Lev Manovich asks “why does new media favor the database form over others?” (408). Manovich then goes on to discuss the ideas of new media as a form of art. He brought to my attention things that I had not before considered to be a form of “fine” art, but more of graphic arts, such as Web design and computer games. He discusses the skill and the creativity that goes into planning and executing both programs. This description of the process allowed me to see the creator as an artist instead of a designer.
Manovich also discusses the creation of Web pages and how they are a work that is constantly being changed. He believes that databases do not tell stories. With Web pages there are constantly new things being added to the site, he says that “if new elements are being added over time, the result is a collection, not a story” (410). However, I feel that differently. This collection can make up a story, the story of that particular site. It doesn’t have to all run together to form one complete coherent story, but the collection, as a whole, is what makes up the website. That is its (the Web pages) history, and a history tells a story.
Manovich, Lev. Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985. Ed. Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. 408-27. Print.
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I agree with your blog. How can a database not be a story teller? Even though it does change over time with new material, the new material just adds to the contents and makes it a longer story. The article also brought to my attention that I was not considering these types of mediums as art mediums but it does take creativity to make a website with a bunch of layers made into one picture.
ReplyDeleteI wrote in my blog about a similar subject. I agree, a collection of data and a narrative go hand in hand. The narrative needs data and the data needs the narrative. The elements of a website tell a story because it gives you options. The options are the story. A story does not have to be constant or in order to be a narrative.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your idea that a narrative and database go hand-in-hand, but I do not think I could classify web design and video games as "fine art." There is a certain amount of artistry in any kind of design but I think what could define "fine art" is found in the artist's intent and also tradition does dictate that classification in some ways. It seems that web design and video games simply have not earned there place yet in the "fine arts" category.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and disagree with your blog. I can see how you could say that a collection can tell a story, but that's like seeing what you want to see. Take those word magnets for example. I have a collection of them on my refrigerator. They could literally tell a story. But really, it's just a collection of words. What about a collection of saved documents? Wouldn't that be like the web pages collection/history? If you want, you can see "history" in anything, but I think you're just glamorizing the mundane.
ReplyDeleteBeing someone who has made websites I can agree with you on that a website can tell a story and isn't just a bunch of information spread onto a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteI think there's an interesting dialectic created here. Margaret says that "[t]his description of the process allowed me to see the creator as an artist instead of a designer." The binary created between artist/designer is interesting and relevant to New Media because, if the digital medium demotes the artist to a designer, then it seems as if the human element has been reduced to a programming machine. How? I think the word "design, designer" carries with it the notion that the object designed is done so with a further purpose in mind (e.g., a computer program designed to function as a game; from Christianity, the Universe designed with the intention of sustaining human life).
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