#arts12paper1

[theantiprince]

Manovich and Gere

 Upon reading Lev Manovich's article New Media from Borges to HTML it is easy to expand one's knowledge within the first few pages. Manovich links to online websites describing anything from subcultures, museums, art movements, or even a definition of a term being used in his article. For example, Manovich describes commercial culture's contribution to the modern world, specifically web plug-ins which links to the description of what plug-ins are for those unaware. Those very plug-ins allow the ability to customize how an application will function when it is run. Throughout the article, Manovich speaks of various art groups and museums such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art which all have made strides towards displaying new media art and where their information and location may be found. Artificial Intelligence is something that has been astounding to the past decade and being talked about in media in order to depict the possibilities of the future of computing. One may now find in Manovich's article that artificial intelligence is something that can be learned in a classroom setting at MIT. Being able to learn about a phenomena such as this opens up the future to a world where anyone—with access to these classes—may be able to create a world that actively uses artificial intelligence or improve upon it to create an even more technologically advanced society. The use of hyperlinks in Manovich's article, along with the actual content being linked to, is an example of Manovich's own sixth proposition:New Media as Faster Execution of Algorithms Previously Executed Manually or Through Other Technologies. In earlier years one may read of the San Francisco Museum but not know what is on display currently or what their mission statement is without traveling to San Francisco and finding out in person. MIT's artificial intelligence courses are capable of teaching others how to further achieve Manovich's proposition by understanding how computers process and run information needed to create faster means of carrying out manual actions like Wikipedia being a largely accessible and cost-effective version of an encyclopedia.

As according to Gere, it seems that the gallery does have an important role to play in making art visible both now and in the future. Not only does it serve as archiving purposes, but also allows everyone to view the artwork from virtually anywhere in the world. Of course, making visible will never be the same as experiencing in real time. A unique feeling is created when being in the presence of an artwork as opposed to seeing a recorded image of it. With that being said, galleries should still take the initiative to share and inspire other artists with easily accessible works of art.

[ennowell-blog]

Assignment 1

Manovich’s “Eight Propositions” are a guideline to his definition of new media art. Manovich’s sixth proposition,“New Media as Faster Execution of Algorithms Previously Executed Manually or Through Other Technologies,” relates most to my experience of using embedded hyperlinks while reading. Within his sixth proposition he states,“new media, in particular, is a massive speed-up of various manual techniques that all have already existed.” This proposition explains the benefit of media as it allows us to do things at a much faster rate. Having to use the hyperlinks within the readings is a prime example of Manovich’s point.

In the past, if you can across an unfamiliar term in a reading you would have to either ask someone else what it was or refer to an encyclopedia. Nowadays, when wanting to find information people will refer to the Internet. Through search engines loads of information is available within a few keystrokes while manually searching multiple terms in an encyclopedia takes a lot more time. The inserted hyperlinks also made understanding the reading much easier by giving a direct source for the reader to uncover information regarding the unfamiliar term. By understanding the term the reader comprehends the material so it is no so much the media itself that matters but instead what it allows us to do.  

In “New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age” Gere’s asserts that “The gallery has an important role to play in making this art visible, not just now but also in the future, when such work will be apart of history.” From one standpoint, the gallery does remain a valuable space for art. The gallery possesses a tangible nature that could never be achieved by the Internet. Within a gallery the artwork’s texture can be viewed in relation to space and touched as opposed to the Internet space were it can only be viewed through zoom-in features if even available. I am a firm believer that nothing can compare to viewing an original artwork in person as opposed to digitized reproduction. However, these points only holds true to the more traditional art mediums such as painting, drawing, photography or sculptures.

Often times, art defined by electronic and digital media must stay within the realm of the Internet. Art that is produced digitally is best viewed within the Internet environment. Net.art is a prime example of this as its entire existence is dependent of the Internet being its medium. These types of work cannot be experienced in any other way so a gallery setting would not be necessary. However, new media art that is installation based, such as robotic art can, can be shown within the gallery. As always there are exceptions, such are those installations that are too grand in size to be confined in a museum and as a result take place outside. The gallery does have an important role in making art visible and will remain to, but only in regards to certain forms of art. New media art can be collected and displayed via the Internet or a museum. How it is displayed in determined by what source is more suitable for said art piece 

[kartsyvu-blog]

Hyperlinks

From the hyperlinks in the paper New Media from Borges to HTML by Les Manovich, I was able to understand more about the InterCommuncation Center online and what it has to offer. By being able to click on hyperlinks as I read through the paper, I have a better understanding of some of the things that Manovich is referring to. The internet, originally discovered for Army purposes, was not popular until the 1990's but even at that point in Europe, it was still a "phenomenon". It seems as if the U.S. has not actively taken a role to support the new media art movement. But without new media art, there would be no artificial intelligence or 3-D modeling, which is essential for more than just art. It can be used for geometric modeling. As stated in the New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age, computers were typically used for number crunching and artistis couldn't utilize its complexity. The network, SAGE, which was used for missile detection, opened the doors to looking at technology and art together. I was able to learn a lot about E.A.T and how the artists and engineers collaborated in order to bring two different mediums together. At this day and age, New Media Art can be compared to cyberculture, which is the first of Manovich’s 8 propositions. As stated, “cyberculture is focused on the social and networking while new media is focused on the cultural and computing.”  I believe that new media and cyberculture cross in some manner. New Media encompasses internet art, digital art, computer graphics and much more which I believe is also a part of cyberculture. We have become a more techonologically savvy society that emerges itself in social gaming and media that utilizes computer networks and communication. New Media also uses these kinds of cyberculture as stated in Manovich’s second proposition – “New Media used as a distribution platform.”

  Despite the ease of hyperlinks that allow viewers to access information and artwork at their fingertips, galleries in a sense do make art visible as asserted by Gere. Being able to physically see and possible touch artwork makes it more real. It’s similar to seeing a monument like the Eiffel Tower. It’s more mind blowing to witness in real life. Museums are still a large role for us today and I believe that it will continue to be years from now. 

[lakeshow22-blog]

Hyperlinks

     Technology has revolutionized our lifestyles as it has become a significant part of our culture. For the modern American, going through our daily lives without the use of a laptop to update documents or access the internet, even via our mobile phones, would be preposterous. New technologies have surged since 1980 and have completely changed our standard of living exponentially. Art has gradually acclimated to these new gadgets and has changed over time as well. The development of New Media Art, a relationship between art and computer technology, has widely become popular around the globe.

     The two articles, “New Media from Borges to HTML” by Lev Manovich and “New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age” by Charlie Gere both show the transition of how new media art has developed and the its large impact on today’s society. The hyperlinks in these documents allow the reader to quickly be referred to the background information and meaning of the terms the author presents in the text, instead of individually looking up this information one-by-one. An example is shown by Charlie Gere when he mentions how the first computers used to be extremely large and were only used for number crunching. SAGE, the Strategic Air Ground Environment, was a nuclear early warning defense system that was developed by the military which shifted computers to become more interactive involving visual interfaces that together set the precedent for modern day computers. The hyperlink gives the reader a direct source of information that can be quickly accessed by just one “click.”   

     This easy convenience matches one of Manovich’s eight propositions. “New Media as Faster Executions of Algorithms Previously Executed Manually or Through Other Technologies” clearly shows that hyperlinks are the “faster executions” which allow the reader to access specific information rapidly. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, uses thousands of hyperlinks when searching through data which allows the reader to jump from one topic to the next with ease. I disagree with Gere’s assertion that  “The gallery has an important role to play in making this art visible, not just now but also in the future, when such work will be part of art history” because to simply put it, times have changed. In our technological world, books and newspapers are becoming less popular since both are now able to be accessed online via the internet. The huge archive of books on Google allows a copy of each book to be retained even if every book is physically destroyed. Art can be archived the same way and virtual museums can be the source to find these works in the future, so that art history will be maintained.    

[nligh-blog]

Paper 1

From both of the readings by Lav Manovich and Charlie Gere, these texts were much more than reading and understanding. Instead, it was more of an interactive experience, and encouraged the reader to explore different paths according to whatever specific topic the authors were discussing. For example in, “New Media From Borges to HTML,” Manovich discusses commercial new media. Instead of mentioning the various new media and what they did, he created hyperlinks to help the reader grasp a deeper understanding. “yet without commercial culture we would not have computer games using Artificial Intelligence programming, network-based multimedia, including various Web plug-ins which enable distribution of music, moving images and 3-D environment over the Web, sophisticated 3-D modeling, animation and rendering tools, database-driven Web sites, CD-ROMs, DVD, and other storage formats, and most other advanced new media technologies and forms” (3). Because readers were encouraged to explore these examples, they are able to gain not only a contextual but a visual understanding of what he is trying to explain. The examples of Artificial Intelligence, 3-D modeling, and moving images have to do with the fourth point in Lev Manovich’s 8 Propositions: New Media as the aesthetics that accompanies the early stage of every new modern media and communication technology. Things like moving images and 3-D environment over the Web, 3-D modeling, and animation and rendering tools have been around in new media for a while. However, technology has continued to advance things like these and continue from its early stages and make it an aesthetic in new media.

  According to Charlie Gere, “The gallery has an important role to play in making this art visible, not just now but also in the future, when such work will be part of art history." I agree with his statement despite the ease of navigation from the hyperlink readings that we experienced. Although these hyperlinks led us to places that we could not physically go to, museums are essential in making art visible. It is a complete different experience looking at an art piece in the museum compared to a 2-D photo 5x5 inch photo over the Internet. In museums, you can walk around it, sometimes touch it, feel its presence next to yours, and really get the full experience. Through hyperlinks, you are simply limited to the things that the website offers you. Hyperlinks are helpful for the reader to experience places that they do not have access to, like pictures of art in China when you are the United States. But, it will always be a better experience if you can see that art yourself in museums.

[mikeyledez-blog]

numero uno.

From the numerous hyperlinks within both articles, there was much to explore and learn beyond the actual content of the articles.  Rather than focus on several examples I want to expand on a few from both articles.  In Manovich’s “New Media From Borges to HTML” it was helpful to find links to names I haven’t heard of, such as SIGGRAPH (a place where computer users can share their creative programming insights and graphics) and DEAF (the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival).  What was more delightful was to find a place that I’ve actually been to and enjoyed, SFMOMA, and how in the article it talked about how Modern Art Museums provide a platform for artists to display their work in new media exhibits.  From Gere’s “New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age” I found it educational to see hyperlinks to definitions, such as the one provided for systems art.  I would’ve never thought I’d encounter the word cybernetics from just clicking on a link to a definition of systematic art.  All of the hyperlinks allowed me to further dive into what was being discussed, which ultimately made me more engaged and active in reviewing the articles.  I walk away with more than just discussions of the evolution of new media culture and the argument of online art gallery creation.

In regards to relating what I discovered from the hyperlinks to Manovich’s 8 Propositions, I believe the examples I provided above serve to support the 2nd assertion: New Media as Computer Technology used as a Distribution Platform. I would say that SIGGRAPH, DEAF, SFMOMA, and systems art, would all fall under new media, because although they are all leading to sites that “store” information, that is not the end of their purpose.  I think that they provide more connections to more media (like how SFMOMA provides links to exhibitions, artworks, and more), making them a distribution platform for more media and ideas.

I agree with Gere’s assertion that the gallery plays an influencing factor in introducing and maintaining the integrity of a work in the present and for the future.  From a personal experience of having the opportunity to visit SFMOMA in 2009, I was able to view a photographic exhibit (which I vaguely remember the artist and exhibit name), which although no longer is physically at SFMOMA, remains visible and respectably archived in the digital world.  The images of the works remain in my mind, which I think serves as contributing to the idea of how galleries “preserve” their exhibits.

[priya-arts12-blog-blog]

New Media

The internet is a complex compilation of a plethora of sources and elements. Hyperlinks helps internet users all over the world to assist them in directly taking them to the webpage of their desire.  The documents “New Media from Borges to HTML” and “New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age” both contain several hyperlinks providing the reader with a deeper insight to references talked about in the essays. For example, when one clicks the hyperlink of the photographer Henry Peach Robinson, they are taken to a short YouTube video about the artist and his style of work. Every hyperlinked subject enables the reader to gain more knowledge about the topic while also keeping the contents of the document concise and easy to follow. Without hyperlinks, internet users would be forced to use various search engines to manually find more information on a certain topic.

Hyperlinks are a perfect representation of Manovich’s “Eight Propositions”. One of his “Eight Propositions” is that “New Media as Computer Technology used as a Distribution Platform.” In this proposition, Charlie Gere explains how new media is distributed through various mediums such as, “Internet, Web sites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs and DVD, Virtual Reality, and computer-generated special effects.” Hyperlinks act as a shortcut in accessing all these forms of new media so that people can immediately view and share the respective topics they were looking for. Another proposition hyperlinks ties into is Manovich’s proposition saying, “New Media as Faster Execution of Algorithms Previously Executed Manually or Through Other Technologies”. Hyperlinks are an essential part of the algorithm of web users today, enabling them to directly make connections between the topic to the source.

I agree with Gere’s assertion that, “The gallery has an important role to play in making this art visible, not just now but also in the future, when such work will be part of art history”. With such advanced technology, the virtual world has created every piece of artwork to be readily available on the web. Physical galleries will hardly be necessary in the future and will solely play a significant role in art history.

[kevinjhlee24-blog]

"NEW MEDIA"

Both Manovich's New Media From Borges to HTML and Gene's New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age helped to illuminate the current issue and paradox presented by the notion of "new media." A similarity in the two articles comes from the divulged assertion that the techniques and renovations of new media are gradually replacing the traditional norms of contemporary art. The articles elaborate on the fact that new media has called attention to the services of technological innovations to provide benefits such as  artificial intelligence programming, web-based plug ins, 3D modeling, and has given rise to groups like the Experiments in Art and Technology. The insertion of hyperlinks in the pieces of text paved a pathway to a higher level of learning and understanding, as a mere click of the mouse made way for a portal to a different dimension. It seemed that every other sentence or paragraph included a hyperlink to an ambiguous topic or person related to the situation at hand, that otherwise would seem very vague and unrelated. Courtesy of the hyperlinks, institutions and names such as Moholy-Nagy and Donna Haraway suddenly have high association and correspondence with the message of the text, offering complementary information on the topic of new media. In themselves, the hyperlinks are essentially avatars of new media, as these "one-click" digital references would not be possible in traditional texts, where manual investigation is surely required. Even through this assignment, we see the assimilation of technological innovations in the scope of traditional written work and content that has been digitalized. However, as Manovich states in his New Media from Borges to HTML, hyperlinks can be seen as "computer-based artistic activities" that are unintentionally overlooked or taken for granted because they are so common and of societal norms in the States. Needless to say, the utilization of hyperlinks directly alludes to Manovich's description of new media as "the mix between existing cultural conventions and the conventions of software." The blue color of word(s) immediately means that it is indeed a link that can be pressed on to automatically take the reader to a website affiliated with the presented information that allows for elevated thinking and intellectual connections with the topic at hand. Personally, the hyperlinks were useful in the sense that it clarified a lot of indistinct and nonspecific terms and names, but it definitely slowed the rate and pace of my reading. Nonetheless, Professor Crooks' insertion of hyperlinks definitely stirred engagement and commitment to further research into new media. 

The employment of the hyperlinked articles unquestionably had high relation to Manovich's "Eight Propositions." Of the eight, though, the proposition that most correlated with hyperlinks was the 6th Proposition, that sets forth the idea of "New Media as Faster Execution of Algorithms Previously Executed Manually or Through Other Technologies." I found this proposition to be a perfect match because of the nature of hyperlinks, in that they are extremely fast and useful in jumping from one relevant piece of information to the next. As mentioned in Manovich's text and above, hyperlinks make possible what is almost impossible in physical text, in terms of being instantly relocated to a website of great pertinence. It is surely a fast, convenient, and efficient way of inflated education.

In response to Gene's assertion, I absolutely agree that the gallery has an important role in making new media art visible. Physical or digital, the gallery is an exhibition or display of originally produced artwork by various artists that creates an awareness of artistic culture specific to the context it is in. Either way, viewers have at their disposal a "museum" or collection of artistic originality. The assertion that the gallery is of high prominence both now and in the future makes a lot of sense because our society is moving so rapidly. The issue is that, at this point, digital measures are almost inevitable. With societal growth comes technological development, and vice versa. At the rate we are moving now, it is almost impossible to imagine life without the alterations and breakthroughs that technology imparts. Just like how it is mentioned in the two pieces of text, our era is beginning to be defined by digitalism and a technological revolution that in itself could go down in the records of art history as a specific and discrete "art period."