I'm not sure why, but tech-heavy art seems to drive me insane. I've got an irrational hatred of Cory Arcangel, and stuff like this infuriates me (I mean, c'mon). Watch the video on this page and see if you don't feel the same sense of baffling disorientation that I do.

I'll happily admit that my knowledge of art is confined to the few scraps of ARTH 101 & 102 that haven't yet been pushed from my brain by subsequently-acquired knowledge about Tivo operation, professional wrestling and other pursuits important to the 21st century male lifestyle. But as a geek, I still have a visceral reaction against rebadging tech projects as art.

I guess my objection is similar to the stupid "I could do that!" trope. At its root, this is obviously not a particularly good criticism. But more specifically, I'm bothered by how I could do that: by starting to fuck around with a bunch of technical doodads, ultimately developing some novel hacked-together thing, then refining it into something that can be somewhat-plausibly billed as a "commentary" on something else.

I realize that directionless experimentation has led to plenty of meaningful art. And I know that divorcing authorial intent from the equation is what I'm supposed to do. But can't I at least be bothered by a complete and utter lack of intent?

I suppose it's also a question of presentation: if I didn't see quite so many of these projects billed as explorations of how we interact with technology, I'd be less dissatisfied with them. Most have nothing to do with our relationship to technology — they're just weird artifacts that take batteries. Now, I like weird, battery-powered artifacts. But I don't like being oversold on their cultural import. To my prejudiced eye this class of work is no more impressive or aesthetically important than the electronic oddities on display in the Akihabaras of the world. It seems like there are far more interesting thoughts to be taken away from Korean- and Chinese-produced USB found art than in Western geeks' stabs at willful weirdness.

But I shouldn't be completely dismissive. This piece, by the same local artist who did the above-linked fish thing, seems like it could be pretty good. And I'm officially in favor of cyborg trees (scroll down for an explanatory video). Both of these strike me as employing technology in service of an idea, rather than using ideas to justify the deployment of technology. That's all I'm really asking for.