Category: art

For Use/Numen

Really love the texture, look and site use/installation of this giant spiderweb/cocoon entirely made out of packing tape. Technically, I guess this is a design project of some sort? For me it is clearly an installation piece. Bonus points for it’s human scale and interaction/entry points.

More pictures and even a video at fast company. Also, surprisingly, Fast Company is a really good read, it’s on of my new favorite magazines.

“I am sitting in a video room.”

(turn your sound down)

The imperfections are all that is left after you repeatedly reflect something through itself. (mirrors, photocopies, audio recording, and now video – anything that is not lossless in it’s copying)

This is a youtube interpretation of “I am sitting in a room” a piece by Alvin Lucier which is probably the most famous artistic application of this effect.

This is the original video. Also a FAQ for this project.

99 cent art

Interactive art for the iPhone/iPad/touch is a growing trend (for example www.iphoneart.org). However, the recent addition of Scott Snibbe’s classics of interactive art to the app store has got to be a milestone in terms of a well established and renowned artist joining this field.

This is very exciting and Scott himself feels like this where art should really be – Art wants to be Ninety-Nine Cents. He’s got an interesting POV on this stuff.

Rhizome also has a recent article on the convergence of iPhone and art.

This is an inevitable step in the evolution of art, and i’m curious what’s next, but for now I’m glad to see an additional and legitimate avenue for artists to get exposure AND get paid.

Synchronized Dancing Robots

Just look at those amazing dancing robots! Dancing to Ravel’s Bolero no less.

<mini-rant> Is this the future of “live” performance? At first it’s amazing to watch all of these robots move in a synchronized fashion and I’m sure the effect is multiplied the more robots you would add, can you imagine a sea of thousands of them?

But after a while it becomes tedious to watch a machine go through the motions. They never tire, there is no discipline or hours of training and practice involved. As a performance I think it’s an interesting novelty but it lacks precisely the exact elements that make watching a live person perform so fascinating. I’m not saying robots have no future in performance but I don’t think this is it.</mini-rant>

Art is Research

In this video from the 2010 PSFK conference, Zach Lieberman talks about how art is a type of creative research, in his case the tech oriented interactive art is like a glimpse into our tech infused future. Zach does amazing things with technology and I agree with him that art, all art, is an exploration and in fact research into new possibilities.

This is not a sculpture…

This is actually a street performer in Los Angeles, the mysterious Mirror Man. I think this is a fantastic idea. I think as a static sculpture it would be an arresting image and bring up metaphysical contemplation, but the added layer of it being a live performer really brings it up another level. Would love to experience this in person.

Unfortunately I can’t find any more info about this artist/performer, but you can check out a lot more images of this scene at SiLver sKY’s flickr photostream where I found this.

Peter Baldes

“Hypertemporality Animations are a series of gif files layed out in a table and due to network conditions, browser idiosyncrasies, and client behavior act dynamically. try reloading them. try different browsers”

You gotta click through to the animated examples here and here. These are just awesome, the perfect blend of simplicity combined with knowing and understanding your medium. Exploring the internet and subtly getting into the crevices of how it functions, all with the humble animated gif the very thing that was there in the beginning. And who doesn’t love an animated gif?

(via today and tomorrow)

Portraits

These are some of the best and most wonderful portraits I’ve seen all year. It is quite a collection. Is that Marina Abramovic in there? Yes these photos are part of Marina’s performance at the MOMA. A professional photographer takes a portrait of every single person who participates. I think that gives me second thoughts about participating, but the results are stunning and well worth extended study.