2013年10月24日 星期四

The Final Presentation: aLife, 2003



 

aLife, 2003

John F. Simon Jr. 

A.    Introduction to the work

-aLife, 2003 is the artwork created by John F. Simon Jr in 2003
-He is an artist who uses his own software to create animations
-The artwork has been shown in Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland in America, 2006 



B.     A detailed description of the work
Description:

The artwork divides in to six different worlds. In the six different worlds, it can moving and changing the pattern individually and never repeat. The composition of this artwork is that the artist  use his own design software code to create abstract animation. These six animation are similar to microscopic organisms, scientific diagrams of subatomic structures and planetary systems. It reflects an evolutionary process of our life.



Interesting about aLife, 2003:


I think if you stand in front of his artwork and you never see the same thing twice. You feel addicted in his world and the pattern of the artwork is never repeated, you may think of having an infinite world in this small digital plastic and amazed how he use the code to create a high technology artwork. All the elements in the presentation are controlled by using code to create the dramatic movement.The artist try a lot of way to find out the possibility of making this animation, because a small number of change in code will change in different expression of the artwork.


Also, I think that the artwork can represent our tissue or DNA in our body, which is we saw it under the microscope. They are small, but important to maintain in our body. Human is developed by these small tissue, they combine together and further develop into a complete system or change it in different shape or dimension , it is hard to explain how these tissues work together, so, the artist uses a new method to present the idea.





There are two key quotes describing how he creates the artwork:





“I would try to detach myself enough to observe my process, noticing the unspoken rules I was making as I was working. Then if I could distill some of that, I would put it into code.”

Tranberg Dan, “Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer, February 2006





“Klee was embracing dynamism with his use of arrows and lines, but he had no dynamic medium to use. So, I thought, let’s take what he’s done, try to activate it, and see where it takes us.”



Tranberg Dan, “Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer, February 2006





C.    An evaluation of the work in terms of the issue you have chosen to focus on Networked Digital Art

 Zeichen in Gelb, 1937

 Heroische Rosen (Heroic Roses), 1938

  He is work is inspired by the paintings and theories of such European Modernists as Paul Klee. The last works in Switzerland is using many colour, pattern and line in his painting. “Klee was embracing dynamism with his use of arrows and lines, but he had no dynamic medium to use. So, I thought, let’s take what he’s done, try to activate it, and see where it takes us.”Tranberg Dan, “Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer, February 2006. So, the artist based on the painting style of Paul Klee and develop the element in his digital artwork, to make it alive.We can the Klee's painting used many lines, pattern and different colour  to present his idea. it can reflect how John F. Simon Jr affected by Paul Klee. He also said that art is not to watch, but to create ornamental which is share the similar idea in John F. Simon Jr work.



Are formal instructions, the concept rather than the art object, audience participation and chance important elements in this work?

 "I approach coding like it is a kind of creative writing. I do not start with a flow chart. I start with a simple loop and then observe how the small changes in the code affect the visual result. I never plan exactly what the code will do and more often than not end up incorporating something the code did in testing that I had not anticipated."
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/John+F.+Simon%2C+Jr.
New Media Art, Mark Tribe and Reena Jana , 2006


The Formal instruction is that he needs to follow the rule of typing code to develop his artwork, doing different experiment in coding is a way to make a perfect visual display. The small change in coding has a different expression in artwork. Also, there are many possibility in coding, the artist use his ability to explore the unknown aspect of  the networked digital art.

The concept of using the software it is as much a part of the art work as the images it produces. The image show to the audience is just the final product, but the concept of using new technology to present the idea is more important. The most important part is the coding, the whole processing of making this artwork is using coding from a  group number to create a visual display. The transaction of coding is the main idea of the artist want to present to the audience.

Also, aLife, 2003 is quite abstract, the element in the artwork is not easy to understand, the audience needs to think deeply and imagine how the artist gives out his message. The image is moving randomly and never repeat. So, the artwork shows different view in different time when you appreciate the artwork.


The remarkable or noteworthy about this work :


“A start at fulfilling the promise that new technologies hold unlimited potential for artistic activity.”

Tranberg Dan, “Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer, February 2006



Simon believes the code he writes is s a painting on canvas. The method to present his idea is different from the traditional painting. With the technology advanced, the networked digital art is a new art form to let artist to communicate to audiences, especially our new generation. The code is written by the artist, just like the brush-stroke in painting, all the coding will affect the whole presentation of the artwork. All the process has artist own idea. Therefore, the new technology is a tool for artist to present his idea.The new technology provide a now platform for artist to explore the opportunity in art. 

I appreciate this artwork is because the artist use a new art form to present his idea, it is different from the traditional art form. I knew it is not easy to create a digital artwork, Because I saw a video which is about how he create his artwork in his studio. He had many sketches which is the fundamental object he want to create and two big monitor are for he to create his digital artwork.When I saw the artwork again, the small piece of the artwork had many effort involved by the artist.



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