BLOG PROMPT THREE: Interactivity – Audience Participation
241543903 (2009) by David Horvitz and Glyphiti (2001) by Andy Deck
PLEASE ANSWER BY POSTING COMMENTS.
Both of these works rely on the participation of strangers. Please take some time to "draw" in Glyphiti and/or follow artist David Horvitz's instructions ...
Then watch the results. Google "241543903" to look at images from around the world, and watch one of the time-lapse videos of people making Glyphiti images. Discuss your experience.
241543903 by David Horvitz: no url, just google 24154903
Glyphiti by Andy Deck: http://artcontext.org/glyphiti/
In 2009, New York based conceptual artist David Horvitz posted daily 'instructions' to his tumblr account. Instructions as artwork have a history that can be traced back at least to Fluxxus artists of the 60's and 70's. Many conceptual artists involve the viewer in making art, embracing the role of chance in the ultimate outcome of the work.
Among other issues, New York media artist Andy Deck is concerned with interactivity and participation in opposition to passive consumption.
I genuinely love this concept of community artwork. Even though it is technically public vandalism, I absolutely love the idea of graffiti. People working together to display/showcase their personality to make an overall bigger picture capturing the culture of our time is fantastic. Therefore, I absolutely love Glyphiti by Andy Deck, and his idea of purposeful internet graffiti. Watching through several of of the time-lapse videos, I really got a feel for his artwork. It's as if he's portraying every single alteration made as its very own piece of artwork.
ReplyDeleteI also found David Horvitz' artwork to be very engaging and quite hilarious. What better artwork is there than a combination of one from people around the world. Plus, who wouldn't want to stick their head in a freezer for art? I think it brings together a wonderful community and a collage of humorous images.
I love how both of these art "installments" encourage others to utilize the internet in a way that seems silly or abnormal. When most people think about the internet I think we imagine a place, world or universe of infinite possibilities and both of these works envision this idea. I did not participate in the 241543903 work but upon reading about it and searching it I was instantly reminded of silly tumblr, facebook, and snapchat threads that included participation from other users in one way or another. While it seems like a silly trend that people are following like *challenges* we see online all the time, I think this work specifically highlights the tools of the internet such as tags and how easy it is to use them and connect with others in the same tag. I always assumed tags were specific to each website like tumblr, twitter or instagram but the 241543903 project emphasized that tags, no matter which platform they start on, are available anywhere else on the web where that tag can be found.
ReplyDeleteI did participate in the glyphiti work and got suck into having fun playing around trying to figure out the best techniques to make a picture in my desired style. I played around on the website for a bit but it was definitely a lot more confusing and harder to follow than 241543903. While I do find it is easier to be more creative while interacting with glyphiti I think both works do an interesting job at providing a creative outlet that can be interpreted differently by each participator however they both provide slight restrictions so that every entry is similar to others in one way or another.
Overall both are very interesting and fun ways for interconnectivity and creativity on the internet (:
I enjoyed the individualism of the project 241543903. Each submission spawned from the same prompt but each picture was mostly different in appearance/the way they chose to take the picture. This project also reminds me of other projects we've discussed in class, like "I know where your cat lives" which emphasizes the power of the web and how anything you upload to the web is public and up for grabs, especially if you use a trackable tag.
ReplyDeleteIt was also interesting to see how much art has come from this one project. When googling the number, I not only saw pictures of people with their heads in freezers, but also drawings of this as well.
It's also worth noting how many people decided to be a part of something as random as taking a picture of themselves with their head in the freezer. What a strange thing to want to participate in. I think it shows how people enjoy being a part of something bigger, and that seems to be what this project is all about.
I also enjoyed Glyphiti. I liked how each "drawing" is it's own work, but by posting each work, you are allowing the possibility for other people to interact with and change your work. Each drawing is unique, but anyone can alter it if they choose. It speaks a lot on community in the way that each piece is posted so that everyone can view it, but it also speaks on trust within that community and freedom as well. When posting your piece, you either have to trust that no one will really mess up your creation, or that they'll make it cooler somehow, but you also have to be comfortable with the possibility that other people might use their freedom to alter your piece in a way that makes the piece totally different from what your original piece was. It's interesting to see how other people interact with other people's art. One thing I wish Glyphiti provided was a way to see how the original piece looked before any alterations from other folks.
Project 241543903 surprised me, but I liked the concept. Applying this concept for humor is a good way to start a social trend that involves most people on the internet. I didn't understand how this tag worked until now, I've seen the picture online before. This art style is interesting because its a collaborative piece involving whoever wants to join. I like that the images are all related and of the same subject matter.
ReplyDeleteFor the Glyphiti project, I instantly became intrigued. Growing up I never got involved in finding cool websites, so seeing how far you can go to alter and create such an interactive piece is impressive to me. I started clicking on everything, and the number of pages that you can go through to get to games and other concepts is pretty complex. . I also like that you can really interact by drawing yourself. Another interesting aspect is that with this piece, different artists were involved to create different parts that give different messages involving different interactive games.
I think that both of these projects allow plenty of room for viewer participation, It's easy to accidentally click on something, and then to land on a new page automatically peaks interest. This concept is smart, especially for discussing certain topics. I wish that I saw things like this more.
I thought 241543903 was humorous, but honestly a little disturbing. When I googled it and saw all the images all I could think about was how strangers are putting pictures of themselves on the internet just because someone told them to. His instructions were overall harmless, but could you imagine if they weren't? Besides this thought, I thought it was neat how the promts yielded so many variations of the same thing. I think the piece allows people to participate and add their own interpretation to a simple set of instructions.
ReplyDeleteI thought Glyphiti was a cool concept. There are no instructions, it was just a big white space on one side and a bunch of drawings on the other. These two elements I feel prompt people to click on the white and see what happens even if they aren't instructed to. Similarly to 241543903, Glyphiti gives minimal instruction but yields hundreds of interpretations to the instructions. For example, I made a pumpkin, but the person before me made an alligator. I think both pieces seek to showcase human interpretation and creativity.
241543903 was an interesting search. It was nothing but unsettling to me because it reminded me of a phenomenon on the Internet called "The Blue Whale Challenge" that people claimed existed in countries such as Russia. It began with basic instructions for money that seemed harmless at first but lead to terrible things happening and eventually at least one person was instructed to commit suicide. Obviously the head in the freezer instruction was not nearly this malicious, but it's still terrifying to me that so many people will blindly follow instructions just because it is a popular trend.
ReplyDeleteGlyphiti on the other hand was a cooler way to show how participation could make or break a piece of art. One of the things that I thought was fun about this was that it acted like a sort of time capsule. If you look at timelapses from different years, you would see things appear that were relevant then but not now. The cool thing about audience participation is you never know what will happen. There's an aspect of unpredictability that makes it fun to look at.
I found 241543903 to be really interesting overall. It illustrates the power of the web and its community. It turns out that we can somewhat control what is seen when a specific term is searched just by following a simple set of instructions like David Horvitz and many others did. The piece itself is odd, but I think it was all in good fun. I've seen something similar to this but with a Reddit post. It turns out if a post gets enough upvotes, the image associated with it will show up in Google images when terms relevant to the post are searched.
ReplyDeleteI thought Glyphiti was really cool too. In my opinion, Glyphiti is more creative and interactive than 241543903. You get to make your own art in both of these, but only in Glyphiti can you add or subtract from others' art. This basically allows for an endless amount of art to be developed, as long as the website stays up. I drew a snowman and no one has messed with it yet but I'm interested to see if someone adds to it.
Works that invite audience participation have been an interest of mine for the past couple of years now, especially on the internet. I think that the modern mysticism that surrounds art and art making acts as an alienating presence and really drives a wedge between artist and viewer, when in fact many pieces of art are centered around trying to be connected to its audience. By creating community projects such as these, this gap is immediately closed, as we the audience become involved. The downside of this method is the loss of control however, and for many artists, that is one of the hardest elements of their pieces to relinquish on purpose.
ReplyDeleteTake the glyphiti for example. When I first went and looked into the glyphiti it was a vast mix of pieces that ranged from incoherent scribbles to profanities, to genuine heartfelt messages. The artist had to accept the ridiculous nature of the population, as well as their more thought-provoking nature. Glyphiti and 24154903 show the interesting results of a true community presence. Each individual shines even when they are part of the whole. Each picture has some aspect of its creator in it. Projects like these help to remind me the beauty that any given person on the street is capable of creating, as well as the stunning works we can build together as a whole.
24154903 was one of those projects that caught on pretty crazily, and got a lot of people participating. I'm not really sure what about this project caused it to catch on like it did, maybe it's cause it was just a weird concept, maybe it was completely random. I feel like there are many attempts at projects similar to these that don't catch on. I'm really interested in what caused this to catch on. My guess is that it is a mix of a variety of different factors that can't all be known.
ReplyDeleteGylphiti makes a little more sense that it caught on in my opinion. It just seems a lot more fun to me to draw on gylphiti than to take a picture of my head in a freezer. There's just something fun about doodling whatever to want, without any instruction. Although you can also take it further and create an intricate piece of art. What both these projects have in common is that people like to participate in something bigger than them. If 24154903 was just directed at one person, they'd probably be like that's weird why would I do that. Or if Gylphiti was just available for one person to use, it would probably die down pretty quickly.
I feel like the most interesting aspect of these pieces isn't necessarily the community collaboration of them, though that is definitely a very unique and powerful method of art, but in the way that it's meant to be viewed. With 241543903, giving the viewer just a number to plug into google rather than some sort of url or something; it's chaotic, unorganized, but incredibly simple, and it shows us a different way to seek out connection than we would normally consider. 241543903 seems like something that caught on as a trend, or a challenge, which I think really helped to create a huge database for the work. I think that Glyphiti is more difficult to follow, understand, or analyze, but it's also easier i think to participate in. there aren't as many steps in your contribution. you just open the page and have a great time doodling and with one refresh, your tiny masterpiece has joined the party. I think they're bother very unique and fascinating ways to construct and display art, but I also think that is what aids in their success the most.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of work is always my favorite. I love getting to add something of my own to a piece in a way that will probably be saved by the artist and viewed by other audience members. It's playful and inviting, which I think is an important aspect of art - art shouldn't feel unattainable or exclusive to a certain "class of people." This kind of interactivity reminds me of when people would write instructions like "go to page 34" in a textbook and basically lead someone on a quest flipping through pages in a book to reveal some sort of special secret. I think the internet has added an extra dimension to this same kind of playfulness that broadens the horizons to people anywhere in the world with access to the internet, rather than a small group of people who happens o be in a certain place at a certain time. What is also interesting is that there are so many sites on the internet, and many of them are completely unknown - I think of the internet as a place to extend your work and help organize different aspects of your life, but it is so refreshing to find random websites that encourage play and thinking outside the box.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw this prompt, I was curious about what I was going to see. Project 24154903 in my opinion is very unique and creative concept. It shows the power of the web and what kind of communities you can create is simple ways. It's also a good example of how responsive the web is towards humorous things. It's a simple and unorganized project, but still made people be apart of something.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Glyphiti was overwhelming. At first glance I had no idea what I was looking at beside multiple unique square. I clicked on a few of them and wasn't sure what I was suppose to do. After a few minutes I discovered you can altar each of the boxes. The idea was very interactive and gave a sense of creative freedom. I enjoyed Glyphti more than 241543903 because of how interactive it was. This is something I could spend hours doing when there's nothing to do on a rainy day.
The Glyphiti project is so cool! I love how you can edit the project in your own internet browser, and have your input become part of the project itself. I find it interesting how the internet plays into our culture today... Memes and viral videos are such a normal part of our lives, but they tend to die off after awhile. Just looking at the Glyphiti project today, I can see several memes referenced in people's glyphs. It's neat that this project lets people like us around the world immortalize these fleeting ideas like memes in the moment while they're relevant, and see how they change over time as we change them.
ReplyDelete241543903 is a neat concept, and it's showing a creative way to utilize the internet that we wouldn't typically think about. At first glance, it seems so random. After looking at it for awhile, it still seems a bit random. But that's part of the beauty of collaborative art projects like this. Honestly, this is such a neat idea, I almost want to create my own version of this now.
I had no idea about this sort of fad (and I guess in hindsight, why would I know about this?), but I am very shocked by the large amount of humans who have taken a photo with their head in a freezer. This definitely proves that the internet is truly for EVERYTHING. I don't know that I would've thought of this as art, but it's photography, so I suppose it is. Horvitz' concept is very unique, and it's something almost everyone can do. After all, most of us do have heads and freezers. I did not personally stick my head in the freezer as I have not been near one recently, but I am definitely tempted to do so now. We always hear that ANYTHING can exist on the internet, and that has been proven once again., possibly more than ever with this trend
ReplyDeleteAt first I had no clue what to expect when I saw the name Project 24154903. I thought what kind of random thing has the internet produced this time and when I finally went to google what it was I was happy to see that it was just as random as I have come to expect from the internet. In regards to this project it amazes me that so many people were willing to go along with sticking their heads into a freezer. However this being the internet that fact should not really surprise me given the massive amount of random things that can be found on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThe Glyphiti project is also a very interesting project due to the fact that you can actually change and effect the site itself. This is a site where it would be interesting to periodically drop in and take a look at how much has changed from the last time . Overall this project is amazing and you will never know what to expect no matter when you get on to take a look at the site.