By chelsea on October 5th, 2009, 1:40 pm 2 Comments
In this recent Project of Cory Arcangel, he has posted a youtube video of a piano composition created by cats. The piece is originally Arnold Schoenberg’s, Drei Klavierstücke (Three Piano Pieces). The piece is an example of atonal music, which abandons traditional tonality which is how most Western music inherently sounds. The music juxtaposes extremes of mood and dynamic to create a overwhelming composition of sound. So Cory recreated this number with editing clips of cats on keyboards and pianos. Even is you don’t like this sort of experimental sound, the video is hilarious. I don’t even like cats but I enjoyed this video.
By EmilyH on October 4th, 2009, 12:00 pm 1 Comments
As I was exploring Cory Arcangel’s site I found a project of his, from 2008, titled Top Ten Youtube Videos. It isn’t an official art project of his however, it does project information about his personality, opinions and what his art is essentially all about. He was asked by Frieze to make a list of his Top Ten Youtube Videos.
I found these videos interesting because I am always on Youtube. I constantly search videos only to find that the video is “no longer available,” then I proceed to get frustrated and practically abuse the “refresh” button. I guess I understand that some videos are removed for copy right purposes, but as soon as I saw Arcangel’s Top Ten Youtube Videos, I was eager to try bypassing this Youtube problem that everyone has. Of course, as soon as I am trying to find an “unavailable video” it becomes impossible!
I eventually found one and tried a method of adding “&fmt=18” to the URL just as the video said. Sadly, it did not work, but there are many other videos that show different whys of solving this problem. I’m definitely going to continue to try these methods. If anyone finds that a certain method works, please comment!
The fact that Arcangel chose these as his favourite Youtube videos, displays his huge interest in technology and hacking. I think that this list is the epitome of Arcangel’s work. It is the process of hacking or finding new possibilities, then sharing the results. This shows his interest in manipulating technology and taking control in order to make it work how the view wants. If you are interested in more of Arcangel’s favourite Youtube videos, you can find them here.
Doogle.com is a recreation of the google search engine, but everything that you search brings up the message:
An error #HTTP occurred!
Error: HTTP Response 405 Not Found, Server message: Method
Attempt 0 failed.
“Blue” Tube is a 1 second long video of the youtube logo, which used to appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Super Mario Clouds is an old Mario Brothers cartridge that was changed so that everything except the clouds was erased.
So, to be honest, after viewing the works mentioned here as well as several others from Arcangel’s Internet Profile I wasn’t very inspired. In fact I felt like I wasted a good hour(+) just watching his junk. Then I came across a quote from Arcangle himself, it stated… “Imagine me buying some video equipment off of eBay, turning it on, pressing some random buttons, and then calling whatever comes out my ‘work.’
It was this quote that made me think of the work by Marcel Duchamp, particularly his “readymades” such as the “Fountain” and the “Bicycle Wheel.” These pieces were found objects which Marcel presented as art. At the time that the readymades were being exhibited, there were people that said his work was pointless and not art in the first place. (I’m sure some felt their time had been wasted by viewing the pieces!) Now Duchamp is known as a great artist of the Dadist and Surrealist Movements.
I’ve come to realize that Cory Arcangel seems to be the contemporary Marcel Duchamp. But instead of using tangible found objects, Arcangel uses digital files in all sorts of formats then presents them, as his own work. The coming of ubiquitous digital technology provided a new palette for Arcangel to use which was unavailable to Duchamp. Their concepts are similar but culture has changed.
So, I guess I’ve concluded that I didn’t waste my time after all. I’m giving Arcangel a little more slack now.
(Sorry all the pictures I tried to post were being temperamental and I kept getting error messages)
By EmilyH on September 14th, 2009, 1:29 am 0 Comments
A clip of the I Shot Andy Warhol video game created by Cory Arcangel
While I was exploring the “New Media Art” website, an artist named Cory Arcangel caught my interest. This was probably because when I began to Google his name, the first project that was recognized, was his piece titled I Shot Andy Warhol (above). Personally, I tend to enjoy any project that Warhol is a part of, but this was very different.
Cory Arcangel, who was born in 1978 and currently resides in Brooklyn, is a digital artist. He studies the relationship between technology and culture. This involves hacking and manipulating technologies, such as video games, software and films in order to challenge conventional thinking and consumerism art. He usually finds flaws in the technology and creates new meanings using humour.
For his project, I Shot Andy Warhol, Arcangel hacked an old Nintendo game called “Hogan’s Alley’ and replaced the targets with pictures of the Pope, Flavor Flav and Andy Warhol. This project was featured in many museums during the peak of new media technology.
I think that Arcangel uses an interesting process in which he dismantles and recodes the videogame, however, this is not one of my favourite pieces. I somewhat understand why the fairly random characters (Flavor Flav, the Pope) are featured in the game and why the player must only shoot Warhol. Perhaps Warhol is portraying everything Arcangel makes fun of, including pop culture. Either way, I enjoy some of his other works, such as Super Mario Clouds and Sweet 16, much more than I Shot Andy Warhol.
