What is GPS Art?

1. What is GPS Art? An Exploration of Artistic Paths Jeff Moll April 10, 2007

2. What is GPS Art? http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2849810430047123626zlZGYe

3. http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~highrise/flat/where/maps/map4.gifhttp://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~highrise/flat/where/maps/map4.gif

4. What is Art? “If an artist says it’s art, it’s art.” – Roberta Smith http://arthistory.westvalley.edu/images/D/DUCHAMP/FOUNTAIN.JPG

5. What is Art? Something is a work of art if it is “intended as art, presented as such, and … judged to be art by those qualified in such matters.” – Grace Clueck

6. What is Art? “Art is expression; and expression we may describe…as the putting forth of purpose, feeling, or thought into a sensuous medium, where they can be experienced again by the one who expresses himself and communicated to others.” – Dewitt H. Parker describing Benedito Croce’s definition of ‘art’

7. Is “GPS Art” Really Art? • “Artists” • Critics • GPS as a medium - technical limitations - capabilities and possibilities • Social Implications • The Answer

8. The Artists – Hugh Pryor and Jeremy Wood http://www.gpsdrawing.com/gallery/land/belephant.htm The Brighton Elephant

9. The Artists – Hugh Pryor and Jeremy Wood LAX Airport http://www.gpsdrawing.com/

10. The Artists – Masaki Fujihata Impressing Velocity http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/impressing-velocity/

11. The Artists – Jeremy Hight, Jeff Knowlton and Naomi Spellman 34 North 118 West from Martin Rieser, “Place, Space and Narrative Forms”

12. The Artists – Timo Arnall Photography and Mapping from Afar http://www.elasticspace.com/images/afar_photo_map00.jpg

13. The Artists – Timo Arnall Time that Land Forgot http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/07/timeland

14. The Artists – 0100101110101101.org http://0100101110101101.org/index.html

15. The Artists – Nancy Nisbet http://www.turbulence.org/blog/images/xray.jpg

16. The Critics • Bloggers – Matt Ward “The map is open, connectable in all its dimensions, and capable of being dismantled; it is reversible and susceptible to constant modifaction…. Contrary to a tracing which always returns to the ‘same,’ a map has multiple entrances.” – French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari • Scholars – Martin Reiser “The GPS drawing project simultaneously combines the idea of mapping and walking…. But these landscape mapes seem purely aesthetic in their intention.”

17. The GPS Medium - Limitations • Preexisting Infrastructure • Primitive/Restricted Aesthetic • Technological Flaws • Homogenization of Space • Expense • Participation • Exhibiting Technology

18. The GPS Medium - Possibilities • Universal Visibility • Physical Scale • Objective/Common Experience • Assimilation of Technology and Life • Expansion of Human Reach • Makes Invisible Visible • Manipulation of Dimensions • Translating the Passive vs. the Active

19. Looking Back to the Clouds… http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2799282800047123626KXdaRi

20. And Back to the Map… http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~highrise/flat/where/maps/map4.gif

21. www.gpsdrawing.com/gallery/land/if.htm

22. The Answer • Critics • Society’s Response - our minds - our eyes

23. The Answer “Unless you know where to look you will never see them.” - Mark Ward (on Wood and Pryor)

24. Society’s Reaction • Our Minds • Our Eyes

25. References Arnall, Timo. “Photography and Mapping from Afar.” Elastic Space. 28 Jul. 2004. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/07/afar>. Arnall, Timo. “Time that Land Forgot.” Elastic Space. 30 Jul. 2004. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/07/timeland>. Greene, Jo-Anne and Helen Thornton. “GPS Art.” networked_performance 30 Mar. 2005. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.turbulence.org/blog/archives/000776.html>. Hibino, Kikuhiko and Aldo Figueroa. “Global Positioning System (GPS): MAT200A.” University of California Santa Barbara. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/ ~g.legrady/academic/courses/02w200a/gps/>. Kamhi, Michelle Marder and Louis Torres. “Supplement to What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand – Chapter 6 - The Definition of Art.” ‘What Art Is’ Online. 2000. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.aristos.org/whatart/ch6.htm>. Lakshmi, Sandhana. “With GPS, World Is Your Canvas.” Wired News 22 Jun. 2002. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.wired.com/news/culture/1,52989-0.html>.

26. References (continued) Mirapaul, Matthew. “Drawing (and Doodling) With Countryside as Canvas.” The New York Times 1 Apr. 2002: E2. Parker, Dewitt H. The Principles of Aesthetics. IndyPublish, 2001. Authorama. 9 Apr. 2007 <http://www.authorama.com/principles-of-aesthetics-3.html>. Rieser, Martin. “Place, Space and New Narrative Forms.” Bath Spa University College, Bath, England. Scheeres, Julia. “New Body Art: Chip Implants.” Wired News 11 Mar. 2002. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://www.wired.com/news/culture/1,50769-0.html>. Ward, Mark. “Safari by Satellite.” BBC News Online. 15 Oct. 2001. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/1595670.stm>. Ward, Matt. “GPS Drawing: Meaningless Spatial Squiggles.” Thinking About Things 11 Feb. 2005. 9 Apr. 2007. <http://triptychresearch.typepad.com/ thinking_about_things/2005/02/gps_drawing_mea.html>. Whale, George. “Why Use Computers to Make Drawings?” Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Creativity and Cognition (2002): pp. 65-71.