Author: ktb300

link

Concept:

Our internet art project is meant to simulate a children’s web game. I drew inspiration for this from an interactive collage, that represented its meanings through various popup windows. Our conceptual goal is to represent the differences between conventional beauty standards from different parts of the world. It seemed fitting to approach this topic through the lens of the popular children’s movie, Snow White and The Seven Dwarves. The website begins using the famous quote ‘who is the fairest one of all?’ that subsequently proceeds to a world map that requires the user to view images from several places to continue. The images are each a collage of the various characteristics that that that location believes (or have believed at one point in time) as conventionally beautiful. After the user views each pinpointed location, they are then directed to sort out a college that includes a beauty standard from each country. Our central message is meant to bring attention to the 

The Process

We originally planned to create this project in the form of an interactive timeline outlining the change in beauty standards over periods of time as well as between different regions. However, as we gathered more research and began to structure our website, we felt it was also important to convey the message of how conventional beauty standards are entirely dependent on preconceived notions of desired physical traits (mainly with women) within a given culture.  People’s subscription to these beauty standards appears to be a product of their socialization, as in, where you were raised and the commonly held opinions in that region will affect how you compare yourself to others. This is why we saw it fit to create this project as a children’s web game, as an effort to expose them to the subjectivity of these norms at an early age.

Designing the website and photoshopping the images was a long and meticulous process. As this is a sensitive topic, we wanted to be sure it was executed in a suitable way. Selena and I first created a shared google doc to outline information on trends of beauty within each country, with which we chose the pictures for the collages. Moving forward, Selena started the coding while I worked on the visuals and joined her to work on the coding when I was finished. The main issue we had was coding the collage drag at the end. For this part, we used CSS and Javascript to position the images, but finding a solution that would hold the image in place properly was extremely difficult. Initially, each time we tried dragging the image, it would go to a weird place on the page. With help from Dave, we were able to find a solution by putting a div where we wanted to place the images. 

(here’s what the collage looked like in the beginning)

Reflection

After presenting in class, I realized how we could have improved our message.  I think it would have been helpful to provide a textbox or description beside the images. Even though we had done the research and were aware of how the images we selected impacted the beauty standards of that country, from the feedback we received, I can see how this may be perceived as otherwise. I also think it would have been better if we chose a specific area or city, not just a country, to focus on. With such a broad yet sensitive issue, there is always the risk of trivializing certain features that many would consider important, which was obviously not the intention. However, I do think these problems are a simple fix and something that could be easily changed if I were to tackle an issue like this again in a project. 

Overall, I am pleased with how the final project turned out. This was a subject that both Selena and I felt passionate about and we spent numerous hours working on. In this class, I feel like I have gained extensive knowledge on the importance of communication and I think this was a nice way to apply all the content we’ve learned into a single project.

Before reading this article I had not really explored the concept of the meaning of internet art. This article largely discusses the emergence of a new medium of art on the internet, hence the name, in which surrealists are able to express themselves. This form of art first made an appearance in the early 90’s and has since been expanded upon, creating a community where artists communicate by combining an artistic vision with HTML code that links various images, links, emails, etc. together. 

Internet art seems to be an undervalued part of the artistic world. As someone who has taken many art classes growing up, net art is something I had never been exposed to, but something I feel is very powerful. While reading this I was taken aback by how I’d never heard of these artists and the work they had done. One that especially stood out to me was the “VNS Matrix”. Seeing as the women who created this were pioneers in the field, publishing evocative content, I was surprised that I’d never heard of them. This makes me wonder how many other net artists go unrecognized

 In the last few decades, the internet has become instrumental in the workings of individual and societal lifestyle. I think the emergence of internet art speaks volumes on how our use of the internet has changed. When the internet was in its early stages it seems like much of its usage was regimented, morose, and/or commercial. But internet art shows society’s desire for the internet to not only be a one-sided encounter. In the 21st century, the use of technology has become increasingly important, and as Green suggests,  People want more of interactive internet culture, net art is a way to create a deeper mutual understanding amongst individuals.

http://indirect.flights/

https://hypergeography.tumblr.com/ 

Both of these are interactive collages created by the artist Joe Hamilton.  I enjoyed these two pieces because I feel like it was evocative and articulated a point in a creative way.

The first link is a collage of photographic material the artist took while he was traveling between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He overlays ariel view images with close-up images and brush strokes. The user moves through the collage themselves which is very cool. The intent of this piece is supposedly a tribute to ‘green-energy’ which is apparent in the photos of the massive solar panels and the Hoover Dam as well in the color contrast of the blue water. 

For our project, we ended up straying from our original idea of a food documentary in Shanghai and instead decided to explore the concept of dreaming. Inspired by the artist Billie Eilish’s, we interviewed several people asking the thought-provoking question —which is also the title of her album— when we fall asleep, where do we go? We have thus far gathered the majority of our footage and plan on creating a montage of the respective interviewee’s responses. It was interesting to see the responses to such an abstract concept. Some of the responses were both humorous and profound, which we hope to build off of to portray the open-ended nature of the concept in a playful yet thought-provoking way.