Kristin Edwards

In 1996, the website mouchetter.org appeared. The maker of the website claims to be a 13 year old girl. “Visitors are greeted with a lurid close up of a flower, its petals crawling with ants, and flies, accompanied by a portrait of a sad looking girl.” The website has innocent and suggestive content on different pages of the site. Many pages are interactive some with questions and the ability to answer.

I think this work/website is very important for women as a whole. To me, the fact that people become angry over the sexuality of the young girl and suggestive content is a very good thing. The website itself is both innocent and suggestive. On the home page the words “browse me” are at the bottom where you are able to select and visit other pages. The entire website is suggestive of child pornography, molestation, and innocence accompanied with ignorance of thought knowledge. This work forces people to look at what they don’t want to see.

1 year performance video (aka samhsiehupdate) -MTAA
MTAA was working on (2004-2005) an ongoing work called ‘updates.’ “The artists reinterpret seminal artworks from the 1960’s and 70’s by using new technologies to perform actions that defined the original process.” One of the ‘updates’ was a year long performance video ” which revisits Tehcing (sam) Hsieh’s one year performance in 1978-79, aka ‘Cage Piece.’ MTAA, adapted the piece to fit the ‘internet age.’ viewers think they are viewing a live feed from the website, but it is a pre-recorded video activated by the viewer and video is chosen by the program based on time of day the viewer watched the video.

I feel this is an interesting play on technology and comparing it to historical performance pieces, but I find it uninteresting. I don’t find value in reenactments. Although, it is a great idea and well done I would like to see original ideas that would have relevance with todays audience that plays on technology. This idea can be expanded upon to reach out into possible future events as well.

Shredder 1.0 – Mark Napier (1998)
Shredder 1.0 is a website designed for the viewer to become the participant and help re-create the website. If a web address is entered into the location field at the top of Shredder’s website, or chosen from a list of URL’s. The website then “deconstructs the original website to form an abstract composition.” Napier states that “my works are not objects, but interfaces. The users become collaborators in the artwork, upsetting the conventions of ownership and authority.” Napier also states “by interacting with the work, the visitors shape the piece, causing it to change and evolve, often in unpredictable ways. The user is an integral part of the design.”

This idea of interactive art is a very important concept today (2011). This continuous always changing work is very important for the viewer. I find it very interesting that he chose what he does for his works. Often artists dislike someone trying to change their work, but Napier invites and promotes it. The entire idea revolves around the viewer interacting and helping to better the work rather than look and blindly pass by. I love the idea of interactivity, I want to be a video game designer, so I love when the viewer is made a participant and is given the ability to make choices in their aesthetic and immersive experience. Therefore the viewer is no longer just wondering they are becoming a part of an experience that only they can have because they had a choice in the creation of the art in front of them. To me, that is true art.

The Pink of Stealth- Mendi and Keith Obadike, 2003
The project ‘The Pink of Stealth’ “combines an online hypertext, a web-based game and an MP3 and also DVD. The Hypertext conveys a story of a man and woman who’s races are never revealed.” The plot is non linear and has 5 variations. Each variation unveils words that fit together once all discovered to show  the hidden meaning. The couple “use this project to think about the associative properties of language and the way that  a word or concept from one context can carry along the values of another context.”

I feel this project is very important when it comes to defining race. My first impression of ‘The Pink of Stealth’ is that both man and woman are looking for an ideal partner, but have no idea of the race of the other. Therefore they are blind to color, yet still have their desire for their ideal. If they were to meet and find their looks are not what is wanted, would their already existing feelings overcome looks or fail in attraction?

Horror Chase- Jennifer and Kevin McCoy
Horror Chase is an “electronic sculpture” which is a remake of a scene from the 1987 film “Evil Dead II,” directed by Sam Raimi. Instead of ‘sampling and remixing’ the original film, the couple chose to film their own version through reenactment. The final product is played forwards then backwards in a constant changing loop.

This is a fairly interesting work. I like that rather than taking the original film and remixing it, the artist were original and used their own selves as both actors and directors. I find this is more effective than the original film being remixed or sampled.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011