JILL TOWNSLEY

Jill Townsley - In response to Dr. Caroline Bassett -

To Compute the meaning of Words: The Digital Economy (2009)

    ‘Decisions previously personal, close-up, may become actions taken

    according to domain rules and general principle, actions for which nobody is

    truly responsible or accountable’ (Bassett 2009 p.54)

These drawings make visible the movements of a computer mouse over a

period of time - repeated. Using a pantographic like mechanism, linking the

mouse to a drawing implement. An image was made that records the

movement of the mouse during a period of general activity.

The drawing is a by-product of the relationship between machine and human.

The artist in this case becomes a channel for making visible the physical act

of working a computer – forsaking authorship, for the system.

    This Process is consistent with the general trajectory of the human computer

    interaction design, which has tended to discourage looking inside or      

    humaninsight. (Bassett 2009 p.54)

The drawing progression was repeatedly scanned - into the computer that

provided the system for its existence. Each scan becomes the accumulative

record of a specific stage of the drawing – adding and obliterating.

The computer scans accumulate and are compiled into a time-laps movie,

representing the build-up of marks. What you see hear is an edited version of

stills, that expose the sequence negating the usual aesthetic decisions

integral to the experience of drawing.

The previous stsement is based on one published in The Winchester School of Art Research Anthology: 26 responses to 5 essays

Basset, C (2009) To Compute the meaning of Words: The Digital Economy  in:  The Winchester School of Art Research Anthology: 26 Responses to 5 Essays Edited by John Gillett and Beth Harland. The Winchester Gallery Press