Post #22 — Lecture — Bio Art and Artificial Intellegence.

Bio-art is an art form that utilizes natural bacteria to create a photograph of something. Strangely enough, as disgusted as this sounds, it actually works to an interesting degree: scientists take collections of bacteria, thin and careful tools, and then use those tools to paint thin layers of bacteria. These layers are later stored in warm rooms to preserve their image, kind of like how a student can tell a story to keep their public image in check, now that I think about it. Artificial Intelligence is another story that I find far more interesting, though. Programmable code that can hear a person's voice and respond as if they were a sentient being? Yes, please! But, at the same time, it is rather intimidating to think that they could take over the world if we make them smart enough to do so, thinking we can just "play God" and not expect anything bad to come of it. Sophia the Robot, for instance, is an extremely complicated AI who acts and speaks as human as she is programmed, which is not too far off from actual human movement and thought, which is rather spooky, if you ask me.

DISCUSSION:

Post #23 – PANEL DISCUSSION

 1.   The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1504, who was not really motivated when he created his artwork. The dimensions are 2’ 6” x 1, 9”, and this work is a two-dimensional oil painting. Sophia the Robot, however, is an advanced AI developed by David Hanson in 2016-17.

2.   The main question we are trying to answers is "Why are we trying to recreate humanity?" Since we are all afraid of death, we try to recreate ourselves so that we may live on somehow. 

3.   When creating the Leonardo da Vinci created his "Mona Lisa," he never anticipated that it would become as popular as it is in the present. David Hanson, on the other hand, had the highest hopes that his creation would represent the good in humanity, and it certainly achieved those hopes, if not exceeded. If anything, Sophia herself is like a modernized Mona Lisa that can walk, talk, and think.

4.   Yes, they both, absolutely, qualify as art. Sure, the forms they take differ extremely, but they qualify because they have both inspired and influenced their respective communities.

5.   Mona Lisa was, practically, a form of abstract art in her era. Now, in the present, the art style he uses is more common in the present, but back then, with all of the religious hyper-realistic artworks of men, it was very unique among them. Meanwhile, Sophia is a more common art form, but she has a unique gimmick to her: the complexity of her response engine and thought processing. Another idea is Mona Lisa’s metaphorical evolution—how she has become an icon that is constantly referenced in today’s media—and Sophia’s physical evolution with the numerous upgrades that are being built and programmed into her body.

6.   Overall, these two art forms can make people think of how we are always trying to recreate ourselves due to our fear of eventual and inevitable death. We are afraid of the future, and these artworks should qualify as potential recreations of the human body.

DISCUSSION:

Both Sophia and Mona Lisa are female icons who have achieve their popularity through their influences on society. However, their respective rises to popularity--their evolution--came differently: Mona Lisa evolved metaphorically into an icon after the "happening" that was her theft, and Sophia immediately become a popular AI when she was displayed for the first time, and has continued to physically evolve with upgrades since then. It was only after Mona Lisa was stolen that she would achieve her fame.

DISCUSSION 2:

Mona Lisa is a two-dimensional work that was practically "abstract art" at the time when she was first painted in 1504. Sophia is a three-dimensional complex AI capable of comprehending human speech and replying as if she herself were a human. Sure, we may have "Alexas" for that, but her response engine is far more advanced, which makes her stand out as if she were also a form of abstract art.

DISCUSSION 3:

In a way, Mona Lisa can be seen as a "meme," which is also, technically, a form of "internet art," as they can be crafted from anything and posted/fund online. The reason this is possible is due to her constant representation in various forms of electronic media and parody artworks. However, Mona Lisa breaks the typical rule of memes "living and dying" (basically, they are popular for a time until they are no longer relevant and/or mass-produced by users online) and remains relevant to this day.

Post #15 — Reading and GRQs — Thompson and Bordwell -- Film and Video History // Kate Horsfield -- Busting the Tube

1.)    Hans Richter, Richter

2.)    Walter Ruttman

3.)    René Clair

4.)    Germaine Dulac

5.)    Cinema Pur

6.)    City Symphony

7.)    "Vertical"

8.)    

Post #20 — Lecture — Computational Media and Digital Art

Internet art is a format of art in which users would formulate works of art by using computers as mediums. It is also  For example, Rafaël Rozendaal created websites for people to interact with. He also made these sites public, so that they would not be kept private. Post-internet art is the style of art that comes after—and expands upon—internet art. Creative coding is a type of computer programming used to create visual art and designs. Santiago Echeverry is a prominent figure who uses this coding to create his videos. One of these videos—called “SHAMANS”—features multiple figures dancing to the rhythm of the music Echeverry created via computer. Projection mapping is a technique that uses digital projectors on a surface to create the illusion of movement. Some commercials of present times use projection mapping to create advertisements for companies. Several effects are tested before the end result is released. You can create moving human faces, project horses on buildings, and even make moving skyscrapers.

DISCUSSION:

Post #14 — Lecture — Film, TV, and Video

·       Etienne Jules Marey was a French photographer known for taking “Motion Pictures.” Took multiple photos with one camera and overlapped them to create the illusion of movement, also known as "animation." One experiement on animation from Marey was "Sport in the Darkroom." Created the photograph gun to catch photos of people in motion. This was Chrono-photography by drawing each frame. Eadweard Muybridge took photos of a horse in motion to prove that, when a horse gallops, all hooves leave the ground. Muybridge would also create the zoopraxiscope by taking the horse phots, bending them at the top corners, and print them into a circular dish via paint. Louis Le Prince invented early motion-capture cameras. Unfortunately, he does not receive much credit for it. Thomas Edison’s laboratory developed the Kinetoscope. William Dickson tried to create the “kinetophone,” an experimental sound film in 1894, but failed. Luckily, years later, an unknown artist recreated it, improving the sound quality. The Lumière Brothers would introduce the first cinematographe, which had multiple functions in one machine. It captured photos/film, printed those same photos/film, and could even keep those photos together as a roll of film. Eventually, John Logie Baird created the mechanical TV.

      

      DISCUSSION:

Post #13 — Reading and GRQs — Arson and Mansfield Modern Art Excerpts

It is rather interesting how different variants of modern art were developed over time. Constructivism, for instance, was first used by Russian artists as a term for Cubist-based art. Curiously, it was was a concept for wood and stone sculptures. Carvings of wood and/or stone, to be more precise. Vladimair Tatlin was seen as the "Father of Constructivism," as he was a founder of Russian Constructivism. Counter-Relief (1915) and Model for Monument to the Third International (1919) are some of Tatlin's best Constructivist works. Counter-Relief is an interesting piece, built in a corner and held up by strings nailed into each wall, consisted of carved wood and iron attached together. Model for Monument to the Third International is a spiral tower with a slightly crooked framing, which is comparable to the structure of Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

1.)    That art, Constructivism

2.)    Visual texture

3.)    DADA

4.)    Futurist

5.)    Vladimir Tatlin

6.)    Aleksandr Rodchenko

7.)    Nuam Gabo

8.)    Varvara Fedorovna Stepanov

9.)    Chance

10.)    "Noise music"

11.)    Kinetic

12.)    "Art into life"

Post #18 — Lecture — Computational Media and Digital Art

Digital art uses technology to create art. For example, a person can use a 3D-printer to print a sculpture. That, or someone can use a computer software to 'paint' a picture of something. EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology) was an organization established in 1967 to 'develop collaborations between artists and engineers.' They were, essentially, a group of people who experimented with technology to create art. Basically, they tried to convince the world that computer graphics can be a form of art.  Michael Noll was the creator of two of the earliest 3D computer graphics films. "Computer Ballet" was the first ever computer animation film of humans, created by Noll in 1965. John Whitney would later answer the question, "Can computers really create animation?" through his own work. "Matrix" (1970) was a generative graphics films created by Whitney, and was practically the beginning of  'screen-savers.' This could fall under the category of invention, as it involves the development of a mechanical technique or device. The way these films were created was through the use of algorithms. Algorithms are 'processes or sets of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations.' There are countless social media websites online that use algorithms to generate several results for people who search for different things on the internet. Data can be consisted of anything; collections of tweets on Twitter, videos on YouTube, or specific pictures that are found on Instagram. Further down the road, computers would be used more and more as a paintbrush to create art. However, as the internet was born, people would learn that it could be used as a medium to make 'posts' online about their own works of art. This can lead to issues, however, as human error is still plausible in algorithms. Humans can make mistakes in coding, which leads to a misunderstanding in a computer's program. Speaking of 'mistakes,' happenings were performances, events, or situation arts used to describe art-related events. The term was originally coined by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s. He believed that art could be a seen and heard anywhere, not just on a canvas or on a pedestal. One example of a happening is Yoko Ono's performance, "Cut Piece," where people would walk to her and cut her clothes, stripping her down. The more she was exposed, the more aggressive people were with their cuts. Something was happening as Ono was up there.

DISCUSSION 1:

An example of internet art can be “Art in digital form,” by Jessie Johnson. This artwork was created when the Coronavirus was sweeping across the world, taking an immeasurable number of lives. These days, we have had to change our lives to adapt to this virus.

DISCUSSION 2:

Steryerl’s How Not to Be Seen provides insight on how easy it is to remove something or someone from the final cut of a camera recording. Today’s technology is so advanced, you could just select anything in the shot (in post-production), and erase it, making it invisible; unable to be seen. We no longer need the old technology we used to use, because newer inventions have taken over those roles, and even more. It could be inferred that the old technology of the past is slowly “disappearing,” since they are so rare and rarely used in present times.

DISCUSSION 3: