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Image Trace addresses the nature of interactivity on-line.
In particular, Smith focuses on tactile experiences.
Traditionally, tactility is caused by or consists of
contact with something - it is a state of being derived
from or caused by touch. Interaction within physical
spaces results in contact with objects; within a spatial
construct like the Internet however, users lack the
capability to experience contact or touch since the
data network of the web (and the images on it) encompasses
no physical form. Users may touch their keyboard and/or
mouse, but are at a base level, prohibited from touch-based
interaction in this environment by the surface of the
CRT screen. In addition, the dominating presence of
visual and aural elements within the digital environment
tends to subordinate, perhaps even nullify, the potential
for other sense-based experiences. Thus, although "much
has been made about the possibilities of the web as
a new form of reality, even a virtual realty,"
Smith points out that in actuality, the web is "a
flattening of reality into a deadened set of tactile
experiences."
Image Trace begins with a proposal, which states that
the site is "dedicated to the image as a digital
tactile experience." Smith's dialogue lends an
air of mystery to the piece, prompting viewers to ask,
"How can an image transpose itself and become a
tactile medium?" Behind Smith's words, one notices
pixelated layers of monochromatic colour forming a topographical
map. The picture's composition gives the image a sense
of depth and height despite the actuality of it only
occupying a two dimensional space on screen. Closer
inspection of the illustration reveals that it is actually
a hand, an object meant to accentuate Smith's focus
on touch and interaction. The dialogue continues, saying,
"this new reality is [actually just] a set of coordinates
projected onto the smooth flat screen of the monitor"3
- a comment that not only refers to how computer visuals
are based on vector graphics, but also provides a hint
to the audience as what to expect when given the option
to "feel [the] images" as well.
When "feeling" one of Smith's images one
should consider the approaches and methods used in listening
to Cage's 4'33 - with an awareness of the divergent
possibilities as to how one can experience the world
via the web. This concept is clearly stated through
Smith's texts. He states that despite the limitations
technology may pose on the senses, "the potentiality
of tactile experience remains in the digital environment.
It has, however, shifted from direct contact to spatial
and numerical coordinates. We feel in this space not
through direct contact, but by extending our sense of
contact and our hands through the mouse."4
True to the form of Fluxus art, there are ten possible
images, or multiples, available for the viewer "to
feel." One is immediately struck by how the images
in Image Trace resemble Robert Rauschenberg's White
Paintings. Like Rauschenberg's blank canvasses, Smith
images have been "visually dissipated leaving only
their trace forms, or edges, and resultant interior
surface dimensions."5
Although Smith warns viewers that his "site does
not offer images to see but images to feel,"6
the absence of an actual image reads as somewhat disorientating.
The lack of visuals is integral to the concept of Image
Trace as it undermines traditional ways of viewing art,
causing users to find alternatives to interpreting and
understanding it.
By undermining the conventional way of seeing images,
Image Trace seems to take a Duchampian approach to art.
A central element of Duchamp's artwork was his campaign
against what he called "retinal art." According
to him, a work of art must contain at least two things:
the first of which corresponds to the sign - that is,
the visual element; and the second to the signifier
- what might be loosely described as the conceptual
element.7 Duchamp
felt too much importance had been placed on "the
visual," thus making art intellectually limited
and over-valued as object based. By rejecting retinal
art, Duchamp's emphasis in his art-making was on the
conceptual. Quite humorously, Smith also seems to reject
"retinal art," in that his images are completely
devoid of any visuals for the eye to see.
Footnotes:
3 http://www.altarts.org/tracker/index.html
4 http://www.altarts.org/tracker/nprojdes.html
5 http://www.altarts.org/tracker/nprojdes.html
6 http://www.altarts.org/tracker/nprojdes.html
7 Smith, Owen. Fluxus:
The History of an Attitude. 15 April, 2004. http://www.thing.net/~grist/ld/smith-fl.htm
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