Surveillance

What boundaries are to be drawn when art includes your personal life? A lot of artists create work that divulge the public to their most intimate secrets, and have no second thought about it. However, when surveillance comes into play, how far can an artist go before they break a boundary towards others?

I feel while surveillance is an interesting concept for artists to play with, it can lead to dangerous territories and even cause terrible consequences. While such consequences are obvious as shown in the videos presented, but I feel surveillance can be used in simple and non-harmful ways to produce interesting art, but that artists must tread carefully when entering this area.

Open Score

I feel even today, Open Score would be a rather impressive piece to view, mostly because of the scale of the project, but also the technology used is, even today, not thought of and obscure. A lot of art today pushes the boundaries on what people may all "art", because the artists of the work strive to shock the public and create something unheard of. While I believe shock and wow factor is still available to the public for response to art, it seems to be the only notion taken into consideration for when making art anymore, which is depressing in a manner.

The concept and execution of Open Score leaves the viewer very interested in the interactive and obscure nature of the piece. I wish I could have participated in the piece myself, looking at the recording of it.

Hacking

While hacking hasn't made itself a mainstream problem for the globe, it has certainly delved into the world as a mysterious and intriguing ability possessed only by those willing enough to learn it. I had known before the documentary that hacking had started with phone-hacking, back in the 50s, but was surprised that the same people who had made those hacks were also some of the first to create personal computers, and more technology we find important now-a-days.

Hacking is a term used in a negative light today, but the term just refers to the ability to alter a system, and it doesn't have to be in a harmful way. "Cracking" software using other programs is a type of hack, and is used many times a day by various citizens that wouldn't even consider that "hacking". These every-day hacks are harmless, but still a part of what is deemed as hacking.

Survival Research Laboratories

A lot of concern is raised about when art follows ideas that can sometimes be harmful, and Survival Research Laboratories is no exception. Although amusing, the website's ability and function as a tool to destroy objects is a dangerous, and unnerving concept. I myself find it intriguing, but hold little interest in the actual participation, and would rather hear more about the creator's concept behind it then actually use the work for it's intended purpose. While I believe Survival Research Laboratories has a place in the art world, I would rather suppose it belongs more-so to the science and technology world.

The Fluxus Artists.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the Fluxus movement is Yoko Ono. The second thing that comes to mind, however, is the phrase "change". I'll be honest in saying that I wasn't particularly fond of the collective group of works produced by the Fluxus artists, but I'll admit they certainly had a lot of influence over future generations of artists, including myself. Their ground-breaking ideas were bold and inventive, their methods were strange and ambiguous, but their general purpose was the main attraction for the change that occurred in the art world following their creation. The idea that art can continually shock and redefine society is a powerful message to conceive and enforce. The Fluxus movement, while not particularly as active today, set the stage for modern art to evolve into many different mediums and collaborate in many different ways. This evolution was and still is crutial to the art world and society as a whole, to reinvent and make better the odd world we live in.

Sound Art

I'll be the first to admit I was half-asleep listening and watching the video on sound art and John Cage, but the content, on reflection, is both fascinating and mystical. The odd noises and compositions created by Cage involved not only the musician, but the audience, and it truly reflects in the infamous contemporary piece 4'33". I loved Cage's use of the prepared piano, that while he did not invent the technique, he definitely popularized it. The produced sounds of the performances were haunting, and left me intrigued to hear more. What I found most interesting, I think, was Cage's collaborative work between himself and many different types of artists: from painters and dancers, to video-makers. Between the artists he would collaborate with, they came to the conclusion that the two different types of art could co-exist without having to do with one another. I loved the concept behind that idea, as I also feel not all art has to relate to one another. The randomness of one thing will not always correspond to the randomness of a completely different art form.

I'm definitely interested on learning more about the sound art and Fluxus movements, as it serves as the roots for much of the modern music I listen to today. I should look up more on that kinda stuff yeah?

yeah.

Bjork.

I mean Matthew Barney. So Creamaster 3. A very conceptual piece of video and visual art, and in it's own world. The Order, while poorly shot, makes up in concept and visual cues. The abstract ideas presented in the video are both oddly grotesque and mystifying, and while a lot of the concepts were hard to follow, the unifying idea of rediscovery and backtracking provided for an interesting storyline. I will admit, I first found the video dull and pretentious, but later realized and understood some of the concepts that were conveyed throughout the work, and found myself drawn to the overall film. As mentioned in the class, the short film has a video-game-esque essence presented, with a timer running down, different levels to the storyline, and the use of backtracking to gain more knowledge / tools. Being a moderate gamer myself, this idea really stuck to me (and has set me in a state of reminiscing) and gave an interesting perspective to the action in all.

I wish Matthew Barney would have decided to shoot and edit the short film a little more professionally, but it definitely gives it a more lasting and real impression...