Evaluation of Net.gif
The World Wide Web has been around long enough for us to start feeling nostalgic about it. The aim of this project has been to explore Internet nostalgia through the gif file (Graphics Interchange Format). The gif file has thrived since the beginning of the Internet and has been used from Internet advertising to memes. Continuous research throughout the project has allowed me to gain an interest in the internet and how it significantly affects our modern lives. I have gained an understanding of the “power” of the Internet and the ever increasing problem of Internet addiction. Through indepth research into the gif file and its origins, I have explored the different ways in which it’s used and how it is viewed by an audience. By taking the file out of context from the Internet and recreating it as a physical object that will be viewed at the Free Range exhibition, it will hopefully evoke a sense of nostalgia within the viewer, as I do from my gif archive.
My minor project fuelled my interest in gif files and digital animation. I learnt new animation techniques which helped to inform the aesthetics of my final major project. My research allowed me to broaden my understanding of web culture and the way in which we view videos on the Internet. I initially discovered an interest in the gif file format, which led me to obtain a clear understanding of its origin and its status on the Internet. I became interested in how we have formed a nostalgia for old Internet imagery. The Internet has such a significant affect on our modern lives, in both a positive and negative way, which led me in the direction of exploring common Internet addictions.
Over the past year I have been creating my own personal work using my Nishika N8000 whose images can only be viewed in gif form on a web browser. Through creating a gif archive, it developed my interest in making work that would fit in with the digital artwork I was discovering. From this I began making work that was completely digital using Google Sketchup, which gave me the power of ultimate creation. After learning this powerful skill, I wanted to combine it with my photographic skills, taking a real life object and recreating it in a digital form. I enabled myself to do this by learning how to green screen and making advanced animations in photoshop.
Gaining these new skills, I decided I would produce my final work digitally for the exhibition. The images inform the viewer of the ideas behind the work, hopefully evoking the same nostalgia that I experienced when looking at similar imagery on the Internet. I wanted to recreate this nostalgia in a physical form by combining it with images that define the Internet in a more thought provoking way. If it wasn’t created digitally, it wouldn’t have the same effect, nor would it get across the ideas I was hoping to evoke. I aspired to take digital pieces and make them physical.
By making these digital objects into physical ones, I wanted the work to be experienced in a similar way to how they are viewed on the Internet but without the use of screens other than for video work. I acheived this by having it produced as a lenticular print, using a mechanism that allows it to move in a similar way to a gif. The silk print is another approach that I felt would be appropriate to demonstrate movement in a print; using a fan to gently agitate it. I wanted to use a screen to present the digital landscape I had created in relation to Internet addiction. It’s shown as an animation and uses skills I have gained during my minor and major project.
I feel that the work has been successful, condensing what I have learnt over the past year in regards to the skills and research I have gained into a final outcome, shown in an interesting way, which I hope will make me stand out from the other work on display at Free Range.
My continuous research has led me to understand the social affects of the Internet and how communities have formed. It has given me a wider understanding of how images are experienced on the Internet and how the usage of the gif file format has changed throughout it’s life; supporting social communication as well as artwork and commercial use. I feel that working in this particular style has enabled me to find a niche within an industry. Working with Vice Style and Adidas Originals, I have taken control of photoshoots where the sole purpose was to create work that could only be viewed on the Internet as a gif. I have taken part in an exhibition where I’ve presented a printed version of my digital work made in Google Sketchup which was viewed by a large artist community in London. The direction in which current trends are heading, gifs are now starting to be used for commercial purposes, especially within the fashion industry which I can see my work contributing to.
This study has allowed me to continue to develop a style I enjoy working with. I have been trying out new techniques and mixing photography with digital animation and video. I have pushed myself to attain new skills outside of my degree work which has benefited me in both my college work and personal work. Working alongside people in the industry has opened my eyes to the things I can acheive with the style I have been working in and current trends allow me to see where my work can contribute to. This project has made me discover new interests through research into popular visual culture.
Final Shoot
This shoot was all about getting the images I needed for my final lenticular print. In the final image I wanted the model to mask their identity as people do online This often induces a great feeling of power, because whatever the web user says or does, there is no immediate physical threat, such as there is in real life. For this reason I wanted the model to look powerful, almost God like, so I made references to greek mythology within the image; the tunic around his waist and the pedestal (or column) used during the editing process.
I tried to shoot from many different heights in order to make my life much easier when editing the image. As I would need to try out different perspectives in the 3D models and I didn't want to limit myself to a singular angle.
This worked really well and made a great 3D image. After a fair few goes at it, my model managed to stand still enough to get the desired effect, the posture and facial expression were the two key things I had to remind him to concentrate on, as they were crucial to the finished image.
This is the first practice piece from when I started out using smaller files, using smaller files helped me move things around a lot quicker and get a real feel for how I was going to compose the image without having to wait a long time for photoshop to render. I like the hand but I dont think It gives the image that powerful feeling I was looking for as it looks like the subject is being controlled rather than empowered, kind of the polar opposite to what the finished product portrays.
I did this because we associate imagery like this with a powerful threatening force, I also wanted to show the internet as what could almost be considered a cult, or at least having a cult following.
Combining elements of what I had created, I layered it up to make this, which I feel has the right impact I was looking for, the model is made to look powerful, but only in a realm that isn’t quite reality, which is once again, a strong reference to the internet.
I then started to adapt the piece by producing different backgrounds that are inspired by the gif archive I have been keeping and using a aesthetic which I feel is in keeping with the theme of ‘internet nostalgia’
I was pretty happy with these two but one was quite hectic and the other wasn’t, I wanted to compramise and find a happy balance between not enough and too much.
This is the final Image in all its shimmering glory! Im really happy with the end result. For the exhibition I’m getting it printed as a 6x4 ft Lenticular print. I’m currently building a mechanism to pivot the print from side to side. This should recreate the manner in which you’re viewing it now and translate it to real life, once again creating a contrast
between the two realms.
Silk print
The image above is not the final image that will go to print as I am currently collecting these 3D models of different peoples heads. This piece represents the “following” of the internet, the “addicts” of social networks and message boards who are connected
together living in this warped online reality.
This piece is being printed on Silk and being blown by fan in homage to the flag gifs that seem to be very popular and that have inspired me whilst doing relative research.
My Work
My work has been used in a few articles recently which is good. see them
and
No More Retro: This is Implanted Nostalgia
This article by Robert Urquhart discusses current visual movements which I feel my work relates to.
The cult renaissance in 1990s style visuals / fashion has less to do with ironic retro references and much more to do with the hyper-stimulated tumblr generation and the endlessly scrolling web page. This fresh generation of creative curators are finding inspiration in a decade that saw the end of a human paced era and the beginning of a digitally leaping one.
Retro culture as we knew it is over. Our western cultural past is no longer mainly served with retro irony by those too late or too young to join the party, nor by pompous postering by those that were there first time around.
“Technology has been moving forward faster than we are able to digest, figure out, interpret and make use of. We are perpetually trying to catch up. I think the 90's mark the start of this or, at least, the end of what was before”So says Justin Solitrin before continuing…
“Maybe it’s a grasping nostalgia trying to refer to a slightly slower time - the tombstones for a human-paced world,” he adds. “As far as I’m concerned it is not about retro at all, but more about creating something quite radical - and simple at the same time.“In the UK, curators Baz And Chaz lead the pack with exhibitions that are ‘inspired by low-culture and the throwaway aspects of modern life’. The duo bring together international artists and illustrators within an as yet unnamed movement.In the USA, Joel Evey, print director of Urban Outfitters is bringing the tumblr generation’s thinking to retail, whilst in Canada tumblr bloggers and artists/fashion curators like Common Chant and Yard666Sale set the pace.
Yard666Sale
Common Chant, is run by a curator and artist by the name of Julie Eckert. She sees no distinction between her own personal memory and a virtual cultural memory she can tap into every day on the web. It’s an outlook that is echoed throughout her generation.
The Common Chant“Being born in 1987, the visual aspects of the 90’s and my ideas of art and design are interwoven. Often, I experience feigned/implanted nostalgia, which is definitely informed by the amount of imagery I absorb online daily.
It seems to be a common strand throughout the net-art community. I don’t find my self deliberately trying to draw from the decade.” Julia explains.Jeff & PaulNew York based Jeff & Paul work with clients including The Art Directors Club and Google. They explain the seepage of these 90s references into the mainstream: “Nineties design, (mis)use of interface elements and references to the early web feel like very deliberate choices to evoke nostalgia for that era. The web was weird and mysterious in the beginning - playing with the visual language of the early web brings back that feeling.”
Department InternationalThe self-styled 'transatlantic design studio' Department International, run by the duo ‘Brian & Bobby’, works in print and identity design and has developed an aesthetic that is rooted in Brian says: “There is definitely a naïveté to the 90’s that is very appealing to me - the idea of actively treading new ground without care if something is good or not… rejecting taste and doing something unconventional”.
Baz&ChazBaz And Chaz uphold the role of aesthetics. As Baz explains; “I grew up in the 90’s. Early-internet aesthetics are important to me. I like the primitivism of it. I think there’s too much [poor quality] digital design nowadays. So to look back at early digital aesthetics - the really lo-fi, primitive stuff - is a way of highlighting that.”
Urban Outfitters, Joel Evey
Joel Evey, Print Art Director for US retail chain Urban Outfitterscoined the phrase ‘the tumblr generation’ when trying to talk at internal level about the company’s target market.
He believes that it is crucial for mainstream creative companies like his to look to avant-garde visual culture and graphics. he states “Other retailers might not think this smaller segment of the market is worth going after, but I contend that it is, because they are the ones that are starting to influence taste.”
New York-based Body by Body are the prolific artists Melissa Sachs and Cameron Soren, who have been producing T-shirts and artwork for a couple of years.
Their Lookbook created back in 2010 still seems fresh, incandescent, gleefully making use of seemingly disparate corporate logos like PayPal.Body by Body“There is definitely a lot of [pre- and early Internet] aesthetics prevalent on sites like tumblr, but there are also those who play with those aesthetics outside of the Internet realm or with aesthetics from two weeks ago, which is why we don’t necessarily segregate them from each other" explains Sachs, “In a way it is more about the infinite sharing of imagery that has an overwhelming influence on our aesthetic output.”
Body by Body recently held an exhibition in March 2012 with longterm collaborators Deke2 and (Parker Ito)grandly entitled Anime Bettie Page Fucked By A Steampunk Warrior, which included a collection of video pieces that push the boundaries still further…
GreekNew Media ShitSterling CrispinSterling Crispinis another agitator, currently studying for an MFA in Digital Media at The University of California. Crispin is Well known for his excellent comical stab at noting a movement underway back in April 2011, Crispin set up the siteGreek New Media Shitto uncover the seemingly generic plastering of digital self referencial works. He’s also a committed artist and when asked about how he sees the world, Crispin responds…“I think its much more radical to be in the world today with sincerity and optimism, rather than irony, sarcasm and cynicism. We all share the same Internet, which levels the playing field of distribution, allowing for ancient masterpieces to be viewed along side smiley-faced alien gifs, in a constant stream of tumblr posts and status updates.”Where is it all going? Common Chant sums it up… “The Internet is a giant echo chamber. I feel in many ways Internet culture is moving away from the stringency of trends and towards a great omnium-gatherum of ideas.”Radical and simple at the same time, this is digital born of digital.
FILE-SHARING IS NOW A RELIGION
This is an article from Vices website about the new Swedish religion called Kopimism based around file sharing, this is a great example of how big of an impact the internet has had socially on certain parts of society.
Just the other week in Sweden, file-sharing was officially recognized as a religion. This line of faith is called Kopimism (which originates from the Swedish pirate term “kopimi,” a play on the words “copy me”) and worships the holy act of copying and spreading information. They do not only consider it to be the meaning of life–growing by copying and spreading knowledge and information–but also its origin, since life began with the DNA molecule’s ability to duplicate itself. I guess that kinda makes sense.
Kopimism’s religious symbols are CTRL+C and CTRL+V. Their gospel is spreading fast. Having been around for merely a year, the religion already counts 4,000 members, and its Swedish mother site has already been copied everywhere from Russia and Canada, to France and Romania. The crusade has begun and it looks like Sweden can now enjoy the possibility of jumping from being one of the least to being one of the most religious countries in the world.
Whatever your stance is on file-sharing, and regardless of whether you believe the Kopimists are devout zealots or just a bunch of bored, wacky people, the battle for/against making knowledge and information available to the masses is an increasingly important issue. The existence of the internet itself is currently under threat from the aggressive Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) bill (and perhaps you’ve seen one of our several stories busting its main author,Lamar Smith, for alleged serial copyright violation).
Crippling education fees and increasing book/DVD/CD/concert/movie ticket prices are making it harder and harder for people to educate and entertain themselves the “legit way.” In these conditions, who knows? Maybe Kopimism will flourish.
Rafaël Rozendaal
Rafaël Rozendaal is a visual artist who uses the internet as his canvas. His artistic practice consists of websites, installations, drawings, writings and lectures. Spread out over a vast network of domain names, he attracts a large online audience of over 21 million visits per year. His work researches the screen as a space to view work. His installations involve moving light and reflections, taking online works and transforming them into spatial experiences, much like I would like to achieve from my works.
He also created BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer), an open source DIY curatorial format that is spreading across the world rapidly which I spoke about earlier on my blog.
In this video Rafaël speeks about how he uses the internet as a acessable gallery to all. He also talks about how he sells and produces profit from web based work.
Internet Nostalgia
In this article by Colin Miller on Punch communications blog. Colin discusses how the internet has become such a big part of our lives and we have started forming a nostalgia and how things have changed with modern technologies.
It’s hard to remember not using the Internet, it has become such an integral part of our day-to-day routine, not just for business and emails but for almost anything you can imagine. If you have a question you don’t know the answer to, you Google it, if you remember a song you like, you download it. Everything you can think of, or have an interest in can be accessed in an instant and barely a second thought is given to the process.
Having all of these capabilities in a mobile format means that using the Internet becomes an even more organic experience, which can occur anywhere at any time. It wasn’t always like this.
Take a moment to think back to when you first started using the Internet, back when a “fast” connection was a 56kbps dial up modem and you could download a whole song in merely a number of hours. Making the decision to either use the Internet, or have the capability to make a phone call from your landline was a genuine choice to make on a daily basis. Paying by the minute for the service and listening to the dial-up tone every time you connected was all part of the experience.
Using the Internet used to be an occasion, it was a premeditated decision to go online and connect to the outside world. The promise of all the world’s knowledge available to you on one painfully slow web page after another was almost too much to comprehend.
There was a time when a successful download of any file, no matter how large or small was a cause for celebration. Just the other day I downloaded an entire album of high quality MP3 files, which I firstly used an audio recognition app to identify and then link me to the content, all while I was in a shop… on my phone! This is not a shocking fact nowadays, but when you take a moment to think back to how it used to be not so long ago, it does seem a little more impressive.