Jodi’s art is based on chaotic and non-functional code, revealing the fundamental characteristics of the web.
wwwwwwwww.jodi.org is JODI’s first website and probably their most notorious website. The website is a maze of pages written in HTML code. The first page consists of unreadable green text (code) on a black background, but when you see the source code of the page, the codes form a drawing of a nuclear bomb. The site is often seen as the work of hackers, and the chaos and confusion JODI causes through the site highlights the dangers that can come from networking and what can be hidden in code.
The unreadable green text (code) looks like a computer virus, which leads experienced Internet users to check the source code for more discovery and eventually find the image of an atomic bomb in it. So in this project, the visual features and forms of interaction are deeply connected. There are no obvious instructions on how to interact with this project, which reveals the theme of the misleading impact of the Internet.
The significance of this project is that this is a very early try at using the elements of communication networking, sharing, and collective authorship to create an artistic visual project. Although the outcome is not mature, this action could already be considered a powerful innovation. Another inspiring thing is the ways of interaction in this project. It shows that the interaction we use should take advantage of the user’s experience or even their second nature of using the tool we used for our project and should also serve the theme we want to express.
My%Desktop:
In 2002, Jodi entered into a period of “Screen Grab”, where they created video works by recording the output of a computer monitor. My%Desktop was their first project of this period, showing off a glitchy Mac OS 9 monitor that kept popping up confusing windows, error messages, and copied files. This work creates the impression of uncontrolled chaos through frantic pointing, clicking, and dragging across a computer screen. Loads of abnormal windows lead the users to drag and click on these windows to try to “fix the bug”. Again, the visual features and forms of interaction of this project are deeply connected.
The resulting “desktop performance,” as the artist calls it, looks at how seemingly rational computer systems can trigger irrational behavior in people, whether because they are overwhelmed by the vast amounts of online data or motivated by the possibilities of play Inspire. What appears to be a computer glitch is chaotic user behavior. “A computer is a device that goes into someone’s mind,” Jodi explains, adding, “We put our personality in there.”
This project is significant because instead of just being good-looking, they proved that it is possible to find any beauty in rather chaotic and abstract layers of code. This inspires us to think of different ways of generating a deeper narrative around our creation and not only focus on its appearance. It also reminds us that since we are using computers and codes to create artistic projects, we might not need to remake everything 100% realistic and pursue a conventional art style. Instead, we can use the code and computer interface as new kinds of artistic features.
Individual conclusion: