Marx (1818-1883)
Marx divided society into two major classes- the bourgeoisie- (capitalist society or employee), who owns the means of production and the proletarian- working class - those who have the ability to work- meaning that the working class have no option but to work for the employee.
Marx argued that Das Kapital (1867) that the fundamental condition of a capitalist society is the exploration of the working man or woman labourers by the employee. Thus meaning that the workers do not receive full value for his or her labour as the surplus is retained into the employee's profit. This being so the unregulated labour does not oblige the employee to pay the worker full value for his work.
Marx and Engels (1820-1895) believed the exploration of the workers led to class struggle (The Communist Manifesto: 1848 state "the history of hitherto existing society is the history of the class struggle, and capitalist society results in class domination. This then leads to the development of 'class consciousness,' a perspective of the world determined by the economic position.
Theories which position economic relations as the bases of social phenomena are called "materialist theories" where as Marx's version so known as "historical materialism".
Marxist concepts can be applied to the visual culture - especially to the role of the mass media, in the reproduction of the 'status quo'. The media is viewed as an example where these class views are fought out. These professionals while enjoying a certain illusion of autonomy are socialised the norms of a dominant culture (what we say,show etc. is the truth).
Marx meaning of Base and Superstructure is that he uses these as a metaphor for the capitalist social structure. The base, the economy (which includes relations of production is the foundation and thus determines the superstructure, society which are the forms of state (social, political and intellectual consciousness).
Ideology and cultural leadership are part of the superstructure which is less important to the base. Base and superstructure is a two way interrelationship and when applied to the mass media it is associated with control and ownership (ultimate control) results in monopolies.
The different way of looking at the subject outlined by Chandler and which one makes more sense and why are as follows ;- The one that makes more sense is to Marxist tradition of the culture industries (in terms of their economic determination, the contents and meanings of the media and its message are firstly determined by the economics of the organisation in which they are produced. These organisations are in control of the dormant class which reinforces their control and strenghtens their consciousness through ideology is subordinate to the economic base.
In my understanding of the base and superstructure is that society in general (plus media and the arts), is that the ideas that we form are part of the superstructure and the economy informs that superstructure.
Chandler D 2000 Marxist theory "Base and Superstructure".
D. Alleua Anne 2005 Methods and Theories of Art History.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Monday, 14 January 2013
yues keins and picasso the blue period
I recently watched a interesting program on Pablo Picasso and Yues Keins about their "Blue Period".
Picasso's Blue period 1901-1904
When he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue - green only occasionally warmed by other colours. These sombre works inspired in Spain but were painted in Paris, are now some of the most popular works although he had difficulty selling them at the time. These 'Blue Period' works seemed to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability depicting beggars, street urchins and the old, frail, and blind.
Yues Keins
Many of his early works were monochromes which were painted in a variety of colours, however by the late 1950's he attributed a particular role to blue. For Keins blue embodied for him the most abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature (the sky and sea) it is said that at one time he laid on a beach a studied the blue sky. His monochromes became almost exclusively patented as "International Klien (IKB) although the colour was never produced commercially.
( must look into this subject further).
Picasso's Blue period 1901-1904
When he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue - green only occasionally warmed by other colours. These sombre works inspired in Spain but were painted in Paris, are now some of the most popular works although he had difficulty selling them at the time. These 'Blue Period' works seemed to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability depicting beggars, street urchins and the old, frail, and blind.
Yues Keins
Many of his early works were monochromes which were painted in a variety of colours, however by the late 1950's he attributed a particular role to blue. For Keins blue embodied for him the most abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature (the sky and sea) it is said that at one time he laid on a beach a studied the blue sky. His monochromes became almost exclusively patented as "International Klien (IKB) although the colour was never produced commercially.
( must look into this subject further).
Friday, 4 January 2013
Project 28 Lacan's prose is notoriously remote
Project 28 Lacan's prose is notoriously remote
Having read the passage three or four times as with all of Lucan's work I still remain unsure of his theory. I did a web search but was unable to find anything relevant although I did come across a number of articles vilifying Lucan and his ideas. I then turned to Kaja Silverman. On this subject I came across this interesting quote.
" Lacan's prose is notoriously remote, and his presentation deliberately a- systematic. Many of the terms to which he most frequently returns constantly shift meaning. These qualities make it almost impossible to offer definitive statements about the Lucanian argument indeed, Lucan himself almost never agreed with his commentators" (Visual Culture The Reader; eds. Jessia Evans and Stuart Hall; Sage Publications 2010p340).
Silverman seems to avoid the problems that this raises for her as a commentator. It seems that she picks those parts that supports one's theory and even then ignores the problems with the parts that remain unclear. i.e. when she fails to address the questions of the congenitally blind child and Lucan's initial belief that the mirror stage occurred around four months. Having argued with Lucan's "almost never agreed with his commentators" Silverman failed to see the irony of her being a commentator with whom Lucan would most likely disagree - so added to my confusion!
I would like to give my thoughts to a poster shown in my course book by Dan Smith called This is my war too!
As follows
I think this is dismissing Lucan's theory by saying that the female is equal to the male in bring able to defend in the aspect her country by the wording "This is my war too" maybe not in the front line but by bringing support in any way possible.?
Having read the passage three or four times as with all of Lucan's work I still remain unsure of his theory. I did a web search but was unable to find anything relevant although I did come across a number of articles vilifying Lucan and his ideas. I then turned to Kaja Silverman. On this subject I came across this interesting quote.
" Lacan's prose is notoriously remote, and his presentation deliberately a- systematic. Many of the terms to which he most frequently returns constantly shift meaning. These qualities make it almost impossible to offer definitive statements about the Lucanian argument indeed, Lucan himself almost never agreed with his commentators" (Visual Culture The Reader; eds. Jessia Evans and Stuart Hall; Sage Publications 2010p340).
Silverman seems to avoid the problems that this raises for her as a commentator. It seems that she picks those parts that supports one's theory and even then ignores the problems with the parts that remain unclear. i.e. when she fails to address the questions of the congenitally blind child and Lucan's initial belief that the mirror stage occurred around four months. Having argued with Lucan's "almost never agreed with his commentators" Silverman failed to see the irony of her being a commentator with whom Lucan would most likely disagree - so added to my confusion!
I would like to give my thoughts to a poster shown in my course book by Dan Smith called This is my war too!
As follows
I think this is dismissing Lucan's theory by saying that the female is equal to the male in bring able to defend in the aspect her country by the wording "This is my war too" maybe not in the front line but by bringing support in any way possible.?
Thursday, 3 January 2013
meanings etc
EXACERBATION problem – or bad situation it makes it worse
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalker someone who walks in their sleep
SOMATIC relating to the body as distinguished from the mind
MYOPIA visual defect in which distant objects are blurred
EROTOGENIC causes sexual excitement
INNERVATION the distribution or supply of nerves i.e. the supply of nervous energy
OPHTHALMIC of or relating to the eye
PSYCHOANALYTIC method of treating phobias by analysing emotional conflicts
FETISHING object or activity regarded with excessive devotion
FREUD best known for his theories of the unconscious mind
CHRISTOPHER STRACHEY British computer scientist
PREGENITAL designates the libidinal phases prior to the definitive genital organization of psychosexuality i.e. fixation on something i.e. reading in the toilet the fixation is that part of the body’s substance is being lost so fresh matter must be absorbed through the eyes!!!!
Freud Chapter 20 (page 324-6 Visual Culture) Fetish
ABHERENT a supporter of a cause or an individual
THRONE AND ALTAR relations between the church and the state
SCOTOMIZED the minds ability to erase a traumatic or overwhelming experience
BASILISK legendary reptile (king of serpents) said to have the power of death with a single glance
ONE LOOKS AT AN OBJECT IN ORDER TO SHARE FROM ITS EXPERIENCE
PHALLUS Undifferentiated tissue in embryo (that becomes penis or clitoris
VICISSITUDE up and downs – successive changes
AMBIVALENT unable to decide what cause to follow
LIBIDINAL sexual drive manifestation of sexual drive
SCOPTOPHILIC obtaining pleasure by looking at nude bodies. erotic photos etc.
ENLIGHENMENT criticizes from the outside
MODERNIUM criticizes from the inside
LIBIDINOUS showing strong desires (sexual?)
ANTITHESIS direct contract opposition of hope is the antithesis of despair
ARCHAIC period of time proceeding a “classical time”
PSYCHOANALYTICAL study of the human psychological functioning and behaviour three applications
1) Investigating the mind
2) systematized body of knowledge about human behaviour
3) method of treatment
MOLILTY biological term refers to the ability to move independently
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalking
Train of thought the essential points is that looking is conceived as a means of identification
MYOPIA lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or looking
TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM a reductionism theory that presumes that society’s technology drives the development of social structure and culture
ALTHUSSENAN Louis Althusser was a Marxist philosopher 1918-1990
QUOTE THERE IS NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT INTENTION AND INTERPRETATION – DAVID OLSON
ARXICM named after Karl Marx also known as scientific (as opposed to utopian) socialism
UTOPIAN SOCIALISM term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought
MONOLITHIC unchanging structure that does not permit individual variation
ORTHODOX MARXISM used to describe the version of Marxism after the death of Karl Marx seeks to simplify codify and systematise Marxist thought- ironing out perceived ambiguities and contradictions
CODIFY to organize or collect together dialectical materialism the materialistic philosophy of Marx and Engel’s.
OPIATE something that dulls the senses and induces relaxation? Marx view of religion
PROLETARIAL poorest class of working people
WILLIAM MORRIS English textile designer artist writer and socialist associated with Pre-Rap.Brother-hood 1834-1896
H.G. WELLS English author socialist and sympathetic of pacifist views
CAPITALISM individual ownership of wealth and dominance of it
COMMODIFICATION art targeting specific buyers – art that is not purely an expression of the artist’s ideals but tailored is subject matter and style to meet a specific market
MINIMALISM movement of art and design – worked stripped down to its most fundamental features
CONCEPTUALISM conceptual art is art that the ideas involved to the work take precedence over the actual making of the subject, so the work of some artists can be constructed by anyone by following a set of instructions
BANAL commonplace
CRITERION a standard law or rule by which a correct judgement can be made
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalker someone who walks in their sleep
SOMATIC relating to the body as distinguished from the mind
MYOPIA visual defect in which distant objects are blurred
EROTOGENIC causes sexual excitement
INNERVATION the distribution or supply of nerves i.e. the supply of nervous energy
OPHTHALMIC of or relating to the eye
PSYCHOANALYTIC method of treating phobias by analysing emotional conflicts
FETISHING object or activity regarded with excessive devotion
FREUD best known for his theories of the unconscious mind
CHRISTOPHER STRACHEY British computer scientist
PREGENITAL designates the libidinal phases prior to the definitive genital organization of psychosexuality i.e. fixation on something i.e. reading in the toilet the fixation is that part of the body’s substance is being lost so fresh matter must be absorbed through the eyes!!!!
Freud Chapter 20 (page 324-6 Visual Culture) Fetish
ABHERENT a supporter of a cause or an individual
THRONE AND ALTAR relations between the church and the state
SCOTOMIZED the minds ability to erase a traumatic or overwhelming experience
BASILISK legendary reptile (king of serpents) said to have the power of death with a single glance
ONE LOOKS AT AN OBJECT IN ORDER TO SHARE FROM ITS EXPERIENCE
PHALLUS Undifferentiated tissue in embryo (that becomes penis or clitoris
VICISSITUDE up and downs – successive changes
AMBIVALENT unable to decide what cause to follow
LIBIDINAL sexual drive manifestation of sexual drive
SCOPTOPHILIC obtaining pleasure by looking at nude bodies. erotic photos etc.
ENLIGHENMENT criticizes from the outside
MODERNIUM criticizes from the inside
LIBIDINOUS showing strong desires (sexual?)
ANTITHESIS direct contract opposition of hope is the antithesis of despair
ARCHAIC period of time proceeding a “classical time”
PSYCHOANALYTICAL study of the human psychological functioning and behaviour three applications
1) Investigating the mind
2) systematized body of knowledge about human behaviour
3) method of treatment
MOLILTY biological term refers to the ability to move independently
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalking
Train of thought the essential points is that looking is conceived as a means of identification
MYOPIA lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or looking
TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM a reductionism theory that presumes that society’s technology drives the development of social structure and culture
ALTHUSSENAN Louis Althusser was a Marxist philosopher 1918-1990
QUOTE THERE IS NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT INTENTION AND INTERPRETATION – DAVID OLSON
ARXICM named after Karl Marx also known as scientific (as opposed to utopian) socialism
UTOPIAN SOCIALISM term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought
MONOLITHIC unchanging structure that does not permit individual variation
ORTHODOX MARXISM used to describe the version of Marxism after the death of Karl Marx seeks to simplify codify and systematise Marxist thought- ironing out perceived ambiguities and contradictions
CODIFY to organize or collect together dialectical materialism the materialistic philosophy of Marx and Engel’s.
OPIATE something that dulls the senses and induces relaxation? Marx view of religion
PROLETARIAL poorest class of working people
WILLIAM MORRIS English textile designer artist writer and socialist associated with Pre-Rap.Brother-hood 1834-1896
H.G. WELLS English author socialist and sympathetic of pacifist views
CAPITALISM individual ownership of wealth and dominance of it
COMMODIFICATION art targeting specific buyers – art that is not purely an expression of the artist’s ideals but tailored is subject matter and style to meet a specific market
MINIMALISM movement of art and design – worked stripped down to its most fundamental features
CONCEPTUALISM conceptual art is art that the ideas involved to the work take precedence over the actual making of the subject, so the work of some artists can be constructed by anyone by following a set of instructions
BANAL commonplace
CRITERION a standard law or rule by which a correct judgement can be made
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
project 29 buffy the freudian
Project 29 Buffy the Freudian
Buffy - ("Well you have not seen this Adam thing. He is the Terminator without the bashful charm") The little character from the movie The Terminator was far from being bashful or charming. Buffy uses the hyper bile to express just how dangerous Adam is.
Willows dream - Willow is painting Sappho's love poem ` Hymn to Aphrodite` in Greek onto Tara's (her girlfriend) back. She then find herself on Sunnydale High School stage about to perform in a radically changed `Death of a salesman` she is uneasy as she doesn`t know her lines or role. Then Buffy take her to stand in front of a classroom wearing nerdy clothes. Xander mocks her as she nervously begins her book review. Oz (willows ex boyfriend) flirts with Tara while watching Willow doing her book report. Suddenly Willow is attacked and the life is sucked out of her by the first slayer.
Her confusion in the dream represents her lack of self confidence, her fear that she does not fit in or have a place in the world. By her wearing ordinary clothes, which the others comment on the excellence of her `costume` this gives reference to her fear that these friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger, nerdy and awkward. It also suggests that the maze of red curtains on the stage represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara and are a sexual metaphor as well. (Freud her sexuality with another female - Lacan -what she shows to others is an illusion she puts on an act because she is unsure of herself).
Xanders Dream-- Xander wakes up on Buffy's couch, excuses himself to use the restroom finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce (Buffy's mum) in the restroom he starts to unzip then realises that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to take notes and observe his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles (Buffy's watcher) and Spike (a vampire) in a playground where Spike tells him Giles is going to teach him to be a watcher, while Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream van with (Anya) (a demon) Willow and Tara they are all dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy make-up they ask him to join them in the back he goes to the back only to find himself in his basement (where he lives) then goes to the University and meets Giles, who starts to reveal the reasons for the dream, but suddenly starts speaking in french. He then finds himself in a reenactment of the `Apocalypse Now`. The scene between a captive Capt. Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walker Kurts. Throughout the sequence Xander end up in his basement again and again. Chased by an unseen pursuer who revealed as the first slayer when she tears his heart out.
The main theme of Xanders dream is his sense of failure and being left behind by his friends he feels stuck throughout his dream by the inability to leave the basement bedroom in his parents house. Also by being the only one not at collage with the others he feels anxiety about his ability to understand (ideas and conversations) and keep up with them. This is further shown when Buffy and Willow tells him "We are well ahead of you)". Underscoring his fear that this is really the case. (Freud - young son whats to replace father as the main focus in the family life and sexually).
Giles Dream - Begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy (a Watcher is a mentor and trainer). They are in Giles apartment which has no furniture other than a chair and a bed. Buffy laughs ,then the dream cuts to his family with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground, quicker than the others to realise something is wrong he confronts Spike who is posing for a photo shoot in his crypt. In the Bronze (a club) he meets Anya failing as a stand up comedian and Willow and Xander,(with a bloody chest wound) warns him of their attacker. He then breaks in to song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but the sound system breaks down, He then crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault be begins to realise his pursuer is the first slayer just as she (slayer) scalps him.
Giles is represented with two choices whether to remain a father figure to Buffy or begin his own life. This is shown by the appearance of his girlfriend Olivia who pushes an empty baby stroller. In this dream of the dream Buffy is dressed as a child unable to throw a ball without his help, this being an indication of that Buffy will not be able to do her job without him. Then we see Olivia weeping this signifies elements of his unfulfilled life i.e. marriage and children.
Final Dream Sequence
Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm. room, then finds herself in her room at home. Then Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the University Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley (was her boyfriend I think) at the Initiative. He is promoted to surgeon general and is drawing plans with Adam for world domination, the three of them are interrupted by a demon attack and Riley and Adam make a pillow fort, When Buffy finds her weapons bag it only contains mud which she smears on her face. She is transported to the dessert and finally meets the First Slayer through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she must work on her own which she (Buffy) rejects.The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a slayer the isolation and the loneliness she is forced to endure.
Further notes - The opening dream sequence focused though Willow, illustrates the way that language dissociates us from our own desires (Lacan's psychoanalysis) By sexualizing the painting on Tara's back could this exemplify a point made by Freud; "The most prominent of the parts of the body from which libido arises are known as 'erotogenic zones' although in fact the whole of the body is an erotogenic zone of its own kind.
Xanders continual return (in the dream sequence) is to the scene of his childhood trauma (the basement of his home) perfectly illustrates Freud's understanding of repetition compulsion. Xander also exhibits the classic desire (oedipal) for the mother though his sexual encounter with "Buffy's mum," this ties up with the phallic phase of development (Xander's visit to the bathroom but cannot perform due to the gaze of his father which changes into doctors.
extracts taken from Prof. Fellugu. (felluga/373 engl 373 the theory of SF-F.
"Restless" centres on the dreams of the four main characters after ending an exhausting fight in the last episode. These are used to comment on the characters their fears, their past and their possible future. Consistent in these dreams is the first slayer who hunts and kills them one by one until she in confronted by and dis-empowered by Buffy.
Two Allusions - Faith (" So that my dream that had some stuff about cigars and a tunnel") Faith makes a Freudian kind of joke. Freud believed that things in our dreams where symbolic. Cigars and tunnels would therefore be symbolic with sex.
Buffy - ("Well you have not seen this Adam thing. He is the Terminator without the bashful charm") The little character from the movie The Terminator was far from being bashful or charming. Buffy uses the hyper bile to express just how dangerous Adam is.
Her confusion in the dream represents her lack of self confidence, her fear that she does not fit in or have a place in the world. By her wearing ordinary clothes, which the others comment on the excellence of her `costume` this gives reference to her fear that these friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger, nerdy and awkward. It also suggests that the maze of red curtains on the stage represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara and are a sexual metaphor as well. (Freud her sexuality with another female - Lacan -what she shows to others is an illusion she puts on an act because she is unsure of herself).
Xanders Dream-- Xander wakes up on Buffy's couch, excuses himself to use the restroom finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce (Buffy's mum) in the restroom he starts to unzip then realises that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to take notes and observe his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles (Buffy's watcher) and Spike (a vampire) in a playground where Spike tells him Giles is going to teach him to be a watcher, while Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream van with (Anya) (a demon) Willow and Tara they are all dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy make-up they ask him to join them in the back he goes to the back only to find himself in his basement (where he lives) then goes to the University and meets Giles, who starts to reveal the reasons for the dream, but suddenly starts speaking in french. He then finds himself in a reenactment of the `Apocalypse Now`. The scene between a captive Capt. Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walker Kurts. Throughout the sequence Xander end up in his basement again and again. Chased by an unseen pursuer who revealed as the first slayer when she tears his heart out.
The main theme of Xanders dream is his sense of failure and being left behind by his friends he feels stuck throughout his dream by the inability to leave the basement bedroom in his parents house. Also by being the only one not at collage with the others he feels anxiety about his ability to understand (ideas and conversations) and keep up with them. This is further shown when Buffy and Willow tells him "We are well ahead of you)". Underscoring his fear that this is really the case. (Freud - young son whats to replace father as the main focus in the family life and sexually).
Giles Dream - Begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy (a Watcher is a mentor and trainer). They are in Giles apartment which has no furniture other than a chair and a bed. Buffy laughs ,then the dream cuts to his family with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground, quicker than the others to realise something is wrong he confronts Spike who is posing for a photo shoot in his crypt. In the Bronze (a club) he meets Anya failing as a stand up comedian and Willow and Xander,(with a bloody chest wound) warns him of their attacker. He then breaks in to song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but the sound system breaks down, He then crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault be begins to realise his pursuer is the first slayer just as she (slayer) scalps him.
Giles is represented with two choices whether to remain a father figure to Buffy or begin his own life. This is shown by the appearance of his girlfriend Olivia who pushes an empty baby stroller. In this dream of the dream Buffy is dressed as a child unable to throw a ball without his help, this being an indication of that Buffy will not be able to do her job without him. Then we see Olivia weeping this signifies elements of his unfulfilled life i.e. marriage and children.
Final Dream Sequence
Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm. room, then finds herself in her room at home. Then Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the University Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley (was her boyfriend I think) at the Initiative. He is promoted to surgeon general and is drawing plans with Adam for world domination, the three of them are interrupted by a demon attack and Riley and Adam make a pillow fort, When Buffy finds her weapons bag it only contains mud which she smears on her face. She is transported to the dessert and finally meets the First Slayer through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she must work on her own which she (Buffy) rejects.The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a slayer the isolation and the loneliness she is forced to endure.
Further notes - The opening dream sequence focused though Willow, illustrates the way that language dissociates us from our own desires (Lacan's psychoanalysis) By sexualizing the painting on Tara's back could this exemplify a point made by Freud; "The most prominent of the parts of the body from which libido arises are known as 'erotogenic zones' although in fact the whole of the body is an erotogenic zone of its own kind.
Xanders continual return (in the dream sequence) is to the scene of his childhood trauma (the basement of his home) perfectly illustrates Freud's understanding of repetition compulsion. Xander also exhibits the classic desire (oedipal) for the mother though his sexual encounter with "Buffy's mum," this ties up with the phallic phase of development (Xander's visit to the bathroom but cannot perform due to the gaze of his father which changes into doctors.
extracts taken from Prof. Fellugu. (felluga/373 engl 373 the theory of SF-F.
Monday, 24 September 2012
Project 27 Being and its Semblance
Project 27 Being and its Semblance
Schrodinger Cat is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory of superposition proposed by Erwin Schrodinger in 1935. The cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us what is true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the microscope level and what we observe with the unaided human eye. Put a cat in a box with a small flask of poison and a radioactive source (sealed). If the internal monitor detects the radioactivity the flask is shattered releasing the poison that kill the cat. The idea being that according to the laws of quantum physics the cat is both alive and dead because until it is perceived both scenarios are simultaneously true.
The gaze
Reflections - Bruno Zabagglio
This was commissioned by a group called `Branch` for the cover of a CD Reflections is a stunning painting of colour and gesso at first it is the explosion of colour and texture that pulls you in. An organic Rorschach that makes you want to both define its patterns and yet not dare to do so. As with any great painting, photographs are pale representations of the original you must be in its presence up close and personal to fully appreciate its impact.
The gaze decides the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and the awareness that one can be viewed.
In Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood' Little Red is an object of desire for the wolf and Droopy Dog a prize to be won, and curves to be admired. In many comics and cartoons woman are introduced as isolated body parts rather than characters.
The eye Looking in the eye of someone I feel myself under the gaze of someone else I do not see.
A Quote from Jacques Lacan I can feel myself under the gaze of someone whose eyes I do not see, nor even discern. All that is necessary is for something to signify to me that there are others there. This window (which we all have) of it gets dark and if I have reasons for thinking that there is someone behind it, it is straight away a gaze.
In the song by Sisters of Mercy these lyrics appear " I don't exist when you don't see me' so does this mean that the external gaze makes the singer real (Schroeder's experiment)? Does this tie in with Lacan suggesting that the gaze is not what we do to an object but the means by which the object impinges on our consciousness, an object not of ourselves. The act of photographing people has made them act in a way for the camera - perhaps with instructions from the photographer so the act is not of the photographed but the photographer.
.
Chiara Aime born in Italy 1991 self taught - depiction of the human face - these faces seems to be modelled pictorially speaking - paying attention to the areas such as the eyes, expression of the soul, individual
the mouth and the nose. A further study of the inner psychological type that reflects her state of mind. The faces represent almost a tangle of emotions and feeling that come from her thoughts. In this particular face the eyes almost stare into your soul - quite mesmerising.
The Ambassadors bu Hans Holbein the younger
The painting contains an optical illusion that seems out of place in it, relatively mundane subject matter. If we stand in a particular spot in relation to the painting we see what appears to be a vague sliver instead this becomes a skull. This skull is waiting inside the painting to catch our gaze and throw it back at us. This reminds us of our own status as potential objects and for our mortality.
The spectator gaze - gaze of a viewer at an image, this being the most common form of gaze. You look at me,can also see you looking at others.
Intra-diegetic gaze - this is a gaze of one depicted person at other with the image i.e. Degaz Le Vol (the Rape)
This gaze is intra-diegetic the characters in the image that gazes at the subject (the young girl) may feel disgusted and upset by the image- but do not really feel any guilt. We are not the perpetrators of the assault.
Extra - diegetic gaze this is the direct address to the viewer the gaze of a person in an image looking out as in job of a newsreader.
I
Schrodinger Cat is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory of superposition proposed by Erwin Schrodinger in 1935. The cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us what is true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the microscope level and what we observe with the unaided human eye. Put a cat in a box with a small flask of poison and a radioactive source (sealed). If the internal monitor detects the radioactivity the flask is shattered releasing the poison that kill the cat. The idea being that according to the laws of quantum physics the cat is both alive and dead because until it is perceived both scenarios are simultaneously true.
The gaze
Reflections - Bruno Zabagglio
This was commissioned by a group called `Branch` for the cover of a CD Reflections is a stunning painting of colour and gesso at first it is the explosion of colour and texture that pulls you in. An organic Rorschach that makes you want to both define its patterns and yet not dare to do so. As with any great painting, photographs are pale representations of the original you must be in its presence up close and personal to fully appreciate its impact.
The gaze decides the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and the awareness that one can be viewed.
In Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood' Little Red is an object of desire for the wolf and Droopy Dog a prize to be won, and curves to be admired. In many comics and cartoons woman are introduced as isolated body parts rather than characters.
A Quote from Jacques Lacan I can feel myself under the gaze of someone whose eyes I do not see, nor even discern. All that is necessary is for something to signify to me that there are others there. This window (which we all have) of it gets dark and if I have reasons for thinking that there is someone behind it, it is straight away a gaze.
In the song by Sisters of Mercy these lyrics appear " I don't exist when you don't see me' so does this mean that the external gaze makes the singer real (Schroeder's experiment)? Does this tie in with Lacan suggesting that the gaze is not what we do to an object but the means by which the object impinges on our consciousness, an object not of ourselves. The act of photographing people has made them act in a way for the camera - perhaps with instructions from the photographer so the act is not of the photographed but the photographer.
Chiara Aime born in Italy 1991 self taught - depiction of the human face - these faces seems to be modelled pictorially speaking - paying attention to the areas such as the eyes, expression of the soul, individual
The Ambassadors bu Hans Holbein the younger
The painting contains an optical illusion that seems out of place in it, relatively mundane subject matter. If we stand in a particular spot in relation to the painting we see what appears to be a vague sliver instead this becomes a skull. This skull is waiting inside the painting to catch our gaze and throw it back at us. This reminds us of our own status as potential objects and for our mortality.
The spectator gaze - gaze of a viewer at an image, this being the most common form of gaze. You look at me,can also see you looking at others.
Intra-diegetic gaze - this is a gaze of one depicted person at other with the image i.e. Degaz Le Vol (the Rape)
This gaze is intra-diegetic the characters in the image that gazes at the subject (the young girl) may feel disgusted and upset by the image- but do not really feel any guilt. We are not the perpetrators of the assault.
Extra - diegetic gaze this is the direct address to the viewer the gaze of a person in an image looking out as in job of a newsreader.
Inter- diegetic gaze - defers our guilt someone else is hurting that person (or has) which makes us feel guilty
Different forms of the gaze evoke different structures of power. Cinema, adverts, computer games thrive on contradictions. Psychoanalysis seek to evaluate and identify the architecture and symptoms of the gaze
I
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Project 26 Ecclesiastes misquoted
Project 26 Esslesiastes misquoted
The Blade Runner - the Directors Cut
In this the director Ridley Scott finally reveals the answer to a plot which has been a topic of fierce debate for almost 2 decades. Fans have been divided over whether Harrison Ford's portrayal of the hard boiled cop character Deckard was not human but a genetically engineered 'replicant' the very creatures he is tasked to destroy.
The clue is the appearance of a unicorn on screen while Deckard is lost in thought. Yet another hint comes from the number of 'replicants which Deckard is hunting. We see that six had made their way to earth one of whom was killed. Deckard is then looking for 4 begging the question "Who is the 5th 'replicant?
In the film The Matrix which can be interpreted as a criticum of the unreal consumer culture we live in, a culture that may be distracting us from the reality (that we are being exploited by someone or something ) just as the machines exploited the humans in the Matrix for bio-electricity.
The film bought up two references to the work of Baudrillard. The first being near to start of the film - when Neo grabs the authors book 'Simulacra and Simulation' to retrieve some mind altering substances hidden in it. The second is Morpheus when he shows Neo the "real world" - saying "welcome to the desert of the real"
In fact the 1997 script had Morpheus saying to Neo "as in Baudrillards vision, your whole life has been spent inside the map not the territory. This is Chicago as it exists today the desert of the real".
In an interview entitled "Baudrillard decodes the Matrix" in the Le Niuvel Observatur after the release of the movie, Baudrillard said he had been contacted by the production team regarding his contribution, "It was not really conceivable" he pointed out that the movie failed to investigate the implications of Simulation.
Notes on Baudrillards book Simulacra and Simulations
In the 1980 Baudrillard moved from economically based theory to the consideration of mediation and mass communication (media) he still retained his interest in Saussurean Semiolies and the logic of symbolic exchange (as influenced by Marcel Mauss). Baudrillard turned his attention to the work of Marshall McLuhan on ideas how the nature of social relations is determined by communications that society employs.
" The simulacrum is never what hides the truth- it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true".
Badrillard was concerned with the cultural impact of mass/electronic media. Our culture of simulation has progressed to the point that simulation no longer refers to the world. Reality has been replaced by nested systems of signs, all referring to one another. Baudrillard calls " precession of simulacra". These images began as a reflection of reality, are now not related to reality (but now to other images).
An example of this is Disneyland an imaginary world, set up to mask the fact that America is itself only a simulation in which people take on roles but never truly interact. In some ways electronic media makes everything a simulation e.i. political scandals that mask broader truths about the capitalist system.
Baudrillard also mentions historical movies which are more "real" that the reality was history is no longer an active force all cultures are congealing into one, and all that is left is nostalgia taken on the extreme e.i. culture content in museums is merely a support for the sedium to operate ( the visitor experience) the point is to encourage visitors, not to transmit the culture, this applies in advertising and propaganda which are more and more becoming powerful fractures of mass media publicity all that matters not ideas or meanings.
Baudrillards book argues that late 20th century consumer culture is a world which simulations or imitations of reality have become more real then reality itself (he called this "hyper-real" one example of this is walking and running are not nearly as important as they were in pre-modern times, but jogging is a recreational pastime (with special shoes, clothes, books etc) Whereas before you made do with what you had these days you must be using or wearing the best that money can buy to be considered worthy of pursuing your sport etc.
Another example is not much of our food is produced locally, as in days gone by, but we have "health food" that enables to replicate the experience of a peasants diet. Though "jogging and health food is somewhat dated the point still holds today.
Baudillard goes on the say that the consumer culture has gone from a state of being surrounded by representations or imitations of things that really exist to a state of which our lives are filled with simulations. In this situation the world of simulations takes on a life of its own and reality erodes to the point that it becomes a desert.
The Blade Runner - the Directors Cut
In this the director Ridley Scott finally reveals the answer to a plot which has been a topic of fierce debate for almost 2 decades. Fans have been divided over whether Harrison Ford's portrayal of the hard boiled cop character Deckard was not human but a genetically engineered 'replicant' the very creatures he is tasked to destroy.
The clue is the appearance of a unicorn on screen while Deckard is lost in thought. Yet another hint comes from the number of 'replicants which Deckard is hunting. We see that six had made their way to earth one of whom was killed. Deckard is then looking for 4 begging the question "Who is the 5th 'replicant?
In the film The Matrix which can be interpreted as a criticum of the unreal consumer culture we live in, a culture that may be distracting us from the reality (that we are being exploited by someone or something ) just as the machines exploited the humans in the Matrix for bio-electricity.
The film bought up two references to the work of Baudrillard. The first being near to start of the film - when Neo grabs the authors book 'Simulacra and Simulation' to retrieve some mind altering substances hidden in it. The second is Morpheus when he shows Neo the "real world" - saying "welcome to the desert of the real"
In fact the 1997 script had Morpheus saying to Neo "as in Baudrillards vision, your whole life has been spent inside the map not the territory. This is Chicago as it exists today the desert of the real".
In an interview entitled "Baudrillard decodes the Matrix" in the Le Niuvel Observatur after the release of the movie, Baudrillard said he had been contacted by the production team regarding his contribution, "It was not really conceivable" he pointed out that the movie failed to investigate the implications of Simulation.
Notes on Baudrillards book Simulacra and Simulations
In the 1980 Baudrillard moved from economically based theory to the consideration of mediation and mass communication (media) he still retained his interest in Saussurean Semiolies and the logic of symbolic exchange (as influenced by Marcel Mauss). Baudrillard turned his attention to the work of Marshall McLuhan on ideas how the nature of social relations is determined by communications that society employs.
" The simulacrum is never what hides the truth- it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true".
Badrillard was concerned with the cultural impact of mass/electronic media. Our culture of simulation has progressed to the point that simulation no longer refers to the world. Reality has been replaced by nested systems of signs, all referring to one another. Baudrillard calls " precession of simulacra". These images began as a reflection of reality, are now not related to reality (but now to other images).
An example of this is Disneyland an imaginary world, set up to mask the fact that America is itself only a simulation in which people take on roles but never truly interact. In some ways electronic media makes everything a simulation e.i. political scandals that mask broader truths about the capitalist system.
Baudrillard also mentions historical movies which are more "real" that the reality was history is no longer an active force all cultures are congealing into one, and all that is left is nostalgia taken on the extreme e.i. culture content in museums is merely a support for the sedium to operate ( the visitor experience) the point is to encourage visitors, not to transmit the culture, this applies in advertising and propaganda which are more and more becoming powerful fractures of mass media publicity all that matters not ideas or meanings.
Baudrillards book argues that late 20th century consumer culture is a world which simulations or imitations of reality have become more real then reality itself (he called this "hyper-real" one example of this is walking and running are not nearly as important as they were in pre-modern times, but jogging is a recreational pastime (with special shoes, clothes, books etc) Whereas before you made do with what you had these days you must be using or wearing the best that money can buy to be considered worthy of pursuing your sport etc.
Another example is not much of our food is produced locally, as in days gone by, but we have "health food" that enables to replicate the experience of a peasants diet. Though "jogging and health food is somewhat dated the point still holds today.
Baudillard goes on the say that the consumer culture has gone from a state of being surrounded by representations or imitations of things that really exist to a state of which our lives are filled with simulations. In this situation the world of simulations takes on a life of its own and reality erodes to the point that it becomes a desert.
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