Second Life

Second Life is a simulation of the "real" world, allowing for real time interaction to take place virtually. There's "money" available to buy "clothes" with, you can change the look of your representative character, you can fly for easier transportation, and there are different islands with various themes. A great deal of educational institutions are beginning to use such games to teach their students, now; especially since it is free and much more efficient than traditional means which require the cost of facilities and greater professor wages. This week's lesson explained whate SLURLs were within this gaming world. They are like hyperlinks within the context of a 3D environment since they almost literally take you to site you wish to see, in an environmental setting. As always occurs when new technology is created, new problems are also formed. Such is the case with dilemmas such as this. A recent virtual divorcee plotted revenge when she hacked into her virtual ex-husband's online game account and staged what some have called a "virtual murder". This poses the question of how seriously we should handle hacking and whether or not it should be considered a crime when seemingly, no one was harmed and no legitimate property was stolen. The consequences are huge: up to 5 years in jail with a fine of $5,000. It also raises awareness of the dark reality that may result from living virtual lives. In the second article, we see new moral conflicts being created as one decides things such as: whether it is actually considered an affair if it takes place entirely online versus in reality, and whether prostitution could be seen as illegal if it only exists virtually. The third article tackles the legitimacy of occupancy in an online world. As in-game money can be converted into real-life cash, musicians and other artists looking for even more ways to make money are finding themselves performing on Second Life. One such musician, Grace Buford, earns up to $10,000 a year through tips alone.

This final article was of particular relevance to my future artistic career in context of the game Second Life. In the art profession, it becomes one's own responsibility to find one's market. While I value the opportunity it offers other artists in displaying their work in an easily accesible public realm, I don't think that I would ever be interested in making money off of my work in this way. While the quality of the virtual environment in this game is way ahead of its time, based on the videos I have seen, it is still not high enough quality to display one's work to its greatest potential. Also, this method could only truly be appreciated by two dimensional artists, while most of my own work is sculptural or installational. I can, however, value this game for its innovative techniques in opening new markets for displaying artwork; and it inspires me to find other less traditional spheres in which to introduce my work.

Surprisingy, there is already an art magazine that celebrates the artwork discovered in the Second Life game called SLart. This article even identifies several SLartists who have made names for themselves in the virtual world. One of which being FilthyFluno, or abstract artist and curator Jeffrey Lipsky in reality. When not managing his CounterpART gallery at the Munroe Center of the Arts, Fluno is overseeing Artropolis in Second Life, where he and 15 other online artists collaborate to create virtual works of art. Cylindrian Rutabaga (Grace Buford) and Komuso Tokugawa are just two of the influential Second Life artists found in FilthyFluno's art colony. Below is a picture of Jeffrey Lipsky's avatar and his abstract paintings.

Gaming, Teaching, and Learning

Marc Prensky's article, What Kids Learn That’s POSITIVE From Playing Video Games, aims to counter the popular cultural belief that video games are a "mindless", fruitless choice of past time for many of our youth. There's also the argument that it may in fact harm them psychologically, as the messages are often claimed to be highly negative in that they instill violence or apathy. Prensky states that no matter the message, the act of learning is constant throughout as a player makes continual decisions during game play. The most important thing to focus on is the content of the game, what the child learning about. He divides the levels of learning during game play among How, What, Why, Where, and When/Whether. To begin with, learning how to use computers or other game devices is an essential and profitable skill that results. They also become aware, at this level, of the things they control and can thus recognize patterns. It allows one to play out reality, to try different scenarios they may choose to carry on into real life. In the What phase, the player is starting to understand the concept of rules, which often takes place through trial and error. This is directly related, as Prensky very aptly points out, to the scientific process. And, using the rules one lives in the game indirectly causes the player to also reflect on the rules that also exist in one's own life. Why can be explained through game strategy. This is one of the more obvious learning experiences; video games are even used by the military in teaching war tactics. Where is taught in the game through the cultural environment it places one into, especially in learning cultural ideals of leadership or achievement. When/Whether is entirely subjective and represents the moral decision making process of the player. A game allows several scenarios to take place in which the plaer must make a choice, often between evil and good, and to learn the consequences of those actions.

I have always had an intimate connection with strategy and time management games. Games like these- games that allow you to operate your own business, games that give you clues to lead you on your way to catching a criminal, hidden object games- have always been and probably always be very influential to my lifestyle. I can definitely see myself continuing to play these games well into the future, and gaining immensely from them. Strategy and time management games will help me to (1) understand time contraints and what is doable in a certain span of time, (2) learn that there are consequences to not meeting those deadlines, (3) push myself harder and learn to fend off procrastination, (4) simulate high stress situations without complications of reality, and (5) realize my true interests by allowing me to dabble in different environments according to various game themes. As the artistic profession is often self-motivated and overseen, it is immensely important to grasp the concept of having a deadline when there is no one there to constantly watch over you. And for that same reason, it is important to have a firm grasp on basic business skills. Most people are not going to advertise your artwork for you, or pay for your materials, or calculate costs versus benefits for producing a certain work. You have to learn to network, keep track of your own books, and find your own demographic to sell your 'product' to. I'm looking forward to strengthening my business and logic skills through the continual help of these games.

By far one of my favorite games as a child were the Nancy Drew games. The very real and terrifying situations that were simulated in these games offered a truly unique and intuitive learning process. One often had to work out elaborate logic puzzles, learn to ask the right questions when interviewing subjects, and come up with quick, clever uses of objects on hand (a la MacGyver). There were consequences to not being quick enough on your feet. You could not go on until you finished a particular mission or spoke with a certain suspect. And, as each Nancy Drew game is so artfully themed, you are allowed to experience different environments and develop particular interests through the in-depth simulations.

Distance Education

Distance Education aims to teach students that are not physically present using technological tools. This thought dates back to 1728, where distance education first began at the University of London. Charles Wedemeyer is said to be the front runner for modern distance learning with his creation of AIM, the articulated instructional media project which used new communication technologies to teach those his distance students. This change in emphasis to online classes has been greatly increasing as of late. The five types of distance education are correspondence (via mail), internet (synchronously- real time, or asynchronously- with a delay), telecourse (via radio or tv), CD-ROM, and mobile learning (via hand-held device or wireless server). Online Education is described by a physical separation between student and teacher, with a connection simulated by the internet. Blended education combines these methods, alternating between face-to-face meetings and online ones. Virtual Education is offered completely online. Two types of systems may be used: CMS (content management) or LMS (learning management). The former uses computer software to manage, edit, and publish content. The latter uses software tools to manage learning interventions. Its advantages are that you are allowed to work at your own pace, it's flexible, it incorporates multimedia applications, there's no travel time, and it allows for greater universal access. The disadvantages are seen as its cost, the lack of online security, the radical change from traditional learning methods, encouraging audience self motivation, lack of socialization, and keeping track of attendance and participation.

I plan to use distance education everyday of my artistic career. I cannot fully express how appreciative I am of websites like eHow, Instructables, youtube, and sculpture.net for their insight and explanation of various processes. Since projects often take you into places you never knew you'd go, it's necessary to call upon the help of other experts; thus the artist remains a student for life. The cheapest, most efficient, and direct method to fulfilling this requirement is through the help of informal distance education in its virtual form. The websites I just brought up are incredible in their variety of delivery methods. They include written and pictoral instruction, video and oral instruction, and even forums for direct discussion of a particular issue one may be having. The only issue I can imagine facing from this method of education is the greater amount of research time put into finding a reliable source from which to learn from. You have to wait for responses on dicussion boards and you have to make sure that any how-to guide you are watching or reading is in accordance with the exact process you wish to learn about.

I highly recommend sculpture.net whenever one is facing a dilemma having to do with materials or project ideation. I like this source most for its connectivity to real, live people, with the ease of access of virtual distance education. There have been a few times where I placed a post with a very specific issue -like trying to cast very fine, delicate materials- and gotten 4 to 5 various methods within hours. The community is made up of sculptors from all different media backgrounds, willing to offer their expertise among their corresponding areas. This variety, and the point system that rewards all those offering sound advice to the asker, combine to create a highly successful system of cooperative support beneficial to all those involved.

Open Source Software

In this week's lesson, it was pointed out that Open Office would be an excellent, free alternative to Microsoft Word; and that sites like SourceForge offered more of this kind of free software. We were encouraged to think about how such applications would contribute to the welfare of low budget schools, since free software means students will be able to experiment with a lot of different programs they probably wouldn't have been able to before because of their expensive alternatives. While I do think it is an incredible new concept, I also think it is essential for the student to become well acquainted with the "authentic" programs they will be highly likely to face in the future. For example, in a digital art class, it is important for the instructor to use Adobe programs and not the free applications found on SourceForge, simply because those programs are most likely not to be used in their future experiences with this field and adobe programs are. But, when a teacher is experimenting with a software, it should be encouraged that they use these fantastic free programs. There's no point in getting a cheap knockoff of Word, either, because all young professionals should know how the ins and outs of this essential  tool as it continually adapts itself and becomes increasingly useful to the user's needs.

In my field of art, there is a lot more photo editing, vector illustrating, website making, or any other technological process than there ever was before. Because of its high prevalence in my chosen area, I feel that it is important that I stick to Adobe softwares. Their files are the standard when getting your work printed, they really do have more options than alternative programs -especially with cropping, they are high quality files, and I use it everyday I go to class, making files much more easily transferable between the lab computers and my laptop. Using programs like GIMP would only lead to confusion when I go to the printer's, or class; and simply trying to relearn another complex editing software can create chaos at first, let alone attempting to continually swap between the two programs.

Sometimes, I believe cost does supersede the need for big name software. For example, there is a popular program used in my field of art -sculpture- called Maya. Maya is a 3D rendering program that allows the user to create virtual maquettes of their sculptures before creating the actual object. The file can even be sent to a 3D printer, where it is realized in reality layer-by-layer with the use of ink and acrylic. Amazing, right? That's why it costs up to $3,000 (student priced at $1,300). I cannot, as of now, see myself using this program so much to accost for that huge price tag; but there is an alternative program called Blender that does most of what Maya can- for free.

 Using Maya

Using Blender

Social Tools

http://mywebspiration.com/view/379630af197

Learning Theories

Learning theories examine how people and animals learn. It is composed of three styles including Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism. Behaviorists focus on cause and effect relationships through behaviors as descriptive of ones internal processes. Conditioning, teaching of a particular behavior, is one popular method of behaviorists. Classical conditioning creates relationships through association, like when we associate the coca cola font with the product itself. Classical conditioning uses consequences to reform behaviors, incorporating positive and negative reinforcement to increase a particular type of behavior, positive and negative punishment to decrease that behavior, and extinction (the lack of any consequence). Cognitivism looks at the brain as a computer in the way of processing information by focusing on internal rather than external events. It recognizes three different memory stores to register, process, store, and retrieve information. Five strategies for retaining information include rehearsal (repetition), organization (chinking of information into groups), elaboration (clarifying and understanding information), imagery (recreation of facts in our mind), and schema (using mental structures to relate information to). Constructivism says experiences provide humans with knowledge, thus information is unique to each experience. Meaningful activity creates valuable knowledge, so genuine participation is necessary. Encouraged activities include problem-oriented lessons, visual formats and models, cooperative learning, exploration, authentic assessment, and project-based learning. Its criticisms are that this theory can't appeal to each individual's skill set, students may choose not to participate, skills may not transfer well into real life circumstances, and not all topics can be covered with this method. A key end point this lesson provided was highlighting the importance of audience, topic, and environment when choosing a teaching format.

I expect that, throughout my career as an artist, I will be consistently expected to learn new things in order to innovate them into my work. In the name of efficiency, there is definitely a teaching style I prefer to use and to be used on me. It is based mainly on the learning theory of constructivism. Since the verb "construction" is often required when creating art, (whether constructing an atmosphere, performance, or literal object), it is only obvious that a teacher should present a demo for their students and allow them to experience the act they are being taught so that they can do it on their own one day when that skill becomes necessary. Also, when watching and participating in demos, I like to draw out, step by step, the actions on takes in carrying out this demo to further commit the practice to memory; it's like living the experience for the second time and allowing it to be replicated, image by image at a later date. Because of its personal nature that allows a more participatory and organized setting, this will most likely be the approach I take when trying to learn new practices or when teaching them to others so that I may continue my lifetime of learning most efficiently.

In 1994, Chinese artist Xu Bing set up a series of installations resembling classrooms that were designed to teach gallery-goers the art of 'ancient Chinese calligraphy'. Given all the tools an outsider would traditionally associate with the act of calligraphy, they were encouraged to construct these elaborate characters under the belief that they were writing Chinese; but the language was of pure invention by the artist, and was a fusion between traditional English and Chinese letters. English letters were merely made more square to take on the image of the Chinese character, and the audience was still expected to begin to understand what the words meant when continually meditating on their writings. In this work, Bing wanted to transcend language barriers and offer the experience of the art of calligraphy as another way of enabling understanding between cultures. Once an audience member experiences the spirituality of their meditative state, they then realize the similarities between two seemingly different peoples.

Podcasting

According to the about.com article about how to create podcasts, a podcast is an audio file which you can share over the internet so that others may download and listen to them using audio players like itunes, windows media player, etc. Creating one is relatively easy once you learn how to record your sound, convert it into an mp3, and upload it for others to download. The tutorial uses the popular program Audacity to record and edit their sound because it's easy, free, and has advanced feature options. Its LAME mp3 extension exports your audio file as an mp3. An alternative is Windows Sound Recorder which accompanies all Windows OS's. You must find another program online to convert your wav file into an mp3. To record, hit the red circle and begin speaking into the microphone. Keep track of the audio size by right clicking the file and clicking properties. Uploading usually involves rss coding, but there are many programs available that do that step for you. For example: MyRSSCreator.com. Now, you must upload your rss to a server, your website for instance, and anyone who wants to listen to your podcast can simply subscribe. List it in a directory so it's easier for people to find who don't know you. The CNET article estimates the price of this endeavor to be $50 and up along with up to 4 hours of input. This article also suggests testing your rss feed here by simply typing in the address where it is located. The difference with video podcasts, so called vodcasts, is simply attaching video to your audio file. This article provided a lot of really good advice on how to film your video, like avoiding wide shots with lots of detail and instead doing closeups. Because of low resolution, texts are difficult to read, so avoid being reliant on them. Also, keep it short to keep your audience's attention. iTunes has a large supply of the most popular podcasts. Free Sound is a good source for free audio that you can use in your podcasts.

Personally, the vodcast seems like an exceptional tool for learning art processes from a variety of teachers. Like an exchange of knowledge, I would definitely use this source to share what I do know about art creation, like the techniques I've learned in my own art classes on printmaking or digital art softwares, and then borrow the information offered from the videos of others. I have often used these very tools to gain knowledge about how to use specific materials in my sculpture class. These materials, like silicon mold making methods, were once so foreign and intimidating, that I may never have even attempted using them in my own work.

A particularly intriguing podcast is the Museum of Modern Art Podcast. Rather than walking through the museum with a large group of tourists, I appreciate the idea of going through and experiencing each piece of art more intimately, at your own pace. Also, beyond the tour guide, the podcast invites artists, curators, and other guests to give their input on each individual work.

My Audio File

Your Personal Yoga Session

I created this audio clip as a way to experiment with the similarities between yoga and inspirational, subliminal tapes. Just as the effects of subliminal tapes rely heavily on the strong belief in its legitimacy by the user, the religion of yoga responds best through the faith and level of spirituality of the listener. In addition, there are implications of consumerism and monetary gain in this comparison since both are deemed as 'trends' and exploited for their placebo effects while also being labeled as mechanisms of deception.

Often, art pieces require another layer to be effective, such as sound or video. I would definitely use audio such as this as a supplement to a sculpture in order to better express my ideas. Audio often simulates an environment you want to place your viewer in, so that what you are presenting to an audience become more believable. In fact, I'm probably going to be using this audio for a preexisting piece artwork that I had already created. It was deemed less successful since it tried to simulate a situation with creating an adequate environment. You can't expect an audience to respond a certain way if you don't use indicators to nudge them in a specific direction. This can be done with audio or video clips, or with both.

Take the work of Tony Oursler. If he did not use projections or audio, his blank-faced dolls would lie lifeless and unemotional, and few would be able to respond to the psychotic tones of Oursler's installations.

Digital Technology

Digital and analog devices are similar in that they both take your input, whether it be your voice over a phone line or your favorite tv show through your cable device, and convert it into something else. What that something is, is all the difference. Analog tranfers data in what the readings describe as "electric pulses", while digital information is transferred into a binary data incorporating the numbers 0 and 1. The reason digital is often preferred is because it requires a lot less information than analog, because it is composed of a series of those two numbers. A small variation in the order of these numbers creates completely different data, and the possibilities of creating new series of coding are endless. Photography is a good example that is given. The first cameras, which were analog, are often revered for their excellent quality. Light sensitive paper kept in the dark inside the camera is 'exposed' to any light outside where you press the button that opens the lens. Because the data is not converted into a series of numbers, but is a "chemical process", the picture taken retains its initial integrity and it can be blown up to larger scales without any damage to the quality. But digital is still preferred because of the massive amount of information the camera can hold, while still taking high quality pictures. The data is captured and transferred into this numerical data through CCD's, Charged Coupling Devices. Often when you are buying expensive cameras, you are buying them for a better quality CCD because it gives better resolution, or image quality, to your pictures by offering more pixels to fill with that binary data. Look at a picture up close, and you'll see the effect of low resolution through the jagged edges, which are actually the pixels. Increasing pixels per square creates smoother edges. More pixels does not mean better color quality, but a sharper image with more details captured, along with larger file size requirements. Expensive cameras need much larger sd cards to store more information, with a higher class grade. Because digital photography has an internal processor to convert data from pictures you take at an instant, you can view your images right away rather than going through a chemical process to see if your pictures turned out well. Digital video is similar, this is why so many digital cameras can now take short videos also. Normal quality videos turn out 30 frames of moving data per second, like taking 30 pictures in a row every second. These play at 24 frames per second, meaning some quality is lost. Any fewer frames that 12 per second creates a choppy effect, like a stop-motion video. Video compression is used to convert data from your camera to smaller, more usable sizes, which also leads a drop in picture quality. Lastly, PDA's, personal data assistants, are like mini computers in that they store data, work as organizers, and can be used to make phone calls.

Knowing the workings of digital technology is imperative to my art field. Just like painting or printmaking, I've learned that digital technologies are just tools in creating the far more profound concept of art itself. Beyond that, I've learned that digital technologies are very different and unique kinds of tools, because the options are virtually endless. You can manipulate any photo, sound file, or video so much further than its original form, or reality itself. I forsee myself using photography and visual software often in my future art career so I can stretch the limits of even my own imagination in my works. There is also a certain tone in the medium you choose to create your works. To use a digital technology versus oil paint raises the question of 'traditional', or 'fine' art. Because of the associations the mind creates when looking at a piece of art, I must consider what it means when I use digital technology in art creation. This has already been an interesting concept for me, and I recently created a digital piece called Limited Edition where I went out in nature and photographed pieces of paper litter that I had found and signatured. I mounted all 50 of these photos and arranged them as one would expect in a gallery setting -signed, numbered, and dated. This work examined the cyclical, absurd nature of 'art' as something valued through the author's signing and the edition of the piece. The duality of paper, as its value changes in its setting is also considered, especially considering the role of the 'gallery'. This piece first came into mind in my digital imaging class when I was trying to define value in digital art. I was very skeptical of how an intangible work, or something printed onto paper, could ever find value (monetary, not emotional or conceptual value) in the art market. When I use digital technology in my art in the future, I intend to fully comprehend the purpose of the medium itself.

A fantastic digital artist I've recently discovered is Maurice Benayoun. He created large-scale interactive installations, often using highly complex virtual reality softwares of his own design. His works mostly comment on the current state of media and the systems of society, and how these elements relate to the new technological age. More specifically, he tries to place human characteristics onto the cold nature of technology. This is exactly what I mean by using the digital medium with purpose. My favorite work of his is SFear. Maps of emotions are extracted in real time from the internet. These words used to describe emotions are projected onto a helium globe, with their sizes correlating with the number of hits on the internet according to the 3200 biggest cities around the world. Small discs below the projected globe show tangible maps of e-mapping stills. This work uses technology, something absent of all emotion, to describe the most human qualities. Does the tangible presentation of emotion make us feel like the machine is connecting to us, or is it simply spitting out information to satiate the most primitive form of emotional contact? Even the discs are made to look like skin, the peaks like the goose bumps we feel when experiencing surges of emotion. These stills are simply another way for the machine to try and make us believe we are connecting to it; thus the machine is a deceiving, sly, and intelligent entity, but it will never have emotion.

E-Reading

E-Reading can be used didactically, to describe a certain concept to the reader for their better understanding. Unlike face-to-face oral teaching, E-reading is capable of integrating imagery, and thus involves and tests the reader's visual literacy skills. It also can use video or audio files; and since it's online, it's highly accessible. An example of E-reading was given. As this E-reading suggests, symbology has always been an integral part of the communication of our society. Unlike language, this visual dialect varies through each culture and adapts to the change of time. For example, it is possible that future generations will be able to easily recognize the new pepsi logo, while we would be able to catch reference of the previous one much more easily. The reading also points out the elements that combine to form visual compositions: dot, line, shape, direction, texture, hue, saturation, value, scale, dimension, and motion. The source also shows a picture to describe each of these terms. This is exactly why E-reading has become so valuable as a teaching tool, it provides so many different levels of supplementary information. The reader can read along at their own pace, click on the links for further definition, and have the image supplied to back up their understanding of the written word.

E-Reading is often the very second thing I turn to when I'm preparing myself for a new art project, following face-to-face consultation with peers. This is because of the immense variety of opinions and information it offers me. Especially when I'm working with materials to create a sculpture that no one I know has worked with, I can simply log on to the Instructables website to find out the methods I need to take to complete my objectives. Instructables is a just another kind of E-learning, sharing website, specifically organized to be read in a step-by-step format. There are pictures to go along with text and oftentimes outside links to further your search for information. I can see myself in the future, as an artist, continually returning to E-reading sources like this to discover newer and better ways of constructing my projects.

This reminds me of a recent gallery opening in the Reitz in honor of the Future of Digital Studies conference. Hundreds were invited to bring their laptops in order to interact with John Cayley's installation, Imposition. Participants were asked to pick a language, (English, French, and German) from one of four possible passages, crank up the volume, and let their music blend and eventually synchronize through a specialized detection software. In this way, the space became a symphony of translations. As the piece progresses on your computer screen, you see the passage slowly appear as a mixture of all the languages, along with an accompanying image. The image can be of anything: a person, nature scenery, anything that will give you your own individual interpretation of the seemingly incoprehensible words. This piece, along with Cayley's other digital poetry projects, explore digital interpretation of language and how easily they flow into one another.

Visual Literacy

Imagery can have an impact on the way an entire society functions on a much more influential level than mere words. Attached to our continually increasing reliance on visual stimulation as a tool in popular culture needs to be a heavy emphasis on maintaining responsibility with those who create and activate the imagery of our visually literate society.
Scott Grieger is an artist who focuses on how symbology affects our everyday emotional state, especially on a subconscious level. His show and installation titled Be Here Now! was highly influenced by how such corporate symbology is tied to militaristic intentions and will ultimately usher in Armageddon. One important piece of the show was his "swooshtika", which arranges a series of Nike swooshes in such a way to form a swastika. Grieger is referencing the power of images to control thought and stimulate action. They are hung on two sides of the gallery like impressive banners used as tools both in corporate hype and promoting government propaganda. A thermometer placed before a "red hot" globe suggests urgency and as the temperature slowly increases, one senses that the amount of time before the end of the world is quickly decreasing. All this imagery leaves the audience highly anxious and proves Grieger's point that a visually literate culture has the ability to be manipulated easily into forming one emotion or another, which may then lead to either action or inaction. While the corporate world might suggest inaction toward current environmental and political issues, Greiger's imagery encourages being proactive against such schools of thought.

The Key Elements of Design: CRAP

The outline given through this week's lesson is no different from the ideology of color theory, the perspectives of foreground and background, and the creative use of space as taught in an academic art setting. Good design conveys information clearly and purposefully.

Contrast is what defines the foreground from the background. High contrast results in sharper imagery, while low contrast can be fuzzy and difficult to perceive as there is less definition seperating the background and foreground. oure White on black and pure black on white are the epitome of high contrast because no two "colors" could get further away from eachother on the gradation scale.
          
           Believe it or not, color doesn't always produce contrast since some colors are exactly the same gradation. Place one scale of bright reds that gradiate down to a dark red next to another scale of bright blues that gradiate down to a dark blue, put them in greyscale, and they become exactly the same color of grey! The color gradation is shown below next to their respective greyscales.

Repitition of organization is another method to make sure the information is being clearly conveyed to the reader. If all of a sudden, my oranizational paragraphs become sporatic, it may place stress on the reader and compromise my original intention to instruct. Repitition produces strong design because it can provide consistency and clarity. Andy Warhol used this idea of repetition to define popular culture and its relativity to mass production.

Andy Warhol, 1962, Marylin Prints, screen printing

Alignment should also be clear to the viewer. Words are usually read left to right, while imagery is viewed beginning at the left in a clockwise manner. Knowing this will help us as designers create works that cater to these tendencies so that meaning is easily discovered without too much effort. Foreground and background are additional routes used to appeal to more visual methods. If foreground and background are easily distinguished, perspective can be mastered and the viewer can have a sense of where they are in relation to the piece. If objects in the foreground appear closer and in the background appear further, there is no confusion from the viewer. Artists like Julian Beever can skew perspective, making them appear clearer in one angle, but greatly skewed at another.

Proximity ensures appropriate associations. The text that is to be read together need to be close together, but not too tight as to make it difficult to read or clumsy-looking. Like the body can control our breathing without our concentration, design also needs to be intuitive.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applications, as they are used in educational settings, promote interactive social learning. Users are able to share the knowledge they have while also profiting from the knowledge of others. Another guideline of such programs is that they be relatively easy to utilize by the user while also encouraging collaboration.

In 2000, Victoria Vesna greeted the new technological millennium with Project n0time, an interactive installation solely based online for the similar purpose of web 2.0 applications. Vesna wanted users of this program to create online personas, one or many, whose key objective was presenting all the knowledge they had to offer the online universe. People with a particularly populr set of knowledge gained more friends, while those offering very little usually had less "hits". Out of the many ways to socialize online now -dating sites, facebook, twitter- creating one based solely on the acquisition of knowledge brings the concept of internet technology back to its original purposes. That's where the title 'n0time' comes in; to create a community of people with no time. It refers to the ease of acquiring information when such social site is strictly set around the premises of supplying data through real-time human contact.

Visual Representation of Project n0time users' avatars that describe the amount of knowledge they have to offer through a network of keywords, or "tags":

Copyright

Recreation of certain symbols done with ironic intent is often known in the art world as 'appropriation'. As one may guess, this approach often gets artists in trouble with copyright infringement laws. Such is the case in Koons vs Rogers.

In 1988, renowned artist Jeff Koons created the work "String of Puppies", a sculpture that was recreated, essentially, from a postcard by the photographer Art Rogers in 1980. The artist's argument was that the small changes in details -the bizarre blue color added to the puppies, the awkward flowers placed on the the subjects heads- were what made the piece original and thus not in violation of copyright law.

The purpose of this sculpture was to present to the audience the familiar imagery of our culture, as representative of mass culture; thus, his desire to appropriate the postcard was justified. So, though the imagery has not changed much, the concept is very new entirely, as the original photo had no intention to comment on society or culture. But Koons still lost the case.

In 2005, Koons was met with another lawsuit in Blanch v. Koons. He created a collage of women's legs that were appropriated from womens' magazines in the piece Niagra. Under these legs were pastries and other sugary treats on top of a Niagra Falls landscape. One of the photographers of who took the picture of a pair of the woman's legs sued Koons for copyright violation. This time, the court recognized Koons' work as 'fair use', meaning it had purpose and character of use, it used a fair amount of the photograph to be appropriated, and it did not affect the market potential of the original photograph.

The following video is a trailer for the movie RiP: A Remix Manifesto (full movie currently available on Hulu!). The movie examines so called "intellectual property", the legal term that prevents the creation of new imagery, or any other creative outlet, that in any way references old imagery.

 

21st Century Skills

What are artists of the 21st century doing to ensure their work becomes well known? The availability of technology means that even the most traditional artwork must become familiar with its innovations and learn to incorporate it into their skill set so that a much wider audience will become available to them. The framework described by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills can be applied to not only our new generation of students, but also to the artists that are just beginning to see technology infiltrate all facets of their work environment; because when they do, all new kinds of media and creative methods to show their artwork will open up.

Digital art is becoming a respected field of the art industry. Graphic Designers, some of the most profitable of artists, are very experienced with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. Video artists must know editing and audio software, along with knowing how to handle a video camera. All kinds of artists today typically have their own webpages, so many choose to become well rehearsed in Dreamweaver. Above all, the idea you should gain from this is that in successful contemporary art, the artist has become a jack of all trades when it comes to incorporating all kinds of media into their work, especially technology and software.

The essential skills pointed out in the guidelines of the Partnership for the 21st Century skills include: critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Successful modern artists encompass all these. Their work always transcends mere aesthetics and face-value imagery; so one might call them critical thinkers. They comment on contemporary issues and often try to design solutions through creative means, thus they are also problem solvers. Their artwork easily communicates to the audience in a specific, purposeful, and highly meaningful manner. And, finally, they often try to work in other medias, and in doing so, enlist the aid of their fellow artists; so they are collaborators.

We are molding the next generation of artists in a profound way the more we expose them to the importance and manipulation of technology. Today's artists are the students that need to be taught the ideology of programs such as the Partnership for the 21st Century.


The following is are two excerpts from a documentary television show called Art:21 on PBS that highlights innovative art being produced in the advanced, technological societies of the 21st century.

Paul McCarthy - Multimedia Intallation Artist


Cao Fei - Video Installation Artist