Hi guys, I’m Mahsan Jaffari; if there was one thing I practice in my art is that I’m interested in my cultural memories from Tehran, and the banal and mundane objects that sometimes define our culture.
My learning objectives for this class would be to break out of my comfort zone and explore mediums such as photography, performance, etc. I’ve also recently started getting into installations, which I really enjoy. I also want to see how technology can be seen in what is interpreted as “traditional” artworks from Tehran, Iran, etc. Iranian art is not given the same opportunities as Westerna and European art, and I want to explore how we use technology to break that barrier and make ourselves access contemporary discourse.
“For a long time it was thought that art was the imitation and celebra- tion of nature. The confusion arose because the concept of nature itself was a projection of the desired. Now that we have cleansed our view of nature, we see that art is an expression of our sense of the inadequacy of the given—which we are not obliged to accept with gratitude. Art mediates between our good fortune and our disappointment. Some- times it mounts to the pitch of horror: sometimes it concentrates its energy upon the insistence that reality should be changed so that it may continue as it is, and become unchangeable. Sometimes it describes the desired.”
When I read this part of the reading, it was a moment of me excitingly agreeing with what it was suggesting. The way “nature” was depicted in art is much like our social media today; what we see on a day-to-day basis that is served to us in a pedestal like form, and history repeats itself in the aesthetic.
Today in another class of mine (and many others), we were talking about how in the past humans were spectacles for the Gods, and now, it’s shifted in that we are and creating the spectacles for ourselves. This has created such a spectacle for us as humans that (for me personally) I don’t even care about the bags or how it’s a runway. It’s abolished that space for me; fashion is for humans created by humans, it makes absolutely no sense to me to replace the model with a drone–just for the effort of creating a spectacle. I’m having conflicting feelings about it but nonetheless thought it was interesting.
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.
The subject matter revolves around the subject matter of “biohackers”, groups of people that use technology to modify their bodies. It’s interesting to me to think about how technology is being used daily to enhance our lives, socially, financially etc. This man was fined because he’s evading fare, but the chip actually works. It just so happens that what they’re using to implement the technology on is our body. For what reason do we need to do that? Convenience and/or laziness? It starts at the point that we need something for the sake of comfort. What makes us human is this–need that goes beyond the primal or survival based instinct. We absolutely do not need to insert the chip of a transit card into our hands–it’s out of convenience. Technology is now feeding on our desire. Our technology is coming full circle in that technology is a vehicle for a human’s nature–destruction–and now we must use it to create new ways to save our environment and our surroundings. Stephen Hawkings, who uses technology to have survived up to this point, has even mentioned that we have to be careful of our implementation of technology (specifically AI), and that it can be our doom. It speaks levels that he of all people would say this, someone who NEEDS technology to be able to do the most basic human function–to live.
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.
Hi guys, I’m Mahsan Jaffari; if there was one thing I practice in my art is that I’m interested in my cultural memories from Tehran, and the banal and mundane objects that sometimes define our culture.
My learning objectives for this class would be to break out of my comfort zone and explore mediums such as photography, performance, etc. I’ve also recently started getting into installations, which I really enjoy. I also want to see how technology can be seen in what is interpreted as “traditional” artworks from Tehran, Iran, etc. Iranian art is not given the same opportunities as Westerna and European art, and I want to explore how we use technology to break that barrier and make ourselves access contemporary discourse.
“For a long time it was thought that art was the imitation and celebra- tion of nature. The confusion arose because the concept of nature itself was a projection of the desired. Now that we have cleansed our view of nature, we see that art is an expression of our sense of the inadequacy of the given—which we are not obliged to accept with gratitude. Art mediates between our good fortune and our disappointment. Some- times it mounts to the pitch of horror: sometimes it concentrates its energy upon the insistence that reality should be changed so that it may continue as it is, and become unchangeable. Sometimes it describes the desired.”
When I read this part of the reading, it was a moment of me excitingly agreeing with what it was suggesting. The way “nature” was depicted in art is much like our social media today; what we see on a day-to-day basis that is served to us in a pedestal like form, and history repeats itself in the aesthetic.
VISA 481 Visual Essay Assignment:
https://imgur.com/a9b90Me
(please click download for it to be viewed!)
VISA 481 Visual Essay Assignment (new):
https://imgur.com/a/EGNZ0
(please click download if not viewable by link!)
This is an interesting post I found over the reading break, and I thought it fit into our class pretty well somehow.
http://time.com/5175797/dolce-gabbana-drones-handbags-fashion-show-2018/
Today in another class of mine (and many others), we were talking about how in the past humans were spectacles for the Gods, and now, it’s shifted in that we are and creating the spectacles for ourselves. This has created such a spectacle for us as humans that (for me personally) I don’t even care about the bags or how it’s a runway. It’s abolished that space for me; fashion is for humans created by humans, it makes absolutely no sense to me to replace the model with a drone–just for the effort of creating a spectacle. I’m having conflicting feelings about it but nonetheless thought it was interesting.
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.
An article about a man who took the chip off a transit card and inserted into his hand–self-proclaimed “cyborg”.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-43428003
The subject matter revolves around the subject matter of “biohackers”, groups of people that use technology to modify their bodies. It’s interesting to me to think about how technology is being used daily to enhance our lives, socially, financially etc. This man was fined because he’s evading fare, but the chip actually works. It just so happens that what they’re using to implement the technology on is our body. For what reason do we need to do that? Convenience and/or laziness? It starts at the point that we need something for the sake of comfort. What makes us human is this–need that goes beyond the primal or survival based instinct. We absolutely do not need to insert the chip of a transit card into our hands–it’s out of convenience. Technology is now feeding on our desire. Our technology is coming full circle in that technology is a vehicle for a human’s nature–destruction–and now we must use it to create new ways to save our environment and our surroundings. Stephen Hawkings, who uses technology to have survived up to this point, has even mentioned that we have to be careful of our implementation of technology (specifically AI), and that it can be our doom. It speaks levels that he of all people would say this, someone who NEEDS technology to be able to do the most basic human function–to live.
A post I was unable to submit on March 15:
With the death of Stephen Hawking, I can’t help but obviously think about the connection between man and technology. With the talks about what it means to be human throughout the weeks, I also thought about what I said about how (I don’t remember who it was I was referring to) technology is used to heighten what it is to be human. For me, it’s just ironic how his mind was just so far beyond “human” for me personally (in a colloquial sense). In this case, technology is being used to not heighten being human–but to BE a human, to be able to a vehicle for thoughts and ideas that are beyond our own means. It shows that technology is not strange, and how it doesn’t diminish or magnify him as a human beings. The technology used allows others to look past disability, and focus their attention on who they are, on them as people, on them as human.