Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Artist Reference: Brighid Lowe - Now Here/Nowhere
Now Here/Nowhere
Flash based net art piece by Brighid Lowe. The animation itself is simple - the white text moves across a black background, presumably tweened. Sometimes it stops in the middle and vanishes. Sometimes words bounce back accross the screen. Sometimes they fade out or overlap other phrases.
Unlike my work, the piece is not interactive. The user sits and watches the text, and reads it and tried to understand what it means.
In his book "Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce", Julian Stallabrass describes the work as refering:
In order to understand the work, the user has to sit and wait for the text to unfold before them. This is very different to "normal" internet browsing, where the message and the presentation of the message are meant to be understood as quickly as possible. This links to my work, in that the user is frustrated with things not happening immediately, as we are so used to on the internet.
Words like "waiting", "bored" and "angry" are used multiple times. While these are frequently emotions we experience while using the internet, and they are frustrating, we will usually give up if the information isn't instantanious. If a page doesn't load quickly we click back. If we get bored, we log off. If we get any, we give up. Waiting or having to work to get information is not something internet users are used to having to do.
In addition, this particular piece has no end (similar to my piece, which keeps going, crossing over multiple pathways and repeating itself). The animation loops, so eventually you get back to the original statement about the beginning, which suddenly takes on additional meaning, especially when you realise you have already seen this bit and close the window. We don't want to wait to go back through again. Reading text and having no input was boring. It prevents us from doing what we are used to doing on the internet: interacting and changing things.
Flash based net art piece by Brighid Lowe. The animation itself is simple - the white text moves across a black background, presumably tweened. Sometimes it stops in the middle and vanishes. Sometimes words bounce back accross the screen. Sometimes they fade out or overlap other phrases.
Unlike my work, the piece is not interactive. The user sits and watches the text, and reads it and tried to understand what it means.
In his book "Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce", Julian Stallabrass describes the work as refering:
"to the experience of net browsing itself, and to the online cultures obsession with the present"
In order to understand the work, the user has to sit and wait for the text to unfold before them. This is very different to "normal" internet browsing, where the message and the presentation of the message are meant to be understood as quickly as possible. This links to my work, in that the user is frustrated with things not happening immediately, as we are so used to on the internet.
Words like "waiting", "bored" and "angry" are used multiple times. While these are frequently emotions we experience while using the internet, and they are frustrating, we will usually give up if the information isn't instantanious. If a page doesn't load quickly we click back. If we get bored, we log off. If we get any, we give up. Waiting or having to work to get information is not something internet users are used to having to do.
In addition, this particular piece has no end (similar to my piece, which keeps going, crossing over multiple pathways and repeating itself). The animation loops, so eventually you get back to the original statement about the beginning, which suddenly takes on additional meaning, especially when you realise you have already seen this bit and close the window. We don't want to wait to go back through again. Reading text and having no input was boring. It prevents us from doing what we are used to doing on the internet: interacting and changing things.
// posted by Jade @ 10:36 PM 
