Shift Delete (Yeah, that's what he calls himself), London
Leo Murray, London
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Roland Barthes on Semiotics
Let's start with the Panzani advertisement. It was interesting to me to see everything Barthes picked out from this that I never even gave a second thought. One layer of the picture tells us someone just went shopping and left everything they bought out on the table. Everything shown just so happens to be representing the colors of the Italian flag which makes a lot of sense since they are selling spaghetti ingredients. They are many more layer than just this though, by adding in the fresh produce around these preservative foods we get the sense that it is all fresh, even what's in the can... but when you really stop to think about it we know this can't really be possible. All part of a marketer's job to trick us. This small article got me thinking, we should always take a second look to imagery, logos, or ads presented to us and to not just take it all at face value, because there is all sorts of trickery that goes into designing these "still lifes" and photographs.
Now onto the cover of the Paris Match Magazine. The boy on the cover salutes to a culture that has destroyed his own and this angers Barthes (and myself). He talks about how myths make history nature which I competely agree with. This article reminds me of a mythoology class I have taken here at SFSU. Professor Calkins told us that characters throughout mythology were probably based on real people. Such as Zues, he was probably a real king at one point that was looked to as a God and when stories are passed down so many generations it makes sense that the idea of this man was soon brought into a godly form. The same thing happens with the way we look at the Presidents of our past here in the United States. George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, we all think of them as great people who built our nation, but they owned slaves too. It has been proven that Thomas Jefferson even fathered several children from one of his slaves... but people of this nation idolize our past Presidents and don't want to hear this horrible things about them so they simply don't believe it. Creating a myth in their minds that these people of the past could do no wrong. This article also makes me want to really give a second thought to images like this that I see in everyday life. Semiotics is an important thing to study in this day and age when we have so many thrown into our faces on a daily basis, I'm glad we got to read these to look deeper into these issues.
Now onto the cover of the Paris Match Magazine. The boy on the cover salutes to a culture that has destroyed his own and this angers Barthes (and myself). He talks about how myths make history nature which I competely agree with. This article reminds me of a mythoology class I have taken here at SFSU. Professor Calkins told us that characters throughout mythology were probably based on real people. Such as Zues, he was probably a real king at one point that was looked to as a God and when stories are passed down so many generations it makes sense that the idea of this man was soon brought into a godly form. The same thing happens with the way we look at the Presidents of our past here in the United States. George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, we all think of them as great people who built our nation, but they owned slaves too. It has been proven that Thomas Jefferson even fathered several children from one of his slaves... but people of this nation idolize our past Presidents and don't want to hear this horrible things about them so they simply don't believe it. Creating a myth in their minds that these people of the past could do no wrong. This article also makes me want to really give a second thought to images like this that I see in everyday life. Semiotics is an important thing to study in this day and age when we have so many thrown into our faces on a daily basis, I'm glad we got to read these to look deeper into these issues.
Three Tourism Artists
For this entry I thought of an artist I really enjoy the work of named Doug Rickard and then for my other artists decided to talk about ones that also use Google Earth as a medium just as we did for our Tourism projects.
Doug Rickard
A New American Picture
Rickard uses GSV photographs to take viewers into the impoverished areas of Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Oakland from all sorts of vantage points.
Doug Rickard
A New American Picture
Rickard uses GSV photographs to take viewers into the impoverished areas of Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Oakland from all sorts of vantage points.
Another artist that did a great job using Google Earth is Tom Jenkins. In this piece "Address is Aproximate" we follow a lonely desk toy on his three minute cross country trip through GSV imagery. This work is also a great example of stop motion animation, which I'm a big sucker for so I had to include it. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
To see the video simply click on this link and watch it on Vimeo.com, I had some trouble embedding it on here.
Mishka Henner
No Man's Land
My last tourism artist created a very powerful social commentary with the help of Google Earth. His No Man's Land series is made up of GSV imagery of roadside prostitutes in rural Italy. Henner decided to publish his book of these photos when he discovered online communities that use Street View to share information about the locations of sex workers – one of the darker uses of GSV.
(Not really sure what's happening here...)
Third and Final Outside Event- The Possible at UC Berkeley Gallery
For my last outside trip I chose to see an exhibit called The Possible at the UC Berkeley Art Gallery. It included all sorts of different works and even some research from a SF State Professor, Gwen Allen, who knows all there is to know on contemporary art. It is an experimental exhibition that reconceives the museum as a site for creative convergence. There were all sorts of workshops to be part of that included working with clay and weaving yarn. As an open platform for shared creativity and the exploration of diverse artistic techniques,The Possible combines studio, classroom, library, gallery, and stage.
One of my favorite parts of this exhibit was works displayed by Will Rogen. Rogen works a lot with video and is also known for his work with artist John Herschend (who gave a talk on our campus this semester). At The Possible my favorite piece by him was a video of a hearse blowing up in slow motion, I thought this was interesting because you could actually see the explosion breaking sound barriers in the air. Also watching the debris fly everywhere like that was almost beautiful in a way... the way ballet is beautiful and intriguing to watch, it was hard to look away although the content seems a little morbid. There were other video works but they all had a historic vibe and I like that this one was simple and still kept my attention throughout the entire thing.
Here's a link of the video I found on Vimeo if you would like to check it out! Be sure to try to spot the sound waves from the explosion...very cool!
http://vimeo.com/95973743
Rogen had a lot of work there that was based on human mortality and the passing of time. Including a book full of magicians obituaries. So i think this video was a perfect fit for his body of work for his solo show here.
One of my favorite parts of this exhibit was works displayed by Will Rogen. Rogen works a lot with video and is also known for his work with artist John Herschend (who gave a talk on our campus this semester). At The Possible my favorite piece by him was a video of a hearse blowing up in slow motion, I thought this was interesting because you could actually see the explosion breaking sound barriers in the air. Also watching the debris fly everywhere like that was almost beautiful in a way... the way ballet is beautiful and intriguing to watch, it was hard to look away although the content seems a little morbid. There were other video works but they all had a historic vibe and I like that this one was simple and still kept my attention throughout the entire thing.
Here's a link of the video I found on Vimeo if you would like to check it out! Be sure to try to spot the sound waves from the explosion...very cool!
http://vimeo.com/95973743
Rogen had a lot of work there that was based on human mortality and the passing of time. Including a book full of magicians obituaries. So i think this video was a perfect fit for his body of work for his solo show here.
FINAL PROJECT: Neverland Playground in Land's End and Golden Gate Park
Presented on Prezi.com. Please click the link below and then click on the button that says "Present."
http://prezi.com/tu3k1wddlwnp/neverland-playground/
http://prezi.com/tu3k1wddlwnp/neverland-playground/
Response to An Interview with Dean MacCannell
This article was very interesting for me even right from the beginning when Dean is talking about the way that the leisure class has changed since World War I but I really liked what he was saying about how people cherish their downtime. In fact people today find their identities more in what they do as a hobby than they do from work or their families. Reading this was very disappointing but I completely agree with it. Its sad to think that we live in a world where that many people are stressed out by their jobs to the point where they don't even enjoy it anymore. Same goes for time spent with family, these shouldn't be seen as "chores" but in today's modern age they are which is why everyone strives for that hard to reach leisure time.
The next question disappoints me a little as well, Dean talks about how people when planning a vacation try to go for a package deal somewhere, so they can sit back and be entertained 24/7. But I think vacationing should be about creating new adventures. Having experiences that you can't really plan out, they just happen. So I guess I was leaning more toward the tourism side then leisure since the beginning of this project which makes sense since my Neverland had to be traveled to and discovered in Golden Gate Park and Land's End. As Dean says just as much work goes into being a tourist as being at work; planning, organizing, physical effort and deprivation all take part.
The final part of this article that really resonated with me is when Dean was talking about how tourist attractions are becoming more aware that they're destinations are vacation getaways and taking control of that by outreaching beyond their own walls to heighten the experience of what they have to offer, this includes the architecture of their buildings and getting involved in any festivities happening around them. Its just funny how its coming from both ends and tourists just eat it up. Very interesting intreview that I have saved and will probably visit again in the near future, maybe even buy his book!
The next question disappoints me a little as well, Dean talks about how people when planning a vacation try to go for a package deal somewhere, so they can sit back and be entertained 24/7. But I think vacationing should be about creating new adventures. Having experiences that you can't really plan out, they just happen. So I guess I was leaning more toward the tourism side then leisure since the beginning of this project which makes sense since my Neverland had to be traveled to and discovered in Golden Gate Park and Land's End. As Dean says just as much work goes into being a tourist as being at work; planning, organizing, physical effort and deprivation all take part.
The final part of this article that really resonated with me is when Dean was talking about how tourist attractions are becoming more aware that they're destinations are vacation getaways and taking control of that by outreaching beyond their own walls to heighten the experience of what they have to offer, this includes the architecture of their buildings and getting involved in any festivities happening around them. Its just funny how its coming from both ends and tourists just eat it up. Very interesting intreview that I have saved and will probably visit again in the near future, maybe even buy his book!
Bernie Lubell's Solo Show at Intersection
"Why Cant't the First Party Be Part of the Second Party and the Second Party Be Part of the First Party" is the name of the piece Bernie Lubell's showing at Intersection Gallery from April 9 to June 7. Bernie had come in to talk to our Sculpture 3 class so on the opening night of this show Mike Arcega planned a field trip for us to see it!
When Bernie came to visit our class he told us about this piece. He likes to use a lot of low-tech in his work, this large scale wooden and interactive installation consisted of a complex system of gears, pulleys, cranks, and wheels powered by guests. When you first walk in you see a bench and a television screen displaying what hidden cameras are picking up around different parts of the installation. Above this there were some gears controlling the way a pencil was writing (or doodling) on a long sheet of paper being pulled passed it. Here you can see a trail of wood on the ceiling leading to the contraptions in the next room, a treadmill powered by people walking on it and a bicycle like form that is powered by human pedaling. So when these two parts were in operation together, the pencil began to write on the paper... that is until someone sits on the bench, halting the entire process no matter how hard the others are pedaling and walking.
This piece for Bernie was a commentary on politics, which I think is evident from the title he took from a Marxx Brothers skit. He brought up a serious topic and presented it in a playful way that hopefully made it easy for guests to understand and that is what I really enjoy about his piece.
Also, I remember how much he said he loved the ceiling of the gallery his work was in so I thought I would share this with you. It will give you a better sense of what this piece looks like in person. He really incorporated the whole building.
When Bernie came to visit our class he told us about this piece. He likes to use a lot of low-tech in his work, this large scale wooden and interactive installation consisted of a complex system of gears, pulleys, cranks, and wheels powered by guests. When you first walk in you see a bench and a television screen displaying what hidden cameras are picking up around different parts of the installation. Above this there were some gears controlling the way a pencil was writing (or doodling) on a long sheet of paper being pulled passed it. Here you can see a trail of wood on the ceiling leading to the contraptions in the next room, a treadmill powered by people walking on it and a bicycle like form that is powered by human pedaling. So when these two parts were in operation together, the pencil began to write on the paper... that is until someone sits on the bench, halting the entire process no matter how hard the others are pedaling and walking.
This piece for Bernie was a commentary on politics, which I think is evident from the title he took from a Marxx Brothers skit. He brought up a serious topic and presented it in a playful way that hopefully made it easy for guests to understand and that is what I really enjoy about his piece.
Also, I remember how much he said he loved the ceiling of the gallery his work was in so I thought I would share this with you. It will give you a better sense of what this piece looks like in person. He really incorporated the whole building.
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