Technological Effects
As the MoMA Catalyst class wraps up, it has become apparent to me the extent to which technology has infiltrated the art world and become pervasive in our greater cultural landscape. Being a participant on the super information highway of the web is no longer an option in our continually connected community. It is the way of modern life, and practically impossible to communicate without it. I certainly use my smart phone the most of all my technological devices, and am logged on regularly. I do know some folks who are still rebelling against these modern times, there are those who don’t own cell phones, or participate in the daily use of computers. These folks are living in the dark ages, and this resistance is futile, although a personal choice one can freely make.
I use the web to educate myself, explore the world, the arts, discover new artists, and other interests. I use the web to promote my work to audiences I would never be able to reach otherwise. The connectivity has broadened our view of the world, and brought people together in real time. The technological advances of this ‘hyper-communication’ does require people to use critical skills to navigate the space, and filter out that which is not needed, the constant distractions must be avoided to keep one from missing the useful and productive information. The future is now, however, and to shy away from the advances is only a reclusive behavior, the ostrich’s cliche of burying ones head in the sand. It is a denial of our modern times. To be fully engaged, it is a requirement to participate, to whatever extent.
There is a discipline needed in technology use, and an active ‘turning off’ that is required for myself to maintain a true connectedness to those in my immediate surroundings. The ‘flesh and blood’ world of the here and now. When socializing IRL, I give the person in front of me my full attention, and feel shorted in the exchange if I do not receive the same respect. To try to have a conversation with someone constantly checking their phone, or their Facebook or Twitter stream seems a futile endeavor. If they chose to be in the online world vs the face to face real world of our moment together, the interaction is flawed. Being present to the moment is necessary for true communication. To feel valued and understood, I need a person’s full attention. Multitasking has been shown to not be effective, so I would rather give my attentions fully to a real moment, respect the person I’m speaking with, and let the media distractions wait.
For my art making, I prefer the analog approach. A true ‘Old Schooler’, I enjoy playing around with historical techniques, the lost arts, and continuing their histories into the future. This is my mission in my art making. So I value the historical technology found in my vintage Polaroid camera. I am thrilled that the Impossible Project is bringing this old art form back to life, and there is a large counter culture that thrives in all things vintage and historic, including real film photography, vinyl records and Polaroids, just to name a few.
The technological advances have made things easier in many respects, but the historical methods and ideologies are still valid as well. We live in a modern time when all forms are valid, and ideas can be rapidly distributed through out the world.
STEINA – Orka Combined
I was lucky enough to witness this amazing video installation at the Colorado State University Art museum in the fall of 2011. Unfortunately, at the time, I was unfamiliar with this artist, and didn’t appreciate the significance of the work until now.
Catalyst introduced me to the 70’s era Steina Vasulka, a young vivacious Icelandic, living in NYC, playfully experimenting with the newest technologies of those times. In Sound and Fury (1975) she has placed two cameras in a ‘duel’, the self reflecting machines programmed to record at alternating rhythms, witnessing, creating and recording the duality that exists in everything. The artist has a disorienting dance with herself, Steina moves about between the two lenses, her experimental movements becoming a performance. The work began as a test, Steina states in this video interview, (see ~22:00) she had no intention of exhibiting the work, however, the results of her experiment were so surprisingly delightful that the work had to be seen, the phenomenon of seeing both sides at once, an early meta moment of the ‘selfie’. The media teaching the artist what it could do.
Orka Combined was a new interpretation using some of Steina’s earlier works, recycling and layering the videos, creating a new exhibit. The university gallery had been transformed into a full sensory immersive environment with several videos projected on large round screens, taking up the majority of the space. The viewer is invited to enter and “meditate on the relationship between our bodies and the cosmos”. Steina has combined the complicated high tech machines, cameras and computers, with life’s most basic organic elements, the close up images of earth and water, making “matter matter”, her work, less narrative, more a focus on human experience, and appreciating each second for what it brings. The short videos, the darkened room, the close spaces, the large scale environment, all theses elements encouraged the viewer to experience the work with their full bodies, the rhythmic sounds and switching clips mimicking the patterns of our own circulation and respiration. The work makes “the digital imagery behave in the manner of human memory: able to pack loads of info into the small space of the mind’s-eye,” and lures the visitor into the “sensual mysteries” of our physical world. (Quotes from exhibition essay by Los Angeles Times art critic, David Pagel)
Steina states, “to show what cannot be seen except with the eye of media: water flowing uphill or sideways, upside down rolling seas or a weather beaten drop of a glacier melt. The idea is that perhaps the audience could feel a part of this creative trance, living for a moment in a mental world where they have never been.” The work takes you there.
Here is a link to a video installation work that is similar to what I saw.
Cofrin Contemporary 