Semester Project Four Sketches

Reading Response Four

Art Studio: The Artist’s Perspective: Multimedia Assignment Form for ARTS-235			Date: 4/11/2010 Name: Michael Widener Major: MMDD Specialization: Computing Year: Senior
Type of assignment [ ] Semester project √ Blog entry / Reading response [ ] Technical evaluation [ ] Exhibition			Title of the assignment: Rokeby and Morse Reading response
A description of the assignment. Throughout the semester, readings will be assigned which correspond to the area of multimedia we will be discussing or to the specific project you are working on. The readings will be discussed in class and the student will post a response to the reading on his or her blog.
Content of the assignment. Of the two readings the one I most engaged was David Rokeby's "Transforming Mirrors: Subjectivity and Control in Interactive Media". The passage that stood out to me points out that interactive systems can only interest a participant if the interaction is restricted enough to be perceived, while expansive enough to hold interest. Finding that balance is the goal of any good interactive work. Rokeby spends time covering and framing interaction in social terms when he says that we can feel increasingly insignificant and seek technology (or at least technological trends such as social networking popularity tend to support this) to give us a sense of connection. I would agree that the popularity of social networking tools echoes an interest in connecting to others even when we can't be physically near. I think the insight is observant.
	Biography of the author.	Michael Widener was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He is a thoughtful, quality-focused web programmer with accomplishments in computer problem solving and Internet business start-ups.

Reading Response Three

Art Studio: The Artist’s Perspective: Multimedia Assignment Form for ARTS-235			Date: 3/17/2010 Name: Michael Widener Major: MMDD Specialization: Computing Year: Senior
Type of assignment [ ] Semester project √ Blog entry / Reading response [ ] Technical evaluation [ ] Exhibition			Title of the assignment: Viola, Wright, and New Media Reading response
A description of the assignment. Throughout the semester, readings will be assigned which correspond to the area of multimedia we will be discussing or to the specific project you are working on. The readings will be discussed in class and the student will post a response to the reading on his or her blog.
Content of the assignment. We read three assignments during the Spring Break - Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electronic Cultural Production, "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space?", and Principles of New Media. Each reading appears to be a chapter or portion of a larger work. In the first reading, Plagiarism, Wright wrestles with the implications of discrete segmentations of information leading to easier rearrangement. In other words, he points out that technology, and the Internet have made it ever more possible to rearrange previously combined information into new structures. For example, video before it was digital was more likely to remain as originally produced. Now videos are digital, on YouTube, and downloadable, re-editable, with relative ease compared for the pre-Internet time period. Wrights asks if this constitutes a new, broader common knowledge such that taking these discrete pieces of larger works and rearranging them no longer constitutes plagiarism. He uses the term loosely in the sense that by definition if you call something plagiarism then it's already settled that the violation is established. However in this reading, the author uses the term to refer to copying parts of existing works and including them in other works. It's really a discussion of sampling or copying. Where do we draw the line on using a part of something we didn't create? I personally feel you must define that line based on the audience consuming the work. If the audience is a commercial one, I think more credit and permission to original artistic parts used in a work are due. If educational, I believe fair use and existing latitudes are sufficient. When learning to edit video, I often must use existing works as the learning process is separated from making video and editing video. When making it, I make original work. That's usually separate in most lower division courses from heavy editing. In this regard, using existing video works when making a project whose assignment is to edit, not create, is legitimate. Given the landmark case involving Pink Floyd's victory over their record label not to break up their album and sell individual songs, it would appear that commercially using discrete parts of existing artistic works generally still seems regarded as a violation if the artist deems it so. However, personally, people will continue to use technology when accessible to customize their lives and that will include rearranging artistic assets they purchase if doing so yields perceived benefit. The second article, "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space?", also discussed the re-structuring of artistic data. I found the discussion less engaging in that it was more abstract from my perspective. However, when read and taken together with the first article, discussed previously, it's ramifications have more relevance and my entry above reflects the ideas from this article and ties them to the ideas in Wright's. I think the article goes a little far in the sense that it claims that interactive technologies in the hands of consumers will eventually lead to a loss of identify for an original work of video, for example, as the consumer will have so much freedom to edit and alter as to rearrange and leave forever changed, the original video work. I can't say I agree with that prediction. I have seen the result of too much inexperienced freedom with respect to artistic choice. For example, when word processors first emerged, everyone wanted to make personal font choices and some were completely unreadable. Basic design principles were spread to new users essentially reminding them that just because you can doesn't mean you should. I think the same will occur with video editing in spite of new interactive freedoms in editing. There's a reason film makers, authors, designers, spend a life-time honing their craft. Consuming professional interactive video and other artwork from experienced and talented makers will continue to, in my view, outpace consumption of inexperienced interactive video and art because professionals spend more time and focus making sure their work connects with the audience on levels that professionals can see when non-professionals cannot. It takes experience to glean the connects and harness them to an audience's enjoyment. There will always be a gap between this professional experience and its inexperienced counterpart. The third article is a series of terms that give shape to the world of New Media and there is little need to repeat them here in the blog.
	Biography of the author.	Michael Widener was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He is a thoughtful, quality-focused web programmer with accomplishments in computer problem solving and Internet business start-ups.

Semester Project Two

Art Studio: The Artist’s Perspective: Multimedia Assignment Form for ARTS-235			Date: 3/3/2010 Name: Michael Widener Major: MMDD Specialization: Computing Year: Senior
Type of assignment √ Semester project [ ] Blog entry / Reading response [ ] Technical evaluation [ ] Exhibition			Title of the assignment: Semester Project Two “Rotunda Voice”
A brief description of the assignment requirement. Students are required to create multimedia projects and present for class critique and discussion.
Content of the assignment. The Katzen Rotunda marks the beginning of an ambitious vision to bring Art back to the forefront of American education. Thanks to the generosity of Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen, we can live Art history in the present and journey into its future as new artists hone their craft and bring reinvigorated meaning to Art at AU. In this piece, I take the listener on a walking tour of the rotunda sharing the distant conversations of visitors past and present, art issues the art world discusses, and the real construction sounds that made it all possible. It continues through various art discussions and social gatherings culminating in a repeat of construction sounds. It is a temporal journey through the construction of the Katzen Arts Center and its art-fueled social life. If asked why construction continues at the end of the piece instead of finishing, I would answer with a tale: A master door carver in Rome was once asked How do you know when your door is finished. He responded with "It's never finished. They just come and take it away."
	Biography of the author.	Michael Widener was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He is a thoughtful, quality-focused web programmer with accomplishments in computer problem solving and Internet business start-ups. He produces mix CDs which can be previewed on his Internet radio station or website.

Reading Response Two

Art Studio: The Artist’s Perspective: Multimedia Assignment Form for ARTS-235			Date: 2/17/2010 Name: Michael Widener Major: MMDD Specialization: Computing Year: Senior
Type of assignment [ ] Semester project √ Blog entry / Reading response [ ] Technical evaluation [ ] Exhibition			Title of the assignment: Julius and Orenblick Blog entry / Reading response
A description of the assignment. Throughout the semester, readings will be assigned which correspond to the area of multimedia we will be discussing or to the specific project you are working on. The readings will be discussed in class and the student will post a response to the reading on his or her blog.
Content of the assignment. In "What is Sound Art," Julius "follows three considerations of the term by three artists who take sound as their primary medium". Annea Lockwood, Max Neuhaus, and Christian Marclay define sound art for Julius through an evolution began in the 60s when the form was hardly recognized. He distinguishes between music and sound art that music aim to perform, to entertain, to achieve a set goal whereas sound art aims only to share aspects of itself, a texture, a technological trait, for example. He went on to point out that a sound art need not achieve a narrative like music in order to support the artist. If one only need catches a "collector's (or curator"s) attention, the person who created it can make a fair amount of money from it". He further drives the point home saying "Sound art rarely attempts to create a portrait or capture the soul of a human being, or express something about the interaction of human beings". Sound art then "rejects music's potential to compete with other time-based and narrative-driven art" and can be defined into three categories: 1. An installation sound environment 2. A visual artwork that has a sound-producing component 3. A visual artwork that has sound as an extension Ohrenblick's essay "In the Blink of an Ear," is an intellectually aggressive disassembly of standards for understanding sound. A reader comes away with the distinct feeling that Ohrenblick intends this with enthusiasm. One becomes frustrated with the bashing of convention and grasps for order. This frustration is best exemplified by the author's definition of a "sound walk". This art form, as Ohrenblick puts it, 'rambles' away from music into a subgenre of its own. It manifests in purposeless walks through a city, strolling the city simply to experience it. In a way, sound art aims to transpose the experience one may have to another without the other person actually having the same experience. In a sense, it is the most unassuming and faithful sharing of the experience. It neither attempts to shape nor narrate the experience. Depending on how you value the humility of it, sound art is decidedly humble.
	Biography of the author.	Michael Widener was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He is a thoughtful, quality-focused web programmer with accomplishments in computer problem solving and Internet business start-ups.

Work of Art featuring Sound

A SOUND MAP OF THE DANUBE

Annea Lockwood, recording, mixing.

An aural tracing of the Danube, interleaved with the memories and reflections of its people. 59 sites and 13 interviews, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. Includes large fold-out map, with translations of the interviews.

Semester Project One

Art Studio: The Artist’s Perspective: Multimedia Assignment Form for ARTS-235			Date: 2/1/2010 Name: Michael Widener Major: MMDD Specialization: Computing Year: Senior
Type of assignment √ Semester project [ ] Blog entry / Reading response [ ] Technical evaluation [ ] Exhibition			Title of the assignment: Semester Project One “Download This”
A brief description of the assignment requirement. Students are required to create multimedia projects and present for class critique and discussion.
Content of the assignment. Jin Jiangbo - God, Go Ahead with Chatting. Installation Art. In his piece, God, Go Ahead with Chatting, Multimedia Installation artist, Jin Jiangbo, displays laptops hanging from a ceiling, funneling into a person’s head. The person is sitting with their head down on the table and eyes shut. The uses the laptops as God’s tool to download chatting software into the person’s head. Literally, this is the virtual trying to enter the physical. Conceptually, this is a higher power reading down to upgrade the person’s ‘computer.’ Downloading software is often how computers are updated and upgraded. My piece extends his work by reversing the literal meaning and the conceptual one. In my piece, I attempt to literally download soft ware into the computer after waiting too long for regular software to download. I literally attempt to place the physical into the virtual, a reverse of the other way around as represented by Jiangbo’s work. Conceptually, I am trying to add ice cream to a computer, which definitely not an upgrade but a downgrade. As ice cream would in no way help a computer operate more productively nor serve a technology purpose in this context. What’s important is that virtual and physical realities can never converge. We can simulate real things with higher fidelity. But that doesn’t make it real. There is no substitute. Further, there is no way to cram something real into a virtual world. The boundary cannot be crossed even though we attempt to as a matter of objective in some areas of pursuit.
	Biography of the author.	Michael Widener was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He is a thoughtful, quality-focused web programmer with accomplishments in computer problem solving and Internet business start-ups. He produces mix CDs which can be previewed on his Internet radio station or website.