Week two is underway, and the Artist’s Experience is continuing to challenge how my mind looks at art. The University’s Director of Digital Arts, Colin Ives, presented his work to the class this week, and similarly to Professor Warren’s work, Ives primarily works with digital media, such as, photography and video. Also, in Ives most recent work, he puts a heavy emphasis on ecological issues, which, conveniently, fits right in with this week’s readings by Rachel Dutton, Rob Olds, and Christopher Manes.
Taken from “Doin’ Dirt Time,” Rachel Dutton speaks of her work and says, “The images in my work were what would grow from that seed if it had a chance to grow; it was a new way of living with nature, something that’s different from what culture provided.” Ives’ piece, The Clearing, demonstrates this point very well; only, he does it backwards. Rather than showing what would have been there, if it wasn’t for mankind, he shows what mankind does to a certain setting. In his interactive video installation, he finds a way to use the audience to deliver a very powerful message. It is my understanding that Ives used an oscillating projector to project a thin image onto the wall. This 360-degree, interactive experience, projected what appeared to be a wooded area, until someone in the room came between the projector and the wall. When the projection was interfered with, the projection on the wall turns from a wooded area to a clear cut. This actively displays Ives’ message that humans interacting with ecological areas is harmful.
The environment and natural world are topics that have taken a back seat in modern art to that of mankind, industrialization, and what we consider to be our world. These few articles offer a revitalization of environmental art and respect for the world around us for which we have done just as much to destroy as we have to promote. The second article entitled “Making Art About Centipedes” discusses this feeling of superiority that we as humans feel towards our animal relatives and brings forth the ignorance in the statement. We feel so powerful but what do we have that sets us apart from other species? This is a question that I have found very surprisingly hard to answer. After all mankind has become extinct what will still endure on this earth, the answer is nature. Nature has endured for all time through civilization after civilization it has remained constant, and we still think of ourselves as powerful?
The connection between this weeks’ readings and our presenter Colin Ives is not one that is hard to see. The environment is much more powerful than mankind will ever be, yet we lose sight of this concept in thinking that we are the center of this world. In this time of ignorance and selfishness, artists have found a way to communicate the importance of awareness to the pubic in an effective manner just as you see in the work of Ives. Hopefully one day we will begin to see more of an awareness for our environment and our place in the world as humans, but for now what we have is art.
Here is a little tid bit that I would like to share with you.. Related? Tough to say..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BgjH_CtIA
Casey - Maybe not strangely, the first thing that popped into my head when you posed the question, "What do [humans] have that sets us apart from other species?" was "art." I wonder a couple of things. First, if that is really true - from my current knowledge I would say yes, humans have a much more extensive art practice than any other species. Second, if it matters. Even if we do have "things that set us apart," what value should we place on that "setting apart?" Thanks for sparking these questions...
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