PhD exegesis

Abstract

Digital technologies pervade contemporary life, so much so that the boundary between the physical and virtual world has become increasingly blurred as digital technologies are embedded “seamlessly” into our constructed environment. Our awareness of the presence and tangible qualities of computational systems disappears, as these technologies are rendered inseparable from physical reality. This phenomenon is a direct consequence of Ubiquitous Computing, or UbiComp. In this study, I investigate UbiComp and other related technologies, such as electronic sensors, camera vision and radio frequency ID, with a view to creating a body of creative work that elicits in viewers an awareness, or sense of “technology-being-with-us”. The study is undertaken through the lens of my Korean cultural background, as in Korean culture, symbolic rituals and objects are used to evoke a sense of connection between immediate, physical presence and other realities, including the spiritual. In this sense, the artworks produced as part of the studio investigations are cultural probes that investigate our relationship with computational systems through instilling a sense of “technology-being-with-us” in UbiComp. In the accompanying exegesis, I will document three artworks that were conceived and developed as a series of creative responses to my studio research. This document will also elaborate on my position on how a sense of “technology-being-with-us” can be identified with digital art. In particular, I will address the use, application, and critique of a subset of technologies related to ubiquitous computing; the modes of interaction associated with these technologies; and discuss Device Art and its influence on my art-making practice.

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Dr In Dae Hwang*, Dr Mark Guglielmetti, Dr Vince Dziekan Monash University, Melbourne Australia

Abstract

The ways in which digital technologies find themselves integrated into society are influenced to a significant degree by cultural conventions. In Western culture there is a tendency to consider digital technology in terms of hardware and software that is introduced into various processes to enable us to work more efficiently and better negotiate our domestic and networked social lives. Such conventions render digital technologies transparent and invisible and in doing so defers our realization that technology is always with us; everywhere and in everything. This culturally reinforced attitude obscures our perceptual experience of “technology-being-with-us”. In response, this paper examines our relationship with technology through exploring alternative, non-Western conceptions of interdependence. In support of this study we examine a series of cultural activities practiced in Korea in order to appreciate how the hardware and software associated with digital technologies can be perceived as non-human entities. This discussion will extend onto an analysis of selected artworks by Nam June Paik, before turning attention to the Japanese media art movement Device Art. The characteristics of this genre – noted for its particular relation to Japanese cultural influences – will be examined to reveal how everyday technologies are used to create interactive experiences that promote a sense of “technology-being-with-us”

SIGGRAPH Asia 2015, Kobe, Japan 2-5 November

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