Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The State of Media Making
Today's art world is: unoriginal--people are too satisfied in just remaking previous art works and manipulating things in subtle ways to call it their own.
Blog Round 3: Journal Reading
"Debit and Credit" by Dan Fox
This article talked about how people are starting to not care about references made to original films, tv shows, paintings, etc. People just want the original thing now. For example, Fox said instead of buying a painting of a band's record sleeve, they will just listen to the band's record now. The author goes on to list specific examples to emphasize his point. He talks about how there is a credit crunch these days, therefore there will be fewer artists. I feel like money may perhaps change things but may not as well. People may obviously not be able to afford materials and equipment in order to make art, but perhaps that will only challenge artists to think of more creative ways to make their art work. Maybe this will force the artists of our society to collaborate more with other people even, finding new people with new resources to use. Perhaps this could only bring on new developments in the art world. I do feel, however, that with people having less spending money, they might be tightening their belts on luxury items such as paintings, movies, cds, etc. Surely, they will admire or desire new works and developments, but only those that which can spend the extra money on these things will do so. If it wasn't for money though, I feel like people will never settle for just "the original". People always want to hear new things, see new things, experience new things. Who is really satisfied with never moving forward? I think that people find something that interests them, whether it is a certain band or movie or artist, and they want to see/hear everything to do with that specific person or thing.
This article talked about how people are starting to not care about references made to original films, tv shows, paintings, etc. People just want the original thing now. For example, Fox said instead of buying a painting of a band's record sleeve, they will just listen to the band's record now. The author goes on to list specific examples to emphasize his point. He talks about how there is a credit crunch these days, therefore there will be fewer artists. I feel like money may perhaps change things but may not as well. People may obviously not be able to afford materials and equipment in order to make art, but perhaps that will only challenge artists to think of more creative ways to make their art work. Maybe this will force the artists of our society to collaborate more with other people even, finding new people with new resources to use. Perhaps this could only bring on new developments in the art world. I do feel, however, that with people having less spending money, they might be tightening their belts on luxury items such as paintings, movies, cds, etc. Surely, they will admire or desire new works and developments, but only those that which can spend the extra money on these things will do so. If it wasn't for money though, I feel like people will never settle for just "the original". People always want to hear new things, see new things, experience new things. Who is really satisfied with never moving forward? I think that people find something that interests them, whether it is a certain band or movie or artist, and they want to see/hear everything to do with that specific person or thing.
Blogs Round 3
Stop.Look.Listen
I attended the exhibit at the Haggerty art museum. I watched a number of the videos, but the two I found the most interesting were Janet Bigg's "Predator and Prey" and Salla Tykka's "Cave Trilogy". In the "Predator and Prey" video, I enjoyed the rhythmic sound of the horse galloping. It sounded like it was on some kind of hollow surface because it had kind of an echo to it. I also recall hearing a bell on the eagle's legs that kept jingling everytime he would move or try and fly. On the other spectrum, there was more of a calm, soothing experience set by the underwater scenes where we saw a polar bear and later on a person swimming around under the water. The sound was fairly slow and quiet. So it was kind of a jump to go from the rhythmic galloping, to soothing underwater sounds, to chaotic bells jingling. I also saw the film "Cave Trilogy" which was very appealing to me. It was interesting that there was no dialogue, it sort of left the storyline a little bit up to yourself. There was few sound effects, but mostly the music within the work was the driving force. It was all familiar songs that we have heard in famous movies. There was three sections, she called them "Western", "Thriller", and "Cave". The only song I could tell you exactly where it was from was the "Halloween" theme song that played in "Thriller". There was a very eerie feeling in this section. I think an artist could show you the happiest scene they could think of, but make it entirely eerie by adding a song like that to it. I believe it was in "Cave", when there was this very familiar song in it that sounded rather happy; something you would expect to hear at the end of a movie that contained one of those "happy endings" we all love. It was kind of odd to me because nothing very exhilirating happened--the character ran out of the cave onto the beach and I believe this was when the song started to play. It just seemed so out of place. I recall reading something about Tykka's work in the museum how she wanted to envoke this feeling of memory in the audience, she wanted the viewer to remember memories of their own. The only time I thought of memories of my own was when the music was playing. I specifically recall hearing the songs in "Thriller" and recalling times I've spent with my best friend in middle school watching horror movies in autumn and playing in her backyard. I think that songs have this really strong power of doing that for someone in recalling memories. I can't think of a song that doesn't bring back a memory, either small or large, when I hear it playing. In Glenn Bach's panel discussion on D2L, they discuss sounds relating to memory. Glenn talks about sounds of a washing machine being a very strong childhood memory for him. He mentions how sound is neutral and "it doesn't have any say in how it's going to be interpreted." We as people define what sounds mean to us; it depends how we were brought up. Certain sounds or songs or voices that we have heard at strong emotional points in our life are going to have more of an impact on us rather than sounds we just heard once in awhile in our past. I can say that one sound that brings back memories for me is the sound of race cars or cars driving past really fast. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and my dad would take my brother and I to the Plymouth races in the summer.
I attended the exhibit at the Haggerty art museum. I watched a number of the videos, but the two I found the most interesting were Janet Bigg's "Predator and Prey" and Salla Tykka's "Cave Trilogy". In the "Predator and Prey" video, I enjoyed the rhythmic sound of the horse galloping. It sounded like it was on some kind of hollow surface because it had kind of an echo to it. I also recall hearing a bell on the eagle's legs that kept jingling everytime he would move or try and fly. On the other spectrum, there was more of a calm, soothing experience set by the underwater scenes where we saw a polar bear and later on a person swimming around under the water. The sound was fairly slow and quiet. So it was kind of a jump to go from the rhythmic galloping, to soothing underwater sounds, to chaotic bells jingling. I also saw the film "Cave Trilogy" which was very appealing to me. It was interesting that there was no dialogue, it sort of left the storyline a little bit up to yourself. There was few sound effects, but mostly the music within the work was the driving force. It was all familiar songs that we have heard in famous movies. There was three sections, she called them "Western", "Thriller", and "Cave". The only song I could tell you exactly where it was from was the "Halloween" theme song that played in "Thriller". There was a very eerie feeling in this section. I think an artist could show you the happiest scene they could think of, but make it entirely eerie by adding a song like that to it. I believe it was in "Cave", when there was this very familiar song in it that sounded rather happy; something you would expect to hear at the end of a movie that contained one of those "happy endings" we all love. It was kind of odd to me because nothing very exhilirating happened--the character ran out of the cave onto the beach and I believe this was when the song started to play. It just seemed so out of place. I recall reading something about Tykka's work in the museum how she wanted to envoke this feeling of memory in the audience, she wanted the viewer to remember memories of their own. The only time I thought of memories of my own was when the music was playing. I specifically recall hearing the songs in "Thriller" and recalling times I've spent with my best friend in middle school watching horror movies in autumn and playing in her backyard. I think that songs have this really strong power of doing that for someone in recalling memories. I can't think of a song that doesn't bring back a memory, either small or large, when I hear it playing. In Glenn Bach's panel discussion on D2L, they discuss sounds relating to memory. Glenn talks about sounds of a washing machine being a very strong childhood memory for him. He mentions how sound is neutral and "it doesn't have any say in how it's going to be interpreted." We as people define what sounds mean to us; it depends how we were brought up. Certain sounds or songs or voices that we have heard at strong emotional points in our life are going to have more of an impact on us rather than sounds we just heard once in awhile in our past. I can say that one sound that brings back memories for me is the sound of race cars or cars driving past really fast. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and my dad would take my brother and I to the Plymouth races in the summer.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Journal
I read an article about specific artists discussing films that have influenced them. The one I read was from the September issue, it was about Babette Mangolte. It didn't list an author for this article, however. She had mentioned that one of the films that influenced her was "Man with a Movie Camera" by Dziga Vertov. She said that this movie inspired her to give up mathematics and apply for film school. She also said how the film "Wavelength" by Michael Snow was the reason she came to New York to make movies. I enjoyed this article because I feel like there is a movie or a few movies for everyone that inspired them to do film. I feel like everyone has a moment when they realized they wanted to do film or be involved with film somehow. I also read an article by Michael Bracewell called "Seeing is Believing". It was about an artist, Bridget Riley, and her research into relationships between form, composition, and visual perception. It discusses paintings she has done which consisted of black and white lines and how it was a result of traumas in her life. I think it's interesting to see art pieces that are so abstract and yet there is alot of meaning behind it and thought, when someone could simply look at it and say its just a bunch of shapes and lines.
Act/React
For this blog I will be discussing Brian Knep's exhibit and Camille Utterback's. Both were similar in the way that the audience sort of made the art piece. Knep's just sort stayed the same until someone entered and moved around on the floor. It was the same with Utterback's, it didn't change a whole lot until someone stepped in front of it and moved around. I would say that the audience completes these works of art. It is somewhat started in the way that there is something there to start with-- there is a "pool" of greens and oranges until something came in contact with it in order to make it react; Utterback's required someone to move around and complete the work of art by adding lines and colors. Some of these art works remind me of what John McKinnon said in class about the art he presented. Some of the art he talked about worked as an illusion. They were made a certain way as to make you think or see it in a different way. The same works with these art pieces at act/react. They are created in a certain way that make you think you are creating the art, when in reality there has been a great deal of work put into it so that it will follow where you move. I also think in a certain way these exhibits relate to "Arrival of a Train" which McKinnon discussed. It is rumored that the audience got scared after watching that because it felt so real, as if the train was coming out of the screen at them. In these exhibits, you get this strange feeling as to how the screens know where you are moving or how you are moving. I think these two exhibits were different, however, because Knep's just moved with you and then refilled the space again back to normal. In Utterback's, it moved with you but it also created lines of color and designs.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Field Report #1
For my field report, I attended the screenings at the UWM theatre on Sunday, October 5th. I saw Iverson White's "Self Determination" and we also viewed Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" again. It was interesting to see this film again and also to hear Burnett's opinions of his film afterward. During the film, I tried to pay more attention to the aspect of using Stan, children, and sheep all in one film. I noticed towards the end of the film, there was a part where Stan's wife wanted to go to bed with Stan and he just kind of blew her off. Then there was a part right after where a girl was hanging clothes on a clothes-line, and a few boys walked past and made fun of her. Then there was a close-up of a sheep rubbing his face against another sheep, and then the other sheep walked away and we just saw the lonely sheep's face for a few seconds. It was as if everyone got rejected. I think maybe what I got out of it was that common problems can be seen in different ages and different species. Everyone has problems of some kinds. Alot of times when they showed the kids in the film, I always seemed to find a kid who looked like Stan. The first time i saw this film, i kept thinking that maybe this was some kind of flashbacks, showing Stan when he was a child. I also found myself thinking about how Stan worked at the slaughterhouse, and perhaps they would show clips of Stan and then clips of the sheep-- it was like Stan was relating to the sheep every once in awhile. I though the "Self Determination" movie was somewhat interesting. I kind of found it too ordinary. It seemed like just another movie or television show. I thought it also left a little too much to the imagination. There was so many questions left in my head-- Why was the husband cheating? Did the wife cheat also? Did she leave in the end? It was just a little to general and broad for me.
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