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Synopsis: A short informational video, addressing the issue African – American women encompass with the image of their hair. 

Statement of Purpose: As a society we are constantly over-flooded with imagery, and what they consider to be beautiful. From designer pumps to Gucci and Channel purses, technology is always projecting these images of what it means to be beautiful; But who really creates these rules? For my project, I chose to create a brief video, concentrating on what it means to be a beautiful black woman.

Jill Scott is a poet and a Soul artist who refrains from putting chemicals in her hair. It is not often that she is in the media, but when she is, her image seems to be humble and wise. She is an example of one who distributes beauty within, and embraces her natural looks.      

In the 70's', African Americans were uplifting their natural looks and rebelling against different politicians, and other Caucasions in high powered positions. The Black Panthers was a major part of the Afro epidemic among the black culture in the 70's. Here is photo of the late Michael Jackson sporting his afro, and George W. Bush, being photoshoped with an afro. Although the photo of Bush is meant to be funny, it is also humilating to African  American culture.

Since past generations, society has had this notion that straight hair is more beautiful and socially accepted than Corse and curly hair. In response to this belief, several of African American women put chemicals (perm) in their naturally curly hair to make it straighter and more socially acceptable. To deliver my perception on this dilemma, I chose to interview junior Ashley Dowdy, who has recently returned her hair to its natural essence. Her story is intriguing. To watch my video, click on this link, (Back to Natural), or, you can watch it below.

Manovich and New Media

Do you know your new media history? Well I certainly did not before reading Lev Manovich’s article titled, “New Media from Borges to HTML” in the New Media Reader. Manovich’s article is the opening to this anthology of new media that he also considers to be a radical new history of modern culture. Manovich writes, “a view from the future when people will recognize that the true cultural innovators of the last decades of the twentieth century were interface designers, computer game designers, music video directors and DJs – rather than painters, filmmakers, or fiction writers, whose fields remained relatively stable during this historical period.” He then breaks down the what exactly new media is into eight different propositions which include: New Media versus Cyberculture, New Media as Computer Technology Used as a Distribution Platform, New Media as a Digital Data Controlled by software, New Media as the Mix Between Existing Cultural Conventions and the Conventions of software, and he elaborates on the New media and how it relates to four more subjects throughout his article.

 Rhizome is a content magnet and delivery system that exposes the entire site. (The content, structure, and metadata). So, instead of just creating a site with URL’s that correspond to a page of HTML, you can create URLs that represent just about anything, and this is what our internet has come to today. In other words, everything is intertwined with one another, and the New Media is growing faster than ever. I think it is amazing, especially how Manovich visions the future as people looking back at computer game designers and music video directors as the radical new history of modern culture. That puts the image in me that we are creating history now. In three hundred years, sure someone will still be teaching Picasso, but they also will be teaching Hype Williams.

Video Art with Bill Viola

Bill Viola is by far one of the most important and vital artists in the 21^st century. He is a video artist, taking a contemporary approach to all of his creations. Viola is honorable in that he bases so much of his work on either birth, death, or the human consciousness. I can be honest in saying that researching him, I never was drawn to boredom. Although his work may seem a bit over the top with spirituality, that is exactly his method and what he is pushing for. Viola believes we live in a visual society and that images are our global language. Some of his work is incredibly beautiful, some of it is rather odd. Nevertheless, all of his work is inspirational, thriving with his visions, ideas, and what he feels is important for society to understand. I created a brief slideshow to show some examples of Bill Viola’s work and his concepts. I included some of his works that impacted millions of people, such as “The Raft”, as well as some work that many have possibly never heard of, like “Four Hands”.  

In so much of his work, Viola seems to have a strong obsession with water in his films.  In the slide show I chose to show “The Raft”, “Ocean’s Without a Shore”, and “Two Women”, all near each other to show his infatuation with water. Here is a brief example of  “Ocean’s Without a Shore”.  



 Recently, I had discussed how the medium is the message. Bill Viola responded in a interview with ,“Any time there’s a new development in the medium there are new creative possibilities”. I completely agree, and you can clearly see Viola expresses this through his work.

The Medium Is the Message

"Today when we want to get our bearings in our own culture, and have need to stand aside from the bias and pressure exerted by any technical form of human expression, we have only to visit a society where that particular form has not been felt, or a historical period in which it was unknown." Marshall McLuhan is a fascinating individual. I read a brief article in the book, "The New Media Reader", written by McLuhan, that opened my mind to different ideas about how I precieve different mediums. His ideas in his article titled, "The Medium Is the Message", are interesting, to say the very least. McLuhan has a certain style of writing about present technology and how it compares to earlier technology. Aside from this, he also has a very strong belief that any form of media is always a combination of another media. I fully agree with his concept. Here are a few pictures of differnt mediums doing more than one task at the same time.

Today, almost all media is made up of another media, from television, to IPods. I tried thinking outside the box by going as far back as books, in saying that this is one form of media that content is not another media. In some cases this point would be valid, but nowadays, there are so many books that contain works by a collaboration of different authors that I am convinced that argument will soon no longer exist. McLuhan also brought up a point that technology acts as an extension to our body. I thought this was a very original and clever way of forming an idea that so many others have also had, but could never articulate in this fashion. I have heard people say technology influences society, and I have heard people talk about the positives and negatives in how technology advances so rapidly. I have yet to hear anyone argue McLuhan's argument, and yet I see his argument in so many other's. I find this to be ironic, considering one of his main arguments was how no media is without some form of another media. Does this have the same affect with ideas?  

"Mic Check, 1, 2" Hip-Hop Technology and Society

Filming and editing are hobbies that I enjoy greatly. After reading an article titled "The Technology and the Society", by Raymond Williams, our task as a class was to create three videos of our own, with certain restrictions, that would convey an idea regarding technology and society. I have a very strong relationship with Hip - Hop as a culture, so I decided to focus on the technology of Hip - Hop and how it evolved through time. 

My first video is titled, "I Wake Up to Hip - Hop". It is a simple one minute video showing myself in the morning preparing for my day, while listening to a Hip - Hop classic, "You're All I Need", by Method Man and Mary J. Blige. The music with what I chose to frame myself around really brought my video to life. In the background there is a poster of Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant. I am wearing a shirt with the face of George Jefferson on it and one of his famous quotes from the TV series, " The Jeffersons". I chose to surround myself with African - American's who have all influenced or have been influenced by Hip - Hop in some way. The camera acts as a mirror in my room. 

My second video is titled, "Hip - Hop Technology, From When It Was Sweet". This video is all found footage. I chose to combine Hip - Hop Culture, both New School and Old School to show the variety of the Hip - Hop form. From round groups in a cypher, to Jay-Z bleeding from your speakers, to graffiti artists, the technology in Hip - Hop has strongly impacted society. 

My Third and final video is titled, "Hip - Hop Technology, Sweeter Than Ever". In this video I combined found footage with some of my own to get across a message about Hip - Hop culture from its roots. I chose to go completely Old School, from artists like Kid  & Play and Dougie Fresh. I enjoyed creating this video the most because it brought me to a place when the music was pure, real, and fun.  

REMIX and Frank Lewis

Frank Lewis is an instructor at Lawrence University; He is also my instructor for the course , “History of Photography”. Tonight he lectured a group of scholars in the Wriston Auditorium at Lawrence regarding the concept of the history of photography and how early labor was recorded and documented through this new media. Lewis briefly explained how photography was invented in 1839 by L.J . M Daguerre, and since then, it expanded to so many different conventions. Since I am enrolled in Lewis’s History of Photography course the lecture served more of a review for me than it did for others. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the concept and the art gallery showing that followed his presentation.

On a different note, “Remix – Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy” by Lawrence Lessig was a very interesting and entertaining article to read. As young artists in the course, Digital Processes, we are in the process of “remixing” video projects reflecting technology and society. Lessig began his argument by describing an old classmate of his. His colleague Ben would always do exceptionally well on his essays because, “every paragraph was constructed through quotes” Lessig said. He went on in his article asking certain questions like why do authors become offended when a student asks to use a quote from their writing. Lessig made it very clear in his article that remixing writing is different than remixing digital. Personally, I agree. Writing is something that is so original that to tap into one’s work with words can make someone a bit sensitive. However, if you are quoting words from other artists and then backing them up with your own facts, well, is that not how almost all scholars write today? We remix almost everything, from songs to papers. I will even argue that most of the time we do it unconsciously.

This is a example of two hit songs collaborating, remixing to expand across two different genres.

Technology and Society

From an invention as a result of scientific and technical research, to a medium of entertainment and news, television has come a long way. After reading a article by Raymond Williams titled "The Technology and the Society", published in the book "The New Media Reader", I obtained so much more information on technology and how it relates to society. Williams wrote that television was no single event or series of events when it was invented, but instead, it depended on a complex of inventions and developments in electricity, telegraphy, photography & motion picture, and radio. Many people can make the argument that television influences our society. Television shows people how to feel, how to kiss, the different joys and hells that come with life. So in this aspect, technology is influencing society everyday, showing us how to react to different situations from a television set. This goes beyond television, though Williams article is perfect justification for my argument. What do you think?

There were several videos I viewed that related to technology and the society. Stan Brackhage created short clips of abstract objects by placing these things on a reel of film. I found it to be clever and interesting to see what his perception of art can be using film. Last week I wrote about how dreadful and god awful the film "Decasia" was. Ironically enough, Brackhage's films were much more enjoyable and they come from the same style. Perhaps it was the length of the films and the fact that they were silent. The silence gave his work much more of an opportunity for his viewers to create their own interpretation. If music was added, it would have been too much for one to absorb. Here is a video of "The Garden of Earthly Delights".

Although I can appreciate the belief that everyone is an artist and art can be created just by different things in your environment, William Wegman's work did not stand out as art, in my opinion. Sure, his videos were hilarious and original, but is that really all it takes to be an artist today? And if that is true, is it all it takes to be considered a damn good artist? I feel like there is a difference. What do you think? On a different note, I enjoy his photography. Here are a few photos.         

                                                                            

Mashups and Stuff

Taking existing art then turning it into something that is your own is certainly art within itself. Do I always enjoy those collages of different art - works mashing together to be something different? Not really. The film, "Decasia", for me, was somewhat a waste of film. John and Julia asked if the film from the video should have been saved from melting away, and my response was that it certainly shouldn't have. Perhaps I do not fully appreciate vintage film but "Decasia" was just a on - going head ace for me. I feel like the music playing through out was the icing on the cake. The loud banging and sirens screaming through the entire piece reminded me of the film, "Man With a Movie Camera", directed by Dziga Vertov. In my opinion I did not see the point, but perhaps that is the point. What some consider art others may consider irrelevant. At the end of the day isn't that the beauty of being an artist in the first place? On a different note, William Burrough's article, "The Cut Up Method of Brion Gysin" was something that was more reasonable, and something I would consider art. Poetry is a form of art that can be that open to different pieces written by different artists colliding. Poetry does not always have to rhyme. There are very few restrictions for a poet. Filmmakers, on the other hand, should want to produce something that will ultimately get a point across to its' viewers. I am not saying every film needs to have a plot, but can it at least have a storyline? Am I not being open - minded enough? What do you think? Below is a video of a mashup video that I feel is rather clever. Check this out.

I Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me! - Panopticon Project

For "The Panopticon and Still Image Project", I focused primarily on the idea of surveillance as a negative aspect to society. In no way was I trying to say that surveillance is irrelevant because in certain situations it is necessary and appreciated. However, when surveillance is drawn to extreme measures, like invading people’s privacy, then it becomes an issue. With that in mind, I decided to direct three separate stories with photography, all relating to one another. My first set is of one subject who grows from being tolerant to the camera, to highly outraged. This is a photo of Sash Johnston, my subject for my first set.

My second set is based on a stalking relationship. A stalker is obsessively watching a college student. I created this conflict to symbolize how the government and other organizations can watch you without you knowing. However, the watcher is not always someone with massive technology. Facebook users today are constantly watching what others are doing around them by viewing their photos, reading their statuses, checking their updates. We are constantly being watched without our knowledge. Below is a photo from my second set.

My third and final set takes place in an actual meeting. The people in the meeting were caught off guard in this shoot. They were upset because of the invasion of privacy so they released their anger on the camera itself. Here are a few photos.

The captions and title’s in all of my sets tell the story, from beginning to the end. All of the sets were designed and directed by myself. I felt like there was a message that could have been related through a series of photographs so I artistically took full advantage of it. If you wish to view my entire project, feel free to view my Flickr account.    

Endless Possibilities

“The whole PC V.S Mac’s wars are just nerds masturbating! If you are a true artist, you can make the tools you have work”. Rachel Crowl was nothing short of extraordinary with her talk on Wednesday about her life, how she got to this point, web 2.0, and just life advice to us young artists today. This specific quote hit me the hardest because for the longest time I have always felt like Mac’s were more superior to PC’s. I waited over half of my life to own my very own Macintosh machine; to hear that a PC can do the same things was a reality shock. Outside of that, I feel like Crowl had so much information to offer our class. She took us through the history of the Web and how we got to web 2.0. She said that the social media democratized self publishing. The entire aspect of self publishing did not take off until blogs came about. I find this to be rather fascinating considering most of our class requires us to blog about social issues and we can share our artistic ideas with the world. “The comment were the glue”, Crowl said. She is absolutely right! If you think about it, rather I write complete and utter bullshit for a blog, or something impressively brilliant, it means nothing to me if I get no reaction from my classmates for it.  Sure, I get graded on my blog, we all do; but the insight and comments make the blog that much more special. Strobist was one of the first blogs to show photography to the world. According to Crowl, Scripter was also one of the innovating websites that helped the Web excel further. When asked what would be the future in web 2.0 she said a quote from another innovator who said, “Nobody knows anything!” Her advice to us was to try something. Tools are getting cheaper, possibilities are endless, so why not be fearless? Impressive     

This is a trailer of the new film Social Network. I feel like this relates to Rachel Crowl's talk. What do you think?

Leers Visit

Dan Leers is a unique individual; It's no wonder he is a Lawrence Alumni. In his presentation today, he spoke about how he had no way in knowing what path he wanted to venture down to him eventually working at the Museum of Modern Arts, his "dram job", as he put it. Before attending Lawrence I spoke to one of the professors here in the Film department. I told him about my dreams of becoming a director or a cinematographer. He told me at lawrence it is best to not have one set career in mind because I may find myself in a career completely off course. At the time it seemed very awkward to me and my family. I remember my mother telling me not to listen to that man and that he was insane. She told me to always keep my mind set on what I wanted to do. Although I still have the same mentality with what direction I want to pursue in my life, I do feel like Lawrence has taken me off that corse a bit, still never leading me astray. Leers talked about how he and some of his classmates developed, "The Dating Show", at Columbia University in New York City. Below is a link to a brief trailer of the show. It's rather remarkable to me how he jumped from Art History to Photography, to doing something like this. It's amazing what the mind can unfold.  

The Dating Show

Surveillance - S.O.P

Surveillance can be such a major issue. I have witnessed it go from being a joke, to disturbing, and obsessive. Some people may look at surveillance as a form of art, but others just feel like it is an invasion of one’s privacy. With that said, I feel like Errol Morris is an exceptionally brilliant man in displaying our fine American soldiers that we see on our television screens at home as the “Big Bad Bully’s” that so many people never imagined we could be. The film “Standard Operating Procedure”, really illustrated the sick and unmoral images that our American troops did to the men in Iraq. Sergeant Graner clearly went from being compulsively controlling to adding his obsessive surveillance syndrome. With his obsession to “watch” what was occurring at Abu Ghraib, he became more of a tyrant; In my opinion it was because he could show people the power and control he had over other’s lives. Errol Morris said that the little guys were punished while the bigger guys could walk. I agree that it is unfair; however, these people are the individuals that did the crime. It seems like a catch 22, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Below is a comic video about stalking. In this video I see us, Americans, as the teenage girl, and our government as the little boy. No matter where we go, or what we are doing, we are never alone. There are cameras on corners, at stop lights, at ATM machines. People feel like these are there to protect us, but in reality they are there to watch our every move! The government has all of the control, and some of us still fail to realize it. Surveillance is disturbing.     

Change - Engelbart & Nelson

Engelbart and Nelson are two extraordinary and intelligent men who "pushed the envelope" for the world's new media as we know it today. I agree with Engelbart's statement, "The kind of system approach to human intellectual effectiveness does not find a ready - made conceptual framework such as exists for established disciplines". The human race, in general, were not very open - minded to the computer concept and the advantages they offered, as we all seen in the episode of "The Twilight Zone" in class. Nelson's approach was much more insightful; I gained a deeper understanding from his point - of - view. Referring to computers as "Dream Machines" is a wonderful way to get across to people of all ages that computers can create things we only envisioned through our imagination. Personally, I feel like computers have fabricated the way we live today, especially in urban areas. Although so many fear change, we live in a world where innovation is relevant and the only thing that can not change is change itself.