#avt 180

  What I found to be the most significant point in this article was the argument posed about the burden of originality in a piece of art work, and how because that burden has since shifted due to the advent of photography the context in which we’ve always placed art has also shifted. I agree that art should be less about the process and more about the social relationships between the piece and it’s audience, as well as about the social relations it depicts and what it has to say about society. 

Reading about the history of printing and the impact it has had on Art was also extremely interesting, as it highlighted how much the art world had already changed before the advent of digital technology. I’d never realized that Art actually has a history in technology, to my mind Art had stayed mostly non-tech form of creative expression until the advent of the digital age. I didn’t realize that when photography was first developed it entered through the art world, I thought artist didn’t start using photography till much recently. It was fascinating to read about how far back it really travels. 

          Specifically what stuck out to me about this piece was how surreal the descriptions for new media art felt. It was strange reading about modes and means that we just accept to be inherent to our existence today, in a way that presented them as the new innovations that they are. What really struck a chord with me, though, was when Tribe mentioned the fact that ‘94 was the year that the internet moved from being just a thing for “computer enthusiast” to being a household name. The reason this stood out to me was mostly the timing...I was born in ‘95. My entire life, the internet has been a household concept, so much so that his use of the phrase “computer enthusiast” actually made me laugh. It was even more amusing to read about New Media Artist exploring “identity” as what Tribe was describing was essentially a role-play blog. It was interesting to read about what I considered to be the norm in terms of the unfamiliar. Strange as it was to hear about a fandom-role-play blog referred to as a piece of New Media Art. Although I suppose essentially it fits the wide ever-changing definition of New Media Art. 

In the series Pureland and Burning Desire, we can see that it is based off of Japanese pop-culture.  However, there is a bit of a parody aspect to this work that can be seen by what I think looks that bad special effects.  These works look a little bit "cheesy" due to the use of added figures.  See below:

Burning Desire

Although I am not entirely sure how he creates his photos, it looks to me, that he paints, or somehow otherwise creates the backgrounds of his image, and then overlays a photograph of himself on it.  Below are my favorite from his website: