Film Response-"After Life"

The film After Life revolves around the idea that after you die, you must chose only one memory from your entire life to remember, for the rest of eternity. The film is set in a secluded building cut off from the rest of the world, where even the view of moon through the window is an illusion. A team of counselors, who also turn out to be dead, work to help each person to pick their memory. The counselors even show one man a series of videotapes  documenting his entire life in order to help him choose. After each person decides, the team of counselors works to recreate their memory exactly as it happened in order to make it feel as if they are reliving that moment. This idea of recreating a moment in time so exactly that it feels as if it is actually happening again is very intriguing. The counselors use fans to recreate the breeze felt by a passenger riding on a train, they spray mist to make it feel humid like a hot summer day, and play sounds of car horns and people to describe the feeling of a city. This way of recreating an event or scene could be very interesting if applied to real life. No longer would the feeling of the crisp winter day air be a faint memory during the hot and sticky summer, but rather it could be recreated. Although it would be nice to relive our fondest memories, even with all the technology and capabilities of cinematography these days I feel that the emotionality of a such a strong and important memory can not ever fully be recaptured. The recreated memory will always only ever be exactly that, a memory of a memory. 

20 Lines Response

For class on Tuesday, February 17th, we completed our 20 lines project. For this project we were each asked to use Photoshop to create an image of 20 individual lines, each on a separate layer. For each line we hid all the other layers, so that only the line we were currently drawing was visible. Finally, when we were finished with all 20 layers we had a single image of all of our lines overlapping and intertwining with one another. Our objective was to contemplate the meaning of lines and the expressive potential they possess. For example, is it possible to give a line a particular emotion or state of mind? Can you make a line that is happy? depressed? frenzied? or relaxed? Different moods can be achieved depending on the method by which the line is drawn. Is the line thick and heavy, or thin and light? Is the line static or does it create movement? Is the line choppy and abrupt or long and flowing? Is the line rough or smooth? A line can possess all of these different characteristics and more. 

I agree with Kendall Buster and Paula Crawford's point in their article On Form and Content, that "Line is considered by many artists to embody the direct channel between the brain and the hand, a means itself of thought." Line is a very important aspect in the world of art because it is the artist's mark in it's rawest form. Line is the building block of everything, it is where everything starts. Line such as an artist's brushstroke allows the viewer to see the artist's hand, the looseness or tightness of their grip. Line can even be used as a tool to help communicate emotion and gesture both in a work of art and in the artist himself. "Line is content." 

On Form and Content

New Media Artist Blog #4-M. River and T. Whid

M. River and T. Whid are two new media artists that use short films to create a commentary about the  world around them. In particular, one series of short videos focuses on repetitive gestures and everyday actions, known as Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing. MTAA (M. River and T. Whid Art Associates) explains that by "using aspects of conceptual art, popular culture and real-time performance" they  seek to develop "a new manner of dialogue between artist and audience." 

Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing

MTAA has completed several other short video productions including YES & NO and (LOVE + HATE) x 100. Both of these forms of video artwork concentrate on parallel opposites. In each video the screen is split equally down the middle with one level of the issue on one side and the opposite on the side next to it. Confusion is another aspect built into each of these videos and plays a key role in the audience's perception of meaning. 

MTAA

Scrapbook Entry #4-Billboards

Driving down the highway I can't help myself but to look at all the billboards. These towering images of tv broadcasting, beer ads, Geico rate quotes, and even controversial statements seem to have a presence that can't be ignored. But can these images be considered art? Although not all seem to answer yes to this question, these larger-than-life advertisements grab your attention even if for just a fleeting second. It has always amazed me how the mind can comprehend all of these images even when  you only concentrate on them for sometimes less than a second as you speed by. 

The billboards in Time Square, New York City create an atmospheric presence that administer the feeling of being so small surrounded by a huge city of people and images, neon lights and colors. I remember when we would travel to South Carolina for Spring Break in mi

ddle school all through North Carolina billboards for South of the Border littered the side of the road, counting down the miles. I would get excited whenever I could see the next billboard emerging in the distance, growing bigger and bigger as we drove closer.

 These billboards have such a presence that they have even become famous. 

On-line I came across one image of a billboard that took on aspects of a three-dimensional sculpture rather than just an ad, possessing a pres

ence much more closely related to art. Although most billboards may not be viewed as a form of art, I feel that often times they demand as much attention from their audience as a painting or a sculpture. 

Scrapbook Entry #3-Graffiti Art or Vandalism?

Driving down the Jone's Falls Expressway to downtown Baltimore City the walls of graffiti always catch my eye. Growing up in Baltimore and making this trip very often I became accustomed to what tags were where and I would notice when a new one appeared or another vanished. I thought the bright colors and the block letters, so squished together that they were sometimes indecipherable, were intriguing. However, I never really thought of graffiti as a form of art because I still always percieved it as vandalism. Recently though in my painting class we were asked to paint graffiti for the set of the upcoming play entitled "Polaroid Stories." This was a new experience for me and I found it very liberating being able to paint directly on the wall of the theater, especially something of such large-scale. Professor Leon Wiebers also introduced us to a famous graffiti artist whose work demands the attention of passerby. Banksy is a British street artist whose work ranges from political statements to comedic images. Being exposed to a graffiti artist like Banksy allowed me to see graffiti more and more as an art form than as vandalism or something that should be viewed as criminal. No longer was graffiti a form of destruction of a surface, but rather something that brought your attention to that surface, even made you stop and think. 

Banksy

Video Response-Growing Up Online

Frontline's video Growing Up Online offers a documentary view into the world of the Internet and social networking. Such online programs as Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, and Live Journal allow adolescents to freely roam the Internet away from their parents range of

vision. Teenagers are able to connect with thousands of individuals, many of whom they have never even met.

1)Due to the growing popularity of the Internet and many individuals reliance on it today, it is hard to envision what the world used to be like. Before Facebook or Myspace social networking was merely hanging out with your friends at school or over the weekend at a close friend's house. It would have never been imaginable to be able to communicate with millions of people across the country and even consider each other close "friends." Although in elementary school we had pen pals from another school, even sometimes another state, online social networking has gone way beyond this. No longer is it just another method of communication, but rather a way to pretend to be someone else, to take on a new identity.

2) a. If I were to describe Facebook, Myspace, or any other social networking service to a friend who was unfamiliar with it I would explain that it gives an in depth glimpse into someone else's life or sometimes rather the life they'd prefer to lead. It is a place where people can post pictures, communicate with each other, and share various aspects of themselves such as favorite music and interests. People from college networks, high schools, and different areas can all use Facebook to connect with one another.

b. I would describe Facebook to my parents by describing it as a place where friends and classmates can connect and communicate with each other online.

c. I would describe Facebook to my grandparents in the same way I would describe it to my parents, however I may have to explain more about the technical aspects and how it is possible to communicate over the Internet.

d. I would describe Facebook to a teenager living in 1950 as a worldwide yearbook. Each person has their own profile that others can visit and learn about the person.

3) A person's Facebook page reveals various aspects about their life such as their interests, activities they are involved in, their favorite music and movies, and even who they are friends with. Facebook pages may sometimes allow strangers to place the person in a stereotype or draw false inferences about them. Design and content techniques that grab my attention are if the person has posted a lot of pictures or has a lot of wall posts. I usually only add a person as a friend if I have actually met them in person, however I may be more likely to add a person as a friend if we share similar interests, share common friends, or are in the same network such as college or high school. Something I would want to know about someone that is not on their Facebook would be more about their personality such as if they were nice, outgoing, or funny.

4) I think Facebook reinforces stereotypes and allows people to assume things that may not be true of the person.

5) Marshall McLuhan's statement "The medium is the message" applies to Facebook in that a person's Facebook is read differently depending on how the information is presented. For example, a person with a lot of friends may be thought of as popular, however a person with an incredible amount of friends may show that this person has a lot of acquaintances but not very many close friends. A person may also draw inferences about a person based on their pictures, wall posts, albums, and so on. How the person acts in real daily life may be different from these inferences, however people may still believe their inaccurate inferences from a Facebook page over their actual experience with that person.

Scrapbook Entry #2-Telescope images

The Hubble Space Telescope completes one orbit around the Earth every 96 minutes at approximately 5 miles per second. Hubble has revolutionized the world of astronomy by providing detailed clear views of the Universe, ranging from our own solar system to extremely remote galaxies that were formed not long after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. Not only has the Hubble Space Telescope allowed us to receive an outstandingly greater amount of insight and understanding into our world it has also provided us with numerous vibrant images of what is out there. Hubble was first launched in 1990 and has been capturing extraordinary images all along the way, interconnecting science to photography. 

Website

New Media Artist Blog # 3: Wooden Mirror

Wooden Mirror Video

Daniel Rozin is a new media artist whose work focuses on interaction. His digital based installations and sculptures revolve around the idea of changing and responding to the environment in which they are placed. In several of his works the idea of a mirror image is explored in which the viewer becomes the subject. In the wooden mirror for example 830 pieces of wood, 830 servo motors, control electronics, a video camera, and a computer all work together to create an image of the curious onlooker. This use of innovative technology allows Rozin to mimic the qualities of a mirror onto a piece of wood. Rozin experiments with this same idea using a variety of other materials even garbage. Daniel Rozin's installations break the barrier of digital and physical as well as technology and art. Rozin is successful in creating a new way of interacting with art. 

Scrapbook Entry #1-Cells

When looking into a microscope at a slide of an object or a chemical it often feels like you are looking into another world or even another dimension. The images are so abstracted and strange that it is hard to believe that the object you are observing is actually made up of what you are seeing. Everyday objects such as plants and water take on new forms and characteristics. The abstract quality and organic shapes and lines formed when the image is viewed through the microscope render an artistic quality. The shapes mimic movement and pattern similar to those made by a brushstroke or an artist's composition. We do not usually think of a magnified image of the cells in a leaf as art, however I feel that it very much possesses the same aesthetic qualifications that make something art and deserves our attention. 

More microscope slide images. 

New Media Artist Blog 2: Hektor

The device known as Hektor is the collaborative invention of engineer Uli Franke and Jurg Lehni. Hektor is  a portable spray-paint output device for laptop computers. Hektor's software is based on the system known as Scriptographer, a scripting plug in for Adobe Illustrator created by Jurg Lehni. Franke and Lehni point out that the aim of Hektor is to make a statement about the plasticity of design and the variations technology offers for artists. In particular how design can be manipulated by experimenting with new tools that provide an extremely distinctive aesthetic. Hektor represents a tool that moves past the limitations of the clean cut computer design offering technology that acts more like a human arm than the rigidity of a computer software system. For example, the contraption sometimes shakes and wobbles while in action and often drips paint, adding a unique organic quality that is aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. 

Hektor web link.

The Purpose of Art

The purpose of art is an arguable topic both between artists and critics of art. But does art necessarily have to have a purpose? Is anything and everything art or are there distinct qualifications? In my opinion, I do not believe that art has to have a purpose, but rather it is the expression of someone or something through something else. A work of art can be meaningless garbage to one person and have a world of meaning to another. Art should make you think, make you question the world you live in, make you see something in a different light or from someone else's perspective, make the ordinary extraordinary. Art should transform you. Art should make you feel.  

Context is also an important aspect of art. An object can be everyday in its normal context, however it may take on new meaning when placed somewhere it is usually not found. For example, Waldemar Januszczak writes in his essay, What Is Art For?, about Carsten Holler's slide installation at the Tate Modern Museum in London, England. In a playground or at an amusement park these slides would just be another really cool slide, however in the context of the Tate Modern these slides take on the idea of art. Januszczak explains, "At Tate Modern, an entirely different context, the slides affect a different audience in a different way. When a businessman pops out of his City office at lunchtime and has a go on Holler's slide, he is connecting with feelings of pleasure and dis-engagement that are alien to him in his usual daily context. Slides are generally for children. Not this one: this one is aimed specifically at the child within." 

The definition of art is also one not determined by the creator. "Art can be made by any of us. It need not result in museum- quality work; it can be only an elaboration of an ordinary object" (Rosier, What is Art?). Art is a means of expression, no matter by whom. In conclusion, art is in the eye of the beholder, its purpose can be one thing for one person and hold a completely different meaning for someone else. Art is what you make it.