Ahhhhhhhh someone who has totally avoided text and sound to make a purely visual artefact.
I will be interested to see if this will elicit as many comments as the artefacts that are more…Informative? Direct? Less abstract?
It’s hard to think of the right word.
With this we get to project our own interpretations and meanings. I can see a heartbeat for humans, a chaotic circle for networks, vague letters in the background perhaps suggesting the belief that all objects are laced with information if only we can figure out a way to get it out.
Yes, I tried to avoid text and sound! I wanted to create an artefact that has many interpretations. Looking through our blogs, there are so many perspectives and I wanted to leave some ambiguity. I tried various positions but I chose the fetal position with the knees close to chest; this signifies ‘vulnerability’ as it protects itself from trauma. The colour scheme was to reflect the dark characters portrayed within cyber culture and I used light blue energy to create a balance. Throughout this block I felt that balance was an important aspect.
I love it Linzi, it’s very artistic and harmonious. The woman seems to be protected as she fits snuggly inside the circle of cables. Of course she could equally be trapped. The lifeline is ambiguous as it brings to mind the idea of vitalness (survival of the human race?) as well as that of danger or threat.
It was fun to do!! The image was taken in our dance studio using the cables from the theatre. I explored movement and costume but in the end I had to get fully naked for the artefact to work. I then used a few images and worked with apps such as photo blend and prizma.
Linzi
Amazing artefact, Linzi! Beautiful!
I love the balance, colour and textures… It’s tranquil yet dark – makes me think of peacefully drowning.
Drowning in digital technology? Sinking?
Linzi, thanks for this beautiful and perplexing image. The colours are wonderful and very tranquil.
When I first saw it, it made me think of life in utero, perhaps this was because of the fetal position of the body and the heart-rate reading over-lay. Are you trying to portray us as the creators of technology or technology as our protector and nurturer? Thanks for this thought-provoking artefact.
I was actually torn between both. Ultimately we are the ‘creator’ but technology can both nurture and threaten our environment.
Linzi
Hi Linzi, what a truly wonderful image. For me the weaving of the human and the technical conveys so clearly the complexity of how the digital is an integral part of our lives now – almost impossible to separate. I am wondering what the motivation of making your head less ‘human’ was, going from skin colouring to black? Is it due to the digital input arriving at that point and dehumanising us, a virtual black hole so to speak?
This is extraordinary, Linzi! Kudos to you for putting something together that would elicit so many varying interpretations. To me it’s a message about the ways in which technology can play upon our vulnerability and affect our consciousness, but it’s been fascinating to read all the replies above too. Wonderful 🙂
Excellent visual artefact here Linzi, and a really interesting conversation emerging around it! You’re definitely right to go for some ambiguity here, I think that is what can make images very powerful, as ways of generating creative interpretations.
Super themes around nurturing, humanness, protection, and vulnerability already discussed, and the image seems to convey these really well. It made me think about the ways that questions about technology and our relationship with it, often tend to turn the lens back on us, and raise questions about ‘who’ we are and what values we consider ‘human’ – that is definitely a productive way to think about the cybercultures theme.
Interesting that the heart beat graph is foregrounded in the image – the heart is often contrasted with the head, isn’t it? The head represents rationality, logic – perhaps the things we can replicate with A.I., while the heart often represents emotion, or bodily responses. I wondered if there was an explicit turn to the body here, signalling that this is neglected in the ways technologies are discussed in cybercultures theme? Also, as is commented above, the head is in shadow, while the body is the focus?
This is a brilliantly thought-provoking image Linzi. As Helen and Jeremy note, the conversation it has provoked is fascinating. For me, I saw the image as a (digital?) womb too, but with an adult inside, suggesting that our entrapment within technology removes our innocence. The body looks pained and trying to protect herself from the cables which surround her. The heartbeat suggests heightened tension too: an inability to escape?
12 thoughts on “Visual Artefact #mscedc”
Ahhhhhhhh someone who has totally avoided text and sound to make a purely visual artefact.
I will be interested to see if this will elicit as many comments as the artefacts that are more…Informative? Direct? Less abstract?
It’s hard to think of the right word.
With this we get to project our own interpretations and meanings. I can see a heartbeat for humans, a chaotic circle for networks, vague letters in the background perhaps suggesting the belief that all objects are laced with information if only we can figure out a way to get it out.
Hi Daniel,
Yes, I tried to avoid text and sound! I wanted to create an artefact that has many interpretations. Looking through our blogs, there are so many perspectives and I wanted to leave some ambiguity. I tried various positions but I chose the fetal position with the knees close to chest; this signifies ‘vulnerability’ as it protects itself from trauma. The colour scheme was to reflect the dark characters portrayed within cyber culture and I used light blue energy to create a balance. Throughout this block I felt that balance was an important aspect.
Linzi
Trapped? Safe? Rebirth? Survival?
I love it Linzi, it’s very artistic and harmonious. The woman seems to be protected as she fits snuggly inside the circle of cables. Of course she could equally be trapped. The lifeline is ambiguous as it brings to mind the idea of vitalness (survival of the human race?) as well as that of danger or threat.
It looks like a painting, how did you do it?
Hey,
It was fun to do!! The image was taken in our dance studio using the cables from the theatre. I explored movement and costume but in the end I had to get fully naked for the artefact to work. I then used a few images and worked with apps such as photo blend and prizma.
Linzi
Amazing artefact, Linzi! Beautiful!
I love the balance, colour and textures… It’s tranquil yet dark – makes me think of peacefully drowning.
Drowning in digital technology? Sinking?
Linzi, thanks for this beautiful and perplexing image. The colours are wonderful and very tranquil.
When I first saw it, it made me think of life in utero, perhaps this was because of the fetal position of the body and the heart-rate reading over-lay. Are you trying to portray us as the creators of technology or technology as our protector and nurturer? Thanks for this thought-provoking artefact.
Thanks Chenee,
I was actually torn between both. Ultimately we are the ‘creator’ but technology can both nurture and threaten our environment.
Linzi
Hi Linzi, what a truly wonderful image. For me the weaving of the human and the technical conveys so clearly the complexity of how the digital is an integral part of our lives now – almost impossible to separate. I am wondering what the motivation of making your head less ‘human’ was, going from skin colouring to black? Is it due to the digital input arriving at that point and dehumanising us, a virtual black hole so to speak?
This is extraordinary, Linzi! Kudos to you for putting something together that would elicit so many varying interpretations. To me it’s a message about the ways in which technology can play upon our vulnerability and affect our consciousness, but it’s been fascinating to read all the replies above too. Wonderful 🙂
Excellent visual artefact here Linzi, and a really interesting conversation emerging around it! You’re definitely right to go for some ambiguity here, I think that is what can make images very powerful, as ways of generating creative interpretations.
Super themes around nurturing, humanness, protection, and vulnerability already discussed, and the image seems to convey these really well. It made me think about the ways that questions about technology and our relationship with it, often tend to turn the lens back on us, and raise questions about ‘who’ we are and what values we consider ‘human’ – that is definitely a productive way to think about the cybercultures theme.
Interesting that the heart beat graph is foregrounded in the image – the heart is often contrasted with the head, isn’t it? The head represents rationality, logic – perhaps the things we can replicate with A.I., while the heart often represents emotion, or bodily responses. I wondered if there was an explicit turn to the body here, signalling that this is neglected in the ways technologies are discussed in cybercultures theme? Also, as is commented above, the head is in shadow, while the body is the focus?
Really superb work here Linzi!
This is a brilliantly thought-provoking image Linzi. As Helen and Jeremy note, the conversation it has provoked is fascinating. For me, I saw the image as a (digital?) womb too, but with an adult inside, suggesting that our entrapment within technology removes our innocence. The body looks pained and trying to protect herself from the cables which surround her. The heartbeat suggests heightened tension too: an inability to escape?