When looking for inspiration I was going through some sites that I have saved and I loaded Jonathan Harris’s website. And up came a brand new project that this visual artist, interaction designer, and storyteller from New York City! It is called I Want You to Want Me. It is an installation piece in the form of a large touch screen at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Design and Elastic Mind Exhibit. This piece and exhibit opened about eight hours after I left the museum and headed back home on the train, so needless to say I was disappointed to miss it. (I had dragged my friends all the way up to the top floor that day, only to find that something was being installed)
This project takes a look and explores the world of online dating. For more we turn to an excerpt from the projects website.
I Want You To Want Me chronicles the world’s long-term relationship with romance, across all ages, genders, and sexualities, gathering new data from a variety of online dating sites every few hours. The system searches these sites for certain phrases, which it then collects and stores in a database. These phrases, taken out of context, provide partial glimpses into people’s private lives. Simultaneously, the system forms an evolving zeitgeist of dating, tracking the most popular first dates, turn-ons, desires, self-descriptions and interests.
Harris always seems to find interesting topics to cover. And in doing so, he just doesn’t create art, but creates masterful visual experiences which tell stories. That is what I enjoy so much about his work.
Learn more about I Want You to Want Me.
Learn more about Design and the Elastic Mind at MOMA.
See other projects from Jonathan Harris.
(Images and quoted text from Jonathan Harris)
Films are what bring people together. They express ideas through moving pictures. Stories are told by actors and actresses. It is all presented with art direction, sound, and more. They are created for us to watch and to escape into. For us to learn from and grow as citizens of the world. And they last for generations.
Last night I watched the 80th Academy Awards, where hundreds of millions of people came together as a world community to celebrate what all the people that make films have brought us. I watched the whole thing, from start to finish, and enjoyed every minute of it. Being a fan of Jon Stewart, I believe that what his hosting was well done and a success. Some of the big films, I still have yet to see, and I plan on doing so very soon.
I could not be more happy that Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who wrote Falling Slowly from the film Once, won Best Song. I rented it the day that it came out and thought that it was wonderful. And they even brought back Markéta because she didn’t get to say her thank you speech, I thought this was really great of them to do that. You can watch their speech from last night here and listen to the music here on Virb.
Several months ago we rented a movie and it had a significant impact on me. At the end, I kinda just sat there watching the credits go down the screen. And one of my parents asked me what I was looking for. I replied, “Nothing, just the people.” Thanks to all those people that have created the films of this year and of the years past.
Just wanted to let you know that the site is going through a major update. The blog is completed right now, but the rest of the website is not. So if you are to use the navigation at the top you will be brought to sections that are not done.
I am very excited to share with you the progress on the new site and look forward to having it complete very soon. It’s going to be awesome, I promise. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, please visit the current www.ethanbodnar.com for more information and to explore projects, books, and other work. Thanks!
Everybody is born an artist, I am pleased that I have decided to stay one. As I child I remember my mom would always have crafts for me to do. Not just play-doh and paint but some things out of the ordinary. I remember the smell of a new box of crayons, it was so good. It is weird cause I have not used crayons in the longest time, the computer and the fancy drawing pencils have taken over. There was a time when I wanted to make websites, I didn’t really care that much how they looked. But I remembering coming up with a business plan and logo and presenting it to my parents, they said no, and for good reason. The next phase was the internet and the new direction it started going in, with blogs, online communities, and social media. Through that I found design.
At first, I enjoyed looking at it the most, but then I started finding out the principles behind design, who designers were, how they lived, what the proccess of design is and much more. And all of a sudden I was viewing a large ammount of design, art, photography, illustration, video and more online. After learning more about the graphic design industry I decided this was what I wanted to do. That was about one and half years ago. From that point on I wrote about design, read books about design, emailed designers, made books, and most importantly I started designing. Design has really introduced me to art as a whole and has shown me what creative thinking can do.
Design and creativity is what my life is going to be about, and I couldn’t be happier.
The internet has changed my life and without it I would not be where I am today. I have had several proffesional artists and designers tell me that they wished they had the internet when they were young and where happy to see how I was using it. The internet does more than just allow me to communicate with friends.
1. Connect and communicate with professional artists and designers around the world.
2. Write a blog and share my stories, ideas, and thoughts with the world.
3. Follow what other creative people are producing and get inspiration from them.
4. Have conversations on various topics through other people’s blogs and writing.
5. Educate myself on current events and allow me to do research on my interests.
When you are able to do these things online, they are very valuable. I consider them a neccesity to my lifestyle and work and am glad for what it offers.
