Aaron Koblin, born January 14, 1982, is an American Digital Media Artist, specializing in data and digital technologies. He leads the Data Arts Team in Google's Creative Lab in San Francisco and has collaborated to produce Grammy nominated works. Website thefader.com declares Aaron Koblin to be the next Steve Jobs. Koblin, a bit more modest, refers to himself as "50 percent nerd, 50 percent nerd/geek" and "trying to fuse those worlds together" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzDRtncZXKg). One remarkable feature of Koblin's artwork is the ability to contribute to its creation. As will be displayed through the two works in this blog, Koblin allows, and expects his audience to contribute to his work. This no doubt is more effective than most artwork in terms of its ability to capture the viewer's attention. With a world of constant visual stimuli, it is far too easy to ignore artwork, particularly if the information is difficult to decode, but this applies even to fairly good artwork as well. To be truly captivating, artwork must be engaging, yet non-intrusive, lest it become merely annoying. Koblin achieves this delicate balance through his work.
The Johnny Cash Project drew inspiration from my favorite Johnny Cash song "Ain't no Grave", and is designed to display the immortality of Cash's legacy that far exceeds his time here on earth. He partnered with Chris Milk, an American music video director, in the making of this project. The link to the Johnny Cash Project can be found here.
The Wilderness Downtown, also collaborated with Chris Milk, is an interactive film that allows the user to enter their home address and see a customized video featuring their neighborhood as the setting while "We Used to Wait" by Arcade Fire plays. Having watched the simulation myself, I can confirm that the video indeed will feature precisely the location that one enters. In this way, the piece functions in an autobiographical way; through the mere entering of a few keys, one is able to view a song narrative of their house, old house, place of employment, location of a special memory, etc.
I sincerely hope and expect to see that thefader.com's prediction is correct, and we are indeed viewing the artwork of the next Steve Jobs. If so, rejoice in the fact that you saw it here first. If you'd like to see more of his amazing work, or get more information about locations where his work is displayed, please visit aaronkoblin.com
Sources: aaronkoblin.com; thefader.com
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