I think the sentence above very well represents this section of the reading, which touched on the topics of Networks, Surveillance, Culture Jamming, Bodies, Surrogates and Emergent Systems, Simulations, and Simulacra.
As more and new technology became available to artists, they explored it and experimented with it to use it as medium to deliver and express their environment and their views on that environment. Some even went further to explore ways to do and achieve things that could not have been done before, and to interact or even change roles with others. Bruce Nauman's Live Taped Video Corridor is a great example of how to use the technology available to us to better understand, adapt, and change our environment. We live in a time where almost every move we make is being recorded one way or another, and many times it is exposed to anyone who wishes to observe it. Nauman utilized the idea and technology of surveillance to explore the other end of the phenomena. While most of us know and understand that we are constantly being watched, and watching others, either on our daily interactions with others or through tracking mechanisms such as surveillance cameras, GPS, and the Internet, we still have a difficult time or don't even get the chance to see ourselves from the point of view of others. On Nauman's Lived Taped Video Corridor, this is achieved. "One walks down a claustrophobically narrow corridor towards two stacked video monitors, the bottom of which displays one's video image captured in real-time from the rear...a person thus monitored suddenly slips into the role of someone monitoring their...own activities. [V]iewers cannot see themselves from the front - the angle from which one typically sees oneself. This perceptual prison restricts self-observation to the oblique angles from which one is typically seen only by others" (Shanken, 31).
This idea of surveillance, and especially of observing ourselves makes me think of the self image and the image view by others. We have discussed this many times in class, about society shaping the way we look, or the way we want to look because it is more appealing according to the "elite", movie stars, singers, professional athletes, etc. But when it comes down to it, it is our image versus the image they see, and we can never get it right. We will always see ourselves differently, especially when there are angles from which we hardly get to see ourselves.
Not just too long ago, Dove launch a campaign about "Real Beauty" which I think brings this up, the idea of different views, different perspectives of image.
I really enjoyed that art of the reading, and I know I wrote quite much on that topic, but there are also other interesting parts on this reading. For the following I will be brief.
Again, going back to the first sentence on this post, the artists of this era wanted to use technology to allow the observer to become more involved with the art world and build relationships with art, those who create art, and eventually have them make art and be art themselves through interaction. There are examples of how people from different countries, were able to interact with each other through new methods of satellite connection, we saw people explore robotics and make a connection between the living and the machine. Eventually this created machines that can accomplish many of the task that were previously only possible by the human body. As technology advances, artists and professional in many other fields are using it as an extension of themselves, not sure how much of it is positive, but it is sure interesting to see how our world evolves, and how we adapt to it.
