Week 1- discussion on computational art and life

Week1 session:

How software(technology) choreographs life:

I totally agree with the sentence in the A fish can’t judge the water. There's a sentence that said, Software produces culture at the same time as it is produced by culture. It is shaped through and locked into economic models of production and distribution.

This kind of situation can be significantly seen in the history of “future cinema” or “expanded cinema” or we can call it “visual projection” “projection mapping” today.

It’s all start from the first film which appeared in 1895 (by the Lumiere brothers). And at that period, various kinds of projectors, cameras came out, filmmakers and artists began to produce things by using those different types of equipment. And during that time, people were keen to record scenes of daily life, and project their works on a specific screen(what we called film).

Starting from the appearance of commercially made television and series research on transistors, devices and systems related to "video" began to appear in the 1950s. But the equipment was big, see the following picture of the commercially released VTR (videotape recorder) AMPEX VRX-1000:

AMPEX VRX-1000(History of recording, 1956)

And then people think they need to invent some equipment that can be easy to take out, so some portable video recorder came out. See the portable videotape analog recording system called portapak below:

SONY DV-2400 (Wikipedia, 2020)

Then some filmmakers start to record things by using those "video" equipment, and “video” has been another way of artistic expression besides “film”. A new kind of artistic form called Video art appeared in this period.

(Represent artists: David Hall, Nam June Paik)

Basically, in the late 20th Century, People are committed to shrinking the equipment (are trying to make the machine smaller). Then computers, some software appeared, CD, DVD, SD card appeared, as well as video wall, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, some game kit like Kinet and some interactive systems... These technologies make things happen. Artists have more possibility to make their works (make their works bigger) ...like project moving image on commercial places (public area, like the shopping mall, opening ceremony...). Put some games into the public area. Make things much fun! 

Some new art forms like projection mapping, illuroom, immersive space...  appeared.

Here are some examples:

Judith Goddard, Silver Lining (REWIND, 1989)

John Whitney, Vertigo (MovieTitles, 2018)

CAVE Environment (Wikipedia, 2020)

Interactive Floor System (Lumo Interactive, 2017)

d’strict, Shinsegae Dutyfree the Square (d'strict, 2018)

Basically, It’s really a long story, but in conclusion, technology makes artistic things happen, also produce some new art forms. At the same time, (On the contrary) art environment promotes the development of technology. This is a two-way process. (bi-directional）

Just like Jeffery Shawn (2003) states, the history of cinema is the history of technological experiments. The key to the final presentation of the entire work is the support of technology.

Computational art, in my opinion, is a kind of new way to show "art". It's a new form of expression that integrates technology into traditional art. It also comes into being as a result of technological progress. 

Reference:

d'strict, 2018. Shinsegae Dutyfree the Square. [video] Available at:

<http://www.dstrict.com/arttechfactory/kr/53-Shinsegae_Dutyfree_the_Square.html> [Accessed 3 April 2021].

Lumo Interactive, 2017. Interactive Floor Systems for Tradeshows and Events. [image] Available at: <https://www.ravepubs.com/interactive-floor-sys-tems-tradeshows-events/> [Accessed 28 January 2021].

MovieTitles, 2018. Vertigo (1958) title sequence. [video] Available at:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkLn8mamU78> [Accessed 2 April 2021].

REWIND, 1989. Interrun. [image] Available at: <http://www.rewind.ac.uk/rewind/index.php/Database> [Accessed 4 April 2021].

Shaw, J. and Weibel, P., 2003. Future Cinema. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Wikipedia, 2020. Cave automatic virtual environment. [image] Available at:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_automatic_virtual_environment> [Accessed 2 April 2021].

1956. History of recording. [image] Available at:

<https://www.historyofrecording.com/ampexvrx1000aniv.html> [Accessed 1 April 2021].