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Exercise 1

Museum Notes

At first, watching the movie was a little uncomfortable because I was the only person in the room while there were magnified people on the screen reminiscing in interviews. It was almost like I was intruding on something that I was supposed to see. The huge three walls created an effect that was overwhelming because it was hard to focus on one thing when you had to constantly turn your head to look at everything. During the main city scene the music captured the distressed feeling of the main character by increasing in tempo. Not only did the music help convey the chaotic feel, so did the typical background noises of cities, the hustling and bustling of people and the loud traffic and honking, all together created a cacophony of sounds. The point of the film was to portray the feeling of anxiety in crowds and also the sense of trying to stand out.

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue Project

Response to Krauss Article Krauss writes about the new form of artwork, video art, and how this new technique differs from more typical art practices like paintings and sculptures. Because when Krauss wrote her analysis, video art was just emerging and becoming popular, her ideas would differ if it had been written today. Video art became another unique way to create abstract and a more conceptual type art. Video art became widespread because there were so many different things that can be done with it; there wasn’t a specific set of rules to follow. For example, Krauss writes about the “Boomerang” video by Richard Serra and Nancy Holt, where Holt is wearing a headset and speaking into it, hearing what she says less than a second later, but still with a short delay. This is an example of where the artists had an idea that they wanted to film, but it wasn’t scripted, Holt just said whatever she was thinking, which was the art of the video. New technology allowed for instant playback and recording, this change of art from the more “typical” was what attracted artists. This type of art then became very conceptual and used psychology as a part of the video and therefor the art. Krauss also expressed the concept of narcissism in video art. Focusing on Jacques Lacan’s theory of using mirrors as a stage, where the artists themselves can become susceptible to narcissism. When the world of video art was emerging and the ideas behind the art had lots of thought and substance, now the concepts behind video art have changed. There are many platforms today like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, where video art can be displayed and viewed. These social media platforms and websites make it much easier to create video art of yourself or others. With better technology, editing has become easier and allowed artists to portray themselves exactly how they want to be seen, and not necessarily in the raw. If Krauss were in the virtual age of today she would probably look at video art differently than she had before. With the millions of videos on the Internet and unlimited access to them all, it changes what is considered video art. It is no longer the reflection of ones self, but it can be so much more than one single shot footage. Since it is so much easier to take a video and label it as video art, obviously some “art” has more variety and process to it than other video art. But when Krauss wrote her thesis, video art was so new and different, there was more thought on the psychology and concepts to be filmed versus today when filming is much more accessible. Not only is video art more established, there’s also another “form” of video art: GIFs. GIFs allow for short videos to be looped and can also be very popular among the world of “video art.” Today, Krauss would surely have looked differently on the whole world of video art because of how it has changed so quickly, but overall the general theme of video art being conceptual and “open” can still be found.

Cinemagraph

Augmented Reality Response With technology constantly improving, there are forms of art that come along with it, like augmented reality. The article that we read talks about the differences between virtual reality and augmented reality, which was created around 1990. Virtual reality lets the “user work on a virtual stimulation,” while augmented reality the “user works on actual things in actual space.” Augmented reality allows for human experience in the physical world while also layering on “ideas” with one’s phone. Using augmented reality on a smartphone is incredible because it brings the layer of the physical world and the layer of the objects on the smartphone together, creating a new form of art, media, and design. Augmented reality brings new concepts to the way an architect thinks of designing buildings and the ways they can step outside the box in their outlines. This type of art allows for artists to layer their own new information onto the already existing physical space that dominates the area. By using the smartphone to view their work does no damage to the space, but can still send a strong message and be very provoking even though you cannot see the art without the use of a smartphone. But while augmented reality can better the human experience, it also faces challenges. For example, now humans are so used to seeing screens and real time advertisements everywhere, like in Times Square in New York City, augmented space has essentially become the norm and is almost irrelevant in our everyday lives. The article mentions how urban architects are creating large projection walls into their architecture and projecting vides, art, images, etc. onto those screens, which is great exploration of this new technology and incorporation of architecture. But at large shopping centers and high-end boutiques the use of augmented space and the surplus of dynamic videos systems has becoming numbing to most people. In the mid 1990’s fashion started to use augmented space to create “intriguing areas” which “incorporate moving images.” High-end fashion brands started creating a mix of design and art gallery concepts into their stores. For example Prada incorporated electronic displays, which showed ethereal images,” next the clothing that enhanced their “special status.” This form of augmented reality allows for the audience and people in general to be “invisible” to the art behind the video and the reality of what they’re watching. The use of walls of screens in shopping and entertainment areas is making their form irrelevant to humans. In order for augmented reality and the use of smart phones in art to become “relevant again” artists need to do something unprecedented, like they have done in the past, and create another world of augmented reality and incorporate more new features, like the use of architecture and space along with the smartphone.