Wierd Web - Explain this Photo

Ok so maybe this site has less to do with art and technology than anything I've posted on before but I couldn't resist. I stumbled across this site this morning and just started laughing to myself.

The webs weirdest photos now have a home where you can comment on and provide captions for them: explainthisimage.com . Images range from mildly touching (an Asian child in a grocery bag with the caption "Angelina I'm back from the mall") to the completely absurd and mildly perverted where you just have to ask yourself really?

I guess without the web and the proliferation of image sharing sites like this wouldn't exist. Thanks Al Gore ;).

Instant Fame & Gratification

As the accelerated pace of the digital age reaches full velocity, Rankin, a photographer, publisher and most recently a director is pairing up with the British magazine Dazed for an ever-changing exhibit, Rankin Live. Selected participants - 1,000 members of the general public get a chance to have their portraits shot, framed and exhibited alongside British icons of the 21st century in record time - 15 minutes after the shutter closes to be exact. Amazing, groundbreaking, instant gratification!

The exhibit is slated to take place in August.

For more information and a preview of the project visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/12/rankin-live-preview-photographs?picture=343063473

Technology at the Oscars

Last nights Oscars definitely felt like a reflection of the times. The glitz and glamour seemed to be downsized but what remained spectacular are the advanced technology and engineering that that many of these films used.

What disappointed me was the fact that this art form was breezed over at the ceremony and awards for Scientific and Technical Achievements were honored at a dinner almost a week earlier.

The team of Christophe Hery, Ken McGaugh and Joe Letteri were honored for their groundbreaking implemention of skin rendering techniques using something called a subsurface scattering. These techniques are used to create realistic-looking skin on digitally created characters. It makes me wonder if this was a technique used The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to make a hansom Brad Pitt look like a wretched tree gnome and a walnut looking baby.

It seems as though advancements like this has come to a point where it blurs the boundaries of reality. Technical achievements made by such people as this trios make it virtually impossible to distinguish between a digitally synthesized character and the actual actor.

Personally I wonder what these types of advancements mean for film making as an art form.

Obama Me Shepard Fairey

A few months ago Paste Magazine launched a site Obamacon.me. Anyone who visits the site is able to upload a photo of themselves and create their own Shepard Fairey -inspired campaign poster and words of inspiration. You've probably seen these icons everywhere and they may annoy you as much as they annoy me. It just comes to show that how far photo altered technology has come that now anyone can reproduce and mimic to the point that we can bastardize a national icon to represent ourselves.

Arts Education

I got to thinking today - as we venture more and more into the "Digital Age" where technology and knowing how to use continues to becomes paramount, how is arts education effected?

Does teaching children how to use educational software's such as Kid Pix or Photoshop at a young age rather than how to use traditional materials such as clay and paint benefit or harm them? Do they get a broader world view by being exposed to virtual museums and exhibits online or are we creating unrealistic expectations as to what art looks like and what mastery really is.

The use of technology as a creative tool is occurring more and more in art classrooms across the country. Lessons in computer graphics, animation and multi-media design are increasingly being taught to younger age students. At a recent conference of Arts Educators of New Jersey a session on computer graphics curriculum for K-8 was one of the best attended.

Organizations such as The Visual Thinking Strategies and Arts Education 2.0 promote a curriculum and teaching method that ask educators to facilitate learner-centered discussions of visual art while using art to develop critical thinking, communication and visual literacy skills.

Needless to say as we are exposing younger and younger kids to art through technology their social dynamic and technological consciousness are changing as are the way they communicate, understand and interact with the world around them.

Welcome

Hi -
Welcome to my TART blog where art and technology meet. Please feel free to send your feed if you too blog about tech and art.

Happy reading.

Best,
Tanya