Notes from My VMFA Talk

Early on, I had an interest in the "process" of making art. When I decided to become an artist, I didn't really know what the hell I was doing, let alone, thinking. So, whenever I went to a gallery or museum, I was more interested in figuring out why the artist did what he or she did—the concept or idea behind the work—than about the art piece itself.

Introduction

I continue to question why artists do what they do. I'm also interested in interacting with my audience. In 1988 I started ArtFBI (Artists for a Better Image) to study stereotypes of artists in culture. During my time there I produced a series of bumper stickers, partially as a way to raise funds, but mostly to create dialogue about who artists were using a very public medium. So, when I discovered the web in early 1994, I was drooling at the thought that these interactions could increase a million-fold!

Comparing today to 10, 20, 100, or even 10,000 years ago, what's different about the way artists produce work and the relationships between artists, their work, and their audiences? In 1996 I wrote an article for the New York Foundation for the Arts entitled "New Roles for Artists in the Information Age" as a way to begin exploring these differences. Using Alvin Toffler's three waves, we can see how the artist moved from the center of society in the agricultural age to the fringe during the industrial age, when markets developed and artists were separated from the work they produced. I now see the potential for us to move back to the center (and away from the stereotypical "fringe") of society by becoming information providers and interpreters as we enter Toffler's 3rd wave, the Information Age. So, if this is possible, how can traditional art institutions support this?

What is New Media?

How does net-based art differ from more traditional forms of art? How is it similar? To be provocative, it's more engaging than traditional art. Or, at least the viewer must be more engaged. He or she is not a passive admirer. That is, the work involves the viewer who is often offered choices (at the very least, clicks on hyperlinks). Not that traditional art can't engage the viewer. Engagement and interaction, though, are more central to New Media works. Often this type of art is about process. Often it employs older forms, such as storytelling.

It includes more traditional notions of art, beauty, for instance. But the nature of the "tactile" is different. If you understand either how it's done or the amount of work entailed in constructing the piece, you may find beauty and discovery in that. If you understand that the idea might be to experience the process or even the artist's intentions, rather than the object, one may find beauty in that.

An example where process is a subject of the work:

Piotr Szyhalski: Ding an Sich, (The Thing Itself):

In Piotr's opening comments he states:

"Art goes beyond matter/objects: it testifies to the existence of Things Themselves. Somewhere there is the 'constant' we all know, although each one of us would almost certainly describe it with very different words."

Piotr goes on to say: "The nature of interactive work is based on the idea that both the artist and the viewer make decisions. How meaningful those decisions on the audience's part will be often is the measure of how successful the piece is..."

According to Steve Dietz, Director of New Media at the Walker Art Center, "one of the critical and challenging aspects of Ding an Sich is interactivity. Szyhalski does not take the easy route and post signs signaling, so to speak, click here and something will happen. The screener is required to experiment, explore, learn how each Canon 'works.' This deciphering can be frustrating for those only interested in the answers..."

When I decided to sell my demographics on eBay, I was attracted to the "medium" because dialogue within the community was already built in to the selling system. I studied the auction "form" and used it, albeit in a humorous fashion, to get across my ideas about consumerism and privacy in this info age.

As important to the piece itself was the commentary by viewers and my interaction with them. While the discussion was broader than just a dialogue on the subjects of my work, like my earlier experiences, I was hooked on the interaction.

When my demographics didn't sell, I decided to "retreat" back into the market and offer the eBay auction page as an "exquisite fine art print." Another stab at humor with a very serious foundation.