nick /210

DANM 210 Project Design Studio


FINAL DOCUMENTATION

Previous versions of these documents can be viewed in my DANM 210 archive. Further documentation of this project and others can be viewed on my personal site: nicklally.com.

CONTENTS

Proposal
Curriculum Vitae
Bio
Artist Statement
Contextual Statement



PROPOSAL

Contemporary art is really pursuing a political project when it attempts to move into the relational sphere by problematizing it. 
Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics

For the most part these artists and curators see discursivity and sociability in rosy terms. As the critic Claire Bishop suggests, this tends to drop contradiction out of dialogue, and conflict out of democracy... 
Hal Foster, Chat Rooms


Two Rooms is an open source, experiential, generative art installation that seeks to examine the functioning of social interaction and power within new technologies.

Two Rooms seeks to situate itself within the contradictions of new technology by initiating a dialectic process that recognizes both the promises and threats that new technologies present. It seeks to explore new possibilities for creative interaction while exposing veins of power that permeate the work. It is a work that hints at both the utopian promise and dystopian threat of technology, rejecting the idea of a neutral technology. It promotes discovery, collaboration and play amongst its viewer but situates them in a clear power dynamic in relation to each other and to the author. It is a work that seeks to undermine the role of the author while positing the author as a central figure of power. It seeks to engage the viewer in a dialogical process that exposes the contradictions of technology without advocating a clear position. It is work that is open to a multitude of interpretations and experiences.

Two Rooms is an interactive installation environments that allows participants to alter the content and form of the installation through their interaction with it and through their ability to alter a mutable set of rules. It is a unique installation in that it uses a number of digital art methods to create a complex interactive, generative system that relies on the interaction of its participants to create its content. Viewers can collaborate within the confines/rules of the reactive installation as a way to create new and unexpected results. Viewers can also redefine the rules of the installation by modifying its program through an interactive, modular programming language similar to Max or Pure Data, but simpler. Two Rooms will be released as open source software, allowing programmers to fundamentally alter the code and use it in their own installations. The work will create unexpected results for both the viewer and the artist and has the potential to live and grow beyond the influence of either. It seeks to explore new modes of collaborative art-making, examine new possibilities for relational aesthetics and expose relationships of power within new technologies.

Viewers in the installation space are confronted with a large video projection of other viewers in a similar installation space. Viewers in the space are videotaped by a camera behind the screen. This video feed is compared with the video feed of the viewers in the other installation by an algorithm in a computer. When the movement of viewers in the two spaces overlap, sounds and visuals are triggered in both spaces and viewers discover that their movement in the space has the possibility of altering the experience of the space. They also discover that the content of the space depends on their interaction with other viewers who only exist virtually in the space. Through play and experimentation, viewers can discover the multitude of ways that their interaction with the virtual interactors can change the space. For instance, if a viewer and a virtual viewer are both wearing yellow shirts, their interaction/overlap may trigger unpleasant/discordant sounds. While two other viewers who are wearing blue shirts may be able to trigger pleasant/ambient sounds.

This installation then encourages viewers to interact with virtual viewers as a way to shape the content of the installation. It explores a unique form of communication afforded by new technologies—virtual touch. Using a virtual representation of their own body, a viewer is able to “touch” a virtual representation of another's body. The results of this “touch” are variable and unexpected (sound, visuals), thus interrogating the viewer's conception of their own body and how it functions within this virtual world. It also encourages them to collaborate with other viewers in the real space to orient themselves in relationship to the virtual viewers.

The installation will have two distinct modes. In one mode, both spaces adhere to the same rules. For example, the overlap of the color yellow will have discordant results in both space, so people in both spaces will be encouraged to interact with their virtual counterparts in similar ways to create similar results. In the other mode, the same event will yield different (we can say opposite, for simplicity's sake) results. For instance, the overlapping of yellows in one space will produce discordant effects in one space and soothing, ambient effects in the other space. This mode will position both spaces against each other as they both battle for control of their space. Additional modes may be created that alter the interaction of the participants in different ways. Certain events that happen within the space (ie: a certain amount of on screen overlap of participants) could also trigger the changing between modes.

The experience of viewers can be altered and/or interrupted by a single viewer who will have the power to switch between modes and alter the algorithms controlling the space by accessing a single computer in the space and reorganizing a simple, modular programming language. One possibility for the simplified programming language is a visualization of boxes that can be dragged across the screen and connected in different ways to yield new results. This type of control places this viewer in a position of power over the other viewers as he/she can mediate the experience of everyone within the space. Access of the control algorithms simultaneously points to the lack of power that the subject has in relationship to the author/programmer as he/she is confronted with a limited set of possible modifications-those that are sanctioned by the author.

The first version of the system will use video input to create audio and visual content. Future versions might incorporate additional sensors to create a more complex, interactive environment. The code will be accessible to developers who can modify the system for use in their own installations. In this way, the work provides the possibility for growth far beyond what the original author can envision.

APPENDIX I: Design Documents

Initial Prototype
Processing Code
Prototype Description

Prototype, Version II
Processing Code
Prototype Description

Technical Description: Two Rooms will be installed in two rooms which are sonically isolated from each other. Each room will contain a projector, a screen (or white wall), a video camera, a computer and a simple control device. The size and layout of the rooms may vary from installation to installation. There will be no movable furniture in either room to avoid problems with the background subtraction technique of the program. Places to hide (pillars, nooks, etc) in the space are desirable.

APPENDIX II: Development Timeline

I am currently in the process of testing the working prototype with participants. The timeline, beginning in January includes:



Total Time: 4-5 months, just in time for spring!

APPENDIX III: Budget

EQUIPMENT
Video Cameras (2) $400
Projectors (2) $1000
Computers, desktop PCs (2) $700
Reason software, educational $240
Cables and miscellaneous: $150
Physical controllers, arduino and buttons $50

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
Flyers, mailers, etc: $100

SALARY
Programming and design: 40 hours @ $35/hour = $1400

TOTAL (+10% contingency): $4444

APPENDIX IV: Bibliography



online resources:
Action, Reaction, and Phenomenon, Rhizome.org
Complexity: Art and Complex Systems, Samuel Dorsky Museum, PDF
Complexity Theory by Karen Cham and Jeffery Johnson
Flight404
Generator.x
Pixelsumo
setpixel
systemsart.org
Systems of Art by Francis Halsal



CURRICULUM VITAE

nicklally.com/cv.pdf

BIO

nicklally.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work seeks to critically interrogate and explore the contradictions inherent in new technologies. On one hand, we have theorist like Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri who see in the shift to immaterial, affective (ie: computer-based) labor the possibility for social change. They argue that the networks that are created and maintained within the new informational economy hold the promise of true direct democracy and the end of capitalism. On the other hand, these networks can easily be appropriated by authoritarian power to observe, surveil and document its subjects. Situated within these issues, we have a host of constantly evolving technologies that provide us with new ways of interacting with art and each other. My work seeks to explore these technologies and push their limits to create new possibilities and new dialogues within digital art.

New technologies provide artists with unprecedented possibilities for art that is dynamic, generative and dependent on interaction with the viewer. I want to explore the possibilities for creating immersive environments that depend on the connection with the body to generate content. This interaction, coupled with generative processes programmed into the computer, provide us with the opportunity to create art that is fundamentally exploratory and demands the total immersion of the viewer into the logic of the rules of the work.

These technologies also create new avenues for fostering and exploring social interactions. From online networks to ambient awareness to participatory projects, we are afforded with unprecedented possibilities to explore "relational aesthetics" as describe by Nicolas Bourriaud and "dialogical aesthetics" as described by Grant Kester. My work creating online activist tools and organizing art projects have explored these new possibilities to an extent. I would like to continue to explore and expand my work to include more cutting-edge applications that problematize, create and redefine new modes for social interaction.

Fundamental to my art practice is exploration and play as I seek to navigate the critical debates within digital art theory.

CONTEXTUAL STATEMENT

My work is inspired by artists that problematize and expand the relationship between the artist and the viewer. I am also inspired by artists that push the limits of new technologies to explore their unique possibilities to transform art-making practice. I seek to engage with dialogical and relational aesthetics while exploring new methods in digital media to create art that is collaborative, participatory, engaging, interactive, exploratory, conceptual, aesthetic and which champions play both in its creation and reception.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres was one of the first artists that inspired my interest in expanding and shifting the role of the viewer in relationship to artwork. He invites viewers to take a piece of the work, to taste the work, and to interpret the work in their own way. His work, while rooted in a specific symbolism for himself, relies on the interpretation of viewers as they confront it and interact with it. Miranda July further expands the artist-viewer relationship in her “Learning to Love You More” project which invites participants to create the content of the work. Her work is rooted in the idea that everyone is an artist and expands the possibilities for participation in the art world by those who don't necessarily consider themselves artists. July encourages this participation by posting simple art projects on the project's website and allowing participants to post the results of their work.

I founded the Artclash Collective in 2004 with similar goals: to encourage people to make and exhibit art outside of the traditional limitations of the art world. The collective organizes projects that encourage participation from artists and non-artists alike, collecting the work and exhibiting it in unjuried shows. The goals is to counter the exclusivity of the traditional art world and to posit each viewer as a potential artist, thereby blurring the lines between the two.

Part of my interest in participatory art projects is my desire for art to affect social change. I am interested in work that blurs the lines between art and social activism; art that is rooted in “relational aesthetics” as described by Bourriaud or “dialogic aesthetics” as described by Grant Kester. This art posits social interaction as central to the work. For example, Suzanne Lacy's “The Roof is On Fire” which engages youth in Oakland and figures of authority in their lives (police, teachers, etc) in dialogue with each other to invoke a better understanding between the two groups.

I am also interested in art that uses new technologies to create generative emergent systems and art that engages bodies in immersive systems. Digital art holds the possibility to engage viewers in ways that were never before possible. Exploring these new technological possibilities and combining them with a solid grounding in relational aesthetics is central to my goal as a new media artist.


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