Webomatica

 

Art Critic: We’re Turning Into Computers

February 26th, 2007

There’s been something on my mind lately that I was reminded of again, when I checked out this page of cool images made with Rubik’s cubes.

It seems to be that a lot interesting art projects are created with computer technology as the inspiration. We see people imitating video games, paintings of video games, folks playing video game music. This is to be expected, as my generation (“X”) and the those younger than I practically have technology in their blood, but it goes one step further.

I’m noticing many art projects based on the idea of humans doing repetitive tasks. I also think this is computer-inspired, as one of the most basic functions in computer programming is the loop. For a computer, repeating code a hundred or a billion times is easy. But for a human, it’s a huge challenge.

Here are some examples of what I consider “Loop” (Repetitive) Art:

Video: Noah takes a photo every day for 6 years

Miskan: Picture A Day

Everday Sketch Book

Nicholas Jainschigg: A Painting A Day

Duane Keiser: A Painting A Day

Is this a matter of artists going for quantity over quality? Or replacing talent with persistence? An aspiring artist could just pick a task at random – saving the paper coffee cup each morning or the strand of dental floss, do this over the course of a year or two, slap it on the internet and bam, instant attention. It’s the act of doing this task – not really the end result – that is admirable. In a sense, this repetition is similar to what Andy Warhol and his soup cans. But it points out a new role of humans in an increasingly technology-driven world – adding originality to a repetitive task.

Besides, humans continue to do what’s easy for a machines through various hobbies. People find knitting by hand fun even though there are machines that can do that faster and better, and what really is the point of wracking one’s brains over a crossword or Sudoku puzzle when a computer can solve it instantly? Or what’s the practical point of fly-fishing? Humans like impractical challenges. It’s a personal thing.

Put that way, I’m doing something similar – what exactly is my bottle cap collection at Bottle Cap-O-Rama but gross repetition? Or blogging for that matter? On a really simplistic level, I’m just challenging myself to see if I can write stuff every day over a long period of time.

And seriously, I’m not sure there’s any practical result of my foray into repetitive content. During my most cynical days, I feel like I’m just churning out more stuff for Google to index and serve up as entertainment to the masses that contine to get plugged in. I’m a hamster in a wheel driving a machine.

Are we moving towards a world where people take inspiration from computers, creating content to be disseminated by computers, and digesting information / entertainment on computers? If so, that’s a loop of another sort – a feedback loop.

Maybe I need to get some coffee. But I might save the cup and see where that leads me.

RSS Feed Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!

folder Categories: General :: ::

Related Posts:
Back Why I'm Drawn To Apple Over Google: The Individual Vs. The Collective
Back I'm A Monkey Pulling A Lever To Get The Next iPhone Game
Back Magic Mouse: Decent Mouse, No Magic Spell

Back Previous Post:
Back Next Post:

  • Enjoyed that! You won't believe how many people take me to task for not including 'solve it for me' type functions in my online sudoku (soduktile).
  • I find Sudoku very difficult but I'll play it from time to time. I prefer the crossword puzzle or a classic video game.
  • X-words are more social :) My mom in her eighties often calls up using the opening line 'what's a 6 letter word for...'. Off to bed - 11:40pm in darkest Africa
  • The benefits from dedication definitely come in short explosions, although it's worth it for the random routes that bump into each other, much like you linking to my art post and me returning to find such a well written article!

    I think your observations are spot on, I was going to bring up a few artists but you already nailed one of them - Warhol. It goes back even further though - to pointalism movements when Monet would paint park scenes in small dabs, but never strokes.

    We certainly do have a fixation for repetition, talk about a race that has a security problem. Lions hunt for food because that's pretty much all they're capable of to survive, yet humans do the 9 to 5 thing just because it's what feels the most safe. And who can blame them? Take too many risks and society frowns on you for falling behind even if you are more satisfied with your choices.

    Another thing you reminded me of is an essay a friend of mine wrote a long time ago - that showed how we are also obsessed with making sense of our unknown surroundings in terms relatable to humans. I'm not talking about simply creating language to describe objects, I'm talking about the obsession we have with personification. Tables don't have pegs or blocks or beams for support. They have legs. We don't put layers of paint on our cars, we put coats on paint on.

    Bringing PCs into the ordeal definitely makes it much harder to understand though - your knitting argument is a great example, but I think it might all boil down to enjoyment from safe repetitions.

    This is something I'll definitely give more thought to later tonight. Thanks for spreading my art finds, and for putting in so much thought to your article.
  • seems like repetition is the foundation, plus some originality to keep us from going totally nuts. But the phrase "creatures of habit" come to mind. I think over all, we're more repetitive than many would like to think.

    In regards to making our surroundings more personable, that's very true. Related to repetition, I think people like to find patterns and order where there isn't any.

    but yeah, maybe the link to what you're saying about personification is maybe people are reacting to this digital world by trying to humanize the machines that are steadily becoming a larger and larger parts of our lives.
  • true, true. existentialism at its finest, there MUST be an answer to everything! Creatures of habit indeed, trial and error just never gets old.
blog comments powered by Disqus