Monday, 10 September 2007

Inspiring or just surprising?


Golan Levin



What first popped out of my head is two words 'new media'. I was trying to find something extraordinary or serious meanings from the video, and because I'm also in the 'Introduction to media art' class, I couldn't help from having caught that kind of words. But still, the video didn't go further than an exhibition of the latest media technologies. About at one-third of the video, when is right after I saw him "playing" the media, with his both hands manipulating a pen and an optic mouse, I started to have a somewhat strong feeling on the video.

His improvised looking performance, though maybe you may not call the simple mouse control a performance, was creating inspiring sounds that can amount to a well made New age music. He seemed not so much to know how to click exact points on the screen for musical notes, but rather to be roughly aware of the boundary of each pitch. And, by simply manipulating two mouses he has reversed the traditional way of thought presenting a "video music", not a music video.
He showed that we can have a computer, that somehow these days limits your activity like imagination, as a new media and one of the most impressive instrument ever imagined. It seems all he tried is starting a new category that could be attained only by creation. And I can feel those all creative works are gradually becoming the most important and fascinating elements of art.

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