Seen with a fresh eye, it’s ‘just an ungodly fabulous medium for an artist’

Wednesday evening’s “Artists Rap Session” at Digital World brought together songwriter-artist and Digital World keynoter Allee Willis with actress-director-producer Shelley Duvall, actress Lily Tomlin and author Jane Wagner.

Holding court to expound on their views and address the relationship between artist and technologist, all four expressed unbridled enthusiasm for the potential of the technology, as well as a kind of horror at the lack of “magic” in the current slate of titles.

By the tone of their comments, it was clear that none had extensive experience with interactive media (although Duvall is producing her first interactive CD through Sanctuary Woods, a Canadian multimedia company). But their vision of multimedia, interactivity and all things digital was unanimous: the new technology is too exciting an opportunity to let pass.

All spoke about the chance to innovate and go beyond the confines of traditional artistic media. And most importantly, all of them felt that these new technologies provided the opportunity to cause real change in the world, not just in entertainment.

‘THE BEST THING EQUIPMENT CAN DO FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE IS TO ALLOW THEM TO GET ON WITH THEIR CREATIVITY.’

There are still no definitions for the form that this new entertainment will take. In fact, the virtually unlimited possibilities were one of the most intimidating aspects of the technology. When you can do almost anything, they asked, where do you start?

‘WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW, HIRE’

Between the four, the feelings about technology ranged from sexual exhilaration to downright fear. “Technology is scary,” said Jane Wagner, especially when the old familiar tools are replaced by expensive computers that are intimidating to most.

Shelley Duvall had the quick answer: “What you don’t know, you can hire.” While this was a somewhat facetious answer, it is an article of faith among these artists that the collaborative process in most endeavors is part of the pleasure and satisfaction of creating new works.

Loving collaboration. As in film and recording, most media, certainly any electronic media, require the talents of skilled engineers, and Willis made it clear that most artists have enormous respect for their technology-based partners. “We are turned on by working with a new medium and with people who know more than we do… . We all love collaborating,” she said.

When asked if artists would have to become programmers as well, Wagner responded that she wanted “knob knowledge.” She wants to be able to operate the machine without having to know how it works. Says Willis: “The best thing that a piece of equipment can do for any creative person is to allow them very quickly to get on with their creativity.”

All agreed that the engineer and the technologist are now as much artists in their own right as those who work in the “traditional” arts, working with hardware and software tools instead of pencil, paper, keyboard and paintbrushes to produce emotions.

Learning to be inclusive. The artist’s contribution to the process is crucial for its success, especially at this early stage in the medium’s development. The purely “entertainment” aspects of these products are crucial to helping people new to the technology overcome their fears and enjoy what they are participating in. Humor is particularly important in such circumstances. “To overcome the fear of technology, you have to make them smile… . If you don’t know how to draw people in, I think this is going to remain a technology that is [only] discussed at these seminars,” predicted Willis.

But assuming that the artists and technologist learn to collaborate, what will these new products look like? No one had a single answer. Duvall stressed that interactivity was not just about multiple endings to a story. “One story is sufficient to stir millions of ideas.” Every word, thought and visual image has the potential to link to history, games, a pop-quiz follow-up. And all of these things can accompany a linear story, making the presentation — and the story itself — much richer.

BURSTING OPEN THE MIND AND SOUL

To the artist, the most important aspect for the success of the new medium is the ability to heighten the experience for the audience. If “art” is defined as that which lets you experience emotion, then interactivity allows other people to share experience and emotion with the artist.

Interactivity and exploration are part of the artistic process, which Willis described as “a fantasy world of highs … being able to say what it is (we) want to say.” Letting an audience experience this “high” is what she is striving for. “That level of fantasy and magic to me is what feels missing from some of the things I have seen,” she says. “That magic needs to be there… . Here is a medium that can allow the person who watches it — who uses it — to have those moments. Because within your program, they make up their own thing.”

Tomlin put it a little differently. “I want it to be thinky, feely, smelly, orgiastic, orgasmic kind of interactive TV,” she said, to the delight of the audience. To Tomlin, the new technology could “burst open the mind and soul,” and raise the consciousness of the audience. “We want to affect people in a really visceral kind of way,” she says.

Willis believes the new medium will dramatically change the creative process itself, since part of the deal is allowing someone else to manipulate what the artist has created. Instead of adding levels of interactivity to existing entertainment products, as many (including Duvall) are talking about, Willis wants to create a whole new “total entertainment” experience.

If this were the case, there would be no frustration in someone altering your work, but exhilaration in “knowing your audience is taking an active role in enjoying it as well,” says Willis. “I really think it’s just an ungodly fabulous medium for an artist.”

David Baron