Thesis Progress
This week was tough. I had a meeting with my committee chair about the work I’ve completed thus far on my thesis only to find that I was off-task; my new direction was too specific to NASA. The point of the Arts Administration Master’s thesis is to make the research specific to the field of arts management—take the subject of art-science collaborations and make it applicable by explaining the ‘lessons learned’ for other organizations working in the area. This revelation ruined any productiveness for the next two days. Today, I’m back on track with a breakthrough. I now have three case studies to conduct—including NASA. The working title is: Making Space for Art-Labs. I’m interested in the originality and possibility of art-labs for derivative outcomes.
Luke Murphy Lecture
Luke Murphy, Certainty Shelter, installation shot (via).
Canadian tech-artist Luke Murphy (now living in NYC) visited SCAD on Thursday to talk to the Painting Department about his digital art. His work is non-narrative. It explores “disembodied digital line” and a completely aesthetic use of digital media using algorithms and programmed code. Interestingly, Murphy said that the dividing line between traditional and new media art is randomness. This is the basis for his work, which he says gives digital art a touch of ‘naturalness’. He collects Geiger counters and uses them in reaction to uranium glass objects to produce random, unrepeatable visualizations. Take, for instance, his piece Barney’s Next Step After Canvas. This is, of course, a result of one interaction with a radioactive object so it recreates Barnett Newman’s zips inspired by the painting Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1950-51). While I enjoyed his humor and experimentation, I’m not sold on a fixation with randomness. Art of this nature, in my opinion, is more intelligible when it has a greater purpose for interacting with science. Also, Murphy started this work in the early 1990s and his aesthetic hasn’t really changed since. It would be interesting to see the results of a collaboration with more skilled programmers.
