Reflection on Ya Haddy Njie's SMP presentation

In her pamphlet Ya Haddy Njie states that through art making she narrates her emotions and how different experiences have hindered her formation of self-identity. She furthermore points out that when she starts making arts, she tries to back from her role as a author but rather sees herself in a role of a seeker. Her art thus becomes an extension of herself.
This point of view is really interesting since her works were all in black and white. Some of them depicted a human figure. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to ask her personally why she exclusively used the colors black and white. Nevertheless I though her work the most appealing one to me.
She also mentions that with the use of black and white, the image becomes a link between the past and the present. This, on the other hand, requires the reader to make an effort to connect with piece of art in a special way.
Another piece of work she exhibited was a black and white movie where the audience could see most of the international students talking in their own mother tongue about their experiences at St.Mary's. However, the faces were only roughly visible since a certain pattern kept flowing through the screen while the individuals were talking.
All in all I have to admit that I was totally surprised by the actual power of her works. Since Ya Haddy and I have been friends, she has always told me a lot of her works and how she wanted to present them. But without a doubt, the actual exhibition was by far more impressive than my imagination.

Reflection on the excursion to the National Gallery of Art

I really enjoyed the speech we attended as well as the exhibition of Robert Frank's work. One thing i vividly remember was the fact that Robert Frank had to select those few pictures, which we could see at the Gallery, from probably over several thousand photographs. This must have been a extremely time-consuming work. However, by knowing this, one might even more appreciate his selection.

Nevertheless, I would like too point out something else. After the exhibition we still had time to explore the rest of the National Gallery. The excursion had been my second time at the Gallery so have had the chance to see most of the works. However, there was one picture by Albert Bierstadt from 1858 that was called "Lake Lucerne" and was painted with oil on canvas.
I don't know what it was but this picture made me stand on in front of it for a least 20 minutes. It depicts a beautiful Swiss landscape that reminded my of my former visits to Switzerland and Austria. Once one has actually seen how beautiful those countries are, one might has the chance to fully comprehend the magic of Albert Bierstadt's picture.

Response to the William Irwin Thompson's reading

William Irwin Thompson mentiones four different levels of reading Grimms' fairy tale of Rapunzel: the literal, the structual,the anthropological, and the cosmological level.
Before I read the text I hadn't been familiar with Thompson's theory. I really think it interesting in how far he analysis Grimm's fairy tale of Rapunzel. Especially what he mentions about the antropological and structual level really seems to correspond to also present TV shows or movies. When I was reading this passage, I had to think about the TV series "Scrubs". By taking a closer look at it, one can easily detect reoccuring patterns.
However, I don't necessarily agree totally with what he states about the cosmological level in whoch one realizes that the story is also about the setting up of an order that is planetary. By reconsidering his arguementation I have to admit that it makes sense and also seems to be logical; but nevertheless, I think that this interpretaion is kind of far fetched.

Response to the Artists (art:21)

Sally Mann, a photographe and artist, gets depicted by her children as a driven professional and passionate mother at the same time. According to her her children, her obession with taking pictures, being her child has been sometimes difficult. Her daughter states in the film that thez kids have lost her mother to a certain extent but, on the other hand, have gained a friend. I am not sure if would necessarily consider that a positive development. The fact that the whole family seems to fit their needs to the mother's passion might create a critical relation between them in the long run. I can image that having such a passionate mother who truly seems to be involved in her work can also be a huge challenge or test for the family's cohesion.

I truly liked Mel Chin's artistic approach. He is one of the artists who uses certain objects that people usually don't need anymore or even consider them to be trash. Mel Chin then applies them to create something copmpletly new out of it. I furthermore appreachiate his effort in connecting art with science. He thereby generate art and helps to protect the environment at the same time.

James Turrell's project (The Roder Crater Project) was fascinating in this respect that is represents such a long and time consuming project. He mentions in the movie that this work has cost him two marriages and two realtions. However, his passion and dedication didn't seem to be restrictied by these sacrifices.

I especially liked Gabriel Orozco's attitude towards the process of art making. He pointed out that he uses tools everbody can use and that wants to depict "reality", which makes him to be outdoor all the time. I can't really explain why, but I was truly fascinated by some of his works. The most lasting impact on me was caused by the simple idea to attach a toilete roll to a huge ventilator on the roof. The idea seems so simple but it looked amazing.

Artist Response No 11

First Person Shooters

In the late 20th century, the entertainment industry began to converge in video and computer games. As the artists Anne-Marie Schleiner, Joan Leandre, and Brody Condon state in the excerpt describing their work, the industry's focus especially lay on video games that simulate war and war-like situations. Through the present technologies in the field of video game programming, online battles can be often experienced as the real world through the mediating interfaces of game-like targeting and navigation systems. At the same time, increasingly realistic games known as "first person shooters" featured immersive, three-dimensional worlds in which players engaged in violent conflicts, depicted with near-photographic realism.

After September 11, 2001, the artists Anne-Marie Schleiner, Joan Leandre, and Brody Condon were all fascinated by and critical of an internationally popular first-person shooter called Counter-Strike, in which players choose to undertake either terrorist or counter-terrorist operations in an urban environment. However, the artists claimed to have seen the game as an overly simplistic ""convergence of network shooter games and contemporary Middle Eastern politics in a game.

When playing Counter-Strike multiple players connect via the Internet to occupy the same virtual environment, fighting with or against one another in teams and communicating through text messages and voice channels. In addition, players can upload images to insert in the game space as "spray paints," or graffiti tags, to commemorate a kill or mark territory. Velvet-Strike is an artistic intervention that enables participants to insert what the artists call "counter-military graffiti" into the virtual space of Counter-Strike.

In addition, the site features screen-capture movies showing sprayers in action and examples of hate mail from Counter-Strike players angered by the artists' provocative actions, which some fans of the original game interpreted as denouncing video game violence.
Schleiner, Leandre, and Condon, however, have made it clear that Velvet-Strike is not critical of violence in video games, per se. Instead, as the three artists point out, the work forces us to wonder what exactly is at stake in the fictive virtual worlds in which both soldiers and civilians immerse themselves, at a time when real-life warfare increasingly resembles games and games increasingly resemble real life.
I have always been wondering what it exactly is that makes us so curious about those video games. Maybe these games are becoming even more popular in the future, as Schleiner, Leandre, and Condon indicate, because the games become reality and the reality becomes the games. It might also be due to the believe that one has the chance to have such a dangerous experience without actually being in risk to die.
However, I appreciate the artist's approach to such a disputable issue. Nevertheless, I doubt that users are actually prompted to wonder what exactly "is at stake in the fictive virtual worlds".

Artist Response No 10

Vectorial Elevation (1999)

Mexican-born artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer created a unique spectacle by placing eighteen robotic searchlights around Mexico City's Zócalo, the world's third-largest urban square. In his project called Vectorial Elevation (http://www.alzado.net/), first presented in Mexico City to celebrate the new millennium, participants used a Web-based interface to control the searchlights, choreographing patterns on the night sky and the urban landscape.
According to the artis himself, this type of performance is called "Relational Architecture," which he defines as "the technological actualization of buildings with alien memory." The interesting aspect about his work is that laypeople and passersby can construct new meanings for edifices with internet software and robotic lights. In other words, even a layman has the chance to produce such an outstanding spectacle. According to Lozano-Hemmer, "light projections...can achieve the desired monumental scale, can be changed in real time, and their immateriality makes their deployment more logistically feasible."

Lozano-Hemmer furthermore explains that when a participant's design for Vectorial Elevation reached the head of the Web queue, it was beamed into the sky, visible to crowds on the ground in Mexico City and, via Web cameras, to a large online audience. More than 800,000 people from 89 countries visited the Web site in a two-week period. The light show they produced was visible within a 20-kilometer radius.

As it is described by the author, the project's aesthetic effect remind us of those of the Tribute in Light (2002), a temporary public art memorial to the victims of 9/11, by Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, who utilized vertical beams supplied by 44 searchlights placed at Ground Zero in New York to project vertical beams into the night sky above the World Trade Center's destroyed Twin Towers.
However, Lozano-Hemmer describes his project as an "anti-monument" that serves primarily as a platform for public self-expression. Although Lozano-Hemmer uses technologies that suggest "panoptic regimes of control", Vectorial Elevation is primarily meant to be a celebration of the potential these technologies have to produce a new kind of participatory spectacle.

Artist Response No 9

360degrees

360degrees started out as an idea for a website almost five years ago. It has since evolved into a major initiative with the collaboration of dozens of imaginative and dedicated scholars, statisticians, activists, ex-offenders, students, educators, artists, and programmers.
According to the website (http://www.360degrees.org/360degrees.html), 360degree is a web page that is creating a database of organizations working around issues of incarcerations, crime and community development. The names who stand behind that idea are Jennifer and Kevin Mccoy. In the context of their project, they have been collecting the stories of inmates,lawyers, judges, parole officers, parents, victims and others whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system.
In connection with a new series on National Public Radio, Prison Diaries, they have conducted interviews and given inmates and officers tape recorders so that they could keep tape diaries of their experience in prison.
They claim that each story is focused around a specific case and is told from the point of view from the people involved. The amazing aspect about their project is that one is able to explore each speaker's personal space by navigating 360 degrees through their chambers or cells.
Mr and Mrs Mccoy's website state that its ambition is to involve and motivate other the web sites visitors in the fight for justice. I truly find the depiction of authentic stories and fates interesting and also inspiring at the same time. Thus, people have the unique opportunity and chance to read, hear or even understand victims' perspectives better.

Scrapbook Entry No 22

10.000 BC

This picture was also taken in Germany's capital, Berlin, at the "Potsdamer Platz" in 2008. The "Potsdamer Platz" is a famous and historical place in Berlin where many big companies have their head office. However, the picture shows an unbelievable huge commercial poster for the upcoming movie(at that time) "10.000 BC". However, the interesting thing about this gigantic movie poster only becomes clear by taking a closer look at it. The shop windows beneath the poster, as well as the building windows above it, are actually part of the poster. In other words, this huge commercial poster depicts not only the commercial itself but also the shop windows beneath and above it.
Since my sister works for a company whose offices are opposite to the building were the commercial poster was attached to, she knew that the movie company had to pay approximately 200.000 euros for a whole month to have its commercial poster hang down from the building.

Google Earth Link

Scrapboo Entry No 21

The marionette

This picture was taken in Berlin, Germany's capital in February 2008. As you can see on the picture, it depicts a plastic marionette that had been animated by five other people who were all dressed an in a black suit, wearing a white mask.
By simply looking at the picture one wouldn't be able to see what was so special about the marionette. However, the amazing thing about it was how realistic and graceful these five people had the marionette move. It took a bow and waved at you and even danced for you.
I didn't believe my eyes when I first saw the puppet moving. I guess it must have taken a great amount of practice, timing, patience and perfect cooperation as well as communication to coordinate the marionette's movements since five people were responsible for its actions.

Google Earth Link

Respone to collage project

I truly enjoyed the collage project for two main reasons. First of all, I liked the idea of creating a collage with the objective to translate a secret word into pictures. Since we had to choose three different approaches to depict the word, one really had to be creative and thoughtful.
Another reason why I enjoyed this project so much was because I thought it very interesting and inspiring to analyze someone else's work and thereby see their ideas and methods to explain their word.
It furthermore taught me a lot about the possibilities of the photoshop program we used. Although we are probably only familiar with a few basic operations, I still enjoy using it for other personal purposes.

Scrapbook Entry 20: Lock your bike properly

Lock your bike properly

This picture reminds me a lot of my home town Heidelberg.
Heidelberg is a relatively small city where you can do everything by bike. One doesn't need a car in order to get anywhere in the city. That is why, especially the students use bikes primarely for their transportation. Everytime when there is a huge student campus party somewhere in Heidelberg, students take their bike instead of there cars because they most of them want to drink alcohol (Despite the fact that riding one's bike under the influence of alcohol has the same legal consequences as driving your car, students feel safer by doing the former one).
So usually, when the parties are over, some of the students who came one foot or used public transportaion to get to the party, try to find unlocked bikes to get home as quick as possible. One assumes it hard to believe but it happens more than one expects that one finds a bike that is totally unlocked or locked in a way you see on the pictureho knows, but this might be due to the fact that the student who tried to lock it was already drunk.

Scrapbook Entry 19: The Hurdlefail

A friend of mine recently sent me a link via email of the Web Site "Fail Blog" (http://failblog.org/page/).
As the name might suggest, the Web Site contains a variety of funny pictures that depict more or less humorous accidents.
The one I chose shows a desperate hurdler who apparently has a hard time to run the 110 metres hurdles succesfully. I can really sympathize with the athlete. I truly enjoy this picture because I made this experience myself. Since I am a Physical Education student, I had to take three semesters of practical classes of track and field. I speak from experience when I say that not everyone is a born hurdler. It takes a lot of patience and practise to acquire the proper technic to run the hurdles.

Artist Response No 8

Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon: The BoarderXing (2002)

Since the internet became available to the world's public, it has been used for all different kinds of purposes. But nowadays, the internet rather represents a worldwide community connected across geographic distances by an electronic network.
However, as it is explained in the excerpt (https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Heath+Bunting+and+Kayle+Brandon),technology and mobility is limited to the privileged and the ramifications of the globalizational reality have excluded, for political, economic, or social reasons, many others from networks of communication and transportation.

Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon have created an online basis that addresses these issues. It is called BorderXing.This is an online guide to crossing European borders secretly. The site is said to be primarily addressed to activists, asylum seekers, and others who lack the requisite government documents to pass legally from one nation to the next. The guide is built around a database-driven Web site that contains information about routes between various pairs of countries in Europe. Furthermore it contains documentations of the artists' attempted crossings. Besides that, even instructions on how to cross specific borders undetected and without a passport are accompanied by hiking maps and lists of necessary tools. In interesting question would be where Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon did get these information from and how they have managed not to get caught by officials.

As it is stated in the excerpt (see link), the artists patrolled the boundaries of the BorderXing project by limiting access to some of the Web site's texts to authorized users. One critical thought about the project is the overthrow of the integrity of national European borders.

Despite the fact whether one might consider Heath Bunting's and Kayle Brandon's work art or an illegal course of action, I truly admire the political engaged nature of their work. I really wonder what the authorities think about that. However, according to them, their work is not about decoration or visual pleasure; it is about the beauty showing in BorderXing in the form of photographs taken by the artists as they travel illicitly between countries. These often-stunning images, traces of the artists' experiments in illegal migration, reveal liminal landscapes of surprising beauty.

In my opinion, this again is a perfect example for the endless boundaries of the possibilities of the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, I would be truly interested myself in these secret routes and photographs. The fact that it is illegal probably makes it so fascinating as art. Especially the pictures might cause a notable attraction and appeal because they truly correspond to reality.

Scrapbook Entry 18: Where there's a will there's a way.

Where there's a will there's a way

Two weeks before I came to St. Mary's College last year at the beginning of September, I had gone on an excursion to Austria with other students from the Physical Education Department. Besides activities such as rafting, rock climbing, and Canyoning, we also did a mountain tour on a mountain that was 2538 meters high.

The picture depicts a small valley on the mountain 1560 meters high. As one can see, the last stage had yet to be overcome. At this particular point, the whole group had been on their feet over 3.5 hours and was truly exhausted. Consequently, half of them decided to go back into the valley where our hostel was. The other half decided not to give up yet and summit the mountain.

As the picture suggest, there wasn't any path prepared for hiker to follow in order to get to the top. However, the group decided to attack the challenge despite the risks. Fortunately, everybody made it to the top of the mountain. As a memory, all group members left their names in the summit register ( second picture).

Three hours later, the second group finally found their way back home unharmed and save. The only negative consequence for the brave group was that they were late for dinner.

By the way, I was in first group...

Google Earth Link

Scrapbook Entry 17: Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie

Last week in the Great Room, I decided to finally grab one of those fortune cookies for the first time. As one can read on the picture, I am said to be moving to a wonderful new home within the year. So far so good. But to behonest, I never used to believe in those things.

However, the funny thing about that was that I had spoken to my current roomate in Germany just a few days before I got this fortune cookie. One topic of our conversation was dealing with the thought of moving again within Heidelberg.
We ended our phone conversation by argreeing that we would look for a new apartment as soon as I got back to Heidelberg.

This coincidence, what it obviosly was, still doesn't convince me to believe in such things. Yet, it really has kept me wondering and made a least a little bit more superstitious.

"Organic" (Artistic approach)

"Organic" (biological/natural approach)

"Organic" (medical approach)

Scrapbook Entry 16: Hermann-Gitter

Hermann-Gitter

I found this picture on my laptop while I was deleting old folders from my highschool time. I remember that we talked about "Sinnestäuschungen", which might be similar, if translatened, to the topic of "misperception" or "trick of the senses".
As one can see in the picture, grey spots appear in the white crossings. But only in the crossing the eye is trying to focus on, these grey spots seem to disappear.

As I learnt in my art class back in highschool, this work can be traced back to Ludimar Hermann, who discovered in 1870 that such wire frames with strong light-dark contrast cause optical illusions.
Since then, his discovery has been used for information processing in visual systems. The creative aspect about his discovery is that throught little modifications of such a latticework, one can create several astonishing optical effects.
To explain this phenomena, scientists argue that the human eye receptors, which are resposible for the light-dark perception, get stressed too much by two so contrasting elements on a little spot. As a result of the excessive demand on the brain, people see these opitical illusions.

Artist Response No 7

Mouchette

In 1996, a Web site that claims to be the work of an adolescent girl appeared at mouchette.org. When clicking on the link, one is inevitably confronted with a lurid close-up picture of a white,pink flower. On its petals one can see ants and flies crawling. In the left corner of the picture , a portrait of a sad-looking girl and the following text: "My name is Mouchette/I live in Amsterdam/I am nearly 13 years old/I am an artist" is depicted.

As it is pointed out in the excerpt, the site's content appears to have a deceptively innocent quality. Unfortunately, the link to her site doesn't exist anymore. Even the online search via "youtube" only offers a connection to Robert Bresson's film, "Mouchette," from 1967 about a suicidal adolescent girl who is raped in a forest at night.

However, Mouchette's homepage seemed to be equiped with many feature, interactive Web forms, including multiple-choice questions that trigger delayed-reaction e-mails to users. There is also a listing of members of Mouchette's international fan club, which includes art institutions around the world. All these contemporary web features require a lot of knowledge and know-how.
This undoubtedly arises the question if this "sophisticated" Web site could really be the work a 13-year-old girl? Probably not! Nonetheless, the true identity of the artist behind mouchette.org has remained unknown.

In the online excerpt is furthermore mentioned that by clicking on the word "artist" on the home page one is led to a page with the following text: "An artist? Yes. Here is a tip: I heard that the only way to become an artist is to say you are one. And then you can call "art" everything you make.... Easy, he?". Since the distiction between art und no-art has become so blury and indefinable, I partly agree with this statement. Who would actually dare to contradict an artist who claims to produce art. In earlier centuries people might have had a clearer perception of what art had to be like, but nowadays, peoples' tolerance has increased and art has become so abstract and multifaceted that almost everything can be considered to be art.

However, it really seems disputable that a statement like this came from a 13-year old girl. This point gives room to a further aspect regarding online webpages. Since it hasn't been possible to find out who or what the real "Mouchette" is, one might just argue that her home page is another example of an manipulated online identity.
Nevertheless, I picked Mouchette because it made me curious and presented something mysterious.

Scrapbook Entry 15: Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon

The picture was taken in Page, in southwest of the United States. It shows the Antelope Canyon. As one can see, the polished wall of the canyon recreate a unbeliveable play of colors. The Antelope canyon can be divided in Upper and Lower canyon. The picture depicts the Upper one. The canyon itself is about 100 meter long or approximately 328 feet and ten meters high (32 feet).

I found this picture while crusiing on the internet. To be honest, when I first took a look at it I wasn't really able to figure out what it actually was. NOt before I clicked on the picture to see it in full-size did I realize that it was a canyon.

After the current semester I will be doing a West Coast trip with friends from Germany. We wil start our trip in Seattle and will drive all the way down to the very South. I truly hope that we can stop by at the Great Canyon and see these natural phenomenon in reality.

Google Earth Link

Response to the movie "After Life"

After Life

The movie "After Life" tells the story of 21 people who have to select one specific memory or experience from their entire life. The memory can either be a pleasant one but also a negative one. This particular memory is recreated and made into short movie by team of filmmakers. The 21 participants have 3 days to decide which experience they choose; and the filteam has one week to produce the entire movies.

As the movie shows, the cooporation with the participants can either be easy and very productive but also sometimes tedious. Some of them just can't choose a memory and some of them simply don't want to. However, the audience gets to know that all the people who are working for the filmteam hasn't been able to decide a memory for themselves.

I truly liked the idea of trying to reproduce a memory or experience of individual persons. Thus, people have something about their life that can be shared by others even after their death.
Nevertheless, while watching the movie, I expected a little bit more from the end. I can't really explain why, but I somehow thought that the memory recreation of the respective persons were some kind of a "Good Bye" ritual in life.

Another thing that made me think was the fact that all these people whose memories were reproduced were so satisfied with the work of the filmaker team.
I figure to reproduce someone else's memory is a very tough challenge that requires a certain touch of instant feeling. In my eyes, I am not quite sure if I really wanted my favorite memory to be recreated. Maybe I just want to keep it in my mind the way I remember it.

Scrapbook Entry 14: Runter vom Gas!

Runter vom Gas!

The picture that I have chosen is actually a huge freeway (autobahn) poster that can be seen on all freeways throughout Germany since the beginning of 2007. It depicts a photograph, showing a laughing couple that is holding their two young kids in front of them. The photograph is produced in black and white. Next to it, on the right side, one can see a dagger and above it a writing that says, “Gabi, Frank, Mia und Max T. Wollten schnell nach Hause. Runter vom Gas!”. Translated into English it would mean, “Gabi, Frank, Mia and Max T. They wanted to get home fast. Don’t go too fast!”. The manner used to present the posters is purposely the same way announcements of death are pictured in German newspapers.

The series of freeway posters was initially launched on the initiative of the German Ministry of Transport in 2007 in order to make especially younger generations aware of the dangers one has to face when driving too fastin general. According to the Ministry of Transportation, its campaign was primarily intended for younger drivers who haven’t got enough experience in driving and controlling their vehicle. It furthermore states that every fifth person who is injured or even killed in an car accident belongs to the age-group of 18- until 24. In Germany alone over 1.000 people are involved in car accidents each day; and over 6.600 peole die each year because of their consequences. In other words, 30 new driver die each week in Germany.

The message that the posters tries to convey is to remind not merely new driver but also anybody who is in charge of his or her own life but also of the lives of others. The way the poster is presented is supposed to shock people and make them aware what could happen to them an their families. As mentioned before, approximately 5.000 people die each year of German freeways – that means approximately 5.000 burials, bitter tears, lonely children, wifes, husbands, and families each year. The grief that is behind these figures is immeasurable.

In most cases, the remaining familiy members wish that their beloved person should have slowed down earlier. In the same way, they also feel impotent fury because their beloved ones might have been killed by the inconsiderateness of others. Furthermore, one should not forget those people who are confronted with these deadly car accidents on a daily basis, such as rescue workers, ambulance men, police officers, and pastors. In my eyes, this campaign has been the first one in Germany that has actually succeeded in making people conscious of the real dangers and risks they take when driving too fast. It is the poster’s subtle way to pass on this crucial message to the audience that impresses me the most.

Google Earth Link

Scrapbook Entry 13: American Food

American Food

The picture was taken in the Great Room here at St.Mary's. As one can see it depicts a delicious, greasy burger, French fries, nudels with cheese sauce, and some beef! Most of the international students I usually have dinner with consider that the typical American food; unhealthy, fatty and hard to digest.
Many of my friends from Germany who have already been abroad to the States had warned me about the risk to gain a lot of weight before I left for St.Mary's College.
But so far so good! I haven't gained a pound...
However, people can say what they want about the American food! Although I know that it probably won't help you to loose some extra pounds, I tastes awesome and I love it!

Google Earth Link

Artist Response No 6

The Region of the Transborder Trousers

As it is stated in the excerpt on blackboard ( http://courses.smcm.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_10810_1), at the turn of the twenty-first century, artists began to experiment with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices that track, via satellite, our movements in physical space.

In The Region of the Transborder Trousers (La región de los pantalones transfronterizos), Torolab, a Tijuana-based collective of architects, artists, designers, and musicians led by Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, use GPS transmitters to explore the logistics of daily life in the twin border cities of Tijuana and San Diego. This project not only makes visible the transnational mobility of the region's inhabitants, but also demonstrates the artistic potential of locative technologies.

For a period of five days, members of the collective carried GPS transmitters. The members also kept records of their cars' fuel consumption. In the end, the GPS and fuel data was then fed into a computer and visualized (using software reprogrammed by Torolab) as an animated map.
Regarding the picture, one should know that each tracked Torolab member appeared as a colored dot on an urban grid surrounded by a circle whose diameter indicated the amount of fuel left in his or her tank.

In my eyes, the idea of using Global Positioning System (GPS) for making daily life easier but PS a software used to give them directions while driving their car. On the other hand, one of my first associations was to track criminals. This might be due to the great amout of Hollywood movies that used this technic to spy on people ( for instance mivies like "Enemey of the State") .
As Torolab did, the possibilities offered by such advanced technology can be used to produce a kind of art that might seem new to the layman.
Yet, I think is interesting that people start using these technologies for producing new kinds of art.

Project Reply ( 20 Lines)

Project Reply

First of all I would like say that found Apelles and Protogene's sory quite intersting.
While doing this project and creating my twenty differnt layers I initially had a few problems with generating various ideas because we were limited by the project requirements.
However, once I got started, I felt quite confident and didn't actually notice when I was done. I tried to produce twenty different kinds of lines. That was, in my eyes, the most difficult part of the task, because the likeliness to reproduce a alrady existing line was extremely high.
Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed the options the computer program offered us; to see all twenty layers on top of each other created a unique and unexpected crazy picture.

Scrapbook Entry 12: public bleaching

Public bleaching

Last weekend, Ferbrury 14, 2009, and friend and I went to Germantown in Washington . We went to a mall in order to do some shopping when we saw two female persons who were dressed in white tunics, somehow appearing to be dentists.
Only on a closer look did we recogniz what they were actually doing in the middle of the shopping mall. As a matter of fact, they were offering a bleaching treatment of 15 minutes for "only 150 dollars. They competed for costumers by telling them that their teeth would look two stages lighter after the treatment.

My first impression when I truly realized what this was all about was total suprise. First of all, this is a professional treatment that should really be conducted by a professional dentist; and the fcat that they were offering that in a shopping mall made completely ridiculous in my eyes. Secondly, one should be aware of the treatment itself and the possible consequences. I know that this might sound a little bit exaggerated, but my uncle happens to be a dentist and he told me that some people should be very careful with having this treatment. It mightnot be good for your teeth in the long run. However, most of the costumers didn't ask about side effects or other things; they just sat down and paid the 150 bucks! Unbelieveable in my point of view!

Google Earth Link

Scrapbook Entry : 11

Thr real H-Town

This picture of Heidelberg, which I found on the internet, shows the city from such a high angle that it was porbably taken out of a helicopter. However, the it only depicts Heidelberg downtown and the castle; in other words, only the right side of the river Rhine. Thr bridge one can (one of three in HD) see on that connects both sides is the so called "Alte Bruecke", meaning old bridge. It just has been restored recently.
The downtown area is the usually the meeting point for students to go to a bar or club. the area also offers plenty of delicious restaurants which even students can afford. Besides that, most of the linguistic departments are located downtown as well. Since I am an English major I spend a lot of my time in the "Altstadt" (downtown). I even once had the chance to live there for a few months but moved away willingly to more outside area of Heidelberg because of during the weekends the noise downtown can get imaginable.

But all in all, especially in the summer, numerous street events and markets make the life in Heidelberg even more worth living than it already is.

Google Earth Link

Artist Response No 5

Dialtones: A Telesymphony

Dialtones: A Telesymphony, first performed in 2001 at the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria, is a musical project founded by Golan Levin and his collaborators Scott Gibbons, Gregory Shakar, and Yasmin Sohrawardy. The idea of the project which is based on a musical performance played on the audience's mobile phones builds on the legacy of John Cage, who used sounds from everyday life in his music, and whose work inspired generations of musicians and artists.

I truly like Golan Levin's idea to use cell phone sounds, which are mostly considered noise pollution in public spaces, to produce something so creative. As it is stated in the excerpt, mobile phones have become so omnipresent that a new etiquette appeared in movie theaters, concert halls, and other performance spaces, namly the ritual of silencing these ubiquitous devices.
In my opinion, artist who take objects or phenomenon from our daily life and try to create something new or creative that represents those objects from a different point of view, should receive far more credit for their work. Golan Levin's work somehow reminds me of this artist, I can't remember his name, who used old trash (metal objects and synthetic materials) in order tp produce something new out of it. He primarely created sculptures.

Scrapbook Entry 10: Courage or stupidity

Courage or stupidity

Two weeks before I came to Maryland in August 2008, I had gone on a excursion with the Physical Education Department to Austria. At the last day, when we came back from decending a 2500 meter high mountain, we finally reached the valley again to take a rest. However, one of my collegues seemed not have had enough action yet. So he decided to jump on a grazing cow. The cow immediately started to dipsy-doodle.

Nevertheless, he managed to ride the cow for over 5 seconds before the cow shook him off. Fortunately, he didn't hurt himself and the our professor didn't find out about that. When he returned to the group, he was laughing all over and tried to encourage other students to follow his footsteps; but nobody dared it do it...

Google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 9: No 91

No 91

Dennis Rodman, a basketball superstar who won 5 NBA championships in his career as a professional. Besides the fact that only a very selected group of players can claim that, he was one of the craziest personalities the NBA has ever seen.
Dennis Rodman had the unique ability to get in his opponent's mind and mess up his concentration and focus. He was a master of provoking othert players but always overstepped the line sometimes.

However, the picture one can see was taken in the by then called "United Center", the home court of the Chicago Bulls, in the 1997. It depicts Dennis Rodman diving for a ball. Although this might not seem as something special, it was his theatrically way he made random things, like jumping for a rebound, look unique and memorable.

Google Earth Link

Response to the frontline report

Response

The report produced by frontline was about the opportunities the internet offers to young people nowadays. It furthermore displayed the risks and dangers of the online world. Besides aspects as addiction, the internet is a platform for sex crimes and other illegal issues. The main problem that was mentioned by many parents was that no one is truly in charge.

However, especially the young people argue that the internet makes communication easier and effective. The report stated that the internet is not only a short phase of time that will disappear some time soon in the future. The power and impact on our daily life will even further increase. 90 percent of todays' students (in certain American areas) are said to be online. For them, the online world is perfect outlet for selfexpression. It offers the rare opportunity to be someone else and act without directly having to face the consequences. Nevertheless, because of the fact that many parents aren't familiar (or can't keep up) anymore with the fast technical progress, the tolerance between generations has gotten less and communication has become even more difficult. The report pointed out that the internet had caused the greatest generational gtab since the time of Rock and Roll.
The report moreover depicted a highschool teacher who incoorporated many new technologies in his lessons. He argued that "walking into a class room without these technologies is like walking into a desert."
However, I disagree partly with his point of view. Since I will be a teacher as well, I think that he exaggerated by comparing the situation to a desert. Without going into further detail, I have learnt there are always ways to get the students' attention , even without the use of these new technologies.

Before the internet has become such a powerful used source for communication, social networks did work too! There were ways to get in touch with each other. Besides the traditional ways like sending a letter or just using the phone, peoples' horizon was smaller; but by progressing technology, peoples' expectations and conveniences increased.
Everytime I have to explain to someone what facebook or myspace actually is, is use the words "online chat forum". It gives two people, who are are online at the same time, the opportunity to write messags to each other and reply to them instantly; as if they were sitting next to each other at a table. I know that this is a very simplified version of what is actually is, but this explaination worked for my grandfather, so I gues it works for anyone else too :-).

I also think that users of facebook or similiar webpages choose their (profilpictures or just pictures they post online) pictures consciously. Since these profiles mostly reveal only a small part of someone's real identity, user try to make the bst impression possible by chossing the right picture. In my eyes, most people (users) are judged by their profil picture for instance.
I furthermore think that a profil picture tells a lot about a person, because it has alsways been picked on pupose by the user.

With ragrd to Marshall McLuhan's statement "the medium is the message", I have to say that his point of view is intersting and in my eyes mostly true. He states that the society's values, norms and ways of doing things change because of the new and progressing technology. Thus, these new technologies and their fast but quiet progress make uns miss the structural changes in our daily affairs. He describes these changes as the "unanticipated consequences" that work silently to influence the way in which we interact with one another. Furthermore he said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself.

By applying these aspects to a facebook page, I realize that I do the same thing. In order to write someone a message, I don't use the traditional way of emailing, but rather prefer facebook or strudivz which is the German version of it. If asked why, I acn't really give an answer that would make sense. Both ways would take the same time. However, I'd say that by using facebook, I automatically feel as a part of a larger community. Another reason for avoiding the telephone or to write an email might be the fact that a friend's facebook page offers so many different options at the same time. One can see who else wrote something on his wall, or who else is online at the moment. It makes us feel that we are up to date.

However, I agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium itself affects our perception of communication. For instance, people tend to write short "insider jokes" on each others wall. I do that too! The question is if we would do the same thing if we would have to write it in an email?! Probabaly not, because the idea of an email is, at least for me, different to an idea of a facebook message. I am convinced that most of the messages that are written daily on facebook don't actually have a real and importnat content. The are just written, because the "digital environment" on facebook literally invited us to.

Scrapbook Entry 8: The troll

The troll

According to an online encyclopedia, trolls are fearsome members of a race of creatures from Norse mythology.
A possible explanation for the troll myth is that the trolls represent the remains of the forefather-cult which was ubiquitous in Scandinavia until the introduction of Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries. In this cult the forefathers were worshipped in sacred groves, by altars or by gravemounds.

One of the customs associated with this practice was to sit on top of a gravemound at night, possibly in order to make contact with the deceased.
However, this picture (from 2006) was made in Rhineland-Palatinate , a beautiful region in the Southwest of Germany. It depicts a little troll sitting on a exterior wall of a house keeping watch. The popular superstition in this region is due to the fact that people think these creatures would protect their families from misery and mischief by placing a stone troll on top of their exterior house walls.
When I went to this region for the first time and saw these creatures I was truly suprised because I didn't know about this custom at all. I always associated trolls with Scandinavia in the first place. However, I really liked the idea and could image to get one for myself in the future.

google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 7: Road Signs

Confusing Road Signs

The picture was obviouly taken in Spain since the language on the road sign is Spanish, saying "Bandas Sonoras"(meaning soundtrack) which doesn't make much sens for me. However, what you can see in the picture is a great example of how special the human mind sometimes works.

The noteworthiness about this picture is that the speed limit indicated by the road signs decreases by slow degrees (always 10 km/h less). Usually, at least in Europe, one uses standardised speed limit signs , such as 30, 50, 7o, and 80.

Another difference is the small distance between the signs. In my eyes, at least every otherroad sign is unnecessarily posed, and so only causing confusion for the driver. Nonetheless, there might a reason for this which we as the observer do not see.

google earth link

Artist Response No 4

The "Industrious Clock"

Yugo Nakamura,is according to his personal website (yugop.com) a creative director, designer and engineer exploring various forms of interactive system in digital and networked environment. The site furthermore states that Yugo has exhibited and lectured in Asia, U.S.A and Europe and that some artworks from his personal website have recenly been shown at Center Pompidou (Paris), Kunstlerhaus (Vienna), Design Museum (London). His commercial works have received many international awards including Cannes Lions, OneShow, Clio Award, and NY ADC.”
For further information about his career adn projects check out http://yugop.net/info/.

However, his project "Industrious Clock" from 2001 is a clock that tells you the time exactly to the tick. But the particularity of this clock is that it every single figure is actually written down by a human hand with a pencil.

This piece of art drew my attention because of its simplicity. What we see is an usual clock that gives you the exact time. However, the way it does make, makes it special in a way. The fact that the audience actually sees a human hand writing restlessly down each single figure somehow emphasizes the impression how fast time passes by. As soon as one figure is written down, it has to be erased because it is not actual anymore.

Artist Response No 3

1 year performance video

The work of MTAAA seems to me quite interesting because it has a different approch to the process of art making than the layman expects. Their concept, "The art happens here," emphasizing that Net art, like Process art, Performance art, and Happenings, is less an object for contemplation than an event or action that takes place over time, truly drew my attention. According to the excerpt, MTAA's project "1 year performance video" really meets the various ways of the internet age.

In the original work, a person spent an entire year living within a cage, documenting his self-induced confinement with photographs. This reminded me of a TV show from Germany called "Big Brother". In this show people, who haven't met each other before, are put into an apartment and have to master certain task to keep this show going. However, they are recorded 24/7.

But with regard to the work of MTAAA, one might consider its project as a perfect example for the increasing replacement of human activities and live experiences with those offered by computer and online worlds. Furthermore, it shows the audience the new media's ability to manipulate peoples' perceptions of time. In the same way as Ken Goldberg's work does, it covers up the distinct borders of reality and fake, making it extremely difficult to understand the process of art making in a traditional sense.

Scrapbook Entry 6: NBA TV

NBA TV

This picture was made in our dorm on campus last semester. As one can see it depicts a photograph of a TV screen that was broadcasting a NBA basketball match. To be more precise one can see Lebron James, a superstar of the Cleveland Cavaliers. As an important information one should know that my friends and I are great NBA fans who try to follow the events that happen in the NBA daily. So the reason why I took this picture was to make my friends in Germany jealous because I have the rare opportunity here in the States to watch NBA games live on television without getting up in the middle of the night, as my friends in Germany would have to if they wanted to watch one.

Furthermore, one should be aware of the fact that even by purchasing “Pay-TV” in Germany, it would not be possible anymore to watch these games live. This is due to a contract that was made by in 2008 between “Premiere”, the German “Pay-TV” station and the NBA. The only way to watch NBA games live from Germany, is via the internet, which in turn requires a fast internet connection to enjoy the game without any further distractions.

google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 5: The shoe of Destiny

The shoe of Destiny

This picture was actually taken in Baltimore January 31, 2009 in a restaurant. As it is with most of my scrapbook entries, there is a story behind this one too.

At the end of last semester, a day before I flew back to Germany over the winter break, I finally decided to divest myself from my beloved shoes which I had for over 15 months at that time. So consequently I put them into the trash can before I went to the airport for my flight back to Germany...

On January 19, 2009, I came back to St.Mary's campus. I was dropped off at my place and entered our dorm. As soon as I entered my room and saw the trash can, looking the same as it had done when I left before the break. My shoes were still on top of the papers. I immediately thought that this had to be destiny, because to be honest, I didn't want to get rid of them. The mean a lot to me because they have been through a lot! However, the right shoe has a huge hole in it which can't be repaired.

Long story short, I decided to wear them another semester. As thing are now, I will leave them here at St.Mary's for good when I go back to Heidelberg...
But who knows what destiny has planed for me...

google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 4: Philosophenweg 18/1

The Philosophenweg 18/1

This picture was taken a day before New Year's Eve in 2008 in Heidelberg, Germany. To be more precise, it was taken in Neuenheim, the most expensive district/area in Heidelberg to live in.

It depicts a door bell with an integrated loudspeaker of a house on the Philosphenweg 18/1; a street that is located directly at the river Rhine at a mountain road. In order to understand the picture a little bit better, one should know that Philisophenweg (street of the philosophers) is the most famous street in Heidelberg because of the fact that celebrities and even former important German politicians used to have there residence there.

As a normal human being, it is nearly impossible to even get an apartment not to mention a property on Philosophenweg. It is just too expensive.
The story behind this picture is nevertheless a different one. The day for New Year's Eve, me and friends took a walk up to the mountains along the Philosophenweg. We were fascinated and electrified at the same time by the large mansions we saw next to each other on the Philosophenweg.

However, there was one mansion that stood out because it just seemed to be the perfect place to live in. The mansion's house number was 18/1, as the picture shows. The property was quite bigger in comparison to all the other ones on that street.
The mansion seemed to be in a perfect spot, high upon the mountain, so that it offered a beautiful view over Heidelberg and the surrounding countryside. One even had a clear view of the Heidelberger castle.
Unfortunately, we have never had the chance to get look inside the property because it was surrounded by a white wall that could only image what was behind these walls.
However, we declared this mansion the best place in which to live in all of Heidelberg. As a result of our excitement, we started to envision how we would spend our time living there. Of course we knew that this vision would never come true, however, we thought it to be worth dreaming about.
So we took a picture to remind ourselves of the dreams we share.

google earth placemark

Scapbook Entry 3: Before and after pictures

Before and after pictures

The two pictures shown depict two Coca-Cola cans. On the first picture they are still closed and on the second one they just have been opened. By taking a closer look at the second picture one might still be able to see a slight sign of fog rising up from the cans directly the moment after their opening. I call it the "ghost" of the can who finally gets set free.

The picture was taken at a turkish fast-food restaurant called "Yuffka" in Heidelberg, Germany.
Every time I go there with my friends we always eat the same food, namly a yuffka, some kind of wrap with vegetables and beef. Furthermore, we always drink the same soda, a Coca-Cola out of a can, not from a glas or plastic bottle.

The fact that the yuffka is somehow extremely salty makes you feel thirsty quite rapidly; and Since I have been studing in Heidelberg, it has become a costum for me and my friends or I should rather say a habit to open our Cola cans simultaneaously and try to see the "ghost".
So given the fact that you are extremely thirsty already after a few bites makes you drink the ice cold Cola very fast almost all at once. This, on the other hand, causes some kind of pain in your throat but, on the other hand, also makes you feel "released" and content.

However, I consider the picture everything BUT art. Although the activity of "drinking" is part of our everyday life, we probably don't consider it as something beautifully or something that makes us feel good.
Nevertheless, I like the story the picture tells. Who would have thought that people can get so much satisfaction from only drinking a soda when they are thirsty?!

google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 2: Where..."Perfection" happens.

Where..."Perfection" happens.

This picture was taken on a balcony in Heidelberg, Germany. As one can see it shows a six-pack of Coca-Cola bottles and a six-pack of Fanta bottles next to each other standing perfectly in the sunset of a cold winter day. The reason for the six-packs being out on a balcony was due to the fact that the fridge was already packed.


The picture was taken during winter break in Germany 2008/2009. I had edited this picture by writing something on it before I sent it back to Germany to jecoice my roomates by reminding them of the awesome time we had. The writing on the picture says; "Where..."Perfection" happens." This statement was copied from the NBA.com website commercial. To make it short, this drink represents "perfection" for me and my roomates because we like it so much.

But the main reason why I chose this picture is the fact that this beverage is my roomates' and my favorite drink back in Germany. Originally, it is also referred to as "Spezi". Spezi conists of 50 percent Cola nd 50 percent Fanta. In other words, a mixture of both of them. The best way to consume this drink is when both sodas are ice cold.

Although the picture might only represent a radom failed picture to most of its viewers, it has a special personal meaning for me. However, the way the two six-packs are depicted by the warm light of the sunset during winter time and the association and emotions (enjoyment and satisfaction) me and my rommates connect with them, makes it special in our view at least.

google earth link

Scrapbook Entry 1: The "Gun"

The "Gun"

The object on the picture probably looks familiar to all St.Mary's students who have been at the Arc. However, when I saw the "The Gun" for the first time, I was both, unsure of what is actually was and also excited about using it. "The Gun" is a machine constructed for the sport of basketball. With its long extensions which are connected with each other through a net, is has the ability to catch most of the missed shots on the basket. Its shape is perfectly adjusted to the shape of a basketball hoop.

It drew my attention immediately because, since I have been playing this sport as long as I can walk, I had never seen such a machine that makes it possible to work on your shot without always running after your missed shots. It furthermore has the ability to pass you the ball periodically. It is up to the user whether he wants the ball to be passed to himself every third, fourth, or fifth second. The user moreover can decide if he wants the ball to be passed always to the same spot or I am quite sure that those machines are not common usuage in Germany, even for professional teams.

In my eyes, this machine should not be considered to be some kind of art, because its only purpose is to make the basketball practice/workout more efficient.
However, I was deeply fascinated when I saw it the first time; and I can't wait to show this picture to my basketball colleagues in Germany.

google earth placemark

What is the purpose of art?

The purpose of art can't be limited to a single aspect.
As Januszczak describes it, the purpose of art can't be pinned down to a single aspect.
However, it should help you see your surroundings and environment differently.

As he talks about the experieces he had in southern Africa finding out the origins of art, he surprisingly descovered the specific connection between a place and the art made for that place. As an example he mentions Carsten Höller's project. According to Januszczak, making art was a form of magic if you did the right thing, in the right place. Thereby, he emphasizes, you made possible a transformation.
Another aspect that gets attention from Januszczak is the power of art to free one's mind to take him to various mystical and distant places. In his words, "You haven't moved an inch, but your thoughts have gone travelling to a very dotty destination". He moreover explains that art is pretty much "the last bastion of insoluble mystery and radical transport" and sums its purpose up by stating that ist purpose is "to get you out of here".

Further ideas are given by Jerry Saltz in the article "The Whole Ball of Wax
Can Art Change the World? A Holistic Theory". He points out that art is part of a universal force. It has no less purpose or meaning than science, religion, philosophy, politics, or any other
discipline; it is an energy source that helps make change possible; it sees things in clusters and
constellations rather than rigid systems.

Respond to Art21 viewings

Vija Celmins's reference of "building a painting" rather than painting a painting appeared quite interesting. She compared this process to one of building a structure. But what caught my intention the most was her comment about the emotional connection to her works. She mentioned that she truly felt connected to most of her works because she had been working on them for too long. She even once said that sometimes the works develop feeling on their own. According to her, they develop a dense feeling and built memories of their own. However, what was kind of surprising for me, was the fact that her objects mostly don't have any kind of symbolic meaning to her.
Elizabeth Murray's work reminded me, as she also stated herself, of actual physical work, as by mixing the colors. Her comparison of her work with one of a safebreaker, who waits for the right combination to make everything work together until all the fragments live together. Nevertheless, For some reason I couldn't connect my idea of art with her. This also happened to me regarding Ann Hamilton's work. Their ideas of art just don't match with my imagination of art. However, this is the way it works, as also Bruce Nauman states. According to him, he doesn't seem to think about large audiences. As soon his work meets a specific aim, it should attract many people automatically. I truly admired him for his patience and courage as he said that his "final results" mostly were products of many "accidents".
The most connected I felt with Matthew Barney's way of making art. His approach somehow reminded me of several movies I really liked that I have seen in my life so far. He furthermore stated that he was attracted to all the things he worked with. In my eyes, this is very important. He also mentioned that a few fragments of his movie were autobiographic. I really would have liked to know which one...

Reflection of Today's Class

After the individual artist presentations we broke in four groups and compared images of related subject matter supplied by the professor.

My group, which was number one, dealt with different pictures of symbols. The first symbol was one of a one-way sign. The second consisted purely of letters, arranged in a certain way and thereby representing a language we couldn't decipher. The third one was a picture of a finger print. The next one was a picture showing different footprints in the sand on a beach, all going into different direction. The last two pictures where so called icons showing a drawn figure sitting on a chair waiting. The other one was the commonly known sign for a non-smoking area.
The term of an icon is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy. However, it can be also used in the general sense of a symbol — i.e. a name, face, picture, edifice or even a person readily recognized as having some well-known significance or embodying certain qualities. Each group had a different set of pictures with a different focus.

In order to talk about our respective pictures and to represent them in class where were given certain questions we should consider and try to answer.

-Where do you think the images originate from and why?
-Compare the way each image communicates.
-What types of different languages are at play?
-Can you give them names?
-How can you tell one from another?
-Do you approach each with different expectations (the way you respond, interact, and read each)?
-Can you apply any of Buster’s observations about the nature of signification in art to
-your own findings?

I truly enjoyed today class because talking freely about those pictures revealed so many different points of view to me and depicted them from so various angles. Sometimes the groups had difficulties drawing a connection between the pictures within a single group. Nevertheless, each one came up with surprisingly interesting results and associations.

Artist Response No 2

Empire 24/7 by Wolfgang Staehle

Wolfgang Staehle is a German artist who was born in Stuttgart in 1950 lives and works in New York. As the short essay about him and his work states, he founded the internet forum "The Thing" , a creative online community where debates about art happens at the beginnings of the 1990s.

However, the first thought that came to my mind while reading about Wolfgang Staehle's work was the way how he, as a modern artist, uses new and present technology to create "art". Although I am not familiar with the history of art, I could imagine that there are only a few artist who move with the times and adapt their way of producing art. That is way, I am so interested in his project Empire 24/7, showing the Empire State Building around the clock. As already in the essay mentioned, anybody around the world who has access to the internet would have been able to witness Staehle's idea of art.

Another aspect I would like to mention is the legitimized questioning of this truly being art. Wouldn't be anybody be able to set up a digital camera pointing at the Empire State Building and thuis creatinga "virtual window, as if one could see through the Karlsruhe museum's gallery wall directly into New York City"? Well, at this point, one can draw the connection to Bart Rosier's text "What is Art?". He states that there are six critera worth considering. One of them says, "anything can be a work of art". So in the same way as Warhol already did, Wolfgang Staehle made it no longer possible to distinguish something that is art from something that is not.

Furthermore, his project Empire24/7 shows not merely the Empire State Building, but also the two twin towers and how the got destroyed. In order to depict this tragic historical event he displays five chronological pictures. The firts one depicts the New York city in all its beauty, the last one, however, shows the dust and darkened sky after the the twin towers collapsed. Through this row of pictures, the artist is able to communicate with us. It appears as if he would tell us a story and tells us what exactly happens. Here again, we can draw a connection to Rozier's text. He states that according to John Fowles, author of The French Lieutenant's Woman, art is "the best, because richest, most complex and most easily comprehensible, medium of communication between human beings". So here art is defined as symbolic images as a means of communication.

Artist Response No 1

Telegarden (1995) by Ken Goldberg

Ken Goldberg's way of challenging peoples' perception is quite interesting and depicts, in my eyes, a very fascinating approach. I agree with him stating that it has become even more difficult to distinguish fake from reality in the online world. Since anyone is able to use the internet or even publish information, it has gotten harder to find reliable sources and information.

However, Ken Goldberg's idea of a garden that gets taken care off via the internet by people from all over the world at the same time might stand for a small example what else might be possible in future. Ken Goldberg just used a plantes which might be considered living objects. Who knows where this idea will end in the future. Maybe some day it won't be plants anymore that will get controlled by unknown people.

Another idea that comes to my mind was the fact that he provokes us to consider whether the garden really exists. On the internet there are probably so many things that doesn't exist in reality. Nevertheless, this phenomena seems to attract even more people all over the world. It seems that people are really searching for those non-authentic things.

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link to arcangel's site