Reaction to Edge of Art Chapter 1

Code as a Muse.

 

This chapter seemed to focus on the use of code in an artistic sense. Code is a tool for creation that allows for anything to happen. This chapter gave a wide variety of different good and bad uses of code in order to demonstrate how code could be used. Some projects were interactive while others just allowed for the creation of art in a more tradition sense. The fractal pieces were very interesting because of how they were designed and implemented so well. Just the thought of fractals is very interesting. To see something so complex but still so simple being made would be very interesting. Other sections of the chapter focus on using code on not just what it can do but what a user can exploit it to do. Sometimes using code to do something it was meant to do, produces the most interesting results. The interactive web applications were much more relevant to me at the moment because of what I know of making web sites and such. The shredder itself is concept which takes apart a site and rebuilds it with its own detentions. Doing such a thing outside of using code would be ridiculous.

Theater of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal

 

For the most part, the most severe consequence for for Boal of this interactive techniques is death. In almost every example death would have been there worst punishment. Like in the example with the poor woman and the love letters she could have easily killed her husband but then the lesson never would have been learned. For the most part this interactivity allows for the truth about humanity to come out. People like to behave with out consequences and that is exactly what this interactivity allows them to do.

Know the body” is a technique in Boal’s theater of the oppressed in which the spec-actor become more familiar with their bode. They come to realize what they can really do with it and not just what is expected of them. It helps teach people what a human body can actually accomplish. The body also speaks so that others can understand it. A passive body has characteristics that tell others around them, that the body is passive. It could be sloped shoulders or the curve of the back, but other people can pick up on those features. The act of bowing shows a sense of Hierarchy, while in comparison standing tall shows resistance in certain situations.

Boal techniques are called the “The sims of the Oppressed” because it is a simulation of different events. Real emotions are being simulated instead of actually occurring. These simulation allow for a deeper examination than the actual situation.

When in a situation like a classroom or at the work place the urge to act out often presents itself. But if I were to defend a fellow employes work to my boss, I also put my own position in danger. If that boss was attacking something done by another employee that I thought was good, I would like to stand up for that friend. But would that put my position with the boss in peril? It often causes a problem of properties.

The Image Theater was a performance in which all actors in the scenario need to express their feelings on a certain issue. They sculpt their own bodies into the position that they feel is representative of how they should be feeling. Other actors are allowed to change the scene as they see fit. Each actor gets their own change to place their bodies when that is complete others have the option to offer feed back. I think it works because people are forced to express themselves with out using words. Its much more difficult for everyone involved but in the end it produces a better result.

Invisible theater is a group of people putting on a rehearsed performance without alerting the public around them. The public viewing the scene think that it is actually happening and it creates interesting results. The public around are total random but the people involved in the theater having been practicing for a while.

Spectator is a bad word because it dehumanizes the person causing them to be considered less than a man. A spectator has no involvement in what is occurring and no choice about what they want to happen. This act of taking the choice away is bad. What Boal sent out to do is change that entire practice. In some ways video games and other interactive mediums allow for the spectator to become part of the action and really change what they want based on what they think should be changed. The interactive theater allows people to be responsible for what happens around them. Instead of standing by and letting bad things happen people are forced to fight for what they think is right. It promotes awareness and it actually begins to fix the problems they are fighting for.

Cyborg Manifestio

Within the context of this reading, Cyborgs become useful for exploring identity because they have no real place in society that limits there role. Cyborgs can be anyone and anything. The cyborg identity has no structure or is part of any other group of society other than its own. This allows for the comparison between us and what actual makes us human.

One major cyborg almost everyone should know, is Darth Vader. In some ways Star Wars made him the most famous Cyborg of them all. Most of his body was destroy upon his journey to the dark side. Not much of his

body was left, so in comparison not much of his humanity was left. His power was almost to strong to handle with his human body. Two other famous cyborgs are Robo Cop and the Terminator.

When Haraway states that “The production of a universal, totalizing theory is a major mistake”, she means that every one would have the same thoughts and the same minds. This would be the end of culture as we know it. With no one thinking new thoughts how would anything new exist? We would be at a stand still. Our humanity would be gone, we would be no better than machines. We need to retain the ability for free thought because with that we would be lost.

The cyborg would almost erase all other differences of humans. If everyone were to become a cyborg, wouldn’t we all be the same? Any other differences we have would just be the result of having different parts. We could no longer fight over tiny details while our main being was the same. In a way this is like code art “perversion” because it is a different version of a machine integration art. This brings in more human components and applies technology.

Something liberating about the idea of human/machine symbiosis is the potential it would have for our society. If we all shared the same traits and the same technology how would that change the world we know now? What would be different? What other areas of technology would jump forward as a result of our new being? Something dangerous is the idea that we would be completely dependent on machines. What if those machines stop working? What would happen to us?

I don’t really consider my self to be a cyborg. I do use technology and I do depend on it for my trade but I understand what it is and I know I can live with out it. I use machines and computers daily but they are not a necessary part of my life. I do have to admit though, technology brings me so much pleasure. It entertains me, it evolves me like no other medium can.

Edge of Art, Introduction

 

The internet has basically changed everything about our lives. Our lives are still being changed by it to this day. It has created so many news ways to share and exchange information that our world many never be the same. So no, I don’t think the internet has made art any less prominent in our culture. In fact I believe that the internet has allowed for the creation of new kinds of art. The best example of that would be any many-to-many project out there now. Those projects would not exist with out the internet. Also with new culture came new ways to create art. Not only has the internet changed art, other technology have allowed for the evolution of art.

Its also very interesting to think about how every culture thinks about art in different ways. It makes sense because most cultures do not value the same thing so thus why would their art be the same? They way people are raised often changed how people see art. It would be very interesting to see how different cultures and different time periods have changed the definition of art.

Edge of Art, Introduction part 3

With the recent times more and more people find pleasure in making their lives public. It feeds the need for attention and most people find nothing wrong with it. People want to be liked. They view these reality TV shows and assume that is how they should be living. For the most part people live their lives by some form moral beliefs and goals, but what those beliefs are, can be changed by the media we see around us. We see others making their life public so why shouldn’t I? They are getting attention while I’m not. I guess that means I have to change.

Autobotography allows a person to see who they really are. What faults they have and insecurities they have been trying to hide. When it comes down to it, autobotographys also show us what technology is doing to us. How it is changing us. In this way technology also allows us to focus more upon our selfs instead of others. We are given new ways to show how much we care about our selfs and how much we make others care about ourselves. The attention is addictive. People post photo after photo just so that they can have a reminder that other people like what they do. It becomes a cycle, that the more people show us interest, the more we want that attention back when it fades.

The internet and your information should not go together. With the recent times Facebook and its need to know about me have grown to ridiculous heights. Everyone on Facebook does not need to know where I am at every moment of the day. If I want people to know where I am, I will call them. If I wanted peoples opinions on what I do everyday, I would ask. Also posting your current location online almost teachers online predators your schedule. If a family all posts that they are going on vacation or at least out of the house for a length of time, whats stoping a potential burglar from robbing them blind? It almost makes it too easy for the predators out there.

One project that really changed its participates, was the Blogging a Birth project. I think by allowing the readers and the audience of that blog into such a private moment like their child’s birth, establish a much more interment connection. In a way relationships are formed with every member of that blog. Another project that really seemed to change they way we think about our selfs, would be the Jennicam. Before the Jennicam no one was really showing every aspect of their lives on with other people. She took this new medium and changed the way people perceive privacy all around the world.

With the project Nobody Here, views are greeted with the site of a man hunched over a computer. It brings to light the fact that this new technology only involves one person. Working on a computer is a looney task and it removes the human interaction from user. It attempts to replace it with other forms of interaction but nothing can really replace two people talking and interacting in person.

With all of our current technologies, we shape another not physical version of ourself. Everything posted on Facebook, everything we see and like changes what the internet thinks we are. Most companies out there now try to target individual people based upon what they think their target demographic is. The internet allows them the tools to find exactly who would buy their product because of the cybernetic version we leave of ourselves.

Like I started to say above, what we do on the internet changes our digital selves. Our digital presence can be bought and sold to the highest bidder, so that companies know everything we say about our selves upon the internet. We become who we are based upon what we like or do upon the internet.

The idea of a digital selves raises a lot concerns. What if the representation does not match what actually exists in the real world? What is preventing a man from portraying himself as a little girl? People on the internet need to know that who they are interacting with could actually be someone totally different. These invented selves do not need to be true. We “invent” them. We can make them into who we want to be, who we are not, or just what ever we care to be. People really need to understand the lack of truth within a digital self.

Edge of Art, CH 4 Designing Politics

 

Political Design and Hacktivist art are very similar but it all comes down to the purpose of the work. Political design projects often aim to help people. For example Patrick Ball created a database to keep track of track tortured dissidents in Sri Lanka and Guatemala. This project was created to inform while helping all of these individual people. Any one learning about this project sees the people who need help and get a better understanding of the conflict. Hacktivism is less about a political stance and more about the use of the internet to change the way people think about things. The ‘Free Kevin Mitnick’ campaign was an attempt to free the first famous hacker from jail. Both projects require code but the actual purpose of each project differs.

Execution can mean a lot of things. When a piece of computer code executes its values and functions are invocation. Execution can also mean the killing of a human being but thats not really the point. But for the point of this discussion the execution of code refers to the evocation of a piece of code. When showing code there is a difference between its representation and its execution. The representation of the code its just the characters that make up the individual lines of code. Execution of the code has vastly different results in comparison. In some sense the actual program itself could be considered art while the codes actual product can be something total different.

If Hacktivist artists were to only hack things that were deemed social acceptable their carriers would almost be completely pointless. Hacktivists need to change what society deems acceptable by doing things that some people say you shouldn’t. Their skill and their activities are dependent on changing society norms. For the most part if a organization says you should hack it, isn’t that enough reason to hack it? Just by saying no, more people what to try to. Its a part of human nature. One of the more interesting hacks was the barbie and army shoulder voice box hack. Not only was this off line, it had a decipherable result that many people took notice of. This project switched what the barbie and the army doll said so that it was reversed.

The Yes Men project challenged many different organizations around the world. Their main purpose was to show organizations what was wrong with their ways by shocking members. Its an interesting take on such a purpose. The Yes Men seemed to focus on large companies but because of the worlds current structure, changing those companies changes the whole world.