art. She states, “if I’ve been really in the zone all day, then my dreams at night will be in the shape of the programs that I was using.” I often find myself doing the same thing after I have been working on the computer for long periods of time. I start to think in terms of the language of the computer and wish that I could copy and paste or erase something as easily in my mind or on paper as I can on the computer.  The artist also mentions how she works musically with her imagery she creates in the digital realm. This reminded me of my final project and one of my goals for my voicemail video. Similar to the artist in this interview, I hope that I can work musically or sonically with the imagery I incorporate so that the audio flows together seamlessly with the accompanying imagery.

I was surprised to learn at the end of the interview that the artist doesn’t consider art to be what she does for a living. When asked that question, she states that she is a preschool teacher and a nanny. I am curious as to why she considers art to be a way of life for herself rather than a professional pursuit. Is there a difference in art if is it merely a hobby versus a career?

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Reading Response: Wikipedia’s Sexism by Amanda Flipacchi

           Reading Amanda Flipacchi’s article, “Wikipedia’s Sexism,” reminded me of the discussion we had in class about the internet’s inherent biases. When we googled the word “people” or “person” for images, mostly photographs of white males came up. I have never thought about how the internet can be inherently biased because of specific algorithms in place through browsers like Google.

Wikipedia is meant to be a democratic encyclopedia by nature where anyone and everyone can add and edit information on the website. However, I found it interesting to read this article because I was unaware of the struggles of a Wikipedia editor. I learned from the author that it is not as easy as it seems to make changes to a Wikipedia page because there is a hierarchy of editors. Is Wikipedia truly democratic if some people have more power than others when it comes to editing the online encyclopedia? How can everyone’s voice be heard if there edits are quickly removed or changed by editors with the most power?

I was also intrigued by how the system of canonization itself can create hidden biases unintentionally. For example, creating a separate list of the “best American writers” for males and females gives off the impression that the male and female writers might be judged differently or held up against different standards. I understand why the author has a problem with Wikipedia’s list of American writers being divided in this manner. I think that the high-powered editors at Wikipedia need to be more aware of these inherent biases present in Wikipedia and the internet as a whole.

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Peer Blog Review

I immediately noticed while reading Alec’s tumblr posts that his writing reflects many of the questions he has posed during class discussions and throughout the artwork he has produced thus far in class. For example, in his post about the Seth Price article, “Dispersion,” Alec inquires about how something becomes declared a work of art. He argues in accordance with Price that exposure and distribution play crucial roles in the art world. This thought is reflected in Alec’s final project proposal and perhaps even inspired his idea for the project. More specifically, Alec hopes to generate exposure for unknown artists using the social media platform, Snapchat. By creating time and place specific geotags out of artwork in local museums and galleries, Alec proposes new artists can gain exposure and potentially a following for a relatively low cost. I admire his ability to combine his business ventures outside of class with his passion for art within the class room. 

I also observed throughout Alec’s reading responses that he is especially drawn to the Pop artist, Andy Warhol. He mentions Warhol in multiple of his tumblr posts and connects this artist to the internet artist we have studied, Cory Arcangel. I was particularly interested in how Alec analyzed Arcangel’s piece, “Super Mario Clouds (2009).” Alec states that he personally interprets the piece as more enticing to people than experiences of nature in reality. He then links this feeling to the concept of the “prosumer” and how it is reflected through the contrived, natural landscape of the clouds.  This differed from my individual reading of Arcangel’s artwork and provided me with an alternative perspective.

Overall, I believe that Alec’s tumblr posts authentically represent his interests in the art world and in successful marketing and promotional strategies for his retail company. Even in his first post about Allan Kaprow’s, “Untitled Guidelines of Happenings,” Alec already questions the line between art and life. It is evident that Alec has been able to draw parallel lines or themes that exist throughout all of the readings we have been assigned. His personal comprehension of these readings has enabled me to understand his perspective and where he comes from as an artist in this class.  

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Hans Ulrich Obrist In Conversation with Julian Assange

It was interesting to learn through this article that when Julian Assange began his career as a computer hacker the internet was not connected across continents. I was unaware that each country and continent had its own internet network so that the world as a whole was separated into distinct systems. I wonder when the internet became one network worldwide and whether or not the underground hackers like Assange played a role in this transition. I generally think of hackers as a negative term given to a person; however, hearing from the longtime hacker, Assange, changed my perspective. I admire his desire to discover and release information being suppressed by the government in order to hand the power back over to the people. The internet’s ability to empower individuals with knowledge is the primary theme throughout this interview. I enjoyed the structure of the interview because the interviewer asks questions in a way that maps out how hackers like Assange can bring about real change. What he started on the internet eventually moved to reality and inspired political and social revolutions of protest.

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Artist Presentation: Rollin Leonard

Where to find his work

Website: http://rollinleonard.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rollinleonard/?hl=en 

Tumblr: http://rollinleonard.tumblr.com/

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Reading Response: Trevor Paglen in Conversation with Lauren Cornell

I was most interested by Trevor Paglen and Lauren Cornell’s discussion of technological mystification. I agree with the artist and the interviewer in that concepts like apple’s icloud are extremely confusing to most everyday technology users. I have asked apple store workers to explain what the icloud is to me multiple times, yet I still feel as if I am unaware of what it really is. Paglen argues that “a lot of the metaphors we use like ‘the Cloud’ or even notions like ‘Internet Freedom’ are highly ideological and deeply misleading.” The word cloud gives off the impression that it is a data storage system that is untouchable and greater than all of us because it exists above in the sky. However, I agree with their conversation about technological mystification in the reading because the Cloud has been hacked multiple times and our information is thus not as secure as we think it is. Paglen also states, “our experience of the internet is strongly at odds with that actually happens, and is a source of incredible mystification.” Although I know this to be true, I find that I often choose to ignore this fact while using the internet because it is easier to be oblivious than constantly paranoid.

Out of all of the artworks Paglen and Cornell discuss, I found their conversation about the artist’s “Autonomy Cubes” to be the most compelling. More specifically, I appreciate how this work of art has many different layers to it, which evoke various contemporary problems. These “Autonomy Cubes” are minimalist sculptures that provide open Wi-Fi routed through the Tor anonymity infrastructure. Visitors of the museum where the cubes are exhibited can connect to the sculpture with their phones or computers and surf the web anonymously. Not only does this plexi-glass sculpture symbolize a more transparent network, but it also represents a more democratic, contemporary art scene for the 21st century.

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Reading Response: “If You’re not Paranoid, You’re Crazy”

After reading Walter Kirn’s article, “If You’re not Paranoid, you’re Crazy,” I definitely feel more paranoid than ever before about technological surveillance and data mining. I related to the article because I have had similar experiences to the author where my google searches have prompted me to purchase certain products or enter specific websites based on my browsing history. I have always ignored the fact that I know the government and big corporations have the power to keep track of me and my data because I felt like I have nothing to hide. However, the author’s argument truly started to terrify me when he explained how “new tools have a way of breeding new abuses.” More specifically, he states that with access to so much information about its citizens, the government has the ability to sell us policies, programs, and maybe even wars. I believe that the most recent presidential election could be an example of this situation. Since the internet often prompts us to consume information that is similar to what we already have in the past, technology can play a big role in our own confirmation bias. If voters are learning only one side of the story in congruence with their own beliefs, it is almost impossible to know or acknowledge that the other side exists.

I was also very intrigued by Kirn’s conception of surveillance and how its constant monitoring can lead us to self-consciously monitor our behavior. I notice myself doing this in most public spaces I inhabit like the school library where I have to whisper or a museum where I can look but not touch. Nevertheless, as the author argues, this self-monitoring behavior now extends from the realm of public space into our private lives. I think that the gun show Kirn references is very similar to the dark net. Both the gun show and the dark net embody autonomy and a way to combat the restrictions placed on us by institutions such as the government.

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The Dark Net - QUESTIONS

1) Does the internet, particularly the dark net, mirror the values of the American Dream? 

2) Do you think that technology controls us, or do we control technology? Furthermore, how do we give technology power and freedom and how does it give us this in return? 

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The Dark Net - Pt. 3

As I read the end of The Dark Net, I appreciated the author’s conclusion and “shades of grey” analysis of the internet overall. His approach to exploring the dark net through various facets and perspectives made the book much more interesting to read. For example, instead of criticizing the drug deals that take place on the silk road, the author recognizes that these might be safer than the real-world equivalent transactions. He explains that the user-ranking system creates a safer, systematic, and more reliable way of determining the quality and purity of drugs. I am interested by how this Rumor Mill community comes together to self-police one another and expose scamming vendors online. Furthermore, the community has been able to create an online environment where the consumer is empowered through feedback information and online interaction. Thus, sellers are forced to compete for the buyers. I wonder whether the internet enabled this type of supportive community to develop and whether or not the individuals involved could have created something similar offline. 

I also found one of the author’s final chapters on social media to be extremely relatable. He argues, “social media is popular because it taps into a hard-wired need to seek affirmation from our peers and a very natural desire for enhanced reputation.” I definitely agree with him in that I often find myself using social media to communicate with others if I am lonely. Rather than talking or interacting with someone face-to-face, I turn to social media in these instances because I know that I will most likely receive an automatic, quick response or affirmation. I think that this has to do with the fact that we often turn to others to validate ourselves or our thoughts instead of looking within. Even though we are aware that our identities are different on the internet compared to the real-world, we still need validation of those alternative identities online. The author describes the internet as a space in which users can live out their fantasies, yet even these users turn to other users in online forums seeking support of these fantasies.

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The Dark Net - Pt. 2

Before reading The Dark Net, I was unaware that Bitcoins exist on the internet as an alternative form of payment online. This book overall has helped me understand how internet users have come to use the internet as a way to express themselves and exert their autonomy over the government. While explaining the concept of Bitcoins, the author states, “anyone who dedicates their computing power to verifying the transactions in the blockchain competes to earn a very small amount of new bitcoins each time they do so.” This quote in particular aroused my interest because of the inherent community within Bitcoin users. Since there is no central authority in the realm of Bitcoins, individual users have the power to run the system and gain rewards from participating in the community by processing the transactions.

The author also mentions the term crypto-anarchy in the second section of the assigned reading. He describes this as “prosperity for those who can grab it, those competent enough to have something of value to offer for sale.” I am wondering how crypto-anarchy differs from the concept of the American Dream. In many ways, I believe that the American Dream already exists on the internet because it provides users with relatively equally accessible information to learn and potentially profit. However, I think that this differs from crypto-anarchy because not everyone automatically has something of value to offer for sale. If the internet is a mirror image of society, I am curious to know whether or not trolls, Tor users, or the author believe the American Dream exists on the internet.

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The Dark Net - Pt. 1

I found myself learning a lot about the internet throughout the first section of The Dark Net reading. Before completing this reading, I was unaware of the exact definition of a troll and I didn’t realize how much effort and training goes into being a top troll on the internet. This book enabled me to see the other side of the story – the perspective of the troll. I am fascinated by the belief system the author explores, which motivates many trolls to offend and insult online. I always thought that the majority of trolls quickly commented on internet content with little rationale or logic. This reading taught me that this is not the case. I was particularly interested by the specific tactics trolls employ while interacting with others online. More specifically, how trolls create some type of distraction or disturbance online in order to focus attention on a particular issue at stake.

The author explains that many trolls offend or insult in order to keep society alert and cause trouble for the government. The author quotes one troll who claims, “I’m the one trying to make society freer!” Even though I don’t necessarily agree with everything the trolls believe in, I do agree with them in terms of how our society has become extremely self-censored. Many deem this time as the era of political correctness, and I think that often we are afraid to speak about certain topics because we fear upsetting others. However, I agree with the trolls in that these topics needs to be discussed and prodded at in order for society to recognize that there are real, existing issues we can’t ignore.  

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Final Project Proposal

For my final project this semester I would like to create an interactive webpage in which the viewer is able to click through and play with the world I create online. I would like to incorporate photographs, videos, and sound into this webpage. I don’t want the viewer to be guided by prompts explaining what to do or where to click. Rather, I want to create a webpage in which the viewer becomes an active participant in their experience of my creation. How they choose to navigate this page will be entirely up to the individual and their instincts. I think that Dreamweaver will be the best program to use in order to create the webpage and allow the viewer to click through it.

To be more specific, I plan to use family photographs and video footage from my grandparent’s farm in North Carolina. I want to allow others to enter this isolated place in the middle of nowhere and create a sort of digital archive or history for the farm’s existence since the 1980s. I will structure this webpage with a very personal narrative through pictures and videos that I plan to first manipulate and then upload online. I am interested in having my project revolve around the idea that the internet allows us to experience places or people we miss or may never have the chance to visit in the near future. All of the footage I have that I would like to incorporate has been captured over the past 30 - 40 years. Therefore, I plan to manipulate this footage so that all of it has a similar aesthetic and it doesn’t seem like it was captured at drastically different time periods.

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Dispersion: By Seth Price

Seth Price’s article, “Dispersion,” explores the definition and history of conceptual art and how it has transformed in the age of the internet. I found his explanation of conceptual art to be one of the most helpful descriptions I have ever read. The author argues that this art movement does not stand for anything certain but rather privileges framing and context, constantly renegotiating its relationship to its audience. However, a paradox emerges in the reading because Price states that avant-garde work is often illegible without institutional framing. Is conceptual art only legible if it is first framed by the artist but then re-framed or contextualized by a curator? How are these two different methods of framing different? I also enjoyed the author’s thoughts on public art, which expanded my understanding of this realm of work. He asserts that a popular album can be considered a more successful instance of public art than a monument for instance because it is accessed so widely by the public without having to physically visit a place.

The author also mentions the art world’s traditional archive of high culture and the contemporary use of the internet as a sort of modern archive. Conventionally, scholarly elites controlled historical archives of art and were given the power to decide who deserves to be recorded in the history of art and who does not. Nevertheless, the internet has enabled everyone with access to a computer to be able to contribute to the world’s digital archive. I believe that this democratizes the way in which art is documented and canonized.

I think it is interesting that both Price and Marcel Duchamp predict the dispersion of the status of the artist in the future. Duchamp believed that “the artist of the future will be underground.” Although I agree with both the author and the artist in that it is increasingly difficult for artists to be recognized, I do think that branding and personas are more important than ever before for the artist. This helps them to distinguished themselves in both the realm of everyday, social media users and the art community.

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Interview with Jeremy Bailey: By Greg J. Smith

I have never thought in depth about technology’s relationship to the body until reading this interview between the artist Jeremy Bailey and Greg Smith. The artist notes in the article, “at least half of all the humans I see in a given day have an arm bent at a perpendicular angle with their heads titled similarly.” I agree with the underlying theme throughout Bailey’s performance art work in which technology has modified our everyday bodily behavior. It amazes me whenever I walk outside with a dead phone or without one at all because almost everyone I observe in these instances is hunched over staring down at their phones. In the interview, Bailey explains that he believes technology to be the next stage in human evolution. It is intriguing to think about how this gesture of hunching over a computer or cell phone could influence the evolution of the human body. What if future generations develop fingers equipped to type faster or spines that bend in congruence with staring down at screens? The artist’s work in which he imagines future possibilities for the relationship between the human body and technology made these thoughts pop into my mind.

I particularly enjoyed Bailey’s comparison of technology to reflective glasses or contact lenses. I found this comparison extremely pertinent because we have all come to view the world and people in it through the lens of technology. Before meeting a person I often stalk them on google or Facebook, which shapes my perception of who they are and what I expect them to be like in reality. My process for finding a restaurant or vacation spot is similar – I search for written and visual information about these places and then judge them and make my decision based off of this information.  Technology often infuses expectations and perceptions into my mind, which are often inconsistent with the reality of the situation. Someone’s persona on Facebook can be entirely different from their personality in real life. Similarly, the artist argues that this is the era in which persona really emerges in art. I definitely agree with this statement because I believe that crafting a persona or specific brand is becoming increasingly important in order to be successful in any industry of work.

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Performance Project Proposal

            For my project I am considering two possible plans of action. I am contemplating creating a performance using the video game, The Sims. I plan to create a character either resembling myself or someone else and then have them act out a physical, human gesture in various different ways. The graphics and the character interaction possibilities are highly realistic, which will enable me to explore many commands relating to a gesture. If I decide to do this I would play out the single gesture on the game in every way available. The video game also gives players the option to record their sims for extended periods of time. This will allow me to download the video footage and then create a longer performance piece out of it. If I continue with this course of action I would like to highlight how the game creators and the sim characters interpret this physical gesture and its consequences in the context of the game.

           I am also thinking of investigating the relationship between a physical, human gesture and emojis on text messages. It would be interesting to choose a single emoji gesture like the smiling face or sad face and then go through all of my text messages. I would find as many instances where either I used the emoji or someone I was texting sent it to me and then compile screenshots of these messages. I could then turn these photographs into a video performance possibly accompanied by music. It intrigues me thinking about how emotions displayed through emoji gestures can be misinterpreted or read in very different ways depending on the reader. With so many emojis available to choose from, why do we send certain ones at particular times and not others? When do we decide to send an emoji to express ourselves rather than writing in text message? I would like to explore these questions if I decide on this second idea for my project.