Task 5 - The Gaze

 

‘according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)

 

The image above is the work of Hans Memling and is named 'vanity' this shows that she is there for the inspection of men, so men themselves can look upon her yet she is looking in the mirror at herself instead of looking back at the viewer (the man) and thus giving the man dominance in this situation as this makes you feel as if you can look at her without her seeing that you are, making the man as i previously said the most dominant.

 

The way in which Memling has posed the women is in a way to which he thinks is alluring, by then placing the mirror in her hand which is to make us think that she is contemplating herself, this is supported by the way in which her body is posed, which again encourages the men to look. 

This you can see in modern day society as well, this is included in the way that you can see how women still are posed to make you want to buy and obtain certain objects. The Lynx advert below, shows a women in just her underwear, simply doing cooking yet giving of sexual connotations.

This is mainly used as sex sells items alot easier then most other things, the thing that interests me in she is gazing back upon the man, which in a defense way wants to stop you from gazing however the body language implies otherwise

 

Globalisation, Sustainability and Media

Task 4 - Hyperreality

Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced post-modern societies. Hyperreality is a way of characterizing what our consciousness defines as "real" in a world where a multitude of media can radically shape and filter an original event or experience. 

Universal Studios in americas Orlando theme park would be classed as hyperreality, this would come down to the way in which it has been created, you walk the streets of a theme park knowing that you are there however as you walk around the themes change and make you feel asif you are in different countries, there are tons of places which is changes through and this leads your mind to think that you are in a completely new scene. 

This is a stimulation that really plays with the mind and makes you change the way your conscious works, the way this works is to make you think of a place that you have visited or seen on the media and try to make you feel asif you are there, the more you let yourself believe it the better the experience and the more it takes over how you feel and how you look at the concept of the whole scenario. Orlando is a place which really changes the way that you look at these things and it doesnt really cross your mind until your walking the streets of italy and instantly a scene change to china, this is when it really kicks in.

This has now been placed into all of our heads to be the way in which reality can be seen as either fake or the truth but aslong as the general public are having fun then they dont seem to care that much about how or when it happens, this could be forseen as a problem but its not when it comes to the Orlando park as this is what you expect when you go there.

 

The Production and Critique of Institutions

Task 2 - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

The work of Andy Warhol when he created the Campbell soup was something that was amazing to people and really captured the imagination, however when this piece of work was reproduced so many times it can be changed to whatever the reproducer wants. With the technology so people can This can perfectly reproduce graphic design every time it leaves what is higher in value completely down to the public, as its hard to tell what is the real thing and what is fake

The traces of the first can be revealed only by chemical or physical analyses which it is impossible to perform on a reproduction

With the work that someone has spent time and effort to be replaced by a replica it changes the values of many of today's amazing pieces of artwork as you now even see some of the most amazing piece of artwork and design created into kitsch objects sold cheaply in marketplaces. Walter Benjamin claimed that when copying an image, the copy becomes art in its own right. 

Its now also hard to tell who is copying who, if a copy is made from a copy, it can only happen so many times before the core basics of the image start to change so much that you cant tell which is which anymore.

There are claims that if the work is not the original then you are lacking the 4th elements of the work these being the time and space which it is in, as i previously said, something that is kitsch, for example a tea coaster with the Campbell soup print onto it will not have the same presence and effect to the public as the actual artwork in the London gallery would.  

Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space

Deleuze and Guattari, and Creativity

Censorship and Truth