Hasta La Creative!

We are all aware that most companies would do anything to advertise on top rates shows such as the Iron Chef. But in this case, only the observant people can depict the actual subliminal advertising that is being talked about today.

In fact, you have to be monitoring it closely. Not all people will be aware of it and surely it is a form of advertising that will surely be worthless.

But guess again. Thanks to one person, it has ballooned into a full-blown issue for both the show and the company concerned, that of which is McDonalds. Was it intentional or accidental? You be the judge.

Technorati Tags: advertising, mcdonalds, iron chef, subliminal advertising

– Miller employee James Andorfer has launched The Brew Blog, which is oddly a really good resource for Anheuser-Busch news. Thanks AlexanderGordon for the tip.

Last week at ad:tech, Steve and I ran into Marjorie Kase. Kase is a mastermind behind the Schwaggin’ Wagon, whose mission is to gather craploads of SWAG (Stuff We All Get — but don’t actually want) for charity.

As far as the practices of trying to overdo the branding hype in most products are concerned be sure that you can handle the issues that will be hurled your way. In the world of business competition, your fiercest competitors are bound to check out what you have to offer and see if you are as good as what you claim you are.

Your rivals in business are not really out to ruin your reputation. But advertising malpractice is a given considering that most people would go at anything to gain an advantage. We see them all around us today and whether we care or not is really left towards people who want to expose flaws used in advertising and promotional strategies such as this one regarding the case of Tyson Foods.

Competitors Perdue and Sanderson argued that Tyson’s ads are misleading because none of the companies uses those types of drugs and consumers could be led to believe they and other companies are using the drugs. Sanderson said it lost $4 million in sales since last year as a result of the Tyson campaign, while Perdue contended it lost $11 million.

(Source) Brandweek

Technorati Tags: tyson, foods, advertising, competitors, tyson foods, promotional strategies

Take two persons whose work in the media art field i’ve been admiring for years. Have their minds communicate for more than a couple of minutes. What is going to happen?

UBERMORGEN.COM (Lizvlx/Hans Bernhard), Psych|OS – Hans 2, 2004. Lambda print on aluminium. 100 x 150 cm. Edition of 5. Private Collection, Brussels / Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia

Yves Bernard is the director of iMAL (interactive Media Art Laboratory), a space dedicated to contemporary artistic and cultural practices emerging from the fusion of computer, telecommunication, network and media. iMAL is the only space that doesn’t put the Belgian french-speaking community i come from to total shame. The presence and recognition of media art varies from country to country but nowhere are these differences as tangible as in Belgium: while Flanders supports media art generously and dynamically for years, the rest of the country believes that media art equals video art. The work of Yves and his team is admired way beyond our national borders but strives to get the attention it deserves in the french-speaking community.

Domenico Quaranta is an art critic and curator living in Brescia, a small-ish city of Northern Italy. He shrugs when i tell him that one day he’ll rule over the art world but that’s because i have more faith in his brilliant writings, impeccable taste and broad culture than he does.

Yves and Domenico took the opportunity offered by Art Brussels, the international contemporary art fair which closed yesterday, to get the eyes of the contemporary art world set onto digital art. With more passion and talent than real budget they curated and organized Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, an impressive exhibition featuring the kind of digital artworks susceptible to convince the contemporary art world that digital art should get the place and understanding it deserves in the contemporary art panorama.

To be honest, i needed such exhibition. Last Summer i realized that i was getting a much more fruitful and satisfying art experience at the Venice Biennale than at Ars Electronica. Media art often suffers from faddism and from a series of misunderstandings. For example, i can’t count the number of times i heard someone (or seen an exhibition) confuse “something weird done with technology” with media art.

Joan Leandre, The Kernel Peak: At my Limit(Unknown Universal Series), 2008. Digital Print. 140×102 cm. Edition of 5. Courtesy Project Gentili, Prato

No such risk here. The quality of most of the works on show at iMAL is outstanding. The exhibition counts more than 20 pieces, i’ll just highlight a handful of them:

After a year long immersion in World of Warcraft, Eddo Stern translated the legends, obsessions and symbols of the subculture he had experienced into his art practice. With Emoticon, Stern uses icons and emoticons from online forums to crown and dress a synthetic goddess – herself an icon – which smiles, pouts, frowns, cries and expresses the other emotions at her command in the most languorous way.

Eddo Stern, Emoticon, 2007. 3D computer animation with sound on 42 inch plasma screen. Running time 3 minutes. Edition of 3. Private Collection, Brussels / Courtesy Postmasters Gallery, New York

For their participation at the Venice Biennale in 2001, Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org turned a virus Biennale.py into a work of art and spread it from the Slovenian Pavilion on the opening day of the exhibition. The Perpetual Self Dis/Infecting Machine features the Biennale.py virus. Trapped into a computer devoid of any connection to a network, the virus does its best to spread its wings and start its contagious process, but the machine fights back and submits it to a disinfection process. The power game is repeated again and again. Ad vitam eternam.

Eva and Franco Mattes (0100101110101101.ORG), Perpetual Self Dis/Infecting Machine, 2001-2003. Custom made computer infected with the virus Biennale.py. 70 x 50 x 13 cm. Courtesy Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia.

Reface [Portrait Sequencer], by Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman, is a video mash-up that composes endless combinations of visitors’ faces. The installation records and remixes brief video slices of its viewers’ mouths, eyes and brows. Even if visitors move in front of the display the system will line up their face. The images recorded are “edited” by the participants’ own eye blinks. Blinking also triggers the display to advance to the next set of face combinations.

“Reface (Portrait Sequencer)”, 2006, LCD screen, custom software, computer, camera, plexiglass enclosure. Edition of 6. bitforms gallery, New York

Oh, yes! at this point is should also note that in an attempt to explore how new media art, bypassing all the stereotypes connected with its presumed immateriality and difficulties of maintenance, was able to enter the art market, the works on show at Holy Fire come from galleries and collections from around the world (USA, Europe, Russia).

Strangely, the “romantic” idea that to be a valuable artist you have to starve, drink yourself blind with absinthe and die alone in your chambre de bonne is still very much alive and kicking.

Holy Fire shows that it doesn’t have to be the case for media artist by choosing to exhibit only collectible new media artworks already on the art market, in the form of traditional media (prints, videos, sculptures) or customized new media objects.

The art market offers new sources of income for new media artists. Up to now, these have been limited – when they exist – to public funding from institutions and governments, sometimes dictated by politics. An art market can help develop a new economy through direct relations between artists and art consumers, confirming the artists’ social role and the support of the people who are increasingly looking for something different from mass-produced digital gadgets.

Jodi, Max Payne Cheats Only, 2004. Video installation (2 channels). Private Collection, Brussels

More images from the exhibition.

To investigate the theme explored by Holy Fire: you can either have a look at the discussion about Holy Fire on rhizome and get your hands on the catalog of the exhibition which features opiniated contributions from many protagonists of the media art world.

Even better you can give your view by collaborating to aminima study about the new media art market.

Gazira Babeli. Gaz Of The Desert – Pieta, 2007. Lambda print. 70 x 107 cm. Edition of 3. Collection Marchina-Ghizzardi, Brescia / Courtesy Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia

Holy Fire (yes, the title is inspired by one of Bruce Sterling‘s books) is on view at iMAL (google map), Brussels through April 30, 2008.

Related: walking around Chelsea, A conversation about exhibiting and selling digital fine art.

And he’s hitting more than a movie theater this spring. Since the announcement of the return of the legendary archaeologist, Indiana Jones (with Harrison Ford reprising the role), quite the buzz have been generated about the long-awaited film. Without surprise, marketers have wasted no time in attaching their brands to the Lucas/Spielberg franchise. In what can only be hopes to raise sales (I mean, hey, it worked for Reese’s Pieces in ET), you’ll be able to catch the cast members faces in places other than the silver screen. Indy and other characters will be gracing packages of M&Ms, Lunchables and Dr. Pepper. But that’s not all – you’ll even be able to take a bite out of the movie with the Indy Whopper at Burger King. 

One thing that television advertising offers is that you have to be wise as to what time slot you want your ad to come out. In events such as the Oscars or the closely watched sporting events such as boxing and the Super Bowl, slots will surely be packed and if you really want the exposure, you have to think ahead and get the ideal ad slot to get your money’s worth.

Often, you will find tough picking when you are up against the aggressive advertising giants who want maximum exposure. While they are preferred by most event organizers, the best you can do is find the next best slot to place your ad and get the required exposure your product or service needs.

We are all aware the web is full of advertising tactics to help promote products and services covered by various companies. But while these online advertising practices are indeed something to behold, the question of effectiveness and consistently hitting the actual target market really leave a large cloud of doubt.

  

Yahoo knows this all too well and apparently this is what their planned release of AMP. AMP intends to simplify the whole buying and selling process through online ads which is a welcome development for businesses sorely lacking in getting results from their online targeted advertising.

  

According to a company statement, the platform will enable advertisers to “precisely yet easily” target audiences, while also allowing publishers to “better monetise their content”.

  

“While online advertising grows more sophisticated, the process of doing business today is surprisingly cumbersome and manual,” stated Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of global partner solutions at Yahoo!.

(Source) Bigmouthmedia

Ok so today is April Fools day and while jokes and pranks are spreading all around, sometimes you just cannot distinguish the funny ones from the serious ones. Remember, jokes are jokes but when it comes to drawing the line you better be careful.

Take this video ad for example. You will probably end up playing an April Fool’s joke on your friend or co-worker wherever you may be. However be careful because just like this guy, you may end up getting the false impression of being the fool on April Fools Day!

I might get what? 2 or 3 emails per day from people who ask me to write a story to promote their own event. I would love to help everyone but publishing every single call and event i hear about would be a full time job and i am not up for that one.

Besides, my readers know very well that they can find this sort of information on rhizome (who btw has a commission call for media art works running), networked_performance and various mailing lists. Wmmna is mostly about reports from exhibitions i’ve seen around which leaves no space to announcements. However, there are exceptions to this rule, wmmna is a personal blog and as such highly subjective, so once in a while (read every 6 months) i will blatantly favor organizations i like A LOT because i know each of them treat artists as well as they deserve. So here, dear readers, two calls for proposals which might give you the opportunity to get some fantastic holidays in Spain develop your own project in the best conditions you could dream of:

Situation Room. Image Julio Calvo. Courtesy of LABoral

– LABoral is launching two calls. One is for a curator in residence. Curators and researchers interested in media and visual arts, gaming, robotics, architecture, design, ecology, science, technology, interdisciplinary and emerging forms of art are invited to develop a research and production project at LABoral, Gijon, for two months during 2008. Deadline is May 30 and if i wasn’t already so busy answering all those emails from people who ask me to promote their events i would be very tempted to submit my candidacy.

LABoral is also calling for proposals from artists to develop a research and production project at LABoral for two months during 2008. Same deadline: May 30, 2008.

Image Medialab Prado

– Meanwhile Medialab-Prado is also looking for the submission of projects to be carried out as part of the production-oriented Interactivos?’08: Vision Play workshop, which will take place from 30 May to 14 June 2008 in Madrid. The workshop aims to use open hardware and open code tools to create prototypes for exploring image technologies and mechanisms of perception.

The Interactivos? workshop will be lead by Álvaro Cassinelli and Simone Jones, with the participation of the research group Light, space and perception (Daniel Canogar, Julian Oliver and Pablo Valbuena.)

Deadline: 25th April.

Related: my previous posts about the Interactivos? workshops and about LABoral (i also wrote an article about them in Art Review a while ago.)

While i’m at it, i’ll also mention (but i don’t know them as well as Medialab Prado and LABoral) that NEW LIFE BERLIN is taking place in Berlin from June 1-15th, 2008 and artists are encouraged to apply for participation now.

The festival is organized by the wooloo and is open to international artists.