THE CENTRAL CITY ( 1997 – 2007) website consists of over a dozen projects which have been in development since version one went online in 1997.
THE CENTRAL CITY ( 1997 – 2007) STANZA
stanza image
stanza image
www.thecentralcity.co.uk
The Central City project was made specifically for the internet as a piece of internet art. My design and technical restrictions therefore meant that the graphics sound etc, are all targeted for general internet use, at the time this was 56 k.
I now define net art as work which use the protocols of the net as a medium. The work has to be net specific, designed for the internet, will use elements of html, javascript, and could also incorporate flash, shockwave and java
A copy of the whole internet project is now also available on cdrom; and versions exist that can be exhibited as an interactive installation. The work evolved over eight years to its current version and form.
My idea is to go deeper into analogies for the organic identity of the city. This organic interplay is contrasted with man made structures, as well as patterns and forms of urban design. The micro city becomes an organic network of grids and diagrams. The form and content of this work is the visual world of the city and its structure. Networks of information technology are contrasted with organic networks and city networks.
THE INTERACTIVE CITY.
‘The central city‘, moves away from ‘linear’ //generative pieces, into a more non linear and interactive experience, giving the audience some control over the artwork. The city allows you to experience different artwork depending on how you choose to navigate. There are also random ways to experience this. As well as this non linearity, some of the pieces change over time. Evolving pieces exist, that the “user” has to control to make them work, the user also can input changes of sound and picture. This change in the relationship between the audience and the artist could be said to change our perception of the artwork. I am evolving a situation where the audience may not only participate but also by giving them some control, contribute to the form and content. The work is exploring this changing relationship between the audience and artist. The user makes the decision to change sounds and pictures, where to go, what to see, what to hear. This can be done by movements within the grid. This change in the relationship between the audience and the artist changes our relationship to the artwork. The user can choose what they experience, synthesising converging media, systems, and phenomena in the process.
The city codes itself up into a growing patterns, based on algorithmic patterns.
THE CITY AS CODE.
The city codes itself up into a growing patterns, based on algorithmic patterns. The digital city experience. This is a playfulness not far or dissociated from the playfulness of the situationist critique. And like the situationists, they also wanted to build cities. ‘The central city’ has become an amalgamation of ideas from art, architecture , design and urbanism united within the spirit and the ethos of the situationist movement.
Stanza artworks. The city codes itself up into a growing patterns, based on algorithmic patterns.
These themes have inspired the making of the central city website.
Networks of information technology contrasted with organic networks and city networks as grids.
Repetition of imagery particularly, tower blocks, maps, streets, factories and housing estates.
Loss of sequential connection to the masses of information which bombard our everyday existence.
The schizoid relationship to the environment and lack of spiritual grounding.
The juxtaposition of urban sounds and sights.
The way we move through the city and our relationship to the architectural space.
The online spaces are for dreaming, thinking, meditating and transience.
A visual labyrinth, a maze of circumstance. The city itself is always changing; it is always in flux.
