:: Monday, July 12, 2004 ::
newMedia_fix of the Week:
http://members.rhizome.net/marjanvmourik
http://www.artafterscience.com
ORIGINAL POST: Monday, June 21, 2004BY: Kristen Palana
Ana Carvalho’s net-art piece, My Diamonds are Forever, explores the relationships and connections that people have to one another via this interactive website and an accompanying installation piece.
The imagery, sounds, and surprising animation snippets, photo sequences, and scrollers all make for an interesting and poetic experience. There is no linear sequence, so wherever you click causes the images and sounds to shuffle together and create a unique narrative for each viewer. We are not meant to know which gender we are dealing with and, therefore, are free to draw our own conclusions and interpretations.
When I first saw the piece, I mainly thought I was experiencing a female character who was codependent and insecure; I felt a sense of desperation. I do believe that this piece could be pushed further so that more of the artist’s conceptual intentions are realized. Perhaps more content, more emotions explored, more emphasis on gender ambiguity, and so on.
I thought the visuals that change toward the bottom of the screen were beautifully crafted, well timed, and gorgeous. The visuals at the top are a little jaggy with white pixel halos on some pictures. "My Diamonds Are Forever," as well as Ana Carvalho’s other works, would be better served if we could navigate more easily between them.
Overall, I was intrigued but felt like I wanted to see more. I would be very interested, however, to see this same project as a full installation that one could walk through.
ORIGINAL POST: Monday, June 21, 2004BY: Garrett Lynch
No-org.net has launched their second net-art exhibition under the theme of video net art, residing at the URL “video/net/art” on their domain “no-org.net,” much like their last exhibition, no/copy/right. Though thematically less successful than their debut exhibition (in my opinion, at least; let's be honest; a video net-art piece is never going to be an easy one), it certainly deserves a look to get familiar with some interesting works, new and old. It's an unusual collection with works ranging from those that fit right in there--like David Crawford's Stop Motion Studies--to works that have only vague connections with video net art--such as Scott Draves Electric Sheep, more closely connected to emergent technologies or A.I. (yes that mystic art of Artificial Intelligence!).
Honestly I'm a little disappointed not to see certain works, such as Peter Horvath's video net.art, Flyingpuppets Somnabules, onewordmovie, Brooke A. Knight's An hour of your time or Thompson & Craighead's Template Cinema (although that is still in beta version; video art in beta version?!).
No-org.net would like to take the opportunity to make a call for proposals for the next project data/reference/art. Deadline is 25th of August. For more information, please see their site.
ORIGINAL POST: Friday, June 25, 2004BY: Nicholas Economos
Acid-Free Bits, by Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, can be found at the Electronic Literature Organization site. The document proposes a set of guidelines and considerations for creators of electronic writing. The hope is to find an approach that will help ease the possible loss of works that use technology that is destined for obsolescence. Acid-Free Bits is part of ELO's continuing project--called X-Lit--that seeks a standard of preservation grounded in XML. Future plans include a site where authors can communicate and contribute to the preservation effort.