START
At the beginning of any project identifying the audience is key, which links to to considering what content will be suitable. In preparation for this Final Major Project I analysed the role 'Digital Audiences' now play due to great technological advancement by considering different legacy media (TV, film and theatre) preexisting modals. Expanding on this I looked at how we create, generate, distribute and consume content which has developed considerably since the spread and accessibility of the internet.
Taking these areas of study into consideration and looking at todays and tomorrows world, I wanted to negotiate the role of the audience and of the user; to consider if these roles have become interdependent of one another and the role of the artist in generating suitable content for 'Digital Audiences'.
As an individual I am both excited but concerned the effect technology is having on our social interactions, people often seem to be so consumed by their online selves they ignore live interactions and what effect this may have. The 'Internet Society' foundation vision in the 'internet is for everyone' but also have concerns about the social impacts this could have;
"The simple loss of human touch as more communications is conducted online could have significant and cultural consequences." ("Area of Impact: Media, Culture and Society", 2017)
A negotiation into the role of the 'Audience' and the 'User' in the internet sphere to inform the creation of an artwork that mirrors these interactions that can exist simultaneously and exclusively in the real and online form.
THEORY
At the beginning of this project I found myself going very wide in my search for understanding. Technology is common place, whether thats to play games, consume information, spend our leisure time or work; we are continually having direct interaction with screens, information and systems.
Furthermore, increasingly we use mobile technology over desktop computers. We use them to monitor our health and fitness, read literature, consume media, read our emails whilst travelling and document our lives. Wherever I, or my contemporaries go, we have our mobile phones close at hand but this usage spans across ages, sexes and races to access the internet and communications.
I found myself going down extensive boulvades of information that I could link to my project but ran the risk of becoming somewhat sidetracked. In an effort to stay focused I condensed the areas of exploration into three main headings;
I began this project knowing I had a very wide brief. I found it difficult to negotiate a detailed brief as the subject aware is so vast, but in an attempt to focus my research I employed employed several Research Methodologies;
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Observations of mine and those in an online social circle with the internet
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Observations of interactions of audiences in art galleries
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Primary research of practice through making
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Primary research by attending a series of workshops hosted by East Street Arts and Invisible Flock titled Baby BEETA
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“BEETA (Business, Environment, Engineering, Technology and Arts) is a collaboration between East Street Arts and Invisible Flock – a new digital space for artists in Leeds.”
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Watching films and documentaries
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Reading news articles
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Reading Journals and conference papers
MASKS
It is extremely common that an image online of someone will have some form of post production applied to it, creating highly stylised depictions of themselves and generating a mask for themselves. Masks are apart of societies and always will be, but the form they take change, and adapt. Just as the internet is a man made creation so is the mask. The mask creates a base for digitally generated content, previously it may have been cavings or painting in a physical form, they reflected the society they belonged too (think of the Vanician Mask of the Masquerade ball or a Voodoo mask) but now they take on a digital form reflecting our online society. The digital screens we interact with on a daily basis are our masks, they are self made images of ourselves and interactions online.
Self recordings of Snapchat 2017
Masks have been a part of history for as long as homosapians have walked the earth. Historically they have been used to change appearance, conceal identity, unite social movements and bring form. They can be broadly sectioned into four key areas “as theatrical, figural, spiritual and/or utilitarian." (Kim, 2007). As social creatures we recognise and read key identifying features on a face of another and so to obstruct this can cause issue.
Observing my own interactions online, and observing others, I noticed how we often have a tendency to create different online personas. We enhance, make up and change our real live selves into almost fictional characters; adopting highly stylised pictures of ourselves as our profile pictures, create enhanced depictions of our lives by posting carefully crafted social media feeds and inhabiting fictional game characters avatars. As individual users of the internet we are often sitting alone in a room looking at our technology screens, whether thats mobile or desktop, interacting with people around the world without actually seeing them. Our screens act like portals into a shared online space. These screens can often feel like a barrier to hide behind whether thats used for good or bad.
Using a variety of different mobile applications (apps) that are readily available at little or no cost that can enhance or even change my appearance which is shared to others in just seconds of taking the pictures. Apps such as instagram, Snapchat and Facebook all have huge market share, each employing clever technologies to engage their audiences and users. Within these apps the individual plays a key role in choosing the filter or mask they want to apply and further choose how they will share it and so become the user of the app.
I accompanied a friend of mine to the Baltic Art Gallery in Newcastle. This was to see what her reaction would be as she had never been to an art gallery before but adores looking at art online, spending the majority of her leisure time online; liking instagrm artwork, using Snapchat daily to document her life and shares random videos to create a laugh (a very short laugh). She wasn't aware of the unspoken rules of how to interact with the art works and so her first reaction to an artwork she liked, and to my surprise and shock was to touch it. This art work was a highly stylised self portrait by the Canadian artist. Rodney Graham; “Why didn't it do anything?” Which was closely followed by turning around with her back to the picture to take a selfie with her mobile phone of herself in front of the artwork and sharing it on social media and quickly moved onto try touch another piece, which I averted! As I looked around the gallery I noticed others trying to interact with the art work and taking selfles of themselves. I also noted the irony that the audience were looking at self portraits of the artist and documented this by taking self portraits of themselves in front of the artwork, but not looking at the artwork!
In an art gallery there is often great artworks that stand proud existing in it's form not requiring any audience input, and so the audience will observe maybe think about the context of the artwork and move on. This is purely a one way exchange of information. In an age where audiences continually interact with content online this can seem a little sterile and removed. It could be argued that this is a positive, a digital safe zone, but equally it doesn't reflect how we as a society interact.
An individual now rarely simply watches content. For instance a user of Youtube will choose which content they want to watch from extensive lists of content, click on the content directly, watch it and may choose to express their like or dislike of the content, maybe engaging further with other viewers of the content by leaving a comment. If this is then applied to mobile technology the user touches the content they like to express their satisfaction and go onto share it on social media within their social bubble, and so the audience very much becomes the user of the service by downloading information that they are consuming but also uploading information such as their opinions. This role as user extends further when they themselves uploads content themselves to the service.
INTERACTIONS
This demonstration of how technology centric audiences interact with artwork should be considered when creating art that reflects the present trends of the day. How can I as a digital artist create a piece that negotiates the role of the audience vs the art work itself.
Observing how I use computer games I became aware of how consumed and invested into the story I become. Computer games are visually stunning, engaging and rewarding. They are only possible because of the advancement in technology, with every new wave of technology bringing new possibilities of hyper reality. Software engineers create carefully plotted storylines that their audience - the people that buy the games - want to explore and use. By creating this sense that the individual player is in control of the game there is an exchange of input and output. The game would not progess the storyline without the player controlling the game and in doing so becomes a user of the game. This interaction is also observed with how individuals use the internet. For instance I use Facebook - I ‘like’ statues, I input my own status, I upload content, I download content. In both the computer game and Facebook I as the user have a degree of control. I control what I see, how I see it and respond to it.
Rodney Graham at The Baltic 2017
CONTENT
In his book, The Medium is the Massage Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore explains how information can be exchanged by how it is displayed. Taking into consideration that this topic is centred around Digital Media, using my own interactions online as a starting point and that I was aiming for the artwork to be distributed online via the audience taking selfies it is appropriate that the physical components are exclusively sourced online to stay true to the online intentions.
Film maker Kirby Ferguson coined the phrase “everything is a remix” (Ferguson, 2015). Taking the idea that all artists, whether thats film makers, musicians, painters or Digital Media artists copy the greats to learn their craft before moving onto create through their own art form. In the music industry at present there is a great debate about what is a copy and what is
Marshall Mcluhan (2001)
Marshall Mcluhan (2001)
Marshall Mcluhan (2001)
Marshall Mcluhan (2001)
inspiration. A landmark ruling in the US ruled musicians Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ song Blurred Lines was sued for copying ‘significant melodies’ of a Marvin Gaye track Got To Give It Up. This lawsuit brought through a flurry of further lawsuits against a wide range of musicians, but also sent shock waves through the entire creative industry. As producer Nile Rogers says;
“Theres no such thing as a completely original composition. We learn music by practising. And what do we practise? We practise patterns. We practise scales. The art of music-making is the reinterpretation of those rules that we learned” (Rodgers, 2017)
That reinterpretation of content is key to how art is conceived. Building on the shoulders of giants, expanding and enhancing. Art reflects and leads cultures, it brings about change, entertainment and learning. Art is culture. It is unquantifiable, and as artists we train and learn just as engineers and scientists to learn our craft. Digital Art is the new ‘thing’ which is a vast umbrella heading, but it is suitable for the scale of change that digital technologies are bringing to society, but it is also seen as the angry teenager in the corner
“It’s easy to be the angry teenager, but things should be done properly” (Ben, 2017)
Well I disagree. Yes I agree it can be easy to be angry, I’m angry about a lot of things but it’s how you channel that anger, how you use it to bring about change. For me, Digital Art embodies the technological advancement we have seen in the past 25 years and the internet being focal as it is about the sharing of content, information and data. By taking the ideas of Kirby Ferguson and the Medium being the Massage and combining them with new ideas new languages we challenge the system which is largely driven by capital gain. By relinquishing total ownership of content, and operating under a creative commons licesnse sharing is a better ideal for the many, and not the few?
If audiences now want to document using mobile technology and social media surely this should be embraced? The artist may hope that their work is remembered and documented to be shared further but equally maybe, and rightly so protective of their intellectual property rights of the work and so recording of the artwork may not be allowed. Personally I would encourage all recordings, and find there is an interesting discussion and exploration when I design the work with the intention that once a user documents themselves in the work and apply further filters I then co-own the works. In an example of co-ownership, museums and art galleries around the world are now developing links to be able to fundraise together to be able to enter relationships of co-ownership to keep artwork in the public domain.
‘The general public doesn’t much care who owns something, they just want to see it. So for institutions to give up single ownership is not a radical idea. It’s healthy for institutions and our audiences’ (Kaufman, 2004)
Audience
Participant
User
Looking and or listening
Looking and interacting on a minimal level
Downloading, uploading and playing an active role
SUMMARY
In summary of this these theories the model below is what I will base my art work on.
The audience enters the environment the artwork is situated to observe the object at a distance
The participant enters the space the artwork existed in, posing behind the mask to become part of the artwork
The user takes a picture of themselves in the artwork 'wearing' the mask to be shared online for an online audience. They also control what content is displayed on the mask
Create an installion that reflects my interactions online that will demonstrate the different levels of interaction for the audience both online and in the real.
CONCEPT
I started looking at what form will the mask take, and indeed what there would be. I explored ideas of 3D scanning my face to then 3D print out, plaster of paris, vacuum forming and glass moulding. However, by analysing each method against my aims of the installation it was apparent these would not be appropriate, no matter how cool and innovative they may sound.
Referring back Marcel Duchamp's 'found objects’ i realised I should create the artwork by bringing together objects I sourced online which I could add to, adapt and chang it’s meaning in relation to other objects.
By identifying the type of material that was most suitable for projection, flock plastic, I set about sourcing a wide variety of masks to trial. These were purchased using Amazon. I wanted to trail a variety of different masks not limiting myself to human form, with particularly reference to as my research on Snapchat.
Once the masks arrived I set about experimenting how they would be positioned. In my minds eye I saw the masks magically suspended in mid air at all different heights so that the participants would have to bend down, reach up or crawl and play with the masks. Unfortunately magic levitation of objects seen in Harry Potter does exist so I experimented using fishing wire as it’s transparent. Once set the masks looked great, although I noted the wire created a barrier so the audience wouldn’t be able to walk between the masks which would limit interaction - I wanted to create an image of the ‘real crowd’ passing through the ‘virtual crowd’ and after a few days of being hung the wire drooped somewhat and so the projections were completely out. Reset.
Next I tried a white plumbers pipe that had some level of flex in it and I thought I could possibly projection map onto the pipe. but how to weight the pipe to the floor and how to attach the mask to the pipe? I didn’t want to create a stage as that would create elevation, and would bring elevation of the participants looking through the masks over the audience looking at those in masks. I needed the masks to magically suspend. If I used a metal base plate this would highlight the base of the stand too much (and would be ridicule expensive to source because of shipping).
Through having discussions with an artist from Invisible Flock they suggested I looked at Acrylic both for the base and for the rods. They used short rods for their piece ‘Bring the Happy’ and an archetc at a BEETA discussion group suggested that these could be sourced from engineering suppliers. Upon researching I found suppliers selling transparent acrylic rods or which I sourced four different girths of rod and a large transparent sheet of acrylic sheeting. Because I was only trailing the robs I got them all the same length, 1metre.
Now to attach all the components together.
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Nails and hammer didn’t work, first it cracked the acrylic sheet and the rods are incredibly dense and I could not get a nail into them (poor workman).
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Super glue, but it didnt seem to be strong enough - not super enough.
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Plastic concrete, but again not strong enough.
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When discussing my problem at BEETA with a visiting artist from Indonesia specialising in fabrications for Digital applications, he suggested glue gunning. At first I a lot to try hold the rods in place, but which each rod I used less and less. The final pole held for the night but upon return in the morning it had fallen over.
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I used a small amount to attach each of the masks to the top of the rods.
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I also cut off small lengths of the plumbers pipe as it’s easy to shape and attached it to the acrylic sheet to compare it to the other masks.
MASKS
Standing back looking at the masks that was a lot harder than I anticipated. I don’t like the plumbers pipe as it draws the eye too much to the rod itself, but I do like the effect of the masks being at different heights and different angles as oppose to being on one level. I also note that the masks are very white which makes the masks looks quite harsh in the dark but they do look like they are floating was my intention. The perspex base and rods work well with the thinnest rob being most effective as it has less of an impact.
Snapchat uses ‘Computer Vision’ to create a 3D mask of the data it extracts from the ‘Image Processing’ which is a mathematical process of appropriating pixels. It then uses ‘Viola-Jones algorithm’ which applies the mask to the model’s face by referencing Haar features -a system of rectangles identifying the light and dark areas of a face particularly around the eye sockets and the nose bridge. Using Active Shape Model the app applies an model of an ‘average face’ to the mask which it refines by referencing the light and dark pixels, this is machine learning. The algorithm doesn’t see what’s human or mask, it simply interprets the data it receives;
"An image is only a collection of coulor and/or light intensity values". (Wilson & Fernandez, 2006)
When I wore one of the masks, the app simple ‘saw’ another face, and so applied which every filter I chose with no issue. To push this one step further I also tried using Snapchat with the masks that I had positioned on the rods and me behind.
CONTENT
I’ve been through many different iterations, designs of the content to be both
heard and displayed.
To summarise the visuals;
Option 1
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Sourced pictures of masks to edit and stylise further to recreate and reimagine Snapchat filters
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Adapt artist illustrations of different animals.
Standing back and analysing the overall image i found the content to be too static and lacking in creativity. Why project a visual mask onto an actual mask when I am wanting to represent my interactions online?
Initial Idea 1
Given a lot of my time online is spent consuming and debating current affairs maybe a political slant would be appropriate.
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Donald Trump - anger
Face merges with use flag, newspaper/online headlines, wars/explosions, protests -
Snap chat filter - user comedy
A reimagine on the top snap filters, merging them into one -
Cyborg pattern - question
Global network mapped across the face, lighting up different parts of the face, exchanging data, emojis -
Animal - user comedy
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Jeremy Corbyn - hope
Chants of Oh Jeremy Corbyn, headlines, green ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, news clippings of his rallies -
Glitch for half a second of anonymous mask across all masks
When standing back from this idea to analyse felt I was labouring the point too much. There needs to be subtly.
Option 2
Record my interactions with my screen and project what I see onto the masks. This way I am visually demonstrating a physical mask with my virtual mask
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Facebook
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Playing a computer game
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Reading the news
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Watching Youtube
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Reading a research piece
When I pick a colour from the digital colour spectrum the number next to it refers to its hexadecimal (hex) code that the computer is able to recognise. What if I extract the Hex code of the recordings and then project this onto the masks? This could then become the basis of the visualisations that the audience must learn to control via a control panel to reveal the graphical interface. Furthermore it could be an interesting feedback loop if I projected some research about the theories of masks in the digital age onto the real mask and next to it displaying the Youtube research I conducted of what other artists are doing with facial projections?
I realised I could take this idea further on several fronts. What I, as the viewer sees on screen is a graphical representation of data. A computer does not see graphics, but instead extremely long series of binary code. Programmers then translate this into Hexadecimal code so that it can be understood easily (relative).
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PROGRAMMING
There are many programs out there that a Digital Artist can use, whether thats design, conception or production. For me how I use a piece of software is secondary to the output and how I do something will be completely different to how someone else may do it. It is about find what works for yourself.
Software used
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Final Cut Pro
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Motion graphics
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Premier Pro
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After Effects
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Photoshop
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Audition
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Illustrator
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Screenium
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Isadora
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Resolume
Isadora is a media server program that was created for easily programming and displaying video content specially for dance shows heanse the name used - Isadora Duncan (a famous dancer) and art installations. I first used the program 10 years ago when I first trained as a theatre designer but fell out of love for it as it was prone to crashing and not very reliable for large scale theatre shows. However a newer version has been released so I thought I would return to trail it. It works on a flow chart system so the programmer can take control of every aspect of the output by adding different ‘actors’ into the scene to change the output. On small scale it works, and for idea 1 it ran without issue, how when it came to option 2 my laptop struggled to handle the 10 different movie files. To resolve this I moved to my much more powerful studio machine that houses a professional grade media server, Resolute - the media of server of choice for Chemical Brothers and Carl Cox for their arena shows. This demonstrates that if something doesn’t work not to labour for long within one particular program but to switch. Software is simply a tool, similar to what hammer a particular builder chooses.
If i am not careful I can end up with a very complicated screen and so to minimise over complication I tend to do as much production on an image in the video editing and manipulation software before outputting it through Isadora. This not only saves the CPU of the computer running the display but I also keep a level of control over the artwork. However, a new area for me with regards to this artwork is letting the audience to become the user of the artwork so I had to negotiate different control panels that a user could understand without having to understand the programming.. The control panel needs to be intuitive to use without instructions mirroring the digital aspect of the artwork.
CONCLUSION
When I think back and look at the process I have been on has been very circular. By changing my process to be a research practise lead project I found this to be the hardest aspect but also the most rewarding. Instead of following a linear strategy of beginning middle and end, I would research, experiment with the artwork and then revise my research further. I still find myself at odds with myself that I am presenting a prototype but it has allowed me to trial out a range of ideas, theories which I can carry on refining.
On camera the masks can be captured very well and look better on a screen compared to how they look to the viewer in the Live environment. I'm going to further experiment with different types of masks, what they are, how they are made and returning to an earlier idea, 3D printing. Following a conversation at BEETA discussing practical fabrication for Digital Media, Miebi Sikoki of Digital Nativ pushed the merits of 3D printing as; 'it enables greater sharing'. The 3D printer for Miebi is the technology that bridges the gap between the Digital and the Live spheres.
The control panel needs further work; maybe thinking about several different control panels and independent systems will be required once I start to scale the artwork to the intended size of 50 masks. I want to create a physical depiction of a crowd that the crowd of users can interact with, again bridging the gap between Digital and the Live environments. Whilst I like the theory of the hex code, I think I shouldn’t be so worried about being able to see all of the code. I had made the text rather small in the hope that it could be seen and read on the mask, however it was somewhat lost once projected. The projected content of my online interactions work well when I ‘wear' the mask, but how much does it relate to other when they interact with the mask? Yes, I chose to use several websites that are extreme popular with the general public but I recorded my actions, not theirs. Maybe projecting live statistics of internet usage to certain websites or regional could be used? Another idea is using live video capture to project the viewers onto the mask? I also want to explore internet live streaming of the art work so that audiences online can watch the artwork simultaneously, maybe giving some level of control to those online so that they don’t simply watch, but use the artwork. This raises the question of who controls who and who is watching who. At the start of the project I wanted to explore further how sound could mirror the images projected onto the masks, and whilst I composed a new eerie composition I know this is an area I can improve. There needs to be an audio reward hidden within the music compared to know which is somewhat atmospheric. I kept play back the composition to myself as I considered the different options for the projected content and could be said its the sounds from within my head.
As an artist I constantly fight with whether I am an activist, an agitator or simply want to create art to entertain. I’ve come to the conclusion over this process that I don’t need to label myself as one, I can be all so that I can channel my anger to raise the questions that we must learn the language of so that we can discuss them. Of all the BEETA’s that I have attended over this process, one key quote has stood out which can summarise this project and how we as a society need to think about our relationship with technology;
“I’m worried about the thinness of everything, but the change that is needed is much deeper, our language runs out when describing it” (Johar 2017)
I didn’t begin this project to fix a problem, rather to better understand the issue so that I can adapt my practises in accordance. This project is not over, I will be creating a further development piece to be exhibited at Live Art’s Bistro for Leeds Light night and further discussions with the Tetley to gain support for the Lumin Art prize 2018.
BEETA NOTES
Human Centred Design Applied to Art starting with the question; What is digital arts impact in the social sector?
How can we collaborate to create progressive, disruptive and sustainable approaches to place making?
How does new and pervasive technology allow us to dislocate and break the frame of screen based practices?
Human Centred Design Applied to Art starting with the question; What is digital arts impact in the social sector?
REFERANCES
Area of Impact: Media, Culture and Society. (2017). Internetsociety.org. Retrieved 4 May 2017, from
https://www.internetsociety.org/future-internet/media-culture-and-society
Eaton, B. (2017). In BEETA. East Street Arts.
Ferguson, K. (2015). Everything is a Remix. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/139094998
Izunda, C. (2017). Is the threat of a copyright lawsuit stifling music? - BBC News. BBC News.
Retrieved 21 July 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40560477
Johar, I. (2017). In BEETA. East Street Arts.
Kaufman, E. (2004). The days of single ownership are over. The Art Magazine, (14.148), p13.
Kim, H. (2007). mask. The Chicago School of Media Theory. Retrieved 4 June 2017, from
https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/mask/
Looking to the Internet's future. (2017). Internetsociety.org. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from
https://www.internetsociety.org/future-internet
McLuhan, M., Agel, J., & Fiore, Q. (2005). The medium is the massage. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko
Press.
Nauman, B. Acquisition & Co-ownership | Tate. Www2.tate.org.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2017, from
http://www2.tate.org.uk/nauman/themes_1.htm
Rodgers, N. (2017). Is the Threat of a copyright lawsuit stifling music?. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058gxp1
Samsung. (2017). Labs.theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 June 2017, from
http://labs.theguardian.com/rise-of-screens/
Sikoki, M. (2017). In BEETA. East Street Arts.
Wilson, P., & Fernandez, D. (2006). Facial Feature Detection Using Haar Classiferiers. citeseerx.
Retrieved 12 July 2017, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.159.8722&rep=rep1&type=pdf
With all my projects, I have a tendency to vastly underestimate how long a project may take. At first I tried to apply my business way of working to the process which is getting the idea clear in my head and then executing it in a tight time frame to meet the deadline. Whilst this is needed in many cases in business where the end product is the only focus and account managers couldn’t care less about the artist’s process - labelling it as self indulgent, I realised that this was a project I could let the process inform the outcome. I also quickly realised given the time frame I had given myself, the prospect of presenting a finished artwork would be impractical but instead a working prototype.
MAKING
CONTENT USED IN THE ARTWORK
Masks
Content
Mask - Chicago School of Media Theory
https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/mask/
Full Length Live Face Projection Mapping with Kat Von D - recorded 09.07.2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYbI6gIDnKQ
Grand Theft Auto V Game play - recorded 09.07.2017
Facebook bowsing of Joss Sessions Newsfead - recorded 04.07.2017
BBC News website browsing - recorded 11.07.2017
