Mining the Museum

As an New Media major with very little technical knowledge, I felt extremely behind the curve, until I read this article about Fred Wilson. It was exactly what drew me to New Media in the first place, and is humbling in its power and artistry. Wilson, to me, had defined Interactivity at the gallery and museum way that is thought-provoking, harsh, powerful, and highly charged, both racially and politically. I found the article itself well-written and thoughtful, a very open look at one of the most important installations of our age, but I found that the photographs available on the web told the story even more. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, and with his installations, Wilson made his exhibits worth millions of words. It was a strong call for a vast reappraisal of the way museums function and display artwork, and it was necessary. This article drew me in further to this major, this class, and my artwork as a whole. I very much hope to explore Fred Wilson and similar artists in the future.

As We May Think By VANNEVAR BUSH

This reading was disillusioning in many ways, for me. Firstly, it proved to me how very much I have yet to learn about the technology of the past, and even our current technology. I don't know how to hope to gain anything about the technology of our time without seeing the precursors to it, and Bush speaks far ahead of his time on many subjects. Secondly, it reminds us as artists, designers, aesthetic technicians and engineers, that we have to keep our minds open to things that seem extreme or ridiculous for the times. Mislabeling such goals for the future as just "Sci-fi" writing is a gross misrepresentation, because as Vannevar Bush proves, there is a professional and scientific way of approaching such broad, powerful subjects, and it is methodical and neat. He simply bases the way technology will evolve based on how technology has evolved. I am interested to pursue more writings by Bush and artists and designers of his time, in the hopes of more fully understanding the history, prejudices, and philosophies that constructed our technology.