The concept is a basic difference in the way we see the world. Brought up on the idea of a supreme creator with intelligent design it is difficult to accept the idea of evolution. A simple origin for a complex system is not an obvious transition.

The idea of the hero artist/architect creating fully realized complex masterpieces is one we accept easily elevating the artist to the realm of a god.

The concept of free will allows for us to work within a system in collaboration guiding and riding as the moment dictates. In art this is process oriented work as opposed to product oriented. Eastern philosophy has opened the western mind to notions of staying in the moment and mindful enterprise which dovetails nicely with this view of the artist as gardener rather than architect. Rather than start off with a fully realized plan he enters in to a process of discovery remaining open to shifts and pressures.

Mr Eno wants to experience the work as it develops with the audience and to that end he creates systems of simplicity which generate complexity.

This is the theory behind Field of Voices and the upcoming Field of View. We have created a system to be populated by contributors with very little guidance and a lot of anticipation. We are as surprised as anyone by the result and the hero artist is us all.

We are living in a time of intense nostalgia (in an already nostalgic culture). Everything is about the “remix.” People feel comfortable in this brave new world and century seeing something that feels familiar. But in ANY art historical time period 98% of artists were hacks or just not very good.

pearlygirl

Art education is a way to pay for something that is, in most societies, given for free: a community of mutual interests.

the search for the extraordinary is in my view common experience, or the lives of people, and the beauty and ordinariness of life has. The more “art” keeps with itself, the less it connects with people. Yet the less it connects with people, the more valuable it becomes!!!
HELLORINIS

I watched The Mona Lisa Curse

It’s Robert Hughes talking about the transition of art in to a commodity. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction predicted that as art lost its unique position in time and space it would transform the notion of art altogether. Walter Benjamin’s conclusions were toward a political function. Hughes explores the commercial aspect and its effect on the art world.

These influences combined with a formative study:
Social influences on creativity: The effects of contracted-for reward.
Amabile, Teresa M.; Hennessey, Beth A.; Grossman, Barbara S.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 50(1), Jan 1986, 14-23. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.50.1.14 which concludes after three studies that reward is no help to creativity but in fact has a negative effect, have led to my explorations which I hope to clarify here.

Creating virtual art which is not for sale and can’t even be clearly traded removes the goal from the process. It leaves me able to enjoy creating without having to ward off thoughts of sale-ability. it improves and frees the art. I recently advised a colleague to create a lifelong piece of work which is never to be seen by the public eye. A private field of exploration. Like dancing naked in a hidden pasture without the censors and restrictions of marketplace.

This idea of an idealistically free art while not immediately conceivable is an important compass point for me and serves as a guiding factor in the art of Aequitas.

Tha Aequitas statement goes as such:
Aequitas is Latin for equality, symmetry and fairness between individuals. By working under the singular identity as Aequitas, the intention is to direct focus on the art rather than the individual; to remain outside the cult of personality, to explore alternatives to the more culturally accepted individual creative force. The artists of Aequitas believe collaboration does not require leadership and can bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism. It is a working practice that art collaboration should be playful and not taken too seriously.

This egalitarian bent carries over in to the work and illuminates art as commodity putting Aequitas at odds with the commercial art system. We are more aligned with the DIY philosophy embraced by the early punk subculture. With the proliferation of new media creative tools this DIY attitude has spread from recycled material to virtual hosted exclamations of increasing complexity. Enter Augmented Reality and the ability to cheaply insert simple 3d sculptural art, text, and video in to established cultural and political centers using the medium of the cellular phone itself a symbol of rampant consumerist one upmanship. As these devices proliferate it is socially aberrant for a young person to be without one. We might as well use the medium to reach those poor souls so helplessly caught up in the vicious cycle of planned obsolescence.

This augmented layer exists waiting for commercial enterprise to fill it with advertising facilitating the purchase of more manufactured goods. We at Aequitas in reaction to this intended use are setting up as virtual real estate agents in an attempt to bring participants face to face with their blind compulsion to own, capture, command every symbol of power and strength they are confronted with. On the site of the supposed sale of Manhattan by Indians we will “sell” virtual land. To claim the land the purchaser only need make a free call to 866 780 0582 and record verbally why they want it. These recordings are being collected and the messages are being place in to the virtual objects. Visitors to the site can experience the voices by accessing the Augmented layer using a free application on their smart phones.

People will buy anything but rarely can we come up with a good reason so we don’t expect too many participants. Combined with a lack of clear reasoning is an increasing lack of confidence in ones own ideas when brought out from behind the anonymity of the text box and voiced in analogue alacrity. We intend to campaign and fill the objects with voices of reason and proven truth. Can you help?
Call now 866 780 0582 and make sure to visit us and say hello.

Experience the Field of Voices at

Inwood Hill Park this Spring during the
Ninth Annual Drums Along the Hudson®: A Native American Festival
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 – 11:00 am until 6:00 pm
Rain or Shine – FREE
Inwood Hill Park 218th Street and Indian Road (4 blocks west of Broadway)

Governors Island in NEW YORK CITY
during
FIGMENT 2011
June 10-12, 2011
http://figmentproject.org/

Our Augmented Reality 3d model now available in Tahrir Square in Cairo, accompanied by the text,

“It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.”

This project uses the free Layar application for Android and Iphones. To view, download application, load, search for Aequitas, then fly to Cairo and keep your wits about you. To view the Dove in your own neighborhood initiate an International conflagration and let us know.

Download Layar application

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.

You may have seen AR in use to show the lines on the field of a football game or in the terminator movies when the naked terminator is looking for clothing and gets information on the screen about what he is looking at.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

President Obama