Joshua Davis Interview · 1285 words posted 08/17/2002 05:25 PM
Joshua Davis is a New York artist and technologist producing both public and private work on and off the Web. His site, praystation, was the winner of the 2001 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the category “Net Excellence,” the highest honor in international net art and design.
Mr Davis. was honored as one of the IPPA’s 2000 / 2001 Ten Most Creative People.
He is currently an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and lectures globally on his work, inspirations and motivations.
since1968: Barneys New York is a beautiful site. I still can’t figure out how to buy stuff, though. How much participation and thought can you expect from a site visitor?
Joshua Davis: Why must everything in life be about consumption? Barneys has a catalog and there is nothing to buy out of the catalog either. Since there is nothing to buy out of the Barney’s Catalog – there is nothing to buy off of their website either. The Barneys experience is about creating an aesthetic. This aesthetic/style is created to perpetuate the Barneys “in store” shopping experience. Barneys is not about online shopping. Barneys is not about catalog shopping. It’s about creating an atmosphere for the Barneys Audience. Since Barneys is a place for the Sophisticated / affluent spender, they assume that the viewer / shopper has the fastest connection and the current and best toys – This is their target audience. Because of this, they expect that the site tailor to a sophisticated user, one who is willing to play and be educated on how to use and interact with the Barneys navigation interface. I think it’s about time we stop assuming that the general viewing public is an idiot. If we are going to continue to build sites for all idiots then net will become a meeting place for all idiots. However, I don’t think we should assume that everybody is so dumb. We should build projects that educate the viewer and continue to progress the medium.
since1968: The Barneys draggable menus are two or three years old, but they still blow me away every time I see them. What inspired you to create them?
Joshua Davis: There are several aspects / behaviors that the menus adhere to. We implemented Z-depth to tackle the problem of having only limited screen real estate. It was a chance to allow the viewer to simply bring to the top the menu’s they wanted to view. There was this idea of keeping each department of Barneys separate, allowing each menu to travel with its appropriate section. Yet also having the ability to collect them down below and use them to jump back to sections and sub sections. I was actually working out some concepts about relationships within my work after reading a book about Chaos and Fractal Mathematics put to use within corporate structures to help organize work flow. (“Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World” by Margaret J. Wheatley)
since1968: What did Barneys think when you gave away the goods on the draggable menus in “flash to the core”?
Joshua Davis: Why would this be an issue ? Code is reproduced / reengineered all the time despite the consent of the original creator or not. Since I would much rather help out others than horde code, it only makes sense to open up code in attempt to make the net a more compelling place. I have the ability to help others who want to achieve the effects I have created and I have even a better understanding of things from those who are better than myself – it’s about working in a medium as a collective and pushing boundaries together.
since1968: Edward Tufte really likes praystation. Are you familiar with his books on information design?
Joshua Davis: Yes I have all of his books, and actually created a series of work in homage to him called “residue . forecasts” on PrayStation since I’m a huge fan of collecting Maps and Charts. I have yet to hear him lecture in person, but imagine will get around to it someday.
since1968: What do you think of the macromedia’s new Flash Remoting technology?
Joshua Davis: Not enough to really comment.
since1968: Designers and developers have problems speaking the same language when working together on projects. Is macromedia’s inclusion of so much new ActionScript programming capability in Flash MX going to move them any closer together?
Joshua Davis: Wow tough question. I have felt for quite some time that in the beginning, Flash in particular was always geared towards the animators / artists / designers. Yet with the introduction of ActionScript in Flash 4 that the product has slowly started to alienate animators / artists / designers. I think with the advances within ActionScript it is become more difficult to create something new, fresh and compelling without the help of someone who understands programming and languages. So you’ll find that we start to slip back into the separate roll routine – like in front-end webpage creation and the back-end programmers (PERL, PHP, etc.) I guess I’m finding it less common where someone is making the effort to explore both aspects of what Flash has to offer.
since1968: A kinetic corporation is in SOHO, and you live on Long Island. We’ve had almost a year to reflect on the September attacks. How did they affect you as an artist?
Joshua Davis: I have some pretty extreme views, usually only enjoyed by my close family and loved ones. So I will refrain from going into too deep of depth as I have no desire to debate politically with people whom I don’t know. However, as tragic as the events were, it is certainly a wake up call to ALL Americans—that there is a whole other world out there beside ourselves. We live in a country where the media blinds us from what happens in the rest of the world. So while I don’t condone what happened and am certainly saddened by the events—I would hope that most Americans would open their eyes to the arrogant, blinded, mass consuming, axis of evil we are to others in the world we live in. Buy a subscription to Ad Busters and wake up.
since1968: Was “the city of ashes” a response?
Joshua Davis: You’re the first to notice, or at least to make mention of it to me. The images of all the debris on the ground and in the air – created this very subtle white-out effect—found it’s way into “the city of ashes”. Version 2 with the pale blue sky was the final overall feeling I was truly trying to capture. I find it interesting though that it did take me till February of 2002 to finally put it up online. I guess time does truly take time.
since1968: There’s so much gratuitous motion on the web right now—click here, gamble there, buy me I’m flashing. But your graffiti compositions and explorations of randomness are as subtle and rhythmic as anything I’ve seen. Where do you draw the line?
Joshua Davis: The only line that is ever drawn is the one limited by me judging whether or not something is beautiful or not. Many people forget that PrayStation is for an audience of one, myself, only I have to like what I put up. And each day a new concept reveals itself in the never ending pursuit of exploration through life. Just remember, for everything I put on PrayStation there are 200 previous builds that either “don’t work,” “look ugly,” or are “just not quite there yet.” My work is about pursuing ideas, working them out, and only putting up something when I think it is finished.
since1968: Thanks for your time.
Joshua Davis: Thank you.
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