Posts Tagged iPhone
News Art – NOKIA VS IPHONE
Posted by Heidi in Business, NewsART Highlights, Technology on July 22, 2010
While I have only just recently made an artwork about Apple, I felt it was necessary to revisit after hearing today that Nokia’s profits slumped 40%.
The company, which until recent years had had a very loyal customer base, continues to struggle against competitors such as the iPhone and Blackberry.
This reminded me, in a loose, metaphorical, tangential way, of how I was a loyal Nokia customer for many years but then switched to an iPhone.
I still feel guilty, not only to Nokia but also to the simple life I once had. When did I become so pretentious as to think this kind of trend-following gadget was a necessity in life? What is wrong with ol Bricky who served me so well?!
I decided to make an artwork about how we can learn to see through the trappings of wealth and prestige and lead a clutter-free life that only indulges in the beauty of art .
I put my iPhone next to my Nokia to begin the artwork. However as soon as I looked at it I immediately became lost in its ‘i’. Before I knew it 2 hours had passed!… Hence this meant its battery had completely died (1.5 hours before that).
Obviously all I could do then was shriek in anguish, lie in the foetal position cradling it (the only way I can get to sleep these days) and try to breast feed it. I was hoping there might have been a recent upgrade that allows it to recharge from its owner’s life force.
So I regret to say that for the first time ever I failed to make the artwork.
NB: If anyone is inspired by this to develop an iPhone Breastfeeding app I expect a) commission and b) a copy sent to me immediately. By post.
NBB: This website is not for profit (not by choice) so this was in no way sponsored by Steve Jobs, though he would probably pay big bucks for a photo of me breastfeeding my iPhone. Big bucks indeed.
News Art – APPLE UNVEILS NEW IPHONE4
Posted by Heidi in Business, Entertainment, NewsART Highlights, Technology on June 8, 2010
Apple’s Steve Jobs released the new iPhone4 last night. He said the 100 millionth of the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices would be sold this month. Despite some criticisms of the recently released iPad, Apple also passed Microsoft at the end of last month in market value.
The Apple iBone
The constant excitement around recent Apple announcements such as this one made me think about technology and the intense emotions it can bring out in humans, sometimes even sending them into an almost frenzy. I have always felt this was best expressed in the groundbreaking film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have always felt this, rather than known this for sure, because despite three attempts to watch it I have never remained awake past the opening scene.
In the opening scene some apes/early man, are confronted by a giant monolith which represents technology and monoliths. It makes them go crazy (or ‘ape shit’ as explorers later discovered it was called) and they all decide they really want to own the monolith or the latest monolith upgrade. Then another ape realises that bones can be used as tools for killing and this soon leads to a computer trying to kill a man called Dave, as usual!
I built this monolith outside Liverpool Street Station in London’s banking/wanking district, a hive of gadget adoration. As the commuters gazed in awe at the monolith and felt confusing desires stirring within them (some of them technology related) I approached them and offered them Apple’s ‘latest gadget’. It was a piece of animal bone and called ‘the iBone’. The iBone had no camera function or wireless internet but it did have a function allowing you to bash it against rocks (if they were Apple compatible rocks). All they had to do to own the product for a low £25 a month was to beat to death any of the Microsoft employees dressed in unconvincing ape suits whom I had paid to crouch around the monolith.
Pick up on the product was slow but just as word of mouth was beginning to spread I was warned of potential law suits from Apple, along with a rival product being planned by Google so I had to cancel the artwork.
I learnt from this artwork that man is not so different from the apes/men-in-unconvincing-ape-suits that we are descended from. We are still blinded by the beauty of technology without considering its consequences in terms of killer computers or legal action from any company mentioned in this piece. And every human who embraces such technology must accept that they are, at heart, a simple ape playing with their new toy, confused by its meaning or how to get the latest plugin to work on their new blog.
Sent from my iPhone.