Cities and Film... Lecture 6.

Herbets Bayer's Lonely Metropolitan image optimises the idea of being surrounded by people but being simultaneously alone. 

In lewis Hines famour image the city is engulfing as he hangs above. 

The large buildings that you can see in any imagery of the big cities in america show them that they are these great creaetions that are soaring up into the sku, these then give the impression that this is the land of oppertunity and this shows how they are reaching for the sky.

Fordism, is coined by Gramsci, the idea is that the human body is part of the machine. The worker is employed in menial repetitive work and paid just enough to then buy the kinds of items that there making. It is self perpetuating - the worker is also the consumer.

Fordism was brought to an end by the stock market crash which led to the great depression. Immigrant communities and factory laborers are usually the first affected by depression!

'Man with a movie Camera' is a silent documentary from 1929 showing modern soviet life. There would have been live musical accompaniment to this film.

Susan Sontag talks about the photographer as a flaneur.

'Flaneur' comes from the french noun meaning 'stroller' or 'lounger'. The flaneur is a man of leisure,

What does it mean for a female to be a flaneur (flaneuse) ?

Shermans "Untitled Film Stills' use the typical low angles of film noir 

Task 1 - Panopticism Task...

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.  






Modern society has been under constant change and will always continue to change as long as we permit it too. The main way that this has been in effect is due to Panopticism. Panopticism is a apart of every day life, a simple way of describing Panopticism would be 'a power which is constantly visible but never verifiable'. This is something which showed the change over from physical control over its patients to then a mental control which proved alot stronger and allowed a much greater return in progress of time that was needed to change the behaviour to what was needed.


A modern day Panoptic technique in which we are all judged upon (especially in the younger generation) would be online social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, everything that you post and all the actions that you perform on these sites are judged people judge you upon these actions. Every time that you post anything or upload a picture you are being monitored and this then makes you self consciously act in the way that you think is expected and is also acceptable for society. 


You can try to prevent the Panopticism from happening however this deems near impossible in our modern world due to the way in which things have been put in placed now, On Facebook and Twitter you are able to prevent people who are not your friends to see what you are up to, this is a way in which we can monitor our own privacy yet this can only allow us to do so much. Normally aswell people do not consider these settings to even be there and presume that they have been already put into action. they would be wrong.

The Gaze... Lecture Notes 5.

What makes us want to hurt others and what makes us want to watch others suffer through others seeing?

when playing a computer game it gives you a chance to do something that you cant do in real life without getting hurt or badly injured, thats a reason why people enjoy these games.

Richard focussed on institutional structures of power in the last lecture, this lecture will focus more on interpersonal, psychical and power sexual relations

some common misconceptions about physchical, power and sexual relations...

- It’s mish-mash of psychology (behaviour) and psychiatry (mental illness).

- Although it is linked to the two – it’s also a ‘way of thinking’ that can be applied to all aspects of society, including art and design.

- It’s all about sex.

- Whilst psychoanalysis does position the role of sexuality, especially in our infancy, as a foundation of our adult lives – it is also about how we treat and examine other objects.

scopophilia – sexual stimulation by sight….(objectifying the actors on screen) 

   ‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact  [. . .] they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.’

 

 There is also a view point on tv these days.. there is a modern tv show known as peep show

 

this allows you too look through the eyes of the character so that you are able to see what they see and how they want to act! and what they look like whilst they do, making you feel more apart of the show.

There are two ways of gazing...

1.the spectator’s gaze – gaze of a viewer at an image

2.intra-diegetic gaze – a gaze of one depicted person at another within the image

The use of the extra-diegetic gaze is more affecting than the intra-diegetic gaze in this instance.

Intra-diegetic gazes defer our guilt – someone else is hurting that person 

Extra-diegetic gazes enhances our guilt – we are complicit

Different forms of ‘gaze’ evoke different structures of power;

Popular Culture... Lecture 4.

The aims of this Essay:

- Critically define 'popular culture'

- Define 'Ideology'

- Contrast ideas of culture with popular culture and mass culture.

What is culture:

- On of the most complicated words in the english language!

- A particular way of life

- Works of intellectual and especially artistic significance

The State

‘…but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’ (Marx & Engels (1848) ‘Communisit Manifesto)

This is what was placed next to this image as it describes the way that they think this all links together to show how each of them all look at each other ... as you can see they say the order in which the world was working and what priority is in order to make sure each of them do what they have been told! 

What is Ideology 

- Inferior kinds of work

- Well liked by many people

- Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people

- Culture actually made by the people themselves

these would show how you can then portray something as ideology, it says how you want things to look and be perfect in other peoples eyes and this will allow this to then be made out to be perfect and liked by everyone

Working Class

Bourgeois

Matthew Arnold (1867) ‘Culture & Anarchy’

matthew believed that culture was created from the best things that have happend in the world, the study of perfection., attained through disinterested reading, thinking and writing. This can all lead to the pursuit of culture.

'The working class… raw and half developed… long lain half hidden amidst it’s poverty and squalor… now issuing from it’s hiding place to assert an Englishmans heaven born privelige to do as he likes, and beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes, meeting where it likes, breaking what it likes' 

There are many things out there now which will show modern culture and how this is wanted to be placed and preformed in the best of lights, this can be a range off something from everyone is interested in when they get the most of things in the modern world. This could be anything from Facebook, big brother, hollyoaks. 

These all have a way of inviting the crowds into them and making them something which we see as 'cool' to watch ... thus making it Popular 

What else makes something popular:

The AURA of an object or the hype which surrounds something can make a massive impact on what you makes something popular. The best way to describe this would be with the Mona Lisa, this has such hype about the painting that its became famous for it, however there is much better paintings out there now and these do not has as much influence in the modern world. 

This can also edit what is 'cool' and 'popular' in the fashion industry and how you want these to then be made, the most influencial way of working with this is to look at what comes up in magazines and is broadcasted on the big screen, this then makes you think you want these and thus making it high demand and popular. 

Marxism and Design Activism... Lecture 3.

Marx suggests that there is no point in thinking without action... He calls the unification of thinking and action "praxis"

Marx wrote the communist manifesto, this outluined what he thought was a better way of organising society, Marxism led to the rise of the Soviet Union.

Capitalism is the society that we live in, Capitalism means that a few that are high in power are able to made the most profit, these are usually the people who are at the top of the ranks. This is a system which is based around individualism and so it makes us complete. We are taught to compete from school onwards

We are also taught to think that if your at the top of the jobs market it is because you deserve to be. We are lead to believe that competition is in human nature however back in primitive society we shared everything. this is now enforced in our modern culture to make us believe that competition is healthy so that we always better ourselves.

Marx argues  that society has two distinct sections, the base and the superstructure, The base is where all the workers with the mains skill and tools, mainly the people who set the ground work and then you have the superstructure who are the people who deal with legal, political and cultural proberlems ... and this is what the ideological world we see today

Religeon is sometimes classed as the trap for the working class!, the ultimate form of mental control, The working class are taught that theres an honour in being poor because if you are moral and that youll be then rewarded for your morality in heaven. 

Ideology usually emerges from the rulling class and there world view. The exploited class starts to think that this is also their world view. 

Art has always been Ideological

Another thing that has happend with modern culture is that education is now something that teachs us to act and behave in a way that society wants us too. This is now used as a state apparatus.

The media reflects ideology thats in the world already and effects us all without us even knowing.

Technology will liberate us Lecture 2

We will be looking into the overview of critical implication of techniology in art and design. What are the implications of technology on your design area!?

Technological conditions do not just have an effect on materialism. They affect how we think and operate as a society, this affects how we behave and how it will change us

Walter Benjamin claimed that when you copy an image that then becomes a copy of the oringinal work, however that is still  a copy of the main work but still the essence is there and its a piece of work in its own right,

Its hard to then tell whos work is the original once everyone starts to copy of each other, this becomes even more difficult when you start to look at artists work when they repliceate there own work and use them as repeat patterns...

Machine Age: Modernism.

Technology is parallel to new developments, the spirit of the age is dictated by technology and its use in art and design.

The only way to understand the idea of "original" is that only the art work created by technology and photography, sometimes these have been classed as the originals ... Benjamin Waleters calls these the "aura"

Freud explores the istinctual side of human behaviour . Marx brings about the understanding that techonolgy affects the value of the work of art as its no longer the only one out there. Marx foresore that labour and production through industrail revolution would naturally lead to a bigger consumption of art and design.

Photography destabilises in a similar way to postmodernism.

Frued explores technology in terms of how it can affect our subconscious - this is how we ended up with surrealism

One thing that came shortly afterwards with photography is Kineticism - the study of movement

Also with photography comes the dematerialisation of art and design. We dont necessarrily have to deal with an object at all!

Panopticism ... Lecture 1.

Institutions and Institutional Power...

The Panopticon (below) was created in 1971  

The main focus of this lecture is going to be on Michael Foucault who was born in 1926 and died in the year 1984. He was an activist and fought for gay rights, prisoner rights and much more. He was the guy who created the ideas of Madness and civilisation which shows the rise of the psychiatric doctors. 

He also created discipline and punishment, this showed the rise of the prisoners and the officers who worked in these 'prisons'

Back in the old days there was a different approach and thought to what madness was, it was thought of in a positive way so to speak, this was due to way that people seen these as the jokers and they were entertaining to watch while they made idiots of themselves. 

Then came the 1900's and things quickly changed and a more moral attitude became known and it was a disgrace to have this style of behaviour now. Those who didn't fit to the standard which was expected of the public were placed into what was called "The house of correction" also known as The Great Confinement (this was a place in which anyone who couldn't or wouldn't work, e.g. mothers, criminals or the insane were then placed to make sure that they could be changed into these people who were the perfect citizens. 

This worked for a certain length of time but it soon had to change because the way in which it was all coming together, the insane started to change the sane and create more criminals and trouble makers then what actually entered the house of correction. 

Asylums hence were created due to this issue, this is where the people who were imprisoned where trained like children to the degree that if you did something wrong you were punished and if you were to do something that was good you would then be rewarded for the things that you did. 

WITH THE BIRTH OF THE ASYLUM, THERE WAS A CHANGE OF CONTROL, GOING FROM PHYSICAL TO MENTAL. 

Others way of which you were expected to respect the new morals which was going on, this was created through the way of "The Pillory" this was created to show a message to show others that if you don't act morally to the way that society expects you to then you will be publicly humiliated. 

This made people to start to correct themselves on a new level so that you are able to work create the public to a way in which the government or the king wants.

THE PANOPTICON

This is the general layout which of the panopticon worked with, you can see the way in which each little station round the outside has a booth in which you can sit a single prisoner so that they can see the centre tower.

These above are some panopticons which are still around in Cuba, these are still in use and still applying there job well.

This here is the view from the inside of the panopticon, the tower that was in the centre was so that the guards could see into the each of the cells however, the guards in each of the cells couldn't see any of prisoners, this made is so that each prisoner could not interact with any other people and you felt like you were constantly under scrutiny and under a careful watch. 

The centre tower wouldn't be lit up so you couldn't see inside and then you would have to wonder if you were being watched or not, this still created the sense of wondering and you would never be 100% sure. So it started to create this sense of of risk and if you misbehaved would you be caught. Hence the development of self control, this eventually lead to no need for guards as they couldn't see if there was some guards in there any more so due to it not being lit you just behaved yourself. 

This style of prison was a way in which you can create a sense of...

Scrutiny 

Allows experiments on the prisoners 

Also makes them more self productive. 

This has now been implied into the more modern world, from the images below you can see how a work office has this open plan which is meant to be more contemporary and a more friendly working environment in which you can work and get things done so you can still talk to piers, yet it has a more stronger purpose where your boss can see what everyone is doing all the time. He wont even need to do anything except sit in his office, this is so that you can literally see him and know that he may be watching you so you don't miss behave.

All the above are examples of how it is implied in the modern day living. Ranging from libraries to pubs to educational environments.

Introduction to Contextual Theoretical Studies...

Head of the course and our tutor to this study is Richard Miles, we will have lectures every thursday at 11.00 am and a seminar at either 10 till 12 or 1 till 3 depending on our CTS group. 

The things which should be posted onto our contextual theoretical studies blog should be our lecture notes, any exhibitions that we attend, tasks and essays that we are given, independent research, we should document and type up our crits and the feedback that we get and also link this blog to any practical work  that we find or any that we have created personally.

There will be a range of studies to which we are going to cover, these will help to expand our range of knowledge when it comes to the subject matter. I will post the notes which we have took in any lectures which we have in the future. 

So Second Year Begins...

5 Examples of De-constructionism

The Guggenheim museum which is in Spain is a very good example of what you would expect De-Constructivism to be like, the way that the building is being formed shows a fine way of what you like to see from the different styles of this line of work.

This is the building is known as the Imperial War Museum North, its in Manchester and is created from a range of numerous shapes and volumes of structures. The way that the building also leans gives it a more diverse range to what you are looking for.

You can then go onto describe the meaning of deconstructionism through the means of typography and what else you want to decide when it comes down to that style of working, a main guy for this style would be David Carson

This is the Sage building in Newcastle, Gateshead. This building is a prime example of deconstructionism within the world, the best way to look at this would be to show the natural curves that the building has been sculpted with.

This is the final design for the deconstructionism work and images, this was created for the ray gun work, his work has a very nice way to show how type can be changed or manipulated to destroy the types natural standard. However all the type is still readable and legible. This is what makes the process of his work so successful.

Typography's Role within Communication and De-Construction

French Currents of the letter  -  1978

The work above is a research journal which totally uses the De-Constructivism within graphic design. The book title is "French Currents of the letter" however this is not clear to read as each of the words deconstruct themselves as you go down the page, this happens with a subtle change in the kerning with the words, also the columns have been miss guided and fragmented. These then space out down the page making the spacing spontaneous and do not sit to the grid system which you would normally find within the front cover of a graphic design journal. You can also see some text to the left mid section of the image on the black strip, this tells you that its a "Research Journal" this is just readable... yet this section delivers no more information than that as the text below is to hard to read due to being printed that way.

The front cover fights against what you would normally like to find when you look at work of this standard, however due to this i think it works rather well and has a strong input in the De-constructivism ways of working. The image feels almost overwhelming as there is no structure and form through-out, the black lines which are there to block out areas of the image and make the outcome appear to be a different shape then throw you off more then usual. The small dots which are placed through-out the design which look a little like the letter C without as much curve and the ends cut short then give you a knowledge of how much the kerning has actually changed.

Overall i think this fits well with the De-constructivism era, all of the aspects all link together and make this into a design which can really impact on what you think about that time frame. There is text in places which you wouldn't expect and spacings in places you would not place them yourself. This makes it a successful piece of De-constructivism Graphic Design.

5 examples of Post Modern design

This is a piece of installation artwork created by Michael Duchamp, this is a very well known piece of post modern design, which contradicts with the artwork created in them days.

This is created from an artist known as Rachel Whitread and she named this design "Embankment" this is a large scale installation and this gathers rather alot of attention when it was finally created. This has a clean outlook and i think that it works rather well to compel against the typical standard.

There are other styles of post modern art work and these can all come down to Interactive Artwork and then this forces the general public to interact with the design and this lets you use these to the best of the environment and also the free public space around.

This work from Jackson Pollock No.5, these are images of work which have a very simple yet conceptual design towards them. The way in which i think this has worked is because it was classified as post modern design. They are pleasing to look at in real life but i think they lose alot of there impact when on a screen as they become two dimensional.

Roy Lichtenstein created this Pop Art style work which is very well known and has a massive hit when it comes to the comic book style of creating art. He has created many other styles of work which work along the same lines as this but i think that the understanding of what he wanted to deliver within this could have a sub category factor which allows you to link childhood with art.

Avant Garde Comparrison.

These two images are both Avant Garde, they both are authentic pieces of art which can be created to mock the greatest artists which have been creating art for many years. The top image is the Mona Lisa which is world known for its perfection and beauty, but Marcel Duchamp has painted on a mustache to mock this image of work and create a new design which can anger some members of the public and humour the rest.

The second image is named 'Derain" from a famous artist known as Matisse. This has a same portrait style shot which is wanted, however the style of the paint brush and strokes which have been used to create this design is much more complex and harder to do then what you expect when you first look at the picture. This then plays with the way that you can use and create Avant Garde work but this still has the same impact as the image which is created above as they were expected to be these perfect outcomes and display the persons beauty in its best light. This forces you to re asses the shock and the conventions which you are expecting to see in work but which is slowly being forced away from our common knowledge of what art is.

Both of these can be compared as the style of Avant Garde wants to challenge the conventions of the modern day art which is so popular amongst the masses To achieve a name for yourself in the modern day artists you have to be Innovative, Original, Very experimental and some also say a Creative Genius, if you have all of this in one combination you will go far in the modern rabble of work.

Defining the Avant-Garde

Objectives.

Understand the Avant-Garde 

Question the way art and design education relies on the concept of the Avant-Garde

Understand the related concept of the art for arts sake 

Question the notion of genius 

Consider the political perspectives relating to Avant-Gardism 

Question the validity of the concept Avant-Garde today 

These images are the definition of what authentic Avant-Garde would be, its a way of mocking the elitist of art and showing what you would expect them to be but how they turn out are completely different. This mocks the way that people think about art at the time and what they are wanting to achieve with there strong beliefs, this also challenges the conventions of modern art. 

This image is called 'Derain' from an artist called Matisse. The colours that have been used and the brush textures show how he wants to see art and how to try and change what he is wanting to create in the future designs. This then plays with the way that you can see Avant-Garde, its there to shock and re asses the conventions of which you are expecting.

To be successful in this current modern age you have to be ...

Innovative [always creating new things]

Experimentation [the process which you need to complete to achieve new stuff] 

Originality [to is bad to be original is good]

Creative Genius [to bring out a hidden creative depth help deep within the student]

Back in the old days artists where created in a style which didn't teach them originality. To become an artist you would have to be selected by a guy who named himself the master, you would then have to copy his work and perfect this, this could be from sculptures to paintings, once you have completed this you would then be allowed to start doing the backgrounds for this work and then you could then go into the world an artist of your own, this was a long process which only taught you how to follow the style which has been set for you already which is why when a new style of art work was created it was very controversial and made a drastic change to the ways in which the public viewed it.

This image was created for a famous poet who killed himself by drinking arsenic because no one would purchase his poems back in the day cause no one understood what he was going through and how he wanted to communicate what was going on. He was a very good poet but with him being to advanced for the time that he lived in no one could follow what he was trying to display on paper therefor he took his old life as he struggled to live without the money needed to buy food. 

This image is called 'Stone Breakers' and is created by Gustsave Courbet, he created this to break out of the usual boundaries which are made and this made it a shocking moment in art culture. In the mid to late 1800s paintings were for the wealthy to show of there wealth and riches however in this he has painted common peasants creating a road. this to some people would show a waste of money and time, however he set a trend which was needed to move the era onwards with its art and design. 

This is created to show a light out of the standard way in which art is created. 'Whistler Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket' created in 1875, this is created to stand out from the portrait images which are created in the past. However when this was created the artists believed that what they were doing was communicated well and all made complete sense. however in the eyes of the public it made little sense and created confusion. This was supposed to show Autonomous [independent]  

Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist [1950] .... supposed to show the human emotion splashed onto a canvas however he was also a classified drunk so it could be a little more difficult to agree with him than a sober person

Stalin believed that work such as the one above created by jackson pollock could not be classified as art as it had no purpose in our modern world and that no one understood what the message was which it was trying to deliver. He believed that all the work should be the same as what he wanted his work to look like. The style where the hair was sweeped back and in uniform. However the more expression ate artists said that this was propaganda and not an expression of how they felt so this could not be the modern art to which they create work. There are arguments on both sides but which to take is completely up to the person themselves.

What is Kitsch?

Poor Imitation of Something.

Something of a Lower Standard or Tacky. 

Something which we give a Valued Guess.

German Background.

This design is very Kitsch, the reason for this is because it doesn't stick to the standard rules and lessons to which we have been taught whilst learning graphic design [or any art based project for that matter]. this doesnt make it bad artwork but it just has a very cheep style of looking at things.

How the plate has the print of the constable on it, is a very accurate example of what Kitsch is, the reason for buying the proper image would be to show wealth and have the original on your wall, whereas you can buy a lot cheaper plate with the print but it doesnt have the same market value, There is a place to have major artwork and the galleries should be the only place to which you can see these sort of things, this is the same with the images below, in most lights anything which trades across from different medias can be classified as Kitsch.'Durer Praying Hands' created as a painting then swapped to a door stop, this shouldnt happen.

 One of the main questions that should be answered is how artwork can be created but not by the artist however they still get the credit for it and are making millions in benefits. The main example that comes to my mind after saying this is the Damien Hurst Dots on a page, this work was created from some of his mates who he give some of the money to them for doing each of them, however there was 247 of then made and each of them sold for a solid sum of six figures each, this is a very high amount of money for someone to make which don't even play a part in the work which is being created. There is no originality for doing this sort of work and he doesnt deserve the money which he will be getting payed for such a heavy amount of tasks. 

The Crystal Gobletby Beatrice Warde Excerpt from a Lecture to the British Typographers’ Guild Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your own favorite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson in color. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain. Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant metaphor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass have a parallel in typography. There is the long, thin stem that obviates fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud must come between your eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not the margins on book pages similarly meant to obviate the necessity of fingering the type-pages? Again: The glass is colorless or at the most only faintly tinged in the bowl, because the connoisseur judges wine partly by its color and is impatient of anything that alters it. There are a thousand mannerisms in typography that are as impudent and arbitrary as putting port in tumblers of red or green glass! When a goblet has a base that looks too small for security, it does not matter how cleverly it is weighted; you feel nervous lest it should tip over. There are ways of setting lines of type which may work well enough, and yet keep the reader subconsciously worried by the fear of "doubling" lines, reading three words as one, and so forth. Printing demands a humility of mind, for the lack of which many of the fine arts are even now floundering in self-conscious and maudlin experiments. There is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page. Vulgar ostentation is twice as easy as discipline. When you realise that ugly typography never effaces itself, you will be able to capture beauty as the wise men capture happiness by aiming at something else. The “stunt typographer” learns the fickleness of rich men who hate to read. Not for them are long breaths held over serif and kern, they will not appreciate your splitting of hair-spaces. Nobody (save the other craftsmen) will appreciate half your skill. But you may spend endless years of happy experiment in devising that crystalline goblet which is worthy to hold the vintage of the human mind. TO BE A SUCCESSFUL DESIGNER YOUR WORK SHOULD BE INVISIBLE. ______________  A GOOD DESIGN IS INVISIBLE / BAD DESIGN IS EVERYWHERE.