Art Evolution

With the rapid growth of the multimedia realm in art, can one even begin to fathom the depths at which the medium will develop and the possibilities that this medium will continue to bring? The answer is no. There are INFINITE possibilities to which this medium will open peoples' minds and draw the attention of the masses. This is a very Modern Day




However, what we find most often in art is that when an artist is creating that breathtaking piece, they often use one or two techniques that really ignite this magical world that locks the audience into place. What we are seeing with multimedia as an art form is that the abilities and the techniques used are endless. A person will not, or rather could not settle on just applying one technique to their pieces. The direction that multimedia art is developing and going is absolutely amazing and something that is simply breathtaking. In this class we have seen pieces of functional, dynamic and well "living" art that has grown and evolved into my vision of the future, the artwork of Jason Freeman. It is as if his pieces are that next step that transition into what bridges the gap between the vision of men like John Cage, William Burroughs,Douglas Englebert, Norbert Wiener and others. It is as if Jason Freeman took his own multimedia class, learned all about these inventors and ingenious creators and took what he could from it to create this collage of work that would grow and develop into the mainstream of the art world.
Jason Freeman explores the ides of John Cage with his pieces titled Flou an interactive computer game that in my opinion further develops John Cage's idea of music as a multimedia response. Instead of having ballet dancers setting of the pitch sensors, Jason Freeman uses a space ship as his "dancer". The Melodic tunes captivate the player as he/she glides through space being active in the musical composition. Like Yellowtail by Golan Levin, the audience now become co-creator of the art. The audience is now a collaborator in a piece that only they can see and in Freeman's case hear.
What happens when Freeman expands his vision with the creation of iTunes Signature Maker? A program where he taps into a person's music library and creates a unique song specific to that library. Who is the artist? Is it even considered art? The concept is new, but the execution is not Freeman's, its not even the owner of the library. The execution it through the mind of the computer, the program that sifts through the songs at random and creates this new sound. So is it to say that the computer now has a mind of its own? Is art now out of the hands of the artist, the audience and dominated more by the adaptation of the electronic mind? Where will art take us, where will these mediums take us? What is the future of art?
These are questions that cannot today be answered, but George Orwell's 1984 seemed to have a good pulse on the evolution of technology and the world. Many of the concepts I think are still pertinent today. To the future of art evloution, "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING".

What will happen to literature?

In his text " The future of the novel," William Burroughs lights fire to the question of what will happen to novels and pieces of literary work as multimedia and technology continue to grow? This to me is a great question and something that we should be thinking about. I mean with technology today, more and more people are dropping books for online and more graphic material. Although there are a few like me who will never tire of books and literary work, there are many who would love to see a transition from what we know as books today into the "space age" of tomorrow.
We can already see a shift in this medium from its textile and very sometimes heavy and uncomfortable use in classrooms across America, as classes are attempting to be more green friendly and turning their everyday classrooms into technological worlds. Access to text, to homework, to having the whole course book online is a huge advancement to the way that books and classes will interact. The thing with a novel though is that ability to make it easier and more consistent with the times. I am sure that if people refuse to sit for two hours to read an everyday novel, the chances of them sitting to read an online novel may be slim to none.
Burroughs proposes that these new novels be literary creations and artwork in and of itself. A melding together of one artists ideas with another. I think that the concept is fascinating. It recycles this "old" idea and turns it into something much more fluid and dynamic. The only thing however I would find wrong with the way that this new "fold-in" method would create is that how much would each author lose intensity of their individual text. Would the fold-in method be lost on the reader? And would the reader be able to catch up and keep up with the flow of the novel?

Just a light show, or art?

But isn't it just light?

The question that Villareal's art brings up for me is whether or not this particular piece really should be considered art. The beauty of the desing and the execution of the design are simply fabulous. I think that my attraction of light and the way it moves is mesmerizing. Is it art, yes, is it light yes, but the thing is it is fluid. It is dynamic, it is ever growing and evolving than any other piece of art that I have seen.. It is more substantial than a regluar lightbulb. It is fascinating for me to see the vision that he had in mind, and even the other designs he has created seem much more advanced than what he wishes to create at the NGA but nonetheless it is fascinating.. What I found when I arrived at the Gallery is that there were three people who were at the time constructing the site. It seemed that they would need substantially more people than that but they made it work. They in a way became a part of the piece because as you are traveling along the concourse you ARE viewing the art being created, not many times does a patron get the chance to really see the process. It becomes a strategic movement by the artist and the creators to work around the patrons and still make a piece that conveys the vision that they had in mind. In a way the construction seems to be part of everyday life, like the bustle of the waterfall in the cafe or even just the everyday noise of the Gallery itself. I also think that if you didn't know what was going on you probably wouldn't even realize that you were walking admist a beautiful creation. I can not wait to see the final product especially after seeing the other pieces that the has, it will be simply amazing. Almost as if it is a Norhtern Light Show, but in these neck of the woods.. :)

What is the audience?

In his writing "Diary:Audience 1966", John Cage creates this sort of future look at the role art will take and how it will interact with the audience. Or rather, how the audience will interact with the art. It is interesting to me to read that in his mind, the audience is not like one or two people. Or even that the audience is less apart of the art they are viewing. For Cage art and the audience go hand in hand, you can not have one without the other and it is like a "family reunion". This secret between two friends, because as individuals each audience member looks at different elements of the art in different ways. But going back this idea of art and the audience interacting. I think this is poignant statement. I mean today with the hustle and bustle of the world, sometimes it takes more than just looking at a painting in order to capture the audiences' attention. I like the idea of audience's participating more in the art than just taking this passive role in the viewing. For me art like Golan Levin, bring so much more to the art than if he had just created something and let it stand. I think it now adds to the flavor of the human interaction. Because each story created is something different, but only for a moment is the story even seen or comprehended and then like the blink of an eye the story shifts and a new idea is formed and a new story is created in its wake. The thing about audience interaction is that it gets the artist to participate more in art, and to have more reasons to want to go to a theater to see a show etc. Like I went to the Lion King off Broadway and it was a amazing. The opening act starts in the aisles of the audience. It brings more to life and allows you to kind of be a part of the show. Then of course the show moves to the stage, but you are already locked in. Simple gestures like that go a long way I think with taking art to the next level.

What do you see?

Years from now what will America and its Institutions look like? What will they represent? Today the vision of what our Founders created is much different than the reality in which we live. Follow me down the rabbit hole...





What we see isn't really what we get.
Or is it?














10 score and 25 years ago, one nation was created with a vision of PROMISE.
How does that vision stand today?













We hold these truths to be self-evident...
that all men are NOT created equal.









I USED to have a dream.








Free at last, Free at last

















STILL FIGHTING to be free at last










Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of IGNORANCE









THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HOCKEY MOM AND A PITUBLL? Lipstick












IT IS AN INSTITUTION OF FREEDOM:






We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity... BY BEING LEFT FOR DEAD WHEN THE WRATH OF KATRINA SWEPT THROUGH














IT is AN INSTITUTION OF JUSTICE:




No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until ' justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream OF FIFTY SHOTS TO PUT DOWN SEAN BELL**










....Like Alice you fell NOW tell me what you see?













O say, can you see by the dawn's early light..... O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?















** Sean Bell was shot 50 times and killed by NYPD the night before his wedding day last November. In June the cops were acquitted and Sean's murder has yet to be brought to justice. Google his name for more information.

What is killing America and How will it survive?

The multimedia piece a Season in Hell, brings up a lot of things to question about the political atmosphere of America. The piece in my opinion builds off of Dr. Martin Luther King's ideas that silent witnesses were to blame for the tragedies during the Holocust and the Civil Rights Movement, moreso than the ones who were actually the aggressors in both situations. The term silent witness means a person who watches these events happening but does nothing to change it.
I think that the piece a Season in Hell touches on this thought. Post 9/11 the American public and myself have been fed these images of what this almost " Brave New World," lifestyle is supposed to be like. We allowed ourselves to be disillusioned enough to give the President power to start a war that we will be paying for in the lives of our children yet to come. The piece argues that it was through the assistance of the media that we were conditioned to let things continue with the government as they were. It is in that release of power that we have slowly killed the foundation that America was based from.
Artist Randall Packer and his collaboraters create this entity through art that sort of says " I will no longer be a silent witness,". The character Orf reminds us and forces us to remember that we can not be held down, that we should not be held down, that it is our duty to keep our eyes open and to call to question those in power for the mistakes that they are making.
The piece even goes a step further in its foundation, the reasoning why it was created to say to Artists in general that this is a call to them to stand up and give America its life again. The role of the artist is to create a mirror of the times in which we live, to interrprut that in their best ideas. However, what we find is that this political media, this political art is being created by the same institution that is destroying America. When the other artists begin to take a stand poltiically it will slowly give America back her heart. I think that the piece was/is very powerful, it brings up so many questions as to what and who is behind this image of our country. Who is in control of the images we see? And who should be in control of the images we see? I think that the biggest thing that this piece does is give us the opportunity to really think, to open our eyes to the realities of the world and to really say " I am not going to forget."

Situational Tour

What a better place than the nation's capitol? The project asks that we pick a location in Washington, D.C that invokes some emotion or image of authority, ritual, ideology, and security. At first I was going to choose the Lincoln Memorial, I would have liked to see what Lincoln sees everyday, looking out on the mall, etc. Or how about what it would have been like "to be" the Lincoln statue during the March on Washington? All of these things were something that I had thought about, and the fact that this monument is like one of the most visited ones, just goes to show how much of a ritual visiting these historical landmarks are not just for Americans, but for the world as well.
Well like I had said, I WAS going to do my situational tour on Lincoln, but getting off on the Metro I got stuck, and well sort of found a new outlook on the life in D.C. I have now chosen to do my situational tour on the CAPITOL itself. That is right, CAPITOL HILL. In retrospect what other location is as ritualisic and an example of authority and security as this location. The Hill is rich in American culture and history. In and of itself the name alone and what it stands for demonstrate the key terms of this project.




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