A friend of mine was an artist on the 13th International Festival of Computer Arts that took place in Slovenia from 10th - 15th May 07. I’m really trying hard to give it attention. I am (marginally) interested in computer arts, especially, given that my PhD topic dealt with the crossover between computer, arts, and online film. Mind you, I do prefer to see Art in a gallery or a museum. I don’t particularly like ‘digital online art’, such as at the ICA’s Digital Art microsite.
The problem with IFCA first of all, is its website. It’s very web 1.0 which isn’t a ‘problem’ as such. Apparently it’s based on a WordPress template. What I don’t particularly like, is the HUGE.AMOUNTS.OF.TEXT. For instance, the ‘About’ section has 660 words, which is fine for a pamphlet or a leaflet or something, but as online text about digital art, it somewhat…misses the point. If you think about McLuhan’s slogan, ‘the medium is the message’, I’d argue that the medium of computer (or rather, the online computer) , initially contained all sorts of media from other media, e.g. longer written texts, still images, and so on. Hence, the first web pages were nothing more than ‘offline text’ that had then been put online.
For some reason, the IFCA site comes across a bit like that. I.e. offline information about the festival was put online or, made available online, without the site itself communicating the message-as-medium. It reads like really it should have been printed out and given to me as a leaflet, or a text, providing background information.
Maybe I’ve turned into a cynical, superficial web 2.0 w*h*o*r*e. I WANT PICTURES! I WANT VIDEOS! I WANT
DIGITAL ART!
Filed under: Art, Culture, Daily life, Internet, Media, Web 2.0
