Art Specifically Designed for the Internet
Introduction
Most of the art on the web is actually a low resolution reproduction of the original, usually a photograph. An advert for the real thing. However, there are an increasing number of contemporary artists who are discovering that the Internet could instead be the primary medium for their work. Paintings and Sculptures can only physically be situated in one gallery at a time. Video installations and other interactive environments tend to be even more tied to the space where they are exhibited because they are even less mobile. But a piece of work designed specifically for the web, has the potential to reach a wide and varied audience especially as the percentage of homes with access to the internet is currently around 47% in the UK and increasing, with many more having access elsewhere. And due to the advancements in computers and internet technologies such as Java and Flash, this medium is now capable of delivering a multi-sensory experience to an audience wherever they may be and whenever they feel like participating in the exhibition.
Bruce Nauman and Early Installation Art
Bruce Nauman (creator of Raw Materials showing at the Tate Modern) was one of the first conceptual artists to design an installation where the viewer actually participates in the piece. His 1970 installation called “Live – Taped Video Corridor” used a camera to record the rear view of the participant as they walked through a 50cm wide corridor, projecting the footage onto a monitor at the other end of the corridor. As they get nearer to the otherside they can just about see themselves on the screen walking into the distance. This frustrating and slightly disturbing experience and the uneasiness due to the surveillance cameras secretly recording the participants actions, is all Nauman's creation. In a documentary on BBC1 he explains what he is doing as “controlling a persons thoughts about a work. To not let them have too many of their own thoughts”. So despite allowing the audience to interact with his artwork, ultimately he is in charge of their experience.
Zach Lieberman and his 7 Gesture Machines
Lieberman is an artist now living and teaching in New York who is “concerned with the themes of kinetic and gestural performance, interactive imaging and sound synthesis” (taken from Messa Di Voce). His Gesture Machines (Java applets) are an example of such gestural performance, where the user first creates the marks by drawing with the mouse and then watches and enjoys the performance orchestrated by the artist's code. My favourite three applets are “Swimmers”, where the scribbles spring into action depending on their shape, “Follow the Leader”, where the first scribble turns into the second scribble through an unraveling movement, and 3D Scribbler, which allows you to make simple line drawings in a continuously revolving three dimensions.
Mark Napier - Painter/Coder
I came across the Internet Artist, Mark Napier at the Guggenheim online Gallery. Originally a painter, in 1995 he started to teach himself how to write code and this eventually became the chosen medium for all of his work.
“Solid” is a group of 4 Java coded pieces consisting of unusual yet simple structures that can be twisted, stretched and generally thrown around the window by clicking and dragging the objects. The special quality of these pieces comes from how closely they behave in accordance to the laws of physics. They hang from the point you hold them, bounce when dropped and swing like a pendulum as if gravity is really playing a part. This natural behaviour makes these art works very appealing and a lot of fun to interact with. An added attractive feature of these coded applets are how the movements of the structures leave an impression on the window background, in the form of fabulous geometric patterns.
P-Soup is another visually exciting interactive piece. After selecting from a choice of nine buttons at the top the participant starts clicking. Shapes and patterns radiate from the point at which they click and then continue to react with eachother echoing audibly and visually until gradually decaying to silence and stillness, unless of course they continue to interact by choosing new shapes and applying them to the live Java applet window.
However, P-Soup was different from his other work in a significant way. From a tabbed window of Firefox hidden in the background on my PC, I was surprised to hear the distinctive chimes of P-Soup somehow start again by itself. What was actually happening was that someone somewhere in the world was interacting with this Java coded environment and I could see and hear their experience. The most magical part was that I could even join in their experience as they could join mine. Soon after my anonymous fellow participant and I had realised what was going on, we started to communicate through shapes and patterns, echoing the movements of eachother's creations. This piece of art was designed to give a true collaborative yet remote experience to any number of participants.
The most powerful aspect of such an interactive space on the web is the possibility for shared and participatory experiences which Napier achieves in this piece.
Summary
I am sure that the internet will play an increasingly important role in the art world as long as there are new artists like Lieberman and Napier.
What makes them successful in this field is that they have the technical ability to accomplish their artistic ideas and the willingness to experiment with the actual process of writing the code.
References
Guggenheim Gallery Virtual Projects - Ten Myths about Internet Art
http://www.guggenheim.org/internetart/ internetart_index.html
Interactive Art on the Internet by Eduardo Kac
http://www.ekac.org/InteractiveArtontheNet.html
The Art Site on the World Wide Web by Margaret L. McLaughlin
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue4/ mclaugh.html#Dimensions
ReadMe - Move over Monet, Digital Art is Here to Stay!
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/ReadMe/ article.php?id=22
IMAGINE... BRUCE NAUMAN: THE GODFATHER OF MODERN ART
BBC One, 10.35pm Wednesday 8th December 2004
Gesture Machines by Zach Lieberman
http://www.theremediproject.com/projects/issue12/ systemisgesture/
Messa Di Voce - An Audiovisual Performance & Installation for Voice and Interactive Media
http://tmema.org/messa/messa.html
Johannes Birringer
http://bahai-library.com/bafa/birringer.htm
Mark Napiers portfolio of work
http://www.potatoland.org
Abstraction Now
http://www.abstraction-now.at/ ?MARK_NAPIER§ion=artists
Estate of Mind - Excerpts of poetry by Wallace Stevens with drawings by Mark Napier
http://users.rcn.com/napier.interport/eom/eom.html
The Aesthetics of Programming - Interview with Mark Napier by Andeas Brøgger
http://www.afsnitp.dk/onoff/Projects/ napierinterview.html
Disembodied Voices by jody zellen
http://www.disembodiedvoices.com
Rhizome.org online platform for the global new media art community
http://www.rhizome.org
Bitforms - New York Gallery specialising in New Media Art
http://www.bitforms.com
Introduction to net.art (1994-1999)
http://www.easylife.org/netart/catalogue.html
Web of Life Gallery
http://www.web-of-life.de/wolsiteNew/ artwork/mobileStart.html
RGB Gallery
http://hotwired.wired.com/rgb/frontdoor/index.html
UK's poorest families still avoiding the Net - internet usage
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/ 0,39020369,39118615,00.htm
Institute for the Study of Perpetual E-motion
http://turbulence.org/studios/rumor/emotion
