NING

To visit my Ning social network, Fairness Awareness, click on link. Fairness Awareness is, an online community for people who share the same values about our part in purchasing fair products. We have provided information on products that are fair trade, sweat-shop free/humane, cruelty free, certified organic, charitable, and others. We have also included a space for members to share their favorite planet-friendly products and trade information and ideas. It is our goal to group together like-minded and eco-aware people to promote sustainability and a better planet.

Generative Topic from ASPECTS

Some research and or independent projects that could be used for some assignments would be:

- The documentation of "special occasions" (eg. weddings, babies, etc.) what is the importance of documenting such significant moments in time? Create a time line of significant "special moments" in your life. Would you want to share to everyone all of these moments why or why not?

- Looking at relationships: Father and Son. There are several examples in which the father seems to aggressively encourages his son by telling him to "Go fast" and "Push!". Do you feel/ react the same way? Do you think that the father was overly stern or did I misinterpret the footage. What are your thoughts? How could you change the audio, context, etc. to portray a more positive/ negative impression?

- Exercise in drawing. The shadows that are viewed in the footage is a good example of using shading techniques, perspective and study of shape and form.

- Create a time capsule of your own personal memoirs. Unveil it over a long period of time... call it " a work in progress". 

- How does the point of view of the camera effect the audience/ viewer? Would the footage have been perceived differently otherwise?

- Would you consider facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. a form of voyeurism? How would you define voyeurism? Positive, negative connotation? Create a piece that defines voyeurism based off of your own definition. 

Brent Watanabe: Thrift Store Tape Series

In ASPECTS, Artists of the West Coast V. 2, I looked at brent Watanabe's piece called, Thrift store tape 3. Briefly, the piece is described to be made up of discarded home videos, whose memoirs are lost, stolen, traded, or sold. Viewing the piece first without commentary on, I found my that my note had emphasis on the journey of these videos. The origin from which they first came from. How did they get to where they are? Who and why were they discarded? The juxtaposition that Watanabe uses also creates an eerie voyeuristic point of view. The thing I noted was the relationship the viewer has with the camera and the point of view looking in, but then being snapped backed into reality when you hear the voice of others.

Bill Arning provides the commentary on Watanabe's work and also notes how the artist uses minimal manipulation, whereas most new media artists tend to over manipulate. Arning also comments how Watanabe allows us to view, "people's leftovers" in a public area and that someone made the conscious decision to let go of the footage and memories in hopes it would disappear. Finally, Arning further discusses the voyeuristic tendency in Watanabe's work and applies it to our modern times, for example, blogging. I found this to be ironic and amusing. 

Generative Topics in New Media Art

I am examining the cultural aspects of new media art and the stance of consumer versus creator. I am also interested in the evolution of technology that provides for new media art and in todays culture, what can be classified as "fine art".

A good example of this is an article I found in January/February's issue of Technology Review 2009, published by MIT entitled, Bootleg Battle Lines: Rival Aesthetics in the Mashup Community, by Larry Hardesty. 

The article is about the artist Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk. Gillis himself is a former biomedical engineer but now performs live as a avant-garde deejay. However, the article continues, "the mashup, a fledgling art form that, like Gillis's shows, blurs the boundary between creator and consumer" (Hardesty, 70). The article further continues, "the mashup is a distinctly 21st century phenomenon, made possible by the proliferation of digital music files and the increasing quality and accessibility of software for manipulating them" (Hardesty, 70).

There is no doubt that new media art has derived out of the advancement in our practice of technology, science and experimentation. As an American culture we may have more exposure to new media given our resources, socioeconomic background and education level. 

In contrast to my current article, I also took a look at commentary on computers and technology from a later date. In Viktor Lowenfeld's notorious textbook republished in 1987, Creative and Mental Growth, had some interesting insight to offer. 

Lowenfeld writes, "... technology available in computer programs is comparable to other media... [technology] may be less personally threatening to manipulate forms produced at the touch of a button than it is to become involved in the creative product..."(p.425- 426). Given what Lowenfeld writes, does this mean that if artists are not actively exposed and engaged in the rich environment and processes of traditional art, experiencing the art process through sensory experiences- it is not considered art? 

Finally my last example that best exemplifies the dichotomy of new media art and traditional media (fine art) from Lowenfeld's  Creative and Mental Growth, " As modern technology develops, the process of teaching art will also change... years ago it was considered to teach block printing. These blocks were actually used in the production of books... the need for people to produce block prints has long since disappeared. The copy machines can now produce an unlimited number of prints... lettering, mechanical drawing, and repetitive designs may soon be relegated to electronic machines..."(p.428).

Is Fine Art Dead?

What is passable as fine art and what do we consider new media art? Can new media art be labeled as a practice of fine art? In my piece that I created, I specifically used traditional media (canvas and marker), to create a piece, "Got iphone?", that echoes and satirically mocks new media art... which since taking this course seems to be an underlying "trend" of artists in this media.

Something else that inspired my piece, was the Broadway show, Art, adapted by Yasmina Reza. I had seen this show years ago, but the plot of it is as follows: 

 When an art lover buys what is in essence a pure white painting for a horse-choking sum, his best friend goes ballistic. Yet a third friend gets squeezed in the middle. Questions about the meaning of the strange modern art and strange modern friendships-- and how they're sometimes not all that different 

IBDB.com

I extracted from my inspiration and the practices, themes, and context of new media and came up with my piece. Simple and to the point.

MassArtEd

Please visit and view work at: http://www.massarted.org/portal/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=127&g2_itemId=1083&g2_page=3

Yes Men

The Yes Men group instantly reminded me of the movie Fight Club. Mostly because the whole point of The Yes Men is to expose the ethical, political, capitol issues of large corporations and their wrongdoings.
My personal feelings towards the website and their activism is still forming. I feel for what they do - calling out big names and people for justice but also think it can be done only in moderation before The Yes Men my lose sight of their initial mission.
I also strongly believe that while the big CEOs should be extorted, The Yes Men do have a responsibility to not make false promises to others in retribution. Which with the line of work that they are in, is hard not to bring in the third party. Finally, I also personally think that as a society, country, citizens, we are to blame too. Society makes up the body that created these institutions, corporations, and oligopolies. And we are also the ones that feed and fuel these bodies of businesses, whether it be invested stocks or sitting behind a desk crunching numbers.
So I would say before retaliating against them, we should all take a good look at us