The Revised Artist

The Revised Artist

The Revised Artist A Study into the Influence of the Computer on Art Making and Perception Jelmer Witkamp, 0301027 12/1/2007 Creative Development ’06‐‘07 Onder begeleiding van: Lisa Janssen & Anne Nigten The Revised Artist 2 The Revised Artist Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 ‐chapter 1‐ Towards the Object of Art ........................................................................................ 7 I – Art as Experience ................................................................................................................ 7 II ‐ Art and Theories ............................................................................................................... 10 III ‐ Art in Practice .................................................................................................................. 12 IV ‐ Art as Rhizome ............................................................................................................... 14 V ‐ The Artwork, not the Artist .............................................................................................. 21 ‐chapter 2‐ Artists always find a way ......................................................................................... 23 I ‐ The Creative Machine ....................................................................................................... 23 II ‐ Neen ................................................................................................................................ 25 III ‐ Cynthia Beth Rubin ......................................................................................................... 28 IV ‐ Harold Cohen ................................................................................................................... 31 V ‐ Elements ......................................................................................................................... 35 ‐chapter 3‐ Back to the Drawing board ...................................................................................... 37 I – Continuity in Practice ........................................................................................................ 37 II – The Artist’s Toolbox ......................................................................................................... 38 III – Virtual Identity ................................................................................................................ 39 IV – [Re]Vision Machine ........................................................................................................ 41 Conclusion Smoothening the Theoretical Landscape ......................................... 42 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 46 ! 3 The Revised Artist ! 4 The Revised Artist Jouspevdujpo! This essay deals with two domains of our daily lives which have taken a central position with a sense of wonder on the one hand and a sense of natural necessity on the other; art and computer technology. Although the invention and initial aim of the computer are quite clear, those of art are still quite unknown. As art seems to have existed since before the beginning of recorded history, we cannot but speculate the motivation of those early artists. Even the question of whether the Lascaux cave paintings should be considered as art, is a question far too complicated to answer. Westerners tend to equate the earliest bit of our recorded history, which can be found in the Mediterranean area, with the origin of civilization. I am not in the position to contest such statements, but people have a more general tendency to compare that which is unknown to that which is known, if only to create a starting point for their assessment. Perhaps the known/unknown differentiation, which is often fundamental in the analytical method of theoreticians, has come to alienate theory from practice further. Theoreticians trail behind artistic experimentation with objects and technology used as tools and media. If people judge their new surroundings based on the contextual framework built up on their old or current surroundings, then I am bound to do the same. I am male, and therefore identify more easily with my writing when I use ‘he’ or ‘him’ when I need to refer to people in general. Although I am well aware of the values attached to using masculine words as opposed to feminine or neutral words, it is hard to avoid that tension and there are always other elements one can identify with when reading a text. It is the same with art; there is always something one can relate to, whether it is positive or negative. If not, one is likely to hunt for something until he finds it. I like to envision the first theoreticians and critics having to deal with new media art in the 1960’s as being in a similar situation; the only thing they could do is relate it to what was known already. However, this already turbulent artistic period did not offer much to hold on to or build upon, except for an effort to challenge the contemporary concept of art. At least Pop‐artists like Claes Oldenburg and Roy Lichtenstein remained committed to sculpture and painting, but what about Nam June Paik using television not only as an image but a medium and material at the same time? Or the experimental audio‐visualization of John Whitney Sr.? Although a contemporary native Australian work of art does not share the same context as a Western work, we still categorize both objects under the notion of art. I do not wish to deny different cultures their own distinct concept or understanding of art, but in the light of 5 The Revised Artist globalization and cultural diversity it appears necessary to express the commonalities, rather than the differences. My question is thus how all these different objects relate to this concept of ‘art’ and, through that, to each other. In researching this question, I have taken into account recent developments in the arts industry, especially the increase in public and academic interest in the creative industry (in design, but also gaming and technology‐related creativity). Thus, more precisely, the aim of my research is to understand the theoretical implications the acceptance of the computer raises for the traditional (pre‐new media) understanding of art. Firstly I will assess the historical context of the academic search for a validation of the existence of art, ending with the discussion of influential thinkers of the New Media era. Then I will illustrate the new media art practice through three different artist perspectives. My selection of artists has primarily been based on the nature of their work rather than their current popularity in the field. Lastly, I will turn to art practice to assess the theoretical framework and evaluate the implications, followed by the discussion of a possible solution. 6 The Revised Artist ! .dibqufs!2.!! Upxbset!uif!Pckfdu!pg!Bsu! I – Art as Experience During the 20th century, western art has undergone more fundamental transformations than in the two thousand preceding years. For centuries, artistic expression took the form of music, poetry, sculpture, painting or theatre but since the dawn of the 20th century, artists have sought to defy the application of such categories; painting and sculpture gave birth to assemblage, collage, and installations. Theatre, poetry and music merged into happenings and performances. The introduction of technological developments allowing for reality to be recorded (the gramophone, photography and film) perhaps led artists to question the nature of the ‘artistic effect’.1 Nevertheless, the relationship between art and object changed and even disappeared from time to time, as did the relationship between artist and artwork. The examples of such changes in artistic expression are many; the Dada movement from 1914 onwards sought purely to revolt against the establishment, organizing nonsensical performances, exhibiting the result of chance and chaos and eventually initiating the concept of the ‘ready‐ made’ (e.g. Duchamp’s Bottlerack). It successfully challenged the idea of the artist as an original artisan. Later, from the 1950s onwards, artists like Joseph Kosuth, On Kawara, Bruce Nauman and John Cage echoed this refusal of traditional artistic methods by initiating Figure 1: One and Three Chairs, 1965 1 With ‘the artistic effect’, I refer to the effect an art object has on a person as opposed to a non‐art object. An art object differs from a normal object in that the perceiver of the art object recognizes it as being an art object rather than a non‐art object. In this recognition, the perceiver assumes the object has non‐ practical qualities which might contain meaning, through which the perceiver can hope to get a deeper understanding of the object. When the perceiver finds such qualities the art experience is likely to follow. 7 The Revised Artist the Conceptual and Minimal Art movements and thereby elevating the art experience from the interpretation of a representational piece, to a mind game triggered or played in the heads of the audience. It was not so much the art experience2 that changed but rather the road towards it; instead of passively being subjected to an art experience, the audience was suddenly expected to undergo a process itself, be it one of shock (Dada), or understanding (Conceptualism). A work could consist of every shoe shop

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