art and virtual space

In the Navigable Space article Manovich talks about how software designers use art and architecture as inspiration for their creations of virtual 3-D space. "Given that new media are most often experienced, like paintings, via a rectangular frame, virtual architects can study how painters organize their spaces within the constraints of a rectangle." (Manovich) This is a very interesting point to make. I feel that usually the space created by virtual architects is very rigid, and mathematic. Not extremely abstract, like many of painters he mentions (de Kooning, Pollock) It is the way that these painters fill that rectangle that is important. I never thought of a video game as a painting. Millions of pixels creating this image in incremental frames. It is a completely different way of viewing this space. Manovich also talks about some of Le Corbusier's work, and how one navigates through space. Corbusier's whole deal was that a building had to be easily moved through, with no distractions, ramps instead of stairs, no ornamentation, well lit. However Manovich then talks about the installation artist Kabakov who holds a totally different view of space as Corbusier. Kabakov is quoted saying "the reaction of the viewer during her movement through the installation is the main concern of the designer... the loss of the viewer's attention is the end of the installation." Corbusier feels that his clients interaction with his art is going to be an unfocused thing. They are going to be caught up in their own lives and even forget about the architecture, that is why he makes it easy to move through. Kabakov wants his viewer's attention and focus, not for ease or speed, but so they take in the whole piece. Which of these is better for the virtual navigable space? It depends I feel on the purpose of the space. A video game is a simulation of reality, like Charles Baudelaire's flaneur, we want to escape our world, but still have a sense of security. We want to delve into this other reality and forget our lives for a few. Depending on the game, one would prefer to move quickly not noticing lines of text or little details. However some games like Myst rely on these minor interactions of the "hand" and certain objects that draw the gamers attention. If you loose focus you are going to be wandering around for a while aimlessly. The important thing to note about this portion of the text is how influential art has been on the creation of navigable space. And how artists and designers play with this idea of space, and objects in space to further understand our own conception of it.