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Public voting by Blazenko
Karesin
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Hello all.
I've reviewed all the submissions and i sent my list
favourites to MCMAGATK.
But i would also like to make my vote
public, and i hope some others will too, because I think it can be
interesting and a learning thing to hear what fellow artists think
and how they feel regarding the submitted works; espec. with this
judging procedure where we all get to judge.
Not that
judging nor winning is the point of the whole thing - i think
creating and sharing is - but communicating and sharing views can
teach and ispire all of us...
I'd like to first have a few
comments on the whole:
First i'd like to express my
admiration for all authors; it was a joy and fun to watch all the
submissions, and to witness creativity coping with such a... well,
not-so-easy subject, as 9.11 has moved and touched almost every
person in the world.
I was also a little disappointed in the
overall lack of interactivity of what's supposed to be art in an
interactive medium. Unfortunately, this is nothing new in web art -
it seems to me that many artists have "migrated" to net-based art
only to have a wider audience and to have an excuse of not having to
work hard to make their "art". Great part of it is not employing the
rich possibilities of the medium, and often is plain ugly. While i
agree with tendency to minimalism as such - you have to limit
yourself when the possibilities are to big, in order to avoid kitsch
and plain overuse of them - but then the concept, the idea should
carry the power of the work; but this is not often the case.
Second, there is a few submissions which i like as such, but
as they don't seem to have any connection to the proposed subject
(or it completely eluded me), i excluded them from my list of seven.
For the same reasons, i'm not including those works that seem to be
something else, hurriedly converted to 9.11 subject by simply
throwing in a few images of WTC towers. If i misjudged some work as
this kind, i sincerely apologize to the authors.
I also
didn't take into account those that have a connection, but clearly
weren't made FOR this exhibition, but before, as there was such a
point in the rules; i also had a thing very related to the subject
which i initially wanted to submit, but this rule stopped me, and i
had to make something new - and i am glad in the end, because i
wouldn't otherwise make what i submitted.
I am saying this
to make clear that there are some works in the list which i
appreciate as such, but won't vote for them for the above reasons.
All of this narrowed the list of candidates for my vote, and
after a thorough thinking, here's my list of seven submissions:
Eryk Salvaggio
I find this a fine web art,
consistent with the subject, utilising the essence of the medium and
lifting it to a new level. Good thinking, good execution, good look.
Obviously a work of a real web-artist, not an artist who uses web
without understanding it.
Andrey Velikanov
A good idea
that holds the whole thing together, a message clearly communicated,
good design, entertaining details - this is the one i liked most in
the first viewing.
Horit Herman Peled
This is to me a
good example of "engaged" art, art which is fully "artful" while
carrying a strong message and showing the concern of the author for
her fellow human beings, and her deep compassion for their
suffering. As for the subject of 9.11, i think this applies because
the situation in Middle-East is/was strongly affected by September
11th and the ensuing "War on Terror", giving her country's
aggressive government and military a renewed excuse for the
unprecedented violence and state-terror. It must be hard for her to
live there, and she has my full support to keep up, work and not
give up.
Brooke A. Knight
I like this one because it is
the only one tackling a very important aspect of 9.11, best
described in the quote also present in my work:
"Beware the
leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry
into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged
sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And
when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils
with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in
seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused
with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their
rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do i know? For this is
what i have done. And I am Caesar." - Julius Caesar
T
Scarpino
This is obviously a submission made with least effort
and in shortest time, but i like the simpleness of the idea (missing
images/towers) and the fact that it is so rooted in the web medium.
This IS the web-thinking i mentioned earlier as too often missing
from "web art".
Andreas Troeger
I had a constant inner
fight wether to include this fine piece of video or not, for several
reasons (pure video and not web as medium, and lack of any stance on
the subject, to name a few), but i guess everyone at least enjoyed
watching this - at least i did, and very much. Masterful editing and
montage, excellent rhythm and flow, good sound and music choice make
this one of probable favourites of the exhibition. Good work,
Andreas et al!
Ali Miharbi
Although very simple and
fairly un-attractive, this is a piece that makes one think - and
think about something that might affect each and every one of us
(along with the rest of the world population) in the coming years.
As the post-9.11 world is unfolding, it seems to be filled with
weapons of mass destruction, and with carpet-bombing of entire
countries. Atrocities of the War Without End do and will count in
countless thousands and perhaps millions; populations of other (and
own) countries are obviously just nameless numbers
- numbers to
be diminished - in the heads of those who hold their finger on
deadly triggers, and seem resolved to start pressing them.
k++ |
| Thursday, October 3rd,
2002 at 03:45 |
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