Project 4

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My Work is about the ones internal reflection on their past. The focus is on my friend Gordan he has lived a colorful life. He reflects on his past of columbus and the memories it holds for him. My idea of this project was to record his stories then play that simultaneously play that with stills of his day. Due to unforeseen occurrences  the idea morphed to filming a local Columbus neighborhood, however when pairing it with the audio in after effects, the audio disappeared. 

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Before I Die project was started by Candy Chang after someone close to her passed.  Grappling with grief, she realized that her confrontation with death led to clarity within her own life.  It began with Chang’s curiosity on how others in her similar situation responded to death.  Like her, did the loss of another’s life give them a renewed spirit regarding their own.  She began the project by coating an abandoned building in New Orleans with chalkboard paint.  On top she stenciled, “Before I die I want to _______.”  The following day, there were several responses and they continued daily.  The project has expanded to over 350 walls and over 50 countries.

Chang was absolutely correct in her comment about death having the ability to provide clarity.  When one faces death, they tend to gain understanding to the truly important matters in life and lose sight of trivial things that engulf us on a daily.  From the ashes of devastation, the Before I Die project was born.  Chang was able to channel her grief and pain into a productive manner that has been inspirational to many people in different lands.  Pain, loss, hope, and desire are feelings that are universal and transcend any cultural barriers.  Let death remind us that life is finite and each day we should strive to accomplish our dreams.

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“Interactive and Participatory Art,” written by Meg Floran, is a blog post providing a brief overview of the form to include popular pieces, variances in emotional responses, and social acceptance given today’s desire of interaction. She quotes Allan Kaprow statement from 1961, “Our advanced art approaches a fragile but marvelous life, one that maintains itself be a mere thread, melting into an elusive, changeable configuration, the surroundings, the artist, his work and everyone who comes to it.” Although written for a specific artistic piece entitled Happenings, it applies to newer forms of art such as participatory art. Unlike any other art form, participatory art involves the audience being directly engaged in addition to observing. In fact, the piece would be considered incomplete without the viewer’s interaction for an extended period of time.

Historically, there has been no direct interaction between the viewer and artistic creation. The artist was the one who completed the piece, and was solely responsible for the telling of a story or evoking an emotional response. The viewer only had access once the piece had been completed in its entirety. Within the realm of participatory art, the viewer’s interaction with the piece is necessary in order for the piece to be completed. Although moderately successful in the past, I believe this new medium will be increasingly incorporated in today’s art scene due to societal changes. Today’s generation is no longer content with simply looking onto any form of entertainment. Rather, yearning for an interactive role which is in accord with participatory art.

Project 2 Memory

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Given my hectic schedule which includes an evening job and attending school fulltime, I sometimes have difficulty remembering minute details. I have been reassured that stress can lead to poor memory retention, but often wonder if my “forgetfulness” may be an onset of a more chronic illness, similar to a disease such as dementia. Hence my fascination with this topic, led me to the desire to create a humanistic piece for this project. I wanted to project how the loss of memory adversely impacts the victim of this particular illness. To complete this project, I have altered family photos utilizing the photoshop program. I have created a series of seven pictures to display the progression of memory loss in an individual’s overall functioning. Often times, the illness is portrayed as an inability to distinguish family members. Thus, I have incorporated photographs in which the faces have been blurred. Often times, however, dementia causes more havoc due to the victim not being able to maintain attention to detail and disorientation. Our cognitive ability differentiates us substantially from other species within the animal kingdom. Without our ability to cognitively process the world around us, the quality of our life diminishes.

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Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide, written by Henry Jenkins, describes the transformation of our information system. Jenkins describes the convergence culture as “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways.” In this new age of media, the audience has moved from a passive role into a more participatory role. He cites the example of Dino Ignacio’s collage of Bert and Osama Bin Laden as an example of average individuals in the U.S. and Pakistan influencing information that is shown by the mainstream media. Moreover, companies are honing in on profits by creating interactive features to beloved books or film. The future for this new form of media is unclear, but it will evolve into innovative means of information being shared and consumed.

Long gone are the days in which we learned about current events via the evening news, given society’s new means of gathering information. Rather, we live in a time in which information is shared instantly and everyone feels empowered to comment upon an event via tweets and blogs. There are both pros and cons to this new format. To begin with, conversation creates “buzz” surrounding an event. This in itself can lead to important national discussions about issues or concerns. However, it also leads younger viewers from blurring the lines between opinion and credible sources. It’s interesting to see news casters reading the thoughts from a viewer in small town America, but I personally am more interested in what the news organization’s investigative journalists have uncovered.

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“Aesthetic Experience and the Importance of Visual Composition in Information Design,” written by Tim Greenzweig, discusses how the aesthetics in technical design impacts one’s processing of information. Historically, visual design of a program is often considered an afterthought to the information being provided. Using the German term Gestalt, Greenzweig suggests that “ ..structure with properties not derivable from the sum of its individual parts.” In other words, one’s visual experience is not simply based on a single variable, but the unified whole which includes a morphing of information and design. Moreover, website designers generally utilize visual norms of printed page layouts. Greenzweig suggests that this new form of communication requires one to abandon tradition.

Often times in the world of technology, form follows function. Greenzweig’s article dismisses the notion that aesthetic appearance should be an afterthought. Instead, he challenges those intrigued with web design to consider how the whole affects the viewer’s perception. Variations in font, juxtaposition, and visual imagery not only impact perception, but vary depending upon the perceptions of the viewer. Thus, understanding how nuances impact perception in subgroups is key to ensuring the intended message is being portrayed. I would further speculate that in order for the viewer to become engaged, he or she must first be visually drawn into the piece. Thus, I believe both form and function are intertwined.