Jason Van Anden
Since 2004
Works in Brooklyn, New York United States of America

ARTBASE (2)
BIO
Jason Van Anden is a new media activist, artist, inventor and robot maker. His creations are exhibited internationally, receiving recognition in the art, science, technology and gaming communities. More about Jason and his work can be found at his website www.smileproject.com.
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DISCUSSION

Virus Thread Question


I was away on vacation for the past two weeks. I was browsing through past Rhizome messages (I use the web board rather than email list), and I came across a weird thread that started with the subject "Clarification", and included an interesting collection of articles (http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?threadH27&text&866#26866) profiling virus programmers. I was going to add my own thoughts, but the thread degenerated into odd rantings, and no "post a reply" button appeared on the page I wanted to reply to. Given the strangeness and context of these posts, I was hesitant to reply, feeling as though I was being intellectually ambushed, or something. Does anyone know what is up with this? Was this misunderstood playfulness on my part, some sort of dada-like free expression, an innocent bug, a mixup with the list or deliberate naughtiness? is it possible for Rhizome staff to turn off the "post a reply" button - or is that a bug?

Jason Van Anden
www.smileproject.com )

DISCUSSION

Re: how does one court chaos on a computer?


Hi Lewis,

If you focus on the 'not really random' path, you are going to drive yourself nuts, trust me, been there, done that, and wasted a lot time. Chances are (get it?), the end result is going to be imperceptable to you, and more importantly, to your audience.

If your work is interactive, keep in mind that your audience is also a random number generator, and thus can complement rand(). Since you don't know what or when your audience will do something, this presents an opportunity to seed rand() differently, unpredictably - making rand() more random.

My day job involves writing data visualization applications for actuaries at a reinsurance company. I know a lot of really smart mathematicians. I would leave this to the experts, and accept rand() as your best option.

Jason Van Anden
www.smileproject.com

DISCUSSION

Re: we like the moon


Mark,

I'm with you - except that I am curious about the current definition of the 'A' word. I am super glad you posted "we like the moon". I cannot think of anything with a captial A recently that has had the same impact on my emotions (except the Guthrie thing). Following is a response I prepared for Michael a couple of days ago, butit did not post for some reason.

Michael,

Unfortunately this begs the question, what is the (or your) definition of 'net art'? I am going to guess that this isn't the first time this topic has been brought up here, so if someone can point me in the direction of a good succinct definition, that would be super.

Both works had an impact on me conceptually, visually and emotionally - expectations that I have of any artworks (net or not) that more often than not go unfulfilled (no offense to the entire community). This is the first time I have seen "Rather Good", and in the context of it being presented on Rhizome, I looked at it as virtual rock band. In this respect, I found it conceptually interesting (no need for an actual band, in fact kind of a virtual punk anti-band), visually more substantial than the majority of experimental work I have found online, and emotionally, well I laugh every time I reflect on it - for reasons beyond my comprehension (sublime?). As for the Guthrie parody, in contrast to a lot of the heavily partisan attempts of art activism online, I saw it as a well produced equalizer (interesting tact) while being visually sucessful, and my emotional response (conflicted laughter) has caused it to replay over and over again in my head since watching it. This is not something I can that recent 'net art' works have succeeded in doing for me in recent memory.

Jason Van Anden
www.smileproject.com

mark cooley wrote:

> i'm not going to argue what is or isn't art - whoops i mean "Art" -
> and i wish i could make that "A" really huge. i came across it and i
> thought it was strange and funny - that's about it.
>
>
> Michael Szpakowski wrote:
>
> > <More net art along the same lines>
> > Sure rathergood.com is funny, but art! -give me a
> > break -it's light entertainment, as is the Guthrie
> > parody which is mildly amusing but totally anodyne.
> > michael

DISCUSSION

Re: we like the moon


mark,

One of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.

More net art along the same lines here:
http://www.plur.net/thisland.html

Jason Van Anden
www.smileproject.com

mark cooley wrote:
> http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

DISCUSSION

Re: Net Art documentation


I am still confused. Are you planning to make visual art that explores these boundaries, or write a paper that presents the state of net art documentation?

The former puts you in good company (check out the Artbase) - the latter sounds like an interesting read.

Jason Van Anden
www.smileproject.com