By
Tyler Coburn
on
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at
3:00 pm
Image: JooYoun Paek, Polite Umbrella
JooYoun Paek builds small, object-based responses to urban life, transforming the aches and pains we customarily suffer, at the hands of the metropolis, into novel sites of reflection, social courtesy, and rest. The artist's humorous, insightful approach bespeaks her familiarity with her subject; she was raised in Seoul, Korea, and moved to New York in 2005 to attend NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Fresh from her recent participation in "Untethered," at Eyebeam, and "Design and the Elastic Mind," at MoMA, JooYoun caught up with me at her LMCC Workspace Residency studio, on the twenty-ninth floor of the Equitable Building in Manhattan's Financial District. - Tyler Coburn
What's the difference between wearable technology and what you make?
The difference? Well, I never define what I make as wearable technology. I think I'm just doing conceptual work that's wearable. Wearable technology is more about focusing on using new technology and making it fashionable, but also highly functional. I don't think my work was ever designed for utilitarian purposes. But oftentimes the methodologies of what I'm doing and wearable technology overlap, and that's why people think, on the surface, that my work is similar.
Yes. I made Polite Umbrella after I came to New York for ITP. ITP isn't really a fine art school. It focuses more on collaborative and innovative practices. We had an assignment of observing daily life and behavior, and I began to observe umbrella usage. Quite interestingly, it was the fall of 2005, which was one of the rainiest times in New York City. October was a record-breaking month. It rained almost every day. This was my first time living in New York, so I thought this was usual. Previously, I had framed myself as an artist working with sculpture and sometimes in performance and photography and video, but after going to ITP, I began to explore design. This didn't bother me that much, because the observation of life was already a part of my creative process, which either came out as very utilitarian or very expressive objects. It always started from the observation of mundane moments.
One of the things that I find interesting about this piece is that I can imagine an umbrella that just condenses uniformly, but your model responds to specific scenarios, such as a particular angle of passing. One or all sides of it can compress. So it's not just something that has a function that’s designed to meet a generic social scenario; it's something you can control on a case-by-case basis. I think that specificity is what pushes it beyond just being a quirky object.
It's not only helpful to you. It also gives a gesture to other people. I definitely involved the cultural reference of people bowing to one another in this piece.
So you see the compression of the side of the umbrella as a gesture of social politeness?
Yes. It has a morphing gesture, but conceptually it gives other people more space.
I can see a similar interest in modifying and improving everyday city life in Self-Sustainable Chair, which is also controlled by the user, yet is far more absurdist in conceit.
With this piece, I was also inspired by New York and walking in the city. I was getting sick and tired of walking the same commute route from my station stop to my home every day while carrying a heavy backpack. I wanted to make something that could make every walk I take more meaningful. The idea was very abstract, so I began to add up the days and minutes of my commute time. My walk ended up being almost fifteen full days per year. That time should be more exciting, so I made this chair. I thought that each step could generate some energy, which can then transform into something else.
Image: JooYoun Paek, Self-Sustainable Chair
It punctuates the commutes. No two walks are the same anymore, depending on when you choose to stop or pause or contemplate. I like the way that once the chair becomes full, it not only gives you the option to rest but sort of forces you to. It makes you stop for a minute. It seems like a lot of your work is about using fast-paced technologies to slow down, or as palliatives. The origami project, Fold Loud, comes to mind. You actually stitched circuits onto sheets of folded paper, such that a given user's manner of folding would close the circuits and release specific human vocal harmonies. The possible combinations aren't just beautiful to the ear; they're soothing.
In his post "New Media vs Artists With Computers", artist and blogger Tom Moody sees the distinction between conceptual photography and art photography made in the 1970s as a correlate to that between new media artists (i.e. those who exact a high level of mastery over hardware and software) and artists working with computers now (i.e. those who use computers and digital technologies in their art practice, often towards a conceptual end and in a more amateur fashion.) Citing Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Lee Friedlander as an example, "art photography" was a practice valuing the artist's command over the medium, whereas for "conceptual photography" (e.g. Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons...) the emphasis was not on one's mastery over the tool, but rather the tool as a means to express an idea. In applying this contrast to artists working with computers today, Moody astutely observes a similar ethos between conceptual photography and "artist's with computers." In my opinion, one weakness to the post is Moody's stark polarization between his constructed categories, stating, "New media suggests a respect for hardware & software and belief in their newness, something artists with computers don't care about. New media involves a finicky devotion to programming and process, whereas artists with computers are bulls in the Apple Shop." The opposition he presents between "new media" vs. "artists with computers" in this instance is clunky and not entirely accurate -- there are artists working with software who don't buy into a "belief in...newness" (like Joan Leandre) while there are "artists with computers" who are attuned to programming (like Paul Slocum). The primary difference between these two camps -- if you want to follow Moody's distinction -- is the type of questions artists ask. To use the examples I gave, Leandre's work would fall under "new media" because his object "exists as data" (to recycle the Manovich quote from Moody's post) but his corrosive use of code interrogates the very ephemerality and instability of software (retroyou nostalg(2)). While he appears to be in command of his medium, he directs this skill to reflect his lack of control, and that tension guides his work. Thus, while he might fit Moody's categorization of a "new media artist" his work is more complex and, frankly, more intelligent than simply using code to elicit a sense of wonder in it of itself. Truly, I can't think of a single "new media artist" who sees that as their end goal. For Slocum, a trained programmer, his work is more conceptual and often does not require advanced skill. That's not his point. Four Seasons of Work Desktops (2007), a series of screengrabs of Slocum's work computer taken over a two year period, is a catalog of the banality of the interfaces we see everyday. While a commentary on computing, and a conceptual work, it is not a reflection of Slocum's adeptness nor intended to be. Slocum does draw on this ability as a programmer in Pi House Generator (2008), a software which infinitely generates house music from the digits of Pi, but again, the work isn't about mastery at all, but rather it is a humorous observation on the repetition of electronic music. Slocum and Leandre are not asking mutually exclusive questions, and in posing a pronounced opposition between the "new media artist" and the "artist with a computer," Moody is missing the point.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at
3:00 pm
Set up by artist Natalie Jerimijenko, the Ooz project is a non-traditional rest area for animals that stands in contrast to the nearby Bronx Zoo. Notably free of cages, Ooz is a place where, according to the artist, animals remain "by choice" and is designed to encourage new kinds of human/animal interaction. On Thursday evening, Jerimijenko will tackle a different but related topic: how urban dwellers can engage with a whole new set of species she claims will soon be living in close proximity. Jeremijenko lists coyote, luna moths, rhinoceros, beetles, raccoons and wild turkey as among the new arrivals that will force humans to rethink biodiversity and the kind of environmental services that are needed. The workshop will take place at the Van Alen Institute in New York City and the organizers request that attendees RSVP to torvsp[AT]vanalen.org by the end of today.
Lots of radio-related activity this week. Art collective Finishing School will, um, finish their three-month residency at MOCA on Thursday with their project Finding Joy. The title "finding joy" is a military term for establishing radio contact in battle. In preparation for this one night event, Finishing School conducted and prerecorded a series of interviews in which interviewees discuss what brings them joy. Part workshop and part treasure hunt, participants will be asked to build small DIY radios in order to pick up transmissions of these interviews, which are dispersed throughout the museum. The public is also invited to call in and share their thoughts about joy, and Finishing School have set up a "Finding Joy Hotline" for this purpose.
New York-area freeform radio station WFMU is what brings me joy, and beginning this weekend WFMU will hold a benefit art sale at Printed Matter, accompanied by an online auction as well. This is their 50th year in operation, and as most listeners will agree, WFMU have a long standing commitment to supporting and covering the arts. Tauba Auerbach, Olaf Breuning, Mike Kelley, Christian Marclay, Richard Prince, Gelitin, Swoon are only a few of the artists auctioning work, which is "priced to sell."
Claire Evans wrote an interesting article on scientist John Underkoffler's "spatial operating environment" g-speak for GOOD last week. Unlike current operating systems (Vista, Leopard, etc.) which are designed entirely around the mouse, g-speak responds to the organic human movement of the user, without a mouse. This could potentially have significant consequences for how we interface with computers, which is precisely why g-speak is so compelling. Excerpt below:
After all, computers -- with their processors, memory, graphics, and networked view of the world -- are offering us increasingly complex possibilities for translating and interacting with 1s and 0s. Yet, the way we use computers hasn’t changed appreciably since the 1980s: we still click around a screen with a mouse or track pad.
The makers of g-speak know that this sort of control doesn't take advantage of how the human brain works. According to Underkoffler, the brain regions that controls muscles, muscle memory, and proprioception (the sense of where your body is in space) and the visual system evolved to work together to deal with spatial situations. "That's why we’re all such experts at getting around and manipulating the real world," he says. "So it seems clear to us that computers should work the same way."
By
Ceci Moss
on
Monday, December 1st, 2008 at
4:00 pm
Chiros, a project by Rhizome-commissioned artist Melanie Crean, goes online today in acknowledgment of World AIDS Day, which was initiated twenty years ago in order to raise awareness about the disease and encourage research and prevention. Chiros pairs interviews with HIV+ women participating in New York-based non-profit programs Iris House, Life Force, Exponents and CAMBA with animations based on scientist Metod Saniga's elliptical model of time. The women were asked to speak about their perception of time, specifically as it has changed since becoming positive. The interviews are both empowering and moving, as many of the women express a need to reclaim time for themselves since their diagnosis. An installation of the project will also go up this week, at Longwood Art Gallery in Bronx, NY.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Monday, December 1st, 2008 at
2:30 pm
Image:" Zoo Game" found by Jon Williams
Guthrie Lonergan has gone seriously meta with his new exhibition Tag Team, up until December 23, curated for online art space Club Internet. Guthrie explained in an email to me that "artists in the show are tag-teaming with the "non-artist" creators of sites they have found to create the pieces in the show together, [and] I am tag-teaming with other artists in curating the show (I am curating something which has already been curated)." Got it. Like a good delicious feed, there are some intriguingly bizarre finds here. One standout is the animation Zoo Game found by Jon Williams which follows a librarian and library patron as they turn into creatures from Noah's Ark and race. Yeah. And the Tyra Banks gif wall which is....absolutely frightening. Somewhere between readymades and folk art, or folk art as a readymade, the sites presented in Tag Team are essentially a "Greatest Hits" collection of bookmarks by artists Petra Cortright, fixoid, Michael Guidetti, Travis Hallenbeck, Joel Holmberg, Lindsay Lawson, Olia Lialina, lowcast, Ilia Ovechkin, Jon Williams, Robert Wodzinski, John Michael Boling, and Tyler Campbell.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Monday, December 1st, 2008 at
1:10 pm
Today, Turbulence announced a new commission by Ethan Ham and Benjamin Rosenbaum. Titled Tumbarumba, this Firefox extension allows the user to uncover twelve stories while surfing the web. Like a series of hidden doors, the user must discern the entry into a text via its apparent absurdity. By clicking through this outlier text, the story appears bit by bit. The project carries over elements from hypertext fiction, but through its implementation as a Firefox application, it becomes more firmly embedded in the user's overall browsing experience.
Firefox extension projects have picked up more recently, one of my favorites continues to be Steve Lambert's Add Art. (Incidentally, also a Rhizome Commission.) For the Firefox-extension aficionado, F.A.T. will launch "Artzilla.org" next week, a collection/blog dedicated to experimental Firefox add-ons. They're kicking the blog off on December 13th with an exhibition by Aram Bartholl, Dragan Espenschied, Evan Roth, Theo Watson, Jamie Wilkinson, Timo Klok, and Tobias Leingruber at Worm Rotterdam. Once running, Artzilla.org will definitely be worth checking out.
By
Rhizome
on
Friday, November 28th, 2008 at
3:00 pm
Rhizome's Community Campaign is underway and, thanks to our generous supporters, we're advancing towards our goal of raising $30,000 by midnight on December 31, 2008. All of our programs rely on your contributions - so thank you!!
By
Ceci Moss
on
Friday, November 28th, 2008 at
2:00 pm
Yes, sir! We've updated Rhizome's Vimeo and Video pages with new videos from New Silent Series events "Next Level" and "Net Aesthetics 2.0". "Net Aesthetics 2.0," the second in a series, examined the state of contemporary art engaged with the internet. Moderated by curator, critic and Rhizome staff writer Ed Halter, panelists included Petra Cortright, Jennifer and Kevin Mccoy, Tom Moody, Tim Whidden and Damon Zucconi. Ed Halter also moderated the talk on indie gaming "Next Level" with artists and game designers Mark Essen, Jason Rohrer and Greg Costikyan.
Big, big thanks to Rhizome's Social Media intern Jenny Braudaway for getting these videos up.
By
Marisa Olson
on
Friday, November 28th, 2008 at
10:30 am
It's interesting to think of the correlations between religion and reproduction. From illuminated manuscripts to the Guttenberg Bible, sacred texts have pushed reproductive techniques forward. Electronic media have only entrenched the scenario: Televangelism, holy-rolling web rings, and spiritual podcasts might put the script in scripture, but they have also led to what some are seeing as a revival in spiritualism among online consumers, er, believers. In Karlsruhe, Germany, new media place of worship ZKM has mounted an exhibition entitled Medium Religion, which is focused on what happens when religious faith moves "from the private sphere of personal belief out into the public sphere of visual communication." The works they've included--by artists Christoph Büchel, Paul Chan, Wim Delvoye, Valie Export, Omer Fast, Boris Groys, Vitaly Komar, Beryl Korot and Steve Reich, robotlab, and many others--consider the role of images in broadcasting ideology and the structure of mass media's discourse networks. While looking at the link between world views and worldwide transmissions, the show also raises the question of what happens to "minority faiths" and how they weather a ratings or hit-driven communication economy. In addition to the many art projects included, the show features a number of "documentary installations" that provide evidence of spiritual transmissions' popularity, ranging from a roundup of Osama Bin Laden's video messages to episodes of Paul Eugene's Gospel Aerobics. But that raises another question... If the body is a temple, what would god make of the new flesh? - Marisa Olson
Image: Valie Export, Ingrid and Oswald Wiener, Das Unsagbare Sagen, 1992
"PREDRIVE: After Technology" (currently on exhibition at The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA November 14-April 2, 2009) features new works by six international artists including Takeshi Murata, Paper Rad, Gretchen Skogerson, Antoine Catala, and Brody Condon. The exhibition was conceived with a very specific group of artists in mind -- artists who placed both the dysfunction and arrogance of ever-changing technologies at the center of their work. In a sense, these artists are working in the shadow of a technological dystopia (and euphoria) that had begun as early as the Industrial Revolution -- as expressed in the vacant, vectored glances mapped out in Edouard Manet's The Balcony (1868-69) or the absolute pleasure of stop-motion animation in Georges Melies'
An Up-To-Date Conjuror (1899).
Below, I speak with two of the featured artists in the show, Takeshi Murata and Jacob Ciocci (of Paper Rad) -- we cover everything from readymade software aesthetics to the dream of the perfect collector -- someone willing to take the risk of simply buying an idea. -- Melissa Ragona
Melissa Ragona: Last night I was asking about how you each manipulate your work at the level of the pixel. But, in a larger sense, I want to know where your work is going in terms of its relationship to technology -- especially because "PREDRIVE" is about what I am calling, the anti-wow effect of new technologies -- the disappointment of new technologies' promise to bring us somewhere else faster or to offer a yet-to-be imagined visual/audio space. I first became interested in so-called "new media," through structuralist film, focusing on filmmakers like Hollis Frampton, Paul Sharits, Tony Conrad, Joyce Wieland, Michael Snow, Peter Kubelka, et al. And then began exploring, a second generation of filmmakers who were also interested in film as epistemology (studied at the levels of the frame, or projection systems, or editing) primarily through the Six Pack group in Vienna which included filmmakers like Martin Arnold, Brigitta Burger-Utzer, Alexander Horwath, Lisl Ponger and Peter Tscherkassky. And, then most recently, artists involved in information visualization projects like Martin Wattenberg, Lisa Jevbratt, Ben Fry or Golan Levin. So, while I am still interested in work that is rigorously formal and reflexive about the use of technology - I am less impressed by what it produces visually. So, I know that in your [addressing Takeshi] most recent work you seem to be experimenting with freer, more improvisational forms. Or it seems that the focus is more on the relationship between frames rather than at the level of the pixel [as in Monster Movie or Escape Spirit VideoSlime].
Takeshi Murata: Yeah, but for me it has more to do with working within a different historical context. In the work I was doing earlier [as in Monster Movie] -- it's a great open territory -- working with new tools like computers or software programs. The technology is moving so quickly that there's much less of a framework through which to see the work. Now that I am working with more traditional forms of animation again, I have its history to work from, for better or worse.
Jacob Ciocci: So I have a question for Takeshi -- so what's an example of this newer form you were referring to, you mean like rethinking animation? And which older pieces of yours are we talking about?
TM: Well, like Monster Movie. And I'm thinking mostly about the level of incorporation of the computer, or where it’s incorporated. I initially was drawn to using the computer because of the speed. When I started to work with hand-drawn animation again, one of the main issues that was really important to me was the length of time it took to make work. If you can make something really quickly, it can change everything. I learned by doing traditional animation -- you know, you would write out script, storyboard, keyframing, you know all the classic stuff. But, in the end, like 90% of it is simply pounding it out.
JC: Yeah, right. Just sitting there and pounding it out.
TM: Yeah, because there isn't room for any kind of experimentation or growth -- what you can do is simply limited at that point. One of the reasons I got into computer-based work is that it allows you to put that process in another place; you could make things happen in different directions.
JC: Okay, so you got into computers in that way. Now, it's an example of something that is moving back toward this other model of animation. Give me some examples of that newer work.
TM: Well, the latest hand-drawn animations.
JC: Like what?
TM: Well the video I just finished for the Mattress Factory is Homestead Grays. I haven't really found an exact balance yet -- like the thing I did with Billy [Dearraindrop] in London was straight animation, but we stripped it down to only white forms on black. We were using the computer to be really fast and that was a huge step up.
JC: So when you started you weren't using computers at all, right?
TM: No, right it was all film.
JC: Wow, that's amazing.
TM: Yeah, the process gave me so much respect for artists who were making animation before computers.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at
10:19 am
Image: Brian Alfred, Help Me!, 2005
Image: Mark Titchner, Voices you cannot hear, 2004
These two screensavers by artists Brian Alfred and Mark Titchner were created in 2006 to accompany an exhibition in Creative Time's ongoing "The 59th Minute" series at New York's Time Square. Appearing on one of the most prominent screens in the square, the NBC Astrovision by Panasonic, "The 59th Minute" is a project, begun in 2000, which brings work by video artists to this singular public space. Both Titchner's Voices you cannot hear (2004) and Alfred's Help Me! (2005) incorporate subliminal messages, and are a commentary on the use of cryptic manipulation in advertising. Given the context and symbolism of Times Square, this was an especially effective move. For Titchner's piece the words "DO IT" appear again and again in the background, whereas in Alfred's piece "HELP ME!" continually scrolls across a static image of a building, mimicking tickertape. Ara Peterson's Energy Fields (2003) also screened alongside these works, but was not produced as a screensaver. Peter Eleey curated the exhibition.
Please make a donation to Rhizome now during our annual Community
Campaign! Our goal is to raise $30,000 by 12/31/08, a figure that is
completely vital to sustain us this year.
Rhizome ($25 level): Rhizome Membership
Rhizome membership comes with full access to our archives, ability to use special site features and discounts to art merchandise online. See our individual membership page for a full list!
Sprout ($50 level): Rhizome Ringtones by YACHT, Rainbro, Taigaa and Ben Coonley In return for a donation of $50, you can choose one of four ringtones
by artist bands Rainbro (a.k.a. Ben
Fino-Radin), Taigaa, YACHT (Jona Bechtolt and Claire
Evans), or Ben
Coonley, who will record a dialogue with his internationally
beloved pony, just for your phone.
Seedling ($100): Nasty Nets DVD, Nasty Nets collective
Nasty Nets is an international ensemble representing some of the most
active artists working online today. Identifying themselves as a "web
surfing club," together the work they post on the nastynets.com blog
both celebrates and critiques the internet. Their collections of
animated gifs, YouTube hacks, html cheat codes, and other found and
edited material offer a poignant and humorous take on contemporary
digital visual culture. On a DVD player, the Nasty Nets DVD offers a
handful of funny, visually playful videos and remixes from the
treasure trove of internet pop culture. On a computer, users can also
access a multitude of file folders jam-packed with a collection
gif-mashups, videos, and other appropriated material that has made the
site so popular, online.
Shoot ($200): Floor Warp, Guthrie Lonergan, 2008
Members will get a screensaver (for Mac or PC) by Guthrie Lonergan. For
members only, Guthrie has converted his video loop Floor Warp
2 into a work of art for your computer. Veteran PC users will
remember the old Warp screensaver for Windows, which inspired this new
loop.
Bud ($300): Member, 2009, Steve Lambert, 2008, edition of five Steve Lambert is going to make a
brand-new business-card-sized drawing edition that states simply
"Member, 2009."
Stolon ($500): Rhizome Balaclava, Cat Mazza, 2008, edition of five
In a variation on her Stitch
For Senate project, Cat
Mazza will use her microRevolt knitPro application to create a
balaclava with the Rhizome logo, to keep you warm in style.
Craft Hackers
Craft Hackers is a panel discussion among artists who use crafting
techniques to explore high tech culture and the relationship between
needlework and computer programming.
Friday, December 12 at 7:30pm
at the New Museum
$8 General/ $6 Members BUY TICKETS HERE
Every year, Rhizome awards commissions to a group of international artists for the creation of new work. Read about the nine projects commissioned in our 2009 cycle!
ART & ABSINTHE
Art & Absinthe is a new blog following the ins and outs, hits and misses of the New York City contemporary art scene. Find Art & Absinthe at events in Manhattan and Williamsburg, and check out the website for insider info, details on upcoming events, party photos, and more.
In addition to art attractions open to the general public, Art & Absinthe has teamed up with select galleries and non-profit organizations like Deitch Projects, Rhizome, James Fuentes, Like the Spice, and Leo Kesting
Gallery through the website's sponsor, Pernod Absinthe. (Google readers can grab the RSS feed here: www.artandabsinthe.com/feed
In return for a donation of $50, you can choose one of four ringtones
by artist bands 
Nasty Nets is an international ensemble representing some of the most
active artists working online today. Identifying themselves as a "web
surfing club," together the work they post on the 
Members will get a screensaver (for Mac or PC) by 
In a variation on her 
