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.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, October 27, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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.
"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.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Barbie & Globalization!
Monday, October 6, 2008
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