TED talks Mushrooms, Freeman explains Corporate Logos, Pentagon Memorial is frustrating.

Paul Stamets 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World


Freeman Explains Freemasonry Links To Corporate Symbols and Logos


DOD Pentagon Memorial Homepage

workshops

To be completely honest, I didn't find either of the workshops (there were only two as it turns out) to be stimulating in any way. Perhaps, had I been able to stay longer, my mind would have changed. We were told the workshops started at 2, and I had to leave at 4, but the workshops didnt start till 3, so I was only able to stay for about an hour. We all met upstairs together as they gave an overview of what was gonna be happening in each of the workshops. Then we the groups split up and began working.

The first workshop dealt with using images to tell a story. I joined this group at first thinking it would be interesting and I'd be able to learn something before I had to leave. Unfortunately to participate in the workshop we were first asked to go out and take pictures around Hollywood and meet back in an hour. At this point it was about 330 and my time was running out. I didnt want to spend it running around taking pictures on my own, I wouldnt get anything out of it. So i decided to see what the other group was up to.

When I got to the other group they still hadn't started. They were setting up a projector and seemed to be having technical difficulties. After a few more minutes they were ready and showed a "trailer" for a film they were working on. The trailer was about 5 min long, and i had no idea what it was about until the end when the title came up and it was about something called the Queer Criminals. Basically it was guys dressed in drag running around doing I don't even know what. The workshop was to contribute to their film. At this point I was a little glad I had to leave. I wasn't too interested in staying anymore, so I left.

Overall I just wish I had been able to stay longer, maybe then I would have been able to get something out of the first group.

Another Catastrophe

Ironically, the most fantastical aspect of our trip was when we tried to leave. As Ajia and I left, fully confident that we could be back in Valencia by three, as we needed to be, we walked in the direction of where our memories told us I had left my car. And as we checked each street between Highland and Cahuenga, Franklin and Hollywood, twice, it was obvious that something was not right. So we rechecked our memories and our steps again, feeling as if we had collectively gone crazy. Finally finding it at least an hour later, a block farther up a hill than we remembered, we left with a far more concrete fantastical catastrophic experience than is possible to ever concoct in film. That is not to say that the films in the exhibition were average or underwhelming, because they were very interesting and imaginative and entertaining, even if one of them was, in my opinion, more of an experiment in experimental animation than a cohesive short. But maybe that is how it was supposed to feel.

Fantastical Catastrophe

I don't often get to see many video works so watching the videos was a nice change for me. One thing I really wanted to have was a Q & A session. I thought that watching all the videos right after one and other was a bit too much. I think that breaking them up with a little bit of questions would have given me a chance to really let them sink in. The setting was nice, I felt comfortable in the space and liked that there was also some art for us to look at. I wish that the artists could have talked a little bit more about their work at the end, maybe they did and I missed it since I had to leave. Other than me missing out on the workshops I think it was a great field trip.

fieldtrip

Two workshops
1)Storytelling through imagery - was the photography workshop, in which we were shooting around Hollywood, digging up the plasticity of the city. Later everyone put their images together to make an archive in which we could all chose images, even those which did not belong to us in order to tell a story.
2)______(name?) - The other workshop was to contribute to a film who's trailer was presented downstairs. I saw the trailer but did not get to help much after getting caught up with photography workshop.

The third room by the stairs with the projector acting like a strobe light with a mirror in front of it, spinning a shape which was a black and white image was really well done although i would've love to have seen it in a bigger empty room to really appreciate it.

response to nature

video

owl

Field Trip Response

I got there late on Saturday around 5:oopm and the workshops were already finished. I met Frédéric Moffet and Amitis Motevalli who had started a project by assigning groups of people to take pictures on Hollywood Blvd. The theme was sex and the aim of the workshop was to create a narrative from the photos taken by those groups to tell a story by using the element of sex culture on Hollywood Blvd.
Many people had left and we got into a group of 4 and started brainstorming to see what we can do with those photos. They also told us that we didn't have time to edit them according to the schedual of the program. We decided just to present the photos and talk about them. Photos were taken from the people, signs (including the one with an X alphabet), objects and locations. Although we couldn't put up a story together, i found the subject matter pretty interesting because one had to deal with the representation of history through photographs while making a story out of them that is completely fictitious (and as if it had happend in another place). At 7:00pm they review some of the workshops held that day and 24 hour screening started. I only watched 3 of the videos and left the exhibition. All three were shot in black and white, had astrange narratives and were very powerful visually.

shoes and lace(s)

so i went on saturday to lace to see the movie viewings at 12:30 but didn't actually start til about 1:15. lame. the first video was a clip the filmmaker used to incorporate his film. it was in new guinea in the first thing you see is a pig being held by one person while another bashes it's face in repeatedly. the narrator was talking about his father sending him there and how he was practically useless and just a pain to the other members of a mercenary. it seemed like a documentary with many of the tribes people killing animals and cooking and dancing around. it didn't really intrigue me until the end the narrator says how he wanted to try cannibalism not for the sake of eating flesh but for the eroticism of throwing it up. i can't recall what the filmmaker actually presented as his own work, so i'm guessing it wasn't to memorable.

the next film was a close up shot of a little mexican boy riding a tricycle inside a church for a few minutes. it was a very slow film, with no sound and at the end it slowly faded away into slow motion. before the film was shown the filmmaker said that it was his three year old nephew on the trike. he said that he was shot and i don't know if he meant as in shot "let's start filming this bitch" or "go to the hospital and tell them you're shot". either way i was in full suspense because i truly thought that somewhere during this really slow moving tricycle ride in a holy place, a man was going to walk through and shot this little boy down. that didn't happen so i was relived and felt completely ripped off. i was glad that i didn't witness something horrible but felt cheated because of the suspense i was enduring.

then i saw two film about how people have sex and the first one was cute. it was a bunch of toy construction workers doing their jobs and then two workers are find themselves alone and pull out the "ram juice" and start kissing, blowing, and then fucking each other. everything then goes back to normal and everyone's back and working hard. i loved the innocence of using these really cute and familiar toys for something sexual. the next film was called cupcake and it showed a woman having what might be in orgy with three teenagers. the cupcake was the bases for a sexual theme and was used, battered, and eaten while sexual appetites were conceived. using dildos and reverse role playing until the lady was blowing all three of the guys in the end but they had dildos pulled out. not fully sure. i thought this was disgusting for the reason that i don't think food should be in aphrodisiac. food and sex to me is very disgusting because either you're food is going to be ruined or the sex itself. so i really couldn't enjoy this film at all (though i'm sure i wouldn't have either way)

the last video i saw was from erica cho, she was cutting out letters very carefully with an exacto knife and placing them inside bubble rap the she would also careful cut into. her final piece showed the words "are you me?" inside the bubbles. i can't remember the title specifically but i know it had something to do with space and i was interested from a tiny clip of someone drinking a drop of water in zero gravity. but i was let down because it was mainly the bubble wrap cutting and it seemed very tidious and had not much sound so it was a very slow film. it showed the struggles of just doing this process and how exact she felt she needed to be.

once it was two i bailed. i was hoping to see them all but they started late and i had some things to do.

Landscape Presentation

Field Trip

Fantastic catastrophes. The movies at LACE were definitely fantastical. The combo of sex cupcakes,children, bob the builder and daisies, was almost mind altering. when we first walked into the building Janelle described one of the paintings as an explosion of memory. I immediately agreed . The paintings were especially like some sort of explosion. Lines, colors, and shapes shooting off in all different direction. The movies were also colorful, went off in crazy directions, and kind of made my mind explode at the time. There movies were kind of an overload of visuals. It was difficult to see a connection in the stories btwn all of the films, which is what i try to do when i watch things back to back, however there was a major connection with the feelings that each of the films evoked. They all put me in a bizarre unnerving state. It was wonderful.

Field Trip Response

Annihilation of Time and Space

Video Presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa_VUrys0j8








Muybridge's inventions along with other technological advancements open up the door to a so called modern world which we are living in today. Past hundred years of struggle to understand and control time and space has given us the consciousness and the ability to envision ourselves and our world and how it should be operated. A world which has been long dreamed and desired by so many. In Past hundred years, means of communications and transportation has not only been transforming our perception of time and space but also affected us in a way that we seem to becoming part of this phenomenon and controlled by its effects. As much as we tried to grasp time, time has grasped us. We have prevailed the spacial limitations but we still lack its actual experience. Our world has become more deceiving than ever due to the amount of information and their manipulations (to the extend that we now have lost the track of time once again).I think as much as we owe Muybridge and other frontiers for their ambitions to bring us knowledge and wisdom, we owe ourselves to be more aware of this transformation. It is our due to retrieve what technology has obscured inorder to be able to grasp time once again as Muybridge did years ago.

Orogenesis Fenton

Joan Fontcuberta

natural disasters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlrGc_U55gg

Mark Rothko
http://images.google.com/images?q=rothko&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

Fern Gully
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae7x3sp4vIQ

Nature Presentation

Also,

http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

1.W.J.T. Mitchell spends much of the essay talking about some of the problems with widespread art historical assumptions about the genre of landscape art. What are some of these assumptions, and why does he find them questionable


W.J.T. Mitchell says that there are two problems with this fundamental assumption about for aesthetics landscape: first they are heartily questionable; second they are almost never brought into question, I feel that he is referring to the representation of landscapes and the elusive aspect of landscape art. I think one of the reasons .W.J.T. Mitchell feels that landscape art has not been questioned enough is because, of its popularity.

2.What does Mitchell mean in his claim that "landscape is best understood as a medium of cultural expression, not a genre of painting or fine art"? Please elaborate
I think,when Mirchel says landscapes are understood better as a medium of culture experiments, he is referring to when people look at a landscape they are viewing it through lens of their own person experiences.

3.What does the genre of landscape have to do with imperialism and what are some of the "dark sides" of landscape?
W.J.T. Mitchell said the At a minimum we need to Explore the possibility that the representation of Landscape is not only matter of internal politics and national or class ideology but also an international, global Phenomenon intimately Bound up with the discourses of Imperialism, I feel landscapes perpetuated imperialism through the imagery through the images that the artists were doing at that time.

land art

The Lightning Field, 1977, by the American sculptor Walter De Maria, is a work of Land Art situated in a remote area of the high desert of western New Mexico. It is comprised of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid array measuring one mile by one kilometer. The poles—two inches in diameter and averaging 20 feet and 7½ inches in height—are spaced 220 feet apart and have solid pointed tips that define a horizontal plane. A sculpture to be walked in as well as viewed, The Lightning Field is intended to be experienced over an extended period of time. A full experience of The Lightning Field does not depend upon the occurrence of lightning, and visitors are encouraged to spend as much time as possible in the field, especially during sunset and sunrise. In order to provide this opportunity, Dia offers overnight visits during the months of May through October.

Commissioned and maintained by Dia Art Foundation, The Lightning Field is recognized internationally as one of the late-twentieth century's most significant works of art and exemplifies Dia's commitment to the support of art projects whose nature and scale exceed the limits normally available within the traditional museum or gallery.

Dia also maintains two other of De Maria's projects, both located in New York City: The Broken Kilometer, 1979, and The New York Earth Room, 1977. Another large-scale work by De Maria—The Equal Area Series (1976-90)—is currently installed at Dia:Beacon, Dia's museum for its permanent collection north of Manhattan in Beacon, New York.

too close to water

landscapes as a human construct.

http://ludb.clui.org/

Richard Misrach

http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach-main.htm

Last years valencia fire

nature presentation

http://www.robertglennketchum.com

nature presentation

http://www.robertglennketchum.com

Reading for Oct 28

Photography as Weapon

Leah's Blog

http://bermania.blogspot.com/

Landscape Response

Among his overlapping views on landscape, W.J.T. Mitchell discusses in length the relationship between imperialism and landscape. He believes, through his research, that landscape is widely accepted as the imposed impression of what humans think that nature is. He is wary of this definition of landscape because of how widely it has been accepted and unchallenged. Since the western idea of landscape became evidenced, around the same time as imperialism and the age of exploration, it has been used as an attempt to understand the new territories in a way that the western masses could navigate. This point he questions by explaining that the Dutch began to paint landscapes in an attempt to glorify their home; there was no want to expand the territory of the Netherlands by these nationalistic painters.
By saying that "landscape is best understood as a medium of cultural expression, not a genre of painting or fine art", Mitchell is saying that the way a landscape is or is portrayed becomes a way for the viewer to see from the eyes of the artist; the viewer sees the landscape through the filters that this specific person places on the world, or nature specifically. To say that landscape is not a genre of painting or fine art is to say that is has no meaning beyond the aesthetic or visible layers. It is to say that the landscape as painting is more of a visual record of a space, that may or may not vary from reality, than something to be put on display. Should the painting be more what was wished to be seen than what was there, it becomes a different kind of record, but a record nonetheless- it is about the mindset of the people in the space, not just the space itself.
The "dark side of landscape" comes from the second kind of record referenced above. It changes the landscape to better fit the composition, or more drastically, to portray a new land as seen by invaders/imperialists. By forcing the new land into an old "frame" (as Mitchell said), the painting or other representation is assuming a kind of ownership over the land. Though the land cannot physically be owned by making a painting, representing something instantly gives the artist power over the object and can manipulate in any way he or she wishes.

landscapes reseponse

before answering the questions i found it slightly amusing how Mitchell states in the begining points number 6,7,8 "Landscape is a medium found in all cultures", "Landscape is a particular historical formation associated with European Imperialism", and "These 5 and 6 don't contradict one another".

There is polemic behind the asthetic of landscape itself and to people who may think it's been overdone and has lost its meaning artisticly or even as any form of expression, considering Mitchell quotes Keneth Clark's Landscape into art "we are surrounded by things we have not made and which have life..for centuries they have inspired us with curiosity and awe...Landscape painting marks the stages in our conception of nature. It's rise and development since the middle ages is part of the cycle in which the human spirit attempted once more to create a harmony with its enviroment." which is a bit confusing considering if people continue to become inspired with nature itself and photographs and paintings among other mediums are still creating types of landscapes because new generations continue to be inspired by nature.

Imperial Landscape

New Reading round two

Reading and response due October 14

"Imperial Landscape" by W. J. Thomas Mitchell" from Landscape and Power


Please read pages 5-21 of the essay and post responses to the following questions on the blog:


1.W.J.T. Mitchell spends much of the essay talking about some of the problems with widespread art historical assumptions about the genre of landscape art. What are some of these assumptions, and why does he find them questionable?

2.What does Mitchell mean in his claim that “landscape is best understood as a medium of cultural expression, not a genre of painting or fine art”? Please elaborate.

3.What does the genre of landscape have to do with imperialism and what are some of the “dark sides” of landscape?

please bring your reading with you next week and prepare your responses.

globalization

Barbie & Globalization!

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-tang5sep05,0,4760044.story?coll=la-home-commentary

globalization

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOmCJprl5hY

globalization

Strange Maps

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

although the narration is a bit annoying i dig it =)

Globalization Presentation

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"Manufactured Landscapes"

Jennifer Baichwal/Edward Burtynsky

Tooling around with globalization.

space presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laPU0bS8JOc

Andreas Gursky

"...photography is no longer credible and a "fictitious construction" is now required."

time and space

guided by echoes

four days of sensory deprivation

Response - Photography and the Multitude

The article mentions a "clash between a world becoming and world passing" in Gursky and Sekula's works, how the works show two vantage points, two separate worlds of globalization, one which follows the other. I believe both worlds presented by Gursky and Sekula are one in the same, by combining both perspectives of globalism you get a better understanding of how the machine is able to continue to operate. Through Sekula, "smooth space" is brought into question, "how did your tennis shoes get here from Indonesia, Mr. and Ms. Jogger?" Sekula also brings up job displacement and other problems associated with globalization. But this troubled world is not able to exist on its own, there has to be a counter point to Sekula's work. On that opposite end of the spectrum is Gursky's work, which endorses "smooth space," where capital has conquered space and "everything feels in equal focus and perspective."
The article mentions that "both worlds exist within globalisation," with one described as the "promise of borderless capitalism" and the other the "reality of capitalist exclusion." I think that both can be realities and coexist, both are products from the same action of a global market, and only when both sides can acknowledge and accept the other can any change occur.

Globalization

Globalization affects ours lives in many different ways. Some of the problems that globalization creates are seen and felt locally, while others are not. For example, here in the United States we have seen an increase in unemployment. It has become increasingly harder for people to find jobs. The jobs that are available usually require very little skill and also come with little pay. Working at a low paying job brings along many problems of its own including stress. People have a hard time keeping up with their lifestyle and fall deeper into poverty. The stress of not having a job or having a dead end job increases the rates in illness, suicide, divorce, and violent crimes. These effects of globalization tend to hit closer to home and have a direct impact on our lives.

Globalization also has an impact on the rest of the world. Many poor countries have to compete with stronger ones and usually end up losing. Since they are competing they will do just that, they often have to sell their products at a much lower cost just to be able to compete. The working conditions that people in poor countries face are often times terrible or unsafe. They continue working under terrible conditions because that is the best way to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.

The new phase of Capitalism

As time seems to go by faster and is no longer an obstacle for us, Globalization is a where the momentum that had built up for years, takes us as an capitalist society. The ability to start a business and have it blow up in proportion to have it in different regions of the country, then eventually out of the country and make it a larger than life icon such as Starbucks. It did not even start out as a coffee house, it got it's start as a roaster and retailer of coffee beans, and now they are located in 44 different countries.

"Globalization is a distinctly new phase of capitalism which requires a fundamental change in our weltanschauung ." The problem with that statement is that we are all too busy living our fast paced lives to really see the big picture and what globalization is doing to the world. We can't change our perspective of something we are all a part of, it is the machine which we are all somehow connected to either by choice or just by chance. The only reason i say that is because all kinds of bussinesses are all tied up somehow you don't even know who's products you're really buying. Not many people seem to care as long as it makes their lives easier.

slow down

Time Presentation

Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

Globalization. Capitalism. Both terms are a little over my head but when looking at the work of Gursky and Sekula you can see a visual response to these terms and  the impact they have made. Gursky wants to show us what is happening and becoming right now in the face of Globalization. His images are pristine and direct yet they show us the magnitude of such a process and production of goods and materials. Sekula shows what Gursky does not. Sekula is capturing the underbelly and retrospective qualities of Globalization. The downfall and the viciousness it conjures onto the working class. Loss of jobs, space, value. He goes back to Renaissance paintings and their use of panoramic imagery as a representation of the Empire. The sea was way of importing and exporting goods and this was a powerful dynamic that broadened many countries horizons in utilities and goods. However the evolvement of globalization ends "the days of 'picturesque sailing vessels' and the dominance of 'ugly sooty steamers'". This is where capitalism makes its mark. Competition creates homogenized space and things like currency can be a downfall of globalization. People losing their homes with no say in the matter so  the strip mall can add a few more stores. Borders are created and that is obviously an issue in itself. Not to mention war. Which i'd rather not go into. How do we pinpoint globalization when we're constantly surrounded by its production?  Gursky and Sekula are surfacing and trying to give us some peace of mind on this pink elephant in the room. All I know is that there is no hiding from globalization and its stigma.  

time/space cont.

Untitled (Perfect Lovers), 1987-90
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
two commercial clocks, 13.5" x 27" x 1"

Response

Stylistically, both Allan Sekula and Andreas Gursky have very different photographs dealing with the issue of globalization. But when I look at the ideas represented in the images, they seem very similar. They both tend to represent a concept of globalization that is frightening and very believable. These contemporary photographs portray our modern society as something one would read in a dime store sci-fi novel. In Sekula’s photographs, we see the filth and grief of the real world, a world where people are losing their jobs, and the old order of things is slowly crumbling around us. In Gursky’s images, we get and equally disturbing view, but this view is from the opposite end of the spectrum. The buildings he photographs are grand and shimmering with light, but are never populated, as if to say the buildings are just for show, an attempt to give off the idea that everything is fine, but it is only a façade. When he does photograph people, they are always working in a giant mass. They appear to represent a machine, all of them moving at the same time, always working on their specific duty to present a single product. They never speak or show emotion, and they don’t really appear to be living. Globalization has been a big issue these days, and from the looks of how it is being represented, it is a terrifying one. It appears that our sci-fi future is here, except its not the Disney one we were promised, it’s more like the ‘Blade Runner’ one.

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Time/Space presentation

globalization

It seems that in this world we want instant gratification. Most people go about their lives without even the slightest thought of where it all comes from: their shoes, their clothes, their cell phones, etc. All these products come from all over the world, but nobody thinks about that. Globalization has changed how the world works so much. Time is money and, "If capitalism has been the history of the conquest of space, globalization is the conquest of space by time."

Sekula and Gursky both portray the idea of globalization in their work, but they show it from two different ends. On one end, we have Gursky's work, showing globalization as something overpowering, but still hopeful. and on the other end, we have Sekulas work showing the "dirty jobs" and the sad reality in the world due to globalization. "The two worlds of globalization explored by Gursky and Sekula—one of promise, one of threat..." Globalization, in a sense, has shrunk the world. So much of our resources are so readily available we dont even think about where they all come from. Sekula tries to portray this and expand the world once again into the size it really is. "Sekula views the sea as an indicator of both the distance and proximity of space in a globalized world."



Time presentation image:

A short response

The idea of globalization doesn't t have to be has scary as it seems. Before I knew of the word or the concept of the globalization  I  had the idea that a world without countries or boundaries could be a great thing. Done right it would eliminate war it could end poverty and dare I say we would be able to achieve world peace, whatever that means. But with capitalism as the major force of globalization it seems that those ideals are nearly impossible. Imagine a word where we all shared the same ideals. But when money is the truth behind this idea, it seems those ideals can never be achieved. Capitalism is all about competition, and a world built on competition might as well be a world with countries ,boundaries and borders. 

sekula & gursky

As ignorant as this may sound, I am not too familiar with the term globalization. Sure I hear it used occasionally with the people that claim to be socially aware of the problems that is occurring in our ever loving world, but never have I cared to look into it; so reading this article was quite difficult for me.

What interested me the most was the description of both Sekula's work and Gursky's. "Gursky's work brings life a globalised world which is in the process of becoming- an eerie well lit world of travel, markets, hotel lobbies, airports, ports and crowds... outside the spotlight of the globalised world is a darkened reality of relocation, labour, layoffs, dirt, sweat and plution. It is this world which is the primary interest of Allan Sekula."

Because I have seen Allana Sekula's work, I think this comment about him is very fitting. A specific part during one of his films that I remember is when  they show the men  getting eel out of a barrel to kill and clean. Seeing the eel having its head cut off while the rest of the body was still moving around. Watching the man slice it open with no trouble, quickly  removing the insides as if was no big of a deal. The fish, even the people were part of the big scheme of things. This whole market of reproduction and exploitation for money, thats what it comes down to.

To bend the truth of reality to conjure a new image with more honesty than one would expect, is pretty fascinating and a powerful tool, if done right. Gursky manipulates images by taking them the old fashion way (film) and then digitally altering it but not to a beneficial cliche of making it over the top or just pure bullshit, but to create a new view from an honest stand point and opinion. The truth can't always be in black and white so Gursky takes it upon himself to take the aspect of a true image and synthetically make it grander by making it fake but ending with the result of a truer photograph then with the alternative. With globalization being everywhere (hence the word, "global") the world is just turning into a giant conveyor belt and people are just wondering where they're going to place it. Some of the landmarks we create are almost legendary and iconic on it's own structure or what is provided inside and a sense of worship and self pats on the back encourage us to keep building and creating, but then again, who doesn't like making something special and then outdoing themselves?

We're in a country that thrives on being bigger and better and when some says we can't get any bigger or better we tend to say, "Fuck that!" and prove them wrong. And to show that wealth and power we transcend it all around and keep building and rebuilding. Sekula took photographs to show the present state of where it's all going and how this country was getting bigger and badder but not in an equal tone. When bigger and badder buildings are made some are too close to the smaller and less shiny ones. Some stores, malls, hotels, etc. are built with a bigger dick and sadly that leads to the smaller competitors to get fucked by these big dicked stores. Locations get shut down and people lose jobs. Money down the drain and time well spent (sarcasm placed here). Sekula shows in Fish Story a bankrupt shipyard, which can show all the jobs lost and all hopes of a raise for a worker rapidly fleeting. The United States is the new Roman Empire and we have to be careful as to who we fuck (take it how you want it) and where/how we spill our guts because we make things better but sacrifice bystanders and nay sayers for something that may or may not be worth it.

Globalization is just a word created to explain the natural way that humanity has evolved throughout history. It describes a theoretical global homogenization sometime in the future. But it does not necessarily mean the end of past cultures or the total assimilation to a modern, western world. At least, it doesn't have to. As long as there is a record, of any sort, history and local cultures are not things that can be lost. While naive, It means the absorption of all connected cultures into all others. Global television channels are possibly the best example of this, as shows of all kinds (drama, news, sports, etc.) are available almost anywhere with sattelite and if the customer pays extra. What doesn't cost more than normal though, is the Internet, which allows not only popular culture and media to travel anywhere but also people,individuals, minorities in thought.
As far as the photographic process and globalization are concerned, the images produced will always be indicative of the time in which they were made and of the artist. Photography and film are two art forms that, so long as they are not destroyed, can actually stave off any true globalization in preserving the Now.

http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&itemId=0471441074&itemTypeId=BKS&bcsId=1208

globalization response

i think i am a bit cynical towards the matter of globalization, because everyone knows its happening and it has been happening for a very long time, but it seems to be this common thread in especially photography, because lets face it the invention of photography lead significantly to the idea of globalization. but i honestly its like the conversation about photograph being an art they have both has reached a moot point. i think the pinnacle of this conversation is dead and gone. my spices and customer service calls come from india, my cell phone is from china, that same cellphone i use to picture message my friend in germany, i got a photograph from my friend in the dominican republic to day via email which i checked on my phone from china. to me at least this plague of concern of globalization is not really the menace it was it has become inaugurated into culture, and amazingly so not just specifically western culture.

so why the nagging at the bit? because photography lead to the creation of globalization as a public idea? so we feel we need to claim stake in this matter and call it our own and have endless discussions about this idea? because it is innately in the origins of photography. it goes back to the idea of where does photography hold court in the art realm, and i think globalization is our crown jewel in that court that we are going to keep locked up for a while and show off to the masses and charge 10 euro to see and talk about or at least until some other claim to fame comes along that we can charge 11 euro for.

time response.

when i think about time in relation to photography, its hard to differentiate the two because they seem to go hand and hand so well. i think what we are doing here with this idea of image making is playing in the realms of time a bit, wether we are consciously aware of it or not, but we as artist are document makers and what i mean by that and especially in photography is that we are documenting theses moments in time, and then eventually theses tangible documents of something that is not tangible will be looked at and scrutinized. This all started with the invention of photography, the idea of a document to represent history and really time started with photography, yes painting had it place in that but really you can look at a painting of the revolutionary war or a photograph of world war II and which one holds more clout. With photography came the idea of a physical visual history. With that came another flood of problems, technology rapidly made the world smaller and things closer, we were able to see other worlds. That really is a big thing to wrap your head around.

with this being all said, as being the document makers how can we look at time and events indiscriminately. and this may sound a bit pompous but how as history makers can we understand the gravity of the images being produced if it is not history yet?

Reading Respo

When I view globalization from Gurskys and Sekulas point of view I feel that both perspectives are right and relevant. Gurskys work gave me an overwhelming impression that our society is at the peak of globalization. His images show some of the products of globalization. I find these images extremely disturbing but I realize the importance of this work. In paragraph three it says that Gursky turned to digital manipulation because he felt that "photography is no longer credible" and that a "fictitious construction" is now required to "provide an accurate image of the modern. I definitely agree with Gurskys on that particular point I feel our society is such an overstimulated simulation, that digital manipulation would be the only way for true representation. Gurskys work is overwhelming with his images of reality that have patterns that are so repetitious it would probably make me dizzy to view some of his work in real life. Sekulas perspective isolates some of the damage globalization has caused in the United States. I realize globalization is making the poor poorer and the rich richer because of the transfer of jobs, for cheaper labor for the huge corporations. Sekula's work showed me some of that transformation his perspective is very sobering in light of today's economy. In paragraph twenty five it says that the dialectic between fragmentation and homogenisation is smoothed by the flow of capital. The collapse of the gold standard has dematerialised money, breaking any formal or tangible link to precious metals or any other tangible commodity. For the first time human society has come to rely on immaterial forms of money-value is determined by which currency you hold and when. This point would suggest that most people sense of wealth is based off a made up construction athat I find to be very unstable.

Photography and the Multitude-Reading Response

Dead Conscious

Cornell University is looking into the possibility that consciousness may continue after death.
Time and Space beyond death?

When "time and space" is searched in Google Images, the first result is a wiggling blue sun. The second is a diagram exploring Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Half a century before Einstein shrank theoretical time and space, Edward Muybridge had figured out a way to freeze clear instants in time on film. But not only did he freeze time, sequential photographs taken not a second apart were the beginnings of the motion picture, which would allow people to step out of their own lives for a couple of hours in the dark and sit in on the lives of characters on screen. Isn't it fitting that Muybridge began his innovative work in California? More than freezing time was the era's new abilities to physically overcome vast distances, such as the width of the United States, with the steam engine locomotive and advances in steel production. With the ability to cross such a space in a few days, space seems to disappear and be crossed instantaneously. At least, at thirty five miles per hour, people were moving faster than any stagecoach could move, though hardly moving at all compared to the airplane, which was still twenty years away from a successful flight. And before the cell phone, or the land line, what allowed instant person-to-person connection was the telegraph, if the desired person had access to a telegraph.
As time passes, people are constantly inventing new ways to break down any barrier that prevents instant gratification. Planes are faster. The Internet can be carried around in a PDA or phone. And those phones can make a call from almost anywhere, the exceptions being outside of civilization or when enclosed by concrete. Possibly in the coming centuries these heights of technology will be seen as slow and inefficient means of connecting two points, like those of the past are today.

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/april18/aps-041807.html

Response

Probably the most interesting thing I found while reading this article was the quote "The fast, cheap transport of goods meant that a town could be given over to shoe-making or beer making, a whole region to cattle raising or wheat growing, and people grew used to depending upon commodities that seemed to come from nowhere."(10) It sounds an awful lot like the state we live in today, where almost everything we buy is made overseas, and it becomes increasingly difficult to find what things Americans produce. This can be seen with the recent purchase of Anheuser Busch by the massive Belgium company InBev, which already owns a large portion of the beer market, including Bass, Stella Artois, Hoegarden, and Beck's, and how British based Tesco is building Fresh and Easy markets all over California. I am curious to see how the rising cost of fuels will affect people, if maybe there will be a reversal from the "consoidation of industries and the industrialization of traditional activities."
When the author talks about how the rails undid the "local character of every place and approved of the erasure" and how "it was a leap forward of extraordinary liberation and equal alienation" I was really reminded of Santa Clarita. It seems that there are shopping centers built every couple miles with almost eveything one would need to sustain themselves, clothing, food, entertainment... except that every center is an almost exact copy of the next, and I can drive 100 miles to another town and probably find the same Target, Walmart, Vons, AMC and it will be as if I never left. It seems the personal character of the town has been killed by allowing these large corperations to take over.

Response

The way we think about space and time has changed significantly over the years, especially with the invention and improvement of photography and the internet. We are able to do things that would have been impossible years ago, we can freeze a moment in time and carefully examine it for as long as need be, or we can capture images in remote places and share them with people all around the world in a matter of minutes. With so many technological advances we are able to bring people closer together no matter how far apart they may be. Not only can we send still images through our computers and cell phones, we can also send video and audio as well. People can instantly communicate with each other simply by setting up a camera and connecting to the internet. The internet has really altered the way we live our lives. We can just about perform any task from our homes thanks to the internet, even when we step outside we are only a short walk or drive away from a wireless connection. Most phones on the market today are also capable of going on the internet. Even though most people would agree that the internet has been an enormous leap forward, in a way I almost feel that it has taken us back to a time when people spent their whole lives in the same place and lived in isolation.

Response

Time waits for no man. That is, until a man named Edward Muybridge came along, kicked time in the shins, and ran far, far ahead of it. Muybridge wasted no time, whether he was killing his wife’s lover, dumping his son in an orphanage, or changing the face of photography as we know it. And who can blame him for wanting to move so quickly? Look at the time he was born into. The train was just beginning to race across the countryside, and nothing would stand in the way of its speed. Mountains were being plowed through, miles and miles of rail were built, and people were shooting across the country faster than they could ever have imagined. This was Muybridge’s world, a world of speed, a world where waiting was a thing of the past. So it’s no wonder that the new invention of photography became his chosen profession. An art form that was instantaneous, an art form where real moments were captured, and could be seen and shared by everyone. But it was art that was still too slow for Muybridge. Exposures took minutes, and objects moving even at a snails pace were nothing but a blur. Had anyone else attempted to change the way photography worked, they may have failed. But Muybridge, coming from a place where time moved quicker, and space grew smaller, was the right man for the job.
Today, our concept of time and space is vastly different than it was for Muybridge, or anyone else who lived in the mid and late 1800’s. What the train was for them is the airplane for us. Their telegraph became our e-mail. And even though Muybridge found a way to take a photograph in a fraction of a second, today we can do the same, and then see the results a fraction of a second later. If by some strange occurrence Muybridge leapt out of his grave today, he would probably die of shock just a few seconds after seeing the speed of which everything moves now. We live in a world where we, and everything around us is constantly moving forward, and always at a faster rate. But because of this constant change and speed, photography becomes more and more important to us. It allows us time in a world always moving forward, to stop and look back. It is a still and frozen testament to what was, and is no more. The image gives us a chance to stop and breathe, before having to move on again. I take comfort in that, knowing that an image never has anywhere to go, and is perfectly fine where it is. And although we may constantly be moving, it will always be there waiting for you, whenever you want to come back to see it again.

http://artiseternal.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/1boulevard_du_temple.jpg

http://www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/art/ks1-2/resources/documents/muybridge_headspring.jpg

Reading response Rebecca Solnit, The Annihilation of Space and Time"

Edward James Muybridge’s scientific photography discovery dealing with space and time, changed the world dramatically. With his work, humans were able to simulate life in a way that they had never been able to do before. I am personally honored to have such a significant discovery occur in San Francisco, California. I am so glad Muybridge realized that there was something beyond his answer to Leland Stanford, minor scientific question and realized that the project had broader possibilities and was able to get support from Leland Stanford for his research and development. I get the impression that Muybridge was a pretty persuasive and driven man from his discoveries and his ability to get support for his ideas and becoming a very well-known artist in the late 1800s and today. Muybridge changed his surname twice, to Muygridge in the 1850s and to Muydridge in the 1860s. I feel this action is a bold move. He also said that he was going to "revolutionize photography" with the technology he developed which, he did. I feel, to have that much confidence in yourself before he actually had delivered, is amazing. When I look at the abolishment of space and time from my personal standpoint the ability to split a second, and capture photographs at a faster ratio than ever before was the beginning of creating extremely powerful use of photography. Before Muybridge’s discovery if someone saw to or three photographs of a horse running they may conclude that the horse was galloping or running. After Muybridge’s discovery people had the ability to view several photographs of a horse that were taken in shorter time than ever before which is basically the forerunner of the moving picture. The moving picture takes some value from the individual image and puts it more on the series of images. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing or true in every situation but I think it is something to be considered as an artist that uses still photography and video. The railroad was a huge transformation that allowed humans to ship goods and people faster than before which had a shrinking effect on the country because of the speed of the locomotive. These advances, I feel, helped people be ready for Muybridge’s discoveries.

I, Phone

Interesting reading.  It's fascinating to me that what drove the progression of transportation, communication and reproduction was all because of money-backing by early eager entrepreneurmanship.  It was capitalistic economics that speed up time and shrunk the space between.  Money made a pigeon into an email all because it needed and wanted more capital by investing itself in shrinking the globe.  It seems that alot of money is being made now through the industrial military complex throughout the globe, but no technological breakthroughs, though the large haldron collider could prove otherwise.

The world of the late 1800's seems so amazing and optimistic and ripe with idea and invention; it makes the world we live in look like we are lagging behind with ideas and technological advancements.  It seems that today there are only modifications to existing consumer consumption and no ideas with lasting beneficial value to us. (i.e. phones that are smaller with more features, higher definition televisions).  It seems that there is no innovation with the value of new technologies besides saving us more of our time.  

With the advent of the iphone we have shrunken time and space even further with the pleasure of information in the palm of our hands and accessibility to the entire connected world.  We've put our time and space in our pockets now.  

What's next?

this is my music blog - - i usually post a track a day

www.softsoilmusicclub.blogspot.com

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/showcase/submitted/images/gallery/11567931252133228260_1.jpg
http://www.yatzer.com/assets/Image/6.June08/folkestone_triennial/thumb.jpg

Reading Response

    Before photography, people had no way of directly and quickly capturing a moment.  In order to have a record of history, people used artists such as painters.  Even then, only the rich could afford to commission one.  The invention of photography in the 19th century changed everything.  Things once that had to be painted could now be photographed.  Things once that could only be described in stories could now be photographed and shared with an infinite amount of people.  These examples and more add up to the change of space and time in the 19th century.  Time now could stand still.  A photograph captures one exact moment that would be impossible for a painter to re-create.  There is no recreating with photography, it is that exact moment in time.  In dealing with space, the world also became a smaller place.  People no longer had to wonder what certain things looked like, they could see it for themselves in a photograph.  Families too far apart to travel could see what each other look like.  Spacial distance was no longer an excuse for not knowing what was going on in other places.  All it took was a photograph and a mailbox and then that photograph could travel anywhere. 

    I think space and time are constantly changing today.  The world is becoming a smaller planet by the day.  Also, time is oddly enough becoming more available yet less available.  Today we have airplanes flying around the world at faster speeds than ever before.  People are able to fly to a location in one day that would 100 years ago either be impossible, or have taken weeks or even months to travel to.  The different continents are more accessible than ever before.  What use to be a giant planed of unexplored lands, is now a planet with maps that cover every inch of soil.  I think time is changing, but not always for the better.  People are always buying the newest cell phone to help them keep their life organized, and multi-task. However, being able to do more things in a shorter amount of time does make sense, but people are just using that extra time to fill it up with more stuff.  Our world is turning into a multi-media, fast moving, rushing to everything society.  Eventually we are going to need to take a break and slow back down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/autodafe/1281111701/

Reading Response

a trasformer of space and time

Photography changed the way space, distance between places, was viewed. Like railroads, photographs brought the world closer together. Now people could, for example, send a photograph of themselves to loved ones miles away and they could "see" each other daily. Even more so than space, photography transformed the concept of time. Up until this time, every moment was fleeting soon to become nothing more than a memory. Here one moment, gone the next with no way to stop it. Then photography came into the picture. Photography stopped time. It was a way to hold onto the past. Photographs became a way to possess moments in time like objects. As people aged and time went by, they could look back at themselves and their loved ones and could forever view how they used to be. Photography made it so time could be saved. This ability has multiplied tenfold since the mid 19th century.

Now days, it seems like everyone's a photographer. With point-and-shoot digital cameras available to just about everyone in American society, what used to be awe inspiring, the ability to freeze time, doesn't seem to even faze people anymore. More and more moments in time are being recorded, no matter how trivial the moment may be. On top of all this, the internet makes the world about the size of a small village. Someone in NY could take a picture of themselves and email it to a friend in China within seconds. The internet has made communication instantaneous. A message that once would have taken months, if not years, to receive, can now be done in seconds.

The Change in Time and Space

The ability to mass produce an image made it possible for people to see different parts of the world by holding a 2-dimensional object in their hands. It also allowed for people to hold on to the past with an object used as evidence of an event that had taken place which had only been remembered before, or the way someone looked before they aged or passed away instead of relying on interpretations. Photography which arose at a time where technology seemed to make certain processes faster like the locomotive transporting goods and passengers across the country and the telegraph which made communication almost instant, it allowed people to have a way to capture time which seemed to be what measured "space" or distance in those days. Photography could not have come at a more appropriate time considering everything was measured in time and having the ability to split a second and capture the image resulting in a photograph someone can own.

The most obvious tool to change "time and space" today is the Internet, the ability to find music, blogs, encyclopedias, images, video's, news, email, etc. A specific tool to take you anywhere in the world is Google maps, you can find directions to any destination or just look at any place in the world through your monitor. Being able to talk to someone over the Internet through email, chat service, or even web cam eliminates distance as a reason not to see someone. Another tool is the cell phone which make it easier to connect to anyone through a phone call or text message even email on some phones with Internet. Television and radio which have been around for a while now have more channels/stations which flood out more advertising and information as well. Technology now is about connecting people and everything being smaller faster.

Field Trip Schedule

1. Conversations between Artists: Walid Raad and Allan Sekula LACMA
Thursday Oct 2, 7 pm

2. Either Saturday October 25 or Sunday October 26 at LACE Resolution 3 Symposium


Symposium Info:
Friday, October 24
Symposium, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College
1050 North Mills Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711

An Artist/Scholar Dialogue on Video Art and Global Media
Reception, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Faculty Lounge
Dialogue 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM Humanities Auditorium
Scripps College, 1030 Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711
Co-presented by the Scripps College Humanities Institute series on Global Media

Saturday, October 25
Weekend programs, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)
6522 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Selected events hosted by the Paul G Gleason Theater

Fantastical Catastrophe 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Screening with Erica Cho, Math Bass, Felix Endara, Frédéric Moffet, Camilo Ontiveros, and others

Open Shop 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Three workshops on storytelling and programming, re-imaging history, and performative distribution led by Austin Delgadillo, Maria A. Cruz, Ashley Hunt; Irina Contreras, Frédéric Moffet, Amitis Motevalli; Wafaa Bilal, Jessica Lawless, Eric Stanley, Chris Vargas, and others

Running Time 24:00:00 Saturday 7:00 PM – Sunday 7:00 PM
Screening curated by Micol Hebron.

Sunday, October 26
Politics of Transcultural Production 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Roundtable with Wafaa Bilal, Jennifer Doyle, Grant Kester, Julia Meltzer, David Thorne, and others.

Resolution 3 Closing discussion 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM


3. Thursday December 4 – 7 pm
Dengue Fever and "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong"
7:00pm
Garrison Theater, Scripps College Performing Arts Center

4. December 9 7-9 pm Opening of Narrowcast: Reframing Global Video 1986/2008 at LACE

Schedule: September 9-16

Sept 9
Introduction

Reading for next week: Rebecca Solnit,The Annihilation of Space and Time"
Homework: Post reading response and image or link to blog

Sept 16
Time
Reading Photography and the Multitude: Recasting Subjectivity
in a Globalized World
and response due next week

Sept 23
TIME/Space

Reading for next week: To BE POSTED
Homework: Post reading response and image or link to blog