Comments on: 'Alien' Art

'Alien' Art

jack_mo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:03:32 -0800

'Alien' art Artist Jonathon Keats has made abstract paintings from SHGb02+14a, a radio signal discovered by SETI@home in 2003, then dubbed their best candidate yet for an attempt at contact by intelligent aliens. Keats is also returning the favour, broadcasting his work into space from the Judah L. Magnes Museum using CB radio.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:04:26 -0800

See also: a list of past projects by Keats.

By: ruby.aftermath

ruby.aftermath — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:24:00 -0800

"...he has produced several visual abstractions that he considers art." That's funny.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:43:21 -0800

I like to imagine myself to be a rather liberal minded person when it comes to what is art and what's not. Any form of expression is to my mind artistic, even if some argue it may also be autistic. Art is art. This one's really pushing my limits on what constitutes art. Is this the expression of a human being's reaction to the signals/noise we're getting rom? Looks like lines and circles. How is that expression? There's no emotion here at all. This isn't expression. It's barely description.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:50:14 -0800

...Okay. It IS art. I question whether this is GOOD art. I can spit in a jar and put it on display and call it art. Doesn't make it good.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:51:15 -0800

"we're getting rom?" was supposed to be "we're getting from space?" I don't know what the hell happened there.

By: signal

signal — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:51:49 -0800

Why would you put limits on what constitutes art?

By: Balisong

Balisong — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:54:46 -0800

Art is anything intentionally done by someone that causes a reaction, usually emotional, by someone else. Lines and circles inspired by extra-terrestrial noises are as much art as, say, this is.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:55:56 -0800

Is this the expression of a human being's reaction to the signals/noise we're getting rom? Looks like lines and circles. How is that expression? There's no emotion here at all. This isn't expression. It's barely description. When I read the piece I just assumed that the work lies between Keats' visualisation of the data from SETI and the broadcasting of work into space. It's a conceptual piece of which the circle paintings are a part; they're not the work itself, so lack of emotion/expression doesn't really apply when it comes to the paintings - the transformation of the signal into paintings that we can look at, and the sending of art back into space is 'the expression of a human being's reaction to the signals/noise we're getting' part.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:58:17 -0800

(Which I think is quite a satisfying exchange, even more so since I doubt Keats really believes the signal is from aliens, making the whole thing about hope more than anything.)

By: shortfuse

shortfuse — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:02:00 -0800

Maybe Keats was trying to create "universal" visual representations? Ones that would be basic and uncluttered enough for worldwide appreciation - if we're to assume that the alien signal was meant for us all on this earth - as well as hopefully everywhere in space? That may have led him to keep his visuals to simple geometric forms as opposed to more complex visualizations or interpretations.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:14:22 -0800

RECEIVED YOUR TRANSMISSION STOP YOU CLEARLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND OUR WORK STOP YOU ARE ANNOYING US WITH YOUR ATTEMPTED RENDERINGS IN YOUR OWN PATHETIC SOCALLED STYLE STOP PLEASE STOP STOP

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:15:41 -0800

Balisong: I guess I would define "art" a bit differently. Visual art is the intentional manipulation of visual elements (such as color, shape, texture). So a lot of modern abstract art is simply, "this is an interesting way of combining these elements." So to be honest, I rather like Warhol's "Knives." Music works the same way. Beethoven's 7th symphony isn't supposed to "say" anything. It's a technically complicated and precise arrangement of musical motifs that is intended to be interesting to the listener.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:15:50 -0800

What if the aliens hate modernism and destroy our planet ? We have already put ourselves in enough danger by launching that terrible Blur single to Mars.

By: QuietDesperation

QuietDesperation — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:26:55 -0800

Any form of expression is to my mind artistic Art is anything intentionally done by someone that causes a reaction, usually emotional, by someone else. Suicide bombing is art?

By: Ynoxas

Ynoxas — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:48:11 -0800

Suicide bombing is art? posted by QuietDesperation at 1:26 PM CST on August 3 [+] [!] Yes. And, ironically, it has been government funded since Reagan. Although not through NEA.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:27:45 -0800

Suicide bombing is art? Yes. Yeah, a real beautification act.

By: geekhorde

geekhorde — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 14:28:26 -0800

Please. Let's not have yet another damned 'what is art?' 'is it good art?' 'your art sucks balls' discussion. Enough.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:28:13 -0800

to be honest, I rather like Warhol's "Knives." Me too.. I like all art. But, yes, according to my definition, preformance art is art even if it is a suicide bomber, or someone setting themselves on fire. Does it provoke a response? Does it cause discussion? then the artist has done their job.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:26:15 -0800

Love his mischievous/playful sense of humor. Keats copyrighted his mind in 2003, claiming that it was a sculpture that he'd created, neural network by neural network, through the act of thinking. The reason, he told the BBC World Service when interviewed about the project, was to attain temporary immortality, on the grounds that the Copyright Act would give him intellectual property rights on his mind for a period of seventy years after his death. He reasoned that, if he licensed out those rights, he'd fulfill the Cogito ("I think, therefore I am"), paradoxically surviving himself by seven decades. In order to fund the posthumous marketing of intellectual property rights to his mind, he sold futures contracts on his brain in an IPO at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco. Brilliant.