Lecture Wk5: Intro to Identity Online

Is the Web Browser Replacing the Art Gallery? | Idea Channel | PBS http://youtu.be/rdEZjZXirbA

SESSION #5

PLACE, FACE & CYBERSPACE

Some examples of previous students work:

• https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/213857/viewContent/2302613/View

 

The Brief:

• Instructions: Establish and develop a website as an online artwork that responds to the theme of ‘identity online’.
  • The website should be a resolved artwork that engages with the medium and intellectual context for Internet art and digital photography in an online context.

 

What are the key terms in this brief?

• Instructions: Establish and develop a website as an online artwork that responds to the theme of ‘identity online‘.
  • The website should be a resolved artwork that engages with the medium and intellectual context for Internet art and digital photography in an online context.

Interpreting the brief:

Note that there are essentially two constraints within this brief:

1. The THEME is ‘identity online‘. This means that the content and ideas explored in the project should engage with and comment upon the notion of ‘identity online’. It does not mean that you need to cover everything about this broad term. Indeed, we want you to find a focused specific issue, topic, experience or observation within this broad field.
2. The technical medium and intellectual context is Internet art and digital photography in an online context. Your project must work within the technical limitations and possibilities of the internet and digital photography online.
   The project should also demonstrate an appreciation of the historical precedents and theoretical discussions that are taking place about these developments and genre. You can include references and examples of other peoples work in your proposal and ‘About’ page, but primarily this will be demonstrated by the sophistication and resolution of your final project.

Some examples of real world briefs:

 

• Pause Festival ‘Connected’ Competition
• http://www.pausefest.com.au/
  
  THEME: ‘Connected’
  CONTEXT: an interactive digital art festival
• more examples of real world briefs – click here: https://acm202.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/screengrab-awards/
• Note that all these briefs fit the ‘THEME’ and ‘CONTEXT’ structure.

 

How can we begin to think about ‘digital photography in an online context‘?

• technical/material characteristics:

  • luminant screen,
  • limited pixels,
  • no colour management
  • hyperlinks
  • potential for movement (gifs)
    
  • what else?

• paradigm/ontological characteristics:

  • ephemeral – a set of numbers translated on call,
  • potential for movement (gifs),
  • omnipresent – viewable by many people in different places,
  • networked via hyperlinks and computer vision.
  • Becoming the dominant form of mediated communication?

• Examples might include blogs such as

  • Humans of New York http://www.humansofnewyork.com/
    See tv news story on HONY http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/humans-york-photog-viral-20550669 (6:25 minutes)
  • The Sartorialist http://www.thesartorialist.com/

What is ‘Online artwork / Internet art’?

• definitions

  • “Internet art is a kind of art that uses the Internet as its mode of dissemination. The art is often interactive and/or participatory in nature and may use a number of different mediums. This method strays from the traditional gallery and museum system and gives even small artists a way of sharing their work with a large audience.” http://www.techopedia.com/definition/25603/internet-art

• examples

  • Hypergeography by Joe Hamilton http://hypergeography.tumblr.com/
    (see also http://rhizome.org/editorial/2011/sep/13/hypergeography/ & https://paddle8.com/work/joe-hamilton/20868-hyper-geography)
  • Idle Self by Tom Hancock http://ani-gif.com/2.5/#tom-hancocks_idle-self
    (see also http://omnireboot.jerrickventures.com/phenomena/the-house-that-gif-built/)
    Note: not photography based but gifs can be made with photography
  • Rafaël Rozendaal http://www.newrafael.com/bio
    Note: not photography based but a good example of an artist whose work only exists on the internet.
  • Rrrrrrrroll is a project created by a group of friends from Japan that uses photography to explore animations (animated gif) based on minimalist objects and people that rotate on their axis. http://rrrrrrrroll.tumblr.com/
  • The Faces of Facebook by Natalia Rojas http://app.thefacesoffacebook.com/

  • Refresh by Leanne Wijnsma http://leannewijnsma.nl/refresh/7/
    

  • https://acm202.wordpress.com/tag/internet-art/

• history

  • 1993: Internet becomes a visual medium with the introduction of Mosaic browser
    
  • The Telegarden 1995-2004, Ars Electronica Museum, Linz Austria http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/garden/Ars/
  • Uncomfortable Proximity by Graham Harwood 2000 http://www2.tate.org.uk/intermediaart/entry15266.shtm
    “turns its critical eye on the very institutuion that commissioned it” http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/24/interviews.art
    See also http://www.mongrel.org.uk/texts
  • http://www.111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111.com (2001–present) by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung
    “His web-site “60X1.com” has culminated over 28 million hits since it debut and has set the highest records of traffic at the history of the webhosting company MediaTemple.net. The website won the “VIPER International Award- Internet” in the 2002 VIPER Internationales Festival Für Film Video Und Neue Medien (Basel, Switzerland), was given an “Honorary Mention- Net Excellence” in the 2002 Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) and included as an permanent collection at Museum Of Applied Arts Frankfurt ( Frankfurt, Germany). His works was reviewed by major newspapers including Liberation (France), Le Monde (France), El Pais (Spain) and La Repubblica (Italy).” – http://rhizome.org/profile/kennethhung/

What does ‘identity online‘ mean?

• ‘identity’ is a persistent theme in photography, pointing to the subjectivity of the medium
• OED Definitions of identity: “The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition of being a single individual; the fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.”
• Theory articles, for example,
  • Hogan, B 2010, ‘The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online’, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 377-86. http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ907222&site=eds-live
    Abstract: Presentation of self (via Goffman) is becoming increasingly popular as a means for explaining differences in meaning and activity of online participation. This article argues that self–presentation can be split into performances, which take place in synchronous “situations,” and artifacts, which take place in asynchronous “exhibitions.” Goffman’s dramaturgical approach (including the notions of front and back stage) focuses on situations. Social media, on the other hand, frequently employs exhibitions, such as lists of status updates and sets of photos, alongside situational activities, such as chatting. A key difference in exhibitions is the virtual “curator” that manages and redistributes this digital content. This article introduces the exhibitional approach and the curator and suggests ways in which this approach can extend present work concerning online presentation of self. It introduces a theory of “lowest common denominator” culture employing the exhibitional approach.
  • Zhao, S, Grasmuck, S & Martin, J 2008, ‘Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 1816-36.
  • more at https://acm202.wordpress.com/tag/identity-online-theory/

   

DEVELOPING A RESPONSE

Gain a sense of context:

• Beyond the face to face weekly sessions, it is your responsibility to inform yourself  – read and research the general field and your specific subject. The recommended reading list and further ideas blog has several recommendations ranging from introductory definitions and in-depth discussions of specific issues such as avatars, the relationship between place and cyberspace.
• Some broad introductions include:
  • Miranda, A 2013, ‘The new world of net art’, ARTnews 12 June1013 http://www.artnews.com/2013/06/12/the-new-world-of-net-art/
  • Prada JM 2009, ‘Wed 2.0 as a new context for artistic practices’, Fibreculture issue.14, November 1 http://fourteen.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-098-web-2-0-as-a-new-context-for-artistic-practices/
  • Stallabrass, J 2003, ‘Internet art: the online clash of culture and commerce – Reading 1. A new art, Reading 2. The structure of the internet’, Internet art: the online clash of culture and commerce 2003, Tate Publishing, London, pp. 8-23.
  • Bell, D 2007, ‘Why Cyberculture?’ in Cyberculture theorists : Manuel Castells and Donna Haraway, Routledg
    http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://deakin.eblib.com.au/patron/Read.aspx?p=356004&pg=16
  • Nusselder, A c2009, Interface fantasy : a Lacanian cyborg ontology, MIT Press

    http://encore.deakin.edu.au/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2561614

     

     

 

Chose a topic:

• What interests you in this field? Within the broad field, choose a specific topic that interests you.
  Note that you need to identify both a thematic subject – such as avatars or phubbing – and the technical framework for the theme – such as GIFs or Glitch.
• Beware of superficial and obvious responses
• Do not try to generate and evaluate your ideas at the same time – it does not work!
  Break it into two distinct phases – brainstorm THEN evaluate, cull and develop.

 

Note that you have a choice of online presentation platforms.

• WordPress
• Tumblr
• Wix
• Preszi

 

MORE EXAMPLES

•  Some examples of rhizome proposals here
• More examples of Internet Art here: https://acm202.wordpress.com/tag/internet-art/
  
• More examples on CloudDeakin in the second folder titled ‘Examples of Student Work’
  
• Of course, cats are currently dominating the genre … http://catleidoscope.sergethew.com/
  https://acm202.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/cats-on-the-internet-the-psychology-of-cute/
  

 

 

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