I work in a variety of mediums including digital, watercolour, and drawing. Over the past semester, I have explored the theme of psychogeography through graphic design in relationship to Vancouver. Experimenting with this type of design is something that is completely new to me and I am keen to continue on this path and develop my practice. Exploring the relationship of the digital to the real (through design) is what I would really like to explore this semester and further my knowledge of contemporary culture. Additionally the integration of digital design and “real” materials is another way I would like to expand my practice to follow the themes of this course. I have never entered that realm of combining the digital and real so practicing this in the course is the perfect oppourtunity to do so.
Visual Essay:
My visual essay is a compilation of text surrounding the word play of “verisimilitude”. I believe this word specifically encompasses many of the concepts that we have been discussing around technology and the human condition. This word centres around the appearance of truth, which is subject to the content around it. Word play in video form also signals to the technology of linguistics and communication that we have achieved over the digital realm.
verisimilitude
[ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood]
noun
1.
the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability:
The play lacked verisimilitude.
2.
something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth.
In this video I created, I was thinking about the way that technology surpasses the human form in regards to conversation and emotional experience. How we express emotion through technology is extremely different from a personal interaction. Online personas give us the ability to become someone who we might not necessarily associate ourselves in real life. This video is meant to show the roller coaster of emotions of someone expressing their feelings through a form of Digital media. One who watches might even feel desensitized to the content as it has become common to use aggressive language within this internet age.
Throughout this course, I’ve been thinking a lot about the merge of technology and the human form. The modern integration of DJ’s and technology is one of the closest forms that I believe mimics the “forth shift” (as mentioned in the Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens” article: “Floridi believes we are now entering the fourth shift, as what we do online and offline merge into an onlife. He asserts that, as our society increasingly becomes an infosphere, a mixture of physical and virtual experiences, we are acquiring an onlife personality – different from who we innately are in the “real world” alone.
A music artist who I have worked with for my job as an event coordinator is called “Slow Magic” and performs only with a electronic mask on. This not only hides his identity but creates a technological personality created from the light show. Protecting his identity with this mask gives him a life free from the paparazzi and provides an integration of incredible light forms to quite literally create a new face (which is reminiscent of a wolf). His face becomes a source of entertainment, even though it isn’t his real one.
Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance”
-List of Quotations that compelled me to think about how our privacy hasnt changed a bit but just our perception of who/what has our information and how are they using that information.
“The intelligence community hoped that the nation?s leading computer scientists could take non-classified information and user data, combine it with what would become known as the internet, and begin to create for-profit, commercial enterprises to suit the needs of both the intelligence community and the public.”
“The intelligence community wanted to shape Silicon Valley?s supercomputing efforts at their inception so they would be useful for both military and homeland security purposes. Could this supercomputing network, which would become capable of storing terabytes of information, make intelligent sense of the digital trail that human beings leave behind?”
“Digital privacy concerns over the intersection between the intelligence community and commercial technology giants have grown in recent years. But most people still don?t understand the degree to which the intelligence community relies on the world?s biggest science and tech companies for its counter-terrorism and national-security work.”
In a direct response to the last quotation, I found this other article that recently came out about google using its technology to pass information over to the Pentagon.
“A program called Project Maven is utilising the technology to automate the analysis of objects in the enormous amount of images that are captured by the Department of Defence’s surveillance drones – also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).”
Another famous DJ who reveals his identity is called Marshmallow and like Slow Magic, he has a helmet that both conceals his face and creates a light show.
“Masked performers have been omnipresent in electronic music, from mouse head-wearing Deadmau5 to the robot-helmeted Daft Punk. But Marshmello’s stratospheric rise has been faster than that of any of his hidden compatriots: Ingenious marketing and infectious hits propelled him to Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid DJs less than two years after his first public performance. The independent artist earned an eye-watering $21 million pretax in the 12 months prior to June 2017, thanks to more than 170 gigs with grosses north of $150,000 a show, Forbes estimates.”
“Wearing masks and/or headgear is one way that DJs and performers have long adopted the guise of anonymity throughout dance music history. Consciously or not, any time an act like Daft Punk, Deadmau5, or Marshmello takes the stage dressed as robots, an LED screen-equipped rodent, or a spongy white gelatin puff, they pay tribute to the cunning disguises that have cloaked so many house and techno artists in the decades before them.”
“But by 2010, the mask no longer signified anonymity, but instead became how a performer stood out in a crowded market.”
“Electronic music, after all, has always been do-it-yourself, even if no one actually knows who you are.”
The sensation could reflect a desire to escape. The intervening years were and are mostly ones of horror. Yet they exist. They cannot be treated like a cloud that passes across the moon. And for all their horror, they must be counted years of progress. To dismiss them would be to retrogress
If the word revolution is used seriously and not merely as an epithet for this season’s novelties, it implies a process. No revolution is simply the result of personal originality. The maximum that such originality can achieve is madness: madness is revolutionary freedom confined to the self.
I do not wish to suggest a period of ebullient optimism. It was a period of poverty, exploitation, fear and desperation. The majority could only be concerned with the means of their survival, and millions did not survive. But for those who asked questions, there were new positive answers whose authenticity seemed to be guaranteed by the existence of new forces.
As an extension of my interest in musicians who conceal their identity through technology I created a video that highlights the moments of when Slow magic looked at the crowd during a concert I attended. This is a work in progress but the pauses in the video are meant to highlight the point of “eye contact” that the artist has with the crowd. While it may seem that he is looking at us, we genuinely do not know as the technology is covering his face. There is a divide between human and robot in this instance of entertainment.
I posted this under the “weekly assignment” for week 2 twice but it isn’t showing up (I had a whole paragraph of my perspective of the quotes so hopefully it will show up soon with approval of a moderator). Heres the quotes just in case that I found very compelling.
9. The two psychological tendencies that underlie modern leftism we call “feelings of inferiority” and “oversocialization.” Feelings of inferiority are characteristic of modern leftism as a whole, while oversocialization is characteristic only of a certain segment of modern leftism; but this segment is highly influential.
FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY
10. By “feelings of inferiority” we mean not only inferiority feelings in the strict sense but a whole spectrum of related traits; low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, depressive tendencies, defeatism, guilt, self- hatred, etc. We argue that modern leftists tend to have some such feelings (possibly more or less repressed) and that these feelings are decisive in determining the direction of modern leftism.
My final project is a newhive cultivation of content about masked DJ culture. The identity of many modern DJ’s are concealed through an electronic mask that provides shelter to their personal life. One of the questions asked was “What is the relationship between technology and capitalism” and this prevalence of technology within music artists identities answers exactly that. These people completely rely on the secrecy that the technology in their “Faces” provides for them, leading to a lifestyle fuelled by fans fascination of their music integrated with technology.
boobs
haha
I work in a variety of mediums including digital, watercolour, and drawing. Over the past semester, I have explored the theme of psychogeography through graphic design in relationship to Vancouver. Experimenting with this type of design is something that is completely new to me and I am keen to continue on this path and develop my practice. Exploring the relationship of the digital to the real (through design) is what I would really like to explore this semester and further my knowledge of contemporary culture. Additionally the integration of digital design and “real” materials is another way I would like to expand my practice to follow the themes of this course. I have never entered that realm of combining the digital and real so practicing this in the course is the perfect oppourtunity to do so.
Visual Essay:
My visual essay is a compilation of text surrounding the word play of “verisimilitude”. I believe this word specifically encompasses many of the concepts that we have been discussing around technology and the human condition. This word centres around the appearance of truth, which is subject to the content around it. Word play in video form also signals to the technology of linguistics and communication that we have achieved over the digital realm.
verisimilitude
[ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood]
noun
1.
the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability:
The play lacked verisimilitude.
2.
something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth.
This is the video I have created:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DpvwOHBV8kLkoKvg736SKMf5zy4RQE-k/view?usp=sharing
In this video I created, I was thinking about the way that technology surpasses the human form in regards to conversation and emotional experience. How we express emotion through technology is extremely different from a personal interaction. Online personas give us the ability to become someone who we might not necessarily associate ourselves in real life. This video is meant to show the roller coaster of emotions of someone expressing their feelings through a form of Digital media. One who watches might even feel desensitized to the content as it has become common to use aggressive language within this internet age.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzJikwvhMJdNNENGaGFqbHdJeDg/view?usp=sharing
Here is a continuation of my exploration of technology and how humanity functions behind a system of messaging.
Another video I created:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YhfBvGUBJgPPy49BtMfH6nwv0_JtnGc5/view?usp=sharing
Throughout this course, I’ve been thinking a lot about the merge of technology and the human form. The modern integration of DJ’s and technology is one of the closest forms that I believe mimics the “forth shift” (as mentioned in the Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens” article: “Floridi believes we are now entering the fourth shift, as what we do online and offline merge into an onlife. He asserts that, as our society increasingly becomes an infosphere, a mixture of physical and virtual experiences, we are acquiring an onlife personality – different from who we innately are in the “real world” alone.
A music artist who I have worked with for my job as an event coordinator is called “Slow Magic” and performs only with a electronic mask on. This not only hides his identity but creates a technological personality created from the light show. Protecting his identity with this mask gives him a life free from the paparazzi and provides an integration of incredible light forms to quite literally create a new face (which is reminiscent of a wolf). His face becomes a source of entertainment, even though it isn’t his real one.
Slow Magic During a live set:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33eYjrUBV0
Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance”
-List of Quotations that compelled me to think about how our privacy hasnt changed a bit but just our perception of who/what has our information and how are they using that information.
“The intelligence community hoped that the nation?s leading computer scientists could take non-classified information and user data, combine it with what would become known as the internet, and begin to create for-profit, commercial enterprises to suit the needs of both the intelligence community and the public.”
“The intelligence community wanted to shape Silicon Valley?s supercomputing efforts at their inception so they would be useful for both military and homeland security purposes. Could this supercomputing network, which would become capable of storing terabytes of information, make intelligent sense of the digital trail that human beings leave behind?”
“Digital privacy concerns over the intersection between the intelligence community and commercial technology giants have grown in recent years. But most people still don?t understand the degree to which the intelligence community relies on the world?s biggest science and tech companies for its counter-terrorism and national-security work.”
In a direct response to the last quotation, I found this other article that recently came out about google using its technology to pass information over to the Pentagon.
“A program called Project Maven is utilising the technology to automate the analysis of objects in the enormous amount of images that are captured by the Department of Defence’s surveillance drones – also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).”
https://news.sky.com/story/google-confirms-its-drone-tech-is-used-by-pentagon-11279985
Another famous DJ who reveals his identity is called Marshmallow and like Slow Magic, he has a helmet that both conceals his face and creates a light show.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/11/14/unmasking-marshmello-the-real-identity-of-the-21-million-dj/#46374274ffe0
“Masked performers have been omnipresent in electronic music, from mouse head-wearing Deadmau5 to the robot-helmeted Daft Punk. But Marshmello’s stratospheric rise has been faster than that of any of his hidden compatriots: Ingenious marketing and infectious hits propelled him to Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid DJs less than two years after his first public performance. The independent artist earned an eye-watering $21 million pretax in the 12 months prior to June 2017, thanks to more than 170 gigs with grosses north of $150,000 a show, Forbes estimates.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_uksuF0arE
A Brief History of Masked DJs—From Orbital to Marshmello: How dance musicians find their identities by losing themselves.
https://thump.vice.com/en_ca/article/nzmqkk/masked-djs-history-orbital-deadmau5-daft-punk-marshmello
“Wearing masks and/or headgear is one way that DJs and performers have long adopted the guise of anonymity throughout dance music history. Consciously or not, any time an act like Daft Punk, Deadmau5, or Marshmello takes the stage dressed as robots, an LED screen-equipped rodent, or a spongy white gelatin puff, they pay tribute to the cunning disguises that have cloaked so many house and techno artists in the decades before them.”
“But by 2010, the mask no longer signified anonymity, but instead became how a performer stood out in a crowded market.”
“Electronic music, after all, has always been do-it-yourself, even if no one actually knows who you are.”
Favorite Passages from “THE MOMENT OF CUBISM”
https://newleftreview.org/I/42/john-berger-the-moment-of-cubism
The sensation could reflect a desire to escape. The intervening years were and are mostly ones of horror. Yet they exist. They cannot be treated like a cloud that passes across the moon. And for all their horror, they must be counted years of progress. To dismiss them would be to retrogress
If the word revolution is used seriously and not merely as an epithet for this season’s novelties, it implies a process. No revolution is simply the result of personal originality. The maximum that such originality can achieve is madness: madness is revolutionary freedom confined to the self.
I do not wish to suggest a period of ebullient optimism. It was a period of poverty, exploitation, fear and desperation. The majority could only be concerned with the means of their survival, and millions did not survive. But for those who asked questions, there were new positive answers whose authenticity seemed to be guaranteed by the existence of new forces.
As an extension of my interest in musicians who conceal their identity through technology I created a video that highlights the moments of when Slow magic looked at the crowd during a concert I attended. This is a work in progress but the pauses in the video are meant to highlight the point of “eye contact” that the artist has with the crowd. While it may seem that he is looking at us, we genuinely do not know as the technology is covering his face. There is a divide between human and robot in this instance of entertainment.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSj1ZGRDODnYddopoWHwmzrMi_raxuym/view?usp=sharing
I posted this under the “weekly assignment” for week 2 twice but it isn’t showing up (I had a whole paragraph of my perspective of the quotes so hopefully it will show up soon with approval of a moderator). Heres the quotes just in case that I found very compelling.
9. The two psychological tendencies that underlie modern leftism we call “feelings of inferiority” and “oversocialization.” Feelings of inferiority are characteristic of modern leftism as a whole, while oversocialization is characteristic only of a certain segment of modern leftism; but this segment is highly influential.
FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY
10. By “feelings of inferiority” we mean not only inferiority feelings in the strict sense but a whole spectrum of related traits; low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, depressive tendencies, defeatism, guilt, self- hatred, etc. We argue that modern leftists tend to have some such feelings (possibly more or less repressed) and that these feelings are decisive in determining the direction of modern leftism.
My final project is a newhive cultivation of content about masked DJ culture. The identity of many modern DJ’s are concealed through an electronic mask that provides shelter to their personal life. One of the questions asked was “What is the relationship between technology and capitalism” and this prevalence of technology within music artists identities answers exactly that. These people completely rely on the secrecy that the technology in their “Faces” provides for them, leading to a lifestyle fuelled by fans fascination of their music integrated with technology.
https://newhive.com/bethterracina/final-project