Thursday, October 23, 2014
artist empowers people with disabilities through mind-generated paintings
www.designboom.com: chinese artist jody xiong has collaborated with 16 handicapped people — recruited via social media — in the artistic and technological realization of the ‘mind art’ installation. the project participants were asked to choose a winsor & newton paint color, which was placed in balloons equipped with tiny detonators. large canvas panels surrounded the balloons on all sides.
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11 comments:
This is such a great, amazing idea. Art is such an integral part of my life, I can't imaging not being able to do it. So seeing people experiencing creating art for the first time is just such a touching, inspiring story.
What would be awesome for them to try to do next would be to make it so if the person thought "green" really hard for instance, the green balloon would explode, and then if they thought of the next color it would explode and you could get a layering effect. Or if they could use their mind to move the ballon around in the canvas box before they explode it. I don't know, that would probably be extremely hard to make and code, but it would be so cool.
What a strong concept that has proven to have have amazing results. "Mind Art" allows anyone to express their creative side without having to worry about their disabilities. This exhibit traveled through China raising awareness and the 16 handicapped people brought in a ton of money for charities. Winsor and Newton was smart in supporting this project because it raised their sales by over 6%. I thought the artists were going to have more control and decision over their painting, but really they only got to chose the color. It could have been cool to have multiple balloons or like Monica said have them chose specific colors to explode. Love the idea and it should be explored in other countries.
I also agree that this is an amazing way to allow people with disabilities to create wonderful art. This can also be applied to people with mental disabilities, people with low-functioning autism or ADHD would definitely benefit from participating in something like this. I do, however, agree with the above comments. There should have been more of an interactive element. I get that they are triggering the balloon, but the time at which the balloon is triggered does not really affect how the painting turns out. If there were some way, besides choice in color, that the people could decide, then it would have much more of an impact on me.
This was very beautiful and very creative. I am glad someone had this bright idea to include these people. To be disabled to the extent these artist were is something that no one can fully understand and to give an additional opporitunity to create some it very cool. It is good the Winsor and Newton helped to sponsor this project and not to bad that they got a few extra sales out of it. We should be paying things forward and helping others. At the end of the day I am glad that awareness for the add struggles being disable adds to one life is. Most of the world is very fortunate.
Similar to Paula, I do wonder how this could be used for all types of disabilities mental and physical. I also wonder about expanding the technology to see if you could isolate different thought patterns to explore different ways to explode balloons at different times. So many options and so much to think about.
I had a similar reaction to those who have already commented: I love that Winsor and Newton are doing this, but I'm not sure that this is the be-all, end-all solution to giving people with physical disabilities more opportunities to create art. It's all well and good if a person with a disability wants to create Pollock-style, abstract art, and if the artist wants to point of said-art to relate to the arbitrary splattering of colors. What bothers me a bit, like everyone else here has already alluded to, is that the artists with disabilities have no agency over how the paint falls on the canvas, and cannot even see it as they're working on it to make adjustments and get it just right (unless there were other steps in the process that the article does not mention). Besides only limiting artists with physical disabilities to just this one form and one specific style of painting, I fear such a method may have a negative effect on the image of artists with disabilities. Aside from controlling when the balloons exploded and picking their colors, these artists had little to no agency in how their paintings were created. If we want to truly empower artists with disabilities, they should have more control over their artistic process in order to demonstrate their agency in creative decision-making.
This is a great idea and so powerful! I agree with everyone about adding more options to what they could do to the art. I think it would have added more customization obviously and it would have made the artwork have more meaning. as it is It was kind of like one of the computer games i used to play as a kid where you used simple commands to make an image.
This also reminded me of a test I saw a while back but have forgotten the name of it. The premise of the idea was using a computer to tap into the brain in order to display colors and/or words. Their hope was to eventually make a portable computer that would take in data about the image/surrounding and then send it directly to the brain on a live feed, totally bypassing the non working eyes. therefore they would give that person back their sight. If we continue down this road of making expression possible to those who don't have what most of us take for granted I think we as a human race might discover what beautiful things we can create with what we are given or blessed with.
I really enjoyed the idea behind this exhibition and the art that was produced by people who may not have had an outlet to produce something like this because of their disability. However, I really didn't like the way the video was set up or created. It took all of the exhilaration and uncommercial pleasure out and replaced it with what I saw as Windsor Newton paints using disability to raise awareness about their own brand. At the end of the video the narrator mentioned something about sales rising in paints after the exhibition was toured around China. I understand that this is probably an advertisement stunt for the company, yet it still bothers me. It turned the art into something less real and less emotional--which wasn't true for the people who produced the art. It shows how having a large brand company produce art exhibits like these can have a negative effect on the way people view cool ideas such as this.
This is really neat. I think it's great that this artist is helping differently abled people make art when they would normally not be able to. I think it's great that he's showing how art isn't just for people with all their limbs, but it's for everyone. Anyone can make art, and I think this is a great example of how technology is making it possible for anyone to do so. I liked seeing the faces of the artists after they saw their artwork, because they looked so proud and happy wight the results. Because they put their brain power into making it, it was really a personal experience.
This is pretty dumb in my opinion. The art that came as a result is definitely beautiful and unique, but I don't see it having a correlation with the disabled participants. I appreciate them trying to enable the handicapped, but I feel as though it could be a little more personal. The explosion of the balloon has no relation to what the handicapped participant was thinking or feeling and I'm not sure if it can really count as their own art or if it's just a random event.
I love this concept of finding a means through which those handicapped can transcend their disability. Sure, the abstract art created by the balloon detention is not a direct representation of anything the artist was intentionally thinking, in fact the artist had little to no impact at all on the piece besides the choice of colors, but there is something beautiful in the simple idea that it was the handicapped individuals choice to think intently that sparked the work's creation. This concept helps us consider whether or not its fair to judge and validate art based on the originality and intrigue of its intention or is it better to only examine a piece only on the definition of the skills involved in its formation.
Obviously the artists in the video had no capability to create the work we see due to physical constrictions, and even more evident is the fact that the abstractions probably had no resemblance to the thoughts the artists were thinking at the works' conception, but its interesting to consider: what is more essential to a work, its craft and form or the idea that ignites its creation? Before seeing this video if you ever asked me this question I'd say the craft is more important without a doubt, and that the artists ability to translate that work as a means of connection is essential as I've often seen that as the fundamental basis of art. After watching this I can more easily see why some might consider the intention the most significant part of a piece, as ones lack of ability to translate their ideas through skill doesn't at all mean that they have less beautiful thoughts, it only means that its more challenging for them to let them be known.
This transcendence of skill to create art through thought, is truly admirable, touching and beautiful. I think this Mind Generated Art is a grounding point for a stimulating conversation that is essential to the realm of art and design, but even if it never reaches that full potential, at the very least I think its a great way to create inspiring images and bring joy to those involved.
I think this is great. It helped show the world that even people with disabilities can create art. They may have physical limitations, but they are very smart and capable mentally. The paintings created were beautiful as well. It was almost like the people were finally releasing all of their frustration from their disability onto the canvases. Art is very helpful to people with disabilities because it helps their minds work in a fun way. There is no wrong answer in art, which makes it a great outlet for anyone. My grandma and brother have disabilities and they both use art to express themselves. I have seen many people with disabilities receive great enjoyment from art.
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