Virtual Installation
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As part of my current research I have begun to recognise that this new digital media has a language, of the machine, or of the computer, or of the interface, or of the base of digital information. This language affects us in a way we have not yet fully grasped. In its simplest sense we can all recognise that the word processor has at least doubled our use the written word. Michael Heim describes this very well in "The Metaphysics of Virtual Realty" (1993). We face a tidal wave of written words. The wave of future shock swells on the horizon. First came speed reading, a twentieth century version of literacy. Next photocopy duplication, the word processor, and the fax machine. Now we drive a technology that drives our verbal life faster and faster. The word processor is computerising our language. Heim goes on to discuss that this is a fundamental change in the way we use language and therefore ultimately how we think and communicate with others. It seems equally logical to me that with the way we freely manipulate and combine images (with or without text) using a computer and the recent development of the internet into a graphically rich medium, that the same must be true for visual language. I have felt a certain responsibility as an artist who deals with visual language to participate in exploring, understanding and playing a part in directing such fundamental change. The fact that work can exist in virtual space is exciting, yet there are issues raised by the very existence/non existence of these works. To develop dialogues that explore the changing nature of the art work as it shifts away from material presence is an interesting opportunity Galleries and others are continually seeking to generate Virtual Spaces to compliment the traditional gallery based activities. More often than not this is intended to be some form of reference library through which remote visitors can gain access to collections and information about current and future events. As this process progresses, questions must arise such as to how the art works are re configured by this process? Does authorship for the newly configured work rest with the gallery/curator/new media technician or remain with the original artist?
De Oliviera et all describes installation art in "Installation Art" (1990) as:
Art - 'which rejects concentration on one object in favour of
consideration of the relationships between a number of elements or of the
interaction between things and their objects' If De Oliviera's description of Installation Art holds up, this may be extended to the Virtual landscape. We could then also include interaction between the participants experiencing the Virtual Installation and the collaborative interaction with the installation itself. We now have a model for meaningful art content on the internet as a virtual presence. A model which is active in terms of the viewer. The term viewer becomes hopelessly inappropriate.
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| Confinement | ||
| Collaboration | 6x6 | Self |
| Virtual Installation | 1296 Images | |
| SkinSky | ||
| taylor.nuttall@mcr1.poptel.org.uk | ||
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