Category Archives: Research

Research

The Collapse of the Real and the Imaginary | Research Critique

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In the Washington Post article about Michael Flynn’s resignation, President Trump’s tweets can be seen as diversion tactics. He
responds to the controversy by assigning blame and shifting focus to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Trump shows blatant affirmation of media outlets that agree with him. In contrast, he labels critics as “fake news”, thereby casting doubt on their credibility. Furthermore, Trump brushes off reported facts as “conspiracy theories” fuelled by prejudice and “blind hatred”. He repositions these media outlets (i.e. the Washington Post, New York Times, CNN) as unjustly plotting against him, reframing factual criticism as victimisation.

Two days after, Trump goes further by proclaiming that the “FAKE NEWS media” (sic) is the “enemy of the American people”. This not only discredits the opposition, but indirectly suggests that Trump is, conversely, the ‘ally’ of the people.

Breitbart, Online Media & the Spread of Alternative Facts
Screenshot of Breitbart article

Similarly, the Breitbart article uses caustic writing, coupled with a potent but rather partisan word choice. Breitbart’s wide following makes it all the more dangerous as it propagates ‘alternative facts’ and worrying conspiracy theories such as the powerful hidden hand of the Deep State. This irresponsibly sows seeds of anxiety and
distrust among people. The article also presents interpretations and biased projections as infallible truth. It references sources at its own convenience, only bringing in that which supports their views.

The spread of such fake news has been accelerated by online and social media, which has become a go-to access point for many (be it for food recommendations, news or entertainment). An unfortunately apt illustration of the proverbial ‘empty vessels make the most noise’, it spreads news information through content virality — attention-grabbing thumbnails and headlines generate more interests and views. This coupled with our friends’ approvals through a ‘share’ or ‘like’ affirms its credibility.

What is worrying about platforms like Breitbart is how believable it sounds. To navigate current murky information waters, users need more than passive reading and instead require an investigative spirit to search for verification and source reliability.

Still from SNL sketch, featuring Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer

I believe humour can be a great entry point to these divisive issues. Satire and parodies like the SNL sketch comment on recent events with fresh perspective. Ironically, their use of exaggeration creates clarity — it probes dialogue by revealing and magnifying behaviour and subtleties that may have gone unnoticed. It also looks for the humour in an otherwise tense political climate.

A Singaporean Aspiration
Screenshot of the Online Citizen article
Screenshot of Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2016

In a short 50 years, Singapore has become a unique and
unprecedented phenomenon of economic success. However, this came at a cost; for one, there’s a clear monopoly in our news media. Many of us look up to the United States as the pinnacle of free speech, and an aspiration for young nations. However, with the
recent (mis)use of online media and President Trump’s views on press platforms, this Singaporean can’t help but wonder if the
longstanding edifice of the free press is crumbling, or perhaps was it only ever an idealistic facade?

References

Ashley Parker, Trump says Flynn was treated unfairly, a day after Spicer said he was fired because of a lack of trust, Washington Post, February 15, 2017.

Nolan McCaskill, Trump tweets: Press ‘is the enemy of the American people’, Politico, February 17, 2017.

Virgil, The Deep State Bumps Off General Flynn. Who’s the Next Target?, Breitbart News Network, February 15, 2017.

Video news report on Saturday Night Live’s satire on the TRUMP administration: Sean Spicer responds to Melissa McCarthy’s SNL performance, February 7, 2017.

Research

Hello everyone!

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Greetings from Singapore, the only place in the world where gum laws are more prominent than gun laws!

Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer with giant chewing gum

Yi Xian here, a third year interactive art student with a side bae called art history. Looking forward to our discussions in the third space over the next 2 weeks 🙂

Research

JenniCam | Research Critique

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A Brief Overview

JenniCam was a website which broadcasted the daily life of the eponymous Jennifer Ringley in her apartment using webcams. Every 15 minutes, viewers would see a snapshot of current happenings in Ringley’s apartment. The massively popular ’24/7′ site ran from 1996 to 2003, garnering millions of hits daily. Although Ringley has since gone off the internet grid, JenniCam is hailed as a pioneering internet performance project and phenomenon which sparked debates on privacy, surveillance, authenticity and exhibition.

JenniCam's first image
JenniCam’s first image
Webcams: From Windows 95 to Physical Window

The webcam’s single camera static view distinguishes it from the finished, multi-camera style of television shows or the personal style of handheld video recordings. In JenniCam, the webcams showed Ringley’s apartment as it was for most of the day: empty as she left for work. The default absence intensifies the human presence, lending the images an almost theatric quality as Ringley (or her cats) entered the ‘set’. Described by Dixon as “digital theater”[i], in this way, JenniCam organically played with balance, contrast and anticipation, generating interest on a global scale.

“… webcam as a technology that above all provides a digital window into another real time and space, thereby conjoining the actual and the virtual.” — Steve Dixon, “Webcams: The Subversion of Surveillance” in ‘Digital Performance’ (2007)

Jennifer Ringley lying on her bed
Jennifer Ringley lying on her bed

Following Dixon’s analogy, JenniCam was plainly a window where Ringley did what everyone does — laundry, shower, sleep, sex, TV. Each image revealed the next episode in the narrative of real life.

Jennifer Ringley doing laundry
Jennifer Ringley doing laundry
Jennifer Ringley nude in her room
Jennifer Ringley nude in her room
The Appeal of Authenticity and Mundanity

“It was its serene unpretentious banality, its innocent and tedious ordinariness, which left JenniCam standing apart and which made it the idiosyncratically effective theatrical event it became…” — Steve Dixon, “Webcams: The Subversion of Surveillance” in ‘Digital Performance’ (2007)

JenniCam had a resonating normalness and mundanity that media outlets attempt to create today. Its appeal lies in the authenticity of the individual and daily life where it was run by an (initially) unknown individual instead of a corporation or institution. Ringley also refused advertisements so the site remained as a simple window without imposing anything onto the viewer.

Furthermore, JenniCam did not separate the private and public spheres, baring both the mundane and intimate, as it was, to a global audience. Is it ironic that although technology has greatly improved since JenniCam’s days of low resolution interval images, and we can share snippets of life on-the-go, many online posts are now filtered, glamourised, and possibly less authentic?

References

[i] Dixon, S. (2007) “Webcams: The Subversion of Surveillance” (pg. 443-455), Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation.

Research

Jodi.org | Research Critique

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Screenshot of 'Jodi.org' by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
Screenshot of ‘Jodi.org’ by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
At First Glance…

Jodi.org is a web-based work by the art duo Jodi comprising Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans. Upon launching the site, users are immediately disoriented, unable to find an overall structure or familiar elements like ‘Menu’ or ‘About’ which we habitually use to navigate sites. Instead, the user encounters a chaotic mass of green on black ASCII code. From prior experience with the Internet, users will suspect that this is an error in the computerised system —
a glitch.

Screenshot of 'Jodi.org' by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
Screenshot of ‘Jodi.org’ by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
A New Aesthetic of Imperfection

Jodi.org deconstructs and draws to the surface lines of code usually hidden and obscured by designers. By stripping away the superficial appearance and revealing the workings of websites, code becomes the visual focus and content instead of a purely functional device.

“Find catharsis in disintegration, ruptures and cracks; manipulate, bend and break any medium towards the point where it becomes something new.” — Rosa Menkman, “Glitch Studies Manifesto” from “Glitch Moment(um)” (2011)

Embodying the spirit of glitch as articulated in Menkman’s Glitch Studies Manifesto[i], Heemskerk and Paesmans were pioneers of using code in a painterly way; they created an unexpected and beautiful disarray of elements by incorporating inevitable imperfections. Glitches, typically seen as erroneous, here
engender experimentation. Although not traditionally ‘aesthetic’, Jodi.org’s site deconstruction has created a new type of beauty and visual medium which has been assimilated into modern aesthetics.

Disrupting Flow & Subverting Expectations
Screenshot of 'Jodi.org' by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
Screenshot of ‘Jodi.org’ by Jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans)
Screenshot of 'Jodi.org' showing unexpected file downloads
Screenshot of ‘Jodi.org’ showing unexpected file downloads

The disruption of internet conventions subverts expectation and leads users to question the functionality of their browser. Has our computer malfunctioned and gone haywire? The work also unexpectedly downloads files and logs information such as current time and date, possibly making some users feel compromised and uncomfortable. As we typically have omnipotence over our browsing experience, this infringement of one’s privacy and browsing space makes users question the agency of their actions. Furthermore, each launch of Jodi.org brings the users to different websites, creating near-infinite variations of dynamic, non-linear narratives.

In this way, while fascinating and enthralling, the work is more than an aesthetic exercise and seeks to destabilise and deconstruct our understanding of the online medium.

References

[i] Menkman, R. (2011) “Glitch Moment(um),” Institute of Network Cultures.

More Screenshots of Jodi.org
Research

Telematic Dreaming | Research Critique

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A Brief Description

Paul Sermon‘s Telematic Dreaming (1992) is an interactive video installation connecting two separate locations via ISDN video conferencing. A double bed is set up in both spaces for participants to lie on and interact with each other remotely through video projection, cameras and monitors.

Still from 'Telematic Dreaming' (1993) documentation video, V2 October 1993
Still showing the darker room from ‘Telematic Dreaming’ (1993) documentation video, V2 October 1993
Still from 'Telematic Dreaming' (1993) documentation video, V2 October 1993
Still showing the well lit room from ‘Telematic Dreaming’ (1993) documentation video, V2 October 1993
A New Reality and Way of Seeing

The work goes beyond bridging the local and remote, creating a new reality in the third space. Participants are only together in this third space, visible in the monitor or telepresent projected image. Although video-calling is now ubiquitous, Sermon’s work is groundbreaking for its time. It presents the co-creation of narrative and experience through remote interaction in a third space, which has become an integral aspect of today’s Internet.

“And from this ubiquitous state of shared presence we have come to inhabit an entirely new way of seeing via a fracturing of perception.” — Randall Packer, “The Third Space” (2014)

Similarly, Telematic Dreaming alters perception and reality through sensory replacement. As participants lie on the bed and encounter each other as telepresent images, the seeing eye replaces the feeling hand. The third space rejects conventional ideas of time and space, and engenders new modes of navigation, creating a synesthetic experience.

Allowances of the Third Space

The double bed has psychological and cultural associations as an intimate, private space. Sermon subverts this by bringing together strangers who readily share this space and test the limits of this new reality and relationship. Their interactions suggest that people are open to intimacy in the third space and even boldly seek it, perhaps because it is “a space of invention and possibility… where participants might assume their avatar identities”.[i]

Although the third space has become our reality and can bridge vast cultural and geographical chasms, it nonetheless begs the question: Is it enough? The common expression ‘the human touch’ typically refers to some intangible quality of care and emotion. However, could it be as simple as warm, damp, physical contact?

References

[i] Packer R. “The Third Space,” (2014) in Reportage from the Aesthetic Edge

Research

Good Morning, Mr. Orwell | Research Critique

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In his classic dystopian novel, George Orwell presented a grim vision of 1984 with total surveillance, oppression and the tyranny of technology. Good Morning, Mr. Orwell (1984) is a refutation of this vision and instead shows the positive reality of 1984 where new media artistic collaboration between artists, musicians and dancers in a networked third space can bridge the chasm between different locations and cultures. The work was an hour long, cross-country performance televised live on New Year’s Day.

“[Video collectives during the 1970s and 1980s] attempted to democratize the media by facilitating people-to-people communication, altering the themes and aesthetics of commercial television.” — Randall Packer, “The Third Space Network” (2016)

Similarly, Paik — a pioneer and visionary of video art — used video effects to create a new aesthetic, and challenged viewer perceptions of the commonplace television and its potential as an artistic medium. Some segments of the performance distorted temporal progression and spatial limitations by uniting asynchronous elements into the same plane.

For example, in Merce Cunningham’s segment, delayed footage of the dance was underlaid, creating an illusion of dancing with himself and being in two ‘time frames’ simultaneously. The reenactment of TV Cello by Charlotte Moorman also distorts space when we see the host George Plimpton appearing in both our television screens and in the TV Cello at the same time, forming a new composite image.

Furthermore, Paik’s work was an ambitious collaborative project and arguably an early form of the ‘Do-It-With-Others’ approach with its “collective organization”[i] of artists from “geographically dispersed locations and situations”[i]. It enabled cross-cultural interaction and brought various artistic visions together in a single third space, which was then broadcasted live around the world. The technical difficulties faced during broadcast would become part of the work, lending it a sense of immediacy and equality as viewer’s watch the work unfold at the same time as the artists.

References

[i] Packer, R. “The Third Space Network” (2016)

Research

Please Change Beliefs | Research Critique

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Jenny Holzer’s work largely revolves around text in public spaces. Her iconic Truisms (1978-87) have been displayed in public spaces through a variety of means such as photocopied posters, storefronts, billboards, electronic signs and even T-shirts.

List of truisms from Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer
List of truisms from Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer

 

Jenny Holzer 'Truism' printed shirts from Uniqlo & MoMA
Jenny Holzer ‘Truism’ printed shirts from Uniqlo & MoMA


Please Change Beliefs (1997) is a development of Holzer’s earlier work in physical public spaces. She sets up her truisms in a publicly accessible virtual space where visibility is not limited by geographical locations or proximity, demonstrating the “collapse of the local and remote into a networked space or ‘third space’.”[i]

Holzer further expands on this idea of accessibility, which is intrinsic to open source, by allowing anyone to alter and add to the work. The title itself is an invitation to reconsider and rewrite these notions of truth. The altered truisms are a mix bag of insightful, ludicrous, dark, humorous, skeptical and optimistic. We inevitably identify with some of these appended truisms, destabilizing the seemingly fixed and timeless definition of ‘truth’. 

Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer
Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer


Although it is facilitated by Holzer, the work moves away from the conventional ‘artist-audience’ model to the “collaborative, many-to-many systems of writing [and] media-making”.[i] By partaking in this editing of truisms, the users are converted from audience to participant to contributor. Furthermore, the work functions as an expanding database of collective thoughts and ideas. It exemplifies the notion of a collective narrative created with a potentially infinite number of minds, coming together in a single ‘third space’.

Screenshot of entry for Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer
Screenshot of entry for Please Change Beliefs (1997) by Jenny Holzer
Text as Medium

As highlighted by Galloway and Rabinowitz, the “virtual space creates social situations without traditional rules of etiquette [and] diminishes our fears of interaction”.[ii] Contributors can proclaim these truisms, without attaching authorship or receiving backlash. Furthermore, the use of text instead of image makes it less intimidating as anyone connected to the web has an equal say. 

This, coupled with the sense of anonymity, are important factors in maintaining the rawness and authenticity of these altered personal ‘truisms’. Overall, I believe that Holzer’s work is effective in writing a global collective narrative, and does illustrate the following concept:

“This dramatically alters the act of writing and narrative, from the singular activity of a very personal form of individual expression, to a collective activity that is highly collaborative: all publishable instantaneously to a global audience.”

— Randall Packer, from “Collective Narrative” in the essay Open Source Studio (2015)

References

[i] Randall Packer (2015). “Collective Narrative” from the essay Open Source Studio.

[ii] Galloway, K. & Rabinowitz, S. “Welcome to Electronic Café International,” (1992) in Packer, R., & Jordan, K. (Eds.). Multimedia : from Wagner to Virtual Reality ([Expanded ed.). New York: Norton, 2002.

 

Research

Week 1 essay | Open Source and the Artist

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Not unlike the Dada performances at the Cabaret Voltaire during the early 20th century which revolutionised the roles of artist and institution, the open source system is our highly-connected and technologically-fuelled era’s retelling of this art historical narrative of intervention and opposition. Open source shifts the dynamics of art-making from vertical to lateral; anyone can be an artist, curator, participant and critic. It is an inclusive platform, not limited by space or traditional tastemakers.

Open source extends the social aspect of art-making further. Creators, netizens and our peers can provide constructive feedback and contribute to the creative process and product. The open source system can also be a channel of inspiration and learning as it heightens our awareness of contemporary issues and concerns, and allows us to witness ongoing projects by our contemporaries as they develop. This grants us insights into their creative process and methods which are equally, if not more valuable than the finished product.

Our school’s Open Source Studio (OSS) has helped cultivate this practice of sharing, collaboration and openness which are crucial today. Furthermore, OSS offers a comprehensive view of our practice. It does not separate or privilege finished works over ideation, work-in-progress, inspirations or potential projects. Instead, the OSS platform is an integrated reflection of our practice that serves as a portfolio, process log and archive simultaneously, all while remaining accessible to employers, our peers and practitioners all over the world.