Sunday, November 11, 2012

Taking the Media out of the Social


Moving my project to a time before the internet would be quite feasible assuming it wasn’t illegal somewhere. If you have ever been to a city you’ve probably seen people on the streets doing exactly what I was doing. Street performers are social artists in a sense. They work directly with their audience, are influenced by the audience and in some cases make a living from it.

For my specific work, live broadcast of art as it’s created and the subjects are chosen by the viewers. The only real major difference would be the medium and the location. Instead of working digitally on a tablet and Photoshop, it would be a pencil and paper. Instead of from the comfort of our homes and a cozy chair, it would be on the side of a street, perhaps at a park or in a café. I feel that once I get past my personal issues with drawing in public. Working physically close to my viewers and contributors would be a far more enjoyable experience for the both of us, as I would be working on paper (a medium in better with) and my viewers/contributors would be able to have far greater input, not to mention an eraser time chatting.

One large difference though would come with the resulting images form the encounter. When you are physically near someone and they request something, it is naturally expected for the drawing to be gifted to them at its completion. While that is nothing I’m against, it would make it harder to document the event and anything that was created I would no longer poses at the end of it.

5 comments:

  1. I haven't heard the specifics of your project, but for me it seems like social media allows you to keep the project organized. I like the idea of working more closely with your subjects, however if you were to do this on the streets, I have a feeling it would become more of a spectacle. The separation is what makes it interesting. The capabilities of social media seem to be never ending and allow you to reach a variety of people from different backgrounds and communities. Your results will differ greatly that way, as opposed to using people from one community. You mentioned that artists are influenced by the audience, and it is more interesting to have diversity that social media, in my opinion, offers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i ended up with quite a variety of people and personality during the stream, had people coming in from Europe, all across north America and one out of Hawaii.

      Delete
  2. Monetary compensation is another thing that doing your project on the street would provide. A physical object or "gift" is much easier to sell than the digital work that you did for this project.

    You did mention that one of your viewers is hiring you for other work. Similar business relationships could also be developed by doing this on the street. It'd be interesting to compare your success of finding an employer online to finding employers on the street.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. indeed physical things are easier to peddle for money, not to mention people seem to be far more accepting of lower grade craftsmanship. (experience form other times i've drawn around people)

      indeed that would be somthign to play with, while i'm not hugely keen on being an art artist. taking it to the street and then comparing results would be fun.

      Delete
    2. First off I really enjoyed your piece. I think with out the social media it would be cool to see you or any artist physically drawing the work that your audience requested. I do feel like on many social networks hiding behind a computer screen makes things a lot easier. Not saying that hiding is a bad thing but more of a helpful one. Like you mentioned the pressure of being in front of an audience and doing some of the same art work that you did may be much more difficult then being in the privacy of your own home and sitting at your computer doing what you did. Overall I like that social networking was added into your piece.

      Delete