David Rokeby

http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/home.html

The artist I chose this week really appealed to me because of some of his larger scale work. David Rokeby works mostly with installations and focuses on themes that usually involve the human body. Rokeby's work often takes photographs and manipulates them to create his projects. He is almost always inspired by the human form. 

One of my most favorite installations is called "Flow" and focuses on evolving images. Objects that are moving in the space are seen clearly because they are stationary, whereas the movement of people is recorded making them blurry. The feeling of movement in contrast to the architecture gives the piece a unique feel. The artwork functions to showcase the beauty of the natural standing monuments. Watching the video at the bottom of the page gives you a better sense of what the installation would look like in reality. 

Rokeby has a ton of other interesting works that are along the same lines. So check out some of his other works under the installation tab. 

Jack Dollhausen Machines

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~jackdoll/index.html

This website stuck out to me because it was set up a little different than the other online portfolios that artists have posted in the past. Dollhausen is a new media artist who creates machines that perform tasks; some simple and some are complex. What I like about his website is that it is a reflection of his work. He turns his portfolio into a piece of art itself by creating photo montages of his work together in order to create an untraditional library of images. When clicked upon a larger image of the work can be viewed along with a small caption describing the function of the piece. The descriptions are very technical and do not touch on the idea behind the work which is left completely to our imaginations. 

A common theme that can be found in his work is the use of light. Many of the machines use colored lights in some way as part of their function. For example in his work "August" he uses colored lights to create patterns in response to body heat. Another one of my favorites is "Spnx" which is a machine that generates all four-letter combinations of letters in the alphabet. That means there are 456976 different options.

There are so many things to look at on this site. My only criticism that I have is that I would like to see some of the machines in action. I really think viewing the works would be have more of an impact if you could view a quicktime video of the machine performing its given task. 

Michele Brody

www.michelebrody.com

This week I was looking at an artist that does things a little differently than the works that we have been looking at. Unlike the artist this week, Martin John Callanan, who is working with digital art as a way to produce new media work, this artist moves away from that to experiment with something completely different. Michele Brody works with a different type of media to create her installations. Most of the time Brody is working within nature which is something we may not typically relate to new media art. She uses her installations to demonstrate constant change and illusion.  A common theme you may notice when looking at her work is her use of grass. You can see it is present in a lot of her outdoor installations.

One of my favorite series that Brody has created is the "Elusive Walkways; Hilltop Path." I think this work is so intuitive. She creates intricate pathway designs in the most unlikely of places. Making the actual walk the way that the audience can interact with the artwork. The artwork becomes part of the landscape and the two work together in order to create the comprehensive piece. 

Also, after viewing most of her work it was interesting then to look at her photography. Brody definitely has a developed style and clear message that is carried throughout all of her work. A lot of her work plays with what the audience perceives as real in order to create illusions. It's also refreshing to look at a new media artists who may not be using the newest technology but is still creating relevant and interesting work. 

Snow Stories

http://www.jillianmcdonald.net/snowstories/

I chose this website because it is different from those I've seen in the past because it is not simply a portfolio for an artist it is actually an online installation. The internet being the medium in which the artist chose to deliver her project. The installation is an ever changing story created by images and influenced by the viewer. When you first enter the site there is a preliminary background that gives you an initial impression of what the site may be about. In the snow globe (which is where the images are changing) you can see a video clip playing. The instructions then ask you to enter your own story in the site. Based on the specifics that you supply the images in the snow globe are customized to you and pieced together to create some sort of story. 

In addition to entering your story you can also manipulate the images by the adjustment panels on the snowblower that is moving across the scene. The background image also changes with the different stories and scenes. Something I really like about this is work is the incorporation of sound. The music really changes the way that the audience views the images and also contributes to the words of the story that are being displayed throughout the "movie."  The interactivity helps this project create constantly changing scenarios which makes every visit to the page a different experience than the last.

Art works with various options, such as those within this installation, seem to be growing more and more popular among new media artists. The genre is constantly evolving but this seems to be a change that will remain prominent in the new media practice.

http://www.futurefarmers.com/

This week I decided to look into artists that create work relevant to another field. As Life Support, using medical advertisements makes up the artwork that we see. I searched the web and found a group of artists called Future Farmers. The group describes themselves as artists that create work that is "relevant to the time and space" that surrounds them. The group looks at their work from a somewhat scientific standpoint, using science to create their artwork and convey their ideas. 

Something I really admire about these artists is that they attempt to create their work in a "green manner." They use recycled materials to create a lot of their designs. They also focus on what the audience can take away and learn from the pieces. Unlike some other artists they are not just trying to convey an idea, they are hoping their audience will not just interpret their work, but learn from it. They also create environment saving projects in an artistic way. For example the Rainwater Harvester under the projects tab.

I think it's interesting to look at this group of artists because of their mission as well as their classification of new media artists. They are essentially using science and environmental ideas in order to inspire their work. 

on screen interactions

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~lew/research/voodoo/

Because we are looking at Media that can be manipulated by the audience I decided to pick a piece with a similar idea but that approaches the concept in a different way. While Sims work displays 3D graphics that change on screen due to the interaction of the audience, Michael Lew also creates a work that changes on screen but in a different way. Lew’s piece entitled “Office Voodoo” allows the viewers to manipulate two voodoo dolls in order to influence the mood of two characters in the video playing on screen.

By changing the dolls you change the interaction between the people in the movie. Frank and Nancy, the characters in the film, can go through a range of emotions that will effect their expression as well as their treatment of each other. The installation is in an interesting environment because it is housed in a wooden arcade-like structure. There is room for only two people to sit on the bench inside the artworks encasement. Because of this set up it seems as if you are in fact playing a video game.

What I find most interesting about the explanation found on this site is the honestly about how people react to the work. It states that the situations that occur can sometimes cause the audience, the inflictor, to be ashamed that their character would act in this way although they are the cause of it. The work actually places some of the responsibility of what happens in the storyline on the audience.

Make sure you check out the video because it is hard to get an idea of how the process works if you cannot see it on screen.

Flash sites

http://www.greg.ch/flash/

 

Lately I have been brainstorming ideas of what to create for my personal website. Because I’m currently learning Flash I wanted to use that program in creating my site. I started searching the web to find some ideas or techniques that might be helpful to me. I stumbled across this site that has all different types of flash sites. Each site has some type of unique characteristic created in Flash. Hardly ever do we consider websites a form of art, but in the graphic design field something like this is very prominent.

 

One of my favorites was the Leo Burnett site. As you move your mouse over the page it actually draws a line as if you are holding a pencil to the screen. The site structure also completely breaks the traditional left menu bar website design we are used to. Although this is a cool site, because it is out of box, navigating it may be difficult if it is your first time visiting.

 

Flash sites also can be used to turn websites into a type of game. Reference the stuntman website featured on this page. The introduction consists of a video game like interaction before transferring you to the actual meat of the site. The possibilities of using Flash add an entirely different dynamic to the layout and interaction.

 

Using Flash as a website tool has helped designers break away from these traditional designs that we have deemed normal in the Internet world. Why does something different have to be less effective? Design can play a huge part in site appeal. This simply supports the idea that changing technology can help to advance the creative side of website design. Be sure to check out some of the other sites on this page. Many of them are very cool and unlike anything else you can find on the web.