Technology and Art

As tools, materials, and people evolve, so does art. With the almost complete interaction of the senses that technology can provide, art has found a new medium: 'telematics.' For instance, the 'Spiderman' ride at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure combines the senses of sight, sound, and touch for an entertaining and thrilling experience. This can also be seen with the exhilarating Mori, which emulates a real life earthquake. Roy Ascott claims that "the ubiquitous efficacy of the telemamtic medium is not in doubt." (Ascott 335) Due to the nature of technology, telematic art is more available and accessible than any other type of art.

For instance, my own Situational Tour has brought out my own interest in art via technology. Usually, I am content not mingling with cameras, but now, through this project, I am much more inclined to pick up photography. This project has allowed me to express my personal ideas, with photography to amplify it. This project has fueled my interest in film as well.

Film plays a big role in technology, both in what it provides in itself and what it depicts (relationship-wise) of man and technology. In George Lucas' first film, THX II38, mans quest for efficiency leads to a bureaucratized society where every man is forced to shave his head, which represents the loss of self-identity. Technology's power and influence rises, whereas man's is greatly regressed. In another film, 2001: a space odyssey, the artificial intelligence HAL 9000 helps bring many dark questions to light. Will our dependence on technology, and the need enhance it, become so great that we cannot live without it? Or worse, will it be given such intelligence that it will become its own lifeform and render the human race obsolete?

Finding an Idea

This is a story of a kid who is trying to come up with an idea for a school project: a picture narrative. What's interesting about the kid is that he sometimes thinks in poems.

The assignment is to find a place, take pictures of it, then develop a story from those pictures. This is a story of a kid who is trying to come up with an idea for a school project.



The Start

-Umm...I can take a picture of this escalator going into the light...maybe it'll stand for some kind of enlightenment.- *Click*

Bright Light!
Oh so it seems to seem,
underground from the station
my days have been a dreary dream,
but now comes Inspiration.

-Finally, my first Asian!...panda. This panda is colorful and has some sort of asian house thing going on on her chest. I'm not sure what's up with that but she looks friendly enough and can serve as a good prelude to the actual zoo.- *Click*

-I arrive at the Zoo. I think; am I looking in or looking out? I could Socrates it and talk about how the average human is caged and trapped by society- *Click*

Oh god! Can I not save,

one from the pitiless wave,

for all that we choose and do,

is in a zoo within a zoo.

-I'm seeing double...kinda. It's a fire hydrant and a picture of one...maybe I'll make a story about redundantness? Or maybe I can go sci-fi and talk about different realities and dimensions. *Click*

-Umm...a bridge. I think technology...Could I get somewhere with this idea? Maybe talk about technology bridging some metaphorical gap...or maybe i could make up a story about a bridge with monster like trolls underneath, that broke up out of the experimentation lab long ago, who are now guarding the bridge and charging a toll?- *Click*

-As I observe, I am being observed. Could this be a statement on privacy? I can't even go watch some animals at the Zoo without being watched...where is my privacy?!- *Click*

-Umm...a pathway. I can def. incorporate this into any story.- *Click*

-I feel this sign is inappropriate. It teases me into thinking that I might get some tender panda meat. I know this is socially unacceptable-to eat panda-so I decide to go see how cute panda's are. Maybe I won't be panda hungry afterwards...maybe I can get back to thinking up a narrative. *Click*

-Still looks tasty. Maybe I'll tell a tale of a boy with a panda eating fetish. He goes to the zoo and takes pictures of where all the cameras are, the security, and all that need-to-know stuff in order to steal and cook a panda.- *Click*

-I realized I just crossed the line about that panda eating thing as I cross this bridge. I'll go back to how the bridge connects things...How its symbolic of connecting two different species of animals for observation...much like when two different people from different countries communicate and the U.S. government observes them. - *Click*

-Umm...yes, I would like a mug of the animals trapped in their cages; just like I like merchandise of people who are caged into a life of loneliness and depression: celebrities?- *Click*

-On my way back to start, I spot this and I think of the generic food
they serve to the animals at the zoo.- *Click*

Hands guided-

pictures taken

reveal a useless story: a dream within

a lucid dream

a murky stream of conscience

guided hands

and taken pictures

from my own subconscience.

for all that we choose and do,
is in a zoo within a zoo.

location

I decided to change my location to the Zoo, mainly because I couldn't find my original place. The Zoo has many Zoo-like things: animals, little kids, animal housing, cameras, cages... On the way over I was trying to think of the narrative, but decided to wait and let the pictures give me a feel of what I wanted. I was hoping to try and connect technology and its effects with stuff one might find at the zoo.