Journal Entry #2 - Constructive Criticism Model Homework Exercise

Hostage Pt 1.0 (2010). Frederick De Wilde.

Response
At first glance upon this particular piece, a surreal sense of peace and tranquillity emanates from the work which slowly dissolves into an enigmatic sensation upon further inspection. After prolonged viewing, the work seemingly unravels itself and invokes a feeling of despair and desolateness.

Description
The work itself is a black, completely dark geometric shape encased within another geometric shape in the form of a frame. Vast white space surround the dark aspect of the work. The work itself is monochromatic, with the only two definitions of colour coming from black and white. Nothing else resides within the space of the actual piece.

Analysis and Interpretation
To provide some context, the above image is an artwork that resulted from a collaboration of scientists and the artist Frederick De Wilde. The work was produced via nanotechnology, or "nano-painting", which may sound advanced but it is a craft that was dated since back then in the times of the Mayans who performed such techniques on their pottery. What is unique about the work is the usage of "nanoblack", a colour that resulted from nanotechnology. It is literal darkness, and no light is able to escape from the black space in the middle of the work as the space absorbs all particles of different rays, and this is where I believe that the sense of the word in the title "Hostage" becomes truly poetic. In a literal sense, light becomes a hostage, its rays captured forever within the space in the middle of a vast white background. The dark area becomes a trap, a black hole which completely kidnaps the light. The contrast of the size of the white backdrop to the black shape in the middle reflects a sort of loneliness, as though there is a subtraction of space which comes from the expulsion in the form of the dark area, which has been excluded from the rest of the work. The black geometric shape appears alone, singular and solitary in its space, and while it has captured the light for company, we never truly see the light reflected on it and it is ultimately still on its own, a hostage of its own device.

Evaluation and Judgment
The work Hostage Prototype 1.0 truly presents an interesting take on the craft of utilizing technology to create art, or "new media art". In a world where we are growing in terms of technology at an exponential rate, sometimes we become hostages to our own devices, and I feel that De Wilde's work presents that threatening nature to us while soothing us with the minimalism of it all, yet it is this minimalist nature which feigns stability amidst an invisible chaos that makes the concept of technology impinging on our lives as we become more dependent, even more insidious.

Sources: Frederick De Wilde. Hostage Prototype 1.0 (2010). Retrieved from http://2012.zero1biennial.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/project_image/Scan%20Hostage%20prototype%201.0%20by%20Frederik%20De%20Wilde-WEB-PMLydon_PML0370.jpg