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.

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

 

I found the work of David Rokeby to be very intriguing. After viewing the video posted on this week’s lesson itinerary, I wanted to look at an artist that may lean more toward the technological side of new media. I don’t want to say these works carry less of a meaning, but they do focus primarily on the technology rather than a flat meaning behind the artwork.  One of my favorite pieces on Rokeby’s website is entitled “Shock Absorber.” The 2001 installation is different than any that I have seen.

 

The idea behind “Shock Absorber” is to split a live feed into two separate images. In the first image it shows purely the movement and the still features of the photo are absent, while the other image is the image that is left over. Rokeby’s idea was to demonstrate what happens in the eye before the brain deciphers the information that we see in order for it to appear as it does. The artist is toying with the idea of perception and giving us an inside look at how our mind works. You can check out some of his other works that are along the same lines. This isn’t the first time that this artist has done something to this effect.

 

I also thought it was interesting to look at this site because you can view the progression of his work over almost 10 years. He is still working and actually has a current installation up until March of this year.

Interactivity

http://www.schuelke.org/deception.html

After viewing some of Michael Rees work I got to thinking along the lines of sculpture as a new media practice. So I started doing a little research on artists that combine traditional sculpture ideas with newer technologies or artistic ideas. I came across the artist Bjoern Schuelke. I was really drawn to Schuelke’s work because I felt that it uses the idea of futuristic in order to commentate on what each piece might mean. His sculptures resemble industrial-type structures. He uses metal and pieces that look similar to other technical machines.

 

One piece that I was particularly drawn to was the Drone #2. My first impression of this piece was that it reminded me of an alien structure or some kind of device you would see in a sci-fi movie. The function of the piece is strictly surveillance and I interpreted it to be communicating something about our level of privacy in society today. I find this work creepy in the way that it uses heat sensors in order to track the movement and react to the viewer.

 

Another interactive piece that reacts to the audience is entitled Nervous. This work is different from the first in that it is a less technical construct. It almost looks like something you could pull out of a Dr. Suess book. As you approach the orange sphere it beeps in reaction to you in other words it becomes “nervous.” I think this is a really cool idea and representation of reaction.

 

Interactivity in digital media is constantly evolving. It used to be that you would stand in front of a painting and react to it. Now it is moving toward a world of art where the work actually can react to the audience.