Hi, my name is Nanxiao Zheng. My preferred name is Stephen. I am now a second year student planning to major in visual arts. I chose to take this course for many reasons. Firstly, I took VISA 110 (Digital Media) last term and have a rough impression about how artists use digital technology to express arts and some other spiritual stuffs. Therefore, I want to dig further to have a more comprehensive knowledge and views toward the interaction between arts and the digital world. And that just matches one of the aims of this course which is the relationship between humanities and technology. Apart from that, my ideal career is partial to UI (User Interface) designer in the future, which would deal with more about humanity and pure technology I believe.
We all know that technology revolution has brought great changes and impacts to modern society and promotes it to a totally new era. Also, as what we watched in class regarding automation that might make lots of workers lose their jobs in the future, I think that in terms of future careers, we humans need to turn the focus to the field that requires more innovation and less repetition, which is the core part that robots or AI can hardly replace of.
After reading the syllabus, I have a brand new understanding towards this course. I found independent self-study may be of vital significance for us to become an academic and artistic researcher to succeed in this course. We need to calm down and dive into the researching atmosphere in order to find out a specific aspect or realm that fits our own researching goals in the mind. Also, I am impressed by the concept of life-long learning that makes me think of a saying in Chinese traditional culture, “Never too old to learn”. Hence, this course would also be a great opportunity for us to foster a good learning habit that would benefits for whole life.
My chosen image was taken by myself last year in my hometown in China. An old building which was constructed in 20th century is the main subject in the picture. Actually it’s relatively hard to see this kind of building in downtown area today, especially a modern department store is just adjacent to it with a continuous stream of customers in stylish clothes every day and night. It’s said that the building would be pulled down and rebuilt some day, but due to some unknown reasons it is still reserved now. I returned to my hometown last year in December to see it on purpose, in order to arouse my special and important memories and feelings toward that building again.
I have lived in that building since I was in kindergarten (maybe even earlier), but not with my parents, actually with my grandparents. My parents were busy with their works and only came to see me during weekends at the time. I began to live with them after the first year in senior high school. That’s a long period of time that I had strong emotions with the old but familiar building. It’s like a totally safe harbour that could prevent any storm outside. More accurately, my emotion to the building is tied with my emotions to grandparents. It’s a symbol of love and a sort of mental sustenance living with my grandparents. And two years after I moved out, my grandparents moved to a new place as well. From then on, the only way could reconnect me with the building spiritually is to revisit the old haunt. Among the memories, in particular, I would never forget the window of my grandparents’ home on the fifth floor. I included it in the picture naturally when I took it on a slope in front of the modern department store. It’s the slope that I always passed through on the way to school (both elementary and junior high school). By looking at the window again and again, I couldn’t remember how many times I ever turned back and looked at that window. It’s like the small window has huge unbelievable magical power. Only I know there would always be a warm gaze from the window. My grandma always saw me off through her eyesight, through the window. When she saw me, she waved her hand, and I waved back. Then I turned back again, walking to school with peace in mind. That may be one of significance of the picture which is the love from my grandparents.
Another significance for me would be an emotional sigh that “how time flies”. The things are still there, but people are no more the same ones. What’s worse, surrounded constructions have almost all been rebuilt or updated, only “stand” the old building as it “did” in old days. It’s like an old person in his twilight standing among a group of vigorous young men. A strong contrast between the life and the death jumps out. The old building has accompanied me in the most of the years in my life so far, now it seems like it is ruthlessly abandoned by the era, by the modernization.
Image refers to:
– a picture
– information
– map reaction–> social
– representation –> reality is intangible and infinite; we need to communicate with each other (talk about it) ; It is a A–>B process
– memories
– picture of two dimensional reality
– emotions
– mental
– capture/not a capture
– reflection of reality
– evocation
the purpose of the image is to:
1. reveal how much/how simple the image is going to be
2. have connection to the 2 dimensional reality
The thesis of the class
– we are living in a moment that image is becoming a kind of language. We use more and more images instead of texts.
-when you send an image, you may go through a long procedure, a mental map (what can we do with it?)
e.g: H2O & Water
they are the same thing but in different pictures
they have different to generate different senses and images
they have two different but particular purposes
It’s hard to find a common/ conflict image of the world
people have different images toward the world due to different cultural backgrounds
But we are sharing our images to try the est to find the community
“Apple” –> something (equals to==> it’s a chemical equation)
but humans don’t have the direct connection between the “APPLE” letters and food
we use images as a medium to convert information
When we communicate with each other, actually we use images to communicate.
Michael Focault
(the word)….”is a secret (–> an image; a kind of reality)”
But images can’t help totally/ perfectly during the communication. e.g: “I told you”, “I hate you”, but the opposite passive one can never feel what you really want to convey. The infor. is close to it but never can reach it
Different phrases have different images (=pics) even if they have the same/similar meaning we could express,
But actually the images are still slightly different.
e.g: “Love arrives” vs “I fall in love” it could generate different senses
In the poetry, writer may use many kinds of narration, metaphors or symbols to describe and make the author say about “love” (example) more and more accurate, to allow readers get to the real “meaning” of what is “love”
What is an image nowadays?
The reflection of The truth of experience
After reading the article, I got some new understandings toward “photography” like the fancy terms “expanded photography”, “photographical” which I have never paid attention to identify them. In the past, my views toward photography were it’s just a tool, an instrument for human beings to record and capture beauties in life. I never regard it as a way of expression of ourselves, and we could use it to communicate with other people by disseminating some spiritual stuffs like thoughts, ideas, imaginations to the world in social media or on some image sharing websites ( As what we learned in the first class, images nowadays function as “sharing”.). The whole world is not solely about realities that are physical and tangible any more since more and more personal experiences, things that regarding to “self” is becoming visualized. In my opinion now, let’s say if we want to judge an photo is good or bad, it might be not enough to simply say whether the technical skills of photography that were used on the photo were proficient or not. Now we tend to concern about the narratives behind a photo, in other words, if this taken photo was set based on certain theories that were formed in a historical backgrounds like surrealism, or if the photographer used certain strategies or methodologies like why he or she staged and pictured the scene in this or that way. Above all, we are trying to incorporate individual elements like individual feelings and emotions into a photo to make an image be full of “vigor”, but no longer a “mechanism”. As what the article talks about, “ Instead of assuming that photography is a mechanism that transforms reality into images, we can invert the terms and see the photographer as a translator, as a facilitator of narratives.” As many classmates have noticed, I am also interested in the using word of “translator”. Here, a photographer is no longer transferring a scene monotonously by applying taught aesthetics and hidebound skills, but adding his or her own unique understandings and interpretations into an image. In this way, we can even have infinite creative ways to manifest or express a same thing, which makes me think of one of our previous assignments–“What is an apple?”. And as what Shakespeare said, “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes.”, even if there is a same object or a scene in front of a photographer (the photographer has already taken a photo of the object or the scene), under different circumstances like different mental conditions or after going through certain particular experiences, the photographer may generate a quite unique new image that would distinguish from the old one. The proportion of “self-awareness” become more and more important in images, and it’s the part that make an image meaningful. Pictures and photos are dead, but images are alive since “we” are in the images, “we” are alive and changing. As what the article says, “Inscribing oneself into the image and image-making process is the only way left to participate in life: moving into the core of the image, into the work and the discourse that lies behind the image and becoming part of it, as well as of the medium”.
– 2-dimension (was captured by mental camera)–> pure pictures/writing
so that it could be transmitted to and be available to many people around the world.
-“pure pie” image
allow people to know sth is existed, is true, tell confidence
kind of an approval/ certification ==> Image equals to the truth
– make abstraction to reality
– became the things that we can capture/take it/ grasp it
-human beings now are still collecting images from the world, it’s like collecting the piece of reality
-Divine painting–> artists are creating/ constructing the legendary world–>by using humanism–>humanize the imaginary–> to images (may not “exist”, but somehow became “real”)
– pixels (basic unite, an abstraction)==>Data (Data Image)–>information
– digital image is different from normal images
– the idea of clone–> we can reproduce infinity digital images, reusable, transmisable
We’re data on the Internet.
(the expansion of ourselves)–> the movie Lucy
The world is in a new dimension/a dimension of data
We can remove/ change everything in digital image
That’s a different kind of “reality”–> A reality that we created,a a conjunction of human technology.
==> Post-human world
Our images are telling us who we are.
*How images construct us?
– Language
– Don’t comment/explain too much on your created image (Don’t be too narrative)
– Feeling=Thinking
– Relationship should be A–>B should have a correlation between the two
– An image exists in itself. Let a work do what it supposes to do
*(Real)–>A–> your personal experiences/past/memory/different understandings of ideas of apple/emotions/imagined/definitions/concepts/conventions/culture
B–> an image that we have
How can we share “A”?
objectivity–>something that people have in common (being shared) based on their subjectivity (conventions and culture)
– It’s hard to find a perfect image that matches your mind.
Return to images
– a puzzle that needs to be solved
– an anxiety
– a pressure & intensity
– chaotic and mysterious
Photography—Technology Industrial Revolution
– image is not just representing sth like divinity in early ages, but it is more faithful to the reality, becoming a kind of communication and a record
– everyone now has the ability to capture a piece of surrounding world
– function of photography==> people can grasp a piece of reality (objectivity);
changing the way how we perceive the world ;
how we see ourselves;
– photography–> sth about reality (becomes a part in science) and the fact
we may don’t need the painters to “paint” the reality painting becomes art.
Who are we?
– using technology to form a human (machines e,g: Hugo) like what Maray did to investigate human body. Eadweard Muybridge used photography to record human motions, movement
What are images today?
– more possibilities than ever before
– creativity can generate some scenes that never happen in the reality, the images in the past can’t do that
– by possibilities–> we have more control of images surrounded us
– every image speaks to a certain reality, a certain world view
– we can share the image with others nowadays
My own thoughts:
– technology–pixels–> new kinds of realities; pixels–> digital world
-the things we can use our 5 senses to approach– they are realities
or about current social condition like prices/poverty
– realities are just wired (sometimes we are confused doing why/ what/ we/ they are)
realities are changing (with its visual representation)
– same “realities” in the past may be different from representations nowadays
– an uncertainty
– transcend established definitions
– define us (social media)
transactions VS narratives
A B–C
A: experiences/mental/story/song
– photo: –>1.narrative (more elaborate) ;telling sth (individual/personal feelings); about time journey;
2.translation (leave you alone with experience) (make sth & turn it into sth else) like make a painting, drawing in order to communicate
– narrative & translation
separate process, no intersection
– A photographer can be both (narrative & translation) e.g: we cut a piece of functional images–> to make our images
– photos nowadays-detached from function (scientific)
Autonomous
both the picture themselves & humans autonomy —-scientific
—-news ==> B
—-wedding
– The notion of Dissemination (detached function)
– Photo vs Images? (today)–> combined with texts, oral language; no more original photography
give us a kind of truth
(claim to truth, to reality)
The power of images?
– Information VS Arts
What makes an image art?
from the video, we go through a translation to form a narrative
information was transformed from pictures to “punched cards”
can be reproduced over and over again
poetry–> unsable
silence somehow is more telling than opening my mouth to communicate (you can;t really know what I really feel about one thing)
– Information Art
Essence
some feelings & emotions that we could never have images about
Video: Images, happiness, control the century of the self
how we create the gap between how we see and how we listen to
spectacle (a place of mind)–social relationship between people media by images
we create images of ourselves==> who we are–> when we encounter others
find common and shared traits
– What is image?
Image is not simply and is not necessarily a visual thing, but anything could be images including a song, people’s thoughts.
Image is an understanding of the relationship to anything in the world.
– The relationship between images and history
Dylan Thomas
Quotes: A good poem is a contribution to reality, The same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
Image is a very powerful instrument, we shape people’s minds, and also organize social relationship
Difference that images give us the technical device versus the contribution of images to arts ?
There is no clear boundary between high tech things and arts in terms of images
Images have many types and sides. Some images just tell us the clear reality that is easy to tell, which is concrete. While some images are relatively abstract and more ambiguous, which is nor explicit and straightforward. These images may become artistic images which may inspire more ideas and raise more questions.
Images can change the society but surely it won’t change something like climate that naturally influence us massively . They may indirectly influence the politics situation, wars and so on by becoming a catalyst.
The more images u have, the more power u can control on ppl
Images and Censorship. E.g: Communist countries control the images that can be seen by citizens
The relationship between images and technology?
– Technology allows us to make images, determines images, the richness, how much power in an image. But images has existed for a long time without images. Kind of a paradox. Technology is mostly associated with physical images, maybe hard for conceptual aspect of images that exist in our minds.
– Technology also allows to distribute images. Eg: make a painting and reproduce it; take a pic of an image and circulate it
Video: John Berger “Ways of seeing ”
– Technology will explain/ interpret a world to us which was unknown to us before
– Everything around the image is part of Its meaning
– Everything around images confirms and consolidate its meaning
Technology not only changes the images nowadays, affects how they create, but also impacts the old images like paintings in the old times. Images are also influencing the technology
What is technology?
– Innovation that makes our lives easier
– Technology is the moment that animals began to use tools–> also starts to generate humanity
– The birth of man/humanity and the birth of technology come together; we are not humans without technology
– People’s life is dominated by technology, we are obesessed with technology
Humans didn’t invent technology, we just discovered it
There is much technology in nature on our earth like how ants and bees construct their bases
Technology is already existed before
Technology is an externalization of humanity?
Documentary–> Human (ppl from different social backgrounds talk their life experiences as being a human)
Language is also a technology.
Technology existing outside of ourselves. We learn it all the way as we go throughout human history
Technology as a discovery but not the invention is similar to the existing knowledge–> Technology is an evolution
Humans need to go through certain steps and processes to reach certain level technology
What is art? And how does art create technology?
Works of Fluxus
How they use tech to create arts
Thinking about what an artist really is
Art–> making something insignificant to be reconsidered, to be remade as an artwork
Art can be anything
Comfort of a certainty which then transfers to other creativity
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 11:39 am
Hi,
When I firstly saw this image, I felt it is somehow surreal to me since the scene shown in the image is ordinary and usual in our real life but being “placed” in another different way. Therefore, I think there are so many hidden messages and emotions behind that need me to figure out. It seems that the door is waiting for me to open in order to show me something (maybe it’s not just the footsteps of growth, like some subconsciousness remaining in the deepest mental states; somehow like a movie scene in the film Inception; also reminds me of the door of Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter). And the unique yellow tone of the overall image gives me a sense of warm and mystery.
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 10:55 am
When seeing this image, I feel cold, not just the physically cold, but also mentally cold. From my perspectives, the coldness in your image can associate with the isolation and loneliness. But, the image to me can also give me a feeling of “warm” since the boy seems to be sitting in the front of a big french window with serenity.
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 11:58 am
Hi,
When I saw this image, I felt a contrast between the pop stuffs and kind of depressed surroundings. The pop things may symbolize the pleased and playful time along with the growth of the author, and the depressed surroundings may manifest the difficulties in life. So I think the author may want to generate a sense that even if life is a contradictory thing that mixes with joy and sufferings, we still need to make a good living in our own unique ways.
Stephen Zheng February 6, 2018 at 11:31 pm
I like your video! It actually surprises me that the soft song and those collapse scenes match so well and naturally that they didn’t give me a wired sense. The strong contrast between the two makes me think about another kind of beauty—the beauty of destruction or the cruel destroy beauty, The destruction is sort of beauty since it brings forth a new order, a new form of life. As what Yeats calls “terrible beauty”.
Stephen Zheng February 7, 2018 at 10:48 am
I feel like the image could reflect on a human’s growth from being born to the death. And also, it may reflect on how human beings as a species progress through time and ages. With the soft music goes in the background, I begin to feel the process that how universe came into being and how creatures and civilization have developed.
Stephen Zheng February 7, 2018 at 11:21 am
I agree with people said that the image could reflect that there is something we need to cherish due to the halo behind the dancer. Halo in art history tends to relate to something holy and valuable.
Stephen Zheng March 14, 2018 at 3:04 pm
This sound of this piece reminds me of the background music of the movie Blade Runner 2049 and Annihilation which is also quite metallic, mechanical and futuristic. The idea that technology is the extension of human body and the integration of universe and human body remind me of the movie Lucy. At the end of the movie, when Lucy reaches 100% of her cerebral capacity, she disappears in the air and “becomes” everything on the earth. Great work overall!
Stephen Zheng March 14, 2018 at 11:44 am
This piece makes me feel that the technology makes the nature way more artificial and “intelligent” that it’s no longer natural. That may be the negative sides of technology that exert on us.
Hi, my name is Nanxiao Zheng. My preferred name is Stephen. I am now a second year student planning to major in visual arts. I chose to take this course for many reasons. Firstly, I took VISA 110 (Digital Media) last term and have a rough impression about how artists use digital technology to express arts and some other spiritual stuffs. Therefore, I want to dig further to have a more comprehensive knowledge and views toward the interaction between arts and the digital world. And that just matches one of the aims of this course which is the relationship between humanities and technology. Apart from that, my ideal career is partial to UI (User Interface) designer in the future, which would deal with more about humanity and pure technology I believe.
We all know that technology revolution has brought great changes and impacts to modern society and promotes it to a totally new era. Also, as what we watched in class regarding automation that might make lots of workers lose their jobs in the future, I think that in terms of future careers, we humans need to turn the focus to the field that requires more innovation and less repetition, which is the core part that robots or AI can hardly replace of.
After reading the syllabus, I have a brand new understanding towards this course. I found independent self-study may be of vital significance for us to become an academic and artistic researcher to succeed in this course. We need to calm down and dive into the researching atmosphere in order to find out a specific aspect or realm that fits our own researching goals in the mind. Also, I am impressed by the concept of life-long learning that makes me think of a saying in Chinese traditional culture, “Never too old to learn”. Hence, this course would also be a great opportunity for us to foster a good learning habit that would benefits for whole life.
My chosen image was taken by myself last year in my hometown in China. An old building which was constructed in 20th century is the main subject in the picture. Actually it’s relatively hard to see this kind of building in downtown area today, especially a modern department store is just adjacent to it with a continuous stream of customers in stylish clothes every day and night. It’s said that the building would be pulled down and rebuilt some day, but due to some unknown reasons it is still reserved now. I returned to my hometown last year in December to see it on purpose, in order to arouse my special and important memories and feelings toward that building again.
I have lived in that building since I was in kindergarten (maybe even earlier), but not with my parents, actually with my grandparents. My parents were busy with their works and only came to see me during weekends at the time. I began to live with them after the first year in senior high school. That’s a long period of time that I had strong emotions with the old but familiar building. It’s like a totally safe harbour that could prevent any storm outside. More accurately, my emotion to the building is tied with my emotions to grandparents. It’s a symbol of love and a sort of mental sustenance living with my grandparents. And two years after I moved out, my grandparents moved to a new place as well. From then on, the only way could reconnect me with the building spiritually is to revisit the old haunt. Among the memories, in particular, I would never forget the window of my grandparents’ home on the fifth floor. I included it in the picture naturally when I took it on a slope in front of the modern department store. It’s the slope that I always passed through on the way to school (both elementary and junior high school). By looking at the window again and again, I couldn’t remember how many times I ever turned back and looked at that window. It’s like the small window has huge unbelievable magical power. Only I know there would always be a warm gaze from the window. My grandma always saw me off through her eyesight, through the window. When she saw me, she waved her hand, and I waved back. Then I turned back again, walking to school with peace in mind. That may be one of significance of the picture which is the love from my grandparents.
Another significance for me would be an emotional sigh that “how time flies”. The things are still there, but people are no more the same ones. What’s worse, surrounded constructions have almost all been rebuilt or updated, only “stand” the old building as it “did” in old days. It’s like an old person in his twilight standing among a group of vigorous young men. A strong contrast between the life and the death jumps out. The old building has accompanied me in the most of the years in my life so far, now it seems like it is ruthlessly abandoned by the era, by the modernization.
Here is the link of my image. (can’t upload it to Newhive)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qiN5BQSOVckwygXIIDfzQ3qBuGkcTpc78U-LsaDCecE/edit?usp=sharing
What is an image?
–>The picture, the writing –> a relation
Image refers to:
– a picture
– information
– map reaction–> social
– representation –> reality is intangible and infinite; we need to communicate with each other (talk about it) ; It is a A–>B process
– memories
– picture of two dimensional reality
– emotions
– mental
– capture/not a capture
– reflection of reality
– evocation
the purpose of the image is to:
1. reveal how much/how simple the image is going to be
2. have connection to the 2 dimensional reality
The thesis of the class
– we are living in a moment that image is becoming a kind of language. We use more and more images instead of texts.
-when you send an image, you may go through a long procedure, a mental map (what can we do with it?)
e.g: H2O & Water
they are the same thing but in different pictures
they have different to generate different senses and images
they have two different but particular purposes
It’s hard to find a common/ conflict image of the world
people have different images toward the world due to different cultural backgrounds
But we are sharing our images to try the est to find the community
“Apple” –> something (equals to==> it’s a chemical equation)
but humans don’t have the direct connection between the “APPLE” letters and food
we use images as a medium to convert information
When we communicate with each other, actually we use images to communicate.
Michael Focault
(the word)….”is a secret (–> an image; a kind of reality)”
But images can’t help totally/ perfectly during the communication. e.g: “I told you”, “I hate you”, but the opposite passive one can never feel what you really want to convey. The infor. is close to it but never can reach it
Different phrases have different images (=pics) even if they have the same/similar meaning we could express,
But actually the images are still slightly different.
e.g: “Love arrives” vs “I fall in love” it could generate different senses
In the poetry, writer may use many kinds of narration, metaphors or symbols to describe and make the author say about “love” (example) more and more accurate, to allow readers get to the real “meaning” of what is “love”
The link of image of an image:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12WbLqeCj7tvns-bhuvJzpYYffGyA1cGeOuhmfcHHCv8/edit?usp=sharing
What is an image nowadays?
The reflection of The truth of experience
After reading the article, I got some new understandings toward “photography” like the fancy terms “expanded photography”, “photographical” which I have never paid attention to identify them. In the past, my views toward photography were it’s just a tool, an instrument for human beings to record and capture beauties in life. I never regard it as a way of expression of ourselves, and we could use it to communicate with other people by disseminating some spiritual stuffs like thoughts, ideas, imaginations to the world in social media or on some image sharing websites ( As what we learned in the first class, images nowadays function as “sharing”.). The whole world is not solely about realities that are physical and tangible any more since more and more personal experiences, things that regarding to “self” is becoming visualized. In my opinion now, let’s say if we want to judge an photo is good or bad, it might be not enough to simply say whether the technical skills of photography that were used on the photo were proficient or not. Now we tend to concern about the narratives behind a photo, in other words, if this taken photo was set based on certain theories that were formed in a historical backgrounds like surrealism, or if the photographer used certain strategies or methodologies like why he or she staged and pictured the scene in this or that way. Above all, we are trying to incorporate individual elements like individual feelings and emotions into a photo to make an image be full of “vigor”, but no longer a “mechanism”. As what the article talks about, “ Instead of assuming that photography is a mechanism that transforms reality into images, we can invert the terms and see the photographer as a translator, as a facilitator of narratives.” As many classmates have noticed, I am also interested in the using word of “translator”. Here, a photographer is no longer transferring a scene monotonously by applying taught aesthetics and hidebound skills, but adding his or her own unique understandings and interpretations into an image. In this way, we can even have infinite creative ways to manifest or express a same thing, which makes me think of one of our previous assignments–“What is an apple?”. And as what Shakespeare said, “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes.”, even if there is a same object or a scene in front of a photographer (the photographer has already taken a photo of the object or the scene), under different circumstances like different mental conditions or after going through certain particular experiences, the photographer may generate a quite unique new image that would distinguish from the old one. The proportion of “self-awareness” become more and more important in images, and it’s the part that make an image meaningful. Pictures and photos are dead, but images are alive since “we” are in the images, “we” are alive and changing. As what the article says, “Inscribing oneself into the image and image-making process is the only way left to participate in life: moving into the core of the image, into the work and the discourse that lies behind the image and becoming part of it, as well as of the medium”.
Week 10
https://youtu.be/78D6A-2awuY
What’s an image?
You use sth that equals to sth else
– one of the powers of arts–> share experiences
– sth that unites us, we have sth in common
We can’t really give in to the image.
It is unstoppable, it cannot be driven away–>the powerful image
Technical Image
multiple dimensions (reduces)
– 2-dimension (was captured by mental camera)–> pure pictures/writing
so that it could be transmitted to and be available to many people around the world.
-“pure pie” image
allow people to know sth is existed, is true, tell confidence
kind of an approval/ certification ==> Image equals to the truth
– make abstraction to reality
– became the things that we can capture/take it/ grasp it
-human beings now are still collecting images from the world, it’s like collecting the piece of reality
-Divine painting–> artists are creating/ constructing the legendary world–>by using humanism–>humanize the imaginary–> to images (may not “exist”, but somehow became “real”)
What’s Digital Image?
– pixels (basic unite, an abstraction)==>Data (Data Image)–>information
– digital image is different from normal images
– the idea of clone–> we can reproduce infinity digital images, reusable, transmisable
We’re data on the Internet.
(the expansion of ourselves)–> the movie Lucy
The world is in a new dimension/a dimension of data
We can remove/ change everything in digital image
That’s a different kind of “reality”–> A reality that we created,a a conjunction of human technology.
==> Post-human world
Our images are telling us who we are.
*How images construct us?
What is an image?
– Language
– Don’t comment/explain too much on your created image (Don’t be too narrative)
– Feeling=Thinking
– Relationship should be A–>B should have a correlation between the two
– An image exists in itself. Let a work do what it supposes to do
*(Real)–>A–> your personal experiences/past/memory/different understandings of ideas of apple/emotions/imagined/definitions/concepts/conventions/culture
B–> an image that we have
How can we share “A”?
objectivity–>something that people have in common (being shared) based on their subjectivity (conventions and culture)
What is an image?
– It’s hard to find a perfect image that matches your mind.
Return to images
– a puzzle that needs to be solved
– an anxiety
– a pressure & intensity
– chaotic and mysterious
Photography—Technology Industrial Revolution
– image is not just representing sth like divinity in early ages, but it is more faithful to the reality, becoming a kind of communication and a record
– everyone now has the ability to capture a piece of surrounding world
– function of photography==> people can grasp a piece of reality (objectivity);
changing the way how we perceive the world ;
how we see ourselves;
– photography–> sth about reality (becomes a part in science) and the fact
we may don’t need the painters to “paint” the reality painting becomes art.
Who are we?
– using technology to form a human (machines e,g: Hugo) like what Maray did to investigate human body. Eadweard Muybridge used photography to record human motions, movement
What are images today?
– more possibilities than ever before
– creativity can generate some scenes that never happen in the reality, the images in the past can’t do that
– by possibilities–> we have more control of images surrounded us
– every image speaks to a certain reality, a certain world view
– we can share the image with others nowadays
My own thoughts:
– technology–pixels–> new kinds of realities; pixels–> digital world
-the things we can use our 5 senses to approach– they are realities
or about current social condition like prices/poverty
– realities are just wired (sometimes we are confused doing why/ what/ we/ they are)
realities are changing (with its visual representation)
– same “realities” in the past may be different from representations nowadays
– an uncertainty
– transcend established definitions
– define us (social media)
transactions VS narratives
A B–C
A: experiences/mental/story/song
– photo: –>1.narrative (more elaborate) ;telling sth (individual/personal feelings); about time journey;
2.translation (leave you alone with experience) (make sth & turn it into sth else) like make a painting, drawing in order to communicate
– narrative & translation
separate process, no intersection
– A photographer can be both (narrative & translation) e.g: we cut a piece of functional images–> to make our images
– photos nowadays-detached from function (scientific)
Autonomous
both the picture themselves & humans autonomy —-scientific
—-news ==> B
—-wedding
– The notion of Dissemination (detached function)
– Photo vs Images? (today)–> combined with texts, oral language; no more original photography
give us a kind of truth
(claim to truth, to reality)
The power of images?
– Information VS Arts
What makes an image art?
from the video, we go through a translation to form a narrative
information was transformed from pictures to “punched cards”
can be reproduced over and over again
poetry–> unsable
silence somehow is more telling than opening my mouth to communicate (you can;t really know what I really feel about one thing)
– Information Art
Essence
some feelings & emotions that we could never have images about
Language
association
Visual Sound
Illustration
Abstraction
“Falling”
Video: Images, happiness, control the century of the self
how we create the gap between how we see and how we listen to
spectacle (a place of mind)–social relationship between people media by images
we create images of ourselves==> who we are–> when we encounter others
find common and shared traits
Artists–> Images
Freedom–> Images–> human/ control: press
beauty–? Freedom
Final Conclusion
– What is image?
Image is not simply and is not necessarily a visual thing, but anything could be images including a song, people’s thoughts.
Image is an understanding of the relationship to anything in the world.
– The relationship between images and history
Dylan Thomas
Quotes: A good poem is a contribution to reality, The same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
Image is a very powerful instrument, we shape people’s minds, and also organize social relationship
Difference that images give us the technical device versus the contribution of images to arts ?
There is no clear boundary between high tech things and arts in terms of images
Images have many types and sides. Some images just tell us the clear reality that is easy to tell, which is concrete. While some images are relatively abstract and more ambiguous, which is nor explicit and straightforward. These images may become artistic images which may inspire more ideas and raise more questions.
Images can change the society but surely it won’t change something like climate that naturally influence us massively . They may indirectly influence the politics situation, wars and so on by becoming a catalyst.
The more images u have, the more power u can control on ppl
Images and Censorship. E.g: Communist countries control the images that can be seen by citizens
The relationship between images and technology?
– Technology allows us to make images, determines images, the richness, how much power in an image. But images has existed for a long time without images. Kind of a paradox. Technology is mostly associated with physical images, maybe hard for conceptual aspect of images that exist in our minds.
– Technology also allows to distribute images. Eg: make a painting and reproduce it; take a pic of an image and circulate it
Video: John Berger “Ways of seeing ”
– Technology will explain/ interpret a world to us which was unknown to us before
– Everything around the image is part of Its meaning
– Everything around images confirms and consolidate its meaning
Technology not only changes the images nowadays, affects how they create, but also impacts the old images like paintings in the old times. Images are also influencing the technology
What is technology?
– Innovation that makes our lives easier
– Technology is the moment that animals began to use tools–> also starts to generate humanity
– The birth of man/humanity and the birth of technology come together; we are not humans without technology
– People’s life is dominated by technology, we are obesessed with technology
Humans didn’t invent technology, we just discovered it
There is much technology in nature on our earth like how ants and bees construct their bases
Technology is already existed before
Technology is an externalization of humanity?
Documentary–> Human (ppl from different social backgrounds talk their life experiences as being a human)
Language is also a technology.
Technology existing outside of ourselves. We learn it all the way as we go throughout human history
Technology as a discovery but not the invention is similar to the existing knowledge–> Technology is an evolution
Humans need to go through certain steps and processes to reach certain level technology
What is art? And how does art create technology?
Works of Fluxus
How they use tech to create arts
Thinking about what an artist really is
Art–> making something insignificant to be reconsidered, to be remade as an artwork
Art can be anything
Comfort of a certainty which then transfers to other creativity
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 11:39 am
Hi,
When I firstly saw this image, I felt it is somehow surreal to me since the scene shown in the image is ordinary and usual in our real life but being “placed” in another different way. Therefore, I think there are so many hidden messages and emotions behind that need me to figure out. It seems that the door is waiting for me to open in order to show me something (maybe it’s not just the footsteps of growth, like some subconsciousness remaining in the deepest mental states; somehow like a movie scene in the film Inception; also reminds me of the door of Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter). And the unique yellow tone of the overall image gives me a sense of warm and mystery.
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 10:55 am
When seeing this image, I feel cold, not just the physically cold, but also mentally cold. From my perspectives, the coldness in your image can associate with the isolation and loneliness. But, the image to me can also give me a feeling of “warm” since the boy seems to be sitting in the front of a big french window with serenity.
Stephen Zheng January 24, 2018 at 11:58 am
Hi,
When I saw this image, I felt a contrast between the pop stuffs and kind of depressed surroundings. The pop things may symbolize the pleased and playful time along with the growth of the author, and the depressed surroundings may manifest the difficulties in life. So I think the author may want to generate a sense that even if life is a contradictory thing that mixes with joy and sufferings, we still need to make a good living in our own unique ways.
Stephen Zheng February 6, 2018 at 11:31 pm
I like your video! It actually surprises me that the soft song and those collapse scenes match so well and naturally that they didn’t give me a wired sense. The strong contrast between the two makes me think about another kind of beauty—the beauty of destruction or the cruel destroy beauty, The destruction is sort of beauty since it brings forth a new order, a new form of life. As what Yeats calls “terrible beauty”.
Stephen Zheng February 7, 2018 at 10:48 am
I feel like the image could reflect on a human’s growth from being born to the death. And also, it may reflect on how human beings as a species progress through time and ages. With the soft music goes in the background, I begin to feel the process that how universe came into being and how creatures and civilization have developed.
Stephen Zheng February 7, 2018 at 11:21 am
I agree with people said that the image could reflect that there is something we need to cherish due to the halo behind the dancer. Halo in art history tends to relate to something holy and valuable.
The Image of the Image II
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Q6ysn2h1E5-nkhWowqxAqbvYBfQasm7JLXg3YgEHtI/edit?usp=sharing
I could edit and save my image in Newhive, but when I tried to see it as a visitor, it couldn’t be loaded.
Midterm Reflections
Group Member: Stephen Zheng and Ding Kangkang
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtBK2ikFMr-xpluJym5ndjk1-3Ne
Stephen Zheng March 14, 2018 at 3:04 pm
This sound of this piece reminds me of the background music of the movie Blade Runner 2049 and Annihilation which is also quite metallic, mechanical and futuristic. The idea that technology is the extension of human body and the integration of universe and human body remind me of the movie Lucy. At the end of the movie, when Lucy reaches 100% of her cerebral capacity, she disappears in the air and “becomes” everything on the earth. Great work overall!
week 09- 03.06- Technology and Humans today
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u6cMNsz4v8ngGSLMKiMmXB4IZRGF7smqWdIsymMQR64/edit?usp=sharing
Stephen Zheng March 14, 2018 at 11:44 am
This piece makes me feel that the technology makes the nature way more artificial and “intelligent” that it’s no longer natural. That may be the negative sides of technology that exert on us.
Week 12 Final Discussion
TUMBLR:
https://coolbouquetmakeruniverse.tumblr.com/image/172586871094
Google Drive:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bRaxF4cGf3qFCzQjAo_4oVOrsyfdP27eA1ICNdsTjNk/edit?usp=sharing
Week 12 Final Discussion
https://coolbouquetmakeruniverse.tumblr.com/image/172586871094