Singlecell/Doublecell & Golan Levin

I came across the Singlecell/Doublecell project after googleing to see if I could find any more information on one of the artists that was involved in the whitneybiennial.com project, Golan Levin. His work for this project entitled Obzok, was one of my favourites. I was attracted to it simply because the little amoeba-cartoon was quirky and cute and the concept behind it is simple and a bit of fun. The work is comprised of an interactive amoeba-like form which sits in the middle of the screen upon a black abyss-like habitat and responds to the movement of the mouse in two ways: 1) by dragging the cursor around the page the participant/viewer will innervate the eyes of the amoeba so they follow the path of the cursor, and 2) by clicking the mouse on the body of the amoeba and dragging the cursor around the page, the amoeba will twist and distort to various degrees, depending on how much you wish to manipulate it.

If you leave the page idle while you work in another programme on your computer, or look at another window, when you go back to Obzok, the amoeba-creature will be sleeping, waiting for you to play with it some more. This gives the impression that the little creature has a life that exists beyond the screen- that while we are away from it, while we are not looking it is asleep waiting for us to re-visit and play some more, like a cyber-pet perhaps?

It was when I was googleing to have a look at some more of Levin's works that I discovered Obzok was also a part of another project 'Singlecell' (2001) /'Doublecell' (2002). http://www.singlecell.org/index.html Let's just say that I had a whole heap of fun with this website! The project is a collection of small-scale works that in their design are in some way associated with the single or double-cell organisms or basic structures. In this respect Levine's work Obzok relates well to the theme of the project.


The homepage www.singlecell.org acts as the portal to both the Singlecell and Doublecell projects. The works are brought up by clicking upon one of the round cell contents. One of my favourites is this work entitled Bob Meets Barbara by Juha Hunskonen http://www.singlecell.org/jh/index.html


According to the website, the Singlecell/Doublecell project was 'an exceptionally clear example... of a wholly new mode of artistic production' with a focus on introducing the concept of "computational design" within the theme mentioned above. 'Computational artists' are explained as those whom are both skilled in programming and the arts and who are interested in exploring a cross-over of these fields. Doublecell/Singlecell seeks to engage these artist/programmers/web designers, such as Levin and give them a platform to explore their artistic interests without having to work within the parametres of commercial design. Specifically, the project is interested in those 'computational artists' who write their own software. [http://www.singlecell.org/about.html]

This project interested me because it reminded me of the discussion we had in class about Deleuze's theory of territorialisation and the establishment of ecological niches. The works the artists have produced in Singlecell and Doublecell visually relate to the structure of cells or simple primordial forms and thematically are based upon new beginnings, growth and potential and in doing so are a visual metaphor for the projects goal 'to gather together and create a community for a new species of designer.' [http://www.singlecell.org/about.html] Here, programmers who are interested in exploring the artistic potential inherent in the software they use are given the task to explore the territory between art and programming, and in doing so create a new form of and forum for artistic expressivity and personal expressivity.

Whitneybiennial.com

I found this website earlier in the year having a tinker around online looking at some net art websites after hearing about this paper and thinking that I might like to enroll in it.

This website was put together at the same time at the 2002 Whitney Museum Biennial, but was not associated with the institution. It took me some time to get my head around this, and the lack of information concerning the reasons behind its inception online made me initially think that it was simply the online component of the Whitney Biennial. This is actually not the case, and I'll discuss that later. Let's just say I feel a little duped and it has caused me have to rewrite this blog!

The URL takes you to a 'title' page with simple caricature of the face of an old man. I refer to it as a title page because it has no content on it or linked to it. It functions as a preparatory page asking you to click your way into the project. It is itself an artwork with the function of giving the viewer a taster for the what the project is going to be like once you have entered, like the title page or cover to an exhibition catalogue. Once you have clicked on the 'enter the whitneybiennial.com' link you are transported to the main platform website which acts as a portal to another site that hosts the commissioned 122 artists' works.

The whitneybiennial.com portal is not only an index to the associated content of the online exhibition but is also a dynamic net art project in its own right. The artist who helped design the platform website and who curated the project Miltos Manetas has used very basic form of Flash animation for the site. The word 'Office' at the bottom of the page helps to inform us that this part of the site has been designed to resemble just that. In very simple linear images resembling hand-drawn graphic design, Manetas has created a three-dimensional room and placing within it chairs and an executive-sized meeting table and a blackboard on the back wall. Within the office are links to information about the project in the form of clickable speech bubbles that hover above the table which bring up new pop-up windows. The blackboard upon the back wall has the word "neen" written upon it, which when clicked on bring up a flash animation of little 'neens' darting over the image of the office around the screen, some with wings to "help" them fly about. After investigating the significance of the word "neen" I discovered refers to a "still undefined generation of visual artists" [Manetas, 2000-2006 http://www.neen.org/neenmanifesto/index.htm] There's so much information out there about this project and so many related projects that it is hard to know when to begin and end in terms of what I describe in this blog. I might just have to urge you to have a look at this website too. I keep coming across more and more interesting and exciting links to other projects, that's the trouble with the internet! It's so insidious! I am forever opening up more and more links until my poor little iBook can't handle it anymore.



Back to describing design of the whitneybiennial.com page, at the foot of it is the image of a snake which runs horizontally and basically functions as a tool bar. Emanating upward from the snake is a list of all the artists who were commissioned to put together a flash animation art work for the whitneybiennial.com project. If you hover the mouse over a name you are taken to another "room" like the office in which a snap-shot still image has been taken of their artwork, and is presented as though it is hanging up on the wall, in a sort of 'white-cube' type setting. Some artists' works have a room to themselves while others are displayed in a 'room' together. Moving between 'rooms' does not navigate you away from the whitneybiennial.com page. As you run your mouse along the snake and over the names of the artists, the site unravels from right to left (or left to right- whichever direction you prefer) as though you are walking along a gallery hallway, or watching the unravelling of a panorama. When you arrive at a 'room' with a work in which you are interested, clicking on the snapshot of it navigates you away from the whitneybiennial.com website and to the other site that hosts the actual artwork itself. [http://www.manetas.com/eo/wb/files/]

The website is relatively easy to navigate and the content within the site (links to the artworks) is easy to find. One thing I did find a little frustrating is that as the links to access the different 'rooms' within the space are activated by hovering your mouse of the name of the artist you are interested in instead of clicking on it. A slip of the hand means that screen changes quite rapidly and it can get a little dizzying. Also, and this might because NZ broadband isn't very fast at all, sometimes hovering the mouse over the first names along the snake wouldn't work, but clicking on them would take me to their 'room'.

In the 'office' below the blackboard is a little door with a speech bubble link that says 'old version'. If you find the website a little difficult to navigate clicking this link will take you to the project's original platform. http://www.manetas.com/eo/wb/w/pages/index.htm
I think it is good that the designers' offer a second way of accessing the project for those whom may not be familiar with or like using such interactive interfaces like the final version of the site, who prefer a more 2-dimensional way of reading the information provided. I think that they best way to access the works is by choosing to look at them on this version of the site, as thumbnails.

I initially read the site as being an online part of the Whitney Biennial 2002. I have to admit that I was kind of confused and found it incongruous that an art institution would support a work that seemed to be critiquing the way art institutes operate within an exclusively fine-art tradition that favours real objects and paintings to be displayed within a physical space, a white-cube. However, after reading a statement by Manetas that I found by clicking on one of the interactive speech bubbles in the 'office' that says 'wb story' I unraveled an amazing story of subterfuge that had just taken place where it seems I was the main victim! Manetas explains therein that he wasn't intending on critiquing the museum, he was just interested in promoting the groups 'neen' and 'telic'. [Manetas 200-2006 http://www.manetas.com/eo/wb/files/story.htm] And, that whitneybiennial.com wasn't actually associated with the Whitney Museum, even though it was inaugurated at the same time using the same name! Only after following up with a bit of further reading did I realise the error of my ways. I am sure I am not the only one!

In spite of all that new information, I still maintain that whitneybiennial.com is a critique of the museum-space and how net-artists are marginalised in the art-world, or at least that seems to me to be the dominant message sent. The are operating through the guise of and up in the face of the Whitney Museum as an institution and this sends a powerful message! The more I read about this project the more complex it becomes, and this blog really does not do justice to all of the complex and exciting history, influences and problems surrounding the project. I am thinking that I will have to do my seminar on this this! I would definitely recommend that you check this website out. In my next blog I think I will talk about a couple of the artworks from within the show that I thought were interesting. Please leave me feedback!