The documentary assignments for the video projects was hard for me to come up with an idea at first. I kept trying to think of the ways I use technology throughout the day, for me that's mostly for school and to watch television and movies online. I couldn't think of anyway to make that interesting until I started thinking about the reason I constantly have a movie or TV show on in the background as I go throughout my day. The reason I do this stems from me being afraid of the dark. I have been since I was a little girl and in the documentary go into more detail of the reasons for this. I choose to use some appropriated footage in the introduction to give an atmosphere that could get people to relate to times they were scared. For this I used the introduction to the show Are You Afraid of the Dark? and the movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. To show how this phobia effects me throughout a night and relates to using technology in the form of TV and computer I showed examples of a night in the life of me. I think that this worked well because I was able to give a commentary over the video footage to explain myself.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Growth Cycle
For my own created Scratch project I decided to do an animation that might be a little easier than the game I created first. I drew the visual pictures on my own and used Photoshop to make the different fonts of the letters.
Click this link to go to the Growth Cycle Animation
Click this link to go to the Growth Cycle Animation
Apple Picking
For this Scratch project I used a couple of other peoples scripts who had created a bubble popping game. I took the parts of their scripts that I could understand and that worked the way I wanted to and modified it into a game where you catch the falling apples. In the game you have 60 seconds to catch as many falling apples as possible, and when you click on them the graphic will change to a basket of apples when you have succeeded in catching it.
Click this link to go to the Apple Picking Game
Click this link to go to the Apple Picking Game
Monday, November 28, 2011
Gay Marriage Legalized
Remix Video
I tried to upload the video but it didn't work...
So here is a link to the video that I think will work
Remix Video
Literacy Sound File
When I started this project I wasn't sure what to focus on. I think one of the first things that came to mind was when I remember starting to play computer games, especially since the programs I was using were based on learning. I focused on using my mom as a first hand resource to gather information and used the recording of my conversation as the basis for my story.
This was actually the last project I finished because I wasn't sure in what direction to go. So to begin I started off the best way I knew how... chatting on the phone with my mom. We definitely don't need an excuse to talk at all but having a definite topic helps us stay focused. My mom continued to tell me stories of when my brother and I were little kids and learning to read and lots of stuff that we would love to do and games we would play. That was definitely the best way for me to go about getting this information. I used the audio files from the conversation with her to frame my story and add in my own commentary to embellish what my mom is saying.
This was actually the last project I finished because I wasn't sure in what direction to go. So to begin I started off the best way I knew how... chatting on the phone with my mom. We definitely don't need an excuse to talk at all but having a definite topic helps us stay focused. My mom continued to tell me stories of when my brother and I were little kids and learning to read and lots of stuff that we would love to do and games we would play. That was definitely the best way for me to go about getting this information. I used the audio files from the conversation with her to frame my story and add in my own commentary to embellish what my mom is saying.
Simkins and Gill Readings
Simkins:
In the Simkins reading something that really stuck out to me was when they were focusing on discussing RPGs, role playing games. In the article the definition of RPGs branched beyond video games that were based in role playing into the ways that role playing comes up in many different learning aspects of life. The examples ranged from middle and high school through to careers in the military. Specifically they included;
"When a young person represents Uganda in Model U.N., they are role-playing for the purpose of learning. The same can be said for a history student participating in a mock trial, emergency service workers participating in an Incident Command System exercise, or military personnel participating in war games."
This opened up a new idea for me based on game play and particularly how common role playing games are. From an outside participant of video games, mostly a viewer of someone else playing, I have some experience with the way some role playing games work. Two of these games include Civilizations, which has actually been brought up a lot in the course of this class, and Skyrim. The role playing that they are referring to in the article most directly relates to the way Skyrim is played. In the game you choose your player from a wide range of species and can alter the appearance as well as what kind of player you would like to be. From watching this game being played I have noticed the ethics that are discussed in the article. By choosing your character you are deciding which nation to be affiliated with and what your proffession will be; thief, soldier, etc... I have been watching a player participating as a thief affiliated with the rebel nation. Within the game he steals and kills people, however depending on if he is in a town or in the woods and if he was attacked first or the one attacking there are different consequences that occur. These provide an ethical standpoint that the player either knowingly or unknowingly has to take into account.
Going back to the beginning of the article and if these could be used as a teaching method I am going to come to the same conclusion that I have throughout this class, I think they could be viable options for a learning experience for children. I don't know how they could be incorporated into a classroom setting, the only one that I think definitely could be use in a class would be Civilizations to teach aspects of history and the tools necessary to advance a society.
Gill:
In this article there is a good point made about the younger generation who is now in schools, they call them the "culture of interaction or Net Generation". The younger generations adapt to technology better than the teachers that are supposed to be teaching these students technology. Some call them the "Game Generation". "The Games Generation workers rarely even think of reading a manual. They'll just play with the software, hitting every key if necessary, until they figure it out" This trial and error method allows people to cognitively develop the skills the need to use software. Instead of reading a manual and following steps, they figure out their own directions which I think sometimes makes the process more concrete in their minds.
This article talks about how playing video games can lead to developing skills that can be used in other computer tasks. In my opinion I think this holds true just from watching how people who play video games and understand how different combinations of key strokes on either a keyboard or a game controller will allow certain things to occur in the game. The same is true for how to work with computer codes or different sort of website creation.
In the Simkins reading something that really stuck out to me was when they were focusing on discussing RPGs, role playing games. In the article the definition of RPGs branched beyond video games that were based in role playing into the ways that role playing comes up in many different learning aspects of life. The examples ranged from middle and high school through to careers in the military. Specifically they included;
"When a young person represents Uganda in Model U.N., they are role-playing for the purpose of learning. The same can be said for a history student participating in a mock trial, emergency service workers participating in an Incident Command System exercise, or military personnel participating in war games."
This opened up a new idea for me based on game play and particularly how common role playing games are. From an outside participant of video games, mostly a viewer of someone else playing, I have some experience with the way some role playing games work. Two of these games include Civilizations, which has actually been brought up a lot in the course of this class, and Skyrim. The role playing that they are referring to in the article most directly relates to the way Skyrim is played. In the game you choose your player from a wide range of species and can alter the appearance as well as what kind of player you would like to be. From watching this game being played I have noticed the ethics that are discussed in the article. By choosing your character you are deciding which nation to be affiliated with and what your proffession will be; thief, soldier, etc... I have been watching a player participating as a thief affiliated with the rebel nation. Within the game he steals and kills people, however depending on if he is in a town or in the woods and if he was attacked first or the one attacking there are different consequences that occur. These provide an ethical standpoint that the player either knowingly or unknowingly has to take into account.
Going back to the beginning of the article and if these could be used as a teaching method I am going to come to the same conclusion that I have throughout this class, I think they could be viable options for a learning experience for children. I don't know how they could be incorporated into a classroom setting, the only one that I think definitely could be use in a class would be Civilizations to teach aspects of history and the tools necessary to advance a society.
Gill:
In this article there is a good point made about the younger generation who is now in schools, they call them the "culture of interaction or Net Generation". The younger generations adapt to technology better than the teachers that are supposed to be teaching these students technology. Some call them the "Game Generation". "The Games Generation workers rarely even think of reading a manual. They'll just play with the software, hitting every key if necessary, until they figure it out" This trial and error method allows people to cognitively develop the skills the need to use software. Instead of reading a manual and following steps, they figure out their own directions which I think sometimes makes the process more concrete in their minds.
This article talks about how playing video games can lead to developing skills that can be used in other computer tasks. In my opinion I think this holds true just from watching how people who play video games and understand how different combinations of key strokes on either a keyboard or a game controller will allow certain things to occur in the game. The same is true for how to work with computer codes or different sort of website creation.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Janna Levin
I found the lecture with Janna Levin really interesting, I'm glad that I was able to go. The part that I thought was so interesting was the intellectual and scientific community that shes apart of that is located on the seventh floor of a building in Brooklynn. Combining the work of architects, designers, artists, geneticists, biologists, computer scientists, and Janna Levin as the one theoretical physicist in an organic space that puts emphasis on collaboration is what she called the Third Culture.
Throughout her presentation the part that really grabbed me and made me want to know more about this was her examples of the types of work that they do. She focused on explaining about five different projects that are going on, some of them which occur simultaneously. The projects that more closely relate to art practice integrated with technology were the works called the Gravity Harp and Corine's World. The Gravity Harp was a collaboration between an engineer, electrician and designer to create a scientific instrument to perform along with Björk. The resulting harp was a beautifully crafted instrument that used the science of pendulums to create the strumming of a harp that corolated with Björk's song. Corine's World was a series of window installations in Barney's NY, a store in Manhattan. It was created to give homage to the life of the editor of Vogue Paris, Corine. It included three video installations depicting different films of Corine.
Gravity Harp
The Gravity Harp reminded me of a project that I was assigned in Design II. We were asked to make an instrument, but the parts had to come from things that weren't meant to be used in the creation of instruments. So, instead of guitar strings we had to come up with something else, like different gauged wires. It was really cool seeing what everyone came up with based on their knowledge of instruments and what ideas they could imagine.
Anyway, I really enjoyed her presentation about that group and how the merging of science and art can be beneficial and have very interesting outcomes.
Throughout her presentation the part that really grabbed me and made me want to know more about this was her examples of the types of work that they do. She focused on explaining about five different projects that are going on, some of them which occur simultaneously. The projects that more closely relate to art practice integrated with technology were the works called the Gravity Harp and Corine's World. The Gravity Harp was a collaboration between an engineer, electrician and designer to create a scientific instrument to perform along with Björk. The resulting harp was a beautifully crafted instrument that used the science of pendulums to create the strumming of a harp that corolated with Björk's song. Corine's World was a series of window installations in Barney's NY, a store in Manhattan. It was created to give homage to the life of the editor of Vogue Paris, Corine. It included three video installations depicting different films of Corine.
Gravity Harp
The Gravity Harp reminded me of a project that I was assigned in Design II. We were asked to make an instrument, but the parts had to come from things that weren't meant to be used in the creation of instruments. So, instead of guitar strings we had to come up with something else, like different gauged wires. It was really cool seeing what everyone came up with based on their knowledge of instruments and what ideas they could imagine.
Anyway, I really enjoyed her presentation about that group and how the merging of science and art can be beneficial and have very interesting outcomes.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Networked Publics: New Mediated Space
These four properties thus fundamentally separate unmediated publics from networked publics:
1 Persistence: Unlike the ephemeral quality of speech in unmediated publics, networked communications are recorded for posterity. This enables asynchronous communication but it also extends the period of existence of any speech act.
2 Searchability: Because expressions are recorded and identity is established through text, search and discovery tools help people find like minds. While people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of keystrokes.
3 Replicability: Hearsay can be deflected as misinterpretation, but networked public expressions can be copied from one place to another verbatim such that there is no way to distinguish the “original” from the “copy.” 26
4 Invisible audiences: While we can visually detect most people who can overhear our speech in unmediated spaces, it is virtually impossible to ascertain all those who might run across our expressions in networked publics. This is further complicated by the other three properties, since our expression may be heard at a different time and place from when and where we originally spoke.
Thinking of this as a teacher...
How a networked public changes/influences my teaching? Thinking beyond tools, how does it inhibit?
Possible art making...
Rhizome
This reading is especially interesting to me because I feel that I grew up with the internet in the way that she is explaining. The big thing in middle school was instant messaging, I would spend HOURS chatting online with my friends who I just saw at school. On top of that if there was ever a sleep over the group of girls I was with would talk to boys and other people online for the majority of the night. Instead of a social networking profile we would constantly update our instant messaging info boxes. Then in high school it became the thing to be on Myspace, now instead of having IMing (instant messaging) as the only thing I was on daily, I had both IMing and Myspace. I'd chat with my friends in real time through IM and check my profile and others profiles for pictures and stuff on the side. When I was a senior in high school was when Facebook turned up and that added one more thing to occupy my time with. I guess because I feel like I lived the evolution of social networking sites, as I grew up the way my generation communicated online evolved with our age, there is a certain level of comfort that I have with online communities.
After that piece of nostalgia... I personally think that it could be beneficial to incorporate social networks and different online communities into school. However, I do understand the problem that a lot of school districts have with allowing students to have access to these sites at school. Unfortunately even with how advantageous the access to sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Flickr could be there are always going to be those that "ruin it" for everyone else. Online bullying is a problem, it was a problem when I was in middle school too, but those conversations were at least private in instant messenger. In the 2000's children have a much higher ability to use computers and online tools and the sites available to them allow for even more sharing of multi-media. Not only could they insult someone on their wall or embarrass them by sharing personal stories, they now have the ability to create videos and photo posts that could be hurtful. I do think this is more of an issue the younger the students are that you work with. Middle school age probably couldn't handle having access, especially with the bullying that takes place within the halls. High school age, more specifically those applying to college, might approach online communities with a more professional attitude and therefore would have less inclination to use it as a tool for bullying. In a college atmosphere it would most certainly be effective, this blog is evidence of that.
In a perfect world I would love to be a professor at the college level teaching drawing or painting classes or teaching at the high school level. In that case I think using social networking sites would be beneficial, even more so if in using one of these sites there was a page dedicated to that particular class. My having a page devoted to a class the teacher would be the administrator and have control over what was being posted. Multi-media assignments could be given that require students to use the internet as a tool for finding contemporary artists, sharing photos of their work, videos of interviews or the artist working. Students would be able to get a more in depth look at the actual world of working artists and the realities that go along with that profession. I guess I see it as more of a research tool.
The ways that networked publics could inhibit I guess I've voiced one major concern about online bullying. There is a lot of things that people will say online that they wouldn't say in real life if they were face to face with that person, I think that is why it can be dangerous. As much as you are connected to a community online there is also a degree of physical separation.
There are ways to bring the networked publics or social networking into art making, one thing that I can think up off the top of my head might be making social networking maps as an art project. It could give students a push into examining how they use those sites versus their real world interactions.
1 Persistence: Unlike the ephemeral quality of speech in unmediated publics, networked communications are recorded for posterity. This enables asynchronous communication but it also extends the period of existence of any speech act.
2 Searchability: Because expressions are recorded and identity is established through text, search and discovery tools help people find like minds. While people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of keystrokes.
3 Replicability: Hearsay can be deflected as misinterpretation, but networked public expressions can be copied from one place to another verbatim such that there is no way to distinguish the “original” from the “copy.” 26
4 Invisible audiences: While we can visually detect most people who can overhear our speech in unmediated spaces, it is virtually impossible to ascertain all those who might run across our expressions in networked publics. This is further complicated by the other three properties, since our expression may be heard at a different time and place from when and where we originally spoke.
Thinking of this as a teacher...
How a networked public changes/influences my teaching? Thinking beyond tools, how does it inhibit?
Possible art making...
Rhizome
This reading is especially interesting to me because I feel that I grew up with the internet in the way that she is explaining. The big thing in middle school was instant messaging, I would spend HOURS chatting online with my friends who I just saw at school. On top of that if there was ever a sleep over the group of girls I was with would talk to boys and other people online for the majority of the night. Instead of a social networking profile we would constantly update our instant messaging info boxes. Then in high school it became the thing to be on Myspace, now instead of having IMing (instant messaging) as the only thing I was on daily, I had both IMing and Myspace. I'd chat with my friends in real time through IM and check my profile and others profiles for pictures and stuff on the side. When I was a senior in high school was when Facebook turned up and that added one more thing to occupy my time with. I guess because I feel like I lived the evolution of social networking sites, as I grew up the way my generation communicated online evolved with our age, there is a certain level of comfort that I have with online communities.
After that piece of nostalgia... I personally think that it could be beneficial to incorporate social networks and different online communities into school. However, I do understand the problem that a lot of school districts have with allowing students to have access to these sites at school. Unfortunately even with how advantageous the access to sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Flickr could be there are always going to be those that "ruin it" for everyone else. Online bullying is a problem, it was a problem when I was in middle school too, but those conversations were at least private in instant messenger. In the 2000's children have a much higher ability to use computers and online tools and the sites available to them allow for even more sharing of multi-media. Not only could they insult someone on their wall or embarrass them by sharing personal stories, they now have the ability to create videos and photo posts that could be hurtful. I do think this is more of an issue the younger the students are that you work with. Middle school age probably couldn't handle having access, especially with the bullying that takes place within the halls. High school age, more specifically those applying to college, might approach online communities with a more professional attitude and therefore would have less inclination to use it as a tool for bullying. In a college atmosphere it would most certainly be effective, this blog is evidence of that.
In a perfect world I would love to be a professor at the college level teaching drawing or painting classes or teaching at the high school level. In that case I think using social networking sites would be beneficial, even more so if in using one of these sites there was a page dedicated to that particular class. My having a page devoted to a class the teacher would be the administrator and have control over what was being posted. Multi-media assignments could be given that require students to use the internet as a tool for finding contemporary artists, sharing photos of their work, videos of interviews or the artist working. Students would be able to get a more in depth look at the actual world of working artists and the realities that go along with that profession. I guess I see it as more of a research tool.
The ways that networked publics could inhibit I guess I've voiced one major concern about online bullying. There is a lot of things that people will say online that they wouldn't say in real life if they were face to face with that person, I think that is why it can be dangerous. As much as you are connected to a community online there is also a degree of physical separation.
There are ways to bring the networked publics or social networking into art making, one thing that I can think up off the top of my head might be making social networking maps as an art project. It could give students a push into examining how they use those sites versus their real world interactions.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sound Collage
For my sound collage I choose to put together a combination of sound files that reminded me of all the times I've been out hiking in the woods with my dogs. I started out the audio file as the sounds you would hear walking through the woods, the birds chirping, foot steps, leaves crunching under your feet, dog panting, dogs running through the bushes. One thing that I wanted to be strict about was that the sounds be void of human talking. I did incorporate a whistle, to tie in that relationship of dog and owner. I also think the whistle helps people relate the dog like sounds as being friendly since the person is obviously calling to the dog. If you have ever been out in the middle of the woods by yourself, just you a dog and the animals around you, its very peaceful and relaxing. I wanted to really get that feeling across. To drive that home I included light music as a way to try and relate the sounds of nature to music.
To make the sounds available to you I created a movie file where you listen and just look at this one picture. Enjoy.
I am including a longer version, which I made first but edited to fit in the time we were assigned.
Ten Minute Presentation: Tara Donovan & John Dahlsen
Transcending the Material
Here is a link to our Prezi presentation of the artists Tara Donovan and John Dahlsen. The top link is the final presentation but I am also including our research and outline version that helped us get to the final Prezi.
Scaffolding questions to go along with Final Presentation.
Here is a link to our Prezi presentation of the artists Tara Donovan and John Dahlsen. The top link is the final presentation but I am also including our research and outline version that helped us get to the final Prezi.
Scaffolding questions to go along with Final Presentation.
Monday, October 10, 2011
John Dahlsen
Environmental Installation Art
These Installation art works are a combination of two primary elements that make up my recent work.The wall works are large scale high resolution digital prints on canvas. The floor piece is made from the found plastics. One mimicking the other.
These Installation art works are a combination of two primary elements that make up my recent work.The wall works are large scale high resolution digital prints on canvas. The floor piece is made from the found plastics. One mimicking the other.
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| Primary Installation |
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| Black Plastic Installation |
Contemporary environmental art installation, made from found plastic objects and nylon rope. Recycled art created from plastics collected from Australian beaches
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| Catch |
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| Vessel |
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| Womb |
Tara Donovan
For over a decade, American sculptor Tara Donovan has transformed huge volumes of everyday items into stunning works of phenomenal impact. Layered, piled, or clustered with an almost viral repetition, these products assume forms that both evoke natural systems and seem to defy the laws of nature. Donovan explores how a single action applied to a single material countless times can transcend our expectations. Creating astonishing visual experiences, the artist's work invites closer looking and bigger thinking about the everyday materials that surround us.
She employs everyday objects such as drinking straws, buttons or No. 2 pencils to create large-scale sculptures and prints that take on a life (and light) of their own. She allows the shape of the chosen material to determine the form of the piece until it becomes magically other (think vast moonscape in Styrofoam cups), managing to transcend both materiality and gimmickry in a culture that celebrates both.
Tara Donovan Slideshow
TMagazine Article
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| Haze (detail) |
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| Haze, 2003 Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws 12' 7"(H) x 42' 2"(W) 7 3/4"(D) Ace Gallery New York |
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| Lure, 2004 Fishing Line 2 1/2"(H) x 10'6"(W) x 26'(D) UCLA Hammer Museum, CA |
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| Untitled (detail) |
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| Untitled, 2003 Styrofoam Cups, Hot Glue Dimensions Variable Ace Gallery Los Angeles, 2005 |
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| Untitled, 2003 Paper Plates, Glue 3 1/2'(H) x 4'(W) x 9'(D) Ace Gallery Los Angeles, 2005 |
Tara Donovan Slideshow
TMagazine Article
ArtsEdge : Show and Tell
ArtsEdge: The Kennedy Center
ArtsEdge at the Kennedy Center is an online resource for Educators, Families and Students. It includes all arts, music, theater, dance and visual arts. It includes lessons, history of the arts, how-to's, articles for educators, families and students about the arts and arts education. This is a tool that everyone could use to expand their knowledge of the arts as well as helping to create lesson ideas. Students can watch videos and learn about a variety of visual and performing arts with interactive sites.
Because ArtsEdge is created by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, music, dance, and theater are the focus however there are many resources for the visual arts as well if you take the time to search for them.
ArtsEdge at the Kennedy Center is an online resource for Educators, Families and Students. It includes all arts, music, theater, dance and visual arts. It includes lessons, history of the arts, how-to's, articles for educators, families and students about the arts and arts education. This is a tool that everyone could use to expand their knowledge of the arts as well as helping to create lesson ideas. Students can watch videos and learn about a variety of visual and performing arts with interactive sites.
Because ArtsEdge is created by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, music, dance, and theater are the focus however there are many resources for the visual arts as well if you take the time to search for them.
Gambiologia, the Brazilian art and science of kludging
Gambiologia
"Gambiarra is the Brazilian practice of makeshifts, the art of resorting to quirky and smart improvisation in order to repair what doesn't work or to create what you need with what you have at your disposal. Gambiologia is the 'science' that studies this form of creative improvisation and celebrates it by combining it with electronic-digital techniques... There is no exact translation for 'gambiarra' so we initially used kludge which means (from Wikipedia): 'a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together'. In the US they'd call it makeshift. Gambiologia is the study of 'gambiarra' in a technological context."
I've included the collectives website along with a website that shows examples of basic kludging being done all over the world. It gives a basis for understanding the "makeshift" quality that this collective is interested in.
www.gambiologia.net
(North American way: thereifixedit.failblog.org )
Gambiologia is also a group of artists that create works in exhibits based on kludging. They range from very simple to extremely complex creations.
Some of the work includes:
Polvo (Octopus) from Paulo Nenflidio is a sound machine made by plastic conduits. These are originally used to hold electric cables but Paulo used them to hold compressed air. As the visitor "plays" a keyboard made out of door ring bells, the conduits blow, generating different sounds. The seven bells form a complete tone set. This bizarre octopus-instrument still have an 8th note generated by an water spray on its top.
Furadeiras (Drills) is one of the simplest exhibited artworks but surely one of the smartest. It's by Guto Lacaz, an experienced artist from Sao Paulo. He proposed an unusual meeting between "different generation" drills - one being analogue and the other electrical. It's an ironic interpretation between planned obsolescence and how technology evolves, sometimes just rotating around itself in an infinite loop. Or how the old (low-tech) and the new (high-tech) can live collaboratively.
I always wish to have a multimedia vehicle that could project video and digital graffiti in public space. It's terrific how that can be a straight path to a democratic dialogue between people and the city itself. But our MBU should be gambiological - reflecting the logics and aesthetics of 'gambiarra' with this strong Brazilian accent. So we built it inspired by trolleys of salesmen who ride here mostly selling products or doing political advertisement. The idea was to mix performance, happening, electronic art, graffiti and 'gambiarras'.
"Gambiologia was initially the name our three guys' collective but the word is now being used here to identify a new way of think about technology, hacking and (Brazilian) pop culture. Like a science or a movement... It somehow captured the feeling of many creators... As a colonial country (Brazil) we initially didn't have enough resources for solving everyday problems so we had to invent simple and cheap solutions... Gambiologia tries to go beyond this, bring it into the art scene with an aesthetical and political discussion about technology."
This idea is new media literacy because it is breaking apart, recycling, remixing and re-purposing technology to create something new or make a fix it that happens spontaneously. You learn about the technology by taking it apart and making new additions. I think this is really interesting and am very drawn to how much this idea includes. The fact that it started as something that everyone can do and probably has done, by making small adjustments with random materials to create a solution to a problem, to using these ideas to create art by mixing technology for what the actual purpose is and what the artist wants to create.
"Gambiarra is the Brazilian practice of makeshifts, the art of resorting to quirky and smart improvisation in order to repair what doesn't work or to create what you need with what you have at your disposal. Gambiologia is the 'science' that studies this form of creative improvisation and celebrates it by combining it with electronic-digital techniques... There is no exact translation for 'gambiarra' so we initially used kludge which means (from Wikipedia): 'a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together'. In the US they'd call it makeshift. Gambiologia is the study of 'gambiarra' in a technological context."
I've included the collectives website along with a website that shows examples of basic kludging being done all over the world. It gives a basis for understanding the "makeshift" quality that this collective is interested in.
www.gambiologia.net
(North American way: thereifixedit.failblog.org )
 |
| Audio Cable fixed with candy wrapper |
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| Car Mirror |
 |
| Using a bottle for a Shower |
Gambiologia is also a group of artists that create works in exhibits based on kludging. They range from very simple to extremely complex creations.
Some of the work includes:
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| Paulo Nenflídio, Polvo, 2010 |
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| Guto Lacaz, Furadeiras. |
 | |
| Coletivo Gambiologia (Fred Paulino, Ganso and Lucas Mafra), Gambiociclo, 2010 |
"Gambiologia was initially the name our three guys' collective but the word is now being used here to identify a new way of think about technology, hacking and (Brazilian) pop culture. Like a science or a movement... It somehow captured the feeling of many creators... As a colonial country (Brazil) we initially didn't have enough resources for solving everyday problems so we had to invent simple and cheap solutions... Gambiologia tries to go beyond this, bring it into the art scene with an aesthetical and political discussion about technology."
This idea is new media literacy because it is breaking apart, recycling, remixing and re-purposing technology to create something new or make a fix it that happens spontaneously. You learn about the technology by taking it apart and making new additions. I think this is really interesting and am very drawn to how much this idea includes. The fact that it started as something that everyone can do and probably has done, by making small adjustments with random materials to create a solution to a problem, to using these ideas to create art by mixing technology for what the actual purpose is and what the artist wants to create.
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture
This last reading was pretty lengthily, but from reading it I got that there was a big part that focused on whether or not using technology in the classroom would be effective because of the students ability to comprehend abstract thinking. One part in particular stated that it was worrisome that if you used a video game like Civilizations in the classroom whether the students would see the plot and actions of the video game as historical fact. This got me thinking of a story my friend had told me recently about his dad in grade school.
He told me that his dad was in grade school when people came in from the census bureau or something like that to interview the elementary students. They used cartoon characters as references when asking students about violence and other topics. The part that interested me was that he said his dad was pretty confused when being interviewed, the grown-up was using cartoon characters to explain real life behavior to the students but he understood that but knew that the actions in cartoons were unreal and couldn't happen in real life so as an elementary school student didn't understand why an adult was using cartoon characters to explain real life. The way my friend explained it to me was that the children can think abstractly to an extent, they know that they things on cartoons are not real and can't happen outside of the television. For example; a kid knows that just because hes seen in on television, an animal can't get run over by a car and be flattened just to get back up and walk around again.
This story made me think that perhaps adults under estimate the abilities of children. I think that is exactly what is happening in that section of the article where they worry that students will think what is on the video game is real. I wouldn't be worried about that, students have a previous knowledge of what a video game is and know that they are not real, the ideas and concepts may be based on fact but since the player is in control of the events, they do not mirror real life.
For example; using the video game Civilizations, students choose to be a world leader and help cultivate a civilization from cave men to space age. The game is not meant to teach world history, its meant to teach the concepts on civilizations, research, diplomacy, war, culture. I believe it is underestimating students by assuming that they would consider everything they are told to be true. From the story about cartoons it seems clear that children are able to separate whats real and what is unreal at an early age, that just because they see it on television doesn't make it true, that there is a concept called fantasy which bases stories on made up ideas.
I think it would be beneficial to bring games that taught things like the game Civilizations into the classroom, not to teach a subject but to aid in the students understanding of how these concepts they are learning about can be applied to everyday life.
To have a better understanding of the game Civilizations, here is a trailer giving the basic concept:
He told me that his dad was in grade school when people came in from the census bureau or something like that to interview the elementary students. They used cartoon characters as references when asking students about violence and other topics. The part that interested me was that he said his dad was pretty confused when being interviewed, the grown-up was using cartoon characters to explain real life behavior to the students but he understood that but knew that the actions in cartoons were unreal and couldn't happen in real life so as an elementary school student didn't understand why an adult was using cartoon characters to explain real life. The way my friend explained it to me was that the children can think abstractly to an extent, they know that they things on cartoons are not real and can't happen outside of the television. For example; a kid knows that just because hes seen in on television, an animal can't get run over by a car and be flattened just to get back up and walk around again.
This story made me think that perhaps adults under estimate the abilities of children. I think that is exactly what is happening in that section of the article where they worry that students will think what is on the video game is real. I wouldn't be worried about that, students have a previous knowledge of what a video game is and know that they are not real, the ideas and concepts may be based on fact but since the player is in control of the events, they do not mirror real life.
For example; using the video game Civilizations, students choose to be a world leader and help cultivate a civilization from cave men to space age. The game is not meant to teach world history, its meant to teach the concepts on civilizations, research, diplomacy, war, culture. I believe it is underestimating students by assuming that they would consider everything they are told to be true. From the story about cartoons it seems clear that children are able to separate whats real and what is unreal at an early age, that just because they see it on television doesn't make it true, that there is a concept called fantasy which bases stories on made up ideas.
I think it would be beneficial to bring games that taught things like the game Civilizations into the classroom, not to teach a subject but to aid in the students understanding of how these concepts they are learning about can be applied to everyday life.
To have a better understanding of the game Civilizations, here is a trailer giving the basic concept:
Monday, September 26, 2011
Dear Sophie
Google Chrome came out with a new commercial to promote their software. With all the talk of technology and the way if effects lives in class tonight it reminded me of some commercials that I've seen recently. What intrigued me the most about this was how it was basically making a digital scrapbook of a child's life. The use of Google Chrome in replace of a traditional aspect of recording events, such as scrapbooking and old-school VHS home videos, is just another way that technology is taking over. Part of this that really interests me is how with having so much invested digitally does that devalue physical media like actual photos, a scrapbook, and hand written letters or does it place more of a worth on putting the time in to actually create an object outside of digital technology?
For me I find that hand made items have more of a value since so much is online and in the digital world. There is something "homey" in a hand made item that has associations of caring and love that gets lost with how technical and inhumane digital items can be found.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Self Portrait
If you've ever heard the saying, "you can take the girl out of the _________, but you can't take the _________ out of the girl" then you will understand the concept of even though you change something about the place your in or what you do it never really changes your true nature. With aspects of identity I choose to depict that very saying within the image. No matter how far away I go from the northern Adirondacks I don't lose what I've learned from growing up on the shores of the lakes and in the mountains. Our lives are changing all the time, graduating from high school, then college, going on to start something new, all of these milestones change where we are and what were doing but they don't change who a person is. Some people, like myself, really care about where they came from and grew up, how it effected their family life and continues to effect who they are now. To go back to my version of that popular saying; you can take the girl out of the mountains, but you can't take the mountains out of the girl.
Composite Photo
The concept of secrecy in relationships brings in the idea of privacy. Privacy is a problem that pops up constantly within the use of social networks, the question of how much to share, whats appropriate to share, whats safe to share... Secrets and social networking sites have become coexisting concepts. People share things over the internet that they would never express face to face. This comfort of over-sharing can cause many problems in a persons social and professional life. However, this is just one aspect of the problem with secrets and social networking. The assumption of everything being true that is being posted or created on a site has a sense of naivety, people keep secrets and sometimes use the cover of the internet site to mask who they truly can be. All of these aspects of the internet have created a completely different relationship between friends and acquaintances than the one that would be present in the physical world.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Post Modern Themes and Middle School Curriculum
I found that I was more interested in the articles concerning Post Modern Principles than I was in the ideas brought forth in the Middle School Curriculum article. However I do understand the importance of the concerns that were addressed in the M.S.C. article. From these ideas I thought the most influential was making the curriculum more focused on what students are interested in personally in an effort to get them to understand how those interests can branch out into a more active interest in similar themed social issues. This idea of curriculum can most certainly extend beyond that of the middle school environment and be used as a basis in other grade levels. Using this aspect of a personally planned curriculum pairs nicely to the themes that were presented in the Post Modern Principles article. Working from the basic concept of the elements and principles of design that were implemented so long ago it makes sense that in such a visually stimulated society we can address more complex themes to create an understanding of visual culture. I think it might also be interesting to think of ways that the elements and principles of design that included; line, space, color, texture, and value, can be examined in a more interesting way by associating these ideas with more complex concepts. The following video expands on this idea and gives visual examples of how this could work to modify the elements and principles of design.
Art Education after Art Education: A Postmodern Look at Elements of Design
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cinderella Intertextuality Magazing Cover
I choose to use the Grimm Brothers fairytale Cinderella as my subject to create the magazine cover. I wanted to focus on a concept of the story instead of an image of Cinderella because since it is such an old story that has been re-done over and over again there are so many different remakes, from books, to musicals, to operas, to movies and tv shows. With each of these versions there are some basic concepts that are consistently used throughout each version. The concept I decided to focus on is the "Rags to Riches" concept. Cinderella is the ultimate "Rags to Riches" story and this concept has gone on to be used throughout many different media. In my magazine I used Pretty Woman and Pursuit of Happiness and the Harry Potter series as movie reference, Chris Gardiner, Kelly Clarkson and J.K. Rowling as real life examples and also the Harry Potter series as a book reference. I felt these works and stories were best connected to the kind of "Rags to Riches" story that I believe relates to where the classic concept came from with Cinderella.
Cloud Visuality
I started my search with the idea from Sweeney's article based on Social Networking. My first word was Network from which I branched off in an interesting way that can be seen in the clouds that I came up with:
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| Network |
With Network I found built networks as well as networks through telephones and the internet paired with also something as natural as the network of veins on a leaf. From here I moved onto Friendship.
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| Friendship |
Directly following what I think of the social networks that I use daily, like Facebook, friendship came to me as an incorporated idea with network. From friendship I branched off to Intimacy.
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| Intimacy |
There is an intimacy that comes from creating a friendship. I am interested in this connection that people make between one-another through different kinds of relationships. Something that comes out of creating an intimate connection is the sharing of secrets.
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| Secrets |
Coming to the idea of secrecy in relationships brings in the idea of privacy. Privacy is a problem that pops up constantly within the use of social networks. How many people will you allow to see your profile? What kinds of things will you post on your profile? I was surprised at how through the connecting words I was able to come at a conclusion that I am interested in human nature and relationships but also relates directly to issues concerning the original Big Idea.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sweeney Article
In the Sweeney article a concept that stuck out to me has important to understanding the overall ideas of the article is the section about the lines of sight in a digital visual culture, which include the cyborg, the clone, and the parasite. I found this article was making an argument for the use of technology as more of a tool for art education and really integrating a visual technological culture into the everyday lives of students and teachers. Sweeney touched on many types of technology and ways to understand relationships with digital networks, in these ideas the one that stands out the most as a big idea of the article was his concept of fostering relationships with technological networks in a school setting. I understand this to be Sweeney's attempt at showing the importance of technology in classrooms and how students and teachers alike can benefit from becoming more fluent in the language of the digital world.
Themes of more specific ways that technology can be used in the classroom can emerge from this big idea in Sweeney's article. I think that Sweeney has already given us some basic concepts in this department as the "lines of sight" which include; Cyborg Vision, Cloned Perception, and Parasitic Double-Vision. With the idea of the cyborg people and machines are becoming connected. This is directly referencing how individuals and others interact on the internet. Social networking sites are an example of the idea of cyborg and how individuals can have their identity simulated online.
I am mostly interested in this idea of the cyborg and how with the easily attainable nature of the internet people are becoming more and more attached or "plugged in" as some people call it. We now have the ability to access internet through mobile devices and through wifi hot-spots where anyone can connect to the internet and therefore millions of others. I focused on social networking sites because they have become the most used and maybe even effective way of staying in contact with people. Through anyone of the sites listed on the 2010 Social Networking Map there are ways for individuals to post their opinions, share cool things they've discovered or made and comment on anyone's posts. Social Networking did start out as a more simple concept which is easily explained through this video:
I think social networking sites are something that should be considered an advantageous part of the classroom. For instance, just with the way that our Art Ed. program has begun using blogs as a way to post homework and let teachers know that students are being active with readings by posting their responses. It also makes it much easier for students to share interesting visual media with classrooms. I think they could be considered a start off point for integrating more types of technology into the school setting.
Themes of more specific ways that technology can be used in the classroom can emerge from this big idea in Sweeney's article. I think that Sweeney has already given us some basic concepts in this department as the "lines of sight" which include; Cyborg Vision, Cloned Perception, and Parasitic Double-Vision. With the idea of the cyborg people and machines are becoming connected. This is directly referencing how individuals and others interact on the internet. Social networking sites are an example of the idea of cyborg and how individuals can have their identity simulated online.
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I think social networking sites are something that should be considered an advantageous part of the classroom. For instance, just with the way that our Art Ed. program has begun using blogs as a way to post homework and let teachers know that students are being active with readings by posting their responses. It also makes it much easier for students to share interesting visual media with classrooms. I think they could be considered a start off point for integrating more types of technology into the school setting.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Exquisite Rorschach Game
Within the variety of art historical Surrealist games I find that I am most drawn to the visual aspects of the games; Exquisite Corpse and Decalomania (with reference to Rorschach ink blots). I think it would be interesting to combine these games together. Combining the games there is direct play with chance as well as automating drawing created from the ink images. The reason I believe this would be beneficial as a game is that when chance is used to create an image as it is with the concept of Rorschach tests many parts of that image will spark new ideas and we are able to find familiar shapes within the ink.
For example within a common Rorschach ink blot:
Specific to this image various people would find completely different shapes created in the ink. I see two sea horses and a puppy just to point out a few images I am deciphering in the ink.
The images that can be found or parts of shapes that are started are what I find so interesting about Rorschach tests. With this in mind I think pairing this exercise with the basic concept of the exquisite corpse game will create an especially interesting outcome.
Visual Exquisite Corpse Examples
The way I would use the two Surrealist games together would be to begin with the ink image. After the image has be created students will spend time deciphering the shapes they can find within the ink image. The use of the exquisite corpse concept comes into play with the students begin to draw or outline the shapes they find within the ink images. These drawings of the chance shapes that occur will be kept private so other students will not influence what their peers see within the ink. After students have exhausted the amount of images they can find within the ink blots, presenting what they have found will be extremely interesting for students to see what their peers have seen in the images of the ink.
This is an example of finding and image within the ink:
Using chance in the surrealist play alongside drawing of deciphered images will make this game more than just an individual experience, being able to show each other in a fun informal setting can open other students up to seeing things in new ways and become more comfortable with sharing work.
Images created in this process can be used to pursue larger work with examining a specific part of the ink image and what was deciphered within it.
For example within a common Rorschach ink blot:
Specific to this image various people would find completely different shapes created in the ink. I see two sea horses and a puppy just to point out a few images I am deciphering in the ink.
The images that can be found or parts of shapes that are started are what I find so interesting about Rorschach tests. With this in mind I think pairing this exercise with the basic concept of the exquisite corpse game will create an especially interesting outcome.
Visual Exquisite Corpse Examples
The way I would use the two Surrealist games together would be to begin with the ink image. After the image has be created students will spend time deciphering the shapes they can find within the ink image. The use of the exquisite corpse concept comes into play with the students begin to draw or outline the shapes they find within the ink images. These drawings of the chance shapes that occur will be kept private so other students will not influence what their peers see within the ink. After students have exhausted the amount of images they can find within the ink blots, presenting what they have found will be extremely interesting for students to see what their peers have seen in the images of the ink.
This is an example of finding and image within the ink:
Using chance in the surrealist play alongside drawing of deciphered images will make this game more than just an individual experience, being able to show each other in a fun informal setting can open other students up to seeing things in new ways and become more comfortable with sharing work.
Images created in this process can be used to pursue larger work with examining a specific part of the ink image and what was deciphered within it.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Reproductions
Of the readings for this week I was most interested in the article, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. I found the ideas in this article to be interesting points to think about in how authenticity and a work being unique come into conflict with the ability to create reproductions are introduced. This reminded me of a part of a movie I watched called Mona Lisa Smile in which the teacher is explaining how a unique work of art has been mass produced and made available to the common man in different objects, postcards, calendars, etc. She goes on to comment that reproduction has also offered the option of anyone being able to paint like Van Gogh through a paint by number. Follow the link to the video to see what I am referring too;
Mona Lisa Smile; Van Gogh Paint By Number Clip
I thought this clip offered up a pretty spot on example of what the article is talking about, that yes mechanical reproduction has allowed us to invent ways of creating art that can be made in duplicate and can still be considered unique in the form of lithography and printing. However, there is an issue with how far to take this technology and at what point does it matter that creating reproductions takes away the authenticity of the work, authenticity being the quality becomes depreciated and the historical testimony of the art doesn't exist in a reproduction.
I think that it is interesting to consider such ideas especially within the masses of technology available at our fingertips today. Anyone can go online and find a picture of a famous artwork, download it, print it out and have their own reproduction of the work. I believe trips to museums and galleries to see the actual work in person holds more merit now because of the readiness of reproductions today.
Mona Lisa Smile; Van Gogh Paint By Number Clip
I thought this clip offered up a pretty spot on example of what the article is talking about, that yes mechanical reproduction has allowed us to invent ways of creating art that can be made in duplicate and can still be considered unique in the form of lithography and printing. However, there is an issue with how far to take this technology and at what point does it matter that creating reproductions takes away the authenticity of the work, authenticity being the quality becomes depreciated and the historical testimony of the art doesn't exist in a reproduction.
I think that it is interesting to consider such ideas especially within the masses of technology available at our fingertips today. Anyone can go online and find a picture of a famous artwork, download it, print it out and have their own reproduction of the work. I believe trips to museums and galleries to see the actual work in person holds more merit now because of the readiness of reproductions today.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Alex Kanevsky: Painting Department Lecturer, Fall 2011 SAA Lecture Series
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| Alex Kanevsky, Hotel, Oils on linen, 2008 |
http://www.somepaintings.net/Alex.html
Alex Kanevsky is a painter who will be coming to SUNY New Paltz this semester (Fall 2011) for the lecture series. I have been very interested in his work for the past few years and his style of oil painting has greatly influenced the way I approached painting during my undergraduate work. Enjoy his work!
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