Session 11: Form and Subject

This week, we looked at minding the gap between three different platforms. The three platforms we looked at were:

1. ORLAN
2. SIMMEL
3. MORI

I have had the "pleasure" of learning about ORLAN in my Producing Culture course. Her form of artistic expression is kind of crazy and makes me quite nervous to look at. It is very interesting for she uses plastic surgery as her chosen medium. Not only does she have the surgery as part of her creation, but she also documents the surgery on film (images and motion picture) while staying awake for the whole thing! Her take on the process of beauty and plastic surgery is "the objective is unattainable and the process horrifying". She definitely opens up a different side of the study of beauty. I agree with her take on the process, although her art does make me nervous.

This is the first time I have heard of SIMMEL. His theory plays on the form of existence and looks at the "aesthetic dimension of social life". Tim writes about the dimensions of Simmel's characterization of the aesthetic realm of society. These two dimensions consist of:

1. "The playful appreciation of apparent social/cultural forms 'for their own sake' not their meaning"; and
2. "The construction of a totality (a form) from fragmentary information"

The platform of MORI is also new to me. It refers to weird stuff, such as "uncanniness". To me, an example of this platform is a doppelganger. I know we have studied this in previous weeks, but these last couple of weeks seem to always incorporate much of the semester. Tim suggests that in our digital world, a doppelganger can be created through digital art. Tim gave us an example of this with the digitally enhanced version of Homer Simpson.

Session 12: Cultural Memory

Tim quotes Cultural Memory as "the interplay of present and past in socio-cultural contexts". For this entry, I thought it would be a cool idea to look at architecture that recognizes the idea of cultural memory.

Architecture is a strong example of cultural memory because the style usually relates to the time and culture of the surrounding community.

The Sydney Opera House was built in the 1970's. Designed by a foreign architect, the structure shows a change in time and innovation. The amazing piece of architecture shows the cultural shift of that time period, when it was "out with the old and in with the new".

Flinder's Street Station was built in the early 1900's when Melbourne was becoming a city for people to migrate to. The style represents the culture of the city and the time period. The purpose for the building represents the innovation in transportation - using the building as a central station for the newly invented tram.

Session 10: Experimental Imaging in Sound and Vision

In today's tutorial, we focused on software as a "culture of activity". We had to get into groups of four or five and choose five pieces of software. Each group member took on a different role; camera person, software user, note-taker and live commentator. Each piece of software that we looked at, we rotated roles and since we had five members, rather than four, we had two note-takers each time.

The first round, I was one of the note-takers. Below is a picture of the notes that I took while Britt perused on Facebook; our first piece of software we examined.

On our own, we had to complete five more examinations of software for a total of ten. The following is the list of software that I "interrogated", although I will only include five in my blog entry:

1. Facebook


2. iPhoto


3. Blogger


4. Audacity


5. Pages


6. Microsoft Word


7. Garage Band


8. Adobe Photoshop Elements


9. Blackboard


10. iDVD

These pieces of software range from social networking sites, -to image-editing software, -to sound-editing programs, -to software with educational purposes. Although one could argue that all of these pieces of software can be used for educational purposes.

For each piece of software, we were asked to answer three questions:

1. What does the software "do"?


2. Who wrote the software and who "uses" it?


3. If you wanted to buy the software
   a. Is the software "free"?
   b. What does "free" mean?

Facebook:

1. Facebook is a social networking site that keeps people in touch with each other.
2. The software was written by Harvard University student, Mark Zuckerberg.
3. The software is free and can be used by visiting www.facebook.com and creating a profile. Once you have created a profile, there are various features that have a fee to use. These features are optional.

iPhoto:

1. iPhoto is a Mac program that helps users organize their photos. The program also allows users to alter images.
2. This software was written by Brian Webster.
3. iPhoto comes as part of a Mac program package called iLife. iLife can be purchased from the online Mac Store or in-person at a Mac Store for between US$79.00 and US$99.00.

Blogger:

1. Blogger is a social networking website. It allows people to document various topics in an online journal that can be made available for people all over the world to read.
2. This software was written by
3. Blogger is a free service that you simply sign-up for using an email address and password. You just create a profile and start writing.

Audacity:

1. Audacity is a sound editing software. It allows people to sample sounds and experiment with changing them.
2. This software was written by a group of volunteers. Their names could not be found on the Internet.
3. Audacity is a free program that can be downloaded off the Internet at: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/

Pages:

1. Pages is a word processing program that is used on Mac computers.
2. The software writer could not be found on the Internet.
3. Pages is part of a Mac program package called iWork that can be purchased online or in-store for US$79.00 or US$99.00 for the Family Pack.

All of these programs will be familiar to many people in our class. Since they have used them for either personal or school use at some point.

With this exercise, it was really interesting to see how much we paid attention to our actual practices of the programs. With software such as Facebook, its uses are a second nature to us. We don't have to pay close attention to what we're doing. Whereas with Audacity, the software is not as familiar to us and we have to concentrate on our movements and what items we choose from the toolbar.

Time and Spectacle: Taxonomy

This week we looked deeper into "taxonomy". We were asked to gather online examples of: video art, television, silent film, live music and art film. Below are the examples that I found:

• Video Art: Joan Jonas is a prominent American video artist. Her piece titled, "Organic Honey's Video Telepathy" was created in 1972. It was filmed in her own loft in New York City.

http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/47/959

• Television: How I Met Your Mother is a television show watched by many friends of mine. This is a clip from a recent episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbBs2OcR8a8

• Silent Film: This is a 21st Century example of a silent film. It's titled, "Larry Goes To The Market:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s_40rM_L0s

• Live Music: This is an example of Brad Doggett playing his upcoming single "I Will". The album this song is on has not yet been released, but with the power and popularity of the Internet, fans are able to get a first listen to Doggett's new song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Voz2fWDOgI

• Art Film: This is a modern art film titled "Pixels". It was created in New York City by the American artist Patrick Jean. This is definitely my favourite of all the videos.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcv6dv_pixels-by-patrick-jean_creation

Video and Sonic Art

Sonic art, as most terms we look to define in this course, is difficult to define. Brandon LaBelle gives it a try, defining sonic art as "sound art is art about sound; it is art the both uses sound as its medium and addressess sound as its subject of concern" (Brandon LaBelle, in Bol 6, Autumn 2007, pg. 78). This week we looked at two weeks worth of material due to our deeming day. There is a lot of information to cover! I would have to say this is definitely one of my favourite topics of the semester so far.

Sonic art is an artistic expression through sound. In class, we listened to the work of Icelandic band, Sigur Ros. Incredible musicians who use very little (if any) vocals and provide listeners with beautiful sound through instruments and electronics. We listened to the track Untitled 6. It's quite beautiful, almost mind numbing. The power of sonic art is amazing. Sigur Ros does an excellent job with portraying art through sound.

After this class, I thought I would look on the Internet for more examples of sonic art. On Vimeo, I found a great video showcasing video and sonic art. It is from the Blank Gallery in Brighton, England. It shows various installations in the gallery that use sound as a form of artistic expression. In the video, they show an installation of hanging Slinky's. People visiting the gallery are given sticks (similar to drum sticks) to strum along the hanging Slinky's, making for an interesting sound. The link for the "'Sonic Art' Sound Exhibition" video is: http://vimeo.com/4816990.

This video could stand as a multimedia experience through musical performance in the sense that individuals are performing music; both visual and sonic elements in this multimedia experience.

In class, we looked at Lady Gaga's video for her single, "Bad Romance". This is when I really find myself catching on. When we relate course content to popular culture. Lady Gaga is an excellent example of multimedia experience through musical performance. We are appreciating the visual creativity of set, make up and costume design, as well as appreciating the sound of the music being performed by Lady Gaga. Another example of this is Britney Spears. I saw her live show in Brisbane recently. It was more than a performance of music. The show included music, dancing, large video screens, special lighting and effects and ongoing activity. Below are some photos of the event.

Topology/Ontology

This week we focused on two keys terms:

1. Topology
2. Ontology

Topology is the study of spacial properties in mathematics. It refers to "continuous deformations of objects". A look into topology, we can look at the study of maps. Below is an example of a map that I found while surfing the Internet. I really like the contrast in colours and the scribbling lines. It looks as though it was draw with quick movements. I think it is a contemporary map of the world.

Ontology is often noticed as "the study of the thing itself". It examines what things exist or should exist in our world. After determining what things exist, it divides these things into a hierarchy of things and further divides them into subcategories. Ontology is part of the study of metaphysics. On the topic of the world, I decided to look for an example of ontology as an image.

Series and Multiples

This week we learned about "series and multiples". We examined everything between film and sound history, in just a few hours. In our lecture, Tim focused on the importance of moving images and recorded sounds and their cultural importance.

We looked at static images that were repeated on different scales of time and space that lead to the development of a motion picture. The example that Tim provided in our tutorial was a really cool video on YouTube called, "The Photographer". It documented pictures in a static motion as taken by, Philip Glass. The link to view this artistic compilation is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Afodfj4t8

I really enjoy looking at "frozen moments" in photos. In sound a "frozen moment" is also referred to as a "digital sample". An example of a "digital sample" is when an iTunes user visits the iTunes Store and samples tracks before they purchase them. I think in this sense, a frozen moment in sound is useful, but I do not like them because they only give you a short "taste" 

(for lack of a better word) of a song. I would rather hear the whole thing!

In the tutorial, Tim gave us time to go outside and add to our image banks on the condition that we focus on ideas of continuity and separation while looking at spaces. I decided to go out and take images and sound bytes of things like: the outside labeling of a rubbish bin to the inside image of the rubbish bin between the grates; the enter sign of the library from the outside to the inside of the library looking at students at work. As for sound bytes, I recorded the noise from the outside of the library, as well as the sounds while inside the building. You cannot tell much of a difference because there are so many students around in both places. The only difference is that there is less wind carrying over the entire sound byte, inside the library.

Outside the library...

Inside the library.

The Ethnographer

Today in our tutorial, we had to read the infamous short story "The Ethnographer" by Jorges Luis Borges. We got together with partners and took turns reading. The partner who wasn't reading took a video or still images of the person reading. It definitely started as an awkward experience, but it turned out to be very artistic. We had to look at the person as more of an object, rather than a person. I took a video of my partner. I started off head on and level to her face. Then I stepped backwards and then sideways, behind her and in front of her. I experimented with focusing and lighting. I zoomed up close to her face and close to the paper. I also stood in a far away corner. By the time I was in a far away corner, all I could do was view her reading the short story. I couldn't actually hear her anymore. Unfortunately, I don't have the video of her - only the one that she took of me.

My favourite part of the tutorial was the ringtone exercise. We were put into a large circle as a class and asked to play our ringtones. Sometimes they were taking turns, sometimes all at once. It made such an amazing sound. Although some ringtones (including mine) are very annoying, they seemed to work and became less irritating when played all together.

Our final activity of the tutorial was to stand in a line of five students in front of the class. We played an "ice breaker" type of game where the first person would say their name and the rest of the group, one by one, would have to repeat their name. We couldn't move on to the next person's name until the whole group pronounced their name correctly. This wasn't too tough... Until we got to the names of a foreign culture to our own. My name is pretty easy to pronounce correctly though!

The above photographs are from the Sydney Opera House. These photos are in response to "The Region of Geography and Time," but in a more urban environment. The architecture of this structure is pretty amazing. It is known across the world as being a one-of-a-kind; people from all over come to see it.

This week we learned about "The Region of Geography and Time". After researching the art of Andy Goldsworthy and Miwon Kwon, I remembered the photos I took when I was recently at the beach. The first picture of the sand art was taken in Melbourne. The one below is from Tallow Beach in Byron Bay. They are literal works of art, but they do "transcend the ideal notion of a 'blank space'".

Session 2: Semiotics

This week we learned about reading the image: semiotics. Tim discussed with us the importance of Ferdinand de Saussure. Saussure was a linguist who came up with the two-part model of the sign. He stated that a sign was part of two things: a signifier and a signified. The signifier represents the form which the sign takes. The signified represents the concept. We learned about three specific concepts of semiotics, which include:

1. Icons

• Physically Similar: This photo (courtesy of David Wall Photos) represents a physically similar icon. It shows you a literal image of what the sign is being used to inform the public about.

• Conceptual Similarity: This is an image of my roommates sheet of music. The five of them play the guitar and they share a binder of guitar sheet music. This type of icon represents the sound of something through an image.

2. Indices: This is an example of indices related through casualty. I took this photograph while traveling in Queenstown, New Zealand. The image represents "red sky at night, sailor's delight". The next day should bring sunshine.

3. Arbitrary Sign: This represents a sign that does not need explanation. No matter where in the world you are, this sign represents the same thing. An example of this is sign language. It doesn't matter what language you speak. Signing is universal. This is the sign for "I love you".

There is a lot to know about semiotics. Too much to include in one blog entry. We just learned a brief into this week, but I'm definitely excited to learn more. Now that I know what to look for, I'm going to search for some signs on my own. Maybe even for next weeks entry.

Session 1: Experimental Imaging

So... It's now been two weeks since the Imaging Culture course has begun. After the two weeks, I feel like I now have a better understanding of what I can look forward to learning from Tim Humphry. I'm also really excited to get some hands-on, practical learning.

Our first lecture was discussing "experimental imaging". We were introduced to investigating the world through image-making process. The task in tutorial was to take photographs of moving images. Taking a photograph while the subject is moving can give life to a simple image. Even the way we hold the camera, free handed. It can show the movement in the photographer, not just the actual image. This process is very interesting and can bring up a lot of questions and opinions about a specific photograph.

The example in this entry is a photograph I took of the Sydney skyline during New Years' Eve celebrations to ring in 2010. During all the excitement of celebrating the new year in such a unique way (although with hundreds of thousands of other people), the photograph captures not only the skyline, but my own movement. I really like this photograph because of the unique movement, as well as the contrast between the dark colours with the bright lights.