Can a crowd produce art? My latest Slate column
Slate has just published my latest column, which explores the question "can a crowd produce a work of art?" I talk about some of the interesting smart-mob theory floating around these days, and then explore the example of Typophile: The Smaller Picture, a fascinating project by Kevan Davis that allowed thousands of strangers to collaboratively design a font. The font was a success, but when Davis tried to extend it to more open-ended art, it didn't work:
When the mob tried to draw a few simple pictures, it couldn't. Davis told it to draw a television, but the image never congealed. The group agreed that the tube should be represented by empty space, but it couldn't generate any other details. An attempt at drawing a face produced an even more shapeless mess. The only partially successful picture was a goat: At around 4,000 votes, it looked pretty goatlike, and at 5,000 votes the mob revised it to make the horns curvier. But after 7,000 votes the picture decayed into a random jumble of pixels, as if the group could no longer agree on what a goat should look like. Mobs, it seems, can't draw.
You can read the entire article here for free! If you have any thoughts on it, I'd encourage you, as always, to post 'em in The Fray, Slate's discussion threads.
Posted by Clive Thompson at July 21, 2004 12:32 PM
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Posted by: Anonymous at July 21, 2004 11:18 PM
The way you describe the process, it has more to do with cognitive studies than art...
If the topic can fit into a stereotype, the first steps define the stereotype, later on each is putting his own knowledge and experience in the picture, so that the result is a mash of diverging "pictures".
Anyway the mish mash at the end could be considered art, when it gets to include the personal motivations and emotions of each individual toward the subject.
As always I don'tno if I make any sense, but this blog always makes my mind tick faster...
Posted by: Mario at July 22, 2004 5:06 AM
My favorite example of creativity and crowds is the work of Komar and Melamid. These two Russian conceptual artists hired a firm to survey the artistic tastes of various people throughout the world and then merely painted that. They've also done this with music. The results can be seen at---http://www.diacenter.org/km/
Posted by: Menlo Bob at July 22, 2004 10:51 AM
Mario, yes, it's precisely about a cognitive style as much as an aesthetic process, isn't it?
Whoever posted about "Feedback" -- thanks! I am totally going to check out that novel today. It looks really amazing.
Menlo Bob: yes, damn, I'd heard about that art project a while ago but forgot about it when I wrote this piece -- I wish I'd included it. The paintings that resulted are just hilarious.
Posted by: Clive at July 22, 2004 11:07 AM
6253 check out the hot blackjack at http://www.blackjack-p.com here you can play blackjack online all you want! So everyone ~SMURKLE~
Posted by: blackjack at August 23, 2004 2:55 AM
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reminds me of a short story i read recently, "feedback," the opener in joe haldeman's "none so blind" collection - http://www.iblist.com/book.php?id=16427
Posted by: Anonymous at July 21, 2004 11:18 PM
The way you describe the process, it has more to do with cognitive studies than art...
If the topic can fit into a stereotype, the first steps define the stereotype, later on each is putting his own knowledge and experience in the picture, so that the result is a mash of diverging "pictures".
Anyway the mish mash at the end could be considered art, when it gets to include the personal motivations and emotions of each individual toward the subject.
As always I don'tno if I make any sense, but this blog always makes my mind tick faster...
Posted by: Mario at July 22, 2004 5:06 AM
My favorite example of creativity and crowds is the work of Komar and Melamid. These two Russian conceptual artists hired a firm to survey the artistic tastes of various people throughout the world and then merely painted that. They've also done this with music. The results can be seen at---http://www.diacenter.org/km/
Posted by: Menlo Bob at July 22, 2004 10:51 AM
Mario, yes, it's precisely about a cognitive style as much as an aesthetic process, isn't it?
Whoever posted about "Feedback" -- thanks! I am totally going to check out that novel today. It looks really amazing.
Menlo Bob: yes, damn, I'd heard about that art project a while ago but forgot about it when I wrote this piece -- I wish I'd included it. The paintings that resulted are just hilarious.
Posted by: Clive at July 22, 2004 11:07 AM
6253 check out the hot blackjack at http://www.blackjack-p.com here you can play blackjack online all you want! So everyone ~SMURKLE~
Posted by: blackjack at August 23, 2004 2:55 AM