Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 3: Interactivity
ARTIST RESEARCH

Kristin Seymour
Artist Research: Golan Levin

            Golan Levin is an interactive artist and performance artist who incorporates up to date technology such as computers, robots and movement trackers to create his work. Levin uses advanced technological interfaces and computer programming to make “creative actors” out of his audience. The main goal of his work is to make people aware of their bodies and the surrounding world. He raises awareness of our own bodies and the power they hold. Levin’s goal is to empower people through interactivity.
            We all live day to day within our bodies and move around our environments but we often ignore the little things that make us who we are and how we interact. Golan Levin makes viewers aware of their bodies in a new and interesting way. He often creates two-dimensional visual language interpretations of sounds we make or our movements. He transforms a simple eye blink, or arm movement or even vocalizations into visual representation and translation. These translations in turn make the “creative” actor more aware of their body and surroundings. All of his work requires “viewer” input. His works do not function without interactivity and curiosity. His works also always incorporate computers. Many people will criticize the use of computers as an art form but Golan Levin finds a way to make the computer personal through the creation of software (TED, 2004). In a few early works, he hired actors and the audience played a passive role, but more recently his works involve the audience and make them take on the role of actor. Levin has also taken previous works where viewers were passive and reformatted the work to encourage viewer interaction and immersion.
            Levin believes that his work empowers people due to its interactive element. He believes that we should use our whole body to explore aesthetic experiences (TED 2009).  In 2007 Levin along with other collaborators created the program and interface in which people used their arms, head torso and other body parts to form shapes in the air. “The Interstitial Fragment Processor is an interactive system which gives objecthood to the otherwise imaginary spaces that are continually formed around and between our bodies (Flong). This installation uses projectors and machines that also sense the “actors” bodies. The installation at first will recognize the negative spaces that people create with their bodies and create a form in that shape; the negative space is materialized (TED, 2009). That form will then drops and collects at the bottom of the projection as if it were a rock falling from your bodies shadow (Figure 1). Then “As these empty holes become elastic, positive masses, they release inner sounds and plummet toward the floor, where their accumulations reveal histories of performance and play (Flong)”. This specific piece is an interactive artwork because in the end it would not work or exist without human bodies. When watching videos of the piece in action, the true nature of interactivity can be seen as people approach it cautiously and once the first negative spaces materialize into forms, the “actors” begin taking on their role and testing the capabilities of the computer programmed projection.

Figure 1. Interstitial Fragment Processor, 2007   http://vimeo.com/86071976
            Levine also works with robotics to create interactive artworks. In Double Taker (snout), 2008, (Figure 2) Levine and collaborators created a robotic creature with one eye that stood on top of a building. This robot was connected to a camera that would track human movement and make the robotic arm follow the most movement. The trick to the robot was that it always acted surprised to see you. Continually it would jump back or perk up similar to that of an animal or human’s body movements when they are surprised to see something (TED 2009). This robot’s gaze continually followed people around the entrance to a building and once it was notices, the people would react to the robot, then the robot would react to the human’s reaction and infinitely this would go on until the person walked out of the camera’s range or into the building. “Double-Taker (Snout) orients a supersized googly-eye towards passers-by, tracking their bodies and suggesting an intelligent awareness of their activities” (Flong). The computer program alone sensing the most human movement and then directing return movement of the robot makes this an interactive piece. Although the robot was not a full body form but rather a tube with one eye resembling an elephant’s trunk with an eye, the robot took on a personal form (Flong).

Figure 2. Double-Taker (Snout), 2008, http://vimeo.com/3793505

            The final piece I wish to talk about is Golan Levin’s QR_Hobo_Codes for Digital Nomads, 2011 (Figure 3). Although this piece up front may appear less interactive, and technology driven then the rest of his work, Levin is choosing to reference art history and create a new day form of Hobo Codes. Hobos were people who hopped trains to travel from city to city looking for work and shelter. This life style put them in the face of danger. They created a symbol system, a secret visual language that they left all over the country. These picture symbols were hand drawn and warned against danger or alerted the hobos to a safe place to stay or a warm meal (CBS New York). Levin’s new day form of Hobo codes is created with QR codes (CBS New York). He created a software program that creates QR code stencils and with other artists and collaborators these QR codes were painted all over cities. Once the QR code was scanned a note popped up reading things such as: bad coffee, be alert, bike thieves, camp here and free wifi (Flong). This project was a part of “spontaneous interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good”. This was created for F.A.T Lab and was intended to be fully interactive. Some may ask how a current day homeless person would benefit from a digital QR code. Well, if there is anything digital that a hobo or homeless person would have t is a cell phone so that they can be found and can contact people (Flong).

Figure 3. QR_Hobo_Codes, 2011, http://flong.com/storage/images/projects/qr-stenciler-1000px.gif

            Many people question if computer based works are art, but in this day and age most installations rely on some computer-based element. Golan Levin writes computer programs and uses advanced technology to create works that involve the viewers and turns them into actors. Through the use of their bodies, movement, voice or cell phones, Levin makes viewers do more than just stand back and stare at his work. dream

Works Cited

"Art That Looks Back at You." Golan Levin:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/golan_levin_ted2009#t-758043>.

"Golan Levin and Collaborators." Flong. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <http://www.flong.com/>.

"New QR Codes Emulate ‘Hobo Symbols’ Of The Past - CBS New York." CBS New York. N.p., 21 July 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/07/21/new-qr-codes-emulate-hobo-symbols-of-the-past/>.

"Software (as) Art." Golan Levin:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/golan_levin_on_software_as_art>.

Kristin Seymour
Artist Research: Interactivity

            Mowry Baden is an installation artist who relies on participant’s movement to activate his works. All his works involve sculptural elements and are often very large. He does not create work for passive viewers, but rather for active participants. The Brooklyn Rail called him the term: “perceptual Scientist” because his work crosses the line between art and science. His works can be found in Science museums as well as art galleries (Hullot-Kentor). Baden’s works are meant to make the participants aware of not only their surroundings but also their inner experiences.
            Conceptually, Baden is concerned with movement, participation, awareness and experience. His installations strive to immerse the viewer and to for that moment in time feel like a different place. Mercer Union described Baden’s works to be “envelope spaces”. The installations within galleries would act at little envelopes, self contained structures that participants would move in and out of. His envelope spaces allowed for participants to focus on their perception and sensory inputs in those moments. Then upon exiting back into the white walled gallery, they would have a gap before the next sensory overloaded Baden envelope (Mercer). These breaks between installations/sculptures were referred to as “gaps between visual and tactile perception” (Mercer). Furthermore, Baden’s sculptures rely heavily on movement. “All of Baden’s sculptures share a primary concern for the viewers as moving participants” (Mercer). The way a piece was oriented within a room or space as well as the possibility of explicit instructions helped to transform the art gallery viewers, into the moving participants that Baden needed to complete his work. In the Catalogue description of the show by Mercer Union titles: “Task-Oriented Sculptures”, 1987, Baden was said to describe his work as requiring a three step process. First, a visual assessment and prediction must occur. Next, a rejection or confirmation of that visual prediction based off of the physical involvement. Lastly, the realization and assessment of internal experience based off of the visual and tactile senses combine (Mercer). For Baden, the work although usually aesthetically pleasing will not be an accomplishment until mobile involvement occurs. “Although Baden’s pieces are fin to look at, that’s not really the point. They require physical movement” (Wilson). Interactive art as a form requires more of the viewer than that of a two-dimensional painting. Baden is asking his viewers to be accomplices in creating the work. The work is not whole, until an outsider moves into the envelope and is removed from the outside world. In an article written by Pomona College Museum of the Arts it was states that, “Baden explores his own body and internal perception of movement, giving priority to physical experience over vision” (McGrew). Baden creates sculptures that go beyond kinesthetic sculptures and are in the realm of full body immersive installations that challenge viewer’s senses and understandings of their own bodies.
            From afar Baden’s works do not look complete, you are not enticed to walk around them; you are encouraged to move through them. Their presentations invite in viewers. He often uses industrial materials that are unique and interesting. The works are placed in public places or within rooms in a way that forces interaction in order to move forward on your path. There are no, do not touch signs or unconscious signals telling you to not approach the sculptures. In Baden’s most recent work Dromedary Mezzanine, 2014, he places small toy tents on a wall higher than anyone’s head. Within the same room was an industrial mobile that invited you to climb aboard (McGrew). Since the mobile is tall and allows perfect access to the open tents, participants are enticed to find out how to move the machine Figure 1. As a crank is turned from side to side the back wheels slowly walk forward toward the wall. Within the tents are tools, objects that appear familiar in a sense, but most people would not know their function. Baden described this piece as an analysis of two kinds of awareness: sense of pondering/sorting and the exertion of ones body. In order to see what objects lie within the tent, the mobile must be used. In order to use the mobile, the participants must explore the working parts of the machine in order to make it move in the direction they wish. Within direct interaction with the piece, the piece would not be whole. Baden stated: “physical interaction generates a new level of awareness different from the visual experience” (McGrew).  This piece fills the qualifications for an interactive artwork.

Figure 1. Dromedary Mezzanine, 2014     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mbeEamgp_I

            Some of Baden’s works are one person at a time works. They only engage with one participant at a time and therefore are less like an installation and more like a sculpture. Fickle Periptery, 1998, was a rocking chair with a reflective lap table, with a swinging ceiling containing a square hole Figure 2. The participants were prompted to “commit to the eventual convergence of the wayward images” (Hullot-Kentor). This piece required direct interaction of the participant. Only one person could sit in the chair at a time so it was a personal experience. The type of art that alienates you from others and requires personal reflection holds different interactive value than that of multi-person artworks. Baden clearly wanted to tap into the inner senses of each person as well as encourage the physical interaction with the sculpture on a more private level.

Figure 2. Fickle Periptery’s, 1998

Some of Baden’s works also call on sub-conscious needs and wants of the human race. As humans we do not want to irritate anything, we want a calm atmosphere. Also, we do not want to enter a space that is uninviting or odd. Humans also tend to personify anything that mimics human characteristics. In Baden’s Learning to Walk, 1976 the participants were to walk down a narrow wooden pathway. On either side of this pathway were tall wooden dowels. The dowels were taller than the people (Wilson). Already being made to walk down a tight, unfamiliar space is against human nature. On top of that, the dowels would rattle together and create loud noises if you were to sway or stumble. So in the end the innate goal is to not irritate the poles. People will personify the dowels as having reactions and will not want to disrupt them.
            Mowry Baden is absolutely an interactive artist. He is tuning into human nature and human sensory perceptions. He wants viewers to become participants in his sculptures and to make them come alive.

Works Cited
Hullot-kentor, Robert. "Mowry Baden's "Leisure Monuments"" - The Brooklyn Rail. The Brooklyn Rail, 7 June 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/06/art/mowry-badens-l>.
McGrew, Rebecca. "Pomona College Museum of Art." Mowry Baden: Dromedary Mezzanine -. Pomona College Museum of Arts, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://pomona.edu/museum/exhibitions/2014/mowry-baden/index.aspx>.
"MERCER." Mercer Union. N.p., Oct. 1987. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/mowry-baden/>.
Wilson, William. "'Mowry Baden' Sculptures Challenge Our Perceptions." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 1998. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/feb/25/entertainment/ca-22636>.
"Works Gallery (newest at the Top)." Home. Mowry Baden, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://www.mowrybaden.com/index.php>.