Hi I am Katherine and I love photography, whether it is simply taking photos of beautiful flowers or capturing memories with my friends, my camera is always with me. I am constantly trying to find new ways to make an image pop, finding different angles, different colours. I can easily just point and shoot, but I want to be able to create more meaning in my photographs, have the viewer stop and think for a moment.
People see thousands of images each day, walking by posters at bus stops, mindlessly scrolling past images on social media, but I think it is important that people don’t simply disregard these images, but actually take time to reflect on what they are looking at. Through this course I hope to learn how to make more meaning in my images, I want to be able to communicate with those who see my pictures and give them something to think about. I hope to expand my understanding of what an image means and comprehend how people look at certain images in order know how to target people’s interest and emotion.
This ties into the world of advertising, an industry that fascinates me; how brands, so easily, draw in consumers. There must be something in the images that attract millions of buyers, but what is it? I want to explore how people create connections with images, what attracts them…
Eight grandchildren stand to pose for a picture; the first time ever they are all at the same place, at the same time. By taking a quick glance at the photograph it is not evident as to where they are, what they are doing or that they have all been a part for so long. Their arms are around each other as they are smiling, laughing and talking with one another; they look like a family who has recurrent get-togethers over lunch or dinner.
These are my cousins, and in the nineteen years of my life this is the first time we have all been together in one place. While it took the heartbreaking event of my Grandpa’s funeral to reunite us, it reminded us all that no matter how much time passes between seeing one another the bond a family has is unparalleled. That is what my Grandpa would have wanted, a family that never loses its ties, a family that comes together.
My family lives around the world: New York, London. Vancouver. The last time I saw one of my cousins was 2007, over 10 years ago. While that seems like a long time, with all of us now grown up, some married, some with children, it was like no time had passed at all; it was like we were just celebrating my Grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary.
Time is unique that way; I never understood it growing up. When you are living in a moment time stops, but when you look back to the past time catches up with you. It always seemed like things would last forever and I felt like I have been stuck in that 5-year-old mindset for a while, but now that my Grandpa is no longer around I understand the value behind time, the importance attached to it.
While the event behind this this picture is sad, I only see the joy in it because I think of all the memories my Grandpa and I shared and the time we got to spend as a family. I may not get to see my cousins, uncles and aunts a lot, but when I do I try to make time slow down.
The photograph represents a family from around the world.
Images are becoming a new language
-Communicating more with images, there is a shift
-Are these images really a new language?
-Everyone is a photographer today
-Culture of how to use images
-We all have access to images
-Opens many possibilities
Impact of technological evolution on our everyday life
• Who are we today and where are we going?
The possibilities offered by contemporary images for the examination of these questions
• Conversations in class about this topic
Weekly Charts
• Compilation of materials
• Exist as a reference that I will have to go back to at home
• Each student has a page
• Main way of working in the class
This week’s chart – basically an outline of what is going on (questions we will be dealing with in class)
• Look through
• What can we do with this visual language that we see online?
• New possibilities that these new technologies offer
• Translate into visuals in which this new situation we are living
• 6.1 Billion cell phones by 2020
-Everything changes once we become part of this new cellular
world
-Much more than just phones
• Anthropocene
-The changes that are happening mostly because of human
intervention are irreversible at this point
• Virtual world population is over 150 million
-We are creating this universe in where we are slowly migrating
to
-New way of existing
-Promised that we can live forever
Assignment 1:
• Describe an image that you like, relate to
• Don’t post the image, but have it readily available
What is an image? Images and the Real
• How does an image affect us?
• How do we connect with an image?
• What creates an image?
• What is the nature of our relationship to images?
• What are the forms an image can take?
• What is real?
Human ⇔ Imagination
• Documentary – Cave of Forgotten Dreams
-People have an aim to create images – but why?
~Possibly to communicate to the future
~Possibly to communicate with the gods
-Images in the cave are 5,000 years apart
• So why would people keep going to the same place to make paintings?
• Imagination
-To create/created
-Recreate
-Desire to see the good
-Freedom
• Image
-Visual depiction or representation of something
-Having a certain perception of something
~Eg. That’s an image of an adult, I have this image in my head
of the stereotypical teacher
-Association
-Knowledge
-Documentation
-Someone has to go out with the intention of making an image
-Image is created to communicate, send a message
~There are always intentions behind an image
-Conventions
Example of images:
• Tree; Chair; Man icon; H20; wall with painting; Audio symbol
• Signs communicate a message
-Eg. Man Icon
~Is a representation of a man
~Could be a man’s washroom sign
-Eg. H20
~Symbol for water
~This symbol is different to other equations, but it is very
precise information
~Need to know the code in order to get access to the
information – be a part of a certain culture
~Way of describing something, representing something in a
particular language/culture
-Eg. Word “Tree”
~A reference to something else
~Very familiar with the word
~All about conventions – we have decided that such words will
refer us to something
~We learn to absorb images
~Words are also images – they are representations, recreations
-Eg. Audio icon – something related to sound
~Can picture images in our head just from listening to
something
~Gives us a certain feeling – sound is a powerful too
-Sounds are total abstractions
-Eg. We can listen to a symphony and feel so many
emotions
-Eg. Photograph of chair
~An actual physical object
~The universal chair is an image in our mind
~Three chairs – Definition of chair, picture of chair, actual chair
-All our chairs, just in different forms
• All these images have different possibilities
What makes an image art?
• The pure feeling of it
• Beyond words, beyond comprehension, techniques etc.
• Art is about something that we can’t describe
Homework: What is an apple? – Create an image
• What is it like to hold one in my hands?
• What memories does it bring?
The photograph I wrote about last week was linked to the memory of my Grandpa and the happiness I received when I thought about all the time we spent together when I was a child; a period in my life when I thought that time would last forever.
The image I created this week shows the English Countryside full of blue skies and plush white clouds, a place of clarity and serenity, which equates to the pleasure and joy of my Grandpa’s company. At the same time the image is covered in drawings, representing the simplicity of a child’s mind, but the reality that follows behind it. Hence a child thinking time will last forever, but in actual fact time just keeps on rushing by.
The simple things make me think of you, so is it really goodbye? Or is it hello?
Note: In future assignments you don’t have to post any written component. Let the image speak for itself and in class see how people react
Looking at images from Weekly Challenge #2:
• With each image think about what we feel, what emotions does the image convey?
o Calming?
o Nostalgic?
o Stressful?
o Depressing?
o Anxiety?
o Empowering?
o Intriguing?
o Do you smell anything – freshness?
o Do you feel cold, warm?
• Interesting to see how the different images are constructed – some tell some sort of a story, while others are difficult to figure out
Information Art
• Some images give us a lot of knowledge and from this information we can figure out the meaning behind the image
• While some images are on the other side of the spectrum and take a lot of deep thinking to uncover
-We have to use our own senses
Text
• Is having text in the image beneficial?
-What does adding text to an image do for the audience?
• Depends on what you want the text to do
• Can have it small in the corner, have the words transparent, have the words repeating, etc.
Today:
• Continuing the question of what is an image?
• Images and the Real
What sorts of narratives exist in an image?
• Eg. Image of Virgin Mary
-No sense of space in the image
-We can read the image as a way of stressing certain
messages such as holiness, sacredness, etc.
-Painters in this age had a mission to tell a story
-The afterlife will lead to the heavens – speaks to a certain perception of the world sanction by the church
• The afterlife is worth living for
• Painting talks to what is real and what is not
-Sophisticated language within the image
-Feel somewhat isolated from this world
• Eg. Image from the renaissance
-Perspective representation provided by the illusion of
reality by creating images as if is seen by the eye
-This world is organized in a specific way
-When you are at the front of the image you feel involved in
the universe of the painting
• Universe is revolved around the viewer
-Sense of history – reality now becomes more tangible
• Eg. Painting of boat and sunset – Beginning of Impressionism
-Moved away from photo realism into the feeling of an
image
-What reality is this image talking about?
• Looking at shadows
• Looking into the sunset
• Looking at reflections
• Looking at a reality from within, a reality of the impressions
• It is a sunset that the human has experienced and felt
-For each person this experience is different, so now we are
looking at how the artist has experienced this sunset
-Impressionist painting turned its attention to a different
reality that of the internal world of an artist
-Started to look inside the human and their feelings
• Eg. Black and White image of town
-Hard for painters to compete with photographers
-Anyone could be a photographer
-This was, to a large degree, a response to the advent of
technical image, which took over the role of representing
the visible reality
-Technical Images = Reality
• Technology could allow us to be precise and tell the truth
• Certainty of how things look was a powerful thing
• The world became a lot more tangible
• Put an image in your pocket and share it
• Photography grabs something and takes the real
• Photographs
-What is real became much more tangible
-Documentary = Photography
• Reality seems to constantly shift
-Now with animations, CGI, etc.
-Hard to tell what is real and what is not anymore
Post images on an image website (tumblr, flikr, etc.) – they are part of a conversation
• Images today are all public – think about how people interact with them
• Think about the community in which you are a part of
There is a distinction about images that are about information and images that are about art
• INFORM “ART”
• For example, an icon as part of a sign gives us information
• There will always be a level of abstraction however, no image is pure
-There will be a meaning behind every image
Images
• Images are very fluid today
-They can take many forms
• Eg. Smell can be an image, something will come to your mind
-Put them out on the internet
• Images are never in isolation anymore
Adam Curtis
• Documentary – The Century of the Self
-Assembles images to help make his point
-Essentially the procedure of making a collage
-Pay attention to the rhythm, colours, etc.
• Use propaganda and the media to manipulate the masses
-How to control the masses in the 20th century
• He manipulates the content
• Freud – The Unconscious
-Thinking about mass control – how can we control the masses?
• With images?
• An image can change public opinion and manipulate what the public thinks about a certain issue
-Eg. Women smoking for freedom
Questions to think about:
• Can images contribute to social change?
• Can images motivate ethical action?
• Can images embody human freedom?
Homework
• Create a diary through images
• Bring out the feelings of your day
• 7 images
• How do I make someone feel a certain way
-Bring in experiences and feelings
• Encourage to use an online platform to share the image
-Facebook, Flickr, New hive, etc.
• Be aware of how the image is sitting on the screen
I have been dealing with a chronic back injury for over 9 months now. Some days I’m okay, others not so much… the 26th was one of the bad ones. It would be uncomfortable to sit, I would feel anxious. I felt like I couldn’t walk properly, I felt nauseous. I tried to sleep I couldn’t. Sometimes it feels like this constant, nagging pain will never leave; it’s an irritation that is always on my mind.
Fried. This is how I felt after frantically trying to finish an assignment before midnight on the 27th. Hours and hours and hours went by. I was flustered, I was confusing words, my eyes were starting to wonder off. I couldn’t think anymore.
Today was a sunny day. It was bright. I was happy.
I am doing a rehab program for my back injury and am starting to run again. Even having the smallest bit of progress is worth all the tears I cried in the past. I am just constantly smiling when I get to be on the track and feel like nothing else can touch me. I could finally breath.
For the majority of the day I sat alone trying to think of images to make for this assignment. Hours passed, I didn’t talk to anyone; I was by myself with my thoughts and a lot of blank space. My ideas crossed paths and collided. Some ideas were a success, some fell short. I was all over the place. Eventually, after hours of isolation, my best-friend who lives in Nashville face-timed me and lifted me out of this mental block. It was so nice just to talk to someone about everything and anything.
Today was busy. I was rushing between Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey. I had a lot to accomplish and was happy to be keeping busy. A large part of my day included rehabbing for my injury and I just felt very inspired. I have come so far from where I was months ago and I still have further to go. I kept on thinking that the tough times I have felt won’t have any comparison to the success I want to feel. I am hopeful and determined when I look at my longterm goals.
Today was my Dad’s 60th birthday and it made me very nostalgic and cheerful. I thought about how quickly time passes and how yet another year has gone by. Each year we get older and it seems like the time when we were a kid just keeps getting pushed back further and further in our memory. But I was reminded of how simple and colourful a birthday can be, just enjoying time with family, not worrying about anything else.
Today I was in the dark room for 3 hours developing some black and white photos. I felt like I was straining my eyes by trying so hard to see in the dark. The smell of the chemicals latched onto my clothing. My head started to blur.
Today:
• How can I make a more complicated response about the conditions we live in today?
• How have people responded to the technologies of their time?
Futurists
• Group of artists working at the turn of the 20th century
• Very loose collective
• Found themselves having things in common
• Came about in a strange way
• Fillip Tomasso Marinetti
-Important figure in Art History
-Invented this notions of artists being interested in
technology
-Was a poet
• Poets had a sensibility
• He felt something and put it out there
• Resonated with people
Big connection between Art, Technology and Freedom
• Art uses technology
• Everyone’s efforts are closely tied to the notion of freedom
-Do we create this freedom?
-Freedom for viewers in the work
Flying
• Was the technology of the time
• A long dreamt to be able to fly
• An example of the world becoming different
-More transportation
-More possibilities of travel and communication
• A moment of experimentation
• Drive that humanity has to try new things no matter how much failure there is
• The idea may have seemed absurd and the invention made may have seemed absurd as well, but it all lead to what we have today
The New World
• Futurists wanted a completely new world and wanted to get rid of everything in the past
• World become something that wasn’t as great as the futurists thought it would be – it was horrible, terrifying
-Technology lead to wars
• Humans became machine like
Freud
• Used mechanisms to dominate the masses
• Notion of mass control became central because of the experience of war
Questions:
• How do we deal with the world today?
• What is the language today?
• What are the possibilities that new media provides to us?
-Video, sound, gifs, etc.
• How do I express how I am living today?
It is interesting to think about the relationship between an image and the real in today’s online and technological world. People see images everyday, but as technology continues to develop it becomes harder to know if an image is authentic (ie. it shows something real, something genuine) or if an image is dishonest (ie. it is manipulated or staged). It is important to be media literate in a time where fake news and manipulation is so dominant because it allows us to evaluate and analyze the information we are being fed by ourselves and become dependent on our own skill. Having the ability to critically think and assess what we see will enable us to not get trapped in the digital lies we are constantly surrounded by.
The following article touches on the question: Have images lost their power? Reading this article made me reflect on how people’s interactions with images has changed throughout the last couple of decades. In 2018, seeing hundreds of images a day via social media has become such a common occurrence that no one stops to think about what they are actually looking at anymore; people just scroll past pictures aimlessly, disregarding what they represent and the messages they are trying to convey. However in the 1970s picture weren’t posted to online platforms, they were more sparse, and therefore held more meaning. Upreti uses the extremely upsetting example of “Napalam Girl”, taken by Nick Upt. The photograph encapsulates the horror of the Vietnam War, targeting human emotions and consequently asking for a solution. The image shocked and touched the hearts of many; it was unlike photographs people had seen before, thus sparking numerous anti-war protests in the USA. Yet, as people now live in the online world, a place that is built from millions of photographs, meaningful images that aim to promote change or tell a story simply get forgotten. Photographs aren’t powerful unless they are seen and standout. Therefore while I believe images are still powerful, it is the context and environment in which an image is seen which makes their power effective; if an image gets circulated among hundreds of others it will do nothing but get neglected.
*WARNING* – Article includes images of war, death and nudity
When I first listened to Clair De Lune I immediately thought of a whimsical world, a place where there is no time and simply just magic. However as I began to listen again and again I started to become sad because the music reminded me of the times I visited England as a child. My dad would always play Classic FM on the radio on our drives up to the country side. Spending time in England was a fantasy, but sadly my fantasy had a time limit on it. It is always sad to say bye to childhood.
What is an image?
• Representation/visual/depiction
• Language/expression
• Is an image actually visual?
-Images can be anything like sound as well, but could we argue that what any image does for us is provoke a visual image in our heads
“There is nothing here” – What is this an image of for me?
• Lost space – the space in between two worlds
• Noise
• What are the qualities of this image?
-Movement/motion
-Repetition
-Sense of distance
• Brings up the questions of abstraction
-Can’t seem to make a connection with the image?
• Everyone has a different experience with this image and approach it from a different point of view
-For some of us it is too much, for someone us we engage more with it, have memories or feel uncomfortable
-We will always have a personal, unique relationship with an image
What is image today?
• For example medieval images vs. images today
-They depict different things
-Way of creating an image was fundamentally different
• We are the center from which the universe resides
• An image always corresponds to a particular world view
-A particular form of representation
• When photography was invented the world view changed
-This was the proof that something existed
Photography told us that this is real
• As images and technology change the real changes
-The real creates certain images and the images create the real
Exploration
• Some images are just people messing around, experimenting
• They are products of today
• “Among those who walked the streets, who was truly human anymore”
What can the image make other people feel?
• Focus on the experience
• How do we live today? – What kind of experience are we going through?
What images actually depict the real?
• Is a painting even depicting something real because it is just a painting?
Sound, poems etc.
• They are the catalyst for an image
• Image is just a very deep feeling
• “What is deeply felt and is essentially unsayable; that is the paradox”
Futurists
• Were living in a moment at the turn of the 20th century
• Technology started to have a large presence in our lives
• Cities as we know them today started to rise because of technology
• Limit of freedom was fundamental
-Wanted to free themselves from the past
-Couldn’t just jump into this moment however
-Eg. Flying was the ultimate dream of reality
Futurist Manifesto
• Came up with a project as a group
• This was made possible through new media (newspapers, etc.)
• Marinetti thought he could condense the signs of the time
-A whole movement was created
• Drive to find the ways to describe this new moment
-Every image reflects its time
-Poem is not just about words but the sounds it makes
• New way of understanding something that existed for centuries
Flying
• No one had seen the world from the view before, it was only reserved for God
• Now through technology people could see the world differently
-Everything felt new
Russian Cubo Futurism
• Polarization of movements
• The Russians were in the same, yet in a very different universe
• Communist revolution promised a new society in which everyone would be equal; everyone would have aces to the arts, education, etc.
Flying is still a dream for us. Planes are not quite the same.
Homework:
• Think about the economy of means
• Link between ART/TECH/FREEDOM
• What is the relation between technology and art?
• What is the relation between art and freedom?
• What is the relation between technology and freedom?
• How do they interrelate
Art = Knowledge
• Something we can understand as human beings
• Two things humans can study: art and philosophy
-Tell us what the true nature of what being a human is
-Philosophy is all about understanding
• What is beauty?
• What is god?
• What is it to be human?
• Art approaches things differently
-Not about understanding
-Art tells us “there is something there” but “I don’t know what it is”
-About how to convey emotions
-Pointing to something, but never showing us something
Fluxus
• Art movement originating in New York
• Community of artists, composers, designers and poets
• Engaged in experimental art performances
• People started to appear in difference places with the same ideas
• New ideas of generating new art forms
• Fluxus = flow
-Going with the flow so to speak
• John Cage
-A composer and music theorist
-One of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde
-Saying that “When I listen to “music” I am listening to somebody telling me things”
• There is an artist behind the composition
• Content with listening to sounds
• Trying to access experience
• Idea of being aware, being here in the now
4’33”
• Composition made by John Cage
• Orchestra doesn’t preform any sounds
• What do they hear if nothing is playing?
-The natural sound of movement?
-Imagining what there should be?
• Everything that happens within the time (a cough, a smile, a movement, etc.) becomes the artwork
-Defining that this is an art space
-Music/noise composition
• Making art together
-Within the time frame, the audience is also participating within the artwork
• Becomes a moment of creativity, spontaneity…etc.
-Creates a complete new understanding of what the artist and audience is
• Creating an openness
-Art can be whatever we decide it to be
• Art is life and life if art
I had hoped to post my image through new-hive as I thought it captured my piece well, utilizing moving image and sound, but unfortunately I was unable to finish my project through the website because it hasn’t been able to load for the past couple of days (hopefully ill be able to complete and post it soon!) That being said I made some what of a replica of what I wanted to do through photoshop.
To me ART/TECHNOLOGY/FREEDOM all relate through social media. Humanity, especially teens, have become so reliant on online platforms they they forget to live in the present. People just need to melt their plastic smiles and return to their own authenticity.
I was finally able to access NewHive and finished the piece I originally wanted to submit for this assignment! http://newhive.com/katlucas/visa-210-image-of-image
In the image there is a poem I wrote. It is intentional that you are not able to read the whole poem but in case you were interested as to what it was saying here you go:
It’s not worth it,
The plastic smiles that hang in your closet
You wear the same one everyday
Molded into a fake character
That you don’t even know you own name
You avoid authenticity as if it’s not allowed
Not proud of the life you live,
Crowned a fake, but you try to stand loud and tall
To let them know that you love life,
You love your life or you love your likes?
Numbers feed your happiness
A list of followers you think are your friends, your family,
But can’t you tell it’s all pretend? A fairy tale with a wicked end.
You tell yourself you’re not lonely
Because your screen lights up your life
Yet you scream to be seen
Just like everyone else
A filter, a mask
competing to be among the famous
Because dogs only chase moving cars
Glued to your face, gum stuck
Addicted to this lonely drug
As you constantly scroll your display,
Walking past swings and blowing leaves,
That stop still in the face of the latest Facebook updates
Can’t you see it?
Once you actually take time to look in the mirror,
Wash your disguise off with water
Make your look clear.
Your face an isolated reflection of
Heart emojis that don’t actually mean love
Of followers that don’t actually mean friends
Spend some time in real life.
Hi I am Katherine and I love photography, whether it is simply taking photos of beautiful flowers or capturing memories with my friends, my camera is always with me. I am constantly trying to find new ways to make an image pop, finding different angles, different colours. I can easily just point and shoot, but I want to be able to create more meaning in my photographs, have the viewer stop and think for a moment.
People see thousands of images each day, walking by posters at bus stops, mindlessly scrolling past images on social media, but I think it is important that people don’t simply disregard these images, but actually take time to reflect on what they are looking at. Through this course I hope to learn how to make more meaning in my images, I want to be able to communicate with those who see my pictures and give them something to think about. I hope to expand my understanding of what an image means and comprehend how people look at certain images in order know how to target people’s interest and emotion.
This ties into the world of advertising, an industry that fascinates me; how brands, so easily, draw in consumers. There must be something in the images that attract millions of buyers, but what is it? I want to explore how people create connections with images, what attracts them…
Weekly Challenge #1:
Eight grandchildren stand to pose for a picture; the first time ever they are all at the same place, at the same time. By taking a quick glance at the photograph it is not evident as to where they are, what they are doing or that they have all been a part for so long. Their arms are around each other as they are smiling, laughing and talking with one another; they look like a family who has recurrent get-togethers over lunch or dinner.
These are my cousins, and in the nineteen years of my life this is the first time we have all been together in one place. While it took the heartbreaking event of my Grandpa’s funeral to reunite us, it reminded us all that no matter how much time passes between seeing one another the bond a family has is unparalleled. That is what my Grandpa would have wanted, a family that never loses its ties, a family that comes together.
My family lives around the world: New York, London. Vancouver. The last time I saw one of my cousins was 2007, over 10 years ago. While that seems like a long time, with all of us now grown up, some married, some with children, it was like no time had passed at all; it was like we were just celebrating my Grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary.
Time is unique that way; I never understood it growing up. When you are living in a moment time stops, but when you look back to the past time catches up with you. It always seemed like things would last forever and I felt like I have been stuck in that 5-year-old mindset for a while, but now that my Grandpa is no longer around I understand the value behind time, the importance attached to it.
While the event behind this this picture is sad, I only see the joy in it because I think of all the memories my Grandpa and I shared and the time we got to spend as a family. I may not get to see my cousins, uncles and aunts a lot, but when I do I try to make time slow down.
The photograph represents a family from around the world.
My Grandpa would have loved to be there.
Lecture 1 – September 5th 2018
Images are becoming a new language
-Communicating more with images, there is a shift
-Are these images really a new language?
-Everyone is a photographer today
-Culture of how to use images
-We all have access to images
-Opens many possibilities
Impact of technological evolution on our everyday life
• Who are we today and where are we going?
The possibilities offered by contemporary images for the examination of these questions
• Conversations in class about this topic
Weekly Charts
• Compilation of materials
• Exist as a reference that I will have to go back to at home
• Each student has a page
• Main way of working in the class
This week’s chart – basically an outline of what is going on (questions we will be dealing with in class)
• Look through
• What can we do with this visual language that we see online?
• New possibilities that these new technologies offer
• Translate into visuals in which this new situation we are living
• 6.1 Billion cell phones by 2020
-Everything changes once we become part of this new cellular
world
-Much more than just phones
• Anthropocene
-The changes that are happening mostly because of human
intervention are irreversible at this point
• Virtual world population is over 150 million
-We are creating this universe in where we are slowly migrating
to
-New way of existing
-Promised that we can live forever
Assignment 1:
• Describe an image that you like, relate to
• Don’t post the image, but have it readily available
Lecture 2 – Sept 12th 2018
What is an image? Images and the Real
• How does an image affect us?
• How do we connect with an image?
• What creates an image?
• What is the nature of our relationship to images?
• What are the forms an image can take?
• What is real?
Human ⇔ Imagination
• Documentary – Cave of Forgotten Dreams
-People have an aim to create images – but why?
~Possibly to communicate to the future
~Possibly to communicate with the gods
-Images in the cave are 5,000 years apart
• So why would people keep going to the same place to make paintings?
• Imagination
-To create/created
-Recreate
-Desire to see the good
-Freedom
• Image
-Visual depiction or representation of something
-Having a certain perception of something
~Eg. That’s an image of an adult, I have this image in my head
of the stereotypical teacher
-Association
-Knowledge
-Documentation
-Someone has to go out with the intention of making an image
-Image is created to communicate, send a message
~There are always intentions behind an image
-Conventions
Example of images:
• Tree; Chair; Man icon; H20; wall with painting; Audio symbol
• Signs communicate a message
-Eg. Man Icon
~Is a representation of a man
~Could be a man’s washroom sign
-Eg. H20
~Symbol for water
~This symbol is different to other equations, but it is very
precise information
~Need to know the code in order to get access to the
information – be a part of a certain culture
~Way of describing something, representing something in a
particular language/culture
-Eg. Word “Tree”
~A reference to something else
~Very familiar with the word
~All about conventions – we have decided that such words will
refer us to something
~We learn to absorb images
~Words are also images – they are representations, recreations
-Eg. Audio icon – something related to sound
~Can picture images in our head just from listening to
something
~Gives us a certain feeling – sound is a powerful too
-Sounds are total abstractions
-Eg. We can listen to a symphony and feel so many
emotions
-Eg. Photograph of chair
~An actual physical object
~The universal chair is an image in our mind
~Three chairs – Definition of chair, picture of chair, actual chair
-All our chairs, just in different forms
• All these images have different possibilities
What makes an image art?
• The pure feeling of it
• Beyond words, beyond comprehension, techniques etc.
• Art is about something that we can’t describe
Homework: What is an apple? – Create an image
• What is it like to hold one in my hands?
• What memories does it bring?
Weekly Challenge #2:
The photograph I wrote about last week was linked to the memory of my Grandpa and the happiness I received when I thought about all the time we spent together when I was a child; a period in my life when I thought that time would last forever.
The image I created this week shows the English Countryside full of blue skies and plush white clouds, a place of clarity and serenity, which equates to the pleasure and joy of my Grandpa’s company. At the same time the image is covered in drawings, representing the simplicity of a child’s mind, but the reality that follows behind it. Hence a child thinking time will last forever, but in actual fact time just keeps on rushing by.
The simple things make me think of you, so is it really goodbye? Or is it hello?
https://media.giphy.com/media/46zAZ9UCB7DGYVqhuy/giphy.gif
Lecture 3 – September 19th 2018
Note: In future assignments you don’t have to post any written component. Let the image speak for itself and in class see how people react
Looking at images from Weekly Challenge #2:
• With each image think about what we feel, what emotions does the image convey?
o Calming?
o Nostalgic?
o Stressful?
o Depressing?
o Anxiety?
o Empowering?
o Intriguing?
o Do you smell anything – freshness?
o Do you feel cold, warm?
• Interesting to see how the different images are constructed – some tell some sort of a story, while others are difficult to figure out
Information Art
• Some images give us a lot of knowledge and from this information we can figure out the meaning behind the image
• While some images are on the other side of the spectrum and take a lot of deep thinking to uncover
-We have to use our own senses
Text
• Is having text in the image beneficial?
-What does adding text to an image do for the audience?
• Depends on what you want the text to do
• Can have it small in the corner, have the words transparent, have the words repeating, etc.
Today:
• Continuing the question of what is an image?
• Images and the Real
What sorts of narratives exist in an image?
• Eg. Image of Virgin Mary
-No sense of space in the image
-We can read the image as a way of stressing certain
messages such as holiness, sacredness, etc.
-Painters in this age had a mission to tell a story
-The afterlife will lead to the heavens – speaks to a certain perception of the world sanction by the church
• The afterlife is worth living for
• Painting talks to what is real and what is not
-Sophisticated language within the image
-Feel somewhat isolated from this world
• Eg. Image from the renaissance
-Perspective representation provided by the illusion of
reality by creating images as if is seen by the eye
-This world is organized in a specific way
-When you are at the front of the image you feel involved in
the universe of the painting
• Universe is revolved around the viewer
-Sense of history – reality now becomes more tangible
• Eg. Painting of boat and sunset – Beginning of Impressionism
-Moved away from photo realism into the feeling of an
image
-What reality is this image talking about?
• Looking at shadows
• Looking into the sunset
• Looking at reflections
• Looking at a reality from within, a reality of the impressions
• It is a sunset that the human has experienced and felt
-For each person this experience is different, so now we are
looking at how the artist has experienced this sunset
-Impressionist painting turned its attention to a different
reality that of the internal world of an artist
-Started to look inside the human and their feelings
• Eg. Black and White image of town
-Hard for painters to compete with photographers
-Anyone could be a photographer
-This was, to a large degree, a response to the advent of
technical image, which took over the role of representing
the visible reality
-Technical Images = Reality
• Technology could allow us to be precise and tell the truth
• Certainty of how things look was a powerful thing
• The world became a lot more tangible
• Put an image in your pocket and share it
• Photography grabs something and takes the real
• Photographs
-What is real became much more tangible
-Documentary = Photography
• Reality seems to constantly shift
-Now with animations, CGI, etc.
-Hard to tell what is real and what is not anymore
Note -Look up:
• Fiodor Dostoyevsky
• Marcel Proust
To think about: What kind of reality is an image?
Weekly Challenge #3:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1olcifa1Zdy6Tj8K2aKBigwRWzYmUVaoz
Lecture 4 – Sept 26th 2018
Post images on an image website (tumblr, flikr, etc.) – they are part of a conversation
• Images today are all public – think about how people interact with them
• Think about the community in which you are a part of
There is a distinction about images that are about information and images that are about art
• INFORM “ART”
• For example, an icon as part of a sign gives us information
• There will always be a level of abstraction however, no image is pure
-There will be a meaning behind every image
Images
• Images are very fluid today
-They can take many forms
• Eg. Smell can be an image, something will come to your mind
-Put them out on the internet
• Images are never in isolation anymore
Adam Curtis
• Documentary – The Century of the Self
-Assembles images to help make his point
-Essentially the procedure of making a collage
-Pay attention to the rhythm, colours, etc.
• Use propaganda and the media to manipulate the masses
-How to control the masses in the 20th century
• He manipulates the content
• Freud – The Unconscious
-Thinking about mass control – how can we control the masses?
• With images?
• An image can change public opinion and manipulate what the public thinks about a certain issue
-Eg. Women smoking for freedom
Questions to think about:
• Can images contribute to social change?
• Can images motivate ethical action?
• Can images embody human freedom?
Homework
• Create a diary through images
• Bring out the feelings of your day
• 7 images
• How do I make someone feel a certain way
-Bring in experiences and feelings
• Encourage to use an online platform to share the image
-Facebook, Flickr, New hive, etc.
• Be aware of how the image is sitting on the screen
09.26
I have been dealing with a chronic back injury for over 9 months now. Some days I’m okay, others not so much… the 26th was one of the bad ones. It would be uncomfortable to sit, I would feel anxious. I felt like I couldn’t walk properly, I felt nauseous. I tried to sleep I couldn’t. Sometimes it feels like this constant, nagging pain will never leave; it’s an irritation that is always on my mind.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
Fried. This is how I felt after frantically trying to finish an assignment before midnight on the 27th. Hours and hours and hours went by. I was flustered, I was confusing words, my eyes were starting to wonder off. I couldn’t think anymore.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
Today was a sunny day. It was bright. I was happy.
I am doing a rehab program for my back injury and am starting to run again. Even having the smallest bit of progress is worth all the tears I cried in the past. I am just constantly smiling when I get to be on the track and feel like nothing else can touch me. I could finally breath.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
For the majority of the day I sat alone trying to think of images to make for this assignment. Hours passed, I didn’t talk to anyone; I was by myself with my thoughts and a lot of blank space. My ideas crossed paths and collided. Some ideas were a success, some fell short. I was all over the place. Eventually, after hours of isolation, my best-friend who lives in Nashville face-timed me and lifted me out of this mental block. It was so nice just to talk to someone about everything and anything.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
09.30
Today was busy. I was rushing between Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey. I had a lot to accomplish and was happy to be keeping busy. A large part of my day included rehabbing for my injury and I just felt very inspired. I have come so far from where I was months ago and I still have further to go. I kept on thinking that the tough times I have felt won’t have any comparison to the success I want to feel. I am hopeful and determined when I look at my longterm goals.
*Play with the sound on*
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
10.01
Today was my Dad’s 60th birthday and it made me very nostalgic and cheerful. I thought about how quickly time passes and how yet another year has gone by. Each year we get older and it seems like the time when we were a kid just keeps getting pushed back further and further in our memory. But I was reminded of how simple and colourful a birthday can be, just enjoying time with family, not worrying about anything else.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
10.02
Tired. Dizzy. Cloudy.
Today I was in the dark room for 3 hours developing some black and white photos. I felt like I was straining my eyes by trying so hard to see in the dark. The smell of the chemicals latched onto my clothing. My head started to blur.
https://visadiary.tumblr.com/
Lecture 5 – Oct 3rd 2018
Today:
• How can I make a more complicated response about the conditions we live in today?
• How have people responded to the technologies of their time?
Futurists
• Group of artists working at the turn of the 20th century
• Very loose collective
• Found themselves having things in common
• Came about in a strange way
• Fillip Tomasso Marinetti
-Important figure in Art History
-Invented this notions of artists being interested in
technology
-Was a poet
• Poets had a sensibility
• He felt something and put it out there
• Resonated with people
Big connection between Art, Technology and Freedom
• Art uses technology
• Everyone’s efforts are closely tied to the notion of freedom
-Do we create this freedom?
-Freedom for viewers in the work
Flying
• Was the technology of the time
• A long dreamt to be able to fly
• An example of the world becoming different
-More transportation
-More possibilities of travel and communication
• A moment of experimentation
• Drive that humanity has to try new things no matter how much failure there is
• The idea may have seemed absurd and the invention made may have seemed absurd as well, but it all lead to what we have today
The New World
• Futurists wanted a completely new world and wanted to get rid of everything in the past
• World become something that wasn’t as great as the futurists thought it would be – it was horrible, terrifying
-Technology lead to wars
• Humans became machine like
Freud
• Used mechanisms to dominate the masses
• Notion of mass control became central because of the experience of war
Questions:
• How do we deal with the world today?
• What is the language today?
• What are the possibilities that new media provides to us?
-Video, sound, gifs, etc.
• How do I express how I am living today?
What is an Image? Images and the Real – COMMENT
It is interesting to think about the relationship between an image and the real in today’s online and technological world. People see images everyday, but as technology continues to develop it becomes harder to know if an image is authentic (ie. it shows something real, something genuine) or if an image is dishonest (ie. it is manipulated or staged). It is important to be media literate in a time where fake news and manipulation is so dominant because it allows us to evaluate and analyze the information we are being fed by ourselves and become dependent on our own skill. Having the ability to critically think and assess what we see will enable us to not get trapped in the digital lies we are constantly surrounded by.
The following link allows you to test your own ability to determine if something is real or fake, give it a go!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-27/fake-news-part-one/10308638
The Power of Images – COMMENT
The following article touches on the question: Have images lost their power? Reading this article made me reflect on how people’s interactions with images has changed throughout the last couple of decades. In 2018, seeing hundreds of images a day via social media has become such a common occurrence that no one stops to think about what they are actually looking at anymore; people just scroll past pictures aimlessly, disregarding what they represent and the messages they are trying to convey. However in the 1970s picture weren’t posted to online platforms, they were more sparse, and therefore held more meaning. Upreti uses the extremely upsetting example of “Napalam Girl”, taken by Nick Upt. The photograph encapsulates the horror of the Vietnam War, targeting human emotions and consequently asking for a solution. The image shocked and touched the hearts of many; it was unlike photographs people had seen before, thus sparking numerous anti-war protests in the USA. Yet, as people now live in the online world, a place that is built from millions of photographs, meaningful images that aim to promote change or tell a story simply get forgotten. Photographs aren’t powerful unless they are seen and standout. Therefore while I believe images are still powerful, it is the context and environment in which an image is seen which makes their power effective; if an image gets circulated among hundreds of others it will do nothing but get neglected.
*WARNING* – Article includes images of war, death and nudity
https://qrius.com/images-have-stopped-wars-and-sparked-revolutions-but-in-this-age-of-oversharing-have-they-lost-their-power/
Weekly Challenge #5: Image of an Image II
When I first listened to Clair De Lune I immediately thought of a whimsical world, a place where there is no time and simply just magic. However as I began to listen again and again I started to become sad because the music reminded me of the times I visited England as a child. My dad would always play Classic FM on the radio on our drives up to the country side. Spending time in England was a fantasy, but sadly my fantasy had a time limit on it. It is always sad to say bye to childhood.
http://newhive.com/katlucas/visa-210-image-of-an-image-ii
Lecture 6 – Oct 7th 2018
Today:
• Images
• Art/Technology/Freedom
• Technology
What is an image?
• Representation/visual/depiction
• Language/expression
• Is an image actually visual?
-Images can be anything like sound as well, but could we argue that what any image does for us is provoke a visual image in our heads
“There is nothing here” – What is this an image of for me?
• Lost space – the space in between two worlds
• Noise
• What are the qualities of this image?
-Movement/motion
-Repetition
-Sense of distance
• Brings up the questions of abstraction
-Can’t seem to make a connection with the image?
• Everyone has a different experience with this image and approach it from a different point of view
-For some of us it is too much, for someone us we engage more with it, have memories or feel uncomfortable
-We will always have a personal, unique relationship with an image
What is image today?
• For example medieval images vs. images today
-They depict different things
-Way of creating an image was fundamentally different
• We are the center from which the universe resides
• An image always corresponds to a particular world view
-A particular form of representation
• When photography was invented the world view changed
-This was the proof that something existed
Photography told us that this is real
• As images and technology change the real changes
-The real creates certain images and the images create the real
Exploration
• Some images are just people messing around, experimenting
• They are products of today
• “Among those who walked the streets, who was truly human anymore”
What can the image make other people feel?
• Focus on the experience
• How do we live today? – What kind of experience are we going through?
What images actually depict the real?
• Is a painting even depicting something real because it is just a painting?
Sound, poems etc.
• They are the catalyst for an image
• Image is just a very deep feeling
• “What is deeply felt and is essentially unsayable; that is the paradox”
Lecture 7 – Oct 17th 2018
Futurists
• Were living in a moment at the turn of the 20th century
• Technology started to have a large presence in our lives
• Cities as we know them today started to rise because of technology
• Limit of freedom was fundamental
-Wanted to free themselves from the past
-Couldn’t just jump into this moment however
-Eg. Flying was the ultimate dream of reality
Futurist Manifesto
• Came up with a project as a group
• This was made possible through new media (newspapers, etc.)
• Marinetti thought he could condense the signs of the time
-A whole movement was created
• Drive to find the ways to describe this new moment
-Every image reflects its time
-Poem is not just about words but the sounds it makes
• New way of understanding something that existed for centuries
Flying
• No one had seen the world from the view before, it was only reserved for God
• Now through technology people could see the world differently
-Everything felt new
Russian Cubo Futurism
• Polarization of movements
• The Russians were in the same, yet in a very different universe
• Communist revolution promised a new society in which everyone would be equal; everyone would have aces to the arts, education, etc.
Flying is still a dream for us. Planes are not quite the same.
Homework:
• Think about the economy of means
• Link between ART/TECH/FREEDOM
• What is the relation between technology and art?
• What is the relation between art and freedom?
• What is the relation between technology and freedom?
• How do they interrelate
Lecture 8 – Oct 24th 2018
Art = Knowledge
• Something we can understand as human beings
• Two things humans can study: art and philosophy
-Tell us what the true nature of what being a human is
-Philosophy is all about understanding
• What is beauty?
• What is god?
• What is it to be human?
• Art approaches things differently
-Not about understanding
-Art tells us “there is something there” but “I don’t know what it is”
-About how to convey emotions
-Pointing to something, but never showing us something
Fluxus
• Art movement originating in New York
• Community of artists, composers, designers and poets
• Engaged in experimental art performances
• People started to appear in difference places with the same ideas
• New ideas of generating new art forms
• Fluxus = flow
-Going with the flow so to speak
• John Cage
-A composer and music theorist
-One of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde
-Saying that “When I listen to “music” I am listening to somebody telling me things”
• There is an artist behind the composition
• Content with listening to sounds
• Trying to access experience
• Idea of being aware, being here in the now
4’33”
• Composition made by John Cage
• Orchestra doesn’t preform any sounds
• What do they hear if nothing is playing?
-The natural sound of movement?
-Imagining what there should be?
• Everything that happens within the time (a cough, a smile, a movement, etc.) becomes the artwork
-Defining that this is an art space
-Music/noise composition
• Making art together
-Within the time frame, the audience is also participating within the artwork
• Becomes a moment of creativity, spontaneity…etc.
-Creates a complete new understanding of what the artist and audience is
• Creating an openness
-Art can be whatever we decide it to be
• Art is life and life if art
Unabomber
• Ted Kaczynski
-Terrorist, mathematician
• Planted bombs
Homework
• Go onto the Fluxus website – (on class page)
-Pick an artwork
• What is an artist?
-See the future? Or create it?
Weekly Challenge #6
I had hoped to post my image through new-hive as I thought it captured my piece well, utilizing moving image and sound, but unfortunately I was unable to finish my project through the website because it hasn’t been able to load for the past couple of days (hopefully ill be able to complete and post it soon!) That being said I made some what of a replica of what I wanted to do through photoshop.
To me ART/TECHNOLOGY/FREEDOM all relate through social media. Humanity, especially teens, have become so reliant on online platforms they they forget to live in the present. People just need to melt their plastic smiles and return to their own authenticity.
https://arttechfreedom.tumblr.com/
———————————————————————————————————–
I was finally able to access NewHive and finished the piece I originally wanted to submit for this assignment!
http://newhive.com/katlucas/visa-210-image-of-image
In the image there is a poem I wrote. It is intentional that you are not able to read the whole poem but in case you were interested as to what it was saying here you go:
It’s not worth it,
The plastic smiles that hang in your closet
You wear the same one everyday
Molded into a fake character
That you don’t even know you own name
You avoid authenticity as if it’s not allowed
Not proud of the life you live,
Crowned a fake, but you try to stand loud and tall
To let them know that you love life,
You love your life or you love your likes?
Numbers feed your happiness
A list of followers you think are your friends, your family,
But can’t you tell it’s all pretend? A fairy tale with a wicked end.
You tell yourself you’re not lonely
Because your screen lights up your life
Yet you scream to be seen
Just like everyone else
A filter, a mask
competing to be among the famous
Because dogs only chase moving cars
Glued to your face, gum stuck
Addicted to this lonely drug
As you constantly scroll your display,
Walking past swings and blowing leaves,
That stop still in the face of the latest Facebook updates
Can’t you see it?
Once you actually take time to look in the mirror,
Wash your disguise off with water
Make your look clear.
Your face an isolated reflection of
Heart emojis that don’t actually mean love
Of followers that don’t actually mean friends
Spend some time in real life.
Weekly Challenge #7
For a Drummer (for Eric)
Drum on something you have never drummed on before.
Drum with something you have never drummed with before.
1966
I found it interesting to see where different sounds came from; which were louder and which were softer.
http://newhive.com/katlucas/visa-210-art-tech-freedom-ii