Initial Thoughts /12/10/08/

When I think of our blogs for this class, I think of an online diary. This reminds me of those artists who thought that it was essential that everyday life should be accessible throught the net, even though some things you think you would want to keep private if you write in a journal.
The first phase of our project triggered me to do something that was familiar to me and that integrated many things that I've learned throughout the years and surprisingly it can connect to this class. An example is when we were shown a work by the artist named Sterlac, who controlled the body movements of the volunteers due to the volume of the electric shock ,that runs through the bodies of the volunteers, through controlled mechanisms. This made me think about how the body can also become genders which we can see through cyborgs, which is a combination of man and machine. I want to link the word, computation, to Sterlac because it reinforces that idea of control, efficiency, and results from a series of specific commands or instructions. The design and outcome of Sterlac's project is designed to have an expected outcome. This is what Sterlac's project emphasizes. The person that controls the body movements is in control and choice and there is an expected outcome by Sterlac. Also the project is designed in a specific way to eliminate the volunteers to have their input, since their movements are controlled and are involuntary.
This also connects how the body is constantly changing and is adapting to new situations. It's also in a flux, cyborgs are an example, of being in the middle of genders and are constantly deconstructing the cultural constructs that try to contain the body. This idea is contrasting computation in the sense that the body isn't being organized and fitted nicely into one, specific gender. (These are some of the other themes that I have learned and remembered from other classes) Also the viewer and/or user is changing as the context of the work alters. An example is in a chatroom or facebook, we can create multiple identities, fake identities, avatars, or a community online such as joining or creating groups or networks. The user and/or viewer is changing if they're in a chatroom or being in a virtual game.
I hope that my project triggers and portrays some spontaneity and interaction since the links would not be visible and the viewer can create their own context through highlighted words and find surprises on their own. I want to mix organization and clutter to have a different aesthetic value. I hope that the quotes, as I found and thought, emphasize the connections and tensions of interactivity, viewpoints, where and how is art is placed within technology from different contexts, and where and how the artist and viewer or subject(s) are placed within technology and art from different contexts.