Reflection: make/new/media/work
Further playing with bbs
BBS: A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program
During their heyday from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, most BBSes were run as a hobby free of charge by the system operator (or “SysOp”), while other BBSes charged their users a subscription fee for access, or were operated by a business as a means of supporting their customers. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the World Wide Web, social network services and other aspects of the Internet.
As the use of the Internet became more widespread in the mid to late 1990s, traditional BBSes rapidly faded in popularity. Today, Internet forums occupy much of the same social and technological space as BBSes did, and the term BBS is often used to refer to any online forum or message board. Although BBSing survives only as a niche hobby in most parts of the world, it is still an extremely popular form of communication for Taiwanese youth (see PTT Bulletin Board System). – Wikipedia
As a user of the “old school” version of the internet, I decided to play around with the old system, using a black screen as my canvas. The difficulty that I found while playing around was that every step relies on coding, which is challenging for visual thinkers. Every number code combination stands for a color, for example *[0;30m stands for black. The colors and the pixels in the BBS have limited variety. As I researched more ideas, I realized that the form of art that was widely used for ppt (Taiwanese bulletin board system) was Japanese anime (see 1). Using such restricted form, cartoons may be have been the easiest to decipher, whereas landscapes or images with delicate details may have been too pixelated to understand (see 2). All of the images below are screenshots from telnet. It may be difficult for the general viewers from this era to manipulate bbs.
1.
ASCI form of Japanese anime (Originally from PTT by alex12582001).
2.
Experiment with abstract ideas.
Code version
bbs version
Original idea
I decided to approach it differently. I experimented with different ideas, but portraits seemed to be the best theme. We are visually accustomed to the form of human features, so even the highly pixelated form could be decipherable.
From the last few days I’ve been experimenting with the basic color coding.
After I became more familiar with coding, I tweaked each code to create a blinking effect. The images distort in some way and blink back. To take this a step futher, I experimented with animation. It is a grayscale, simple series of a woman tossing her head, and the frames worked smoothly. The frame and timeline settings were easy to operate, but I failed to code commands to make it move. It was challenging for me to figure out the placement of the code. I managed to collage the rough idea of my animation into a GIF file, so it is still possible to watch the movement. Using coding as the tool for artmaking is challenging. It is possible to be stuck for hours trying to figure out an effect. New media base artwork may be time consuming, but every risk brings you closer to mastering a new skill. I think it also draws in the spirit of delayed gratification. Logical skills required for creating code combinations becomes a nontangible means to create Art.
Blink experiment 1
Blink experiment 2
Animation experiment 1
Love these images & how you’ve experimented with this art form. Have you thought about your source images? You mention portraits seem to be the most well-suited for this, so what type of portraits would you want to do? And, have you considered the display of these works in a gallery setting? Using projectors? Or small monitors? I’d love to hear your thinking on this as you (hopefully) keep going!
I was thinking about portraits that brings a mood that lasts impact. As I wander around ptt, the images and animations were used for festive or satire reasons. I thought I would exhibit it on telnet and see how users of telnet will think about this form of art.