New Media Artist
Encyclopedia
A New Media artist may use the following media to create works of art: The Internet
, computer hardware
, computer software-servers, routers, personal computers, database
applications, scripts and computer files. These artists use the aforementioned technologies in conjunction with video and computer games, surveillance cameras, wireless phones, hand-held computers, Apache Web server, Hypertext Markup Language and Global Positioning System
devices (GPS). The Dada
and Pop art
movements greatly influence New Media artists and provide a foundation from which to borrow and reinvent conceptual and aesthetic ideas.
and Dada
influence the conceptual and aesthetic roots of New Media art. (Tribe2007 p. 7) The photomontage
and readymade occur multiple times throughout various New Media works.
In the genres of corporate parody and hacktivism
, influences from Pop artists play a highly influential role for New Media artists. Claes Oldenburg
designed in a collaborative effort the Second American Revolution
monument for Yale's school of architecture in the 1960s. A caterpillar tractor of painted steel, aluminum, and fiberglass tip which subverts the warlike reference by casting a large tube of lipstick in place of a missile, in protest of the Vietnam war
. both humor and critical approach were used to drive home a definitive anti-war statement and sentiment.
New Media artists approach differs in that the audience must interact and come to find their own conclusion. The message is straightforward but arriving there requires thought and investigation into the deeper message. An example of this is seen in CarnivorePE, a parody of FBI surveillance activity. CarnivorePE was designed by the Radical Software Group, founded by Alex Galloway in 2000 with a team of artists. What comes into question is the whether the use of technologically sophisticated devices on everyday citizens is reasonable, and what is the rationale behind the practice. CarnivorePE was in response to a digital wiretapping software called Carnivore which the FBI used to surveil internet traffic in the 1990s. Agents could listen into chat room conversations and emails. The software uses an open source tool called a packet sniffer
to listen in on the network on which it was installed. This detects the packets of data that make up emails sent and received, text and images posted online and websites browsed by individuals on the network. The data harvested is then used to develop clients: which is raw material for artistic interfaces. These clients are produced by New Media artists who then used an animated Flash
interface to create brightly hued translucent circles to represent each active user. Each is represented with a different color; deep green, for example, represents someone using AOL
. The intent of these artists is to observe the utilitarian definition of surveillance, examine the use of it, and then to construct an artistic spectacle which demonstrates perhaps that wiretapping on ordinary citizens can be a spectacle in of itself. Software is then transformed into a colorful work of art with moving images and a powerful message.
Pop artists' main goal was to expose the power of commercial culture interestingly, while both embracing and parodying popular culture. In contrast to Pop art, New Media artists commonly employ a level of absurdity or purposeless.
Vuk Cosic, a Slovanian artist trained in archaeology, is among one of the pioneering New Media artists. He also coined the term net art. For his piece, he uses ASCII characters to construct images. It is not a new practice for artists prior to the 90s to construct images using this method, and these images can be made manually or by using software that converts images into ASCII characters. Cosic then incorporates the use of films and television programs to convert these images into animation with a retro-futuristic aesthetic. .
Manfred Mohr
influenced by German philosopher Max Bense
and French composer Pierre Barbaud, created hypercube
s founded on a constructivist
, algorithmic aesthetic. In 1969 he used a computer to superimpose multiple rules and found that this was the only way possible to superimpose multiple rules without losing track of the general concept. This strategy made the information become deeply buried and a certain participation is demanded from the viewer. Each work is based in a subset of a defined structure, ranging from cubes to 6-dimensional hypercubes.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, computer hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
, computer software-servers, routers, personal computers, database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
applications, scripts and computer files. These artists use the aforementioned technologies in conjunction with video and computer games, surveillance cameras, wireless phones, hand-held computers, Apache Web server, Hypertext Markup Language and Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
devices (GPS). The Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
and Pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
movements greatly influence New Media artists and provide a foundation from which to borrow and reinvent conceptual and aesthetic ideas.
Examples and influences
Pop artPop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
and Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
influence the conceptual and aesthetic roots of New Media art. (Tribe2007 p. 7) The photomontage
Photomontage
Photomontage is the process and result of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture was sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not...
and readymade occur multiple times throughout various New Media works.
In the genres of corporate parody and hacktivism
Hacktivism
Hacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
, influences from Pop artists play a highly influential role for New Media artists. Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
designed in a collaborative effort the Second American Revolution
Second American Revolution
The first American Revolution spanned from 1775 to 1783, after which the United States received recognition of independence by and from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
monument for Yale's school of architecture in the 1960s. A caterpillar tractor of painted steel, aluminum, and fiberglass tip which subverts the warlike reference by casting a large tube of lipstick in place of a missile, in protest of the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. both humor and critical approach were used to drive home a definitive anti-war statement and sentiment.
New Media artists approach differs in that the audience must interact and come to find their own conclusion. The message is straightforward but arriving there requires thought and investigation into the deeper message. An example of this is seen in CarnivorePE, a parody of FBI surveillance activity. CarnivorePE was designed by the Radical Software Group, founded by Alex Galloway in 2000 with a team of artists. What comes into question is the whether the use of technologically sophisticated devices on everyday citizens is reasonable, and what is the rationale behind the practice. CarnivorePE was in response to a digital wiretapping software called Carnivore which the FBI used to surveil internet traffic in the 1990s. Agents could listen into chat room conversations and emails. The software uses an open source tool called a packet sniffer
Packet sniffer
A packet analyzer is a computer program or a piece of computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network...
to listen in on the network on which it was installed. This detects the packets of data that make up emails sent and received, text and images posted online and websites browsed by individuals on the network. The data harvested is then used to develop clients: which is raw material for artistic interfaces. These clients are produced by New Media artists who then used an animated Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
interface to create brightly hued translucent circles to represent each active user. Each is represented with a different color; deep green, for example, represents someone using AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
. The intent of these artists is to observe the utilitarian definition of surveillance, examine the use of it, and then to construct an artistic spectacle which demonstrates perhaps that wiretapping on ordinary citizens can be a spectacle in of itself. Software is then transformed into a colorful work of art with moving images and a powerful message.
Pop artists' main goal was to expose the power of commercial culture interestingly, while both embracing and parodying popular culture. In contrast to Pop art, New Media artists commonly employ a level of absurdity or purposeless.
Vuk Cosic, a Slovanian artist trained in archaeology, is among one of the pioneering New Media artists. He also coined the term net art. For his piece, he uses ASCII characters to construct images. It is not a new practice for artists prior to the 90s to construct images using this method, and these images can be made manually or by using software that converts images into ASCII characters. Cosic then incorporates the use of films and television programs to convert these images into animation with a retro-futuristic aesthetic. .
History
Vera Molnar a pioneer in computer art used geometric and mathematical abstraction to aid her artistic expression. In 1968 she began working with a computer to create images with the aid of a computer and terminals like a plotter and a cathode-ray tube screen. Early works of computer art include (Des)orders (1969).Manfred Mohr
Manfred Mohr
Manfred Mohr is a digital art pioneer. He has lived and worked in New York since 1981.-Life & career:...
influenced by German philosopher Max Bense
Max Bense
Max Bense was a German philosopher, writer, and publicist, known for his work in philosophy of science, logic, aesthetics, and semiotics...
and French composer Pierre Barbaud, created hypercube
Hypercube
In geometry, a hypercube is an n-dimensional analogue of a square and a cube . It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1-skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, perpendicular to each other and of the same length.An...
s founded on a constructivist
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
, algorithmic aesthetic. In 1969 he used a computer to superimpose multiple rules and found that this was the only way possible to superimpose multiple rules without losing track of the general concept. This strategy made the information become deeply buried and a certain participation is demanded from the viewer. Each work is based in a subset of a defined structure, ranging from cubes to 6-dimensional hypercubes.