responding to justin's note on magicians and film makers

i disagree with the idea that the film maker's hand is not in the work. if i see a tim burton film i can always tell it was his because it clearly has his hand and his doings in it. my concept in defense of this is that the way a film maker applies his hand is in the form of the idea. the entire film is an exerpt of their imagination manifested in psysical communicating form. how they choose to interpret their idea, and apply their concepts of aesthetics are all a part of their own hand.

i would actually like to sign the bottom of the first things first essay. i completely agree with their take on capitalism. in the benjamin essay he presents us with the idea that int he past art served as a functional thing, a thing that was generally spiritual. in todays society, with its growing technology, we have grown and changed as well. art serves a different function, but it still functions. art serves as an advertising function. people are now exploiting art's concept of retaliation and how it can legislate political views, and they have turned it in their favor. what are we going to do in response to this? looking back on history, what has happened is we have become subject to change. but what can we change? what can we do now? how can we choose to move on further? the only logical thing that comes to mind is what was mentioned earlier in the benjamin essay, which was looking into karl marx's statements on capitalism is that capitalism was going to destroy itself by its own hand.

Justin Price questions to reading long...

1) Is there any difference between or classifications between the concepts of "process reproduction" and "technical reproduction" as well as "manual reproduction" and "mechanical reproduction", or are they simply reworded statements used to describe identical
ideas? And if they are groups of classifications that do differ, are there further subgroups with these concepts of reproduction?


2) In section IX the article likens film makers to "magicians" in that their hands never touch the reproduced image but isn't this false? In olden times and even more so in current times, don't film makers have a very active role in how the world is presented, not only in story or physiologically but through lighting, various equipments used, people and scenarios portrays and so on?

wow

Yeah this reading was very confusing.

my first question is if this paper actually had a structure to it. I kind of noticed a pattern the way he was talking first about reproduction then about paintings and then videos, drama and stage work, and then dadaism. It was a lot of random things that i really dont know if it had a stucture. If it did I would be a lot less confused. I dont know what he was actually trying to prove.


my second question is I dont know what he meant when he kept on saying "cult". I kept picturing a secret cult in the middle of the woods dancing around a fire... but i'm sure thats not what he meant.

yo... i found this on "youtube.com", and i must say it is one of the coolest things i've ever see...
it was all done "photoshop" and apparently it took 4 hours in real-time... enjoy...

questions: ...Mechanical Reproduction

woah! This reading is intense. I feel very confused...

Is the author in favor of film or not? Most of the time I think he is, and then other times I can't tell.

I don't understand what he means when he talks about "aura" in part IX
"...the aura that envelops the actor vanishes, and with it the aura of the figure he portrays"

Is he saying that film is an art that poeple don't fully understand? part XV
"The public is an examiner, but an absent-minded one."

uploading problems etc.

Hey guys,
Sabrina contacted ryan and he said that if it is impossible for you to upload make sure to bring in your flash drive with you image as well as all of your source images on it. If you do so I think you s hould be ok (also you have to have your print... duh) but do that and I think you'll be ok.

Hope this helps!
Madeline

p.s. if you have time and you can contact ryan and double check with him

me too.

i also am having trouble uploading.
i tried several times yesterday and today but it doesn't work.
i wonder what we should do?!?

upload issues.

is anyone else having problems uploading their files to turn in?
mine sit at the upload page for up to fifteen minutes ¬hing happens until my internet says the connection was reset.
they're not enormous files.
:\

digital and hardware questions

#1. In relation to colored artwork would it be better to keep the images in a photorealistic jpeg format, png, or gif?
#2. Is it important to convert RGB pictures to CMYK when printing them?

Cha cha cha cha cha cha check it out.

So today when I logged onto the internet my home page opened up to a web-article about an "expressive robot boy" and I thought it was very relevant to the subject of AI disscussed in out last reading.

Enjoy!

check this out!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/37010

this is what 1964 wanted computers to be like..

I thought it was kind of relevent to what we were discussing in class.

one - what do the other modern cultural theorists such as yuri lotman, george lakoff, jacues derridas, and marshall mcluhan believe about the "non-transparency of the code?"

two- what is AI and AL programming and how on earth does it work (in layman's terms please)

The article itself was informative and interesting but at times seemed to make sketchy connection between culture and something as simple and overlooked as GUI. Also the connection to Karl Marx's communist was poorly explained and rather unsettling.


My questions are...


1) What determines whether an interface behaves in a hierarchical manner or a hypertext manner, are they languages or merely constructs?


2) Is the medium of a media artist the program used of the code in which the art truly exists (i.e. Dream Weaver vs. HTML)?

Manovich 2 questions

1. Paragraph 5: The "non-transparency of the code" idea confuses me. Actually, the whole paragraph confuses me. Is cultural communication refering to the interface?

2. Paragraph 6: The cut and paste is "blind" to the traditional distinction between spatial and temporal media, scale and media. I don't understand what "renders insignificant distiction/blind" means in the "cut and paste" operation. What is a "temporal composition?"

Questions on the Interface...

I got through this reading aiight - even though it took forever to comprehend... and aside from some general questions about the purpose of this chapter, i think i understood most of it... but my 2 questions are:

• What does "meatspace" refer to?

• What is an example of a temporal composition, if temporal relates to time?- if thats even what temporal relates to.

[What would be an example of content preexisting interface anyway?]

the interface

my two questions are based on abbreviations in the reading that i didn't understand, and therefore, i had trouble understanding the text around it.

1) what does OS stand for, and how does it relate to the interface? it is mentioned twice, and in both areas i am confused by the context around it.
2) what does AI and AL stand for? the text around these abbrevations talks about the evolution paradigm which also confuses me, and i don't know how all of these terms relate.

Questions from Manovich reading

numero uno.
If digital works of art are capable of being altered depending on the interface they are presented in, does this lack of formal integrity compromise their validity as works of art? By which I mean, if the Mona Lisa could be presented in multiple formats, and thus altered in form, would it still be as appreciated?

numero dos.
In the case of the AL approach in computer programming, the artist/programmer gives the computer certain guidelines or rules, by which the computer generates media data. Doesn't this process create an unacceptable level of detachment between the artist and the work? Is there anything to be appreciated about an "artist" who chooses the most hands-off approach possible: devising the guidelines and leaving the work (the real art-making) up to a machine? To illustrate: if DaVinci had given an apprentice certain rules or guidelines, and set him to work within them, are we really to give credit to DaVinci for what transpires, and what results?

The Interface

Not as an official question but as a very unofficial one, "Did anyone else love the reference to Matthew Barney and if so did anyone else start to listen to Bjork immediately after reading the first paragraph of the chapter?" because that is exactly what I did.

Anyway down to the questions:

1. Does the creation of the interface and therefore the connection that the human-computer interface has to the "information" society vs. the "industrial" society by combinding "work" and "leisure" applications in one space lead to a greater divide between these two groups of society?

2. If the content an artist has created within a certain interface is then filtered through a different interface does the content retain it's value as art? If not does this therefore diminsh the validity of the piece as a work of art?

2 questions

why is there such a difference in work and recreation with the system?

at what point will a GUI became considered as art? would a informational web page be considered as art?

the interface

I did not comprehend any of this. I'm guessing it's about the advancements in technology. . . A few things sunk in here and there, but what was the purpose of this chapter? Is it trying to explain all the functions of the GUI? Or how it has taken over so many tasks in our lives? I read this thing six times, but I just keep getting lost. I hate reading, but i tried.

the interface.

two questions;
1. "in society, work and leisure activities... increasingly involve computer use..." at what point will work &play &all other ways in which we spend our time merge into being completely computer-dependent?
2. because artwork created digitally depends so much on the program in which it is created, which can itself be considered a work of art, is it a stretch to call the artwork a collaboration piece between "artist/s" &program designer/s?

The Interface.

This article explains about the teachology and that it has permeated in modern society.
It has made changes in leisure as in work

so my questions are


1. The articles says that the technology has impacted on people's leiusre, then how does new digital technology impact on art in general? Would it substitute the current art museums if arts can be easily seen on websites? or would it bring any change in the current art forms? or would the make any new forms of art?

2. Although the technology enables people to communicate and obtain datas abroad, how would it enable "most" of the people to use the technology. There can be a language barrier preventing people from using other countries' interface. Then should all the interfaces be made with graphic so people can access the proper data regardless of the language barrier? Would it be possible?

Two Questions

My basic understanding of this text is that over a short period of time the GUI of computers and the like have substantially grown, or evolved into very complicated and sometimes unique tools from just one simple template. This constantly changing GUI also seems to be merging cultures by applying a universal language as well as satisfying the needs of both work and leisure. My Questions are-

#1. Could this template be limiting in all its apparent growth by not seeking other ways to accomplish similar goals? Meaning that we could be moving too fast in a direction and overlooking other options of giving and receiving information.

#2. Is it healthy to be entertained and work via the same device? Might this in fact make businesses too dependent on just one tool? Should a person truly spend leisurely time staring at the same tool?

O.K. I guess thats more than two Questions...................So heres one more

#$. People from around the globe are using similar GUI's and learning about eachother almost instantly. Is it safe to merge cultures with a unifying translator of this sort? Many culturally specific qualities could be lost or misunderstood in the process.

response plus super.

ive never actually thought of computers the way they referenced them in this chapter. it's very interesting, because ive always felt computers to be lacking a little in the conceptual concept, but now i see that they are much more than that. im actually really starting to look foreward to our projects now, because i'd like to try a few things. i dont think the part about copying and pasting and such was a reference to plaigarism, because its just a tool that you can sue on anything, it would be the person who could potentially use that for copyright, but that could be done without the tool, and it would be noticed either way.

Interface questions

... in art the connection between content and form is motivated: that is, the choice of a particular interface is motivated by a work's content to such degree that it can no longer be thought of as asperate level. Content and Interface merge into one entity, and no longer can be taken apart...
so my first question is why can we no longer look at content and form and new media as two different levels?
...the initial data suppied by the programmer acts as a genotype that expanded into full phenotype by the computer...
second question, is this the same thoery applied to the cut and paste actions? on page 4 or is the author explaining that a programmer is appointed the responsibilty in supplying the information with the help of a computer?

Two Questions

1. One part of the reading that really puzzled me was on page 63 and three paragraphs down. It reads according to a Macintosh computer, " Of course while they run, OS and applications constantly create, write to, and erase various temporary files, as well as swap data between RAM and virtual memory files on a hard drive, but most of this activity remains invisible to the user." This part of the reading really pushed me to think in two different ways. The first thing I thought was that if computers can erase and create files unknowingly then do they have some sort of mind to their own? This thought, at first, scared me. I thought if computers can do things without you controlling them then they are independent in some ways. Another thought that had crossed my mind has to do with the programmer. The person that invented a Macintosh hard-drive created it to erase and create files with a mind of its own. How can someone go about creating a machine that has that much intelligence?

2. On page 65, the second paragraph, I believe discusses the idea of copy and paste. I know that everyone knows what copy and paste is and now I know it is apart of the modern GUI. My question has to deal with plagiarism. The paragraph states, "This operation (copy and paste) renders insignificant the traditional distinction between spatial and temporal media, since the user can cut and paste parts of images, regions of space, and part of a temporal compostition in exactly the same way. It is also 'blind' to traditional distinctions in scale: the user can cut and paste a single pixel, an image, or a whole digital movie in the same way". Is this part of the reading about plagiarism? If it doesn't have to do with copying pieces of artwork and changing them around then what is it about?