BIG DATA & ART

One thing is certain: The digital revolution has conquered us! We homo sapiens, whether we like it or not, are being inexorably digitally transformed. There are 1000-fold terms relating to digitalization, conferences such as the Digital-Gipfel, die DLD, die Digital Health Conference are piling up, initiatives such as Digital for All ensure more equality within social classes, digital lifestyle / digital households are hip, crypto currencies enable digital transactions, home office, home schooling have currently gained momentum & Zoom is the big winner in times of Corona, digital avatars scream for reproduction of the ego, digital engineering improves planning quality, digital love revitalizes the porn industry, doctors diagnose digital dementia, digital natives are the new indigenous people, digital heritage postmortem takes care of the Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram accounts of the deceased and the D21 Digital Index tries to understand all of this, namely the digital society as a whole. 

IN SHORT: THE WORLD IS NO LONGER UPSIDE DOWN, BUT DIGITAL!

"The only constant in life is change" - Heraklit's insight, as the progress of technological developments shows, is still valid even after two and a half thousand years.

However, the digital transformation of our lives is much more profound than the Industrial Revolution, in that future scenarios such as the extinction of Homo Sapiens and the emergence of new, immortal creatures with the help of biotechnology and artificial intelligence no longer seem quite as far-fetched as they did a century ago.

And this is where contemporary artists come in. Because they always respond to the world with artistic means, they are best able to absorb, express, or criticise what is happening around us. Artists are the real seismographers in social transformation processes!

10 EXAMPLES OF DIGITAL ART - BRIEFLY INTRODUCED:

Frieder Nake (*1938)

In the early 1960s, when the first scientists began to use computers to create graphics (especially in the field of NASA space surveillance), the first artists also began realizing exhibitions with computer drawings. The pioneer Frieder Nake still programs what the computer is supposed to draw. His revolutionary, mathematically ingenious graphics are extremely popular. "Zuf?lliger Polygonzug, 25.2.65" from 1965 is a coloured plotter drawing on paper in which the pen plotter, via information processing by the computer, consistently followed the algorithm developed by the artist himself.

John Whitney (1917-1995)

The first computer animations were created by experimental artists like John Whitney. In the beginning it was about visualizing music with the help of electronic media. Together with his brother, he has been developing techniques since the 1960s and inventing machines to make this possible. The results are expressive animations in abstract design in the typical aesthetics of the time. "Permutations" from 1968 can be viewed on YouTube today. It is based on the idea of pixelation and shows animated dots that create a dance patterning a room. For John Whitney animation meant the future of art.

Jeffrey Shaw (*1954)

In 1988, the interactive installation "The Legible City" by Jeffrey Shaw (1988-91) caused quite a stir. It consists of a piece of custom software, a computer, a projection screen, and a bicycle on which the actor sits and actively navigates through a virtual city. The city does not consist of houses, but of letters that form words. Sentences are created by moving slowly forward. On the way through the respective city, the rider can follow entire narrative leaps. The version of Manhattan is today considered a key work in the field of interactive installation.??

Joan Heemskerk & Dirk Peasmans

To trace the beginnings of net art, you don't have to go to a museum. All you have to do is switch on your computer and type the following address in your browser: wwwwwwww.jodi.org / Punctuation marks and numbers flash in bright green against a black background. The website does not make sense even after a longer viewing. The resolution is in the source code. The source code is read by the browser and shows numbers, dots and slashes, which together form the ground plan of a hydrogen bomb. This page was created in 1993 by the artist duo Joan Heemskerk & Dirk Peasmans. It showed very early on that the popular medium of the Internet is not only a form of global communication, but can also be understood as an artistic tool. In addition, it points out the dangers that have lurked behind the surface of the Internet since the very beginning.

Cory Arcangel (*1978)

Cory Arcangel is an artist who explores the relationship between technologies and culture in a wide variety of media. His ROM hacking works fall into the realm of hacktivism. Their aesthetics are based on the computer technology of the 70s and 80s. For example, Arcangel uses historical Nintendo Entertainment Systems and manipulates their software. The work "Clouds" (2002) is based on the famous video game Super Mario Bros, presenting a hacked version in which all graphics were deleted and only the iconic clouds were retained, which now float back and forth in their coarse pixelation against a bright blue background.

Olia Lialina (*1971)

Olia Lialina is one of the most famous net art artists of her time. The work My Boyfriend Came Back from the War from1996 consists of a system of multiplying frames, few images, concise sentences and a black and white look. It is about war and the strained communications after the war. Depending on which frame the user chooses, the story - analogous to hypertext - is very different. This groundbreaking net art work has inspired subsequent generations to imitate it in many ways.

Aram Bartholl (*1972)

Post-Internet-Art was a frequently used term some years ago, which - contrary to its name - makes the internet and its culture a subject like no other art movement. Post-Internet-Artistst revolve around the influence of the digital on the technologically driven society by transferring network-dependent worlds into the realm of the offline world. Aram Bartholl is one of them. "Dead Drops" is an offline-based global peer-to-peer file sharing network in public space, which the artist realized for the first time in 2010 in New York. Using putty, USB drives are cemented into walls and made usable for the general public, so that any passer-by with a laptop can withdraw or deposit digital data from the "Dead Drops". Internet access is neither necessary nor desirable for sharing this data. On the contrary, Dead Drops bypasses any online surveillance and allows for undisturbed data transfer. 

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo is a mixed-media artist, especially known for his living video installations of "miniature people", who, enclosed in ordinary objects such as suitcases or mixers, lead their holographic lives. In 2014, in order to raise awareness of privacy issues related to the use of human DNA and the biotechnological possibilities of today, he created the "DNA Vending Machine", a commercially available vending machine from which human genetic material can be bought. Human DNA thus becomes a collector's item and at the same time addresses current legal issues relating to our valuable genetic information.

Niko Abramidis & NE (*1987)

Niko Abramidis & NE has internalized the transformation processes mentioned at the beginning very concretely in his work. With a view to current digital and economic processes, he imitates the visual language of large companies – and creates his own ciphers, logos, icons, shares, quarterly reports, crypto-currencies, right up to completely furnished offices. The “3.000 Years Agenda Desk” is such a fictional office: the desk top consists of a flat screen that keeps a very close eye on the global financial metropolises via a google earth film loop, while an Anubis sculpture and a small circle refer to the economies of the ancient Egyptians. A pair of polished business shoes, a business suit, and a sketchpad recall the performance of the artist, who once served as the boss of the office and kept an eye on the company’s fortunes.

Winslow Porter

Outstanding art stands and falls with the implementation and the concept behind it. One of the most impressive VR works is the award-winning work "Tree" by the artist Winslow Porter & Team. Tree transforms the user into a rainforest tree, whose growth can be experienced live and with all senses, from the seed deep in the earth to the fully-grown tree-top. The work not only captivates with its overwhelming visual and equally technically convincing depiction of the rainforest, but also refers critically to the climate catastrophe caused by us humans, as the artist exposes the rainforest to a blazing fire, which is physically felt within the VR experience (through the heat and smell of an externally blazing match). The work was created in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance and calls for donations to rebalance the earth.