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.

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