Copyright and Remixing

Lawrence Lessig brings up an interesting take on the idea of copyright, and does a good job of highlighting why permission is largely unnecessary and illogical nowadays in the digital world.  Remixing old works allows the artist to bring in meaning that would not be present if the material was not borrowed.  I think remixing can be a wonderful way to create art, and there is simply so much stuff out there, that there is no shortage of materials for inspiration.

I think when people say that remixed material is not original or not as much the actual work of the artist, that they are missing the point of it.  It is most certainly original and creative.  Non-remixing artists take material and ideas from their lives and filter them through some medium in the form of their art.  The only difference is that remixers use the actual physical material in creating their work.  It allows the observer a unique opportunity to see something that they have likely seen before mixed up into a completely different work.  It affords them the opportunity to look at a familiar idea in a novel way, and for that reason I think it is a very effective art form.  Obviously the remixer must do some actual remixing.  One cannot simply steal art, but any time that any change is made, that is the artist taking another stroke.

It is nice that in the digital age, so much material is at our fingertips which we can take and do whatever we want with.  It allows people so much more in terms of artistic ideas, inspiration, and tools.

Artists Embracing Technology

The reading by Williams helped me see how the development of technology is chaotic and fueled by many competing interests and ideas.  It is interesting to me that none of the reasons that television was created had to do with art and artistic expression.  Williams helped show that humanity's drive to enhance their own abilities through the use of technology is a chaotic and a self-propelling process.  What is interesting to me is the fact that regardless of what sorts of new mediums come about, people of an artistic inclination still are able to use it for their own expression.  Television is in a way a combination of radio, still cameras, motion cameras, projection, etc.  All of these things that were not created in order to further the reach of the artistic impulse, yet they can easily be adapted to make art.

It seems that art is not limited by medium.  An individual could make art by himself on a desert island, or he could go to the fanciest studio somewhere with the most state-of-the-art equipment, and neither one would be creating something that is, by definition, more 'art' than the other.  It is a nice concept, and makes you realize that all you need in order to express yourself IS yourself and your environment.

This has been made very clear by some recent artists who use video in order to express themselves.  Wegman used video in a very simple, unassuming way, and created something that is refreshing and hilarious at the same time.  His video about deodorant is stupid, simple, hilarious and witty at the same time.  All Wegman needed to create this was his camera and his armpit; a very low-key endeavor.  He went on to make similarly silly and simple videos for Sesame Street, such as this rendition of Rub-a-Dub-Dub.

The videos by Stan Brakhage also showed that not much is needed in order to express yourself.  Although he seems to have spent more time on each work, at least compared to how long it is, his videos retain a certain simplicity that makes you scratch your head at artists who insist upon using high-budget resources and such.  Not that expensive things are not good for making art, but sometimes the simpler things express themselves more effectively.  I liked his two works that we watched, Mothlight and The Garden of Earthly Delights.  They used simple things that occurred naturally, whether that was body parts of dead moths or plant matter.  It was nice to hear Brakhage talk a little bit about Mothlight too.  It shed some light on his intentions, and helped me experience the depth of the work more effectively.

The point of this all is that all you need is yourself!  Express yourself through everything you do!  In my eyes, every one of your actions can be a form of art if you look at it that way.  Use whatever is at your fingertips at this moment!

Over and out.

Belated Analysis of Decasia

I'm going to take a moment to expand on what I initially wrote, because I had to cut the post short due to wrist pain.

I found Decasia to be an intense, often sad, often frightening portrayal of decay in the world, and especially in the world of human civilization.  The repetition of circular motion kept bringing me back to the idea of cycles;  cycles of growth and decay, birth and death, peace and war, happiness and sadness, etc.  The fact that the film all had been aging in an archive guaranteed that it was not contemporary, which I feel added to the overall feel of the film.  You do not watch Decasia and see scenes that you are familiar with (at least I didn't).  It was a journey through the last century of human interaction, advancement, and the destruction that has come with it all.  I can understand how one may watch it and just think it is stupid, but they are missing something incredibly meaningful in the film.  As I stated before, I would love to watch the film again, and will probably go out of my way to do so at a later date.  It was a total trip to watch.  It was able to almost completely remove me from my normal mode of consciousness and take me into this insane world of birth and death.  Thumbs up for Decasia!

DECASIA!

Okay I'm not going to write a ton today because I woke up and my wrist hurts a good bit so...not much typing today for me!

Personally I honestly thought the film Decasia was great.  I was a bit skeptical going into it, but the combination of film and sound was quite chilling.  It allowed my mind to wander in many interesting directions.  It was refreshing to not follow any sort of linear storyline.  I didn't really try very hard to determine one coherent message from the film at all.  I really just had to sit back and take it all in.  It was pretty crazy.

I would certainly watch it again.

Panopticon Project

For this project, I created three sets of images that focused on three different types of surveillance.  The first set is intended to focus on being watched.  The point of the photographs is to suggest that there are few places that you can go to (in Appleton, at least) where you can be sure nobody is watching you.  Whether it is from a window, a security camera, or just because you are in a public area, your actions are no longer private!

How many people have been caught on this camera without
ever realizing it?

The second set focuses on a more passive type of surveillance that I am particularly fond of.  This is the type of surveillance that comes from just sitting and watching.  There is no intent to discover anything or to monitor anybody's behavior.  The idea is simply to look and see what you see.  I don't even really like to think of it as surveillance.  It seems to passive to accept that label.

What better activity?

The third set of images is based on the idea that wherever we go in our daily lives, we cannot escape from the concept of time.  Not only is it, for obvious reasons, a concept that defines much of what we do, but it is nearly impossible to even walk down the street without constantly being reminded of what the exact time is.  In a setting such as Appleton, there seem to be clocks on nearly every block, not to mention the large amount of appliances and objects that we use daily that also tell us the time.

This third set of images also serves to remind me not to
procrastinate in the future.

Rachel Crowl

Listening to Rachel Crowl talk about the history of the internet and how it has developed from a publishing medium to an incredibly interconnected and diverse social networking tool had a somewhat eye opening effect on me.  It's too easy for me to become cynical about the uncontrollable expansion of technology and communications in the past few decades, but it's also true that the way in which technology opens up pathways to share ideas, art, news, and other things that can be important to distribute among the populous.

It is crazy to think about the fact that a cultural phenomenon such as YouTube, which began only 5 years ago, has been so incredibly influential on our society and pop culture.  It began in April of 2005 with this enlightening video about elephants.  Since then, it has been a medium for people who otherwise would have been completely unknown to become strangely famous, and for companies, individuals, officials, and other groups to distribute their messages to an audience that is larger than was ever possible before.

However, I still think that as much as people may gain from these advances in technology, they are undoubtedly losing something as well.  I am sure that this kind of thing has been said throughout the ages as new technologies have been invented.  With the car, people lost the motivation to walk.  With the advent of writing, people probably lost the will to memorize.  With the invention of the computer, people are losing the ability to think in the same ways that they used to.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but with ever-decreasing attention spans, and ever-increasing connections to all parts of the world, people's minds are sure to be working in a very different way as the years go by.

Perhaps I am just a sucker for sitting under a tree and watching the world go by, but it seems like the days of this sort of activity are slowly (or maybe rapidly) diminishing.  After all, why not just download the newest nature-sounds-and-images screen saver?  Or how about throw on some relaxing songs on itunes?  Better yet, leave it up to Google!

Dan Leers

Dan Leers is the type of person that every liberal arts school wants to use as an example.  In his time at Lawrence, he went from having no idea what he wanted to do with his future to having a strong idea of where he wanted to go (which still was not where he ended up) but through all of that, the diversity of knowledge that he picked up while studying here was invaluable.  When he finally made his way into the New York art scene, he would not have been nearly as prepared to understand the many layers of meaning within the art that he interacted with without the liberal arts education.  It was interesting and encouraging to hear him talk about the unpredictable nature of living life after college.  He made it clear that no matter how many times you think you know where you're going to end up, you are probably still in for a surprise.

Beyond his own life story, it was interesting to hear Dan talk about various aspects of photography in different geographical areas and in different time periods.  In particular, it was interesting to hear about photography in West Africa, where he went to study photography.  It was fascinating to see how the subjects of the photographs emulated many fashions and styles that we are familiar with, but still revealed their true heritage through the photographs.

As a whole, the talk was an enlightening story of an individual who figured out his life (at least up until this point) and learned myriad interesting things along the way.

It takes patience to capture a moment

The photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson has many stunning photographs.  His work truly exemplifies his intuition and patience.  In this short video in which he speaks a few words, he describes photography as a form of drawing; a form that is irreversible by nature.  You can never revisit what could have been the perfect photograph.  You can only wait for the next one.

This image is a wonderful example of Cartier-Bresson's fluid style of photography.  All of his photos rely on movement, synchronization, and the perfect placement of all elements for just a single moment.  He does not make still-life photographs.  He does not photograph trees or mountains or empty rooms.  He photographs life in its most organic form.

I can't help but feel a great deal of respect for a man who can capture such precise moments on film.  His ability to encompass a feeling and a coherent idea in a photograph is quite impressive.