Category Archives: Internet Art & Culture

Project Hyperessay #2 – Technical Realization

I went to try having both YouTube Live and Periscope on at the same time. As periscope had more people watching, it was more interactive on periscope.

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It was also quite different having to broadcast on two different platforms and also have my friends in front of me.

People could hear what I was doing in the room over the internet together with my friends.

 

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Some  of my friends were curious and even asked me what I was doing. At some points I was so comfortable being online that I was talking to people who were watching me like they were my friends. I also asked the internet what kind of eyeliner I should use today and someone replied.

I was on Youtube Live also and also learnt to use the basics of Livecast on my computer.

 

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Overall, I realised that it was very interesting to broadcast at the same time on two platforms. At some point I felt like I was on Jennicam.

For the final showcase, I would like to go live on both periscope on my phone and Youtube from livecast  and I was wondering if I could do it in an open space like the lounge in school where I can have people talking to me in the first space and also interacting with people in the third space. I find it a lot more spontaneous when I have people talking to me in the first space and also the third space.

In addition, I would first ask the third space on eg. what color of eye shadow I should use etc. Then, if I do not get a response I would ask the first space. In addition, I would also like to have random conversations with people in the first space while I do my make up.

 

Project Update

I went to try a little trial for the final project and tried to choose the right title to ‘hook’ the audiences. Even though, I did it in the afternoon I had a few audiences from different countries.

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I realised that it was better to not put the country where you come from because some people might not scroll to where Singapore is on the map and watch us.

In addition, the name ” Makeup Transformation” was quite an effective hook i realise as people knew what to expect when they are watching it.

On the other hand, I also realised that it was good for me to respond and talk to people commenting as it made me feel like there was a connection between the audience and me. Also, audiences liked it if i were to talk more when I performed. It was a very interesting experience. I felt that some of the conversation was similar to the ones we had when we were on adobe connect. It was random and very entertaining.

 

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Overall, I think I did enjoyed it alot. Even though it was just a small preview to what I was going to do on the actual day.

I initially wanted to not talk to the audience but after that I realised that It does not really work. So I would do that on my actual performance also and I would like it if more people commented.

Project Hyperessay #1: Concept of Identity

My project will be a live perfomance of me transforming myself into different looks using make up. I would like to translate myself physically in the first space to the language of what can be done in the third space in virtual form. Taking for an example, the changing into a disguise in real time that is shown on  Grand Theft avatar.

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Changing of appearances online

I’m thinking of transforming myself to look like a boy and also after that have a 10-15 minute Q and A session with whoever comments using this “identity” that I have created using make up and then transforming myself to some one else afterwards and then having the Q and A session again.

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A preview of what I will do on my live performance

I think that performance like this plays into the portrayal of celebrity as people who tend to put a persona forward to entertain people. However with a twist as you see the process of how this “persona” is formed. The process is usually done in private and I would like to make the private process, public.

Moreover, I love that the third space allows me to explore what it means to do a live performance art from the comfort of a small space without people physically being there with me.

“The artist studio has traditionally been a finite space, defined by its physical walls, flat file cabinets, table surfaces, portfolio cases, and print racks.”- Randall Packer (2015). “Collective Narrative“.

It is great that the internet has allowed me to not limit myself to the physical world.

In addition, I would also like to explore and find out how the conversation might change depending on how I look.

“Billy Klüver regarded this phenomenon of the active participant as a liberating experience, untethered from the seat, and given mobility and choice to shape the outcome of the experience. The viewer in this sense becomes a “composer” of his or her own experience, pulling the levers (however abstract) of a work’s dynamic of interaction, which serves to heighten the experience of the in-between and its believability, breaking the now arbitrary fourth wall, to engage the viewer as an active participant.” Packer R. “Between the Real and the Virtual“,(2014) in Reportage from the Aesthetic Edge

As what Packer said I do feel that by engaging the audiences through a Q and A session, they do have the freedom and power to shape their own experience and also break the fourth wall. Thus, blurring the lines between what is real and virtual.  Through this, I would like to see how people’s treatment of me as a person changes through appearances in the third space. In addition, my own reaction to my own appearances in the third space.

Project update

After doing the Jennicam review and having more ideas about the third space, I would like to do a live performance art of me doing make up but I’ll transform myself into different personalities. Eg. I could transform myself to a tom boy, or I could change my hair to purple by wearing a wig.

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By using different makeup I can transform myself. Similarly it reminded me of how people can easily change how they look online as we did see in Grand Theft avatar. By changing how we look, we also sometimes do change the way we interact with people and how we act.

I would like to explore this idea. I think this would effectively comment on the internet of how we are able to embody so many different characters that we are in the third space and still be able to function in the first space. Additionally, it also questions our identity in this world.

In addition, I would like to use periscope to broadcast this. It would be interesting to also track how people comment as I change the way I look and seemingly appear as a different persona to others. Moreover, people might come to see my video when I have already did my makeup and think that I look a certain way. It will be fun to see people’s reaction and it is an interesting social experiment to see how the people in the third space interact with each other when looks is the changing factor.

 

Half and half. Power of make up and hairstyle. #makeup

A video posted by Angel C. (@revivalblessings) on

Research Critique : JenniCam

Jennicam was started by Jennifer Kaye Ringley who was considered as someone who pioneered the idea of livecasting.  She was 19 years old when she did her first live show in 1996.

In 1996, many people had just started to broadcast things on their webcam. However, no one was in the footage . People would post things like the footage of a fish bowl.

Jennifer changed how webcams work with the internet when she

“begins uploading pictures of herself to the web. Refreshed every three minutes, JenniCam.org displays black-and-white images that track Ringley’s daily activities, which ranges from mundane tasks and chitchat to stripteases and sexual activity.” – , April 14, 1996: JenniCam Starts Lifecasting

The website would automatically update with an image of her dorm room every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This is, supposedly, the first image taken on Jennicam.  

“It was basically a programming challenge to myself to see if I could set up the script that would take the pictures, upload them to this site,” says Ringley. “Just to get that happening automatically, and I shared it with a couple of friends, kinda ‘look, I got this working.” – OUR SELF-AWARE TRUMAN SHOWS Jennicam And The Birth Of ‘Lifecasting’

People began to watch her stream and it slowly moved on to livecasting videos from her webcam. She basically ‘lived’ on the internet for 7 years after that.  It was interesting to note how she said that being live on the internet has changed her.

“Ringley talked to Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt from the Reply All podcast a few months ago about her trailblazing ‘90s digital presence, which got up to 7 million hits a day. “I had to develop a really thick skin, for both the good stuff and the bad stuff,” she explained, emphasizing how difficult the relentless, increasingly performative experiment could be as her fame grew.”- Kate Knibbs , Jennicam: Why the First Lifecaster Disappeared from the Internet

Jennifer did not feel like she was giving up her privacy as she said in her website that she feels like she is still alone in her room.

Q: Why are you giving up your privacy like this?
A: Because I don’t feel I’m giving up my privacy. Just because people can see me doesn’t mean it affects me – I’m still alone in my room, no matter what.

This is a very true observation as many people doing YouTube do claim that are talking to a camera and essentially is alone in their room.

However, the viewers have  a different experience from broadcasters. They feel that they really in with them in the space or have a relationship with them.

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It is interesting to note that Jennifer has faded into online obscurity. She has no Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account. What does that tell us?

 

Micro-Project: Glitched Aberrations

I played with the photos but it is kind of weird that mine became black and white. I love the effects though.

I think I do something like a blind glitch

So I go crazy on the code first without seeing how it looks like.

Kind of remind me of taking pictures with film where I compose the picture first but I don’t see the results until I develop the pictures.

Before:

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After:6860675432604365221_o
My lunch
Before:
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After:
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Final Project

I would want to do a live streaming of the game, “cards against humanity” which I will be playing with my friends.

“Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.

The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a black card, and everyone else answers with their funniest white card.” – cards against humanity

I think it will be fun to live streaming together with my friends playing together with me in the third space. In addition, because of the nature of the game, I can actually ask the audience or people tuning in to watch the live streaming to ‘participate’ too in the choice of the cards.

This gives the audience an experience that they can also participate in the live streaming.

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The Shredder & Riot by Mark Napier

In this piece by Mark Napier, The Shredder is an alternative web browser that turns web pages into digital confetti in which it sort of “tears” the website and mixes the layers that we don’t usually see in a “well done” website.

It somehow mixes code with the usual website and presents a kind of abstract way of looking at websites. It visually presents a digital reaction between code, image and information.

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Although this was done is 1997, I feel that this was very advanced as a piece of art that critiques the internet. It raises up a new perspective for people as everything on the internet is essentially made up of codes.

The deconstruction and the rearranging of these elements: codes, images, brings forth a refreshing look at the internet. shredder_entry_box_detail_wired_3

On the other hand,the work “Riot” which was done in 1998, a later year, seems to be an upgrade from ” The Shredder”.

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It merges web pages together as users surf from site to site.blends web pages together as users surf from site to site.

“Visitors surfing with Riot see their own pages merged with pages from other users.” – Mark Napier

The concept of a multi-user browser still baffles me as I would view it as not functional which made me think of this quote that I read :

“I learned about myself in that moment – about my expectations and conceptions of how a videogame should work. The strange game seemed only to return me to my own perspectives and expectations around the medium that it was failing to be.” -Menkman, R. (2011) “Glitch Moment(um),” Institute of Network Cultures

This was definitely a reflection of how I already came with expectations for the browser, something that I have been using in a certain way since I could use the internet and when something comes along and disrupts the ‘order’ of things that I expect it to be, I would view it as it is dysfunctional.

This is a perfect example of what coders might consider as a glitch and it does definitely have,

“potential to interrogate conventions through crashes, bugs, errors and viruses” – Menkman, R. (2011) “Glitch Moment(um),” Institute of Network Cultures

as we start to question what are the expectations that we have for a functioning website?

Pirate Broadcasting Part II

For my micro-project, I did my homework live in front of an audience. It felt really weird having a live broadcast. I was making pictures using cyanotype and I really fumbled a lot of times because I felt that I needed to entertain the people watching.

 

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It was hard to do things with my camera in the way so i attached a selfie stick to my body so that I could use both my hands while doing work.

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It was really weird that I rambled on and on and I realised that I have been live for 24 minutes, till my phone ran out of battery.

 

It was definitely a different experience for me doing videos live compare to my Youtube videos which I can edit and take my time to think about what I want to do or say.  Live television definitely ‘forced’ me to think on the spot. It was also really weird that I could see how many people are watching me and yet I do not really see them.