New Media Art — A Conclusion
And so, my friends, with merely a little over an hour left before we can no longer post to our semester project blogs, I’d like to create a post for reflection.
We’ve explored various forms of digital art and delved into the minds of numerous artists. Since the genre of ‘new media art’ is so new, it can be said that the artists involved are not dissimilar from scientists and explorers of the great unknown. They’re constantly exploring the limits and boundaries of modern science and/or technologies to create their unique pieces. Not only are they experimenting with the technological limits, but also the ethical boundaries and psychological limits as well.
Some use the exploration and process of producing their artwork to obtain further knowledge in a particular scientific field, while others may use certain innovative technologies to spread their message and make statements to hopefully make a difference. Today’s “new media artists” truly are the pioneers of the new millennium.
I look forward to seeing where this new genre goes in the following decades to come. I wonder what new issues will be brought to light, what new discoveries will be made, and what positive changes will occur as a result. Will the term ‘new media art’ remain–or will another term take its place as the years progress? Overall, this class his inspired me to further my knowledge of the plethora of new artists and their works in this new digital age. I want to make my own works just as meaningful and with a purpose. This course has truly been one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever taken and proved to be quite an inspiration.
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I’d like to thank all of you who have bothered to visit my blog and read my entries. I hope I have encouraged even more people to develop a thirst for the investigation of the possibilities of modern science and technologies, as well as a hunger for further educating oneself in current ‘new media art’ projects currently underway.
Do not assume that because I have ended my blogging for a grade means that you shouldn’t comment on my entries and start discussions. It is highly likely that after my class has ended, I will still continue to blog here and explore digital art further.
Thank you all! 
-wiedha414
Deformities Can Be Beautiful, Too
It would seem that it’s becoming a trend for deformities and unnatural elements to be considered art. To add to the apprarent appeal of growing abnormal limbs in a lab environment like pig wings, it would seem that naturally occurring deformities have also captivated artists.
This past Earth Day, we discussed an artist named Brandon Ballengée.
Ballengée, funded by The Arts Catalyst group in England, is leading a study into the declining numbers and well-being of the United Kingdom’s amphibian species.
Apparently he collects and studies deformed specimens of frogs from all over the world and photographs them. He also takes the viewing public with him on field trips into the natural environment so viewers can experience his studies firsthand.
Here’s an example of one of his photographic works of art:
I must admit, the pictures are quite interesting. I’m just confused as to why artists today are so fascinated with the morbidly deformed aspects of nature. Pig wings, still-living leather coats, and six-legged frogs aren’t exactly God’s masterpieces.
I will say that it’s wonderful that artists are taking an interest in the well-being of the natural world and furthering the studies of modern science. Ballengée is simply shedding some light on the issues; bringing the dire circumstances of nature’s condition to the attention of the people. Hopefully, as a result something will be done to prevent further pollution that causes such deformities–before it’s too late and we lose our amphibians altogether.
I want to revoke my earlier said statements of disgust for the focuses of certain new media artists. If an artist wishes to educate people on important issues and make a difference in our world for the better, who am I to criticize when such intentions are so good? Education and understanding are some of the most important needs of humanity — and art that brings that to us is a truly beautiful thing.
For more information on Ballengée’s work, please visit: http://www.disk-o.com/malamp/index.html
etoy vs. eToys.com
It’s been on more than a few occasions now that the subject of the group, etoy, has come up in class discussion.
If you’re unfamiliar with the group, etoy is a group of digital artists who experiment with the boundaries of art. One of the things they’re best known for is selling shares of “stock” in the etoy.corporation (which can be found here: http://www.etoy.com/).
Based in Switzerland, this group was founded in 1994 when they began their experiments with the selling of their virtual shares.
When a legal battle ensued between eToys.com and etoy, thus began the toywar. eToys.com was sueing etoy for simply having a similar domain name to their own. The toywar performance was constructed on a website which rendered a battlefield with 2000 toy soldiers.
A full explanation and log of the events of the toywar can be found here: http://toywar.etoy.com/
The toywar was the dawning of an e-mail campaign led by Internet activists (specializing in everything from surreal incubations to cultural viruses) who infiltrated the company on every level via the Internet and contested their aggressor. The protest was apparently too much for eToys.com to handle, for they dropped their lawsuit after several weeks.
How can this be considered a form of new media art? Well, this is an example of a group of individuals gathering together across many regions in a virtual environment to stand up against an unjust accusation or wrong-doing and protest to it together, united and unwavering. The protest occurred without most participants even knowing each other — and it succeeded! The participants used their skills to incorporate a new innovational technology to make statement and even get their desired results.
It brings to mind the question of what else can be possible and what results can be reached with the further incorporation of the technology of today into our tasks.
The Ethics of SymbioticA
In a recent Digital Art History class, we discussed the biotech art collective, SymbioticA.
SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory based in Australia dedicated to the furthering of research in life sciences. With the aid of such facilities, artists are enabled to participate in innovative biology practices to create their works of art.
In an interview when speaking of a recent project underway, artists coined the term “stupid tissue”, taking “dumb” meat and giving it new shape. The procedure in a nutshell was essentially, isolating cells from dead meat, nourishing and keeping alive those cells in a petry dish, and growing a semi-living mass with them.
Supposedly, this innovative procedure paired with cloning could eventually be used to create victimless leather and such possibilities are currently being explored by the Tissue Culture & Art Project.
Here’s a link to the site we viewed and discussed in class:
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/biotech_art/index.php?page=2
In a similar discussed procedure, it was demonstrated that artists, Oron Catts, Ionat Zurr, and Guy Ben-Arry were able to grow “pig wings” from pig bone marrow stem cells and biodegradable polymers with the use of facilities including SymbioticA.
This “art” could bring up a very heated debate. Is a procedure like this ethical? Some could argue that these creations are horrific monstrosities that God would never intend to exist in nature. If they’re not already living, but merely “semi-living”, could they eventually reach that status? Are we not, essentially playing God, so to speak, in performing these procedures?
I understand the innovative possibilities of such research, but was the creation of such a work of art necessary? Is this not an abomination of nature? If not now, perhaps their further work could reach that status.
In my opinion, there are some boundaries that should never be crossed in the sake of creating art, and I find this to be one of them. I don’t know, perhaps it’s only touching that boundary, but you can’t deny that such thoughts of the horrific possibilities haven’t crossed your mind in viewing the results of such research.
The Yes Men Say “No” to The WTO
For those of you who don’t know, The World Trade Organization (or WTO) is an international organization that was created with the intended purpose of liberizing international trade. They were created to allow companies from developed nations to open extensions of their corporations in underdeveloped nations in hope of bringing jobs and affluence to the underpriveleged communities of those nations. Instead of regulating the practices going on in these underdeveloped nations by these big-wig corporations, the WTO is allowing these corporations to exploit these impoverished communities and there has been no improvement to that nation’s economy as a result.
The Yes Men are a group of culture jamming artists/activists who have made it their goal to expose the outrageous hypocracy of the WTO and to bring to light the wrong-doings that have been done to these poor exploited people living in underdeveloped nations.
They’ll do things like pose as spokespeople for The World Trade Organization, McDonald’s, Dow Chemical, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to do such things.
The two leading members of The Yes Men are known by a number of aliases, most recently, and in film, as Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Their experiences were documented in the film The Yes Men, distributed by United Artists, the film documentary info wars, and the book The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization.
Here’s part of the documentary film The Yes Men presented in two parts:
(There’s supposedly more to come… Until then, rent the video!)
We watched the full film in class last Thursday. I found it both funny and sad at the same time. This organization really is exploiting people and I find it wonderful that there’s someone out there trying to bring this crime to humanity to light. How does this relate to new media art? Well, their imitation WTO website and their corresponding impersonations and presentations are meant to send a message to their viewers. Their works incorporate the technologies of the Internet and other computer-based media.
These guys are using new media art to its fullest and actually reaching people to get results. They still haven’t reached enough (or maybe the right people) because the WTO has yet to disband or re-evaluate its activities. How do you think new media art could be incorporated further to reap even more drastic results from the WTO, the government, the media, the public, etc.?
For more information on The Yes Men and to learn more about their endeavors, visit: http://www.theyesmen.org/
wiedha414′s Digital Art History Class Blog
Hello readers!
So I will address this on the “About” page as well, but I suppose I should start this post by stating that I’ve made this blog for the purpose of making it a collected archive of what my Digital Art History at LSU discusses. It’s here to extend our discussions further than just the confines of our classroom into the infinite reach of the Internet.
Therefore, feel free to comment on everything or anything that I post here! Input is crucial to the nature of a discussion and will be highly appreciated!
You can refer back to the blog of my entire class which we view practically every meeting here:
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The main focus of this course is New Media Art and its expansive possibilities.
What is New Media Art?
Well, it can be defined as the art genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies like computer graphics, computer animation, the Internet, interactive technologies, robotics, biotechnologies, etc.
It’s a very young art form and it’s still changing and growing with every new technological leap and discovery. You will probably see me post here some very interesting concepts you’d never otherwise see in the art world.
To start things off, I want to bring this to the discussion table:
If interactivity is an aesthetic trait of new media art, it can encompass a lot of things you may encounter every day on the Internet. Take the website, YouTube for example. People post videos of all kinds of things all the time that stimulates an entire spectrum of reactions from the viewers. We have people posting tv shows and movie clips, personal video journals, comedic skits, creative observations, and artistic scenarios, every few seconds.
Take this video for example:
Then we have people interactively commenting and discussing those videos. It’s the very definition of interactivity. Therefore, are websites like YouTube–or even WordPress–examples of new media art?
I’d like to think so. Share your thoughts. 
