SMSlingshot

SMSlingshot (2009)

Christian Zöllner, Patrick Tobias Fischer, Thilo Hoffmann, and Sebastian Piatza of VR/Urban (Germany, est. 2008)

High frequency radio, Arduino board, laser, batteries, plywood, and ash wood

14 3/16 x 8 5/16 x 1 5/8″ (36 x 21 x 4 cm)

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Ever since I posted about Mark Jenkins, I’ve really been digging street art / public art / interactive type pieces. At the same time, after shipping out two of my pieces from last semester to the LAL Scripts and Systems show, I’ve been revisiting some of the ideas surrounding the digitization of art and the incorporation of modern technology.

The project SMSlingshot incorporates all of these things and creates a sort of digital graffiti by creating a virtual splatter paint slingshot. The device takes the form of a traditional wooden slingshot (albeit beefed up in size) and hybridizes it with an embedded faux cell phone device. The user can type in text messages and then shoot them onto large surfaces (such as the walls of buildings), where the text shows up in a splash of color. The text is also tweeted at the same time.

As stated on moma.org, “The SMSlingshot marries the traditional weapon with digital technology, splattering information onto facades and other surfaces that then serve as public screens… The device fuses a prehistoric tool, vibrant urban art, and innovative technology into a product that encourages interaction, information, and empowerment in the city.”

Though the digital splatter paint is not fully realistic and definitely still pixelated – I’m not sure if this is on purpose or not – the concept of this project is a unique fusion of several other arenas of art, while simultaneously incorporating the technology most of us already use everyday (texting, Twitter). This perfectly fits the inherent casual nature of a slingshot, but is updated to fit the norms of 2012. Kids are not slinging rocks anymore (or not as often at least) but rather texting on their cell phones from the age of 10, and this project fully adapts to that fact. This project is also perhaps not considered as “high art” and is more temporary with an uncharacteristic type of media, just like graffiti, but it’s fun and original and that is good enough for me.

I’m hoping SMSlingshot circulates around the world and eventually makes it’s way to Rochester, NY.

thank you x a million!

This is long overdue, but THANK YOU to everyone who helped me with my show, offered to help me with my show, gave any input on my work at any point, walked past the gallery and glanced over for 0.2 seconds, read one of my postcards, or did anything else that could remotely be connected to the production of my senior thesis.

I deinstalled last Friday and just finished reading through the sign-in book and let me tell you – it was like reading a high school yearbook filled with notes and hearts and friends and people I don’t quite remember, only 9834285 times better. So many overly-nice things and words of encouragement that made my debacles with drawing and painting the walls and ESPECIALLY framing totally worth it.

My photos of the show are atrocious, but hopefully a combination of Photoshop and finding pictures taken by the gallery staff can amend that.

Thank you again to everyone!

Med school’s sure going to have a hard time trying to top this.

 

mark jenkins

Mark Jenkins is hilarious, in a slightly creepy but mostly genius sort of way. He is an American street artist who creates public installations by creatively placing sculptures in various cities around the world. Jenkins is perhaps best known for sculptures he creates out of clear mailing tape, but in my opinion the funniest and most subtle yet effective works of his are the ones in which he places very realistic looking people and objects in odd, questionable situations.

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All images property Mark Jenkins. Source: http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com.

Rome

Rome

Rome

Rome

Rome

Dublin

Winston-Salem

Bordeaux

Malmö

Malmö

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

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These installations all incorporate a strong element of humor, but one that is inseparable from a simultaneous feeling of unease and slight discomfort. Especially with pieces like those in Rome with the person lounging in the hammock or the person with their legs sticking out of the dumpster, there is a realism to these people that is hard to ignore, despite the ridiculous situations Jenkins manufactures. While the absurdity is more obvious in pieces such as the one with the man’s head stuck in the wall of the building, there is still an element of belief that the viewer cannot completely let go of due to the perfect scale and casual placement of Jenkins’ sculptures. They are funny… but only after the feelings of nervousness, confusion, and/or uneasiness are induced in the viewer first.

The “people” are placed out in the open without any signs or wall labels or indication of them being part of any sort of artistic series, and cities with high volumes of pedestrian traffic are the perfect locations for them. Jenkins does a brilliant job of making just about every passerby a part of his work, whether they stop and look or not. Those who do stop and look participate by acknowledging the work as something that is just not quite right and something that was purposefully placed in the respective environment. Those who do not stop and look conversely participate by allowing the work to blend in perfectly with the surroundings, which is equally as important in order to maintain subtlety and the important element of trickery.

Ultimately, this generates a delicate but necessary balance in Jenkins’ work: his pieces must fit in to the city as generally inconspicuous objects, but also embody just a hint of quirkiness and strangeness just noticeable enough to make viewers do a double-take. Even after careful inspection, Jenkins still retains a sense of ambiguity about the work and does not ever fully give away that these are sculptures of fake people. He lets the audience figure it out on their own, working through their own doubts and uncertainty, which makes the work incredibly engaging to a broad range of viewers.

Aside from being so clever and also slightly awkward, Jenkins’ work also puts a whole new spin on street art. While graffiti is the classic vehicle of public art, Jenkins’ work retains that raw quality of graffiti, while incorporating the high level of craft and skill of the historically renowned high art of sculpture. His work has a completely different feel than pristine sculpture gardens or iconic pieces such as the LOVE sculpture in Philly, yet Jenkins’ pieces are just as well-made and just as publicly displayed. This work straddles the line between borderline-vandalism and professionally-presented art, which makes it all the more unique and striking.

Overall, I love these city installations and although they could not be more different from the art I make, I cannot help but sing their praises and be continually impressed by Jenkins’ creativity.

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artist’s website: http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com

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crunch time.

My show opens tomorrow!

Just finished installing about 91% of it, but I don’t love the spacing so I will probably redo some or all of it tonight after work.

After a ridiculous and stressful fiasco involving buying frames, realizing they were cheap and worthless, being in denial and using them anyway, looking for new ones, not finding new ones, buying frameless clips, realizing the clips did not fit, and improvising with several yards of mailing tape, I CANNOT wait for everything to [hopefully] fall in place.

At least I’m serving chocolate at my opening reception. That’s one thing I know will be a success.