This week we also discussed Digital Arts, but taking on the more interactive design aspect.  Professor John Park had one of the best presentations so far because not only did it offer interesting art pieces, but he also had factual reasons that presented his view on art.  He opened up his presentation by introducing art being “in the state of being technologized.”  I found this one statement interesting because it made me think that even though our society may be thriving in technological developments, this is only the beginning.  Imagine twenty years from now how much technology will grow.  He later began to explain the pros and cons of technology, which I thought was a great way to give background on the field he works in.  He broke it down into three problems: the screen, money/profits, and human dehumanization.  In order to solve the screen problem where art is only something to look at there is the interactive side to art.  Using technology to create interactive art pieces where it responds to human action.  The second problem he presented was money, where art becomes about he commerce and sales.  The way is solves this problem is through street art.   Being able to express ones opinions through art in an open area that no can own or purchase.  Lastly how technology is changing the social habits of our society.  All these points made me think about how our society is becoming dependent on technology.  But for art, it's a whole new world that opens up so many possibilities to express an artist’s opinion.  It made me think about, is digital arts limitless? With painting and drawing you are limited to the space provided, but with digital arts it seems that anything is possible.  For example he showed us the Eyewriter device where a person can draw with the slight movements of their own eyeball and project it on a skyscraper.  With the advances in technology a photograph can be turned into a three dimensional world, a painting can become an animation, and lifestyles can be regenerated.  The possibilities are endless with digital art and it makes me excited to enter this world of endless possibilities.

            When he mentioned the problem of being limited to only the screen, it relates to the artist we also studied this week, David Byrne.  His piece entitles “Playing the Building,” took me by surprise.  As I watched the videos I couldn’t grasp the purpose or meaning of the piece.  I understood the obvious that by playing the piano it created noises to be projected from the building itself.  But then it hit me, was so much more than playing the music.  It’s that feeling of being able to control such a large space in the tips of your fingers.  Many of the people playing the piano could no figure out where these sounds were coming from.  It took the art of sound out of the speaker and combines it with art to create an interactive installation.  Brynes is going against this era where music is all about using digitally enhanced effects and tunes to create a song.  Instead he uses technology to make music through physical objects, in this case a building.  It made me think about when it was fun to hit pots and pans with spoons when you a kid.  It’s almost like he recreated this feeling but a bigger and more advanced scale.

            The second artist we looked at this week was Paul Pfeiffer, who specializes in installations and video editing.  We looked at two of his pieces one being the installation of the Amityville horror house, and the second the digitally erased videos.  Personally I found the installation not as powerful as the digitally erased videos.  I thought the idea was genius in the installation, but I couldn't fully understand the meaning behind it.  What I thought about the meaning was it gave a view of different perspectives, thus giving the viewer the chance to experience both characters in the story by just looking in a small hole.  But, I found the digitally enhanced photos much more intriguing, I guess because it’s so tedious.  The concept of taking out aspects of a video and photo and leaving certain objects gives off this weird feeling.  When I watched the Stanley cup video where he edited out the players carrying the trophy leaving it to float around the ice by itself.  At first I thought it was cool but then I started feeling uncomfortable.  It gave off this feel where like in the movies everything around the main character disappears and they are left in this silent, empty environment.  But, the most important part about his work is how he says when doing his work to others it seems crazy and ridiculous, but to him its like meditation.  It’s inspiring to see someone’s passion so deep that it motivates me to become a better artist.

            The last artist we looked at was Janet Cardiff who specializes in creating interactive art pieces through the use of sound.  What’s cool about this artist is she takes it beyond to just listening, she makes the viewer move around and physically walk through the sound. She calls these pieces “walks” where viewers are able to walk in a space and hear the progression of sound relating to the surroundings.  Her work really made me think about, could this be the next best thing to 3d movies? What if artists could walk in environments and listen to sound that creates the feel like movies do?  This kind of relates to Blasts Theory’s online interactive game Can You See Me Now.  Where two people are experiencing this adrenaline rush of a huge game of hide and seek, but one person is just sitting at a computer screen while the other is physically running around.  The usage of technology to have art reach out of the screen or sound reach out of the speaker to physically interact with a viewer is astonishing.  It makes me think, what are the possibilities to digital art evolving some more.  Already it has proved to be limitless, now all that's left is to ask what’s next?

            After hearing and learning about all these artists it made me think about one thing, the happiest place on earth Disneyland.  When you think about it Disneyland thrives on digital art and installations.  Cardiff’s sound walks are almost like all the rides at Disneyland.  There is sound progressing as people go through the ride, and there are different emotions being felt throughout the ride.  One ride that specifically came to mind was the California Adventure ride, I think its called Soaring Over California.  Basically it's a ride where it simulates a person on a hand glider flying over California.  I thought about this ride because it uses every aspect of Digital Arts.  The film of the many landscapes and cities are edited through digital media as well as syncing the “glider” to interact with the video.   Without technology and Digital Arts the feeling of being able to experience a feeling without actually doing it could never be done.

Soaring Over California Ride