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The art of online news

Posted by Vera Haller on Apr 1, 2008 under: online news 

“The New York Daily News” art

 

I walk through Madison Square Park most days on my way to work from the subway so you can imagine my surprise when I noticed a sign announcing an outdoor exhibit, “Online Newspapers: New York Edition.”

 

There I was on my way to teach students about online news and the park I trudge through on my commute was hosting an art installation on that very subject. A true convergence!

 

I returned that afternoon after classes with a digital camera to spend some time at the four video screens that make up the exhibit, which can be found in the area near the Shake Shack.

 

The images aren’t of Web pages of local newspapers, rather they are photos of the actual front pages of print editions on which the artists Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenscheid have superimposed whimsical animation, such as the bevy of cute animals that jump all over the front page of the very serious Wall Street Journal.

“The Wall Street Journal” art

 

 

My favorite was The New York Post display. On top of the headline, “Bad Bear,” about the British teacher who had been jailed in the Sudan for naming the class bear Muhammad, the artists laid out a cascading pile of sweet and cuddly Teddy bears.


 

I liked it. I was able to smile and just for a moment not take the news so seriously. But this is art and the artists obviously were striving to make some meaningful statement.

 “The New York Post” art

According to the Madison Square Park Web site, the artists were reviving the “amateur aesthetic” of the early years of the Internet. Here is the explanation:

 “They imagine how news sites would appear were they developed by the lay journalists whose aesthetic choices defined Web culture before the dot-com boom. By applying this aesthetic to a particular cross section of New York City papers, the artists subtly point to the qualitative assumptions we make about information we read and the significant role design plays in these impressions.”

 

Okay. I’ll have to think about that, but I might just stop on my way to work to enjoy a smile. The exhibit runs through April 27.

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