Group Presentation

Technologised Bodies

Is it good that relationship between technology and  human becomes too close?

Case 1: Beyond the Pages - by Masaki Fujihata

The work:

- Entity: a table, a chair, a light, a clock and a pen

- Visual images: a book, an apple, a stone, a leaf and door

- Presents a book as interface and simulates the action of turning pages

- Effects via using the book:

a)The lamps light up

b)A very short projection of smiling child within a door appears

Key issues:

- The importance of interactive installation 

- The possibility of future digital networking

- Rethink the nature of the book

- Technology's potential for shaping valuable content with fantasy, concentration, and curiosity.

Case 2: Body-Brush Project - by Professor Horace Ip

The work:

- transforming human body movement to various visual form and space

- infra-red illumination

- 3D space, real-time

- visual images variation depends on motion speed, motion acceleration and body- size change

- inspired by Jackson Pollock's action painting
“When Jackson Pollock spreaded the paint with a thrust, the paint will not just fall along the path of his hand. In the interface, we also take into consideration the force exerts on the “paint” ( quoted from a report of the Body-Brush Project)

Key issues:

- painting in 2-Dimension to 3-Dimension

- draw picture not only by hand, but also by your whole body

- meaning of body movement, relationship between painting and action

- interaction between human body and the environment

- art and  psychotherapy:
- reveal human expressive and perceptual patterns
- encourage people to use their bodies to express  themselves
“With Body Brush, one can produce visual images for expression and communication not possible through traditional means,” Professor Ip said.
(Grace Ho, Art and Technology meet in psychotherapy, January 2005, 30)

Case 3: Constrained City/ the pain of everyday life

The work:

 - Extension of human perception

 - City-shaped body by following the city code

 - Be able to read and experience the invisibility of electromagnetic waves

“Several art projects have been striving to expand these perceptual limits of technology…which try to introduce the body to ‘digital perception’…” (Christiane Paul, Body and identity, p.173)

- Similar projects: Stahl Stenslie’s Tactile Technologies/ Kazuhiko Hachiya’s Inter Discommunication Machine

- 

 Change of everyday routines by taking alternative ones: 

"a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.“ (Joseph Hart, 2004) 

 - The experience of human-machine interface not only provide individuals a new way of exploring the city, but also reveals their intension to explore pain:
“Wearer’s admiration for gentle tortures” (Gordon Savicic)

Key issues:

>> A new way of experiencing the urban systems <<

Case 4: Seeing is believeing - by Hachiya Mazuhiko

The work:

Seeing is believing, an installation for a one-man exhibition at Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan. consists of three works. "Empty Entity" infrared ray electric light display, "Sheep" eyewear , and "Mega Diary".  

Key Issues:

Without wearing the eyewear you can only see lights flickering on the light board. But in fact , the text of diaries collected through internet are displayed on it. You can't see but there exist lives of people you have never met before. There is another secret in this electric light display --- infrared ray is invisible to the naked eye, but you can read the letters when you get the knack of it. 

This work shows how  techniques enhance human’s  Cognitive and understanding of the world. “Seeing is believing “ seems not  quite right under the support of techniques. It comes a new saying “Something exist, maybe you just can’t see it exactly. 

Case 5: LED eyelash - Soomi Park

The work:

LED Eyelash is a clever product that speaks to many Asian womens desire for bigger eyes. It features an inclination sensor with mercury to turn on and/or off. The sensor can perceive the movements of the pupil in the eyes and eyelids. If someone wears it and moves her head, LED Eyelash will flicker following the movement. 

Key issues:

Her artwork is a piece  of art as well as a design product that can be used in our daily life. Thus it’s a good example of the idea of human living with technology with joy and happiness. What’s more, she also make a good use of technology to reflect the environment and culture in a fresh way that catches peoples eye.  

Group Conclusion

- importance of interaction

- relationship between human and environment

- existence of other sensibilities - 

 to feel something that are invisible and we didn’t pay much attention in our daily lives

- reality reflection -
rely on technology to satisfy some desires or new fashion

- close relationship between human and technology

computer games at the readings by Adams

A) How does Adams define art? Do you agree with his definition?


According to Adam words "The boundaries between art and non-art are not hard and fast; there is a grey area." , people is getting confused with  judging the quality of work of art. The mediums is not only some tradition painting or sculpture, but also internet and technology in today.  Therefore, people cannot say which one is art work accurately.
I agree Adams ' claim because artist can use different mediums to make a art work such as painting combining technology. Therefore, people cannot use tradition criteria to judge those digital paintings. So,what the criteria is in the future need people to think of it.

B) According to Adams, what is needed for videogames to be considered as art?


Videogames need to have contain content and must consider the idea that it presents to public. It's must be more than merely entertaining. Also, it need to have an aesthetic that Adam distinct aesthetic qualities of games by assessing the appeal, meaning, richness, depth, significance ,and so on. Moreover, players must feel things via playing videogames. 


Reference:
Andy Clarke and Grethe Mitchell, Video game and art (Intellect Books, 2007)

Gamer revolution

A) According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing videogames for individuals and societies?

Pros for Individuals and societies:
Videogames can help player to train the coordination of mind, hand amd foot because they need to judge the  action you do and type the order immediately. Also, playing videogames such as The Sims can make player more creative as they can create their own place and even their faces in the game. Players will be brave to do what they cannot do in reality like being a man.




Cons for Individuals and societies:

Wrong concepts will send or enter to players' mind especially for immatural teenagers. The most obvious messages are violence and sexual concept. One of my classmates like playing The Sims and she always makes sex with people in the games. The example of  Exidy's 1976 title Death Race shows videogames may not increase the violent tendencies among youth, but surely bullying.
Videogames  do encourage the concept of violence to players because players need to choose weapons to hit or kill people in some shooting games. There is  a real case that a young boy brought a gun to school and shot at eight schoolmates' faces and finally found out that the boy played first-person shooter game for 100 hours.

B) Accordimg the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values andanti-social actions in the actions in the real world? Do you agree?

Some video especially first person shooter game,  players need to choose weapons to hit or kill people so that players are encouraged as a killing machine. Also, players will eager to finish all the tasks in the game.  According to research, by testing brain activity, first person shooter game can produce aggressive impulsion in players' brain. 
Digital games also raise the problem of discrimination. The setting of characters is unfair as the good one must be Western countries, mostly America, and the bad one must be Middle East countries such as Iraq. This wrong concept will send to players, especially teenagers, and they are not mature enough to filter those discriminative messages.

C) Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?

I think government should have the right to ban certain games because it can stop players learning violent  or receiving wrong concept.

Mouchette shows

I think Mouchette's website show sensation of sound and visual effect.
There are many close up of her different parts of face like her lips which make me feel a little bit disgusting.
People also can listen some sounds  such as a girl saying "Bonjour", breathing sound or crying sound. It seems that she want to talk about sexual sensation.
The front page of website show some information of artist. For example, It shows the name, living place, age etc to give a concept to people who she is. It raises the question of identity issue in the internet. How do people think of the themselves between real life and internet?

Memory of Zara!

Missing Group Zara in PRO-WIKIPEDIA ARGUMENTS

Video-sharing Sites

Do video-sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture?


I think video-sharing sites such as Youtube can enhance creative culture. 


Nowadays, everybody has at least one computer at home, so it's very easy for everyone to see videos or ideas  shared in the internet. According to Roman Marek talked in meeting, people don't need to show their real name and identification in the internet, it makes them dare to show their creations. Therefore, Video-sharing site provides a good opportunity to the  creator.


Also, Video-sharing site provide a platform for people to give and exchange comments. It's a important part in creative culture because the creator can improve their ideas and concepts in all fiends.  

"Bus Uncle" VS "Leave Whitwey Alone"

1. Everyday, there are over million people watching Youtube. As people said Youtube became our electronic television. The impact of it is unpredictable.

2. I will give 8 to "Bus Uncle" and 6 to "Leave Whitwey Alone"
For the technical angle, both video shows difference effects on it.I think "Leave Whitwey Alone" is more professional, but "Bus Uncle" took in realistic way. First, "Leave Whitwey Alone"'s  image is very shape that there is no noise. The director took the video in a bright room and used a more professional camera. Also, Chris Crocker's video is more narrative because he was taken by himself.  It's obvious that the director of "Bus Uncle" just used a moblic phone. However, it's quite excited that viewer can watch the video via a candid angle. If you is talking about the technical effect, yes,"Leave Whitwey Alone" is good. " Bus Uncle" win in realistic.
For content of the video, I prefer "Bus Uncle", it's really realistic. It reflects a social izzue of Hong Kong which people have huge pressure. I can hear all the content clearly and it's not boring. But,  "Leave Whitwey Alone" is really annoying. As Chris was crying when he recorded the tape, I didn't know what he was talking about.