Project 5: Youtube Video Mixer!

 Please note:

After critiquing and comparing the overall effect of the video mixer following the requested instructions and then playing them all together, it has been determined that playing the videos all at once with full volume on all videos is the best way to experience the mixer.  Thank you. 

This project can be found at 
http://www.unr.edu/art/site/areas_of_emphasis/digital_media/projects/Ashley_Peck.html

Video Review:

Gary Hill: I Believe it is an Image

Hill is a technologically advanced artist who uses cameras, imagery, lights and words to manipulate the senses.  He creates different perspectives of reality using traditional imagery (i.e. the cross, words from books) juxtaposed with unusual relationships of the body and sensory triggers.  Hill’s style is jarring, chaotic, objectified and occasionally soothing.  His use of metaphors, rhythm and vibrations enhances his desired impact on the viewer.  Hill’s work is a meticulous documentation of artistic process created with intellect, obsession and distortion. 

Shirin Neshat: The Woman Moves

Neshat’s common theme of movement, isolation, and voice (spoken and written) creates a very subtle yet powerful perspective on the Iranian woman.  She suggests metamorphosis of the individual outside of her traditional culture.  Neshat’s personal story as an American Immigrant carries over into her art, allowing the viewer to act as an observer of and for change.  She is a woman, speaking for the Iranian woman, beyond women’s issues.  Although division occurs between man and woman, ideas are mirrored creating reflection and awareness. 

Tongues Untied by Marlon Riggs

Riggs, a black, gay activist, charismatically moves through various issues using rhythm, emotion and reflection.  He seamlessly tells a story of personal and social acceptance providing strong words and raw imagery.  Riggs is exposed to name calling, gay bashing, rejection, and inescapable depression.  Pain and moments of harsh interactions are often reflected in the intimate moments of the film, contrasted with humor, building a strong empathetic relationship with the viewer.  Riggs is eventful, never boring, and makes strong moral points while he evolves from an invisible man to one with purpose. 

All three works are informative and appropriate for their own purposes.  Riggs film was soulful and poetic, reading like a visual poem of emotion and events.  Neshat’s film seemed to move in slow motion, maintaining strong contrast and constant motion.  Hill’s film was sensual and disturbing in its never slowing pace.  Hill and Neshat were informative with process while Riggs is more concerned with his emotional point.  All of the films were very intriguing and while very different, they were each effective in creating strong feelings through manipulation and inspiration. 

Assignment #5: Video Reenactment

Original Video: www.ubu.com/film/fatboy-slim_weapon-of-choice.html

For the video reenactment project I chose to use the Fatboy Slim music video featuring Christopher Watkins.  As soon as I began viewing the video, I immediately thought of a good friend of mine, JD (featured in the reenactment), who shamelessly shows off his thespian skills at any opportunity available.  In making the video, I did find myself limited in only having my cell phone video camera available, poor lighting, and limited time due to scheduling.  Thankfully, JD’s wife, Dulce, was present in the making of the reenactment to help direct while I manned the camera.  In my best attempt to keep a steady hand, I sat in an office, rolling chair enabling smooth movement and steady arms.  Overall the video was a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and the end product was well done.  My team was proud. 

Assignment #4: Website Re-Purposing-Interventionist Design

Original Website: http://www.unr.edu/

Mainstream music is about what sells.  It's meant for the general public, educated or not.  It doesn't require much thought, it's catchy and easy to listen too.  However, there is an underground world of music that requires thinking and is often based around current events, meaning anything from political to spiritual.  Underground Schooling is not meant to hate on higher education, but rather to piggy back on its sophistication and drive for accomplishment.  The underground music culture (in this case hip-hop) is full of bright, charismatic and skilled men and women who are spreading an intimate word of individualization.  The incredible content of poetry, knowledge, and musical genius is without a doubt an education on the most talented of levels. 

Assignment #2: Animation

Questions for Reading Discussions

Digital Currents: Chapter 5
1. In reading chapter 5 I couldn't help but think of critiques we have had in class regarding body image. In discussion it seemed to be the general opinion that looking at images of women that have been photoshopped and manipulated into looking like something "better" than nature's norm, has negative affects on the human psyche.  On page 159 the author states "the remarkable nature of simulation is that there are no limits to what can be realistically represented." Does the process of glorifying what is not real, regardless of the subject matter, create a world that cannot be achieved leaving people in discontent?

2. With all the hyper stimulation of the senses occuring in digital simulation, are the human senses at a greater risk in everyday life if overloaded with these virtual realities? For example: hearing complications, sight complications, or a lack of empathy?

Digital Currents: Chapter 4
1. The chapter discusses ideas per minute (IPM) in reference to music videos and one's inability to completely absorb all ideas during one sitting of a video do to their extremely compact format.  Although this may make videos interesting, if information is lost in translation, what is the purpose of this information overload? Is it simply for effect and not about content? Why take the time to create something that will never be noticed?

2. At the end of chapter 4, the author discusses the medium of video as evolving from an advanced artist medium to that of a standard consumer item.  As the art world leads the way with experimantation and manipulation of technology, are they sumaltaneously educating the public to think on a more artistic level within consumerism?

Digital Currents: Chapter 3
1. It seems as though postmodern artists reacted against the information overload of television and the media through acts of conceptual and technological visual processes.  While these experiments of communication are incredibly smart on one level, they seem to be too "out there" for the general public to grasp. Is it this movement that gave art a bad name?

2. Lovejoy states that, "television's image flow has created a visual cultural phenomenon...television has the power to transform the public mind set." Why has our culture allowed itself to live through other people's lives and ideas rather than think for themselves?  Why is it more interesting to watch Real Housewives than to step to a blank canvas whether it's on a computer, an isle or on the street?

3. Why is "illegal" graffiti art such an offense and the billboard on my street isn't?

The Medium is the Massage

1. On page 61, McLuhan talks about "the idea of detention in a closed space as a form of human punitive corrective action." This idea follows much dialogue regarding the expansion of the self, relationships, current events, and production.  It is interesting to think about this inevitable road of connection that humans are relentlessly conquering through technology in contrast to the above mentioned quote.  Is McLuhan implying that infinite connection is freedom and that no connection is hell?

2. In reference to recent studies, it is said that television has negative effects of brainwashing.  For instance, if an individual falls asleep to infomercials, this information enters into the subconscious mind affecting that persons reality.  Would McLuhan have an opinion on this and if so, would he be for the further manipulation of the affects of television on the viewer/listener or against it?

Digital Currents: Introduction
1. In Digital Currents, the author speaks of the aura of original works of art.  She explains that as a result of the Industrial Revolution, original art and its aura became endangered due to the abundance of media.  Does this imply that prior to the industrial revolution, people sought after art that contained some sort of spiritual attraction rather than a monetary or reputable value?
2. Is the media the only force that has ever caused a frenzy to buy art?

Project #1 Triptych Montage





Hooker

It seems like we waited years to be together.  I had moved into my first apartment after my grandfather had come over to determine that it was suitable.  I traveled to Costa Rica to do yoga in the jungle from 6am to 8pm for 18 straight days where I finally felt my heart chakra open.  It was amazing.  The journey had taken me 7 years, 9 countries and a string of romantic flings interrupted by that one tsunami of a relationship that undoubtedly cycled through without invitation.  And all the while, he was still there and I was still there and finally the time came for us to be there...at that first apartment.  It was red and hot pink and we made love all night.  We shared secrets and made love again.

I was sitting on my sofa when I received a text message from the landlord, who was a long time family friend, explaining to his assistant, who he thought he was texting but really he text me, that his "little hooker friend" (me) was moving out and into her second apartment and that the old lady downstairs should be happy to not hear me "hookin" anymore!  What the %&$@?! 

The melodrama of this appalling incident landed like front page news on the cell phones of my dearest friends and of him, my partner in crime. Digital impulses pulsating like the blood through my veins.  Me, private and intimate, turned into that, public and baffled.  Could it be more fitting that in this so called private apartment, during the most private of moments, an old lady peers in like a pop up message while scanning through pictures online? I find myself feeling diluted and paranoid sensing Big Brother, or rather Old Lady, watching my every step.

In creating the artwork Hooker the delicate balance and imbalances of life are compared and exemplified.  Popular symbology is manipulated through association of sexuality and profanity.  The undertone of something sacred hints at the demoralizing actions of gossip and judgment while the admitted hypocrisy of backlash is made known.  Digital imagery is the ideal medium to further create a lack of personal identity in a desensitized reality while the triptych suggests the different emotional stages of the incident. Like in the song he played on my stereo, fare is what you pay to get on a train and maybe to her I am just a frivolous blonde Barbie doll.