Artist Jody Zellen Interview

9. How do you envision people experiencing “News Wheel” at the conference? What do you think people’s reactions will be when they realize the content is ever changing? Do you think they might consider using the app as a resource as a news feed?

I am not sure what the set up will be at the conference. I think I am scheduled to give a short presentation about it. For that I will probably introduce it and contextualize it with respect to my other project that use images and headlines from the news then demonstrate it and encourage people to download it and use it on their own. I really do like the idea that people could use it as a resource to view the news. One thing I am beginning to work on, and as of yet I do not have a space to present this, is an installation where the spinning wheel is a projection and there is some sort of floor-trigger so that when a viewer steps on (lets say a circle on the floor) it will activate the wheel. When they step off the circle, the wheel will stop and draw from a headline just like the app does. A viewer could start and top the wheel creating a collage of headlines. The moving of the words and the chain of text would have to be eliminated but I really like the idea of making this as an installation. My goal would have it be on view around the time of the US presidential election.

Hi Jody,

We can understand how frustrating it is to have an idea and not be able to act upon it due to lack of technical abilities. Here's our final question, we're almost done!

9. How do you envision people experiencing “News Wheel” at the conference? What do you think people’s reactions will be when they realize the content is ever changing? Do you think they might consider using the app as a resource as a news feed?

Best,

Ellen and AJ

6. Based on your answers to #2 & #4 it seems like one limit of e-lit might be code-knowledge, as you’ve said that you had to learn some new programs and you are collaborating with a programmer. Has this ever impacted your vision of the project? (Ex. was something you wanted to try not possible?)

In 2007 I returned to school (NYU's ITP Program (Interactive Telecommunications Program)) with the hopes I could learn to "code." I am a decent web designer and HTML programmer but much of what I want to do extends beyond those skills and it is not easy to find someone to collaborate with outside a university setting. ITP is a program in NY that in the past taught visual people how to think technologically, but when I attended things had changed and I felt it was more focused on teaching people who came from engineering, computer science, math, etc to think visually in a very straight forward way. Unfortunately I did not get what I had hoped to from the program and basically learned that I do not have the mind to think programatically. I was able, with help to get things made and to work, code-wise the way I wanted them to, but needed a lot of help. I decided that it would probably be better for me to join forces with coders rather than bang my head against the wall.

I continually have ideas that I do not have the ability to realize and it is not always easy to find some to work with or to find someone to hire who gets my weird ideas. So to answer your question, very often I have ideas and want to do something that is beyond my technical abilities and that is very frustrating.

7. What was your process creating News Wheel? How long was it an idea before it became realized? You mentioned a collaborator, have you worked with her before?

News Wheel stems from other project I have done that randomly juxtapose headlines from the newspaper (allthenewsthatsfittoprint.net and Without A Trace). In my previous projects the information was stored in a database and not drawn "live" from the source. I really wanted to make something that was "poetic" and that could be updated in real time. Somehow the idea of a spinning wheel came into my head. Originally it was a wheel of different colors but when my programmer told me she could grab newspaper front pages as well as the RSS feeds I decided to use an image from the 9 sources slightly toned to different colors as the interface. I liked the idea that you cold spin the wheel and when it stopped — get a prize — a headline deposited to the screen. There were many things I wanted to do in terms of the way the type came on to the screen and potentially animated but programmatically that would have taken more hours than the programmer could devote to the project. It was the first time we worked together and I would go to her for another project but when you work (or hire) someone there is always a time delay and I am impatient. I want things to flow quickly when I am at work on a project. The way the text forms a chain when you hold down on the words is not really how I envisioned the animation but sometime you have to make compromises due to time and money. This project came about pretty quickly. I had the idea, applied for a grant, got the grant and we set to work, completing the project in 2-3 months.

8. Can you explain “live” ever-changing content in "art"? If you were to update the app with new features to showcase this aspect, what would you include? Sound, images, etc.?

I do not want sound or images as part of News Wheel. I like that it is text based. The changes I would incorporate would be to finesse some kind of animation so the words were not so static on the page and not have the animation be just a chain of works that disperse when you let go, but a continual animation of some sort. What I pictured in my mind's eye however was not really doable on the screen. I am really happy with the app. I like that every time you visit it is is different and new and represents that specific moment in time. I like that you can save the image and pinpoint a date, for example when something significant happens in the world and is reported in the news, my app records it. I think that is what I meant by live, ever changing content.

Hi,

These three questions are meant to act as follow ups to your answers to the last round, and we’d would be happy to clarify anything that might need it.

6. Based on your answers to #2 & #4 it seems like one limit of e-lit might be code-knowledge, as you’ve said that you had to learn some new programs and you are collaborating with a programmer. Has this ever impacted your vision of the project? (Ex. was something you wanted to try not possible?)

7. What was your process creating News Wheel? How long was it an idea before it became realized? You mentioned a collaborator, have you worked with her before?

8. Can you explain “live” ever-changing content in "art"? If you were to update the app with new features to showcase this aspect, what would you include? Sound, images, etc.?

1. What do you consider “art?" Do you incorporate your life into your artwork?

I can't say I incorporate my life into my artwork, but would say that a large part of my life is dedicated to Art. As in addition to making art, I write reviews, keep a listing website (www.whatsonlosangeles.com) active and up to date, visit museums and galleries on a weekly basis, and teach "art" (or more specifically web design with an emphasis on art or netart).

2. What made you want to start designing mobile apps?

The reason I got into making mobile apps is very similar to my initial forays into net art. I saw it as a platform that was accessible to everyone — and I liked the idea that I could make something interactive and engaging that could be carried in one's pocket. When I made my first net art project Ghost City in 1996, I had no idea how the technology worked or if I could do the actual programming. With net art I was lucky and able to learn HTML and later Flash to make projects function and look the way I envisioned them. My first apps were conceptualized as web projects and transformed into apps. That way I could text the idea and the interactivity as a web interface and then transform it into something app specific as those experiences and viewer interaction are not necessarily the same. With each app I think about how I can take advantage of what the technology and the specifics of the app interface has to offer.

But really, why I make apps is I see it as a way to offer my art to everyone who has access to a mac-based mobile device. I see it as a type of public art since my apps are free.

3. You’ve created a number of mobile apps utilizing random generation and the juxtaposition of elements that might otherwise never be seen together. Is this simply a format that interests you or is there another reason?

I am interested in how meaning can be created through the random juxtaposition of unrelated elements — be it news headlines from different publications or images and text that did not originally go together. It is a strategy and methodology to allow others or the algorithm to create meaning.

4. Do you have any favorite combinations from using your app? Would you encourage archiving of individual examples or is the ephemeral nature of the results important?

In my Art Swipe app I included a share button as well as a save. One could email, post to facebook, instagram or twitter. Maybe people use that. It is hard to know. When I get interesting combinations of elements I do save them. For News Wheel we plan to create a "share" website that will gather images from users of the app, not just mine but the programmer I work with has not yet been able to implement that. Hopefully she can, soon. I do like the ephemeral nature of now you see it then you clock again an it is gone but what is so nice about mobile devices is that it is so easy to make a screen shot and save what you have created. For one of my net art project without a trace (http://archive.turbulence.org/Works/without_a_trace/screenshots.php) I took a screen shot of the site every day for a year and posted it to the site (this was for 2009) but I did it for 2 more years and later used that content for other projects.

5. The 2016 conference’s theme is sort of the opposite of last year’s – considering the possibilities not the limitations of e-lit – can you talk a little about how you feel your project might represent this theme?

I have not given much thought to the possibilities vs the limits if e-lit but I do think projects like News Wheel do open the possibilities… especially in terms of using "live" ever changing content as the basis for creating poetry.

To get down to business, we do have some questions for you to kick start the conversation, feel free to answer them as little/much as you like and, of course, add on anything that might be sparked by all this or even just things that you'd really like us to know that we managed to miss in our questions.

1. What do you consider “art?" Do you incorporate your life into your artwork?

2. What made you want to start designing mobile apps?

3. You’ve created a number of mobile apps utilizing random generation and the juxtaposition of elements that might otherwise never be seen together. Is this simply a format that interests you or is there another reason?

4. Do you have any favorite combinations from using your app? Would you encourage archiving of individual examples or is the ephemeral nature of the results important?

5. The 2016 conference’s theme is sort of the opposite of last year’s – considering the possibilities not the limitations of e-lit – can you talk a little about how you feel your project might represent this theme?

Best,

AJ & Ellen

News Wheel

Jody Zellen is an artist from Los Angeles who has created many multimedia works of art including net art, animations, and mobile apps. In Jody’s app “News Wheel,” the spinning disk interface provides the user with an interactive way to receiving news headlines. With every tap within the interface, you are given a new headline where you can make words disappear, or even combine them with different headlines.

Over the course of this project we used the app several times and there was at least one instance where we were so genuinely shocked and interested in one of the headlines we just had to look up more information - it turns out about 20 minutes prior Ted Cruz had announced Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Even though we were still using the app to create our own combinations rather like a fridge magnet, it was definitely an interesting find.

News Wheel is a mobile app, so from the beginning we wished to emulate the experience of using a phone. Because the app was designed for and is currently only available for iOS, we chose an iPhone 6+ frame to work within and though we had to take some creative liberties owing to the medium our goal was to recreate the functionality of opening an app on your phone.

More information about the app can be found on the Apple Store.