MFA DT | Major Studio: Interaction| Scott Paterson | Spring 2005

I am studying Design and Technology in New York (NYC is important!) because I  want to find out where and how I want to live in the next “ten years”.

One of my main interests is to find engaging ways to communicate through various media, preferably time-based media and interactive applications. Hereby, the content is most important, and not the tool (“the content is the message”). I am not so much interested in technology for technology’s sake (or to explore the possibilities and limitations of a specific technology), my concern is rather what social and cultural impact technology has on our lives. Technology is not an “ornament”, it should not be “noise” but a medium to communicate the content and make it visible and approachable the best way possible.

On one hand, I am interested in information architecture, in understanding how to structure information, how to visualize it, and how to make it approachable. Data and information do not have a value as long as they are not interpreted. We have to give meaning to the information we are dealing with, put it into context. Thus, it is crucial to be meticulous and thoroughly in the process of research, and its necessary to go beyond the surface and leave pre-shaped opinions behind. In this regard, I believe that the study of history gives an understanding of the present and an idea where we might be in the future.

On the other hand, I want to use time-based media to narrate and point out issues that I find important or interesting. The idea of montage is fundamental for my work but I don’t see it limited to video and film but as an organizing and structuring method in thinking and creating in order to make relationships visible through a dialectical juxtaposition of ideas/images/sounds.

I want to find and develop a style of my own, a form to express myself aesthetically, for poetry is a way to engage the audience, to arouse empathy. I admit that “poetry” is a very vague term, and I have to explore what it means to me, what kind of criteria can be applied to it. But I believe that art can open our hearts and make us understand who we are, and the same cannot be achieved by an intellectual and conceptual approach alone. (I think that this aspect is neglected in this program).

I get my inspirations by every-day life. Reality is what interests me. It’s important to be conscious and aware of our surrounding, and not to become insensitive to what is going on around us even on a small scale. In this way, an artist shares a lot in common with a scientist: there is the wish to understand, and very close observation and analysis.

I believe that my main goal will be to bring together my theoretical side and my wish to create, as well as understand what technologies will help me to express myself.