I have been thinking about creating an interactive web exhibition, or specific artwork for the website for a while now and as yet have not found any artists working this way (let me know if you are out there in NZ).
Then, I was shown for the first time the interactive digital art of Karl D.D. Willis over the weekend. It is an "interactive installation which invites the participant to write, draw, and trace images in real physical space using a series of light sources"(Karl D.D. Willis). Creating all sorts of amazing imagery.
Some of you may have seen 'Light Tracer' when it was profiled in the news a few years ago but for those that haven't here is a link to more information on it.
He has also been working on a project called twelve pixels which explores
"the role of the mobile phone as a device for creative expression"
Have a look at it here.
An amazing kiwi talent out there creating cutting edge works that could fit in an art gallery as much as in a science museum. It makes me reconsider what is art and what is science. With the web becoming more 'interactive' and 'social' it reminds me of a science museum. Especially for children or teens, those kind of museums were always the most fun, does art have a place in this type of activity?
If you are out there Karl how about creating something for our Auckland Art Gallery website to take this a bit further :)
you have to give it a try hey!!
3 comments:
I think it is a great idea to thinking about using the art gallery's website as another exhibition space.
There are a number of institutions globally that have begun collecting online works the Whitney in America is an excellent example http://artport.whitney.org/. Framed as a collections, rather than temporary exhibitions, these institutions are also demonstrating an interest in the conservation of these works.
Closer to home you might like to check out Window, an Elam initiative that runs an online gallery parallel to a physical space. Window has been operating very successfully now for at least four years. Their Auckland-based archive demonstrates that there are a number of artists producing work in New Zealand for the web.
http://www.window.auckland.ac.nz/archive.php
There are also a number of artists creating installation based interactive digital art in New Zealand. You may have seen Sean Kerr's recent work now installed at MIC http://mic.org.nz/events/exhibitions/present/mirror-states/ or, more subtlety, Kentaro Yamada & Jamie Kydd at the Newcall gallery? http://eyecontactartforum.blogspot.com/2008/07/brownian-motion.html
I have done research recently on similar questions to yours about interactivity and its position in art.
In a piece that is definitely worth a read (despite its hyperbole) Erkki Huhtamo tackles a few questions that have been raised about interactive digital works, including your question about if these works belong more to science than art, here: http://www.maryflanagan.com/courses/2002/web/SevenWays.html
Similar to Willis' twelve pixels Sean Kerr has also explored the use of cellphones in his work; most memorably for me with his 2002 Binney Project for Te Papa. http://rhizome.org/object.php?o=7196&m=1000106
Hopefully this is some food for thought, and the start of an exciting new project for the gallery?
Wow Jaenine,
thanks so much for the comment, great to get such useful feedback. I already knew about Windo as a physical space but didnt know about their online gallery. i definitely have some research to do now. i'd better go and get reading.
Cheers
You are truly welcome, I am always grateful for the chance to promote digital art and artists. But I am not alone here in NZ, many in this field come together through Aotearoa Digital Arts (ADA) http://symposium08.aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
Let me know if/when you run out of reading material. A while back I ran a course for the University of Auckland on Digital Art, so I have much more up my sleeve...My favorite web resource being this German site of encyclopedic proportions: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/mediaartnet/
All the very best!
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