Intro to New Media Arts- Brandon Rodriguez

Art has to mean something. To me the medium,style, and visuals come second. I want to think before i create. I want my work to carry feeling and emotion as opposed to looking nice. For me creating a picture of feelings and ideas goes a long way than creating candy for the eye. The emotion or idea i want to display may not be apparent but i also dont want the idea to be forced. The power of suggestion works well for me in art. I enjoy songwriters, directors and painters who suggest thoughts instead of telling me how to think. Its important to convey something rather than nothing,just as a whisper suites better than a yell. I also dont want all my pieces to be taken so seriously. Art too often is looked at with a high brow standard, give me absurdism over that any day. Thats not to say i dont want to convey my opinions on serious issues such as racial inequaltiy and rape culture but it may be in a more satirical light in hopes that people are not downtrodden by these things but rather they are made aware.

I wish to work in all mediums but primarily those that dont involve much skill but rather more ideas. Thus design programs, film, and audio manipulation will be my tools to speak my mind. I dont have the most artistic ability but i hope that my message is strong enough to make up for it. After all what better way to say something than through a visual.

“A new media object is subject to algorithmic manipulation.” I found this quote in the passage concerning numerical representation to be quite interesting. One doesnt normally create or analyze things in terms of a numerical value or representation but in this passage they argue most new media is broken down to that idea. They say that most new media can be looked at as data but they revise their claim after introducing photography to the argument.

Photography as they say cannot be quantified numerically but I wonder how big a role does algorithmic manipulation play consciously in the creators mind. I think artists nowadays arent technical as this passage makes them out to be. New media has a way of creating greater ease and less technicality involvement as technology advances. For example automated video recording such as Vine allow for a point and shoot method of videography that allows for little numerical manipulation. The only numerical process is the timing in between shots. The idea that autoframing for cameras is a relevant process for creation, also eliminates the numerical manipulation by the hands of the creator to allow for greater ease.

Also with the idea standardization of new media by means of “models” presents a bleak future for art as a whole. The passage seems to suggest that at a certain point new media itself can be standardized. Just as how all Vine videos share the same content but are standardized by their interface, the new media is limited. Its understandable that all things involving computers use “ones and zeroes” but Id like to think new media isnt made by a solid foundation of numbers but a solid foundation of tinkering with outside a standardization. If one is confined to numbers in new media they are limiting their artistic abilities.

To me Duchamp has always been an interesting figure in the art world. As a leader of the Dada movement he ultimately tested the boundaries of what art really is. Originally he started out as a “traditional” artist who painted more impressionistic pieces but he soon found this form to be dull.

After joining up with fellow Dadaists, Duchamp began to create art that was more challenging in terms of its message. He created a sort of antithesis to the more formal and serious art that was prevalent at the time with pieces such as “Fountain”. He went against the very idea that art needed to start from an original idea or formal skill. Most interesting enough Duchamp began an early form of editing or art re-appropriation with pieces such as “L.H.O.O.Q.”. With these “ready-made” pieces Duchamp presented the idea that art could be as simple as taking others’ works and adding small details to it which, is not different from what we know today as photo-shopping.

Duchamp also experimented with multi-media projects that involved interactivity from an audience. This was tremendous for the art world because instead of the art being regarded as something that was final and to be untouched, it become something welcome to human touch. Thus Duchamp helped take art out of the artists hands and into the hands of the people as well. This also allowed art to be taken less serious and taken more as experimentation or a work in progress, ever-changing as more and more people try the piece out. This new found “virtuality” opened up the possibility of art exceeding any rules or regulations. This also opened up art even more to those who sought different means of expression but felt limited by the canvas. Therefore Duchamp can truly be seen as a forefather of new media arts.

Overall I found the presentation during the last class to be very intriguing. I never really stopped to realize how much plastic was used by one human being let alone the whole population. The artists did a good job of raising that awareness through their video of the drilling and the various plastic items they had arranged on top of boxes. The presentation left quite an impact on me that after I felt the need to immediately look into various other things that I owned that were made of plastic. I found it very surprising that most of this plastic was recycled into other things like homes or it was melted/fused with more plastic.

I definitely think it was important to see something like this early in the class in order to show the potential of art. This proved that multi-media art or “new media art” is not confined to just a screen. This also proved that new media art can be informative as it is pleasing or entertaining. Its important to have art that brings awareness and is backed by some science in addition to art that is on the far spectrum of facts.

I thought overall this reading was very interesting. I wondered if McLuhan during his time was ridiculed or thought to be crazy when he wrote things like this. He was definitely ahead of his time in terms of ideas and understanding media. The passage I found most interesting was where he described how “YOU” are changed by media and he basically described Facebook with his statement “big gossip column that is unforgiving, unforgetful, and from which there is no redemption.”  It’s crazy to read this excerpt and analyze how far and fast media has moved. I wonder if any recent writings have pondered what the future of media will be.

Above is a picture of a trumpet. Its an instrument commonly used in jazz and has one of the most iconic sounds of all wind instruments. Thus the trumpet if the extension of the wind pipe or lungs.

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