Friendly Alien: Object and Interface. Issue 1 (1st March 2007)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Manovich, Lev
• Is Part Of: Artifact. Volume 1:Issue 1(2007)
• Page Start: 30
• Page End: 32
• Publication Date: 2007-03-01
• Subjects: Computer-aided design -- Periodicals; 620.00420285
• DOI: 10.1386/art.1.1.30_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-3463

Abstract

Since 1996, artist Miltos Manetas has done paintings that systematically portray the new essential objects of contemporary life: joysticks, computers, computer game consoles, and computer cables (lots of them). Manetas also paints people who are usually intensely engaged in the activities made possible by consumer electronics devices, such as playing a computer game. But he never shows what games they are playing or what images they are looking at. Instead, he focuses on the humancomputer interface: hands clutching a joystick, a body stretched across the floor in the intense concentration or, alternatively, relaxing besides a laptop, a computer console, or a TV.