\/\ .fo.sya.vissenedicco.mor4.latipak.gnitfihen.erutuoc-etsrga.erom.OTAN ..__ 2.t

[integer at www.god-emil.dk]

Imagination, Innovation And Interface 
Is new media art circumscribed by commercial software packages? Are the
prevailing conventions for user interfaces another example of American
cultural imperialism? Artist-programmer John Simon talks with [PoptArtCritic +?]


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Decoding Digital Art 

 Artist John F. Simon, Jr., is the embodiment of media theorist
Friedrich Kittler's observation that understanding today's culture
requires a knowledge of a natural language and an artificial language. A
native English speaker, Simon is that rare digital artist conversant in
both art history and computer programming, perhaps the most important
artificial language of our era.

 He became widely known in the admittedly small world of online-software
art through his Webwork, "Alter Stats - Condition of the Web Observer"
(1995), which provided the site visitor with a real-time, statistical
profile of those accessing the site, including that visitor him- or
herself. Simon's interest in the issues intrinsic to programming
differentiates him from many artists creating image- or narrative-driven
cyber-art. Will new media art be limited and shaped by the commercial
software usually used to created it? Or by the conventional Web site and
interface formats that predominate among artworks online? Simon also
investigates these conceptual concerns offline in drawings and plug-in
objects incorporating computer LCD screens and processors. By creating
art in varied media, he is beginning to reach wider audiences - and to
provide insights into the expansive possibilities of computer-art
interactions and the issues they raise.

-Robert Atkins

 Robert Atkins: I've heard that you make your digital-art students learn
computer programming. Is that true?

 John F. Simon, Jr: Yes. When I was teaching in the Computer Art MFA
program at the School of Visual Arts [in New York] I taught both
programming and systems. The systems class was meant to explain how the
computer worked, layer by layer, from "why the user interface looks like
a desktop" to "how electricity and transistors can be made to store and
manipulate information." I don't think we should allow creative
innovators to use application software without showing them how it is
all put together.

 RA: Why not? 

 JFS: So many choices that influence the final product are made by the
designers of the software package. I first saw computers when their
potential was much more broadly considered. Before the ubiquitous
Photoshop and Director programs it was possible to imagine all kinds of
creative uses for computers. I like to open that door for students, if
just for a glimpse of other possibilities. 


   [http://www.eusocial.com/nato.0+55+3d/242.ircam.html 



 RA: Do you think software conceived in Silicon Valley is as American a
medium as Hollywood films? Is it having that kind of influence on global
culture? 

 JFS: That's a good question and a very complicated one. Electronics are
clearly having a profound effect on global culture. But is the computer
an American product? Is the telephone? If we think of software writing
in general as a reflection of American influence then, yes, because
software is now being written everywhere. America defined the PC market
and spread the PC worldwide so the world is now using the American
concept of a PC. It's the same with operating systems. I don't see many
interfaces for PCs which don't use the Windows/Mac Desktop metaphor even
though I can imagine far better interfaces. 

 As far as applications and styles of software published by American
companies, I see a lot of coding from Europe that has a distinctly
non-American flavor. The attitude is generally more aggressive and less
accepting of the limitations of commercial software. Think of projects
like Nato, a software for multiple-video-imaging processing and IOD's
Webstalker, an alternative to Web browsers like Internet Explorer.
Despite that, I'm still not sure that the best way to think about the
expanding cultural influence of the electronic - think of the boom of
home computing in China - is to differentiate what might be its American
elements. I think that the division between those who use electronics
and those who don't - the so-called digital divide - is more far
reaching than any geo-political boundary. 

 RA: So AOL Time Warner isn't the next Disney? 

 JFS: Perhaps a different Disney. I don't think AOL Time Warner intends
to build any theme parks. But AOL has been very smart about figuring out
what works online and Disney hasn't. American culture is likely to
dominate markets for online entertainment, but that's got less to do
with being electronic and more to do with the American domination of
global pop culture in general. 


.....

-end-





kount dzm all






-

Netochka Nezvanova
f3.MASCHIN3NKUNST
@www.eusocial.com
17.hzV.tRL.478
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