Interview with Jeldrik Schmuch. /amberfest09
Which art project do you attend the Amber with?
Straybullet (straybullet.smugo.com)
What is your aim with your art work?
Straybullet is a kind of prototype for a bigger project with focus on senses and how we use them to interact with our environment. How we rely on them and what happens if we have to cope with the situation of loosing one of them. Mouse and keyboard are the most common interfaces of man machine interaction but they are far from being the ones best suited for human being. My aim is to analyze and verify different kinds of interfaces that fits better to concept we interact in our world.
How does your project works?
As mentioned before straybullet is the first prototype of a more complex project. With straybullet I’m studying the behavior of users having to use their equilibrium sense for maneuvering a bullet through a virtual labyrinth full of holes. In this first basic version the user receives a visual image of the labyrinth that will be replaced by a sound only image in the next version to come.
Could you describe your process of creation?
I like living in big cities. But having grown up in the country side I realize the overwhelming input to our senses we have to cope with. How do we manage to filter out the useful information among all the “sensory noise” that overflows us.? We take our senses for granted but how do we behave when being forced to rely on them in an uncommon way?
How long have you been producing digital art?
I realized my first bigger art project 2006 memento.smugo.com) but already in my youth I was experimenting with photography and experimental short movies.
How do you describe your art as an artist using technology?
Technology is part of our society. Art is always kind of a reflection of the lives we living. In the past media art was kind of an art on the fringes for geeks and cyberpunks but today it has the same significance like normal art. The time where you could create media art that
was just of value because of the technology used is over. Tools like processing, max/msp and arduino make it incredibly easy to create media art. What counts is the idea, the concept and the final outcome like in every other field of arts.
What made you choose digital media as medium?
With my art I’m trying to reflect the society I’m living in. And as living in a wealthy western society technology is the foundation it is routed in.
You’re working with data and interfaces which are not as durable as classic materials like paint, marble etc.;what do you think of filing digital art to pass them on to the future generations?
Various art fields like fluxus or land art are much more ephemeral than media art. In our digital society we are only numbers in databases why should it be different with the art i am creating?
Do you have aesthetic concerns while producing your art?
I’m trying to keep my projects simple in their appearance. The observer should get the concept without being distracted too much. The aesthetic quality is important but should not be the main focus.
What do you think of the interaction between technology and human?
The progress in technology is amazingly fast but we still stick to the same interfaces since their invention 30-40 years ago. We use technology every day a hundred times but still the way of interaction is awkward. I am hoping to see a stronger progress the next years to come.
Do you think technology leads to passivisation of its users? Are we interactive or interpassive? Why?
The machine acts and we react. Machines present us a state and our reaction leads to a new state. So in the end the machine is telling us how to react and more and more we are becoming slaves of our own creations.
Interview: Çiğdem Zeytin
