The temporal nature of digital art and the bonding of the past and present

Through words, sounds, images and interactivity, a digital artwork draws an observer in through manners much differing to that of a traditional artwork. A digital work will often deal with the here and now, temporal themes that in turn tend to relate directly to the art form itself and its medium. It is in this manner that the technology used (eg: computers, The Internet etc), often forms the core theme(s) behind a digital piece.

The gap between Technology and Art is becoming blurred; the key artistic themes of the past (eg: Religion, Literature, History) are becoming warped in the new age of The Internet. How does one perceive these themes today through a digital means? How have our perceptions, values and ideals changed? How can a digital artwork explore these themes in a fresh and engaging way to help further develop our understanding of these ideas and in what new direction are they taking us?

Monday, October 15, 2007

vdr4

visualDPM from vdr4
http://www.visualdata.org

vdr4 is an interactive flash based website by Ronald Wisse, with a series of pieces ranging from interactive works, still images and animations. The imagery depicted is a mixture of futuristic sci-fi and modern day technology with a hint of nature. One piece in particular, shows a desert-storm tank surrounded by a sea of dead bodies. The user has the option of choosing different wallpapers to then cover the existing image, turning the tank for example into a battleship and the sea of bodies into literally an ocean, or in another instance a forest with the vehicle becoming a plant.

This clever use of colour to create the different illusions provides an interesting look at the changing face of a battlefield and the evolution of life. Other works of interest include alien like 3D animations as well as a robotic like human swimming through space.

The imagery of the robot once again provides a nice balance between technology and nature. The robot, which follows your mouse around the screen, obviously represents technology, yet its movements are much more natural then your stereotypical clunky robot. Also much of the robot's body is made up of particle or molecular like objects, suggesting a human connection

floatbot from vdr4, a swimming robot like object

I chose this piece because it sticks to the exhibition’s theme but provides a contrast to the rest of the works as it isn’t moody or atmospheric (save for a few exceptions).

Posted by at 12:25 AM

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