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Generative Topic: Aspect

My generative topic from the aspect magazine assignment is group identity. 

I feel that for a long time identity has been a personal concept rather then a group concept. It is great for children to work on who they are as a person and how they view themselves. Now in 2009 I feel it is also important for children to assess who they are as a class, as a school, as a generation. 

In class we discussed systematic thinking and organization. They way we do things shows something about us. In the art piece that I presented, " Pedestrian" we see how humans move and interact in accordance with each other. Not only that, but we see the viewers of the art piece, interacting with it on another level. They become the birds eye view, the observer of the "system" that we all live in. 

I think that a lot could come out of this in a classroom, Such as: Class projects in which the children have to work together and create a common language for the classroom, small group projects, asking questions, thinking about the present and the future, etc. It's definitely an idea I'm excited to explore. 

Aspect Mag: On Location- Shelly Eshkar and Paul Kaiser

Shelly Eshkar and Paul Kaiser- "Pedestrian" 

Pedestrian is a public projection ( viewed like a sculpture) that portrays people and groups in everyday activities and various movements. The image is projected onto the same surface as we walk on, the ground.

The figures move about so realistically due to the technology of motion capture. Motion capture uses the real life movement of people and translates it into digital form. The people on the projection stand, sit, walk, run, lie down, start and stop, dance, etc. 

In the commentary of the art piece, George Fifield mentions how the movements throughout the piece can be compared to the way ants move and congregate. The "swarming behavior" of insects is comparable to the movement of humans. How people behave in a crowd comes into question. 

This piece took me a while to figure out the generative topic. I feel there could be a few options. The one that I settled on is group identity. 

How a group moves and works together determines a lot about it. Earlier I talked about the swarming of insects, that is characteristic behavior that they have. Humans have our own body language, our own group behavior. It is very animalistic because we ARE ANIMALS. Sometimes I think we forget that. 

I think the idea of group behavior is becoming more current to our society. It is debatable whether this is a good or bad thing, but I feel that people are being less individualized, and more generalized. Through the internet, through "groups" "friend lists" "Personality profiles". Ever notice that everyones "personality profile" HAS to be formatted the same way, just the information is different? That already puts you in a group...

Basically our society moves and works as a collective. This piece forces us to watch ourselves in a fashion that is typical of ants, or other small creatures that we ma look down upon. It addresses the fact that our group has a place, has an identity within the grand scheme of nature. 

 

Generative Topic

For my mid-term project my generative topic was emergent behavior. 

Emergent behavior is a phenomenon within the natural world. The flocking of birds, schooling of fish and burrowing of termites are some examples of emergent behavior. 

The definition is: the way a complex system and/or pattern aries out of relatively simple interactions. (Wikipedia) 

Using this idea within the classroom I feel I could teach students about individuality in that each of them would create something according to the same lesson, the same basic concepts and yet each student would create something unique. Students would learn about how different people interpret things in different ways. Or maybe they interpreted the project vary similar to one of their other classmates. I would be very interested to see how the project turns out. 

Mid Term: Nature's Organization

For the past year i've been working with patterns in my artwork. My patterns are usually symmetrical, planned out and create interesting positive and negative shapes. Here is an example to the left of one of my patterns titled, "Dancers II". 

I wanted to create something for my mid semester project that incorporated what I already do with ideas that i've explored in this class.

Brian Knep introduced the idea of "emergent behavior" into our class when he showed us his "Healing" series. His computer software was programed to behave in a similar way to those animals that exhibit emergent behavior. 

Emergent behavior is when complex systems or behaviors arise out of the multiplicity of relatively simple interactions (Wikipedia).  An typical example of this is the flocking of birds. Birds follow a set of basic guidelines which naturally has them come together as a group without crashing into each other. Other animals do this as well such as fish and insects. 

The basic rules that these animals follow are: 

Separation: avoid crowding neighbors

Alignment: steer toward average heading of neighbors

Cohesion: steer towards average position of neighbors

With these, they are able to organize themselves into complex patterns and movements. 

Brian Knep isn't the only one who uses emergent behavior in his artwork. It is a common technology in screensavers as well as in animation (wikipedia). 

For my project I wanted to explore emergent behavior in a 2-D medium, and with my own methods of pattern making. I created a template of a bird, and wrote my own "rules" that I would follow as I created the pattern. I based these rules of the original ones, changing them a little to suit a 2-D purpose. I understood that they must not be to concrete or it would create a static pattern that was predictable. They had to be somewhat vague so that the results would be unpredictable.

My rules were: 

Separation: avoid overlapping and every bird must be touching at least one other bird

Alignment: steer towards average heading of others (unchanged)

Cohesion: every other placement you must flip the template

The pattern is in close resemblance to my other work but with a less organized look about it. Everything is a bit more organic but the birds are still tightly packed together. I realized that as an artist I like the play between the positive and negative shapes. I unconsciously put them close together because it pleased me. 

Because the rules are 'vague' another artist may interpret them completely differently. Someone may like space between the birds and try to keep them as far away from each other but still keep within the rules. It occurred to me, that when a person is creating a pattern from rules such as these, his or her own personal aesthetic is added as well. A whole classroom of children may be presented with the same rules, and come out with completely different projects. 

A computer may be able to randomize a pattern every time, but as humans we add something of our own to the pattern to make it unique to us. 

Technological Development in the Art World

 Technological  development is something that is celebrated as well as feared. We are always updating and progressing as a society, creating new things as well as replacing old things. In the art world, technological advancement is rather overlooked. 

There are thousands of new media artists in our world today, but I feel the old fine art tradition seems to turn their nose at the idea of "new media". I feel the difficulty for them is accepting new media as something new, rather then something that is replacing the old. Personally I love working with my hands and I love using the physicality of paint, markers, and charcoal. But I appreciate the ideas and complexity that are roused by new media artwork. 

Brian Knep, the artist that just visited our class, is a new media artist with little to no fine arts background. His ideas are taking art to the next level, taking art further by creating art that changes because of us rather then the opposite. It is his ideas that propel him forward as a brilliant artist. 

In 1928, Leon Theremin created the "theremin" an electronic musical instrument. Metal antennas were controlled by the hands which in turn controlled radio frequencies and volume which were then amplified through a loud speaker. 

This was the start of the electronic music age, leading to synthesizers, etc. Soon, music could easily be made with no musical instruments at all. This is what I find parallel to the visual arts world. Now we can make art with computers and technology rather then our hands. 

We can, but we don't have to. I think that is a crucial thing to remember. Electronic music is its own category. It is something new, rather then something to replace the old. Blending these ideas and techniques is what is going to progress us to higher levels of art understanding. 

Brian Knep- A Reflection

After hearing artist Brian Knep speak about his artwork and philosophy, I have begun to contemplate further into the ideas of new media. 

Brian Knep's art piece, "The Healing Pool" is a large rectangular projection onto the floor. The Image is a moving, growing, organic web that when disrupted by a humans touch is torn apart and then mended back together forming a scar. To me it is similar to human flesh; when torn it heals back together, but will be forever changed and "scarred". When I first viewed this piece it was intriguing. It seemed that for the piece to be whole a persons participation was required. 

After hearing Brian Knep speak about this piece, he stressed that the piece is whole and content just the way it is. Humans are actually disturbing what is actually already whole. It is more about the regeneration of this artwork and how it can heal itself over and over again as it is effected by different people. 

This brings up several points. Brian Knep has created an artwork that does not need to be viewed or interacted with to simply 'be'. This goes against what many people would consider art. Art has always been viewed, been touched, been interacted with, etc. He has created an artistic being, something that can exist on its own. "New media" has helped make this possible. His computer software becomes the "brain" telling the artwork how to mend itself, where it is being torn, where it needs to scar, etc. He has used new media to redefine artwork so that not only are we reacting to it, but it is reacting to us. 

Another aspect of his work that I really enjoy is that much of his work is based on the natural phenomena of emergent behavior. He described this as when geese flock together, they do this according to a set of rules, but not a set structure. Their rules include, fly this close to your neighbor, but not too close, and this far to the left, etc. What this does is create spontaneous, natural patterns. He uses this idea in his Healing series work. He writes certain "rules" into his computer program that will produce his art piece. What fascinates me is that most of the time he does not know how it will exactly turn out. No one as anyway of knowing. There is enough degree of spontaneity and change within the rules, so that the art piece will never look the same. 

This idea of emergent behavior is incredibly interesting to me because I am working with patterns in my own artwork. I am working with creating patterns with the human body and working with illusions of positive and negative shapes. I want to see how I can play with "emergent behavior" in my own artwork. If I could create a 2-d work from the same idea, using set rules that govern what comes next, I could probably end up with something quite interesting. 

Brian Knep

Brian Knep

1. In your "E-series" you explain how these set of works explore the illusions that drive us. What type of illusions are you referring to in each of these 4 pieces?

2. In E-series, the childlike drawings give humor to these pieces. How do you think it would change the piece if you used symbols or more "inorganic" forms?

Artist Research. Notes

James Woodfill

Sound, Sculpture and light

Installation artist

Assemblage and found objects: important to artist work because of the continuing theme of recycling and reuse. 

Kinetic Sculptures: art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect

http://jameswoodfill.com/index.html

Rehab 2007 Kansas City

Set of structures play with idea of architectural "correctness" and our idea of it in an urban experience. 

New mixed with old, change, decay

Rehabilitation-  In an urban society, in the art installation, and the artist's materials

Uses discarded materials-recycles

Rehab mirrors our environment and how we respond to it

Review: Organizing Chaos By Alice Thorson

http://jameswoodfill.com/information/reviews/rehab_review.pdf

"Complexity and heterogeneity" 

"Brooding Suspension"

Tone Spools 2002

Review: Excerpt from Awakenings by Kate Hackman

http://jameswoodfill.com/information/reviews/tone%20spools.pdf

"Beauty in clarity"

Essential nature of a garden hose- coiled around axel

Recreates this idea within the art piece

Size of a human- "Human Surrogate" 

Tension, possibility of collapse

Harmony 2002 Kansas City

10 rotating amplifiers, each with a tone generating card on back, 

Sounds created a "chord" which shifted and changed as people walked through the gallery. 

Also changing- light and shadow

Review: Radio Active by Jesse McGraw

http://jameswoodfill.com/information/reviews/harmony.pdf

"Overwhelming drone, immense weight"

Social interaction with people "faltered"

Sucked people in and also drove them away

Single step in any direction and everything changed

Second Life

Second Life creator Philip Rosedale presented a side of Second Life, an online virtual world, that claimed "Anything is possible". His invention evolved from the idea that everyone has great ideas but may not have the means or the materials to act upon them. Second Life, he claims, is a place where those ideas may be brought to life. 

I had explored Second Life for the first time last semester. I entered into this world not knowing anything about it, except that it was a virtual world. Second Life to me was confusing and foreign. I did not know what to do, where to go or who to talk to. I felt lonely and isolated. There were people all around me, but everyone just stands there, solid, quiet, barely interacting, in their own world. 

Second Life to me lacks human relationship and interaction. Companionship to humans is like food and water. Great literature such as Gilgamesh and the story of Adam and Eve show the intense need for humans to have a physical human relationship and companion. Second Life did not give that to me. It felt as though I was in a 9th grade chat room, where everyone wants to hit on you and talk about a whole lot of nothing. 

Second Life is a place where you can explore imagination. You can look anyway you want, you can have whatever you want, you can make whatever you want, but it all has a price. Everything in Second Life is bought, unless someone gives it to you. You buy hair, skin, eye color, body language, pregnancy, intimacy, etc. It is a place where anything is possible, if you have the money to buy it. 

What also outcasted me was that I had no idea how to do anything I wanted to do. I would not call Second Life user friendly. There are endless amount of buttons on the bottom of the screen that I know nothing about how to use. There are 3 or 4 different ways to talk to someone, group chat, private chat, public chat, speaker. I simply did not know what to do with it all. So maybe anything is possible to those who understand the program and know how to use it. 

I do not hate Second Life. Its fun to run around and see where you end up and see the weird things that people create or look like. But it is not something that I feel like I could take seriously or invest a lot of time (or money!) into. And unfortunately, I can not do "anything".