Answers

Juilet Martin's Answers; the text is in the shape of an apple

http://www.julietmartin.com/oooxxxooo/Answer.html

Answers is a text based artwork by Juliet Martin. The work involves the viewer following a series of link paths through out the website and reading the cryptic information given on each page. When the end of the path is reached some kind of underlying message is given, usually in a one-sentence statement. The work references Adam and Eve but adapts the story to cover the creation of technology. Martin suggests the idea of cyber culture and computers being created in the same but a more warped way as mankind, implying the existence of a new reality and that the Internet and computers really are a new way of life.She refers to the Apple as being computer parts (“transistor”, “electronic bulb”) and the Serpent as the “Silicon Serpent.” The imagery she creates is very unwholesome and foul, for example she refers to sharp metallic objects mixed with flesh.

I chose this work because firstly as a text-based work it provides an interesting contrast to the other more visual pieces but more so because of the powerful imagery it evokes. Martin is cryptic, yet blunt and straightforward at the same time.

An abrupt and blunt conclusion, surrounded by binary

When the user follows a link path, information is given in small bits and pieces and it is often hard to ascertain what exactly she is portraying until the final page of the path is reached, where the work’s meaning is spelled out in one sentence (“This computer is your life”, “Apples poison the soul”). This makes the delivery quite powerful, because the viewer goes through a series of often quite long paragraphs, not sure exactly what they are reading until they see it right there in front of them in one statement.

This is both a strength and a weakness of the work as in one instance it works in that the blunt nature of the delivery creates quite a powerful message, yet at the same time it sometimes comes off as rather tacky as the work’s mysterious nature is what gets the viewer interested.