Darth Brolmes

For my lecture screening I chose to do Brett Gaylor’s Rip! A Remix Manifesto. Going into the film I had no idea what to expect, I didn’t even know what it was about in the slightest, no genre, no actors, nothing. So my expectations were non-existent. To be honest when I first began watching the movie I was quite shocked. Knowing that this film was approved as a movie that our class could critique I was confused as to why. I thought it would be all about art and techniques and things along that nature, but watching the film made me realize that there are existent problems with our world and the limits they put onto art, and more importantly, artist’s ability to create art. I had no idea about almost any of that information about copyrighting that the film portrayed. I remember once hearing about the illegal downloading of songs, but I never thought that people were actually prosectuted and hunted down by these major corporations. I thought the film was beautifully done, as the overall point and evidence was extremely clear. I thought it was a huge success especially for the purpose of the movie. From the very beginning the viewer sees the intentions of the film-makers, which I thought was key. The irector gets right to the point and does so successfully with vivid and crucial evidence to support his claim. My favorite part of the film was the Disney aspect. How Disney got so many of its ideas from things in the past and his now copyrighting them to no end so no one else can profit off of the artwork created in our century. The director proved to me that we are spiraling downwards in our culture and our art, music, etc. Copyright laws are killing the modern day artist. When the movie was over I enjoyed it so much that I emailed the director and thanked him for doing what he is. I think copyright laws are an extremely touchy subject and by showing the viewer different countries, and important and powerful people, it truly got me thinking of how big of a problem this truly is and that there is something that we all can do to stop this. I thought the evidence supporting was its best overall feature, along with interviews, opinions, but most of all, factual evidence. In all, I thought the movie was beautifully done and well constructed. Hats-off to the entire crew.

For my chosen artists I decided to pursue and research individuals whose artwork is outside our daily spectrum, outside normal artwork in our society. I wanted art that is tailored towards bending and pushing the extent to which their work can even be called “art.” As I researched numerous candidates I came across two different individuals who fit the criteria I was looking for: Kenneth Rinaldo and Stelarc. As a basis to begin looking I wanted artists that were relevant to today, and used 3-dimensional imaging in some way or another. I decided that regular computer images were not enough for the project, and so, I found these two artists under the category of electronic art. I chose this area because it differentiates and adds another element to the normal regular 2-Dimentional artwork. Luckily enough, I was able to find artists who stretched the boundaries of life itself into art. Kenneth Rinaldo focuses on the nature of animals in our world, and ties the idea and process of ecology into his artwork. Stelarc focuses on the same aspect only with humans and stretching the boundaries of anatomy and combines that into his artwork.

Kenneth Rinaldo is a professor at Ohio State University. He is a first generation American from New York City. He practiced many other jobs and professions such as an electrician, a sewing machine operator, jazz, steel factory worker, and pursued dancing and business programming applications before realizing, at age 27, that art was his calling. Ken is fascinated with the idea of twisting and manipulating ecology to learn an organism's true capabilities. Currently he is working on a piece that allows fish to control the movement of the bowls in which they reside at the hands of a feather that controls the motor. Kenneth has numerous works that replicate an animal’s lifestyle augmenting his research from just science and duplicate it into art forms, specializing in emergent systems.

For my chosen piece of his work, I decided to select his piece titled, Farm Fountain 2008: Edible Ecosystem Sculpture

This piece is a phenomenal art structure designed to manipulate the ecosystem of the ocean. After I read a little of Rinaldo and his work I emailed him to get more details. I must say he was extremely nice and appreciative that I liked his work, and gave me links to help out with the project. The piece is located at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum in New Zealand. When I first saw the piece I was in shock to see such a beautiful structure, and then to find out its intention I immediately was inspired by the work. The piece had a definitive aura bleeding from the picture. I truly feel like this type of artwork must be seen in person rather than through another medium.

With the elements of artwork on display, from color to texture, to space to form, the evaluations are endless. Considering the size of the piece the texture and space take more than the mass of an entire human being, the feel and look of the piece must also be felt through the medium intended. The structure is built to support the life in the oceanic ecosystem, allowing for replication of all species involved, including the plants, for edible use. The waste from the fish is recycled through the plant roots by gravity and a large pond pump, so even the laws of nature play a role in the construction of the artwork; Art and science are fused phenomenally. In return, the bacteria and plants covert the fish waste into purified, cleansed water for the fish to survive.

The work is not just for the scientific aspect of duplicating an actual ecosystem in the middle of the ocean, but it is also intended to please the viewer. The sounds of the running water serve as a peaceful audio track to accompany the pleasure for the eyes of the beautiful fish, and colorful yet intricate light structure that powers and fertilizes the living organisms in the ecosystem. The structure even producers fresh oxygen for the humans walking through the room. The lights use complimentary colors to attract the attention of the human eye, since the piece has no specific area that the eye is drawn too the piece is observed as a whole, creating the entire piece as one causing the viewer to pertain it as a whole instead of viewing the work as two separate images. When observing this piece I couldn’t help but think of the way this piece stretches the boundaries of not just life itself but art as well. I looked at the work and noticed the scientific aspects right away, but after further research and evaluation it’s the artwork that makes the piece a masterful. With so many features and elements at work from an artistic and scientific aspect it’s difficult to criticize the piece. The work leaves old media far behind, making it look something that has been outdated for centuries. From the Manovich reading, I observed just how far this piece falls under the category of “new media.” From the three-dimensional aspect to an entirely new medium of an art form, the piece truly separates itself from a computer and digital media.

From the work I have since begun thinking about the endless possibilities of art. Art has expanded tremendously from its origin and arguably is combined with anything in the world today, if one can fuse art and science together, than what other things can art be fused with? A question I would like to see explored on a scale to which Mr. Rinaldo has done so. After reading all the details of the piece my mind thought of the idea of an entire city duplicated, to meet the needs of an ecosystem.

For my second artist, Stelarc, I was quite shocked at what I had found. He legally changed his name from Stelios Arcadiou. After researching Ken Rinaldo and thinking about the possibilities that art could be stretched too, or what subjects it could be combined with, I found the perfect artist to follow up on. Stelarc is an artist who focuses entirely on the interfaces of the body and what possibilities can be entangled with it. He has done countless abrasions and additions to his skin, replicating existing body parts. He has used art and technology to duplicate human body parts that function and portray them as a visual piece of work. My fascination with his work is the fact that the duplicated body part, whatever it may be, has different use than normally on a body. For example, Stelarc created a prosthetic head that speaks to the person in conversation with it. I instantly thought of how remarkable this is and how I would love to witness the artwork with my own eyes. Stelarc has won countless awards such as a two year New Media Arts Fellowship and Honorary Professor of Art along with others. He too, has worked for the Ohio State University. For the project, I chose to do his piece titled exactly what the piece represents, Ear on Arm:

The idea behind the work seems like blasphemy but to Stelarc it is the complete opposite. I felt the same reaction when viewing Rinaldo's piece as well. In comparison the ideas are quite bizarre but executed to perfection. I feel the artists truly express themselves fully in their type of work, i.e. who they are as artists, what their goals and missions are, etc. When I saw Stelarc's work I immediately emailed him about it and his ideas but he never replied. He states that by surgically attaching something the human body will in tact, cause a rising of the sense in one way or another; A heightening of awareness. Both artists conduct the work to prove a point, with Rinaldo's inducing the idea of the intelligence of the ecosystems in our world. In Stelarc's work the identity of the human body after such a procedure is not entirely for the visual aspect but for the interface of the new part on the body. After the artist created a third arm powered by electromatography, he concluded the idea of another ear of the body is possible as well if powered by electricity.

The main purpose of the ear, like the duplicate head Stelarc constructed is not simply to hear, but to transmit from the internet as well. From an artistic viewpoint the project seems like quite the opposite, simply scientific, but that, to me, is the beauty of art of both the artists; Twisting science into art. Kenneth Rinaldo proved there could be a relationship of science to art previously. Art can be anything and everything, and Stelarc is taking the image of human identity and adding into it in a way much greater and deeper than a tattoo ever could. The aura of the piece is mind-boggling. When I look at surgical procedures and duplication of skin I think of the movie Hostel, and Mike Tyson biting of an opponent’s ear. The auras of both pieces is difficult to understand as it too, must be seen in person. In contrast, the both attack science's relationship to art, but in much different manners. Artistically, however, there is very little to critique here, unlike Rinaldo's piece which has numerous visual and artistic aspects. I feel the idea behind both artist's work is the art itself, stretching the boundaries of the norm; However, the procedure and results seem of a different critiquing category, such as presentation. Granted, the visual aspect is intriguing in both, changing one's own ecology, and an animal's, as we are accustomed to acknowledging them in every day life.

I feel that their artwork is ground breaking for further practice in the subject matter. Cloning on a much smaller scale, but still proving to the world their specific type of work is possible. As I research the pieces I can’t help but to agree about the media representation as I did in Rinaldo’s work. The piece here is not displayed in a museum. It is not painted, drawn, digitized, but sculpted into a medium that has never been done before. I love the idea of taking art when it cannot be followed, and to where it has never been before. Stelarc and Rinaldo have done so beautifully and flawlessly.

The beauty that makes the artworks what they are is their similar features and how they stretch art to places never done so before. They are pieces that cannot be duplicated or repeated, in any way that the original artists have done. Their boundaries push my mind to think of possibilities that I have never thought possible. To replicate an ecosystem so perfectly, and create another human body part in such an artistic way is remarkable. Both artists work in a three-dimensional fashion, with absolute originality. I feel I couldn’t have chosen better artists to critique and compare too. Both are phenomenal artists whose limits are non-existent.

Works Cited:

http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2006/08/interview-of-ke.php -Interview with Kenneth Rinaldo. This is where I got Ken’s background information and his ideas and intentions behind the work.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150549168906253.444406.209156896252&type=3 - Ken’s Facebook page. This also helped me see a more social aspect of his work.

http://stelarc.org/?catID=20242 - This is Stelarc’s website. This is where I got all my information about his works and biography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelarc - This is the website where I was able to obtain a more personal background of Stelarc.