Entry #1

http://www.stenslie.net/stahl/

The image is a large cylinder made out of granite. The monument is 7-1/2 meters tall and grey. There are Orange letters warpped around the center of the cylinder that are organized in such a way that they are actually a from of codding for the map of the human "suicide" gene. The tips are capped off with a shiney steel and the structure stands vertically outside of a carving production facility in Halden, Norway.

The "suicide" gene is the gene that causes a cell to self destruct shold it become damaged beyond repair. This is the gene that prevents cancer, for if a cell becomes too damaged it becomes dangerous to the body as if will continue to reproduce, the "suicide" cell ends that. This is a poweful message that can be interpretted as being able to sacrifice a part of ourselves to better us as people. Sometimes we have to give up on things or sacrifice time or things that we want to do, but in the end it will make us better as people. Putting the coding for this onto a monument is symbolic and extremely interesting. This is my favorite work out of the ones I have seen.

http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/exoskeleton/

The structure is a mechanicle spider-like device made out of metal and hydrolics. It has six legs and is bare with wires and circutry showing how it works. There is a standing platform for those who wish to mobilize it along with two metallic gloes that I suppose are used to move the machine. It is an exoskeliton used to move others aound.

An exoskeleton in an interesting way to incorporate ones digital self into ones actual self. This expressed the inhuman deals that one manifests when contemplating the digital world. Mechanical insect legs and extra hands give humans the evolutionary edge that they need to further themselves. This brings the interest of the digital world to tehe outside of the being and makes them more evolved as technology has made humans more intelligent and accesible to information.

http://www.juliafriedman.com/work_cheang.html

The peice is a collage of words and images peiced together digitally to portray a meaning. Words and phrases such as, "swap" "Exposure", and "He's a she" are in different white rectangular spaces and surrounded by body shots of the artist and shots of different objects that can be seen as representalitions for genitalia. Colors are primarily grey, black, and white, however blues, flesh tones, and other various colors can be seen throughout the collage.

This peice protrays the exposure of the artist as a transgender to society. Bolded and large print letters help to express the shock and objectable nature of the situation. Body shots of the artist and the objects that represent genitalia show how the thoughts that one may view when finding out that a person is a transgender. It shows how the artist is looked at with slight horror and exposure. I find that this sort of peice is very powerful.