There's been a lot of talk recently about this 'New Aesthetic' we're in. James Bridle has a blog here, a kind of visual essay on what it is. Bruce Sterling writes 5000 words on it here and describes it as "The explosion from the digital to the physical". These recent conversations seem to have been bourne out of a conference at SXSW The New Aesthetic: Seeing Like Digital Devices (which for the life of me I don't know why they haven't got a video up for us ... but there we go)
So we're all familiar with this aesthetic by now, even though the term may be new to us. The computer glitches, hicups, where moving images erupt and tear up our screens. When we try to work with a 175dpi image when what we need is a 300dpi and that image corrupts the more we push it and becomes something new. An environment of imagery where pixels multiply and reality converts to the virtual and corrupts the physical understanding of what we think we once recognised as the image of any given thing.
Thomas Ruff, Jpeg bi01, 2007
Whilst thinking of this idea of The New Aesthetic my mind moves to Thomas Ruff and his Jpeg images that I think I first started to notice around 2009 (see an interview here with him for the Guardian). They have a kind of hyper-modern nostalgia to them already, akin to what sepia was for the images of our childhood, those lovely washed out dreamy aesthetics that nudge our memories. This new aesthetic of blured 8-bit graphics and fuzzy edges does that for our screen based eyes.
So Ruff's new show, Nudes, currently on at the Gagosian is well worth a look I think, on till the 20 April. To see Ruff in conversation about his work and view other photography experts discuss the nature and future of photography visit Artist-Talks here.
International Festival of Post-digital Culture: London 22-25 September 2011
Digital | Analogue that is the question. What do each offer the subject by what? What do new forms of communication say about the institution? Identity and democracy… All questions worth investigating in a post-digital environment.
The Alpha-Ville festival explores the intersection between art, technology and society with a symposium on Friday and events around town all week.
Loving the app Instagram. Keeps your eyes open and perception sharp. I simple walk to the shops can uncover little threats on the street such as this.
Okay, so to be fair, now for some digital innovation. Sidekick Studios are making some incredible social stuff happen within the digital environment. One such project, Connected Robot is super innovative dealing with democratic deficit and political disengagement. The project connects young people with politicians. The kids tell ‘Voicebot’ their concerns and the robot situated within parliament writes it out and delivers the messages. Where with publishing there seems to be this push to make the physical virtual, these guys have recognised the value of making the virtual physical. Clever shit.
Devour is a great site offering expertly selected videos. I couldn’t say it better so here, in their own words: ‘Using a scientifically technologically artificially intelligently awesomely robotically humanly system (we hand-pick every video on the site), Devour sifts out the best videos and posts the well-curated collection every weekday. Fewer cute kittens, fewer skateboarding nutshots, fewer tween heart throbs, and lots more awesome.’
I am a loyal devotee of Vogue. It was the first glossy that I adopted as a teenager and I can’t recall ever missing out on a single issue. I don’t always think it gives great content, but I always insist on being informed. Love magazine, another from Condé Nasts stable, launched their iPad app a month or so again, so it’s timely that Vogue should do so now. So, as a woman in her mid thirties with a strong background in print publishing and an avid consumer of visual culture, the simple question is, how will I choose to continue my subscription to Vogue?
iPad app please. No question. That sexy light little tablet full of all my informational needs, and now with Vogue ‘extras’ can fit very neatly into my Céline bag thank you very much, and no more unnecessary paper in my life. Neat. (I’m a bit of paper Nazi these days. Only use paper if you need to, or if you’re making a meal of it, and if it’s fresh – see blog entry on NY Art Book Fair.) Paper and printing was the essential medium for Vogue and their sponsors to carry their monthly message, but these can now be supported digitally so why not? I don’t think we’ll loose anything to aesthetics here. My guess would be that much of Vogue’s market could afford an iPad right now, those who can’t it’s simply a matter of time, so how long before the print ‘edition’ becomes extinct? But with people wanting information immediately, how long before the concept of the ‘edition’ or the ‘periodical’ is done away with and the mag simply morphs into Vogue.com? This also begs the foggy question of the digital archive, how does / will that work? But of course going digital presents many opportunities for Vogue and the advertisers who I imagine are rubbing their immaculately manicured hands together as I write; imagine being able to flick though the magazine tap on a pair of shoes and ‘adding to basket’? Conspicuous consumption is hence immensely incorrigible and bound to give the economy a boost. Digitally the capitalists couldn’t be better placed; for the consumer blink and you’ve just dropped thousands on a bag after being mesmerised by an ad coming to life inviting you to join their gang. Careful now
"The best source of information about an artist is the artist." – John Baldessari, 1975
My new blog Artist-Talks is the first test in a new project I am looking to realise. This first go, works on a minimum viable product basis, within a strategy of make-test-learn where I see what I can achieve without any cost in digital media. The blog features collected video and audio from some of our most celebrated artists currently showing in our most popular institutions and museums.
Q&A was initially published as a zine in 2006 dedicated to our cultural icons of the past, present and future. Its aim was to investigate the psyche of those individuals who shape our cultural and social landscape. And to entertain, enlighten and inspire the reader.
An experiment in simple magazine making, using the Q&A formula as our primary method of investigation the paper features interviews with Terry Hall, Susan Hiller, Amos Vogel and Peter Saville - you can read all the interviews, now digitized, here. The paper also included work by Jocko Weyland who created a series of short stories for us; Jon Link from Modern Toss who drew portraits of the contributors; and artwork from Seb Patane. It was given away for free through art institutions and quality bookshops such as the ICA and Koenig Books, and on the tube and in the streets of London. I still have a few left so if you want a copy please tweet me on @Charlotte_Troy
Following the publication the style of the sharp and fast interview exploded, it suits our speedy minds and screen sized vision. The coming commonality of the style of the interview put me off to be honest and I never produced another issue. However, it continues to be one of the most valuable and searched for pieces of content I own. More than this everyone enjoyed it, the artists contributing, the readers engaging with the content and me as an editor searching and hunting down those artists and individuals who I feel have something to say in one way or another. With this in mind I think it’s time to dust the cobwebs off the questionnaire and bring it back to life, this time including my friends, joe public and the culturally Pop.
If you like this you might also like The Protagonist and Artist Talks. And for regular updates please 'like" my Facebook page.
I would also like to ask for your help, is there someone popular who defines a moment for you? Who would you like to get personal with? What would you ask them? Would you like to answer one yourself? Answers on a twitter feed please: @Charlotte_Troy_#Q&A.