Final Project: Project Social Life

       Project Social Life. Project Social Life is an interactive online social performance. In this experiment, we test the power of social media in our lives and the effects of losing control over our lives. Our project revolved around Instagram. Instagram was our source, our outlet, and our dictator. To test this, we created a separate Instagram account and constantly asked the question, “What should we do next?” on our Instagram Story. There would be a poll attached to each question with two options sent in by our followers in the beginning of the experiment. Our group would then wait ten minutes and do the option with the most votes, following the idea that we have no control over our actions but social media does.

Sneak Peak:

       Our entire day was curated by social media and the decisions of other people we barely know. We wanted to show people the power of social media in our lives and how it feels to be puppets held by the hands of strangers. Much like Finding Uncle Roy, a Blast Theory work that focused around the concept of trusting strangers, we put our trust and life in the hands of strangers.  We started off the experiment in ADM NTU but due to the demands of the people, we ended up in Haji Lane after a long subway journey. I like the rest of my group mates, was in charge of the Instagram account as well as one of the “victims” of social media and the lack of control.

        While the entire point of our project was to embrace the unexpected and the unknowable, there were still certain aspects to our experiment that left us in a sticky situation. We were always stuck at a certain place for 10 minutes because we were unable to proceed without the say-so of our Third Space companions. And until we got a response we were unable to move because no one told us “what to do”. 

     For our trailer, we were inspired by Carla Gannis’s artwork, “Until the End of the World (2017)”. Not only because the aesthetics of Carla Gannis’s work is compelling, but also because the meaning behind her work relates to ours to an extent. “Until the End of the World” is about a girl who is engrossed in her handheld device (technology) to the extent that she has no awareness of what is going on around her; the girl’s dreams and reality have manifested within the cyber world. Due to the project, our lives have also become controlled by our handheld devices. We were constantly on our phones to see the results, post the results, and record our results. Even until the very end, we our lives were controlled by the theoretical third space and the physical smartphone. In modern society, our lives are dictated by the third space; it is not always negative nor always positive. It connects us by bridging together the restrictions made by geography but at the same time influences our behaviors and thoughts to accommodate to the collective whole. Project Social Life does exactly that. Through this we succumbed to the majority and did what others told us to do yet through this experience in the third space with other people, we not only learned to negotiate with these people but created friendships with them. Life is about balance. It is important to keep this balance regardless of the situation as this gives you the most successful and meaningful use of a situation. In the begininning of this year, my friends and I stepped into the first space known as the 4D room unsure of what to expect from the class. After one semester, we find ourselves in the third space; connecting with different parts of the world and working with entanglements that we face in our everyday lives with eagerness and quick-thinking. 

Final Trailer:

password: projectsociallife

Curating Them (in progress)

Curating Them is an interactive performance piece that explores the control of social media over a person’s real life decisions and our willingness to let it happen and shape our digital identity. This will play out over Instagram Story, using the poll function as our voting system. There will be two parties posting pre-determined questions at the same time. However, the choices will be decided by the other group and the audience will decide between the choices. The outcome will then apply to the other party. As such, the party will have no control over their day, which is solely determined by the choices the other party provides, and the choice chosen by the audience over Instagram Story. Our decisions and actions for the entire day is dictated by social media and ultimately the people behind social media. In the end people effect people, and use the form of social media to do so. This can be seen all across the world in television when a company wants to sell us a product by convincing us we need it or when movies alter our worldview or perceptions of an actor. 

A Whole New World

Throughout the semester our Experimental Interaction class has dabbled in a concept known as the Third Space through media like Adobe Connect, Facebook, and videos. We have also been introduced to different artists and artworks that have further expanded our knowledge of the affect and use of the Third Space in Blast Theory,  Furtherfield, connecting a boundaries, and creating a new world. And for three days straight, we will be doing an online symposium organized by Randall packer, ADM, and other guest artists. Each day invites different people to present a keynote and further explain the works  in the case of Maria Chatzichristodoulou and Matt Adams; or people to perform an online performance in the case of Annie Abraham and the School of Art Institute of Chicago.

Online Ensemble

Throughout the online symposium we discussed many artists and related it back to the overarching themes of interactivity with the audience and the artists, connecting the world separated by physical barriers, and embracing the idea of a new alternative world. Companies like Blast Theory have been working on ways to make an interactive media that creates novel forms of art that engages the audience throughout the internet. Blast Theory focuses on putting you in the center of the work by making you the main character, the “player one”. People like Annie Abraham have been breaking through the entanglement created in order to bridge the gap between human relations and the geographical boundaries. The idea introduced to us by Gene Youngblood is the big umbrella idea that encompasses everything mentioned above. His idea is that that we should create an entirely new social world. preferably built upon Television. This social world will be “liberated” from the conventional practices of the media and instead embrace community activism, radical theory, and artistic experimentation. There is so much opportunity for humans to  “liberate” ourselves from the customary to embrace the unexplored that surround us. We see in this symposium the people who have seized these opportunities and created something beautiful from it.

Day One of the symposium started off with a small introduction by Randall Packer explaining the purpose of the symposium and a short description of the guests. Shortly after the introduction, we moved on to our guest key-note speaker Maria Chatzichristodoulou (Maria X).

Maria Chatzichristodoulou presenting her Keynote

She introduced to us some artworks, artists, quotes that she believed best exemplified telematic art. symposium. She even dabbled in responding to difficult questions on whether Telematic Art has fully fulfilled its aspirations to connect artists and audiences across geographical the geographical landscapes. Later we were re-introduced to Annie Abrahams, a telematic artist who we had the pleasure of meeting and creating with. The performance itself consists of the members appearing one at a time, at first covering their cameras and each saying certain numbers with additional noise. The interesting thing to note is that though we could not see their faces, whenever they spoke, the border of their box would light up blue.

Annie Abrahams’ Performance

The Christmas lights synchronized with the beats of a Chirstmas carol, the boxes lit up with a rhythmic flow that harmonized with the voices of the performers. Soon we saw them removing the black screens and replacing them with objects, and started to voice overs of political sayings in a very dramatic tone.

Annie Abraham’s Performance

We got to see in real time the genius of Annie Abrahams’ ability to organize and manage such an event where things could go according to plan and might go awry. Maria Chatzichristodoulou even stated herself that Abrahams’ work has the ability to concern itself in “both communication and miscommunication, absence and presence.” Annie Abrahams performance connected us with people from all around the world with different backgrounds- thus breaking down the geographical obstructions that divide the world. And in breaking down these geographical obstructions, Annie and her teammates have created an alternative world where it encompasses around a global village.  about some of the artworks and then mention my opinions and feelings. This world is connected by its limitations, in the sense that bandwith and connection are the factors that allow people from all over the world to gather yet are the factors that also cause discrepancy during the gatherings.

Annie Abrahams Performance

Day Two began with another introduction by Randall Packer, for the guests who were not present on the first day. After this introduction, we were automatically ushered into the keynote speaker Matt Adams as he began to talk about the works created by Blast Theory as well as the history and technicalities that come with each of the unique works. Blast Theory is an adventurous group of artist who use interactive media to create unique forms of performance as well as interactive art that engages the audience individually or as a whole. Their performances are generally site-specific, live, digital broadcasts and come in the form of videos and games. Blast Theory has several notable works such as Kidnap, Uncle Roy All Around You, and Can You See Me Now?, and I’d Hide You. Kidnap and Can You See Me Now? are two fo the more video works that Blast Theory has made while I’d Hide You and Uncle Roy All Around You are two interactive games.

Matt Adams explaining the interactive quality of Uncle Roy All Around You

However, all works somehow find a way to engage the audience not only physically but also emotionally. This interaction happens in the third space (maybe not in the case of Kidnaped). However, analyzing Kidnap in more depth, I have noticed that though the interaction does not happen in the “third space” (the space created through the combination of the phsyical and media) but it’s own form of space.  Kidnap finds a way to connect with the people on another level that is not just the physical space around them but in this bond that arises between the Kidnapper and kidnapee.  I especially like the work I’d Hide You organized by Blast Theory that brought together four runners and through these runners we get to experience “the world through the runners eyes as they stream video: ducking and diving, chatting to passersby, taking you down the back alleys to their secret hiding places.” I would love to be a part of this game and found that the general feel of the piece reminded me of the action and adventure movie Nerve, where people are either watchers or players. The watchers must give the players crazy dares and the more dares the players do the more money they receive. Along this idea, I’d Hide You interacts with the audience as they are the ones who take the picture, hinder other players, and help their team. They are the brains while the runners are the body that we control to experience the world around us.

Matt Adams discussing I’d Hide You

My afterthoughts of the experience was wonder. I wondered how it was possible something like this came to be and how smoothly this flowed for something held online. Even physical meetings in the same room have the possibility of falling apart yet this Online Ensemble managed to flow with out any major hindrances. I would like to participate in something like this in the future and maybe even play a more active role as well as it seems like a new and engaging way to interact with people in a completely new world. This world has shown me so much and I am eager to step into it once more.

The online symposium was made possible by the hard work of every single person involved from the online moderators to the performance artists to the those behind the scenes. These people each brought something to the table whether it be to introduce us an idea or share a piece of their passion with us.

 

The Real Me

 

For my video selfie, I chose to record my self taking off my “disguise” and showing my real self. This is because when I was asked to make a video that would capture my “artistic alter-ego”, I thought what kind of artist do I want to be. The answer was simple, an artist who was confident, brave, and strong. But I realized that I can never that kind of artist if I am not willing to be myself first. I always believed that I had to art the way people wanted me to do it, little did I know that I could also do art the way I wanted to. I chose to use the mirror effect on photobooth because it distorted the view of my face as I was stripping myself of my disguise. This represents how I am not recognizable in my disguise but recognizable when I am my true self.

What does the Internet say about us?

“I am not a performer, I use performance to do research.

I am not a researcher, I use research in my performance pieces.

I am a performer who uses research as a medium.

I am a performer researching encounters.”

— 03 2011 Annie Abrahams

Annie Abrahams is a performance artist born in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands in 1954. She has a doctoral in biology from the University of Utrecht and a masters from the Academy of Fine Arts of Arnhem. Many of Annie Abrahams’ works are through digital media, creating  an omnipresence in our internet driven lives. She takes into consideration the issues of bandwidth, distance, separation, and even alienation that occurs online. We can access her work anytime as well as be participants for her collective pieces.

Though a simple daughter to a farmer in Netherlands has grown into an amazing artist who is credited as the first person to hold a  Cyposium. A cyposium is an online symposium conducted over the internet using the internet. Her choice of medium tends to be the internet as it is a place for her to ““study human behaviour without interfering in it.” Annie Abraham likes to ion focus her work on society (specifically the online society), the people in the society as well as they way the people interact within the society. Human’s interactions with the third space has become customary in this generation and sometimes we interact better through the third space than any other.

“I want to know how they function, not by them telling me, but by me almost forcing them to reveal an instance of their ‘hidden code’ in public. I want us to go beyond self-representation and the control that this requires.”

— Annie Abraham from the Please Smile on your Neighbour in the Morning Website

Using the online collaborative platform, Annie Abrahams incorporates the Cyposium with her own ideas in Angry Women. Angry Women  is an online collaborative work consisting of different versions but with an overarching theme– anger. One commonality in all these different versions is the anger, the anger each of the different women contain regardless of nationality and physical appearance. Annie Abraham asked participants to come online from the safety of their house to talk about what was irritating them or even angering them that day, sometimes in their native tongue or sometimes in English.

“negotiate ideas together in order to achieve a result that’s not just one person’s problem, one person’s effort, but it’s the effort of a group of people solving a problem collectively.”

–Disentangling the Entanglements from the Art of the Networked Practice

Annie Abrahams new symposium is titled “Online En-semble – Entanglement Training”, which will once again be held over the internet. This symposium serves to be a platform where her collaborative peers can come together to negotiate ideas with one another to find a solution. In this symposium, Annie Abrahams embraces the glitches and errors that occur during live internet calls rather than trying to gloss over them. Not just stopping at embracing, Annie Abrahams uses these “network entanglements” to help her further understand human interaction and behaviors. Her creativity has no bounds as she finds creative solutions to “fix” these entanglements; for example, when one camera started to glitch, Annie Abrahams encouraged the remaining participants to intentionally turn on and off their camera. Annie Abrahams quick thinking and creativity created a beautifully raw image on the screens of each of the participants.

“disentangling the entanglements”

 

MY Desktop MY Life

Screen Shot of my Laptop Desktop

The screenshot shown above is an unfiltered, genuine depiction of my desktop at the present moment. As you can see the files have yet to be organized and usually end up organized either at the end of every month or the end of the semester. This desktop is the evidence of post-cleaning. I generally like to keep my files out in the open during the school year so that I can see everything and have an easier access to it.  The desktop picture is a random picture I found online. I chose it not only because it is pink but because I have a fondness towards old/vintage motel/shop signs. My other desktop is a layered picture of a landscape from the perspective of someone on the pier. I personalized my computer so that my name can be seen in the top right corner.

Poke, Spam, Tag, Friended

A Response to a Response about a Response

Facebook. The original superficial website transformed and metamorphasized into something completely new and surprisingly meaningful. That is to say that Facebook has forged an entire generation of users connected together by a mere “www” on the internet. FaceBook at its prime was the main source of communication among friends and family, especially those whose loved ones moved overseas. Now, it has become a hubbub community filled with pictures, videos, games, and even companies that communicate with people from all over the world regardless of being “friends”. Through Facebook we have become exposed to so much information globally yet at the same time it still strengthens our relationship with those important to us. For example, we see a video of an amazing icecream parlour in New York, which reminds you of your good friend who you always go out to eat icecream together with. So you tag this friend or share the information with her and you start talking and reminiscing about past icecream dates or plan on a new icecream date. Also when friends update aspects of their life through Facebook, you are given an insight into their life, which fortifies the bond among one another.

In response to D.E. Wittkower’s article, “A Reply to Facebook Critics”, I understand where he is coming from. Facebook though with its own sets of problems should not be slammed by critics or put on a societal blacklist. It has served us so many boons as well as banes. Also, the idea of criticizing the application Facebook is erroneous in the sense that Facebook is not the application but the people behind it. Facebook is what is is because of the people you use it, we decide the way Facebook serves in our life whether it be to send memes to one another or if it is to get an insight into the lives of our friends who ultimately mean something to us or do not mean something to us.

“Facebook, for the most part, is people.”

D.E. Wittkower, “A Reply to Facebook Critics”

       Looking through Hasan Elahi’s work a whirlwind of thoughts went through my mind. From sympathy at the assumptions made based on physical appearance to marvel at the dedication behind his piece “Tracking Transience”. To constantly and consistently document ones daily life is a very tedious task that not many people can pursue. Even when I tried the “Super Participation” micro-project, I found it very difficult to document everything from significant events to trivial habits. However, I noticed that as the day went by updating my Facebook became more natural. Hasan Elahi’s work is genuinely candid and truthful yet has a satirical touch that can be experienced by not just the artist himself but also the audience clicking onto his website.
Screenshot from Hasan Elahi’s Tracking Transience Website
       Hasan Elahi, a normal professor at the University of Maryland, was brought into questioning at the airport due to a tip off about being a potential terrorist. He was later placed on the most wanted list. Though his innocence has been proven and he has been released from federal custody, he is still being supervised by the government. This led to surveillance art. Hasan Elahi’s surveillance art is comprised of his entire life for the the past several years, from credit card statements to locations and even phone calls. This way, not just the FBI but everyone can see and in a way serve as a witness to his story.
      Hasan Elahi stated that when he would tell people he was an artist, many of them would ask him “So what medium do you use?” We have come to the age in human history where art is no longer just limited to the traditional media but has expanded to site-specific instillations to collaborative web based artworks to even experience orientated art. “Tracking Transience 2.0” incorporates the digital with human experience and observation. We as the audience get to experience Hasan Elahi’s life the way he did but yet the experience is only limited to our eyes. This in a sense is like Facebook, we are deliberately entering the website to see what someone we know well or do not know well is doing. We want to know because we care, we care about the lives of others because in a ways it relates to our own lives. And “Tracking Transience 2.0” in a way has done that– relate to our lives. To those who love to post their daily occurrences on social media to those who feel paranoid over a presence even those just like to see how others live their lives. “Tracking Transience 2.0” in a way has touched our inner desire to connect and form relationships with people.
 (I cannot add an image. Every time I do, it states that there  is an “HTTP error”.)

Fresh produce at ANT Farm

 

ANT Farm is the name of a group of artists and architects based in San Francisco. These artists produced experimental work between 1968 and 1978, by incorporating a variety of different media such as; architecture, performance, happenings, sculpture, installation, and graphic design. Many of the pieces were archived using camera. And the works often focused its attention on the latest technologies only to critisize it make commentary on the effects it had on the American Culture, specifically video and television. ANT Farm was the product of, like many art movements of the past, a response to a current mode of thinking or predicament. America during the 1960s was full of rebellion, embracing the hippie movement, believing in being a non-conformist, and the birth of rock n roll. ANT Form built itself on these ideas and added a creative twist by incorporating video and new media technology. Examples of ANT Farm’s commentary work on the new technology or television can be seen in Cadillac Ranch, Media Burn, and the Eternal Flame.

“Ant Farm as a media collective was part of the communalism of the 1960s, the rock band, and the emphasis on collaboration and collectivity. Ant Farm also stood for the underground, where ants far from our view build colonies and communities.”

(Quote taken from Randall Packer’s Article on ANT Farm)

ANT Farm, “Media Burn”

ANT Farm’s Media Burn, made on July 4, 1975 at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, is a performance, spectacle and media critique. The basic premise of Media Burn is that it is that ANT Farm set up a collision between two of America’s most cultural symbols, the automobile and television. Even in Cadilac Ranch, we can see the focus on automobiles as not only a cultural icon but also as a metaphor for an even bigger commentary on society. Eternal Flame also plays on the idea of video and its impact on us as we watch the videos content as a physical and digital audience. The collision previously mentioned before is not just a simple collision of ideas or sides but a physical collision that led to fire and the destruction of the TV wall and the car.

Reflecting the ever growing  dependency on television, especially for political purposes or encouraging passivity, Media Burn prerecorded an “Artist-President” who gave a speech on the effect on mass media on society, “Who can deny that we are a nation addicted to television and the constant flow of media? Haven’t you ever wanted to put your foot through your television?” And as the televisions display this speech, a 1959 El Dorado Cadillac convertible crashes into it. This piece uses the car once again, as a cultural symbol (as seen in Cadilac Ranch) to address the pervasive existence of television in everyday life. They even recorded this artwork using the same media ANT Farm was making a commentary about.

This work caught my attention. Not just for the fire or the weird combination of seeing a wall of televisions falling on top of a new car. But because it manages to utilize two different icons in order to depict the commentary about our society. ANT Farm has manage to embed so much meaning into these respective icons and create a breathtaking performance. The irony of this work is that the “artist-dummies” that are driving the car being guided by the elaborate monitoring television system to their inevitable destination, which is a big wall of television sets.

(Not finished)

DIWHAT?! DIWO! DIWOAH!

DIY and DIWO

For years, it has all been about doing it yourself also known as “DIY”. DIY is not necessarily a bad mindset to have or a bad process to practice but it is certainly not the only option. There is the option of doing it with others, allowing us to not only learn from one another but also build upon the innovations of others. But maybe it is due to the individualism, society keeps encouraging or the fear of losing ownership of our creations that encourages the “DIY” culture. Regardless, doing it yourself is important, it teaches responsibility, a sense of direction, and perseverance. But as I mentioned earlier, there is also the option of doing it with others. This option is equally as edifying but possibly with a larger final creation.

“In 1996 artists Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett initiated an online platform for collaboration and experimentation, informed by community arts, pirate radio, activism and street art. Inspired by free and open software development they challenged notions of the individual genius artist.”

  • – Official Furtherfield Website

DIWO and Furtherfield

Screenshot of the Adobe Connect Meeting in Session

This online community is called Furtherfield. And the inspiration led to the ideation of “Doing it with others”, or in another words “DIWO”. This term was officially coined in 2006 by Furtherfield and has inspired so many people and organizations throughout the years of its establishment. This concept of an open collaborative platform that creates thought provoking, creative statement pieces with the help of others has inspired a plethora of people around the world and rewrote an entire mindset focused on the idea of individualism.

Doing it With Others has in a sense inspired the entire conception of Open Source Studio (OSS). Open Source Studio is built upon the foundational ideas of an open online studio for students to share their sources and creations with one another in hopes to inspire and encourage one another through their journey as growing artist. The impact OSS has left upon the students of ADM is profitable not only as students but als.o as we step into the real world. Working with OSS not only introduced me to Furtherfield and their works but also improved my sense of responsibility and the practice of recording my process. I hope to see OSS create further impact on the growth of emerging artists and can not wait to see further impacts Furtherfield will have on our generation.

Screenshot of the Plantoid Piece during the Adobe Connect meeting

The “Plantoid” piece introduced to us by Marc Garrett peaked my interest, not only for its beauty but also for the process that created the flower. And with every new flower, there is a set of instructions that the artists must follow, making the flowers unique in their own way. Incorporating something so natural like flora with something so unnatural and man made, is heartwarming. Because it shows that we humans can coexist with nature in a relationship that is neither harmful to one nor advantageous to the other. In a way, it is showing us how we need each other in order to function and survive. Also, the way the flower actually reproduces in different places all over the world is very breathtaking.

DIWO in the Third Space

Many of Furtherfield’s work deals with incorporating the ever-advancing technology into its creations. From the basic use of the open software available on the internet to digital artworks, the affect of DIWO is not just on a physical collaborative level but a digital collective level. Though not a Furtherfield projects, works like “Hole in Space”, “Please Change Beliefs”, and the “World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence” incorporate the ideas of doing it with others in order to create a collaborative piece where not only is the artist the artist but also the people who contributed to its creation.

And not only does doing it with others often lead to the creation of a third space, the process before the doing is also a part of the third space in itself. The online community is a third space while the art works they create also are in the third space. And though we cannot be in the third space and first space simultaneously, we can take away information and skills learned in the third space and apply it to the first space.

DIWO in NTU 

Our projects in school though not necessarily labeled DIWO in our school, is built around the ideas of working with other. Majority of our microprojects in our Experimental Interactions class require us to negotiate with our classmates to create works of art. From projects like our Telematic Stroll and the Telematic Embrace, negotiating and doing it with others plays a strong importance in our works.

DIWO in the Future

I can see myself using the ideas in DIWO in my future art pieces, especially those pertaining to my Experimental Interaction class. Especially, because Experimental Interaction class gives its students so many opportunities to really experiment with different media and execution methods. In other classes, the extent of DIWO stops at just bouncing ideas off of each other; however, in Experimental Interaction projects, I can actually incorporate others into the final outcome of my work.

Experience of adobe connect

Adobe Connect Meeting

My experience with Adobe Connect has once again been very successful, and the more I use it, the more I seem to gravitate towards it over other video calling platforms. The connection and quality seems to be very good and even the way multiple people can be online without suffering from discrepancies is a feat on its own. I truly enjoyed this experience and feel that we should have a good balance of classes or projects through Adobe Connect.

 

 

THIS ART IS GLITCHIN

THIS ART IS GLITCHIN’

When we hear the word glitch, it’s never a good sign. If a program glitches then it creates more problems than advancements. But in this case, we want to glitch. Glitch in itself is an amalgamation of ideas and inputs that create a whole new invention.

As one of our mini-microprojects, we split ourselves into groups of fours or five and each put in a picture of ourselves in dropbox. We would all take turns creating alterations, “glitches” to the pictures. Accumulating the glitch until our final picture (done by the last person) was finished.

Original Glitch
Glitch Stage 1
Glitch Stage 2
Glitch Stage 3
Glitch Stage 4 (Final Stage)