Research and Critical Reflection 3
In this critical reflection, I will choose to study digital 3D animation as a form of creative expression. In the specific discourse, in the first part I will analyse the characteristics of contemporary digital visual art, as well as its aesthetic value and influence in contemporary art. Through the research and analysis of different digital art works, I will explore the expansion of digital technology on the expressive power in art practice. In the second part I will introduce the concepts of ecological crisis and eco-capitalism to analyse the impact on the environment in which we live today as well as my concerns about the natural environment in the post-human era. Finally, I will reflect on my recent creative practice to express my perception and understanding of the law of entropy in digital art creation.
What characterizes new media art in the context of contemporary art ,and how can it be presented?
Back in 1952, American scientist, mathematician, and artist Ben F. Lapsky produced Electronic Abstraction, a digital series of artwork that is widely regarded as the inception of computer-generated imagery, as well as the birth of avant-garde computer art. He created his abstract art by analyzing combinations of electronic waveforms displayed on an oscilloscope and adjusting the parameters of the oscilloscope and diverse input circuits.
Ben Laposky
Electronic Abstraction #6, 1952-1956
Oscilliscope, high speed film, photo paper
16.5 x 13 in / 42 x 33 cm
In contemporary art, new media art has become prevalent, with some artists employing 3D software as a novel medium of artistic expression and integrating digital tools and technologies into their creative process. Computers facilitate the creation of unique and unprecedented art forms. The intricate electronic art images produced by these "new media art" works are generated through code inputted on electronic screens. Digital sculptures are created using three-dimensional digital technology. Additionally, interactive installation art can be achieved through computer control, artificial intelligence, and other technical methods.
New media art has considerably enhanced our sensory experience in appreciating art. Additionally, the interactive elements in certain new media artworks are equally important for their artistic expression and form. For instance, David Cotterrell's digital video work 'Monsters of the Id' features a virtual landscape set in a militarised environment in Afghanistan that evokes feelings of disorientation.The audience experiences tension between grandiose illusions and the tranquillity and unease that arise during violent moments. At the same time, the digital image enables a real-time form of interaction by sensing the duration of the audience's presence and generating a computer-generated group of unidentified avatars that display disturbing movements on the screen. And it reflects an observer effect.
Cotterrell aims to challenge conventional notions of documentary by merging film and photographic visuals. This can be a digital film or an immersive play space that interacts with the viewer.
David Cotterrell，
Monsters of the Id (2012)
The aesthetics of new media art is also reflected in its comprehensive and rich media characteristics. Digital processing methods and materials provide greater potential for artistic creation, expanding its expressive power. Secondly, the digital age has brought a wave of fresh creative ideas for artists, with electronic devices generating new and distinctive visual forms that have been synthesized to yield innovative artistic languages and image compositions, enriching the original artistic expression methods.
What is the ecological crisis? How is the ecological crisis related to eco-capitalism?
The term "ecological crisis" describes the serious damage to the environment and the threat it poses to human survival and development. It is the pernicious result of ecological imbalance, stemming mainly from excessive and uncontrolled human production activities. Since the 20th century, as the scale and intensity of human intervention in the natural world has expanded and deepened, problems such as water pollution, land desertification, and climate anomalies have ensued.
In Ecology Against Capitalism, Marxist John Bellamy Foster argues that this crisis is a product of the modern capitalist system. "Ecology and capitalism are two spheres in opposition to each other, and this opposition is expressed not in each instance but as a whole in the interplay between the two." There is a natural and acquired rift between "ecology" and "capitalism"; insofar as it is ecological, it is necessarily non-capitalist; insofar as it is capitalist, it is necessarily anti-ecological. "
In Alex Hartley's "Nowhere Island " project, the artist discovered his island east of Greenland during an expedition to the Arctic in 2004. As a result of climate change, the island has been exposed in the past by the melting of glaciers. So Hartley initiated the project in an attempt to transport the island to international waters and declare it a new country. This is a call for more people to become legal citizens of the island, and through this migration, to draw more attention to the issues of climate change and the use of the Earth's remaining natural resources.
Alex Hartley，
Nowhere Island(2012)
Compare this project to Neville Gabie's project "A Weight of Ice carried from the North for You", he used solar technology to transport and relocate Greenland icebergs to Tatton Park. For better insulation, the artist chose to cover all four sides of the glass installation with wood and used 12 photovoltaic panels to support the propane condenser and fan. The preservation of a particular iceberg from a distant glacial zone through the support of modern technology is a sideways reflection of the duplicity of modern technology and the ecological drawbacks brought about by the manipulation of capitalism.
Neville Gabie，
A Weight of Ice carried from the North for You (2010)
Tomás Saraceno，
Moving Atmospheres（2017）
In the context of a carbon-free, capitalist, extractivist and patriarchal world, an attempt was made to create a balloon installation that would coexist with the atmosphere without emissions or pollution. The artist Tomás Saraceno also used modern technology to realise the project "Moving Atmospheres", Saraceno combined thermodynamics and used ETFE, a special material, as the outer shell of the balloon in his installation. The balloon was powered by the air we breathe and the heat of the sun. The project reflected on the irreversible impact of some of mankind's capital activities on the climate and environment of our time.
The ecological crisis seems to herald a conflict between human and nature, with the latter failing to provide a favourable habitat for the former. In essence, however, the ecological crisis reflects the mutual contradictions among human beings. Ecological crises ensue when the inherent balance and cycles of natural resources and the environment are not maintained.
Reflections on my artworks
How does the law of entropy manifest itself visually in my work in a figurative way?
The concept of entropy has gained increasing use in the development of human society in recent times. Entropy is defined as the second law of thermodynamics, while the first law of thermodynamics states that mass is conserved and indestructible. Thomas Pynchon, a representative writer of American postmodernism, applies the second law of heat to the observational analogy of entropy in the human world in his novel Entropy, for example, in which he mentioned seeing love as a way for humans to resist the entropisation of the world. This new worldview of entropy triggers people to rethink society and nature. In the field of art creation, an increasing number of artists are incorporating environmental protection into their works, mainly through the material medium and concepts conveyed.
As Nietzsche said in Daybreak "The higher the development of mankind, the less it is able to reach a higher order."
Modern technology has improved our lives, and man-made cooling and heating systems continue to create a gentler and more pleasant living environment. However, these regulatory technologies are constantly drawing energy from the planet, and the planet's operating system is out of balance, leading to all kinds of meteorological disasters, such as global warming, which is one of the problems that mankind has to face in the 21st century.
From the viewpoint of entropy, the melting of glaciers absorbs the energy of entropy increase, thus disturbing the original order of the glacial zone. Modern technology, on the other hand, provides a convenient and comfortable environment for human beings by regulating the appropriate temperature, which produces a series of physiological and psychological effects and creates more positive energy (spiritual negentropy) for our spiritual life. However, when these technologies provide negative entropy energy, they also inevitably promote entropy increase.
Unnatural Extinction
film clip of Unnatural Extinction
film clip of Unnatural Extinction
My work is based on this event as a motivation. Unnatural Extinction is inspired by the melting of the Grey Glacier in Chile in recent decades. It explores the occurrence of certain natural disasters due to contemporary human activities, which in turn inspired me to think about the environment in the post-human era. I created the same digital process with the power of 3D modelling, by computer simulating fragments of scenes where icebergs are affected by the warming climate, and capturing the moment of their collapse through digital lenses, to the digital image of the last piece of ice disappearing from the earth. And vice versa, shaping the scene of white ice crystals growing back on black rocks, to restore the initial part of the natural environment, growth, symbilizing the initial life, luminosity and continuity.
Combined with my project scene : An isolated huge rock stands above the sea. Here ice crystals take root on the surface of the exposed rock like plant seeds, slowly spreading until they spread across the very cold parts of the planet.
It is like a documentary film that records growth and extinction. Through the creation of this film, I would like to establish a connection with the viewer, so as to observe the viewer's attitude towards this event. By placing this distant environmental phenomenon in front of people living in the city, some viewers may stop to watch and connect with the film and think about it, while others may pass by the film.
In the future, there will be many more events like the disappearance of the glacier world, and it will be like dominoes that go out of control until the end. At this point, entropy also reaches its maximum.
Dark Skies
exhibition site of “I don't understand your drawing ”
The artwork on the left made by Susan Askew
a draft of digital modeling
The motivation for this work is about my derivative thinking on the theme of glacier melting when creating the animation. People in modern society have become accustomed to living, working, and studying in an artificial society and city. For instance, I have been immersed in the noisy, technologically modernized environment of the city for a long time, and I seldom have the opportunity to go to areas closer to nature to feel and explore. Thus, I focus on a kind of urban pollution: by constructing an urban nightscape, I reflect on landscape lighting, i.e. what positive and negative impacts colored light pollution will bring to human beings and the environment.
A news article headlined 'Like a sun on Earth': Las Vegas warns if dazzling venue built in London's East End states that the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has given the go-ahead for a massive new concert hall wrapped in 1 million light-emitting diodes to be built and located in Stratford. A similar project will be built later with Las Vegas. The spherical building was opposed by local residents because of its overly bright glow.
It can be seen that colored light pollution has a great impact on the living environment of the residents, and it is also another kind of environmental problem caused by the background of capitalism. Its characteristics are as follows: after nightfall, some shopping malls, hotels, advertising lights, neon lights, strong beams of light straight into the sky, as if the day. This artificial formation of a large area of illuminated light sources leads to light pollution, that is, artificial daytime.
Can not be denied that urban night lighting can make the city landscape expression expand so that the city's time and space are effectively extended. Colored light is also walking and driving safety at night, work and study, entertainment, and the positive impact on human activities. However, in opposition the lighting method is different and the size of the illuminance value directly affects visual clarity human recognition, and even human emotions. Its various hazards to the human spirit, health, and environment should not be underestimated.
When I was building the animation scene, I tried to arrange the position of the lamps to create a connection between the lights and the people. The large number of digital lines intertwined with each other creates tension in the scene, as people enjoy the projection of colored lights and gradually get lost in the constantly rotating building. It reflects the inseparable connection between people and city lights that I wanted to show.
What is the significance of blue in my work?
Blue hues dominate each frame of my animation, where varying degrees of the colour are employed to depict the urban night scene, sea water, ice crystals, and sky. I aimed to alter the hue visually and adjust each shade of blue to connote diverse levels of pollution. Combined with the dynamic aspects of digital animation, the faint blue alterations replicate the process of "growth", "reproduction", and "death" of the digital inanimate entities I formed.
Reference
Ben F. Lapsky(1952-1956) Oscillons:Electronic Abstraction. Available at: https://bitforms.art/exhibition/scratch-code/bl_electronicabstraction6_w/
Bruce, W(2006) Art of the Digital Age, Thames&Hudson
David, C(2012) Monsters of the Id. Available at: https://www.cotterrell.com/exhibitions/4521/monsters-of-the-id/
John Bellamy Foster(2002) Ecology Against Capitalism, Monthly Review Press
Neville, G(2010) A Weight of Ice carried from the North for You. Available at: https://www.nevillegabie.com/works/tatton-park-biennial-2010/
Alex, H(2010) Nowhere Island. Available at: https://www.situations.org.uk/projects/alex-hartley-nowhereisland/
Tomás, S(2017) Moving Atmosphere. Available at:https://studiotomassaraceno.org/moving-atmospheres/
Thomas, P(1957) Entropy, Troy Town: Trystero
Friedrich,N(1997) Daybreak, Cambridge University Press