Art about Digital

I have been coming across few artists/designers lately who are using the internet/search engines/social media data as subjects for their work and I find this really interesting.

Julius Popp - has created a few pieces based on live interenet searches and the words that we type into search engines. Below is a waterfall, called Bit fall, where the words appear only for a second in the falling water, but it's pretty amazing I would have loved to see it for real! There's a video here of the artist talking about his work where you can see the piece in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICq53U3dl8

This is the first piece I came across called Web Bit.code. It is a similar idea, the piece is a large mechanically operated ‘screen’ consisting of identical rotating black and white tracks made up of the 1s and 0s of basic binary digital code. Controlled by a specially designed software, the tracks will rotate individually, pausing at regular intervals to display the most frequently used key words taken from recent web feeds of current news sites. It's on display in the V&A in a new show Decode:digital design installations which opens this month. Think it might be time for a trip back to London!

''UXUS followed up the Home Reflections presentation with “Interaction”, an installation celebrating H&M Home’s transition from an online and catalogue retailer, to a physical showroom where one can indulge all the senses, especially touch. With the dominance of digital systems in our world, we explore the possibility of discovering through direct interaction. A large wooden display unit presents a series of pulleys and levers that are attached to various products. An action causes a reaction, pull and push, discovering through the physical exploration of an analog search engine. The display sits within 34m2.''

About UXUS

''Founded in Amsterdam in 2003, UXUS is an independent award wining design consultancy specializing in strategic design solutions for Retail, Communication, Hospitality, Architecture and Interiors. UXUS creates “Brand Poetry”, fusing together art and design, and creating new brand experiences for its clients worldwide. We define “Brand Poetry” as an artistic solution for commercial needs. Artistic solutions target emotions; emotions connect people in a meaningful way. Design gives function, art gives meaning, poetry expresses the essence.''

I am blown away by this piece of work I love it so much. It is so inspiring that a design can really be anything you want it to be - it is problem solving, and these problems are always changing. Bringing H&M back to the store and away from the internet is an interesting idea in itself and they have approached it in a fresh and unique way!