information.
this week's topic is Design and the Digital Aesthetic
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"It is difficult to distinguish today's computer-aided designer from the designer-aided computer. This is because thanks to the DTP industry's furious development efforts, the computer has surpassed the designer's expressive abilities and imagination and has come to govern the majority of visual development." John Maeda
What is good and bad art and design on the Net? How do we agree a critical framework, and common language, within which we can discuss that issue? To what extent does the technology itself determine the form and aesthetic of the work? Is the artist or designer merely a choreographer who sets the parameters for the work - the series of steps by which the user engages with the system? Is the system itself the artwork?
featured products.
erroneous404
Stanza argues for a networked national virtual media centre, and for recognition of the error404 page as an artwork in itself
Soundtoys
a showcase for artists at the forefront of audiovisual work on the net
www.sodaplay.com
build and animate your own creatures using sodaconstructor
www.low-fi.org
check out this artist run system for locating art projects on the net
www.jodi.org
revisit this seminal piece of net art
featured product :: Soundtoys.
www.soundtoys.net - Stanza
Soundtoys.net has been established to provide a space for the exhibition of exciting new work by the audio visual artists. It also provides a forum for discussion around new technologies and the nature of soundtoys. The site is intended to be a meeting point for this growing community of artists and users. In addition to showcasing audio visual projects, the site contains artist interviews, links to resources, and texts by contributing writers in which issues around interactive arts, audio visual synthesis, generative art, and the history of interactivity are discussed.
Soundtoys.net is an entertaining as well as engrossing site to visit. The site is open to artists, designers, musicians, writers and programmers who make (or who are interested in the aesthetics of); interactive web soundtoys, artworks and related texts.
Top five best selling products
- 'Handmade Code' from Web Environments
- 'www.sodaplay.com' from Design and the Digital Aesthetic
- 'www.low-fi.org' from Design and the Digital Aesthetic
- 'erroneous404' from Design and the Digital Aesthetic
- 'Soundtoys' from Design and the Digital Aesthetic
Gill Haworth Recommends
Soundtoys customer reviews.
kewl - Richard Bailey
Thursday, Mar 25, 2004 
a kewl site for eye candy lots to see high quality work
it just gets better - impossible dreamer
Tuesday, Mar 02, 2004
This is an excellent site - it's good to see so many audio- visual pieces under one roof, and there's plenty to explore and play with in here. There's a nice variety of work on display, and you don't have to wade through pages of text to find it. In fact, the whole interface is cool and the site easy to navigate. I wish more websites were like this!
The IdeasMart is now closed
Digest was open during March 2004 - PLEASE NOTE it is now closed and available for browsing only... we hope you enjoy your visit.
neil jenkins Recommends
http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=1902&t
ext=3236#3236
Eryk Salvaggio's Six Rules Towards A New Internet Art
http://www.mteww.com/nad.html
Simple Net Art Diagram (MTAA - M.River & T.Whid Art Associates - 1997)
http://www.furtherstudio.org/live
vistors studio - a live, multi user environment with audio visual mixing tools