Google Art Project

Taking the virtual art experience to the next level, Google's recently unveiled Art Project offers one of the best digital experiences with traditional art. Participating museums have allowed Google to bring selected pieces of their collections to life virtually. Art Project allows you to visit Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, The National Gallery in D.C., and the Uffizi in Florence in only a matter of minutes. With Google street view technology, you can experience the layout of the museum and use zoom tools to get closer to the paintings than you might be able to physically. Although, I believe nothing compares to standing before art physically, this experience is quite incredible in it's own way. The ease of accessibility makes art available for anyone able to point and click.

From Virtual Reality to Augmented Reality

Experiments with augmented reality in the hands of cereal marketers...

What, Where, and Whose is Cyberspace?

Technology as an Agent of Cultural Transformation

Technology enters the inmost recesses of human existence, transforming the way we know and think and will. Technology is, in essence, a mode of human existence, and we could not appreciate its mental infiltration until the computer became a major cultural phenomenon. (Heim, 61).

In an attempt to define the parameters and ownership of cyberspace, various writers have explored both abstract and literal interpretations. Though various lenses have been applied to illuminate the concept of cyberspace, themes of duality of form and time seem fairly universal across texts. While Wole Soyeinka and Linda Henderson’s interpretations of cyberspace present the concept in a more abstract form, with cyberspace or “hyperspace” as a fourth dimension with mystical/spiritual implications, Michael Heim conceives of cyberspace in a more literal, technological form, presenting the conflict between man and machine. My interpretation is likely somewhere between the two camps, with a higher regard for Heim’s interpretation, which allows for greater accessibility. Cyberspace is a medium for communal use and individual expression that is in all places that offer the means and ability to access cyberspace. Admittedly, that definition solves no looming questions over the space, as the space is constantly changing and bring about change.

Soyinka and Henderson discuss the fourth dimension in a manner that benefits from a strong background in ancient history and knowledge of artistic and philosophical movements. The readings themselves presented a learning curve to reconcile the abstraction of cyberspace as a mystical environment. Henderson’s literature builds and comments on the work of nineteenth century author Charles Hinton, while referencing twentieth century philosopher Peter Demianovich Ouspensky. Hinton was the first to describe the fourth dimension as a curvature of time in which space is relative. Ouspensky posited the fourth dimension as a space with a mystical force centered around an “eternal now”. The concept of an “eternal now” proposed that true informative experiences could occur with a certain degree of artistic sensibility and mystic insight. Users of cyberspace must sort through axioms of logical interference to craft their notion of perception in the fourth dimension. Henderson’s notion of hyperspace philosophy uses Einstein’s comment that, “we cannot attach any absolute signification to the concept of simultaneity, but that the two events which, viewed from a system of coordinates, are simultaneous events when envisaged from a system which is in motion relative to that system.” (Henderson, 345) The curvature of cyberspace allows for forms to change shape in the continuous motion of mutually existing realities.

In his chapter titled “From Interface to Cyberspace” in the book The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Michael Heim explores the effect of cyberspace on individuals, real and virtual. Cyberspace existing as a represented or artificial world made up of information both inputted and downloaded through an interface consisting of the digital and the human. (Heim, 79) Heim puts his definition of cyberspace in the context of a world in which, “Nobody knew what the future would hold, only that the future would be unimaginably different from the past.” (Heim, 74) Life in the post-digital world is certainly different than the pre-digital one many of us struggle to remember or even conceive. As we continue to colonize digital territories, questions of property ownership and identity arise and call for discussion of this evolving space that is, at once, both communally owned and individually leased, a space, which allows for a utilitarian function in the lives of users or, even, offers a mystical higher power.

The past three decades have witnessed the spawn and proliferation of digital space and entities as an interwoven part of society. Despite ongoing cyberspatial socialization, the prevalence of what Michael Heim describes as “technoanxiety” perseveres among users of and within cyberspace. Initially thought of as an agent of advancement, there is a persistent friction between man and machine. The anxiety stems from the possible passivity that cyberspace presents to its users. As processes become automated, users begin to believe in the promise of ease and escape from everyday responsibilities. However, despite this ideal of escapism, users often become more reliant on technology than before. With some users’ reliance bordering clinical addiction, a fair amount of skepticism at technologies’ benefits is expected. This anxiety is taking place within social scenes, as well as academic arenas. There is an uncertainty over whether technology acts as an opponent or component of human lives.

As opponent, Heim suggests technology “appears as a rival intelligence that challenges the human being to a contest.” (Heim, 59) Similar to an arms race, humans race to acquire digital property and produce propaganda at alarming rates. This propaganda manifests itself in the form of social media sites and blogging platforms, through interactions with news and information sources, and through commerce of physical goods in virtual space. Technology empowers individuals to create identities and communities as an extension of self. Programs such as Second Life enable people to represent themselves in a virtual reality. Within this reality, avatars become expressions of either real or imagined selves.

With this power comes the option to operate within actual social norms and the morality of actual reality. Conversely, people may choose to alter their expression of self to deconstruction social norms of actual reality. This can take the form of people expressing different genders than their actual gender or transforming their concept of personality with some people exhibiting heightened extroversion or introversion, illustrating extreme political ideals, or revealing unpopular fetishes. This freedom of expression can show bare a dark underside as people are unable to reckon discrepancies of their fictional and actual identities. Heim expresses this phenomena by stating, “We find it difficult to become aware of our own internal states without the objective representations of the interface.” (Heim, 80) From one perspective, cyberspace allows individuals to explore their desired self and project their inhibitions into a virtual reality. This interface between actual and virtual provides an opportunity for users to inch towards self-actualization. Alternately, the friction caused from conflicting representations of self can have a harmful effect on users sense of self and ability to relate to others. In this way, cyberspace bares both communal and individual consequences.

Cyberspace is at once yesterday, today, and tomorrow that thrives through interaction and engagement. Despite the positive offering of cyberspace, the concept ultimately raises more questions than answers. Questions difficult to address without historical distance. And, yet, we will observe cautiously and engage with an open mind to realize the ongoing effects of cyberspace.

Bibliography

Michael Heim, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

Linda Henderson. The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in

Modern Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983).

Soyinka, Wole. “Appendix: The Fourth Stage,” Myth Literature and the African World, New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990, pg. 141.