Art Here and Now » Technology

Zoom Into Every Brush Stroke of Art History’s Masterpieces

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:34:39 +0000

Google Art Project launched this week, putting the work of art museums around the world online in a consolidated place. Using Google’s Street View technology, you can walk around the galleries and look at the art on the walls. At launch, museums include Tate Britain, MoMA, the National Gallery, the Van Gogh Museum and many more. For me though, the best part of this is the high resolution images of the artwork. You can zoom in on paintings like Van Gogh’s Field with Flowers near Alrles so far that you can see every brush stroke. Seeing images in a text book or in a standard Google search lets you get the layout of a picture. But looking at the work close up lets you see how the art was really made. That’s what I love most when I get to see art in person. Google Art Project recreates that experience when you can’t see the art in person – or when the museum is so crowded you can’t see it once you get there.

A preview of Google Art Project.

Behind the Scenes.

Google Art Project
Tate Britain’s experiences launching their collection in Google Art Project, and why they did it.

YouTube Play: Guggenheim Biennial of Creative Video

Trout Monfalco — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:45:29 +0000

YouTube and the Guggenheim teamed up to create a respected, juried art show of video work from YouTube. Back in July, anyone could enter a single video hosted on YouTube. A jury of 11 respected artists selected 24 videos, which were unveiled tonight at a Guggenheim event. Here is a complete list of jurors and selected work, with a few sample videos from the winners.

Jurors

Laurie Anderson
musician, inventor, filmmaker, performer

Animal Collective
band

Darren Aronofsky
filmmaker

Douglas Gordon
installation, video and film artist

Marilyn Minter
painter, video artist & photography

Ryan McGinley
photographer

Takashi Murakami
Painter, sculptor, video artist

Shirin Neshat
artist and filmmaker

Stefan Sagmeister
designer

Apichatpong Weerasethakul
filmmaker

Nancy Spector
Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
jury chair

Work Selected by the Jury

Post Newtonianism (War Footage/Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Footage)
Josh Bricker — sqosh12

Moonwalk
Martin Kohout — lostpostservice

Words
Everynone (Will Hoffman, Daniel Mercadan) — dmercadante1

This Aborted Earth: The Quest Begins
Michael Banowetz, Noah Sodano — thisAbortedEarth

deuce
Monica Cook — monicacook

Strindberg and Helium at the Beach
Eun-Ha Paek, Erin Perkins — ErinPerkins

Die Antwoord — Zef Side
Sean Metelerkamp — stewartridgeway

Bathtub IV
Keith Loutit — keithloutit

Seaweed
Remi Weekes, Luke White — tellno1ne

Gardyn
Nick Bertke (Pogo) — Fagottron

Bear untitled — D.O. Edit
Christen Bach — Christenbach

Le Syndrome du Timide
Pierre-Axel Vuillaume-Prezeau — pehaboy

auspice
Bryce Kretschmann — squomb

I Met the Walrus
Jerry Levitan, Josh Raskin — imetthewalrus

Birdy Nam Nam — The Parachute Endings
Steve Scott, Will Sweeney — Nottoscalelondon

Wonderland Mafia
Lindsay Scoggins — waambat

Synesthesia
Terri Timely (Corey Creasey, Ian Kibbey) — territimely1

Ladybirds’ Requiem digest version
Akino Kondoh — akinokondoh

Notebook
Evelien Lohbeck — evelienlohbeck

Man With A Movie Camera: The Global Remake
Perry Bard — perrybard

Scenic Jogging
Jillian Mayer — JillianMayer

Taxi III Stand Up and Cry Like a Man
Lisa Byrne — lisabyrne700

Luis
Joaquin Cocina, Cristobal Leon, Niles Atalla — futureshorts

The Huber Experiments — Vol 1
Erik Huber, Matthew Huber — ErikHuber

Learn more and see all of the jury’s selections at
YouTube Play: Guggenheim Biennial for Creative Video

OnTheBoards.tv – Performance Art On-Demand

Trout Monfalco — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:22:54 +0000

Musicians, filmmakers and performing artists all invest a lot of time and money into writing, rehearsal, design, and sometimes character development and technology innovation. This investment can include hard costs and the time of dozens, or even hundreds, of people. For musicians and filmmakers, the fruits of their investment live on. The films and music can be copied and distributed, allowing their work to spread and even earn them a living. If the work is innovative or challenging, the places an audience can find it grow even narrower.

For performing artists, whose investments in time and money are similar, the art only lasts until the end of the show. You have to physically be there with the artists to experience it, and it’s not easily copied. This severely limits who can see the art – usually to sizable cities with performance venues. It also limits the artists ability to earn a living, or even recoup the investment they’ve made in creating the work.

On the Boards in Seattle has presented contemporary performance artists from around the world for over 30 years. Last week, it launched OnTheBoards.tv to present contemporary performances to wherever the audience might be. This is the first site of it’s kind to present complete, sometimes challenging, contemporary performances.

A trailer for Transition by Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith

Several years ago, On the Boards began documenting work in HD using five cameras. The final edit is performed with the cooperation of the artists. These HD videos are available for $5 rental (for 48 hours), or $15 to buy. There are also several subscription packages for the site, starting at $50 for a year of unlimited streaming, up to the educational subscription, allowing an entire institution unlimited streaming for $250. The earnings are split 50/50 with the artists. This is not as generous as other online splits (Apple’s is 30/70 in favor of artists), but On the Boards has been footing the $10,000 bill required to film and edit each performance. Having their shows professionally documented is also a huge benefit to artists. They can provide the online video as worksamples to other venues and funders, without the expense of filming, editing and producing DVDs.

So far there are eight artists represented at OnTheBoards.tv. Seven artists have full performances available, and one artist, Michelle Ellsworth, is delivering video directly online during a one year residency. On the Boards hopes to add 7-8 artists per year, and also hopes to partner with other organizations. PS-122 in New York is already a partner.

Alaska by Diana Szeinblums, shot at PS-122 in New York.

Documentation of many contemporary performances exists only in arts org archives and libraries with very restricted access. Even professional researchers and scholars have trouble accessing these videos and recordings. Especially for well-known and historically significant artists (e.g., Meridith Monk, John Cage, Laurie Anderson), opening this material up to a much wider audience is another goal of OnTheBoards.tv.

The site is new, so currently has a small sampling of work. Hopefully On the Boards will attract funding and partners to add more than 8 artists a year. Music rights remain a tricky obstacle to adding more work, as they are for many online video projects. Artists may clear rights for performances, but don’t have rights for online distribution. On the Boards has to clear music for each production, or the work can’t be included on the site. The bios, performance credits and other artist information is provided in PDF, which is helpful but would be better as a fully integrated part of the site.

Hi There by Melissa Ellsworth, a piece made available directly through the site, part of an OnTheBoards.tv artist in residence.

The basics behind this idea aren’t new. Similar projects have been tried, using DVD and VHS as distribution, and for other types of performance. The cheaper costs of internet delivery and it’s easier access for audiences now makes the idea much more feasible.

Many performing artists believe their art should only exist in the moment, that it’s somehow cheapened or made worse by capturing it, and creating the definitive performance of record. But audiences of the world will get more and more of their art on demand. TV, film and music all move this direction, and audiences will likely not go back. Expanding their audiences, and being able to earn a living so they can continue making work, is a new, amazing opportunity for artists. It doesn’t diminish the power of seeing the artist and the work in person. It just exponentially expands the possibility that someone will be able to see an artist’s work at all. Cumulatively, efforts like this will also give us a historical memory of contemporary performances, that all to often fade away completely.

The site was created with funding from the Wallace Foundation and Dance USA, to test new successful models for sustainably expanding audiences.

Artists on the Site

Learn more

OnTheBoards.tv
Recording Staged Works for All the World to See – The New York Times
PS-122
Digital Theatre
Metropolitan Opera, Live in HD

David Hockney’s Advice for iPhone Painting

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:03:03 +0000

For about a year now, as many stories have covered, painter David Hockney’s new medium is the Brushes application on his iPhone. He’s had a gallery show with this work, with more scheduled. He is certainly not the first. For painters he has this advice: use your thumb, not your index finger.

The thing is,” Hockney explains, “if you are using your pointer or other fingers, you actually have to be working from your elbow. Only the thumb has the opposable joint which allows you to move over the screen with maximum speed and agility, and the screen is exactly the right size, you can easily reach every corner with your thumb.

Some video of Hockney’s work, and his thoughts on what is unphotographable.

Hockney has a history of using technology to create artwork. Here he is in 1985 using the Quantel Paintbox to create computer art.

Read the complete interview, David Hockney’s iPhone Passion at The New York Review of Books.

Visit David Hockney’s official site.
Get the work of David Hockney.

Art, Artists, & Climate Change, Resources and Inspiration – Blog Action Day 2009

Trout Monfalco — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:30:44 +0000

This is a post for Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change.

A few years ago, I wrote a post for Blog Action Day presenting ideas for creating art in more environmentally friendly ways – Making Art Without Unmaking the Environment. Art supplies and other byproducts of our work is notoriously toxic. Just like businesses and construction are changing to be more green, artists must update their ways of working as well, to minimize their long term affects on our planet.

But artists are more than businesses manufacturing a product. We are cultural messengers. We are here to speak about and reflect things that are important to us and our cultures. One common message we have been signaling, regardless of our country or medium, is that we must pay more attention and care to our planet. The Earth’s climate is changing, and we must take action to stop or reverse it. According to the United Nations, “There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the planetary climate system, may already have been reached or passed.” The Earth is the only home we have, along with the millions of other species who share it with us.

If you disagree with the idea that the climate is changing, or that humans are causing it, I would only ask you to consider the odds and the consequences. Many scientists believe this is happening and it is caused by human action. But what if you’re right, and it was only a 50/50 chance we were responsible. Do you think humanity’s fate, and the fate of many other species, should be decided by the toss of a coin?

So what are artists doing to make a difference? Here are some stories about artists affecting our collective approach to climate change through their work. There are many great stories of well known musicians and filmmakers putting together concerts, films and other events to make a big difference. But I wanted to shine a light on people you might not have heard of.

Portrait of an artist as a climate activist from Grist magazine. Senator Barbara Boxer held up a photograph by Subhankar Banerjee to the full floor of the Senate, to prove the Alaska refuge was not a “flat white nothingness.”
Early artists key to Yellowstone Park’s preservation, helenair.com. The paintings of Thomas Moran and photographs of Henry Jackson were critical to the U.S. Congress creation of Yellowstone, the first national park.
In 2005, Grist pleaded What the warming world needs now is art, sweet art and four years later, followed it up with Climate Art is Hot.
SEED Magazine says The Arts Community is Responding to Climate Change, and Changing the Conversation in the Process.
Green Theater Initiative talks about Addressing Climate Change One Theatre Artist at a Time.
Here is an entire episode of the PBS series Art:21 devoted to Ecology and art.
Climate Change Education has a great Media and Arts section, including great lists of artwork and artists broken down by discipline: painting, sculpture, video and new media, and more.

Now, how can you make a difference? Here are pointers to more information about grants and funding, exhibitions, shows and more. If you know of other resources, or other stories about artists making great work, post a comment below and I’ll continue to update this post.

Climate Change Art Resources

Green Museum informs, inspires and connects people through environmental art and encourages the creation of new work that serves communities and ecosystems.
Ars Natura, nature in art, art in nature.
Strange Weather, a resource hub about climate change for artists, writers and activists.
Landscape and Arts Network brings together landscape architects, engineers, architects, artists, educationalists and ecologists who feel passionate about improving and sustaining the quality of our urban and natural environment.
Free Soil, an international hybrid collaboration of artists, activists, researchers and gardeners who take a participatory role in the transformation of our environment.
Ear to the Earth heightens environmental awareness through sound, inspires engagement in environmental issues, and sustains engagement through ongoing activities. The website is a forum for composers, sound artists, and everyone interested in sound to listen and participate.
RANE – Research in Art Nature and Environment actively seeks creative methods through which art can impact on our current environmental predicament. Using artistic practice the group aims to offer interpretations and models of thinking about the natural world that help to promote a sustainable future.
Eco Arts Online brings together science, environmental, arts, indigenous, and other organizations to offer you a wide variety of events – performances, exhibits, talks, tours, films, fairs, and more.
The Ashden Directory, bringing together environmentalism and the performing arts.

Climate Change Art Exhibitions, shows, festivals

Participate or Die, Wooloo.org. Wooloo.org is organizing the people of Copenhagen to open their homes to thousands of environmental artists during the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Denmark this December. By asking artists to develop happenings and reflections for a new life – and then request that thousands of participants implement them – Wooloo.org aims beyond the traditional art exhibition to become an active organizer of experiments in civic engagement and social empowerment.
Lake, a journal which publishes contemporary art that engages with ecological issues.
ecoartspace, promotes a diverse range of artworks that are participatory, collaborative, interdisciplinary and uniquely educational. “Our philosophy embodies a broader concept of art in its relationship to the world and seeks to connect human beings aesthetically with the awareness of larger ecological systems.”

Climate Change Opportunities for Artists
Calls for Artists, Grants, Residencies, Commissions and more

Green Museum, Calls for Artists
Artists Project Earth Funding
Artist as Citizen, connecting art students with donors to help them create projects on social issues.

Get the work of Thomas Moran, Henry Jackson and Subhankar Banerjee.

From 1987, Computers and the Arts

Trout Monfalco — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:09:34 +0000

The Computer Chronicles series ran for 20 years, covering the new and ever-changing world of computers for a broad audience.

In 1987, they presented a show titled Computers and the Arts.

United States Candidates – positions on The Arts

David Byrne – How to be a Musician in a Digital World

Trout Monfalco — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:02:54 +0000

Last week, David Byrne interviewed Thom Yorke of Radiohead for Wired, about their battle with record companies and their ultimate decision to produce and distribute their own music. This was punctuated a few months ago by releasing their latest album, In Rainbows, through their own site, and allowed fans to name their own price for the album. In the interview I am particularly happy with Thom Yorke’s invocation of the book No Logo by Naomi Klein.

At the same time, David Byrne wrote an amazing piece about being a musician in the digital world. As someone who has owned his own label and been a musician himself under different levels of label control, he has perspective to see the good and bad from all the types of musical situations available. This piece is the most concise and informative I’ve seen on the music business. If you are a musician it is a great read. The only option I think he leaves out are services like TuneCore, who allow you to place music on iTunes and other digital services with no withholding whatsoever. You just pay the hosting fee per year and per song (not very much) and they get you on the music stores.

Read: The music industry article for musicians by David Byrne or
David Byrne’s interview with Thom Yorke

Buy work by Radiohead, Thom Yorke or David Byrne (and Talking Heads).

Get No Logo by Naomi Klein.

An Experiment – Syndicated Short Films from YouTube

Trout Monfalco — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:29:46 +0000

YouTube and Google have just provided a new way for filmmakers and small independent studios to distribute their work and, importantly, get paid for it. It’s a great new model. I’m just testing it out and experimenting now, just to see how it goes. This one has animation and other short films from various studios and artists.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Mechanical Turk, Mechanical Art, Mechanical People

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 07:53:01 +0000

I used to flip through the Artist’s Market when I was in middle school. Back then, the prices paid for illustrations from books and magazines seemed extravagant. I didn’t understand until later how little artists get paid for their time and skill.

How about $.69 per hour?

Mechanical Turk is an Amazon project which hands out low-effort, repeatable, internet-based work units to people who sign up to take them on. The task units can be created by any organization or business who’s approved to offer them. The work is along the lines of “look at each of these images and click a box if there’s something red in the image.” The pay is based on supply and demand (of workers and tasks), but overall task completion is paid at very low amounts. This is not covered by minimum wage law because the workers can do the work in their own manner, when and where they want to. This means all workers, in the eyes of the law, are independent businesses, and can accept bids and make proposals of any amount they wish.

At the end of last year, artist Aaron Koblin put a set of tasks up on Mechanical Turk. Anyone accepting the tasks would create a drawing of a sheep facing left for $.02 per drawing. Each person could make a maximum of five sheep, for a total of $.10. Average time to create a drawing was 105 seconds. That works out to $.69 per hour.
The artist had 10,000 sheep created this way, and then flipped them on a new site at the rate of $20 for 20 sheep. The artists were up in arms, but the terms of Mechanical Turk clearly state all work becomes the property of the person requesting the task (like many work for hire agreements).

The larger artwork, The Sheep Market, in using this process showed the effects of outsourcing, the state of worker’s rights in the digital era, and the value art and artists are given in modern society.

Why would a company pay minimum wage if they can pay $.69/hour? Why would a stock photo agency pay a professional photographer for their work if they can get it for $1 per photo? How will artists make a living in a sea of cheaper online creativity?

More:
Salon – “I make $1.45 a week and I love it”;
Wired – The Rise of Crowdsourcing
Isabel Wang’s Blog – The User Generated Sheep Controversy