British Library
Sunday, 30 March 2008, 13:19

British Library London

The medium
Friday, 28 March 2008, 17:52

All technology must move toward the way things were before humanity began changing them: identification with nature in the manner of operation, complete mystery.

Art, once so elegant, has been transformed by representation into an object, cluttered and confused not only by operating systems and applications, its once-accepted inherited discourse, but by the words and the theories used to prescribe its very being. These prescriptions are themselves shrouded in a language that, disconnected from the world as it is, is no longer useful. To recapture that connection, it is necessary to find and use a tool that will leave no traces, that, in other words, will allow an unmediated relationship with the thing in itself.

The problem is more serious: we must dispense with computers altogether and get used to working with tools. It can be put this way too: find ways of using computers as though they were tools, i.e., so that they leave no traces. That’s precisely what our computers, video cameras, amplifiers, web-servers, projectors, cameras, mobile phones, etc., and even the internet, are: things to be used which don’t necessarily determine the nature of what is done.

Nowadays everything happens at once and our souls are conveniently electronic.

http://ucl.ac.uk/slade/a

Balsas: aktualios ir medijų kultūros žurnalas
Friday, 28 March 2008, 13:33

Journal on Media Culture Balsas publish Location of I and An Ethnology of Solitude:

BALSAS is an interdisciplinary journal on media culture. BALSAS started as an initiative of VILMA (Vilnius Laboratory of New Media), which goal is to introduce the media culture to Lithuania. BALSAS wears a format of new media, whereas content is created with participatory principle by participants/readers and with editorial principle by editors. BALSAS has an intention to create a digital and critical community, which develops the discourse of media culture in Lithuania.

Daily
Friday, 28 March 2008, 9:59

Daily, curated by Jacqueline Friedman:

Artist Martin John Callanan’s “I Wanted to See all of the News from Today” collects the front pages of newspapers from around the world daily and displays them all together on one large web page. The primary purpose of this artwork is to include all printed national newspapers daily on one website. This is unique because each day a spectator can view all the front pages on national newspapers simultaneously. Therefore, a viewer is able to compare the subject matters from different nation’s front pages of their newspaper from around the world. This piece is unique to Daily curatorial show because it is the only art project chosen that is not user-friendly when trying to look at previous days’ sites, as it is not treated like a blog. “I Wanted to See all of the News from Today” successfully visually expresses history per day.

Rhizome Daily

Daily is an online exhibition portraying the effect of art updated daily and continuously, ranging from a set collapsed-time projects, such as a year or three months, to ongoing artwork with no end date. With an array of themes such as World News as well as personal daily blogs, the linking factors among the artwork in Daily exemplify progression and history. Although some of the artwork chosen for Daily directly portrays history of news, the progression in the show Daily is dealing with the development within an artwork.

A common factor within each artwork is a start date, and one can compare the first post of the project to the most recent or any post in the project, allowing a viewer to note its succession and development. Furthermore, the consistency being updated everyday is significant; it forces an artist to update on a daily, regular basis rather than when an artist feels like updating. This helps distinguish what art-updated-daily is. This new form of documentation is similar to the 21st century, common term blog – a digital, update website that can resemble a diary as well as a place on the Internet to post comments. Another distinguishing factor, is that the artwork included in Daily are on the World Wide Web, meaning they are accessible to everyone on the Internet.

Besides being updated daily, each piece of artwork displays the information in reverse chronological order. This is a distinguishing factor of a blog. The one exception to a “blog-like” appearance in Daily is “I wanted to See All of the News From Today” by Martin Jon Callanan who only shows the most recent update on the initial website; a viewer must search harder to view previous posts. However, the piece was included in Daily because it is a new form of updating daily, and has similarities with some of the other pieces.

Each piece of artwork in Daily has to do with a progression over a certain amount of time; however, some pieces deal with self-portraiture and privacy on the Internet, personal information on a public space, while other artwork included deal with history and the news. Daily brings these pieces together to show how these pieces are linked together through being updated daily.

How Society Runs
Friday, 28 March 2008, 8:03

How Society Runs

How Society Runs, curated by Allie:

A site very much open for interpretation, I Wanted to See All the News From Today (a work in progress) provides little to no insight into the mind of its creator. The site, however, does provide viewers with hundreds of newspaper front pages and magazine covers. While this can either be seen as a way to access far hidden corners of the world that are often underrepresented in world news, it can also call into question how news is presented in our society. Users can keep track of many things from how many papers feature a U.S based story on their front page, to the ways in which the editors laid out the stories, emphasizing the ones they feel are most important with bold headlines and dominating photos. Although all the papers may look slightly different in appearance, it is important to consider the small amount of people who actually own the world’s media outlets. These select individuals are responsible for providing the entire world with a steady flow of information yet mainly come from the Western world. Therefore, one can start to wonder who exactly is controlling the news and what information we receive.

Aerial View
Friday, 28 March 2008, 7:05

Aerial View, curated by Phuong:

In the Location of I, artist Martin John Callanan gives himself up for public viewing. He enables viewers to find him at any moment in time through a use of a tracking device that pinpoints his exact location through a series of maps. This form of observation allows Callanan to be continuously accessible to everyone. He states in his artist statement that this project allows him to be both physically and virtually sought and accessible. Advances in technology has allowed people to be available and accessible at all times through various means like cell phones and Blackberrys but also allows people to be elusive if needed. Callanan says that because of the Location of I, he loses the ability to hide and thus increases his vulnerability.

Aerial View

Observation has always played a role in the development of art. People or things have been used as subjects of work or as bystanders in a larger piece without ever even knowing they are involved. The participation or unknowingness of people in a piece of work is an interesting aspect that I believe says a lot of how the work coveys itself. For this exhibit, the works that were selected were chosen because of their connections to the idea of being observed or watched. Observation can be done through several different means. Observation can be taken literally where another is physically watching someone or something or it could be more of a conceptual observation.

It is a part of human nature to observe. We are all fascinated by each other and by our surroundings. Whether through physical means or conceptual ideas, the actions of the world intrigues everyone in some shape or form. We all would like to know more about what we see and at times that can be impossible. Whether because of privacy or a lack of connection to learn more about what we see, observation can be unfulfilled. With the use of contemporary art and new media, the depth of observation can be widened and people can learn more about what they desire to see. This could be done in a virtual world or through means that may seem unrealistic but new media allows for an avenue for people to explore this part of their human nature.



This blog was originally created with support from At Home in Europe, to document residency time at Riga Centre for New Media Culture RIXC, Latvia. Full details here.

© 2007-08 Martin John Callanan, All Rights Reserved.