Before crowdsourcing – outsourcing creative work online
The original version of generation/mutation was launched on DIGITALSOULS.COM in March of 1998 with a simple call to artists.
Readymade Daily
You have to approach the thing with an indifference, as if you had no aesthetic emotion. – Marcel Duchamp
Hiding in Plain Sight: Liu Bolin and the Art of Disappearance
Liu Bolin’s work continues to amaze audiences around the world. His site specific installations often play on the theme of hiding in plain sight. Bolin is a master at making himself disappear in public places and situations. He makes himself invisible by painting himself, his face and clothes, to match the background behind him.
Here come the machines – AI takes control of fighter jets
Behind last year’s buzz following the release of the text generator GPT-3 , there was another machine learning headline that gave cause for pause: AI controlled fighter jets had defeated a human piloted fighter jet 5-0 in a Darpa simulation. Looks like today’s fighter pilots may be going the way of the shining medieval knight in armor–obsolete and unsustainable because of catastrophic vulnerabilities on the battle field.
The Kissing Project
The kiss is a symbol of love and intimacy. Many artists have produced iconic works about it. From Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece “The Kiss” (1907) to Warhol’s experimental 50 minutes silent film “Kiss” (1963), artists have taken up the gesture of the kiss as subject matter. A black & white photograph taken in the 1950’s by an unknown photographer in Nelson, BC, provided the inspiration for the Kissing Project (2017).
Playing with Google: Street View Performance and Installation Artists
In a recent post, I drew a distinction between two groups of artists that use Google Street View as part of their creative work:
Dancing Robots, a Flash Emulator, and a COVID-19 Flight Path Drawing
The dancing robots presented by Boston Dynamics were both fascinating and scary. Also eye-catching was the record of a flight by a pilot in Germany who flew a plane along a carefully planned course that sketched out a giant syringe on the flight recorder, like a hi-tech etch-a-sketch.
Mele Kalikimaka 2020
Mele kalikimaka 2020! It’s been a very difficult year for all of us. Economic hardships and the global Covid-19 epidemic have affected everyone this year. But despite the many difficulties the year has brought, I want to send out a quick message to wish you happy holidays and a good 2021!
Accidental Street Photography: Google Street View Scavengers
The launch of Google Street View services in 2007 was followed almost immediately by the emergence of its very own art genre: Street View Art. In 2011, just a few years after the launch of GSV, Pete Brook of Wired hailed the emergence of the new genre with exuberant excitement, announcing that
The Street View car is like the ultimate street photographer, a robo Cartier-Bresson methodically scouring the streets and documenting what it sees — Pete Brook, Wired
While Brook’s article offers a great selection of early Street View art, the comparison between a digital mapping machine and a hybrid mashup of RoboCop, a Hollywood created SciFi robotic police officer, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the flesh and blood pioneer of street photography in the twentieth century, may seem hyperbolic and somewhat besides the point when it comes to the impact of Google’s Street View images on the arts and popular culture.
Was this post written by a machine?
This post was not written by a machine. It was written by a real person, a human writer, me. I wrote it. But consider the following opening sentences of a post
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