discussion of virtual reality goggles art

tm the "facehugging hardware paradigm" makes me nervous
cb Well its not making me nervous
cb There's a lot of competition in the space
cb I know some of the usual suspects are working on it but I was hoping you might know some other ppl that might not seem [to be] the kind who would do VR but are
cb There's PlayStation VR, Facebook Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive
cb Also there's the gear VR for Samsung phones and Google cardboard/glass
tm i can't really evaluate without strappin on the gear
cb So one ring to rule them all isn't something I'm all that worked up about because Oculus might come out as the defacto device, but I don't think that will invalidate experiences on other VR headsets
tm i really like feeling air circulating around my face when contemplating the sublime
cb You should try it
tm i have
tm i hate it
tm i think it forces participation
cb Whens the last iteration uve used ? DK1?
tm in a way that other art doesn't
cb You could say that about the internet too
tm no i can walk away from that
cb u can just take the headset off tho
tm since i don't have the addictive phone/facebook combo
cb im not a facebook person either, but VR seems like there are some great experiences to be had
cb i dont think the world will descend into some matrix-esque hell
tm putting on the headset is unaesthetic to me -- too confining
tm i already wear glasses
cb i think you need to try the newer headsets, theyre much more comfortable
cb and glasses friendly
tm it's not a matter of comfort
tm i don't strap on a feedbag to have a nice meal
tm plus all my objections to bad 3D rendering
tm i think it's the wrong way to go
cb ok, but if there was a better way to have a cheap, widely accessible IRL experience like that, people would have done it already
cb VR lets everyone enjoy it
tm i think IRL is fine without imitating it whole
cb i think it goes with the notion of distribution on the internet
tm art should work on lighter, more lo-res levels
tm i'm against the gesamtkunstwerk

(from memory)
cb art doesn't have to be only lo-res
tm not saying that - the met has many hi-res paintings and i like them - but i hate Pixar

Update: Youtube version of this discussion by Jules Laplace

"Original PNGs" opening tonight

tommoody-PNG_plug

This is the official blog invitation linking to the tweet that links to the facebook invite for my show opening tonight at Honey Ramka gallery. Please join me as we create conditions of artificial scarcity for the workmanlike PNG (and a GIF). (Plus, the installation looks good.)
Honey Ramka is an exhibition space in Bushwick, Brooklyn @ 56 Bogart Street (1st floor). Tonight's opening is 6-9 pm. Otherwise the gallery is open 1-6pm, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (and by appointment).

my show at Honey Ramka - gallery press release

Below is the press release for the exhibition of Ana Weider-Blank (main space) and yrs truly (project space):

ana_weider-blank

Honey Ramka is pleased to present Strange Friends, an exhibition by Ana Wieder-Blank. Strange Friends opens Friday, November 20th from 6-9 pm, and runs through Sunday, December 20th. This will be the artist's second solo exhibition at the gallery.

Wieder-Blank's raw, ebullient paintings and ceramics invoke mythic, protofeminist players—Lilith, Leda, La Loba—to enact terrible and heroic flashpoints of legend. Visionary and revisionist, searing and playful, Wieder-Blank "explore(s) the materials and content with a combination of dark humor, joy, and tragedy" to "change, distort, and extend narratives past their ends to create contemporary political allegories."

sketch_m2_450

Also on view in the project space is Original PNGs, featuring work by Tom Moody.

A consummate digital draftsman and blogger, Moody paints polymorphous biomorphs and pens trenchant criticism with polymathic aplomb. Here, Moody's work evokes underground comix styles, graffiti, and modernist painting. Or, as described by the artist, Original PNGs is:

"A series of drawings made with open source paint applications and printed on paper. The software apps, with names like Chibi Paint, Krita, and MyPaint are often used for online fan art. Here I'm treating them as found processes with inherent virtues, limitations, and quirks to be explored. Made with a tablet and stylus, the drawings struggle between inherited notions of artistic dexterity and the default labor-saving functions built into software. In the frictionless world of 1s and 0s, what does it even mean to struggle? 'PNGs' in the title refers to the preferred output file format for these apps. The PNG is a lightly compressed image that can be read in any browser. Here, a collection of 'original PNGs' are preserved for gallery display. A recent animated GIF will also be on view."

Honey Ramka is an exhibition space in Bushwick, Brooklyn @ 56 Bogart Street (first floor). The gallery is open from 1-6 pm, Friday through Sunday (and by appointment). For more information, visit HoneyRamka.com.