Category: Ann Chen

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Respond to “Reabracadabra” from Eduardo Kac– Angel Yang

I chose the artwork: “Reabracadabra” from Eduardo Kac.

The work is an animated visual poem composed of a large letter A, surrounded by orbiting consonants from the word “abracadabra”.

I was really confused when I first watched the video. I cannot figure out what is going on. After reading the background information, I knew that this visual poem was created and displayed on Videotexto, Brazil’s pre-Internet telecommunications network, which was implemented in 1982 to provide public information and user-to-user messaging systems through special terminals. Since telephone lines in Brazil were a rare and valuable commodity at that time, most of them could be used in public places such as libraries or shops.

I felt like this work is kind of text-driven media, which means the poem’s meaning should be understood as part of a dynamic overall environment. From this method, I can see that poetry or text is  dynamic, although a little abstract.

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Week 10: Response of “A History of Internet Art” by Rachel Greene (Vivian)

The history of Internet Art plots out the development of works of online arts and communications. Reading this article, three things impressed me most.
 
Firstly, I found it interesting that the term “net.art” is not coined purposefully but a result of “software glitch”. By comparing internet arts with the animals in the zoo, the writer seems to point out the feature of internet arts—diverse forms but with limitations (bars). This metaphor also reminds me of the “Five Obstructions”, where filmmakers tried to explore the boundary of creation. 
 
Secondly, I like the way that article plots out the timeline how internet arts developed. Online arts have much bearings with the trends, the situations during the time they were created. It is exciting to hear Internet Arts, after initial years of struggling and exploring, has become “significant cultural and economic phenomena” in 1996, and embraced its explosive development in 1997.
 
Thirdly, I was amazed by how many forms can be brainstormed and created, via merging the technology of computer with everyday life. The projects started from small presentations of “manifestos and firing off polemics”, towards more complicated forms like a software producing “compelling collages”. As the internet arts takes on more freedom as we train computers to produce stuff that nowhere exist in the real life, it is thrilling to look forward to innovative, even bizarre projects online.
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Week 10: Response to Rachel Greene (Shirley Liu)

Before reading Rachel Greene’s “A History of Internet Art”, I did not really understand the term “internet art.” I thought it was something that started very recently, however I learned that it started in 1995 by accident. Internet art is more than just presentation of artwork and interaction with the user, it allows us to see the ideas circulating around during a specific time period. I think it is interesting to see how the different ideas can be presented in various ways by various creators such as artists and technoculture critics. I also found it very interesting that net.artists dove into feminist issues. I found the VNS’ “Cyberfeminist Manifesto” to have some pretty interesting and bold statements. It angered me when I found out that who cared about cyberfeminism were told to take the discussion elsewhere. It also made me wonder how would internet art compare if it had started now and not in the 1990s. Reading Greene’s piece makes me excited about our upcoming internet art project. I am inspired by the many different examples provided in Greene’s article and am thinking of the different roads I can take to approach this project. 

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Week 10: Internet Art Project Example (Shirley Liu)

Link to NY Train Project

Created by: Adam Chang

Adam Chang’s NY Train Project offers a look into the art in New York’s subway system. Growing up in New York City, I took the train often and did not notice the different mosaic works in each station. It was not only till my ceramics class in my senior year of high school did I really think about the artistic components of the NY subway system. After my teacher mentioned the tiles that were unique to each station, I started paying more attention to them. So it was really cool to see all the different mosaics from all the lines on Chang’s website. It was pretty fascinating to look at the stop that I lived on because  something as small as the font on my stop reminded me of home. On the website, I went through the lines that I frequented and thought about whether or not I recognized them. The project was pretty cool and I think now when I see the mosaic, it would leave a more lasting impression on me. 

I also thought it was neat for Chang to include the number of metro card swipes used for the project along with the time spent as well as the number of stops covered. I overall really enjoyed interacting with this website because it reminded me of home.