Month: May 2015

Initially I thought this exercise was going to be very simple, but after sitting and thinking for a while, I found it was more difficult than expected to come up with the 10 words. When I finally began to feel inspired, it suddenly became far easier and turned from a task into something that was fun and exciting. It made me think about how Ellen Dissanayake focused on the importance of art and how, “There is no known society that does not practice at least one of what in the West we call ‘the arts’” (Dissanayake 21). I was simply fulfilling the biological necessity of the species to create art. Although my art was created using a remix of the art of others, the end result is still something entirely new and unique. This was actually a lot of fun when I stopped thinking of it as an assignment and began to view it as an opportunity to create my own art.

Quote Citation:

Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote addresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (p. 21). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

In Larry Lessig’s writing, “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy,” the author outlines his arguments for and against copyright laws and how they protect some while subsequently stifling creativity and innovation in the modern world. Lessig discusses the freedom that past generations had to quote freely in their writing and how, “Our children want the same freedom for their forms of writing. For not just words, but for images, film, and music. The technologies we give our kids give them a capacity to create that we never had. We’ve given them a world beyond words. This world is part of what I’ve called RW culture” (Lessig 108). Lessig believes that many of the laws in existence make it illegal for individuals to create new art from that which already exists. Within the music industry for example, copyright law protects the use of other people’s materials within new music, commonly referred to as “sampling.” This limits what the average person can do to build upon what already is on the market and thereby limits remix culture and that particular type of creativity. In his audio installation, “Can I Get An Amen?” Nathan Harrison gives an excellent example of musical remix by reciting the history of the “Amen Break,” a drum arrangement that dates back a soul music song in the 1960s. This particular drum solo has been remixed countless times and utilized in just about every type of music genre in existence. Had the original artist chosen to restrict the use of this piece as many artists today have, most of these new musical arrangements would likely never have been made due to the expense of paying the creator for the usage rights. In 2004, a group called, “Danger Mouse,” released an album called, “The Grey Album.” According to the Wikipedia entry about the project, “It uses an a cappella version of rapper Jay-Z’s The Black Album and couples it with instrumentals created from a multitude of unauthorized samples from The Beatles’ LP The Beatles, more commonly known as The White Album. The Grey Album gained notoriety due to the response by EMI in attempting to halt its distribution despite Jay-Z’s, Paul McCartney’s, and Ringo Starr’s approval of the project” (Wikipedia). The controversy surrounding the popular mash up brought to light the oppressive power of copyright law. Although copyright laws exist for the purpose of protecting the creation of original art, the law is frequently abused and used mostly by large corporations for the purpose of financial gain. Because of this, I ­­believe that copyright laws should be limited so that there is a greater allowance for uses that are designed as artistic expressions. Sampling of small portions of the music of other individuals is a way of paying respect to the art and honoring the original artist. I believe that as long as the original artist is given credit for their creation there should be no issue of copyright. With regulations the way that they currently are, the only people that are benefiting are the larger corporations that hold the copyrights and it is rare for the original artist themselves to benefit in any way from copyright laws and their enforcement. In the end, creativity and innovation should outweigh laws that exist for the sake of stifling them.

In Beverly Jones’ article, “Computer Graphics: The Effects of Origins, the author talks about technology and its changing role. She states, “It is the premise of this paper that old cultural patterns do not die. They may fade or become more evident; that is, they may be deemphasized or emphasized. Only as part of the general ‘nonexpert’ culture can such patterns contribute significantly to maintenance and/or change [4]” (Jones 21). Throughout the article, Jones provides examples of predictions about technology that turned out to be entirely incorrect citing such examples as, “…early market predictions of the Mercedes Benz Corporation, which limited the number of potential automobile sales to the very low number of trained chauffeurs then available” (Jones 21). Computers were initially viewed as something entirely separate from art, however the combination has existed since the 1940s and today; computers are used in many types of art as well as being responsible for entirely new art forms. Jones discusses how, “Computer graphics in advertising and entertainment rely heavily on the appeal of technical special effects made possible by earlier scientific/technical developments” (Jones 27).

Within modern society, technology has become a part of daily life and generations of young people know often have difficulty fathoming a world where computers did not come into play on a daily basis. One example of this is the creation of the mobile phone. While it was originally a tool of convenience, the technology has evolved over the years and turned it from a functional item to an aesthetic and artistic expression. An article from the Washington Post gave a timeline for the evolution of mobile phone technology beginning with its earliest versions.

By 1997, mobile phones had evolved into a tool for accessing email and continued to change with consumer demand. According to the article, “Combining the features of a cellphone, pocket computer and multimedia player, the iPhone changed the nature of how users related to their pocket devices” (“The History of the Mobile Phone,” 2014). Mobile phones now have the capability of being personalized to reflect the individual artistic expression and personality. Users can change backgrounds, cases and buttons on the screens in order to showcase their individuality in a seamless marriage of art and technology. The technology also continues to evolve as Jones’ article had demonstrated. Every year, a new and “improved” version of Apple’s popular mobile phone is released featuring new features and the latest in technology. The release of the Apple Watch this year further demonstrates the evolution of technology and art as well as the perspective of the consumer, which has evolved drastically since the introduction of computer technology.

Works Cited:

Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.

The History of the Mobile Phone. (2014, September 19). Retrieved May 23, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/09/the-history-of-the-mobile-phone/

Game designer Jane McGonigal’s TED talk presented a view on technology and the gaming industry that I had never heard before. Having never been a particularly avid gamer, I was interested to see someone with charisma and social skills that was a game designer and spokesperson. I always had the stereotype of the middle-aged man with no social skills and living in his mother’s basement as being the game designer or avid gamer type. McGonigal argues, “games are essential to the future survival of the human species.” This struck me as odd because, not being a gamer myself, I always saw them as a luxury for those who had much more spare time than I do and an escape from reality for those who have nothing else going on. Thinking of games as an essential part of humanity was new to me, but after hearing McGonigal’s lecture, I recognize that it is much like Ellen Dissanayake’s argument for the necessity of art in the human experience. Problem solving is a skill that is vital for all of us, and something that we all use in our daily lives, regardless of culture or any other factor. Until watching McGonigal’s presentation at TED, I had never considered the possibility that games could be more than mindless entertainment. Although I doubt I’ll be suddenly turning into a gamer, I have to say that McGonigal’s talk gave me a new perspective on an industry I knew little about and a new respect for those who consider themselves gamers.

How do you define “spirituality”?

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines spirituality as, “the quality or state of being concerned with religion or religious matters and the quality or state of being spiritual.” I personally would define spirituality as a search for meaning and connection with the world around me. Spirituality does not necessarily have to be about religion or religious belief systems. A person can be spiritual without having to adhere to any specific religion, and without having to even believe in anything.

Does spirituality differ from religion?

Religion, in my personal opinion, is the belief in a specific God or number of them, as well as adherence to specific rules that govern behavior with the end result of moving on to an afterlife, in some religions, or in the case of some religious beliefs, coming back in a future life as something better in order to come closer to a state of enlightenment. Spirituality and religion are not mutually exclusive. Spirituality can simply be feeling a connection with the world around us.

How do you define “creativity”?

Dictionary.com defines creativity as, “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.” While I believe that this definition makes sense, I would further add that creativity is the ability to look at something ordinary and see the potential to turn it into something special. A creative person can look at ordinary objects and see something more, be inspired and create something from nothing, which is exactly what artists do. One example would be artist, Kader Attia who created an installation in 2007 called “Ghosts,” which are figures made from aluminum foil that were representative of Muslim women in prayer. Attia took a material that most people have in their kitchen and saw the potential for art.

What is the source of creativity?

Creativity comes from inspiration. This can come from anything. On some level, I believe all people have some natural creativity, although for some it is stronger naturally than for others. Some people can find inspiration from everything around them while for others it happens less often. It seems that creativity is sometimes the result of influence growing up. When I was a child, my parents encouraged creativity and the arts. As a result, creating things has always been enjoyable and come naturally for me. One of my friends, who never indulged in creative activities as a child now struggles as an adult to find inspiration and has no ability to visualize the end result when looking at a partially created project or a pile of materials.

In, “Art as Spiritual Practice,” author Alex Grey brings up a variety of unique perspectives on art that caught my attention and challenged my existing thought processes. One interesting element that Grey presents is the difference between the idea of seeing deeply and understanding versus looking and observation. Grey states, “To see deeply and to understand are different from mere looking or observation. In order to experience art fully viewers must go through a mini ego death by placing themselves in the inspired mind of the artists, who themselves are out of their minds and only acting as channels of creative spirit” (74). The author believes that an artist must be drawn to a subject, that there is aesthetic pleasure gained by the artist and then that “The artist’s spiritual eye recognizes the subject as a special aspect of the absolute” (73). I have personally never had an experience where my creative endeavors felt as profound as Grey believes them to be. I feel inspiration to create because I can visualize the end result and have a desire to make it a reality. Grey states that, “inspiration is the most creative step in the creative process” (81), which is an element I can certainly agree with. Although differing things inspire us all, anyone who creates anything that can be considered art had to feel some level of inspiration to make it come to life. In the Art21 video we watched this week, I had difficulty understanding the large installations that Ann Hamilton uses to express herself. I could not see what she did in thread or words on the pages of a book. These would not be inspiration to me, but to Hamilton, these were images she saw which inspired her to create a massive scene in an old textile factory building that was no longer in use. Part of the beauty of art and its connection to spirituality is that we all experience the world around us in different ways. For example, a clearing in a forest where the light is trickling through the trees could trigger one artist to create a beautiful painting of a landscape and feel a spiritual and emotional connection to nature and the majesty of life while another artist would just see it as a pretty afternoon in nature not unlike any other. Both the reading and the video made me think, because they viewed art as a much deeper experience than I have ever seen it to be.

There are mixed perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages to being exposed to the horror genre. Author Noel Carroll’s writing, “Why Horror?” the author seeks to comprehend the reasons that so much of the population is drawn to something that is, in all honesty both disgusting and disturbing. Carroll describes horror stating, “It is something that we would ordinarily seek to avert. So why do we seek it in art and fiction? How does it give us pleasure and/or why does it interest us?” Carroll suggests that perhaps it is not the horror itself or a sadistic interest in seeing someone torn to bits or dying brutally but rather the narrative process of the storyline and the proving of the existence of monsters that are not meant to exist within the real world. Regardless of the reasoning, horror as a genre is popular in both adults and children. Author Colson Whitehead gives credit to the horror movies he watched as a child for his inspiration in becoming an author. In his June 2012 article, “A Psychotronic Childhood: Learning from B-movies,” Whitehead discusses how his love of horror movies began early in his childhood. Although the author watched numerous movies during his childhood, it was the horror ones that he remembers best and it was the 1979 film, “Dawn of the Dead,” which finally frightened him enough to cause reoccurring nightmares about zombies to resurface for many years. “Depending on what was going on in my life at the time, I was pursued by fast zombies or slow zombies. I was alone or with a group. I got away or didn’t. For me, killer robots and giant grasshoppers had nothing on people.” Whitehead discusses how his love of the horror genre inspired him throughout his formative years and that, while many parents would consider films such as “A Clockwork Orange” to be harmful for viewing by a young child, this film and others like it were favorites for family movie nights as Whitehead and his siblings were growing up. Whitehead sees nothing harmful in the horror genre and states that few of the movie images actually had any effect on him beyond that of entertainment.

Some believe that exposure to horror at a young age can desensitize or frighten a child far too much and as a result, my childhood was quite different from that of Whitehead because not only was I not able to freely indulge in the horror genre, I was forbidden from seeing it at all. The belief within my household was that horror films would be detrimental to proper development and that they would cause me nightmares. My parents entirely believed that horror would cause me to develop into a young man who did not see violence as a negative. As a young man, I felt that my parents believed these films or books would turn me into the monsters I’d heard existed on screen. However, not everyone shares my family’s opinion on the negatives of the horror genre.

In his article, “Why Horror is Good For You (and Even Better for Your Kids),” author Greg Ruth, a parent himself argues that horror is good for children. “Scary stories tell kids there’s always something worse, and in effect come across as more honest because they exist in a realm already familiar to them. Scary tales don’t warp kids; they give them a place to blow off steam while they are being warped by everything else.” Ruth argues that the horror genre teaches children to value the mundane and to avoid certain dangers, and has dating back to some of the more gruesome fairy tales before being watered down by companies such as Disney. As Ruth points out in his argument for horror, threats and fear are a real part of every day life, regardless of who you are or where you are from. Greg Ruth does argue however that while he embraces exposing his and any other child to certain branches of the horror genre, he draws the line at certain films stating, “You can’t make anyone un-see what you show them, and you should be responsible as to what they are exposed to.” Ruth admits to sneaking into the theater to see the horror film, “The Exorcist” as a child and that it caused him a month of nightmares. Ruth clarifies, “Being scared and being terrorized are not the same thing. Know the difference and don’t cross the streams or it will totally backfire on you.”

In essence, horror can be a positive and thrilling experience or can cross the line and leave the viewer or reader feeling terrorized. There is a fine line between a thrill and crippling fear at times and for me personally, I have tended to avoid a great deal of the genre on account of not knowing exactly where that line is. When we are aware that the danger is not real, being scared can certainly be thrilling. After moving to Eugene, I went to the haunted corn maze held locally by Lone Pine Farms. At times the line between thrill and genuine panic became blurred for me although overall it was a thrilling experience that made me feel alive and exhilarated. My resulting conclusion about horror is to know your own limits and work within them in order to have the most entertaining experience.

Sources:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved May 09, 2015.

Ruth, G. (2014, May 29). Why Horror is Good For You (and Even Better for Your Kids). Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/05/why-horror-is-good-for-you-and-even-better-for-your-kids

Whitehead, C. (2012, June 4). A Psychotronic Childhood –The New Yorker. Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/a-psychotronic -childhood

At the beginning of the episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Buffy is seated in a class at her college and the entirety of the sound initially is diegetic sound. All of the sound in the beginning of the scene seems to come from within the scene itself up until the passionate kiss that is shared between Buffy and Riley. At this point, non-diegetic sound comes into play as the music swells in the background to emphasize the passion and mood of the scene and the sudden darkness as the sun rapidly sets and the class disappears implies that the events, which appeared perfectly normal, are in fact part of a dream sequence. After the entire town of Sunnydale loses their voices, the episode relies completely on the sound within the episode to tell the story. Most of the story is told during darkness, which adds to the creepy feel of the episode. The eerie, blue tone of the light throughout most of the episode adds to its horror feel as well as the typical horror music that leaves the viewer feeling jumpy and unsettled. The music builds into frenzy at numerous times and indicates that something terrifying is about to happen. When Buffy and Willow initially begin their morning after losing their voices, diegetic sound is utilized but the addition of non-diegetic sound tells us that the characters are in a panic and fear has begun to take hold, then sadness and confusion for some of the townspeople. The shifting camera angles also tell us how we are supposed to feel and what the characters within the story are feeling. Sometimes the camera pans around a scene, at other times there is a low angle, all depending on what the director wants us to be feeling. Like a silent movie, music tells a huge portion of the story and indicates what is meant to be felt. Low camera angles looking up at the clock tower for example, when coupled with the shrill musical notes lets the viewer know that this is a frightening place and something horrible is happening there. The lighting also plays into this effect because if the same clock tower were shown during the sunny afternoon light instead of the blue light of night, the fear factor would be greatly reduced.

I feel that my choice of wardrobe tells others that I am a laid back person but that I put effort into my appearance and customization. I really enjoy comic books such as Batman, Superman, Avengers and Green Lantern and so consequently, I have a number of tee shirts and tank tops in my collection that represent that interest. I feel that this tells others that I am not particularly conservative or out of touch with popular culture and trends but also states that I am a bit of a nerd. As time has passed, my personal style has definitely undergone a number of changes and evolved a great deal. When I was younger I was more concerned with wearing what was popular at the time than what looked good on me or represented my specific interests and personality. The older I get, the more concerned I am with being me and having my customization and adornment to represent me instead of the trendiest fashion right now. I think that if a stranger were to have to describe me, he or she would guess that I am a little nerdy, laid back and a relaxed individual to be around. My clothes and adornment choices are very much male and my favorite things to wear are my jeans and my tank tops, although during the summer the jeans are traded in for shorts. I am very particular about ensuring that my choice of shoes goes nicely with the rest of my outfit whether I’m going for a casual daily look, running out for a quite bite of fast food or dressing up for a formal event or for a job interview.

Overall my upbringing was pretty traditional and was much more uptight than I am now or than I intend for any family I may have in the future. I suppose that I cannot exclude the possibility that my perspective might change as I get older. When I was younger, my parents, although conservative believed in self-expression. As long as it wasn’t too obnoxious, too offensive or absurdly expensive, my parents allowed me to wear whatever I wanted because they felt it was important for me to learn, sometimes the hard way, who I wanted to be. There were times when they probably should have reined me in more because there are numerous photographs to prove that my fashion choices were not always good ones. As I guy however, I was lucky enough to have had far less restrictions in terms of adornment and customization than the girls I grew up. In my case, there was less concern about my look inappropriately exceeding my actual age and my family had no concern that as a boy I would choose to dress too provocatively. It now seems like a somewhat unfair double standard although when I was a child, I could never understand why my female friends would complain so much about parental control over their attire.

When I was growing up, my mother always wore dresses and skirts because she felt that skirts were directly associated with femininity and that trousers and jeans were distinctly male attire. To her it was perfectly normal to think in those terms because that was the shared belief of the majority of her peers. Looking back I will probably seem similarly bizarre to my children sometime in the distant future. My father always wore dress shirts and suits to work and even on the weekends, you would never catch him in a pair of sweatpants because he felt that it was important to dress for success and it was very important to him to appear the way he wanted others to view him.

In terms of my immediate peers, I think that most view clothing the way that I do, as a way to express their personality and individuality. A lot of my peers follow all the latest trends without concern about whether it is flattering to who they are in terms of personality or body type but others are more like me, preferring a casual expression of self over being fashion forward. Some of my friends put no effort into their appearance, and it shows, which to me is the danger in being too laid back. I like to imagine that my personal style is somewhere in the middle between the two extremes. Those of my peers with strong religious ties often also have that element of their lives reflected in their customization such as dressing in clothing that is far more covering and traditional, simple attire rather than the latest flashy trend.