Playing For Change

I love "Playing For Change," both the project and the music. I also get jazzed that the music comes together through the technology. These musicians would never have connected without it.

Playing Together

Here's a creative and fun music video that plays on how we connect through that little camera on our box.

Art on the Internet

The Internet provides a creative ground for bringing visual art, words, sound and interactivity together and a variety of artists have been exploring it since the beginning. Being both an artist and a web designer, I continue to be inspired by the variety of examples of such play.

Here are a few links. This is just a small sampling. If you come across other interesting sites...let me know....

Visualizing Poetry and Text

v
Hypertext journal by John Chris Jones http://www.ellipsis.com/index.cgi
Hypertext Poetry or "cyber poetry" has been around for quite awhile on the net. It takes a variety of forms but it all uses the idea of hyper-linking text and images to related text and images offering us a non-linear pathway through the piece. Another example can be seen here: That Night by Steve Ersinghaus

Inflat-o-scape
http://www.inflatoscape.com
I had to spend some time with this piece to really appreciate its nuanced slant on using technology to critique technology. Its another form of hyper-linking with a little more interactivity.

Christina Manning, Sky
http://www.bornmagazine.com/projects/sky/
"Sky" is more of a video than an online interactive piece but its a good example of how the image begins to be part of the words and in effect the poetry. Born Magazine is an online video/animation archive from a variety of artists. Its worth a look http://www.bornmagazine.com/




Judy Malloy, Where Every Luminous Landscape
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/
Judy Malloy has been exploring hypertext poetry for a long time and has several interesting projects.

David Knoebel
http://home.ptd.net/~clkpoet/walkdont/
This is a simple exploration of words as images in space.



Dreaming in Hypertext
http://cymem.wordpress.com/2008/




Jenny Holzer on Twitter
http://twitter.com/jennyholzer

Origami
http://www.bornmagazine.org/projects/




How They Sleep
http://www.bornmagazine.org/




Another Evening Reminiscing
http://www.bornmagazine.org/




Fallow
http://www.bornmagazine.org/

Telling Stories

Telling Stories
Tomas Nilsson, Slagsmålsklubben (Little Red Ridinghood)
http://vimeo.com/3514904
I admit, I have watched this over and over as I love how Nilsson shows how an old story can be told "fresh." Some of what we are about as artists is making the "old" new again and being reminded why we tell ourselves stories to begin with.



Jason Nelson, Panhandle
http://www.heliozoa.com/panhandle.html
This story about a storm on the Panhandle is taken from a random letter found in a used book. Nelson uses a variety of methods to not just tell the event but to give sense of it. With it comes the memory, confusion and connected-ness that comes when profound moments are told over time.

Taking Journeys

Taking Journeys
Embody, Labyrinth (2001)
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/site/




Four Rooms
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/images/swf/




Lighting Candles, Saying Prayers
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/site/

Collaborating Together

Creating Together
An Exquisite Corpse
http://anexquisitecorpse.net/crypt/




Gridcosm
from 2009 going back
http://www.sito.org/synergy/gridcosm/


from 1997 coming forward
http://www.sito.org/synergy/gridcosm/


Communimage
http://www.communimage.ch/




You and We (a text/image collaboration)
http://www.bornmagazine.org/youandwe/

Inside and Out

Inside and Out
Dublin light show site visitors manipulate controls online to create a light show for people on the street in Dublin
Full site
http://www4.alzado.net/edintro.html
Video only
http://www4.alzado.net/dublinvid.html

Exploding Dog, artist makes images based on titles submitted by site visitors
http://www.explodingdog.com/

World of Warcraft

Click on image to see larger view

World of Warcraft is one of the most developed in the 3-d gaming genre. It is primarily a game where two sides (the Alliance and the Hordes) fight each other and various game monsters to gain skill levels. It is based on a highly developed set of 4 groups of avatars for each side which a player can choose from and alter (to some degree).






The world is highly illustrated...each avatar is part of its own specific setting,










Each avatar has unique weapons and there is a rich narrative that runs through the game which players learn the deeper they play. I tried out all the avatars, wanting to see each world...








...who knew that the mightiest warrior for me would be the little dwarf girl...who actually was able to defeat something and make it to level two....although she is currently dead as well...roaming the earth.








For all its interesting illustrations, the game is too much about fighting to keep me intriqued for long but it definitely shows how the illustrator and the art are critical to the gaming world allure.

Second Life

These screens give a brief look into Second Life (SL). You can take a look yourself here. Generally things are still in the state of being built and it doesn't feel like alot of action. Some are predicting though, that this is the direction social networking is going, especially within the corporate and educational worlds.




Involvement in SL is based on avatars which you build and clothe through a variety of controls. There are a certain set of choices for the free version and then you can buy additional more finely defined features and clothing if you want.





Environments are member owned and developed. Many are open to the public while others are private by invitation only. To build you must buy/rent "land" and then it is up to you to develop the land into an actual environment. This fantasy woodland (Chakryn) is one of the more developed sections.




This is another shot of Chakryn, the lights are animated moving light patterns and one of many effects sprinkled throughout the woods for visitors to discover.







Many organizations are exploring SL for educational purposes. This space is developed by Edu-Nation and this particular display is on Edgar Allen Poe. There are many things to touch which will call up text or audio giving information.





The Dresden Gallery in Germany has developed a space that allows us to get a virtual taste of the artwork.







You can walk through the galleries, getting a sense of the layout and feel of the work.







Here you are encouraged to touch the art. Clicking on the work will bring up a notecard giving details of the piece.







The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is another place that has developed a virtual tour to go along with their real world space.







There is a documents room that allows you to learn more about the history of the Kristallnacht Pogrom.







At one point one of the walls of the room turns into a street you can walk onto which is suppose to give you a sense of being there....here I think they probably need to continue to work on the illustration because the experience is still fairly flat...but the concept of being able to walk through an actual scene in history to better learn about it is intriguing.



In another part of the Museum you can listen to video stories and testimonies of people who lived through the Holocaust.