Steve Jobs, Apple, and The Gaming Community

     The digital world suffered a grave loss this year when Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple passed away.  Steve Jobs, and Apple, have contributed greatly to the development of computers and portable technology, as well as contributing to counter cultural-ism. Through the iPod and subsequently the iPhone, Apple has helped to shaped the digital world in positive ways. Apple made great strives to try to bring smart technology and touch screens to as wide of an audience as possible, and the loss of Jobs well have a serious impact on the future of digital technology. That being said, as much as Steve Jobs and Apple did contribute to the computer world, they did not contribute as much to the gaming world as some people seem to think. Well I can agree that both Apple/Jobs and video games have contributed greatly to new forms of digital media and performance art, the two are in no way linked. After reading an article from Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/11/04/steve-jobs-and-apples-influence-on-gaming-massively-overstated/, I was shocked by the number of people who did not understand the impact Jobs actually had on the world. During the London Games Conference, people who attended the event were asked to named both the most influential person to video games, and the most influential product. I was shocked to learn that 26% of the attendees thought that Steve Jobs was the most influential person in the world to gaming, and that 17% thought the iPhone was the most influential product. Now like I said, I'm not denying that Jobs contributed greatly to digital culture, but he has in no way whatsoever contributed to the development of gaming, and nor is the iPhone the most influential product ever. I agree fully with what the author of the article says, and how Jobs should not even be mentioned on the list of influential individuals, let alone number 1 overall.  I can fully understand people wanting to honour Jobs' memory and all of the work he has done, however it is only right if they actually honour him for work he actually attributed it too, or else you are just tarnishing his memory.

Augmented Reality

      As computers continue to evolve and develop, so to will new computer technologies. One of the newest form of computer technology to be developed is augmented reality. Augmented reality is a form of digital media, one that is commonly applied to video games, however it can also have several uses in art. First, augmented reality works by using digital media to combine virtual and real space together into one place. This can be achieved in a simple form by using something such as a camera in a phone or tablet. The way augmented reality could be applied to benefit the art world would be through an interactive interface. Since a large number of people use smart phones/devices these days, an app could be developed that would be used to give anyway a detailed description of any art piece in real time, as they look at it. The user would hold their camera up to any work of art, and then the camera could then scan the image and bring up detailed information about the art piece from a database. Information such as the artist that created the piece, time of creation, and historical background of the art piece. This technology could be very useful to viewing art because it would allow almost anyone to have access to an art tour, regardless of what piece they are looking at, or where it is. In conclusion, technology is constantly evolving, and just as it evolves, so too can the art world evolve with it, both benefiting from the other.

Internet Censorship

    In the news right now, a big issue that is garnering a lot of attention is the Stop Online Piracy Act. The SOPA is a bill that the US congress wants to put into place to help stop piracy. However, if it were to be passed it would effectively kill the internet as it currently exists. The SOPA would give large corporations and ISPs the ability to block any content they think is in violation of copyright infringement. This is a terrible bill because not only will it severely restrict the content on the internet, but will also kill the creativity of online media. There are many forms of online media and music, such as glitch music that rely on reusing existing sounds and objects, and then incorporating them into something new. However, a bill such as SOPA could effectively kill glitch music because of copyright infringement.

    In an answer to the SOPA, a large number of user from www.reddit.com are banding together to create their own version of the internet. I find this interesting because the internet itself id a medium for new works of art, and one of the proposed works of art that users are trying to create is a network similar to the internet. So the way I see it, the internet, a form of media itself, is being used to create a "private internet" as it were, another form of media. It is this form of creativity that makes the internet a wonderful tool and resource, and it would be a shame to see it ruined by narrow viewed bill.

Occupy Wall Street

    One of the most widely covered news stories in North America right now is the Occupy Wall Street movement taking place in the USA. The Occupy Wall Street movement is a protest designed to bring awareness to big companies and executives holding the majority of the wealth in the country while the average american is left struggling to make ends meets in a down economy. I find this protest to be very similar to the protests of the 1970s, when people grouped together to hand out food and clothing. The general goal of the protests were to help out the less fortunate, show the big companies that money isn't everything, and that everyone works together the world can be a better place. While I agree that trying to make the world a better place is a noble goal, I do not agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement entirely. Even though it is a good thing for people to stand up for themselves and demand change, they also need to understand that the richest 1% of Americans do not have to share their wealth with the rest of the country. That is part of the benefit of the capitalist society. Through years of hard work, determination and careful planning, a few individuals have been able to make themselves considerably wealthy, and there is nothing wrong with that. Is it fair that 1% of the population in the states holds the majority of the wealth, probably not. But that being said, there is nothing stopping any of the protesters from being just as successful as any one of the big company executives they are protesting. It may talk a little work, and a little time, but anyone has the potential to create for themselves wealth equal the largest companies in the USA.

Response to "The Medium is the Message" by Marshal McLuhan

     Marshal McLuhan was a brilliant scholar who who created many great theories about media and technology. His most popular theory is The Medium is the Message. In The Medium is the Message, McLuhan theorizes that the most important part of any work of art is the medium with which it is conveyed. It causes the audience members to examine artwork in new ways and ask new questions, such as why an artist chose to use a given medium for their work over another. It is also useful when studying works of art because understanding the medium that the art is on, and therefore the message, can greatly help to understand the meaning of the art work.  Although it is a simple message, The Medium is the Message is probably one of the greatest theories ever created to analyze art.

Response to "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin

    The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Benjamin is an essay that describes works of art, the "aura" that they have, and reproducing these works. Benjamin talks about each piece of art having an "aura". The "aura" of a work of art is similar to its meaning, however it also includes several other factors, such as the medium the art is on, the time period it was made in, and the context behind its creation. Benjamin also describes how, with the advent of new reproduction technologies such as cameras, it is easy to make copies of pieces of art. These copies may be exact replicas of the original, and yet still be different because they do not have the same "aura". I think that Benjamin is trying to convey the importance of original artwork, especially with the advent of new technology that makes it easy to replicate anything we can observe.

Response to "Intermedia Stages of Virtual Reality in the Twentieth Century: Art as Inspiration of Evolving Media" by Oliver Grau

     In Intermedia Stages of Virtual Reality in the Twentieth Century: Art as Inspiration of Evolving Media, Oliver Grau talks about immersing the audience into a piece of art. He mentions several different techniques used by artists, such as Monet, that were used to try to immerse the audience. For example, Monet tried to immerse his audience by creating a 360 degree panoramic painting. The effect would leave any viewer of the painting feeling surrounded by his works, and thus feeling more immersed in the painting. Grau also talks about immersion in cinema. One of the most well known examples of immersion in cinema is the use of IMAX theatres. IMAX theatres use screens so large that they fill a viewers entire vision. This view, coupled with sound directed at the viewer from all sides helps to immerse the viewer into any film they are experiencing. Even in modern cinema, theatres are trying to find new and innovative ways of immersing the audience members into movies, with the most recent attempt being 3D films. Films shown in 3D help to bring the characters off screen, and thus add to the sense of illusion that the audience is actually in the movie, instead of a theatre. As technology continues to advance, newer and more refined ways of immersing audiences into art and cinema will emerge, until eventually we are unable what is real and what is fake apart.

"Exit Through the Gift Shop - A Banksy Film" Response

    Exit Through the Gift Shop was a very interesting film to watch. It was amazing to see the work that all of the various street artists around the world are doing, as well as the messages that they are trying to convey. I also enjoyed how the film was shot from the point of view of Thierry Guetta. Thierry's viewpoint offered a very unique and personal view of several street artists and their techniques and methods that they use to create their works. It was also fascinating to witness Thierry's transformation from simple observer into an actual street artist himself. I also found Thierry's transformation into Mister Brain Wash a bit hilarious because in the process of becoming a street artist himself and trying to put on his own art show, he lost some of the meaning of being a street artist. In my opinion, street art is powerful because each piece is either unique, or one image repeated over and over again. In Thierry's case however, he became obsessed with trying to create as many works of art as possible without thinking about the meaning behind each piece. I think that in trying to become a successful street artist himself, Thierry instead became more closely related to a traditional artist, putting his artwork on display with the hopes of selling it. However, overall what made the film really capture my attention was Banksy's narrative of Thierry's life in becoming a street artist. I was very impressed by the film and found it both entertaining and enlightening.

Response to "The Aesthetics of Failures: 'Post Digital' Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music" by Kim Cascone

       In The Aesthetics of Failures: "Post Digital" Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music, Kim Cascone talks about new forms of music. She describes how many artists are using digital technology to make songs and tracks of music out of almost any sounds. She relates this to a lot of techno music, and how DJs mix together several audio samples in order to create different tracks. Post-digital music has even changed again from techno, most recently with dubstep. In dubstep, DJs take any other song or audio samples and remix them together to a create a new song similar to techno, however they also include large amounts of bass and and low tones in the songs to create a unique sounding tracking. Music is constantly changing, and the advent of technology such as the internet and YouTube only make it easier for upcoming artists to share the new forms of music they create.

Response to "Performances in Cyberspace" by Gunter Berghaus

     In Performances in Cyberspace, Gunter Berghaus talks about new media art and how it relates to the evolution of technology. He explores the ways that art changed through the development of first digital media, then video games, and finally through cybernetics. As technology develops, artists are finding new ways to use technology to create art. In the article, Berghaus talks about an artist named Stelarc. Stelarc uses various forms of technology to creates works of art, including turning himself into a cyborg. In one art piece, Stelarc let the audience control have of his body remotely while he controls the other half. This fusing of human and technology is an example of cybernetics. It is also evidence that humanity is headed toward a singularity, as predicted by Ray Kurzweil.  The idea of a singularity is the prediction of an event when humans and machines will be linked together to the point of having nanobots injected into every person to help with daily functions. Stelarc, and other artists like him are examples that the singularity is approaching, whether we are ready for it or not.