This week was merely an introduction into this semesters course and some of this various subjects we will be talking about for the next 16 weeks.
Week 2
This week we all went to the Art Gallery of New South Whales where we critically studied a modern artwork and a post-modern artwork. We also then research the artist and the art piece in more depth when we got home.
The two artworks i chose were Vive L'Empereur by Edouard Detaille and Untitled by Richard Prince.
The Vive L'Empereur was composed on a large canvas that depicts the battle of Friedland between the russians and Napolean's army. Its shows Napolean's horsemen charging forward. The expression on both the men and the horses faces give and transcend the mood of the moment to the viewers of this art piece. Edouard went to great details when painting this piece. Such details include the viens of the horses showing through their skin, the tassels that are waving in the movement of the scene and also the every wrinkle of skin in the mood of the mens faces and the movement from moving legs and arms of the horses and the horsemen. These details add to the pace of the scene and conveys this to the viewer.
Research: He served in the French Army in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 and became the official painter of the battles. He is famous for his portraits of soldiers and depictions of the military manoeuvres, military uniforms and general military life. In particular are his stirring paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. His book, L'Armee Francaise, containing hundreds of his illustrations and prints, remains definitive.
The Untitled artwork was composed on canvas with synthetic polymer pain and using the silkscreening method. The art piece has simple dialogue silkscreened in both black and an off white. There are also some images that have also been silkscreened, the images are a few beds and an open window that peers out onto a suburban backdrop. This gives the viewers the perspective that they are standing within a bedroom peering out. The last image is a woman sitting on the ground in a room in her underwear and a man dressed in a top hat and suit standing outside of the room behind a door. This was done in a grey paint as opposed to the other black and off white images. The dialogue that is displayed on the artwork are "So where you from", "not from anywhere really", "what?", "born in a balloon?".
"I met my first girl, her name was Sally." "was that a girl, was that a girl, thats what people kept asking".
"Someone is calling..... Bomb ticking in his room..... Nothing to fear as long as the bomb......"
The main idea behind this interesting artwork was to make the viewer of the art piece feel uncomfortable. It flirted with politically charged issues of gender, race and class. The images found within the artwork were in fact re-drawn cartoons from the New Yorker.
Week 3
This week we discussed as a class the artworks that we chose to critically study at the NSW art gallery. We discussed our thoughts and what we noticed/discovered about the art piece and any additional research found if any. We also delved into polysemy in relation to art/photography which is a picture or artwork that has multiple meanings displayed with in.
Po-ly-se-my
Noun: The coexistence of many possible meanings for a word, phrase or image.
Week 4
In this weeks lecture we discussed Semiotics, Denotation and Connotation.The study of communication and the meaning of the signs and symbols we use in the form of typography and images combined with colours and other design documents is a relatively new subject. Semiotics is the meaning of our symbols and how they form a language (semiotics as a subject began with linguistics). Denotation is the idea that a sign 'denotes' or 'refers to'. For example, words are labels attached to things. In a painting, we'd list the items in the image. Connotation is an idea or feeling that an image invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning. We need to interpret the image and find more. The culture in which it is created is crucial. Signs and symbols are employed. These have no meaning until the culture endows them with one e.g a dog at the foot of his master and mistress is a renaissance painting, it is a symbol of loyalty, thus bestowing longevity to the marriage.
Week 5
Semiotics and your visual presentations
Your presentation is 'read' it is referred to as a 'text'. You will by using still images and or moving images and your task is to encourage the 'rader' of your 'text' to come to a certain opinion or to thing more deeply about an issue already in the area of public discussion.
you-source
design-transmittier
noise-what stops the message being received/decoded
receiver decoding message
reader-audience
"find redundancy"
Week 6
This week we presented our assessments as groups to the rest of the class.
Week 7
Consumption
1. Revolution-> mass production-> Advertising-> desire-> unquenchable
Tribal behaviour-----> drives appearance
Tribes: - class
- spiritual
- labels/brands
- music
- music genre
- clubs
- smoking
- celebrity influence
- hipster
Culture
Time: 60s + now
Japan + America
Subculture----> mods--->flappers
Counter culture----> hippies---> tune in, turn on, drop out. Proposed alternative lifestyle
Marshall Mcluhar---> Medium is the Massage---> technology, extension and the body.
Media: Manufactured artists reflect lack of dignity
Getting something out of someone else's embarrassment
Panaopticon(plan for a prison)
______
/ \
/ \
/ \
___
Every cell can be seen at any one time. (big brother)
Surveillance---> BANKSY----> CCTV
Week 8
The Consumer Republic
Advertising is ubiquitous and unavoidable, so much so that we try to tune them out and the advertisers find more sophisticated ways to recapture our attention. The idea if individual choice has a high value in the world of conovmerism. Historically, increased industrialisation in the late 1900s meant an increase in the number of small businesses ans an increase in the number of large manufactures ------> people travelled larger distances in contrast to the rural and feudal societies of the past. There was an increased in urban transit systems of the automobile. (increasingly mobile) <3 Ina consumer culture there is a constant demand for new products. We therefore have over production, "manufacture desire" A large proportion of the community needs both leisure and a discretionary income to support this system and their desire for style and status. The online market, since the 1990 has reconfigured the relationship of consumerism to space. The online buying or exchange networks are reminiscent of rural consumers buying through catalogues. With the emergence of consumer society the distance between the public sphere and the private increased. The consumption of goods is meant to add the meaning to lives once found in a tighter community. (this proposition could be consisted the pivotal premis of the 60s hippy involvement, revolting against this false meaning.) In consumer society everyone is considered inadequate and in need of improvement. Commodities are the answer.
The single minded proposition for the 1950's advertisement above is that Van Huesan shirts and the soft shirts and are great looking. The designers have used a man fixated on two female hula dancers as a pun to say its nice on the eyes.
The therapy ethos
Societies shifty over time from a 'Protestant work ethic', civic responsibility and self-denial to legitimising ideas of leisure, spending and un-individual fulfillment. (A shift in values was necessary for consumerism) Thriftiness and saving was replaced by spending and imagining the path to fulfillment. This idea of self fulfillment is crucial to marketing and advertising. (See maslov's pyramid) As an example the earliest soft drinks were promoted as a remedy for exhaustion.
Anxieties about self improvement increased ↓
Which brings us to a reaction by an aware and educated section of society called "Culture Jamming"
Culture jamming is at its core is 2 metaphor for shopping the flow of spectacle long enough to adjust your set. The earliest examples of culture jamming could be considered the pop artists of the 60s who made almost not judgement reflections of consumer culture.
Week 9
Discourse in visual communication: The conveyance of information that has already been previously defined through visuals such as photography, drawings and designs.
Negroponti 3 pillars: Information, Technology and Design
Resistance from the "Status Quo": those already manufacturing computers did not want there to be a computer that could cost $100
Week 10
Consumerism:
-When a product that is advertised with famous art means that the product is linked with prestige and culture.
- Not to consume products but consume signs,
- Making people feel like they belong, whether it be culture, club or prestige
- Selling an idea rather than the product itself
Week 11
This week we all just worked on our assessment and i started to work on my presentation as i have completed the report.
Week 12
In reflections to my assessment and how designers have an influence on what is known as the status quo today. Us as designers have a large influence in challenging what is seen and accepted as the norm. This is very important in the advancement of society as what is seen as the norm is not always the best way or what is right. In relation to my chosen topic, this being traffic congestion as an issue. Governments and Councils see it as a problem that we simply have to live with, its nothing more than something that is part of life and that there are no solutions or that to solve the issue once and for all is far to expensive. The only option is to bandaid the issue by adding or widening lanes. With the solution that i proposed i believe that it would solve the majority of traffic congestion that is related with poor flow of traffic throughout our road network. The key to this change however is the ability to persuade the governing authorities and find a third party organisation to fund the grand scheme. A change such as this needs to occur as traffic congestion as we know it today should not be known as the status quo.
