( http://0100101110101101.org/home/unitedwestand/ )
United We Stand: Europe Has A Mission is a fake movie by Eva and Franco Mattes, advertised with posters and online advertisements despite not existing. The fake movie is advertised as being a blockbuster action movie about the forces of Europe teaming up to stop a disaster caused by tensions between the United States and China starring Penelope Cruz and Ewan McGregor.
This is interesting to me because it shows the power of viral marketing and the public space. Significant buzz and interest was formed for the movie through it's fully realized advertising campaign.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Entry 11 - CarnivorePE
( http://www.rhizome.org/carnivore ~ New Media Art p.78 )
In the 90s, the United States FBI created a program called Carnivore which sniffed traffic on the internet through the servers of internet service providers, allowing agents to eavesdrop on the online activities of ordinary citizens. In 2000, Alex Galloway created a response program called CarnivorePE; PE standing for Personal Edition. This program would record the traffic on the networks of computers it was installed on. However, rather than using this data for eavesdropping, it instead uses it as raw material for artistic interfaces.
This is interesting to me because it is using the same concept of taking the data of others without permission, as the FBI's program, but in this case is ultimately giving. To me it acts as a critique on the actions that governments make to harm and take away privacy from its people. It allows for the data to be used in the clients of others to create unique art with no personal information being stolen.
In the 90s, the United States FBI created a program called Carnivore which sniffed traffic on the internet through the servers of internet service providers, allowing agents to eavesdrop on the online activities of ordinary citizens. In 2000, Alex Galloway created a response program called CarnivorePE; PE standing for Personal Edition. This program would record the traffic on the networks of computers it was installed on. However, rather than using this data for eavesdropping, it instead uses it as raw material for artistic interfaces.
This is interesting to me because it is using the same concept of taking the data of others without permission, as the FBI's program, but in this case is ultimately giving. To me it acts as a critique on the actions that governments make to harm and take away privacy from its people. It allows for the data to be used in the clients of others to create unique art with no personal information being stolen.
Entry 10 - etoy.SHARE
( http://www.etoy.com ~ New Media Art p.42)
Etoy is a Swiss corporation created by a group of European artists in 1994, inspired by corporations with strong brand identities. Because of the low costs of publishing a web site, a small group of people could easily present themselves with the same presence of a large corporation. Etoy acts as a "corporate sculpture" and follows the model of many business ventures by raising funds for projects and issuing stock to shareholders. Years after its creation, an online toy merchant called eToys threatened to sue Etoy for trademark infringement, despite Etoy being registered first. Etoy retaliated by offering points by attacking eToys with the goal of driving down the stock price of eToys. 1,798 people participated by criticizing eToys online, corrupting their server logs with false information and doing other internet attacks. eToys' stock declined by nearly 4.5 billion USD before dropping the lawsuit.
This is interesting to me because of the power that the low costs of the internet can give. With very little resources, one can gain enough of a presence to cause 4.5 billion dollars worth of damages. That amount of money is awe-inspiring, regardless of whether or not it was fully caused by Etoy's war.
Etoy is a Swiss corporation created by a group of European artists in 1994, inspired by corporations with strong brand identities. Because of the low costs of publishing a web site, a small group of people could easily present themselves with the same presence of a large corporation. Etoy acts as a "corporate sculpture" and follows the model of many business ventures by raising funds for projects and issuing stock to shareholders. Years after its creation, an online toy merchant called eToys threatened to sue Etoy for trademark infringement, despite Etoy being registered first. Etoy retaliated by offering points by attacking eToys with the goal of driving down the stock price of eToys. 1,798 people participated by criticizing eToys online, corrupting their server logs with false information and doing other internet attacks. eToys' stock declined by nearly 4.5 billion USD before dropping the lawsuit.
This is interesting to me because of the power that the low costs of the internet can give. With very little resources, one can gain enough of a presence to cause 4.5 billion dollars worth of damages. That amount of money is awe-inspiring, regardless of whether or not it was fully caused by Etoy's war.
Entry 9 - [domestic]
( http://www.marryflanagan.com/domestic ~ New Media Art p.44 )
[domestic] is a video game made by Mary Flanagan using the Unreal 2 engine. Unlike most of the games that use the Unreal 2 engine, [domestic] does not use violence as a mechanic, instead having the player explore a home-like 3d environment which represents childhood memories and feelings of the artist. The design of the environment is surreal with the combination of photographs and text as textures in the environment, representing her internal psychological horrors based on her memory of seeing her house burning as a child, knowing her father was still inside.
I like this piece because it uses interactive medium to tell a story in a unique way. Projects like this reaffirm my belief that the interactivity of video games adds, rather than detracts from the artistic value, despite the beliefs of certain critics. The arrangement of photographs and text in a 3d space allows for different artistic expression than a traditional photoalbum. This piece exemplifies that the medium effectively allows for a 3d space that does not need to be bound to the laws of reality.
[domestic] is a video game made by Mary Flanagan using the Unreal 2 engine. Unlike most of the games that use the Unreal 2 engine, [domestic] does not use violence as a mechanic, instead having the player explore a home-like 3d environment which represents childhood memories and feelings of the artist. The design of the environment is surreal with the combination of photographs and text as textures in the environment, representing her internal psychological horrors based on her memory of seeing her house burning as a child, knowing her father was still inside.
I like this piece because it uses interactive medium to tell a story in a unique way. Projects like this reaffirm my belief that the interactivity of video games adds, rather than detracts from the artistic value, despite the beliefs of certain critics. The arrangement of photographs and text in a 3d space allows for different artistic expression than a traditional photoalbum. This piece exemplifies that the medium effectively allows for a 3d space that does not need to be bound to the laws of reality.
Entry 8 - Life Sharing
( http://0100101110101101.org/home/life_sharing ~ New Media Art p.26 )
Life Sharing is a project by Eva and Franco Mattes where they made every file on their computer public for three years. This included private documents and emails, effectively making their identities the medium of their work. The graphical interface that was used to share all of the files was a homage to the text-based command line interface of Linux. Like Linux and other open-source software, their lives were effectively transparent. Anyone was able to examine their personal information, as anyone is able to see the workings of open-source software.
The idea of sharing one's entire computer is interesting because it the files one saves, and how they organize them tells a lot about who that person is. It tells how they organize things, and what kinds of information they think is important.
Life Sharing is a project by Eva and Franco Mattes where they made every file on their computer public for three years. This included private documents and emails, effectively making their identities the medium of their work. The graphical interface that was used to share all of the files was a homage to the text-based command line interface of Linux. Like Linux and other open-source software, their lives were effectively transparent. Anyone was able to examine their personal information, as anyone is able to see the workings of open-source software.
The idea of sharing one's entire computer is interesting because it the files one saves, and how they organize them tells a lot about who that person is. It tells how they organize things, and what kinds of information they think is important.
Entry 7 - Zapatista Tactical FloodNet
( http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html ~ New Media Art p.40 )
Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a html web application that visits nonexistant urls of certain targeted websites. The catch is that the user inputs the message they want to send to the website holder, which the program converts into a url that it visits. This causes an error to be recorded on the site's error log. The purpose of this is to leave a message using civil disobedience. Using the webapp, people have submitted names of people silenced by their dictatorship to its error log.
I am unsure of the effectiveness of this idea, since the people in charge of the government are unlikely to read their website's error log. Electronic civil disobedience is an interesting idea, however. I feel as though it might be unsafe to protest the government in this way. Your IP address is traceable, and if the government was willing to kill someone, what's to stop them from killing you as well for trying to keep their actions in the light?
Zapatista Tactical FloodNet is a html web application that visits nonexistant urls of certain targeted websites. The catch is that the user inputs the message they want to send to the website holder, which the program converts into a url that it visits. This causes an error to be recorded on the site's error log. The purpose of this is to leave a message using civil disobedience. Using the webapp, people have submitted names of people silenced by their dictatorship to its error log.
I am unsure of the effectiveness of this idea, since the people in charge of the government are unlikely to read their website's error log. Electronic civil disobedience is an interesting idea, however. I feel as though it might be unsafe to protest the government in this way. Your IP address is traceable, and if the government was willing to kill someone, what's to stop them from killing you as well for trying to keep their actions in the light?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Project 3: Subvertisement
In Colombia, Coke bottle factory workers who join unions are often tortured and murdered. Coke has turned a blind eye to this and do not have any intention to help stop this practice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)