Tuesday 30 August 2016

Week 2- Nam June Paik - Electronic Superhighway

Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media such as televisions and is considered to be the founder of video art. Paik was also credited with an early usage of the term "electronic super highway" in application to telecommunications.


Electronic superhighway was created in 1995 during the neo dada period. Neo Neo-Dada artists often encouraged viewers to look beyond traditional aesthetic standards and interpret meaning through a process of critical thinking generated by contradictions, absurd juxtapositions, coded narratives, and other mixed signals, rather than the internal emotions. Paik’s Fluxus works undermined accepted notions of musical composition and  performance. This same irreverent spirit informed his use of television.
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This work consists 336 television, 50 dvd player, 3750 feet of cable, 575 feet of multi coloured neon tubing. The neon tubing is a testament to the ways media define one man's understanding of diverse nation. Also, the different colours reminds all of us that individual states still have distinct identities and culture, even in today’s information age.
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Upon closer inspection, all the television are playing different shows and videos in different part of the world. Below, are some examples of movies and videos played during the exhibition to represent a particular country.
~Missouri: playing the movie "Meet Me In St. Louie"
~ Kansas: playing "The Wizard of Oz"
~ Idaho: shows potatoes. Just potatoes. Over and over again.
~ Kentucky: scenes from the Kentucky Derby
~ Indiana: scenes from the Indy 500
~ Iowa: politicians campaigning during the Iowa caucuses
~ Illinois: rapid scenes of Chicago with an occassion photo of Lincoln
~ Colorado: amateur sports
~ Mississippi: scenes from the civil rights movement
~ Rhode Island: has a little tiny television
~ Hawaii: scenes from "South Pacific"?
~ Alaska: ice and snow
~ South Dakota: George McGovern 
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Paik's intention was to address social issues along with media technologies that would become increasingly prevalent in American society. Media technologies should also not be used to discourse social problems such as racial segregation, modernization of the economy and environmental pollution. Therefore, Paik's report forecasted the emergence of what he called a "broadband communication network  or “electronic super highway”—comprising not only television and video, but also “audio cassettes, telex, data pooling, continental satellites, micro-fiches, private microwaves and eventually, fiber optics on laser frequencies.” By the 1990s, Paik’s concept of an information “superhighway” had become associated with a new “world wide web” of electronic communication.
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Image result for pros and cons of technology


I think there are pros and cons when we talk about technology and i have mixed feelings about technology. But there's one thing for sure, i think that technology can be useful but it may also affect us in a bad way if we do not know how to manage our time and make use of it well. Most people take advantage of technology and hence they don't really come out of their comfort zone which i think i have a point. With technology, most of us are like living under a rock. WE have no clue what's happening and that only the only that's blinding us from reality is the media. And most of the things that are published by the media are not really true because we only hear one side of the story. It's just like the theory of 'allegory of the cave" by Plato.






bibliography:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p16JxNV90SU
- https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/conceptual-performance/a/paik-electronic-superhighway

Week 1- Marie Seester, ACCESS

 Marie Sester – ACCESS

Marie Sester is a french media artist based in Los Angeles. ACCESS by Marie Sester is a public art installation. It is spotlight system that tracks anonymous individuals in public places and uses surveillance technology combined with the advertising and Hollywood industries,internet and  acoustic beam system.  The beam is either activated as people move through the space under surveillance or it is piloted remotely using a Web interface. The robotic spotlight automatically follows the tracked individuals while the acoustic beam projects audio that only the targeted victim can hear.

Upon further research, I have found out that acoustic tractor beam can levitate small objects with sound. Hence, this device allows researchers to float and manipulate targets with just a single array of ultrasound emitters.

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This is an artist’s rendering that shows  an acoustic hologram trapping a particle over a levitation device. This device can manipulate small objects in air, water and human tissue by using high frequency sound waves.
As this is a space exploration, Sester had incorporated these devices to track victims and leave them feeling clueless why,who and how they are being tracked. The ACCESS website contains webcam view and spotlight control. It also keeps an updated list of the locations visited and also video archives. The web users who are also involved, do not know that their action triggers sound towards the targeted victims.
As a result, both the tracker and the tracked victim are in a paradoxical communication loop.

Below, is an overview plan of how the system works and also screenshots of the tracking view. Access addresses and explores the impact of detection and surveillance within contemporary society. It is creating an intentionally ambiguous situation by revealing the obsession and fascination to control.

GLOW - Eindhoven, Netherlands, Screenshot, 2009
ASIGGRAPH 2003
SIGGRAPH 2003

To a person who is not really open to new ideas, I honestly find this is a very complex work of art as it requires alot of programming. Also, I find this work exteremely riveting as to how security can be pretty threatening. Apart from the negative note, I still think this work has a great impact on society in terms of realization and reflection. I love how this work creates interaction between the controller and the victim without them knowing. If I could change this work of art, I would include sirens to terrify the victims and also having co performers with their mask on, chasing victims.






Bibliography

- http://www.accessproject.net/
- http://www.sester.net/access/
- http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/access/
- http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/access-marie-sester.html
- http://atc.berkeley.edu/bio/Marie_Sester/
- http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/acoustic-tractor-beam-can-levitate-small-objects-sound-180957060/?no-ist