Here is a great TED talk that I came across featuring one of my favorite thinkers/designers; Stefan Sagmeister.
Watch the Video Here
He is also releasing a book in the new year titled Things I Have Learned in My Life, So Far.
Some of these things include:
Helping other people helps me.
Having guts always works out for me.
Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid, I have to live now.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Being not truthful always works against me.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Assuming is stifling.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Keeping a diary supports personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Worrying solves nothing.
Complaining solves nothing. Either act or forget.
Actually doing the things I set out to do increases my satisfaction.
Everybody thinks they are right.
If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first.
Low expectations are a good strategy.
Everybody who is honest is interesting.
Make sure you check out the video. It's a little long -- but pretty great. Also, if you haven't heard of or seen the work of Stefan Sagmeister before I encourage you to take a look through his body of work.
- Marc R.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Orientalism
Here are a number photo examples of orientalism still existing to this day in our modern setting that were referred to in our discussion last week as being trivial or seemingly cheap, ie: Epcot Centre's World Pavillion (for those that would rather see parts of the "world" via Florida). One could argue that places like this are irrelevant and are without merit given the advent of modern transportation allowing for individuals to actually see foreign countries first-hand ( though obviously, not everyone has the means or desire to visit ). Clearly, world exhibits found at Epcot (and those of the 19th century) lack a number of integral elements found in the original places that they are trying to replicate; The people, sounds, smells, pace, culture and the realization that one is standing in amongst and looking at the genuine article in a destination halfway around the world, are all required for an untainted picture of a place no matter how close duplication may be to its original.
With Epcot and 19th century European exhibitions, one is looking at these exhibits created and viewed from a Western viewpoint. To be effective, the viewer needs to be taken out of this context and placed in a minority situation where they are surrounded entirely by the culture being viewed. It could seem that the Egyptians described in Mitchell's, "Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order", had a much more comprehensive view of a European culture that built itself upon exhibition, so much that it inadvertently put itself on display for these visitors that were originally meant to be subject of study and spectacle for their hosts.
So I suppose the question is, what is the point of exhibition if one cannot grasp all these things for himself by actually being immersed in the original location rather than in the duplication? You can't really compare the two experiences at all or the knowledge attained by having this perception of where you actually are and where exhibition is attempting to transport you to. Now maybe, say if an entire country and its artifacts are lost forever, then the replication is some sort of incomplete record so that culture is not be lost forever, as unlikely as that is in most cases.
A few of the countries that are permanently exhibited:
Japan Pavillion
Norway Pavillion
...and oddly enough,
"The American Adventure", a duplication of old colonial architecture of the host nation in which Epcot is situated. Though it obviously is not considered foreign or "oriental" in context, I do find it curious that it is an example of a western country that is exhibiting itself in an unauthentic manner (in that it is purely for spectacle), putting itself up for exhibition for the sake of foreign tourists. I'd imagine that a visiting individual would find it much more relevant to visit a genuine heritage site with some sort of historical gravity and significance in American history.
For more examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epcot
In contrast, but not nearly to the same extent, we have Amemura or "America Town" in Osaka, Japan. This is more of an example of the appropriation of American pop culture beginning in the 70's that spawned a major centre of fashion trends, consumerism and novelty, rather than a meticulously replicated exhibit of America just for the sake of curiosity or education.
footage of Amemura: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xy_3akiv7Ys
Part of the reason why there is this kind of difference is due to the intention behind the duplication. In then Western world, Orientalism is more like an open window which allows people to see other cultures from a distance, to satisfy their curiosity, without having to change their own position in the physical and cultural context (without immersing themselves completely, a sense of reluctance if you will).
It's a different scenario in eastern world, especially in today's time. People admire the western lifestyle and don't mind adopting it for their own at the sake of losing their own cultural identity.
It would be tragic if established cultures lost the qualities and history that distinguished themselves from others. However, if we look at this kind of culture "emerging" through the long history of human beings, assimilation and change is inevitable.
In eastern philosophy, one of the factors that is constant is that everything is in flux and ever changing. To use a metaphor, culture is like a river, a constant flow of course change, build up and in turn, erosion is what keeps things fresh. It absorbs and flushes out what it needs and what useless to it.
-Ed Kwong, Tim Mack, Sean Bigham, Tyler Anderson, Shenghao Xi, Vivian Lee
With Epcot and 19th century European exhibitions, one is looking at these exhibits created and viewed from a Western viewpoint. To be effective, the viewer needs to be taken out of this context and placed in a minority situation where they are surrounded entirely by the culture being viewed. It could seem that the Egyptians described in Mitchell's, "Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order", had a much more comprehensive view of a European culture that built itself upon exhibition, so much that it inadvertently put itself on display for these visitors that were originally meant to be subject of study and spectacle for their hosts.
So I suppose the question is, what is the point of exhibition if one cannot grasp all these things for himself by actually being immersed in the original location rather than in the duplication? You can't really compare the two experiences at all or the knowledge attained by having this perception of where you actually are and where exhibition is attempting to transport you to. Now maybe, say if an entire country and its artifacts are lost forever, then the replication is some sort of incomplete record so that culture is not be lost forever, as unlikely as that is in most cases.
A few of the countries that are permanently exhibited:
Japan Pavillion
Norway Pavillion
...and oddly enough,
"The American Adventure", a duplication of old colonial architecture of the host nation in which Epcot is situated. Though it obviously is not considered foreign or "oriental" in context, I do find it curious that it is an example of a western country that is exhibiting itself in an unauthentic manner (in that it is purely for spectacle), putting itself up for exhibition for the sake of foreign tourists. I'd imagine that a visiting individual would find it much more relevant to visit a genuine heritage site with some sort of historical gravity and significance in American history.
For more examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epcot
In contrast, but not nearly to the same extent, we have Amemura or "America Town" in Osaka, Japan. This is more of an example of the appropriation of American pop culture beginning in the 70's that spawned a major centre of fashion trends, consumerism and novelty, rather than a meticulously replicated exhibit of America just for the sake of curiosity or education.
footage of Amemura: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xy_3akiv7Ys
Part of the reason why there is this kind of difference is due to the intention behind the duplication. In then Western world, Orientalism is more like an open window which allows people to see other cultures from a distance, to satisfy their curiosity, without having to change their own position in the physical and cultural context (without immersing themselves completely, a sense of reluctance if you will).
It's a different scenario in eastern world, especially in today's time. People admire the western lifestyle and don't mind adopting it for their own at the sake of losing their own cultural identity.
It would be tragic if established cultures lost the qualities and history that distinguished themselves from others. However, if we look at this kind of culture "emerging" through the long history of human beings, assimilation and change is inevitable.
In eastern philosophy, one of the factors that is constant is that everything is in flux and ever changing. To use a metaphor, culture is like a river, a constant flow of course change, build up and in turn, erosion is what keeps things fresh. It absorbs and flushes out what it needs and what useless to it.
-Ed Kwong, Tim Mack, Sean Bigham, Tyler Anderson, Shenghao Xi, Vivian Lee
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
visual journal assignments
SOSC 200
Visual Journal Assignments - Visual Journal due Dec. 3/07
Assignment 1: Showing Seeing
In his essay “Showing Seeing: A critique of visual culture,” (in the Visual Culture Reader), WJT Mitchell describes an experiment he calls ‘showing seeing.” The problem is this: you are an ethnographer from a culture that has no concept of the visual field, or of visual culture (no familiarity with color, line, eye contact, cosmetics, fashion, facial expressions, mirrors, glasses, voyeurism, pornography, television, photography, painting, film, and other ‘visual media,’ etc…). Having spent a number of years in our culture, you are now returning to your own culture and are faced with the task of presenting the idea of ‘seeing’ to your fellow citizens.
In approximately 1 typed page, describe how you would ‘show seeing’ – how would you describe the visual field and its importance in our culture, to someone who had no concept of a ‘visual culture’? For the purposes of the assignment, you can assume your audience has been fitted with prosthetic optical devices that allow them to see you. What object, artifact, work of visual culture would you choose to support your argument? Why? Include any relevant images in your report.
Assignment 2: Exercise in Voyeurism
Conduct an experiment in voyeurism by going to a public space (the bar, the cinema, the mall, etc.), and exercise your own voyeuristic tendencies by actively looking at the public, noticing how they may or may not return your gaze. Or, conduct some observation of the nature of the gaze in any other way of your choosing; how do looking and the gaze operate in public space? Are some spaces more or less conducive to the gaze than others?
Reflect on your experiment and conclusions in approximately 1 page.
Assignment 3: Of Other Spaces
In “Of Other Spaces,” Michel Foucault describes what he terms “heterotopias”: real spaces where the typical hierarchical classifications of space – family, social, commercial, leisure, public, private – begin to break down. Such spaces, which include the prison, the hospital, the brothel, the cemetery, colonies, hotels, ships, trains, sacred spaces, and so on, are “in relation with all other sites,” but are also ‘different’ or ‘other’ sites, both within and outside of the social and spatial contexts in which they are found.
The BDGBLG interview with Michael Cook, “Drains of Canada,” describes a practice of urban archaeology, ‘draining.’ That is, explorations of the subterranean infrastructure of drainage systems, waterways, sewers and utility tunnels – “spaces that exist at the boundaries of modern control…debris left by economic transition, evidence of the transient nature of our place upon this earth.”
For your visual journal, complete one of the following assignments:
1. In approximately 1-2 pages, describe a space personally known to you. Using Foucault’s five principles of heterotopia, explain how this site is heterotopic: to what extent and in what ways does it conform to or deviate from his notions of heterotopia?
2. Undertake an urban exploration of your own. This can take any form (i.e., not necessarily draining). Attempt to find an ‘other’ space within (below, behind) the spatial fabric of the city. Discuss your experience/findings/conclusions in 1-2 pages.
Assignment 4: (Un)Natural Bodies
In our discussions of cosmetic (or ‘fashion’) surgery, body modification, and the body in general as a site of visual presentation and identity, we continue to come up against the idea of the ‘natural’ (or ‘normal’) body, its parameters and practices. Drawing on any combination of course readings and films, class discussion, popular visual culture, or personal experience, consider the value, or danger, in maintaining a concept of the ‘natural’ body against which other bodies might be measured. Is there such a thing as the natural body? What would this be? What might be gained (or lost) by abandoning this concept? Your reflection should be roughly 1 page, apart from any images you might include.
Assignment 5: Cultures on Display
Our readings on race and globalization brought up questions concerning the nature of displaying or exhibiting culture: from the use of specific cultural imagery in advertising, movies, and so on., to artists appropriating imagery or styles from specific cultures in their work (your own work?), to aspects of fashion and bodily ornament (tattoos taken from other cultures, haute couture borrowings from non-western fashion.), to the body and its markers (skin pigmentation, ‘racial’ or ‘ethnic’ bodily features) as a site of cultural display, to practices of collecting and display in museums, to the movement of cultural trends from one site to another (hip-hop moving from black urban culture to white suburban culture, etc.).
In approximately one page, examine one such case – be specific – and reflect on the ways in which it puts culture ‘on display,’ and how the context changes, or produces, meaning.
Visual Journal Assignments - Visual Journal due Dec. 3/07
Assignment 1: Showing Seeing
In his essay “Showing Seeing: A critique of visual culture,” (in the Visual Culture Reader), WJT Mitchell describes an experiment he calls ‘showing seeing.” The problem is this: you are an ethnographer from a culture that has no concept of the visual field, or of visual culture (no familiarity with color, line, eye contact, cosmetics, fashion, facial expressions, mirrors, glasses, voyeurism, pornography, television, photography, painting, film, and other ‘visual media,’ etc…). Having spent a number of years in our culture, you are now returning to your own culture and are faced with the task of presenting the idea of ‘seeing’ to your fellow citizens.
In approximately 1 typed page, describe how you would ‘show seeing’ – how would you describe the visual field and its importance in our culture, to someone who had no concept of a ‘visual culture’? For the purposes of the assignment, you can assume your audience has been fitted with prosthetic optical devices that allow them to see you. What object, artifact, work of visual culture would you choose to support your argument? Why? Include any relevant images in your report.
Assignment 2: Exercise in Voyeurism
Conduct an experiment in voyeurism by going to a public space (the bar, the cinema, the mall, etc.), and exercise your own voyeuristic tendencies by actively looking at the public, noticing how they may or may not return your gaze. Or, conduct some observation of the nature of the gaze in any other way of your choosing; how do looking and the gaze operate in public space? Are some spaces more or less conducive to the gaze than others?
Reflect on your experiment and conclusions in approximately 1 page.
Assignment 3: Of Other Spaces
In “Of Other Spaces,” Michel Foucault describes what he terms “heterotopias”: real spaces where the typical hierarchical classifications of space – family, social, commercial, leisure, public, private – begin to break down. Such spaces, which include the prison, the hospital, the brothel, the cemetery, colonies, hotels, ships, trains, sacred spaces, and so on, are “in relation with all other sites,” but are also ‘different’ or ‘other’ sites, both within and outside of the social and spatial contexts in which they are found.
The BDGBLG interview with Michael Cook, “Drains of Canada,” describes a practice of urban archaeology, ‘draining.’ That is, explorations of the subterranean infrastructure of drainage systems, waterways, sewers and utility tunnels – “spaces that exist at the boundaries of modern control…debris left by economic transition, evidence of the transient nature of our place upon this earth.”
For your visual journal, complete one of the following assignments:
1. In approximately 1-2 pages, describe a space personally known to you. Using Foucault’s five principles of heterotopia, explain how this site is heterotopic: to what extent and in what ways does it conform to or deviate from his notions of heterotopia?
2. Undertake an urban exploration of your own. This can take any form (i.e., not necessarily draining). Attempt to find an ‘other’ space within (below, behind) the spatial fabric of the city. Discuss your experience/findings/conclusions in 1-2 pages.
Assignment 4: (Un)Natural Bodies
In our discussions of cosmetic (or ‘fashion’) surgery, body modification, and the body in general as a site of visual presentation and identity, we continue to come up against the idea of the ‘natural’ (or ‘normal’) body, its parameters and practices. Drawing on any combination of course readings and films, class discussion, popular visual culture, or personal experience, consider the value, or danger, in maintaining a concept of the ‘natural’ body against which other bodies might be measured. Is there such a thing as the natural body? What would this be? What might be gained (or lost) by abandoning this concept? Your reflection should be roughly 1 page, apart from any images you might include.
Assignment 5: Cultures on Display
Our readings on race and globalization brought up questions concerning the nature of displaying or exhibiting culture: from the use of specific cultural imagery in advertising, movies, and so on., to artists appropriating imagery or styles from specific cultures in their work (your own work?), to aspects of fashion and bodily ornament (tattoos taken from other cultures, haute couture borrowings from non-western fashion.), to the body and its markers (skin pigmentation, ‘racial’ or ‘ethnic’ bodily features) as a site of cultural display, to practices of collecting and display in museums, to the movement of cultural trends from one site to another (hip-hop moving from black urban culture to white suburban culture, etc.).
In approximately one page, examine one such case – be specific – and reflect on the ways in which it puts culture ‘on display,’ and how the context changes, or produces, meaning.
Bored on the bus? Nixon says Pong is the answer!
Keeping in theme with the website Marc posted, here are another two websites with some neat stuff. From designs and advertisements to just some cool and pretty innovative products, such as the Tetris and Pong Forever watch from Nixon. Got a nerdy brother asking for a Photonic Disruptor for Christmas? now you can get it for him... who knew?
Walk on the Moon
I came across a great little website showcasing some super creative products with countless witty references to popular culture (phrases, places, etc).
Usually obsure and never cheap -- Check it out: ATYPYK
Make sure you read the captions to the products.
-Marc R.
Usually obsure and never cheap -- Check it out: ATYPYK
Make sure you read the captions to the products.
-Marc R.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Yet another post by Jeremy Jeresky
Tonights lecture Monday 19th was interesting in that the article we discussed talked about Fanon's relationship to a visible majority ( in this case a colonial superstructure ) and his relationship to himself. The gaze of the other subsequently caused him to look at himself as an object. This objectification shaped his identiy, which is something I have never had to deal with, but thnks to this reading, has given me a personal insight into a double or even triple reading of ones identity that many people in this world must cope with. I thought it was interesting how Fanon described the black mans identity and his experience as a construct within a oppositional binary to the white man. It is in this way that he will be percieved and perceive himself. One can only hope that humanity can get past this dicotomy regarding any race. But as this cultural opposition is situated primarilay on a basis of power, it remains a question of how long this dicotomy will remain with us, absolute power corrupts.
I was a little concerned with the nature of the images that we looked at tonight. It was interesting to see the origin of the visual discourse regarding how the west views other cultures. We looked at a lot of images from the 19th century, Delacroix, images of stereo scopes, Inges, advetisments from Pears (white mans burden), and others such as a 19th century print of the Columbus discovery. And while we looked at Star Trek and Alien queen imagery, we really only saw one example of artists who examine this discourse like Fred wilson. So while we examined the backwardness of 19th century imagery, I think we lingered on it for too long and it became more of a lighthearted survey. Its pretty easy to look at these images, given our place in time and judge them as ignorant, which they are. But it would have been interesting to examine statagies which contemporary artists use to add to this discourse. Yinka Shonibare is a prime example in that he even uses 19th century conventions pertaining to western art. In his Mr. and Mrs. Andrews Without Their Heads, the artist has restaged Gainsborough's famous painted portrait as a sculpture, but has decapitated the sitters, removed the landscape, and dressed the subjects in colorful "African" fabrics that themselves have complex colonial histories. The strategy implicit in this piece is one in which the symbolic order of the original painting is inverted. "This symbolic inversion illuminates and challenges the visual conventions that police social hierarchies". ( Curator, Richard Hill ) In other words, when power relations are flipped, we can gain insights into behaviors and stereo types that we may take to be natural are merely conventional.
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