Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip

Awesome video, I highly advise you watch it:



I ctually don't have any words for it, just watch.

Not by me, but I feel like it's about something I make it my mission to make other people aware of.


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Fair Use

It's been quite some time, and there are some more substantial updates coming up soon but I thought that this was quite appropriate to put up, especially considering recent developments concerning the censorship of the internet.

Protect IP will obviously cause a lot of trouble for people who use fair use to make content.

More stuff coming very soon.


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We need a new name for 'Contemporary Urban'

I saw this the other day and it got me thinking.

By no means do I think Rihanna is a rockstar, I think that the whole idea is pretty ridiculous. What interested me more is that Rihanna is seen as an 'R&B', or 'Contemporary Urban' artist. 'Contemporary Urban' is a pretty wishy-washy title. I mean technically I write contemporary urban music - I grew up in the city and it's written in the modern day.The fact it's such a terrible phrase reflects the fact that people prefer the term 'R&B'.

So, Rihanna is an R&B artist then? Well, I'm not sure the phrase 'R&B' is appropriate either.



Little Richard is seen as being a pretty good example of Rhythm and Blues from the 1950's. I won't bore you with loads of details, but essentially rhythm and blues was heavily based on the blues, which originated from black culture around the turn of the 1900's. This eventually turned into rock and roll.



So, what does the modern usage of 'R&B' have to do with rock and roll? Not a lot really...



A highly different musical style, typically using techniques such as sampling and mixing to produce backing tracks and beats. The history of 'contemporary urban' lies somewhere between disco, funk, and rap music - genres that defined the end of rock and roll really.

I think an alternate, fairer name form this genre of music needs to be found. I'm thinking of starting research for a text entitled

'Erasing Musical History with Linguistics'

Any ideas for an alternate name? Maybe you think I'm looking at this from the wrong way - there's certainly an argument in favour of the fact that R&B was a term originally created by music producers as a replacement for the offensive term 'race music', and that R&B still summarises a genre of music typically dominated by black artists. I'd be interested to hear some opinions!

I haven't started my research properly yet - so the content of this article should not be seen as an example of definitive positions, just posturing and conjecture to instigate discussion.


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BBC a Tool for Manipulating the Masses?

I've just listened to an interesting news broadcast on Radio 4 - another interview with Jody McIntyre. It would appear to me that the interviewer is actually being forced to ask certain questions and pursue a line of questioning to fulfil a specific agenda.

In this interview the man conducting has obviously been ordered to ask questions that already assume that police kettling is an appropriate and reasonable technique - even though both his guests flagrantly disagree. I'm tempted to argue that, although part of the responsibility may rest on the interviewers, the real culprits are those writing interview scripts.

I found this interesting comment left in response to a forum post on the BBC acting as political spin doctors:

"I did A-level psychology, and we were taught that the BBC exists purely to manufacture the thoughts, attitudes and opinions of the nation. It sets the social scene and dictates the mental & emotional life of the country.

They use really clever techniques to do it as well, based on decades of research into 'attitude change' and 'behaviour modification and control'. For example, during television news reports when they're trying to make the audience believe 'the story', they always get randon people on the street to give their opinion on the matter. Then they edit Joe commoner's opinion into the report. This practice or technique is based on 'social learning theory'. It was a school of psychology in the 60's which conducted tons of research into how to change, manipulate or dictate people's general thoughts and attitudes.

Anybody heard of 'The Bobo Doll experiment' by Bandurra & Walters? They discovered that if they could focus an audiences attention on a 'model' (average person giving an opinion in the news report), then the audience would 'immitate' and 'assimilate' any thought, opinion, attitude or behaviour being expressed by the 'model'.

So when you watch the BBC 6 O'clock news, and they're programming you with so called facts and truths, dictating to you what is right & wrong, good & bad.....look out for Mr 'average bloke on the street' to pop up and give you his opinion (which is always consistent with the news report - unless they get a social undesirable on to show you what unbelievers are like).

Just a quick lesson in mass media brainwashing, courtesy of my Psychology A-level."

I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that a government-funded tv station supports the government. But I think it's interesting to keep in mind.


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Why are we protesting?

great website explaining why the policies on fees are so counter-intuitive.

Enjoy


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Read this if you want to understand a lot more about me

The "Duende" is a concept I've known of since Foundation at Camberwell, and it pretty much ignited an already smoudering interest in latin culture.

It really sums up a lot of things that resonate closely with me. Please do read it if you have the time, it's something that really means a lot to me.

M

Marian Bantjes: Intricate beauty by design

This is quite relevant to my dissertation;

I believe it is a fallacy to be a creative mind whilst removing the ego from the act of creation. It is impossible.

The Pixel: Abstract expressionism for digital media?

Most people who know me are familiar with my fondness off pixel art, as well as my fondness of retro gaming.

I found this video yesterday, it makes a lot of valid points that I agree with:



I especially like the point about how, with an increased amount of detail, the representation of something becomes a lot less of a personal experience for the viewer. It becomes a statement of skill, rather than a communicative, inclusive image that many people can relate to. Going back to the society of the spectacle, rather than gaining a valid experience, 'special effects' films and games that are made with only a graphics budget begin to become no more than a sequence of pretty flashing lights, whereas the pixel ironically, I believe, can afford a more personally involving experience.

All hail the democracy of the pixel, bless it's lovable simplicity.

By no means am I saying that pixels are the only valid form of digital expression, just that they are a good example of a way of circumventing the spectacle.

Compulsory Reading

(Photo Pinched directly from Changing the Subject)



A large part of my thinking as a person, let alone my practice has revolved around the idea of 'the spectacle'. I've never read Marx or Guy Debord before, however on seeing this I realise it's a must for me to get hold of. It's definitely the next book on my list.

I highly encourage you to check out David's blog, it's incredibly informative, regularly updated and has a far more theory-base bias than my own. Definitely worth a look if you're interested in doing some delving into art theory and contemporary society.

Go. NOW.

Change: Soft Power (or the power of art) and the Future

It's been quite some time since I've posted, and although I'm still working on projects nothing is coming to light at the moment that I am willing to share. I've also been so busy that I have been unable to keep tabs on the TED talks recently and thus have spent today catching up.

Change is the theme of this post, something we are going to have to deal with a lot of in the near future. This first talk is given by Mallika Sarabhai and deals with what you might term 'soft power' in a very direct way. I didn't include the talk on soft power here as I don't really want to touch too much on the economy in this blog. I think Mllika has the right idea, as she expresses toward the end of the talk. The arts play a very important role in culture, they affect the way we see the world, the way we act and what's important to us in our lives. I think that it's incredibly important that people realise exactly how much power art has to produce change in culture, not just within academia.

This second talk was given by Magnus Larsson, and concerns a technology that I would love to play with in a future project. The power to turn sand into stone over a very short period of time using biocalcification. The application here not only presents a possible way of halting our expanding deserts, but provides habitable living quarters for people and places to grow trees and plants. Apparently the transformation from sand to stone take about 24 hours. I really want to try making some sandstone now. If anyone who happens to read this knows anything more about the technology, or how to identify and get hold of bacillus pasteurii, please let me know.

This next one has a lot of relevance to my previous TED post in terms of how we eat and what we consume. Oil is quite obviously running out, and we are going to need to find a way of surviving without it. Instead of pitching some crazy technology that requires loads of government funding, Rob Hopkins talks about practical ways of confronting this challenge in a very personal but effective way.

Finally I'd like to post here Tom Wujec's talk on the 13th century astrolabe. I find this talk incredibly intriguing and would love to have a go at creating an astrolabe myself. The earliest known computer, I think it encourages a more tactile involvement with how we perceive time. It's incredibly nostalgic, and quite probably a little impractical. But I think that as Tom mentions, progress is just another word for change. For everything we gain, we lose something too. I believe it's important to find a balance.

I hope this has been an enlightening post. Check back soon for a little something more on music.

The Dissertation Post

The reason I am opening this post with an image by Anthony Gormley will be explained as this post continues but I'd like to get stuck in with this long-overdue post. Alongside miscellaneous travel and teaching I have been (semi) busily putting my nose to the grindstone researching for my dissertation. I don't have a title yet, but it will be something along the lines of:

"The Difference Between Design and Fine Art in a Modern Context; How Professionals Define Their Practice Within That Framework"

The reason I have chosen this subject is because from the moment I started foundation at Camberwell I have never been able to define a clear, theoretical difference between the two disciplines.

I realise that the above statement may create a lot of flak for myself, so before the angry comments start I will attempt to justify my position. From what I can deduce, both disciplines are fundamentally about the clearest, most affective way of communicating an idea through the most appropriate medium. This communication can be simple, straightforward, abstract but I believe it is always there. Most differences I have had pointed out to me are only stereotypical differences about the 'tendencies' of design or the 'tendencies' of art, rather than definitive differences.

I should continue by highlighting the fact that by no means do I plan to go out and prove that art is design and design art. In fact, if I manage to find a solid difference it may well be more rewarding for me. What this dissertation is about is gauging the way design and art are perceived in the modern climate, and comparing it to the best possible definition I can assemble from research I have been conducting. I intend to survey a number of people, and conduct a few interviews which I will have carefully constructed with some professional artists and designers.

Finally, back to Gormley. I had the good fortune to attend a private view in Mexico City for Gormley's recent show there. At the introductory talk I managed to ask a question concerning my dissertation, something to the effect of "how would you relate Art to Design, in lieu to the fact that they are both essentially communicative mediums?". To which his reply amounted to; "In my opinion, design is there to facilitate and make life easier, whereas art is there to complicate and make life harder".

 An interesting statement, and one I had to muse on for quite a while. Until I realised that it was just a rephrasing of the stereotypical differences I had already been given, that is. In short; design is always selling something and is commercial whereas art is always abstract and expressive. This is an argument which I believe to be insubstantial. Does design have to be commercial? Does art have to be abstract? You may say, from a designer's viewpoint "well, if you want to be successful you have to be commercial." Surely this is true of the successful artist too? If you want to make money, you have to sell work, or get a second job.

The above work is called 'Inside Australia'. Unfortunately I can't remember Gormley's exemplary speech on it, and exactly what it was meant to communicate, but the piece resonates with me, which means that on some level it is communicating.

As a footnote to this post I would like to add this video, I find it very interesting and like the idea of stepping away from the homogenised 'iPod/iPhone culture'. Plus the idea of being a 'gadget maker' makes me smile.

M

FMP Foundation

I've been working hard in the last month or so in order to impress all the colleges I applied to so that I might be sheltered from the real world under the umbrella of education for a little longer. It appeared to work somehow, as I managed to get a place on the graphics course at Chelsea College of art. Which I think is pretty cool, even if I do say myself.
After that I had to prepare what is called a statement of intent for my final major project - A big project, over a long period, written and set by myself. This is mine; The subject is:

MODELS AND THE MIND Statement of Intent

Progress and Achievement Through Units 1 to 7

The major skill I have learned over my time on foundation is that of conceptualization and formulation of ideas. Although I still need to improve my method of documentation for the development process, the course has helped open my eyes to new ways of producing work. Whereas before I primarily used the computer as my tool for constructing pieces, only a couple of weeks after starting the course I was experimenting with sculpture. I also find that whereas before a lot of my art was produced on a purely superficial, promotional level, I am now exploring the meaning of subjects very important to me in my work.

Pathway Choice

I found it very difficult to choose my pathway; having just broadened my horizons and then constricting them. Coming from a graphical background I found the graphics pathway very tempting due to the defined nature of the project. However the commercial side of graphics concerned me, as I did not want to lose the idea of producing work that embodied some deeper, personal meaning to myself. Finally, I chose graphics as it is a communicative medium and I enjoy this aspect in comparison to the subjective nature of art.

Final Major Project Aims and Realisations

I intend to explore the subject of psychosis in my final project, with special interest focused on the idea of models, a relatively new area of psychological science. The idea of reality, and the question of what is real will feature heavily in the project. The main question, however, is one of psychiatry itself. The psychological model is an idea that contradicts some of the more traditional ones. The concept of models means that a psychologist now has to treat a person’s psychotic experiences as fact, rather than medically treatable symptoms. R.D. Laing took a similar view, and employed radical new treatment techniques at Kingsley Hall, where the doctors lived in house with the patients. This is a place I will most likely visit whilst conducting my research. It is also likely that I will explore the works of Mary Barnes – an ex-inmate and artist. I am remaining intentionally open–minded in regard to the final piece for this project in order to allow a more fluid development of the project. However, I am likely to be experimenting with some sculpture and painting. Mary Barnes’ work mainly comprised finger painting whist attending Kingsley, and the concept of models brings to mind the theme of puppetry, which could be well explored through the medium of sculpture. The main intent of this project is to affectively convey some aspect of the idea of mental models in the context psychiatry and psychosis. The dichotomy between the reality of those perceiving psychosis, and the actual illusory nature of hallucinations brought about by psychosis will be very important, and I think possibly the most affective way to convey this may be through some kind of installation piece, probably including film of some kind.

Evaluation

In order to constantly evaluate my work I will participate in tutorials, group assessments and finally, a self-assessment once my project is complete. I will also document the projects’ evolution from its original premise in some form. Most probably utilizing the blog format. This will ease the process of evaluation.