INTERACTIVITY & SYSTEMS

As I read Chapter 1 of Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art by Katja Kwastek, I could not help but think about Ancient Greece and its early examples of automation. The Greeks created interactive, functional sculptures not as abstract provocations, but as practical devices, like the earliest vending machines. This connection reminded me how long humans have been fascinated with interactivity, even if its purpose has shifted over time.

Ancient Greek "Vending Machine"

Still captured from James Whitney's Lapis - 1966

Kwastek’s discussion of how art movements are defined, often through the influence of institutions, reminded me of a final project from my undergraduate Cinema Studies program. I studied James Whitney’s Lapis and Yantra, early examples of computer generated art. Back then, these works were categorized as computer art, but now, through my studies in the IMA Low Res program, I see these terms overlapping. Media art, digital art, interactive art, sometimes interchangeably, sometimes contentiously.

Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" 1914

I have always been drawn to Dada, and especially to Marcel Duchamp or as I first learned of him, R. Mutt. His infamous Fountain may have broken people’s minds, or at least their rigid expectations of what qualifies as art. In 1917, Duchamp, while sitting on the board of the Society of Independent Artists, secretly submitted a urinal under the pseudonym “R. Mutt” to expose the hypocrisy of their “no jury” policy. The work was rejected, and Duchamp resigned in protest. Fountain is now considered a landmark gesture that reframed the idea of art as determined by context and intention, not medium or craft.

Reflecting on this, I began to ask myself: how could I reinterpret the idea of the readymade today? Rather than a physical urinal, I am drawn to the digital equivalent, the trash or recycling bin icon on a computer desktop. I imagine an installation featuring a computer monitor with nothing visible except the centered trash icon, framed like a piece of art. The keyboard and mouse would be removed, preventing direct interaction, leaving viewers to interpret its function or futility for themselves.

Below are my raw notes and the original assignment details that shaped this post.

Raw Notes:

• where do we get definitions of different art periods as they are happening

• institutions sort of lead the way

• surprised how early interactivity and "new" media art is defined

• "But there is no such thing as media art" - Stefan Heidenreich

• as I am reading this my mind can't stop to think about automation in Ancient Greece

• also thinking about James Whitney Lapis & Yantra which was my final project for cinema studies - computer based art... computer art..

• "it is the dual use as the name of both a category and a genre" --- what is the difference between category and genre

• action vs reaction

• cybernetics κυβερνήτης (kybernētēs) - the text describes this only as a helmsman but "cybernetics" in Greece is mostly associated as a governor and any system that has a cybernetic is the person that governs or leads that system (ex a Pilot on a plane, a captain on a boat

• man vs machine || man w/ machine

• computer became more interactive with the invention of the mouse

• I am leaning towards choosing Duchamp as one of the artist mentioned as I always had a huge fascination with "readymades"

• going with fountain

Other sources: Marcel Duchamp and New York | The New Yorker https://books.google.com/books?id=zUyVEAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&ots=XpA2oGmm64&dq=ancient%20greece%20automation%20&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=ancient%20greece%20automation&f=false

Systems, Modelling and Control in Ancient Greece - S. Vasileiadou, D. Kalligeropoulos, N. Karcanias, 2003

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WEEK 1 – INTERACTIVITY & SYSTEMS - From Craig Protzel class

Key Topics

• Understanding Interactivity

• Feedback Loops & Dynamic Systems

• The Internet, World Wide Web & Hypertext

Thursday, July 10

• Listen to Wikipedia + Notabilia.net

• Course Overview - Plans & Expectations

• Introduce “Deep Dive” Workshop + Groups

• Pre-Work Assignment - Discussion Questions

  • Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems - Introduction + Part of Ch.1

  • Michael Murtagh, Interaction, essay from Matthew Fuller’s Software Studies \ A Lexicon

  • Werner Herzog’s Lo & Behold clip of Ted Nelson

• Twine Activity (time permitting)

• Homework (due Tuesday 07/15)

  • READ – Introduction + Ch.1 pp.1-10 from Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art by Katja Kwastek. STOP when you get to the section “Process and Chance”

  • WATCH - Clip from “Moon is the Oldest TV” (8mins, 2023) (Full Film available on Kanopy with NYU login)

  • POST – Katja Kwastek references a number of categories, artists and their practice throughout the remainder of Chapter 1 starting with the “Process and Chance” section. Explore the categories and choose ONE of the artists mentioned in one of the categories Do a bit of research on their body of work to identify one of their projects of interest. It could be a project mentioned in the reading or one you discover elsewhere, but you should find it compelling and excited to “re-create” it but with your own aesthetics. Describe the artist, the project they did and how you might re-create it today. If possible, include an image of the original project in your post. Your post should be in the range of 200 - 400 words. Please be prepared to discuss in class.