traceinertia is my outlet for various code-based art projects. A site for storing and presenting the digital artefacts and display of my work.
I have wondered for a long time whether the Stuckists are right---that artists must paint. It has been a long back and forth on whether the outputs and interactions with computers can constitute artworks. I have a strong intuition of what is and isn't art, and though it is more expansive than this Stuckist definition, I have some sympathy for it. My own study of the arts in historical context challenges me to sharpen an intuition into a theory. Fundamentally, I think a manifesto is just that: polemic. For me there are myriad ways to use a computer that create meaningful, valuable, and even beautiful interactions. I believe this also extends to artificial intelligence too. And even if something is not art that doesn't mean it is not worthwhile. Who am I really to name something as art? Should I even want to? Is it not better to let the interaction happen on its own terms without a polluting frame?
For that reason, I have left this loaded term off of the site itself. I use the term here to discuss a particular frame and to bring an understanding of my aims but I frequently wonder if it is a valid and valuable one: viz. an adequate container. traceinertia's first series of pieces dealt exclusively with faulty interactions between user interfaces and users. They are presented plainly, with no instructions or hints. Each contains a mechanism that creates dissatisfaction for me. They allow the user to explore an interaction, quite constrained and singular, making use of HCI interfaces to provide access to an interrupted expectation.
That work has extended now into visual arts proper, the creation of imagistic works. Only some of these have been released and others are in progress. The immaterial ikebana piece deals with a chief concern of the project: digital representation of the real. That is to say: skeuomorphism, forgery, imitation, pastiche. Choosing to render material in pure imitation of the real often leads to the uncanny. The ikebana here is not designed to be uncanny, so instead I present it as beautiful by imitating the 'real' phenomenon of painting. These pieces are presented as visual art representations of a plastic art of the living. Each artificial abstraction that leads here is curious. And the investment in coding practice rather than painting means we can produce an infinite array of variations with the same exercise in techne that a printer could produce dozens and a painter could produce one permanent piece and an arranger a temporary exhibit. But as these are infinite and permanent, we see a real loss of both core values and fidelity from the original artform. That is what leads me to such a fascination with forgery. Code offers a different qualitative experience of the artful---a similar experience to Pop Art. Yet, just as Pop Art, it is still an investment of creative energy, intellectual and formal technique, and aesthetic judgement. For this reason, I consider it a microcosm of the form, and of the traceinertia project itself.
Currently, the pieces are solipsistic. An engagement between the user and the browser (or perhaps with me). They do not offer a social reality. Some of that emerges from architectural elements, the site is static and has no server. But also I feel that social features might dilute what is currently being said there. Though that is not to say that I am without ideas for social pieces that might emerge in the future.
I find the project to be a quiet place. I think that is right for what I am trying to achieve because it is a temple of multiple grottos. Each hails one avatar; one aspect. One ideal.
The pieces are uploaded as they are ready, in series that have thus far followed a seasonal pattern. But anything is possible, as this is work I cannot really force nor desire to. Quite the opposite of the 'move fast and break things' attitude that has poisoned development for me.
If you are interested in digital, generative, and code art I'd be happy to talk about the work that is there so feel free to address it with me.