To complete today's tutorial task I viewed the Jason Nelson e-Art titled 'Birds Still Warm From Flying', 'I made this. You play this. We are enemies' and 'Wittenoom' on Secret Technology. The first thing that struck me about the e-Art was the interactive nature of each of the poetic artworks. Each of the pieces I viewed were interactive in different ways. 'Birds Still Warm From Flying' exhibited more subtle elements of interaction in comparison to the poetic game art of 'I made this. You play this. We are enemies', which, in a simplified description, the viewer plays a 'game' to unlock various poetic statements. I was fascinated by the interactive nature of the e-Art and found myself being drawn into the experience as I tried to comprehend the underlying message of the art.
Charles I. Glicksberg, 1970, wrote 'the purpose of art is to arouse emotions which are then transferred to the concerns of practical life'. So too is the purpose of e-Art. The 3 separate poetic artworks each convey their own message about life. To be honest, I feel that this artwork, as with any other, can be interpreted differently depending on the mindset and experiences of the person viewing it. For me, each of the artworks evoke an air of conspiracy and politics. As I interacted with the artwork and read the poetry I felt as though I were reading statements relating to political conspiracies which made me feel a little apprehensive and critical of the corporations or themes depicted in the e-Art. This was particularly so in 'Wittenoom'. The brief description of the artwork, which was about an asbestos mining town in Western Australia and its downfall, gave some insight into the statements' meanings being released on the falling cards.
'Birds Still Warm From Flying' and 'I made this. You play this. We are enemies' each contain video within the e-Art and each of the 3 artworks contain audio and sound effects that seem to me to emulate the sounds of 'technology' or what I would imagine it to sound like. Of particular interest to me was the depiction of the Disney page in 'I made this. You play this. We are enemies'. I felt as though the combination of the statements, images and audio were 'discussing' the hollowness and materialistic consumerism of the Disney brand. The statement, 'Now you're dead by Dalmatian', seemed to embody these feelings.
To read the digital poetry I have viewed, I found I read from no particular starting point and took in each statement as it presented itself. 'Birds Still Warm From Flying' consisted of numbered statements which could be read in numerical order, although each side and orientation of the cube had the potential to throw the reader, so perhaps it is easier to read as each section is presented. In comparison to traditional poetry, this e-Art has a very different structure and requires the viewer/reader to adopt an open-mind and to 'think outside the square' when searching for structure and order. I enjoyed interacting with, and viewing the e-Art. Having never been exposed to such art it took a lot of contemplation and persistence to explore the layers of the artwork and to gain an understanding of the meaning behind it, but it was well worth the effort!
Glicksberg, C. I. (1970). Poetry and science. In W. Skinkle Knickerbocker, Twentieth century English (pp. 33-44). U.S.A.: Philosophical Library, Inc.
Nelson, J. (nd). Secret Technology: Net Art/Digital Poetry/Video Oddities. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from http://www.secrettechnology.com/
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