John Maeda

http://www.maedastudio.com/

Area: Media Arts Pioneer Age: 21 Nationality: American An associate director of the MIT media laboratory, Sony career development professor of media arts and sciences, associate professor of design and computation, and director of the aesthetics and computation group, you could say John Maeda is a guru when it comes to digital arts. Most famous for being among the first to treat the computer as an artistic medium, and for his philosophies around 'simplicity', Maeda has helped to shape the digital world as we know it; notably one that is far more seamless, intuitive and huan than it was when we were first trying to get to grips with it. His ultimate mission? 'To put the soul of the artist into the science of digital design.'

More from John Maeda

Your recent art show references ideas about social networking?
In the actual gallery, it’s a series of works from the past five years. All of it basically non-interactive. But we also have a connection to a virtual world – I’ve bought an island in Second Life. I don’t really go to these places, but I’m a digital freak, you know! We’re gonna build this mixture of odd personal things, a live online world. I’m gonna keep building it for the next three months. It may never finish.

Why Second Life?
I am fascinated about a future where your kid says, “Dad, I want to be an artist”, and he just says, “Wow, that’s a really great profession, like being a lawyer or a doctor.” So, how do you get there? In that sense, Second Life to me is a great example of an economy of creative expression. I’m sure 90 per cent of it is sex trade, but a lot of it is about selling virtual concepts, ideas and creativity. They sell virtual clothing, virtual artwork…

So, you feel it is boosting creative opportunities?
It’s just brilliant, because if you look at what you can export now over the web, it’s creativity. So, we need more venues to broadcast, and distribute. You don’t have to spend tens of thousands to rent an auditorium; you can do it online for a few pennies. But is that good? Or is that valid? Right now, I think that’s the question.

What new possibilities excite you?
What excites me is people. I think the purpose of making art is to meet new people. But the odd thing about online social networking is that they are people I don’t want to meet. I’ve been making Facebook and Myspace pages, and I realised that all these people want to be my friend. And I’m not sure if I want to be theirs!

What individuals are using the web in a way that’s interesting to you?
I think we’re entering a phase where the conceptual aspects of web art are beginning to take root. There’s nothing I particularly like yet, but I think it is coming – I can feel it. Beth Novak is someone I find very interesting. New York Law School. She’s making virtual companies online – actual corporations; people can mess around with the real world through this proxy, virtual world. I like the idea of hacking the building blocks of society. Another person is this guy who has this thing called a government information awareness system. It was a computer program, which would watch C-SPAN, the government channel, and just monitor it. You could find out where Senator whoever lived, their voting records and things. I thought it was wonderful. I like this idea of hacking not to be malevolent, but to help people become a part of it.
 
Interview by Rod Stanley.