Friday, February 1, 2008

Databasic instinct

Our third reading http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/AI_Society/manovich.html by lev manovic discusses an aspect of computer programming that I would've never thought it could be used as art; The Database.

In my pre highschool days i thought it would be cool to take a visual basic course, programming came easy to me and it wasn't really that much of a problem but then the course swerved into teaching SQL server and Database, the teacher wasn't that good and I ended up hating anything mildly mentioning the word Database (partially because I couldn't even grasp its complete meaning) so to me databases are simply programming "drawers" (if you will) where one stores and organizes chunks of data.

Now as an artist (or trying to be one) I just discovered how "inside the box" my thinking is and how small that metaphorical "box" is in my case. apparently my view of art is still the traditional way of drawing painitng and even digitally i make regular movies and shorts, and try to push my way through animation. I'm pretty openminded concerning new artforms, I myself consider comics and videogames to be arts themselves. but never would i have made the connection that the Database could be used for art and it was staring me in the face all that time.

Lev thinks databases are important as a form of new media because it opens new doors and possibilities into creating artwork, because similar to narrative and cinematic movies the database provides a person with a chunk of data that they recieve the only difference is that the database doesn't have to follow a narrative making it even more versatile as a form of new media.

To Lev really the only problem with narrative is that it had to be structured in a certain way and follow a certain direction (like begininning middle and end with a climax and a plot twist if it was really intersting) now that doesn't mean that the database isn't structured it's whole logic is built on being structured, but the way it's structure differs from person to person and from purpose to purpose because one can shape the database to fit their needs making versatile enough to be its own form of art and a narrative at some times even.

Lev moves on into how video games use databases to create artforms (which is the video game itself), you see a video game has a database of the several objects within it be it a story based VG (like final fantasy and god of war) or just your average solve the puzzle (like the legendary tetris or the ever growing bejeweled) this database is governed by "computer law", or as everyone else calls it an Algorithm. Now the word algorithm doesn't mean actions and saying made by Al Gore (like how he invented the internet, or how using hybrid cars will make the polar bears happy), it really means a code by which a certain computer program has to follow, it is as I mentioned before "computer law". everything in life is goverened by a hypothetical metaphorical algorithmand as one progresses through life one unravels to the code to proceed to the next level. Speaking of level video games are exactly the same, the only way to get through a level in a video game, or get the next high score, or beat the next boss, or save the next bunny is by simply trying to figure out how the game works, how the algorithm functions to proceed onto the following part that way the algorithm works, the mind creates a mental mirror algorithm to work out the compuer algorithm and surpass it.

now the difference between an algorithm and a narrative, is that all narratives have an algorithm within them that they follow to reach their end whereas the algorithm itself doesn't have to be a narrative like in tetris for example; those blocks aren't trying to save the princess, or struggle through life to be the ultimate pastery chef/ninja cat person, or even save the world from an incredibly evil and sadistic yet extremely gay and flambouyant looking supervillan with mother issues. they are simply random block that are rearranged to form a line to disapear, a simple algorithm with a simple goal that you follow without a narrative needed, hence all narrative can be algorithms but not all algorithms can be narratives.

this brings us to the next point, video games use algorithms to control their databases to create a narrative, meaning that a narrative is basically a method of arranging a database to follow through with a story. simply let's look at the arrangment of the novel, the novels database contains the characters, the locations, the events, and the plot twists such organization allows the author to swiftly go through from begining to end without getting lost or confused with his ideas, now the author arranges the relations between the objects in his/her database creating a novel that makes credible sense and follows a logical narrative in that way can a database can be a narrative, narratvie can't be databases because they always move forward, yet narratives can have databases (and more often then not they do) to maintian record of all the elements within the narrative.

Most hardcore gamers consider Video games as a narrative, and no one can blame them all the high selling videogames in the previous and current generation had strong storylines and plot twists, reaching the point of videogames becoming interactive books because they take a long time to complete and they require input from the audience (so they're more than just a movie or a book they're both combined with interactive responses) but with other companies reinventing the wheel and creating devices like the wee and the DS (i'm looking at you nintendo) more and more games started have no narrative again (reminding us of the puzzle games with computer bleeps of old) just maintinaning the concept of fun without haveing to have a narrative. so really video games can be a narrative but that is only one way to go with them.

Now this is easy to explain in digital terms because they actually use the computer database, but making the analogy to real life isn't that obvious to everyone, traditional painting and drawing for example uses databases and interfaces just like the digital world, it is simply called something else, your database is your ideas and your tools, while your interface is the canvas or paper, and the brush, pencil, pen, marker or even matchstick anything that you use to create an artpiece is your interface, it is basically anything you use to interact with your piece to create it.

so in conclusion Lev has opened my eyes onto a new medium that was absically being used all that time without being noticed, but now can be physically used by itself to create art a variable medium that changes as much as we change if not more and can be shaped according to our everywhim, making it the ultimate route to the future (to sound as cliche as possible), and providing us artists with new mediums to work with, because now i began to notice that once regular people (scientists engineers etc aka non-art folk) create something to work with, we artists have to take it rip it apart put it upside down and rewrite it's functions and call it art, creative? yes, beautiful? it takes time but everyone gets there. so really innovating with seemingly boring programming principles (like databases) can really lead is to newer fresher mediums, because art is about life so like life it should be ever changing and doesn't die at a certain form or another. and as long as people live there will be always people that think outside the box and put an upside down urinal in an art gallery and call it a founntain.

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