Pulling Art From Those Pushed Away

I was immediately driven to assess the purpose of the artistic value of Sharon Daniel's hypertext essay, which we were assigned for today's class.  The most immediate factor I was drawn to was the emphasis placed on dichotomy.  This separation is accomplished in multiple ways, however, not just through the variance in the provided quotes and audio interviews, but through the sharply divided frame upon which the information faded in and out.  It is almost as if the artistic quality of the hypertext essay predetermines ones response to the information they are fed.  The fact that this information is heard, as opposed to read, also limits the extent to which it is open for more thorough and intense interpretation. The immediate association of black with darkness, sadness, and hopelessness is intrinsic and drives the listener to particular types of listening, while the white, and bright, portion of the frame, that represents freedom, pulls a different response.  I, naturally, would question how important this association is (that of art as a form of audience manipulation) but the essay itself begins with an artistic and florid description.  This description fades into a seemingly unrelated mentioning of the painting the "Ambassadors" which supposedly blurs space using a smear "resolves into a skull" and reverses the viewer view of the gestalt.  I would argue that it isn't only the prison mates being reversed, but the viewers of Daniels essay.