BLACK BOX

Code allows an artist to present a viewer with a certain set of objects in a certain way. It also allows for present objects to be hidden, tucked away somewhere in the backstage area that is the project’s source code. There are oftentimes very funny or interesting things in the code that most viewers would never see. So why include it, beyond pure notation?

What if those “useless” lines of code were an integral part of your understanding of the piece as a whole?

Background

Above are some lines of code from an Amiga game called Mad Professor Mariarti. This was an inspiration for this project. In addition to being hilarious, this message was never seen by the majority of people who played the game when it first game out. Only the people with the know-how to view the game’s code would be able to see it. This allows for a special relationship between the viewer and the artist. He addresses them as a hacker, which they probably are. The context makes it funnier: Matt put those comments in specifically with that one type of viewer in mind. With you in mind.

This, along with another project exploring the value of art not meant to be seen by normal viewers (see: The Beginner’s Guide), got me thinking. What is the value of “hidden art”? Furthermore, why would you want to hide it?

Explanation

I decided to create a basic website. It can be found here.

The goal of the website is to hide an aspect of itself. Underneath the header is a single line of text. When you hit the large button in the header, the line of text changes. It also puts a black box over the text, making it unreadable.

If you look closely, for just a few milliseconds, you can see the text change before the box is applied over it. The text of the button also changes. I wanted to plant in the mind of the viewer that something had changed, and that they would have to interact with the piece in a way they never would otherwise in order to get the full picture.

Why do this? To explore the boundaries of web art. To involve the viewer in a unique way, and to provoke curiosity. Why hide things? It’s representative of parts of ourselves that we hide. More conceited or judgmental parts. It’s also fun, and mysterious. In fact, most of the site is designed around creating that air of mystery – the title, the design, the box itself, everything.

Budget

This is not, by any means, a completed project. It’s more a proof of concept – a lot could be added to it. I would like to expand the written content portion of the site to more than just a sentence. There could even be a bar at the bottom of the page, allowing viewers to swap between pages, each one having a different poem or essay and a different source code. I could see myself working on this for weeks or months. Now that the basic structure of the website is good, it would just be a matter of fleshing out and expanding what I already have. I’m still getting my web design sea legs, so I might either get someone else to look at the design or spend some time working on it and hashing it out myself. Overall, I think I could put at least another 10-20 hours into this project before I had something that I considered truly complete.

Credits

The inspirations listed above were greatly helpful in the formative phase of this project. I also want to thank Jason, who gave me the idea of hiding and interspersing comments throughout the entire source code.