New Media Artist#11-Stelarc

Stelarc, a performance artist from Australia concentrates his work around "extending the capabilites of the human body" and the art movement Futurism. Stelarc's work focuses around the belief that the human body by itself is obsolete, therefore his performances often consist of intergrating technology with the human body and converging the two. In one particular performance he attaches himself to a device that allows him to be remotely controlled by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet. Other performances involve robotic arms and legs and he even had an electronic ear implanted in his forearm. It is hard to say whether or not manipulating your body is art but Stelarc's work is definitely a social commentary that makes one contemplate the power of our own existance. 

Scrapbook Entry#22 Bumper Stickers

Bumper stickers are really just another form of expression to let the whole world know who we are. Bumper stickers allow a person to tell thousands of complete strangers that they will probably never even meet what their favorite sports teams are, what their hobbies are, where they go/went to college, or where their children go/went to college, that their child is an honor student at so and so elementary school, who they supported in the past presidential election, and their views on controversial issues like abortion and global warming, or even the new popular ones with a stick figure representation of each member of your family. Bumper stickers can just be decorative but that is still a form of outward expression and in a way still tells people something about you that they may not have know before. So why do we care if complete strangers know so much detail about our lives as they are riding on our bumpers down the highway? Its not really the fact that we care about what other people think about our bumper stickers but that we want to show the world this is who I am and this is my car and I have a right to say whatever I want. In all actuality its a form of free advertisement for each and every one of us, a chance to tell everyone this is what I believe this is what I care about. Some people may have one small bumper sticker while others may use it as a way to change the appearance of their care, give it personality, but every bumper sticker serves the same purpose. No, I do not believe that bumper stickers are art, although they can make your car look cooler, but I do believe that they are used to demand attention. Most of us could probably care less if the person driving the Escalade in front of us has an honor student at such and such middle school but still we find ourselves still reading it. Bumper stickers intrigue us, they allow to see a little piece of a person's life with out actually ever seeing them face to face. Although bumper stickers may not deserve our attention I do feel that they do a good job at demanding it.

Scrapbook Entry#21 Seashells

Similar to my rocks scrapbook entry my family and I always collect seashells whenever we go to the beach. The beach has always been the place where we all finally stop doing what work we have going on to come together and relax for the summer. Since as long as I can remember I would take mile long walks on the beach with my mom and sister to find the best shell. I would always look for shells with holes in them so that I could take them back and make jewelry. My mom's goal was always to find a whole conch shell or sand dollar but they were hard to come across. Another favorite find was always sea glass. My mom, my sister, and I would then bring home all of our treasures, wash them off, and admire what each other had found. Sometimes my mom would teach me how to make an angel ornament out of the different shells using an oyster shell for the body, a clam shell for the head, and smaller skinnier shells for the wings. Although a shell might not be considered art sea shells have always been a meaningful part of my summer, providing me with endless hours of trying to find a better shell than my sister's and countless family memories.

New Media Artist#10-Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm's invention of the One Minute Sculpture has brought a new aspect to the definiton of sculpture art. Wurm's series revolves around himself and his models posing in relationship with everyday objects. Wurm states that he "seeks to use the shortest path in creating a sculpture-a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression." I was drawn to the temporary nature of Wurm's work, how one minute it is there and the next it is gone. I also like how Wurm is interested in what surrounds him, the objects he sees everyday and how they can be considered art if looked at from a different light.  I think that Wurm is successful in expanding our definitions of art an showing that something we may come in contact with everyday can also be made into art if we forget about our preconceived notions of what that object is or does. 

Scrapbook Entry#20-Rocks

When I was little I always used to collect rocks wherever I went. There's a stream at the bottom of my street and everyday during the summer on my walk back from the pool I would go down to the stream and look for the coolest rocks I could find. I had a pile in the corner of my room of all the rocks I had found. They were all different shapes and sizes, colors, and textures. Some sparkled and some had cool designs. No rock was exactly the same, each rock had its own story. Some had smooth surfaces from being tumbled by the water, while others had jagged broken edges from being broken or thrown. Sometimes I would use them to write my name on the sidewalk, other times I would take them back and use my sister's jewelry tumbler to make them shiny. Once my dad even brought me back a geode from a business trip with sparkling crystals and a deep amethyst color. Although I never considered these rocks to be art they still grabbed my attention. The amount of variety in something so simple intrigued me. How there were so many of them but they were all different. I found this rock at a beach in Historic Saint Mary's. Not only does it have a cool jade like color and incredibly smooth surface it now also carries the memories from that nice summer day at the beginning of the semester with my friends.

Scrapbook Entry#19- CDs

I have always thought the back of a CD was awesome. How in one light it can just look silver yet in another there can be a multitude of rainbow colors. I found this CD when I was cleaning out my desk and it seemed like a great idea for a scrapbook entry. I remember in elementary school one craft that we made was a suncatcher out of a CD and some fishing wire. When we hung the CDs from the window they reflected patterns of colored light around the room. Although I do not think that a CD itself is art I do feel that it can be used to create art or to inspire art therefore it deserves our attention. For example, an artist could use the concept of how something can be transmitted from one thing to something else in an installation, or the idea of projecting light or color could also be used for an installation.

Response to Digital Potrait: Subjective versus Objective

After completing the Digital Portrait assignment and observing the thought process behind each person's own portrait I discovered that the line that differentiates between subjectivity and objectivity is very blurred. It was interesting to see how each person approached this problem of subjectivity versus objectivity differently and what one individual read as subjective could be seen as objective to someone else. This is also interesting because in the end no matter how objective an image is each person carries with them their own subjectivity, therefore the same image can look very different to one person based on their own subjective beliefs compared to another outside viewer and then even more different then how the artist's hand intended it to be read.