ElectricityComesFromAnotherPlanet.com

The project "ElectricityComesFromAnotherPlanet.com" is a website, which was based off of the 1982 Disney movie, "Tron." The layout of the website is Minimalistic, with very few lines and shapes, and comprises of neon colors. The characters of the website are two gnarled and perspective lines that are literally batting a yellow sphere back and forth at each other. According to the artist, that ball represents of the sun, which had apparently spilled from the sky. This animation proceeds infinitely as your eyes focus on the ball being batted back and forth, back and forth, with no music and very minimal sounds.

Through this simplistic animation, the creator, artist Angelo Plessas, wanted to evoke a meditative feel, a sensation that tricks the viewer into believing that time had actually stood still for a moment. Although there isn't much to see in the image, viewers become hypnotic as they watch the ball move in an evenly steady pace, and with none of the lines coming close to missing a hit. It is like a contest, in which their is no winner, but at the same time, no loser. It is a constant state of neutrality, and puts the viewer at ease.

I noticed that even though the ball isn't flitting very fast, it still seems to blur as it moves. I wonder whether or not there is a slow motion going on in this animation. Either way, the blur seems to slow the action down even more than before I had noticed it, and this evoked a feeling of silent patience for me. On the other hand, the blur made me feel dizzy, and could not watch for any longer than fifteen seconds at a time.

Suns from Flickr- by Penelope Umbrico

Penelope Umbrico is an artist, who currently lives and works in New York City. Her concentration being photography, she created a collage of photos by using images that already existed online, images of the same subject. In particular, Umbrico found from the web exactly 541,795 different images of a sunset. She took the suns from each photo, re-produced them as prints, and then arranged them in a chart-like and seemingly infinite grid. The artist found it unique to freeze and sublimate a sunset, let alone thousands of them, within a digital realm.

Even though the sun looks like a small spark in the sky, it is actually far greater in size than our planet itself. So, the artist thinks of the sun eternal and infinitely-expanding. The virtual world, the Internet, is an infinitely-expanding domain on its own, and the artist wanted to portray something naturally eternal through something that is digitally eternal. Watching a sunset outside and in person is far different from viewing it online.

Although the suns themselves are sort of stinging to the eyes, their background colors richly vary as one skims down the grid. For the most part, the colors are very warm and bright, with a few being very dark and cool. Looking at the grid from a distance, it feels as if though the colors are literally flickering before your eyes. There is so much going on in each photo that my eyes can't help but to desperately search for a focal point. I don't even remember which of the photos my eyes laid upon FIRST when I first saw this piece. I feel like this art is playing games with my eyes, but on the other hand, it is a rather charming game.

Firefox Add-ons- by Steve Lambert

When browsing the Internet, the one thing that is hated by all would have to be advertisements. If there is anything I despise, it is the way pop-ups randomly block my view of what I really wanted to see on my monitor. I have even had an occasion, where my little cousin was almost fooled by a pop-up quiz that promised her an Iphone if she answered the question correctly. Even though some of the pop-ups have a "close" button, the advertisements persevere as if they were "okay" buttons.

Los Angeles artist, Steve Lambert isn't very fond of the multitude of advertisements and scams that infest our computer, either. But rather than acquiring pop-up blocks for his computer, he made it so that all pop-ups and unwanted advertisements on your screen are replaced by thumbnails of artwork. Each wave of artworks on screen are based off of an existing gallery or exhibition, which is then replaced by a different wave of images every two weeks. This way, not a single moment on screen will be the same old. Furthermore, the images feature contemporary artists as well as curators.

In a sense, I think this project is a good idea to form a barrier between us and those unwanted pop-ups. On the other hand, having thumbnails of random artworks randomly pop up on your screen could become irritating, and I would appreciate getting rid of pop-ups without the need to actually replace them with something else, with the artwork serving as a scapegoat of sorts.

Elapsed Percentages of my Life- by Sylvere Armange

Sylvere Armange is a French artist, who is the creator of the project known as "Elapsed Percentages of my Life (Do Something.)" This project functions to estimate the artist's time of birth and also his estimated time of death. The estimations are made in percentages, where one-hundred percent filled the entire meter and represents the end of the artist's life. Even though his references included the life expectancy for people in 1986 France, one can never say for sure whether or not this project will be accurate in determining the artist's final days.

While most people would find it depressing to watch a bar, which represented the lengths of their lives, gradually filling to one-hundred percent, Armange finds it intriguing and motivating, which explains why "Do Something" is part of the project's name. He believes that there are many people out there in the world, who are wasting their lives by doing nothing, and he believes that his project would push those people on their feet, and make them realize that life is not infinite, and that we must use our time in this world wisely. Because once you're dead, there is no turning back.

I consider myself one of the people who would be depressed to have a bar estimating my total time in this world. The bar would motivate me in a sense that I would work harder and faster to achieve my goals. At the same time, I would be living unhappily, constantly glancing over my shoulder to keep death from ambushing me. Deep down inside, I realize that this project is not entirely accurate in its estimations, but the mind is a powerful thing, and I've find myself worrying about small things even though I already knew such things were small.

But aside from that, I am curious as to how accurate the bar will be for the artist. So far, the meter is about three-fourths away from reaching one-hundred percent,which implies that the artist has plenty of time left. In a way, I do hope that the bar is inaccurate because the thought of being able to predict the length of your life accurately scares me.

Can't Hear the Music- by Chris Basmajian

"Alphaville" is a French film that was produced during the 1980s. The plot takes place in the twentieth century, in which a town known as Alphaville is being fully controlled by a super computer named Alpha 60. Under Alpha 60's laws, freedom of speech is prohibited, both vocally and artistically, and so the townspeople are forced to live rather limited lives.

Chris Basmajian's "Can't Hear the Music" is a project, which has been based off of this film. The ingredients for this project includes one active lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, one display screen, and one volunteer. The volunteer will stand in front of the light bulb while watching a scene from "Alphaville" via the display. As he or she watches the display, he or she will tamper with the light bulb, swinging it like a pendulum. As the bulb swings side to side, it will create reflections on the display--and literally within those reflections, he or she will catch sight of two more scenes based off of the "Alphaville" movie.

The light bulb has a really interesting effect on the display because it is as if though the second and third excerpts of "Alphaville" are literally projecting from the light bulb itself. When swinging the light bulb, those excerpts literally tear and rip into the first one, but then cleanly disappear as the light bulb's reflections wear off on the display. The room that this interactive artwork takes place in is dimly lit, by the light bulb alone, I assume, which evokes a very frightening feel, especially because I imagine that the movie itself is not a very happy one.

However, on the other hand, the optical illusion that the light bulb provides is very charming and intriguing to the eyes. I could tell that some sort of software was involved in the creation of this project, and I wonder exactly what softwares that the artist used.

All Horizons- by Christian Marc Schmidt

Christian Marc Schmidt is a media artist, who studied economics in school, which ultimately influenced his present works regarding the environment and social interaction. One of his recent works includes "All Horizon," in which its separate components were brought to him by the aide of volunteer photographers, and then he combined the components together into a project that is now called "All Horizon."

"All Horizon" comprises of about one-hundred fifty photographs, which have been digitally sewed together into a slideshow-like movie that one can access via Quicktime. In the movie, the viewer finds him or herself gazing at one photo at a time. There is a very slow transition between each of the photos, in which elements of the first photo are still temporarily present as the second photo materializes before you. These transitions seem to bring the photos together, and it seems as if though the artist is treating all one-hundred-fifty images as if they had all been taken and shot by his own hand.

The photos were very breathtaking in my opinion, which strongly aided in the serene and tranquil mood of the movie. Whoever volunteered to take those photos were talented, indeed. To me, the transitions between each photo had a very surreal effect to them, and I felt as if though my eyes were aimlessly yet carefreely wandering. It put me in an almost meditative state of mind because of the way many of the photos separately romanticized the world that we all live in. And yet, when the artist placed the images together to form one, whole piece, I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, except that it evoked a very dream-like feel.

Virta-Flaneurazine (VF)

Second Life, otherwise known as SL, is a three-dimensional virtual reality, which was developed in 2003, by Linden Lab, which is an American Internet company. Second Life is a client program, which is free to the public via the Internet. In Second Life, users communicate with one another via avatars and live virtually realistic lives alongside them. It is similar to the Sims, with which you may travel to different locations, get a job, make friends, etc.

Virta-Flanuerazine, or otherwise known as VF, is a psychotropic drug, which affects a person's sense of awareness and wanderment. It causes the person to feel dream-like vibrations, and to find his or herself aimlessly roaming without the slightest clue as to where he or she is. It is as if though you are in a dream, with scenes and environments transitioning seemingly infinitely before you.

This drug is being used for an experiment regarding the virtual world, Second Life. Scientists would like to know how users of Second Life react and behave to the Virta-Flaneurazine, through the points of view of their avatars. Those who volunteers to the experiment must be at least eighteen years of age, must have had previous experience with drug testing, and also basic experience on how to play Second Life. The experiment will take place in an exam room, where the person will be seated on a chair and with a wall projection of the user's avatar for the public to behold and study the user's actions.

I personally had a lot of trouble understanding this experiment, probably because I have never had experience with any three-dimensional, virtual reality games before. The only games I've ever played were with a controller or a keyboard, but I've never actually immersed my entire being, so to speak, into a digital world. Testing the VF on a person while he or she is immersed in a virtual reality world is interesting, and must truly change Second Life's gaming experience drastically. Some of the volunteers claimed to feel out of body experiences, and feelings of aimlessly floating.

This experiment was conducted by Doctors WD Pappenheimer and JC Freeman. Pappenheimer is a media artist and is currently an assistant professor at Pace University in New York.