Response to Horror

To me the paintings by Fernando Botero represented a more generalized description of the photographs of the soldiers torturing their prisoners. I would not say that I hated them but I'm not really sure how much I liked the paintings. Looking at them did not make me feel even close to how I felt looking at the photographs themselves. But I can understand how they would for others and that I think is extremely important. The idea of torture is one that is easy to overlook and ignore when it is not being thrown in your face and demonstrating it through art is a good way to force people to think about it.

What is interesting for me about the paintings is that it seems that the photographs were not as shocking to us as the paintings. We expect to see terrible things through digital media and it takes a painting to shock us. It is easy to skip over an image that we don’t consider art but if it is in a painting we have to consider it and that considering will bring the attention that Abu Ghraib deserves. It does not deserve to be pushed aside the way so many people hoped it would be. Violence has become a joke in entertainment and it takes the paintings to deny the joke and move the violence into a place where we aren’t distracted by the smiling faces of the torturer. The digital photographs of Abu Ghraib are unstoppable but they are different then the paintings done from those images because when the photographs were taken they weren’t intended as art they were intended as a memory and a trophy. All Fernando Botero did was take those photos and change them into something that he created and could control and the paintings do depict horror but they are looking to accomplish something very different from what the original photographs do. Because violence and sex are so prevalent in this digital age we tend to block things out and we are desensitized to the world around us. We have a filter on what we see of our society and our country. I would also agree to both Sontag and Zizek that because of this filter through which America sees its self that allowed for the excuses that followed the suffering of the photographs of Abu Ghraib prison camps. However we shouldn’t be able to use this digital age as an excuse. We are desensitized, violence and sex don’t shock like they used to but that is the time we live in and it doesn’t mean we should live in a state of unawareness being desensitized doesn’t mean we should ignore the grotesque. We are able to distinguish between the television and reality we just have to choose to do so. It seems that part of the United States problem with reality is the way the people sensor themselves they only want to see pictures of horror if in no way are Americans doing anything but being honorable. In the photograph of the falling man people refused to look and no one wanted to claim that man as one of their own because jumping suggested that his will to live wasn’t strong enough. No one wanted to imagine that their loved one was desperate like that in their last minutes. Just as no one wanted to imagine that American solders were torturing the very people we were supposed to protecting from such treatment.

Horror. With things like the tomb of the unknown soldier. attacks on u.s. soil. and basically anything else that has something to do with being unfamiliar with something is grounds to inspire shock fright, and horror. It as well is very depressing given that we have things dedicated to those who have fought for the nation and have been completely lost at war. As for the events in September, to be so horrific that one doesn’t even have to mention a date. year or that you can refer to it as 9/11 is horrific in itself, but that so much shock and so many of us experienced a feeling that has been felt around the world. War has been fought on U.S soil but never within the new times or our life times, which make it historical and burned into our minds. Yeah that wasn’t a war but it was an attack on people that had no involvement. When a soldier is killed its one thing but civilians were supposed to be neutral. Its simply a new era we entered. An era where anyone is fair game and anyone is enemy... Horrifying Eh?

Response to readings

As far as torture and photography go, I believe that Sontag asks an important question, "So, then, is the real issue not the photographs themselves but what the photographs reveal to have happened to ''suspects'' in American custody?" I think that this question can work on many different levels and situations. If you take out: "suspects" in American custody, and fill in your own blank you can see what I mean more clearly. In the situation with the prisoners of Abu Ghrai, I agree with Sontag, that the issue at hand is the photographs and what they reveal. These photographs were not taken for history or honorable documentation. They were taken as "trophies", like Sontag states. They were taken my American soldiers to show their friends and to poke fun at the prisoners. She states "as if the fault or horror lay in the images, not in what they depict" when talking about president Bush's response to these photographs. I feel as if many people feel this way about photographs of terror or horror, but in some cases it is not the photograph that is at fault. The "fault" lie in the real life, the situation that really did happen. That is my take on it anyways.

As informed by the article by Tom Junod, in the image of the Falling Man from 9-11 many people were shocked and appalled that this photograph was released to the public. I feel as this image should not have been sheltered or avoided, it was something that really happened, an aspect from a real life situation. I can see why people would have an issue with it, but just because something is shocking, in my opinion, does not mean it should be kept hidden.

Slavoj Zizek explores theories about the "real" and the "projected real" that I have often thought about. It is sometimes hard to feel real life as a shocking or phenomenal experience when we see these images depicting real life all around us, everywhere we go. In commercials, movies, video games, advertisements etc. It almost seems as if real life is no longer real. I was thinking about this lately with that new Sean Penn film, "Into the Wild" or whatever the name was, I have yet to actually see it. Anyways, I feel as if people no longer need to act on certain desires or impulses because it's so much easier to pay twelve dollars and sit and watch someone else doing the things that you thought of. With bigger and more important issues at hand, I feel as if this thought process works all the same. Take any of Michael Moore's films for instance. People often agree with his politics and concerns, everyone goes to see his films, but they never do anything! I am guilty of it too...I believe we all are. For some reason and for some people the world is easier to understand, easier to think about, just easier when your watching it on a screen.

In the

All three articles and even the podcast seemed to be dealing with the importance of media and its influence on the actor, the viewer, the artist, etc. Abu Ghraib began as a moment of torture. In a room full of people, prisoners were forced into pain and suffering. Then Abu Ghraib became the images produced in that moment. People all around the world began to understand the torture in terms of a few still images, filling in the blanks as each individual saw fit. The Bush administration carefully chose their words as they reinforced the [art] object as the moment instead of the representation of the moment. A discussion was formed and the image became an idea or a symbol of the war and U.S. occupation in Iraq. People contemplated the role of the military officials and (as Laqueur pointed out) whether or not the acts of torture were systemic. And finally, the discussion transformed into the painting, where the imagery is far removed from what it actually was. This snowball effect is the product of a situation where people were so shocked and bothered, that a continued large scale response occurs.

Susan Sontag brought up many interesting points about the photo objects themselves. The important point that, "the horror of what is shown in the photographs cannot be separated from the horror that the photographs were taken-- with the perpetrators posing, gloating, over their helpless captives." And that it becomes a much more common phenomenon when one considers the amount of digital pictures in circulation through email from soldier to soldier. Her citing of the Bush administration's outrage over the matter (mirrored in the panel discussion when the host quotes Rumsfeld as having said that the worst moment in his six year run was when the Abu Ghraib pictures became public) is so telling of the government's understanding of what is really going on vs. what we all should know.

I felt that Slavoj Zizek's writing about 9/11 and the government's utilization of our Hollywood induced paranoia was a very refreshing take on the played out and over dramatized event that occurred years ago. It border-lined on a conspiracy theory with its references to the Truman Show- where we realize late in life that our whole perception of reality was some sick pervert's way of getting ratings... or keeping us in a blissful naivete. He was brilliant for exposing the culture of fear that 9/11 so easily reinforced.

And the Falling Man article, in this context, gives insight into the power of editing (like the power of the US government to open all the letters that came home from WWII and delete any unwanted information as Sontag brought up). The power of the choice between each little negative or pdf file, that can change the world (or divide it). The exploit of the ridiculous search for who the falling man was exactly, and how knowing does not change the image at all.

The point is that it is the existence of the photographs in the public sphere that can change a public perception. They do not have to be around for long and they can be ripped to shreds by public speakers, but once they have been seen they are not forgotten. As Sontag wrote in On Photography, one does not exist until they have been photographed. In our culture, we allow ourselves to live happily unknowing, despite what people say. But once we have seen something in a photograph, it enters our media history, that we care so deeply about.

torture.
if it isn't happening to americans is it happening? or i guess a better question is 'is it torture if these people are "terrorists"? i guess thats how some people see it. wheres humanity? and in the case of the smiling soldiers... what are they getting at with their smiles? the bush quotes made me even more disappointed/embarrassed... for example "i want you to know when we talk about war, we talk about peace." is he kidding? action is irreversible. humiliating these people, and torturing them was the real terror. there is no remorse on the woman's face as she smiles dumbly at the camera while posing by a prisoner. sontag brings good points up, such as stepping around words we don't want to use, like the word torture. these photos were meant to be shown. grab your camera phone! its time for a lynching! what a world.
falling
this was about the 'falling man' photo taken on 9/11. this basically centered around peoples reactions to this photo. either the disgust and hatred of this photo, mixed with trying to identify the man who is invariably frozen in mid-air forever. some people refused to think of the possibility that this man was their own loved one. this photo is haunting to many people, you can't quite get it out of your head. it is the struggle of wanting to identify this person, and not wanting to cross the line at the same time. when is asking too much? memory or exploitation?
big brother
i think we've all had that paranoid "wow, i wonder if my life is the truman show." moment. zizek explores the real and the fantasy in this essay. zizeck writes about the way americans think attacks like 9-11 wont happen to us. they happen to other countries.. he talks about the difference between real and television. how americans are always waiting for something to happen like it does on tv, a fantasy. but when it happens they deny it. we're so blindsided by hollywood, and the appeal of the unreal.

Readings

Within the three readings I found an underlying connection in the idea of a guarded American ideology that is bleeding internally. In Zizek's Welcome the Desert of the Real, the symbolic function the WTC tragedy plays in the American psyche is that of materializing a controlled internal paranoia. He refers to it as a "return to the Real" which is interesting to me because I think that even today, six years later, America is still resistant towards accepting a patriot soil that is and can be tainted with political and religious aggression from the outside. I don't think we have moved to "A thing like this should not happen ANYWHERE!" and I don't see it happening anytime soon. With Sontag, I think the idea of the American "Sphere," as Zizek calls it, can also be attributed to our nation's infantile obsession with deflecting responsibility for its actions. Again, this untainted, unequivocally pure Christian nation can't see it's own "evil doings," as Mr. Bush so lovingly phrases, and it's not that they won't see but that they can't, which is perfectly summed up by Sontag when she wrote, "The administration's initial response was to say that the president was shocked and disgusted by the photographs -- as if the fault or horror lay in the images, not in what they depict." This deflection of responsibility is parallel with the deflection to evidence of violence in 9/11. I feel that people have a compulsion to document every aspect of their lives, the use of Myspace, blogs and the countless digital snapshots of everyday life, are evidence. Richard Drew's photograph is evidence people couldn't see, because it was a personalization of tragedy. It validated the fantastical act of outside aggression on American soil. I believe that the The Falling Man image was one of the many ridges on the blade that struck America's ideology, a protected sphere that was not ripped open but slowly will bleed out one day.

Response to articles

While reading Regarding the Torture of Others by Susan Sontag, Welcome to the Desert of the Real" by Slavoj Zizek, and The Falling Man by Tom Junod, I kept thinking about both de-individuation and the desensitization of Americans. In Susan Sontag's article, she discusses the horrors shown in the images of Abu Ghraib, while describing the smiling faces of American military, proud and unashamed of the images they were taking part in. Torture is something that is all too common in wars, where military personal are told that they must defeat the "enemy". The "enemy" or "other" is then de-individuated, and is labeled as evil. The hooding of prisoners has been condemned by the UN for good reason. Theories of de-individuation show that when a person becomes less aware of their own or other's identity, they begin to act in ways that are not usually characteristic of them, and also in ways that are socially unacceptable. President Bush's choice of vocabulary, and refusal to use the word "torture" when discussing Abu Ghraib, de-individuates the act by trying to force the public to see it in different terms. By using tactics of fear, the government has taken away any human characteristics of these prisoners, and our "enemies" by labeling them as evil-doers or terrorists. How can one person be, "ruthlessly self-sacrificing AND cowards, cunningly intelligent AND primitive barbarians" as Savoj Zizek sums up our governments description of the other? Rather than trying to fight terrorists, we should be asking ourselves why are people acting out in this way? What has our country done to push someone to these extremes?

Tom Junod discusses the falling man photo taken by Richard Drew during 9/11 of an unknown man falling from the twin towers. The image is initially described as a man who is not afraid of death, and someone who can be seen as a hero. This description seems to change when a reporter was given the job of finding out the falling man's identity. Once the reality set in, and witnesses of the 9/11 media aftermath began to realize that each falling person (who were once described to a child as possibly birds flying) actually had an identity, the perception of these images seemed to drastically change. Knowing the identity of a person jumping from one of the towers distorts thoughts and hopes of a loved one's last minutes on earth. It raises questions that we discussed in class: Is it ethically acceptable to show a person's last moments before death? What one person may see as a monument to an individual's life may seem like an insult to another. Photography allows for actual depictions of a person that can later be identified, contrasting the resemblances that can only be questioned when found in drawing, painting and sculpture.

Much how a cartoon desensitizes a child to violence, Hollywood can hamper an adults ability to recognize violence as something that is real. As Zizek mentions, the US finally received a taste of what the rest of the world has been experiencing for a long time. Until the attack was acted out on our own soil, it was difficult for many Americans to understand the real impact of violence and war.

When looking at actual images of torture, death, and war, it is important to remember that these photographs represent reality. The people in the images are real people, not cartoon or Hollywood characters who have been created to be destroyed by "the good side". This task can be difficult when living in a country that uses media to de-individuate the other and desensitize the audience. As a viewer, we must recognize the similarities between "us" and the "other", and try to find the connection of the two in order to realize that actually we are all a part of 'us".

article summaries

Regarding the Torture of Others by Susan Sontag
Sontag’s article is dealing with imagery of the war. She rests solely on the power of words in the world, where "our culture of spectatorship neutralizes the moral force of photographs of atrocities". The article shows the demeanor on how the photographs reveal numerous political issues that are about both their degenerative nature as well as their possible benefit in creating a demand for social change.

The Falling Man by Tom Junod
What stuck out in my mind most when reading this article is the quote that reads “they exploited a man's death, stripped him of his dignity, invaded his privacy, turned tragedy into leering pornography. Most letters of complaint stated the obvious: that someone seeing the picture had to know who it was.” I don’t think that is what this photograph is. The identity of the man is not what comes to mind first when reading this article, but how he is a representation of what happened on 9/11. Something else that caught my attention most when reading this is how this photograph is deceiving. The falling man looks as if he is falling gracefully, straight down, when in reality, he is plummeting, out of control.

Welcome to the Desert of the Real by Slavoj Zizek
In this essay, Zizek provides his interpretation on the cultural and ideological insinuations of the terrorist attacks on the United States that took place on September 11, 2001. He compares what the American fantasy would be to different films like The Matrix, or The Truman Show, because these are movies about people living in a world they think is real but truly is not. He explains that “desert of the real” is the awareness that we live in a bubble-like reproduction of the world that creates the idea that an evil force is “threatening us all the time with total destruction”.

summaries

The Sontag article was about the photographs that had emerged from the prison in Abu Ghraib. She discussed how our politicians would dance around terms like “torture” and not address the actual issues that were present behind the photos and were only “outraged” by the photos themselves. She makes comparisons to lynchings, Rwanda, and other places where torture has taken place. She also talks about what kind of place America really is and that we basically get off on torturing others like in video games and frat hazings, etc., and how it seems to be incorporated into our everyday lives. In other times like the Holocaust the torturers were rarely photographed next to those being tortured (unlike the Abu Ghraib photos). Also, she talks about how digital photography makes these images so much more accessible, and that every soldier has a digital camera, and how editing has a lot to do with what we think is really happening. (Like cropping and how many images the press released cropped out how many soldiers were actually present during these times.) Digital cameras also mean that these images wont stop and are being constantly taken and will continue to leak out of the war.

Zizek’s piece was about the attacks on 9-11 and the repercussions they had on American mentality. Americans seemed to be in a state of mind that was “unreal”, and he compares this state of mind to the movie The Matrix, or The Truman Show. But after 9-11, American’s suddenly woke up to the notion that this really could happen to them, and now have experienced what people around the world have experienced every day for all of history (and continue to today.) He compares this to other Hollywood films, and that 9-11 just seemed to affirm American’s destructive fantasies. He also points out that things like this do happen in the US every day in the forms of crime against other Americans, but we don’t tend to see it that way or notice it.

The Junod article was about the “Falling Man” picture taken on 9-11. It went over all the mass media surrounding the image: where it was printed, how it outraged people, the debate whether it should be shown, as well as other art being made around 9-11 and the controversy around it too. I couldn’t help but think about the other two articles and their implications about Americans and their voyeurism when it comes to violence. But this one seemed to be much more of a “train wreck” scenario: we know we shouldn’t look but we can’t help it—as opposed to the other articles where we just get off on it. The article also goes over the search for the identification of the person in the photograph, and how many people who’s son/father/brother/friend it may be are curious as to whether it is but none of them want to identify him or even want him to be the man in the photo. Junod debates whether this image is ethical or not and basically recaps all the debate around whether it is or not and whether the man should even be identified.

Comments on the three texts

The text about the Falling Man is an incredibly powerful story. It's hard to stay focused and think critically while reading it. A couple of things comes to mind right away though. One, no we really don't need to know who the man is. It's like the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. He represents all the people that died that day, not only from jumping, and he reminds us about the horror that affects us still. Secondly, as I'm reading the examples of other people in history who've been shown to the public in horrible condition, such as Robert Kennedy or the Vietnamese girl after the napalm attack, it occurs to me that maybe people reacted so horrified about these pictures, or the sculpture of the tumbling woman, because it was too close to us. If you lived in NY then, as I did, you knew people who were affected. Even if you lived elsewhere. 9/11 killed common people and at least I felt it could have been me. I assume that wasn't the case with Robert Kennedy or the girl in Vietnam.

Here we're talking about censor from officials, not from the public, because the photographs are deemed to have a negative impact on the war in general. How can you argue with what Susan Sontag says. Of course the problem is not in the pictures. The problem is what allowed the situation to evolve to a point where these pictures could be taken.

The text by Slavoj Zizek obviously has a direct connection to Susan Sontag's text on torture as he's pointing out that reality also exist outside the U.S. and what happens here is a direct derivative on what happens elsewhere. The Iraq would by any account have increased rather than decreased the chance that we will see something similar to 9/11 happening on U.S. soil.

It also goes back to the pictures that from 9/11 and why it's deemed unacceptable to publish pictures of the jumpers. The picture of the Falling Man makes it too real to bear.

Yoko Ono cut piece

here

helpless gaze and beauty

Helpless gaze
"Bud Fields and Family" by Walker Evans



Beauty
"Sandra Bennett, Twelve Year Old, Rocky Fort, Colorado, 8/23/80" by Richard Avedon

Beauty

Photo by Doc Edgerton

criticization/appreceizing

1. According to Bartlett, what is criticism and how is it misunderstood?
To Bartlett criticism is a process bent towards understanding, a science in that it is best when impartial and callous. A process of breaking things apart in order to expose what they are made of and how that effects what it is. The misconception is that it is a judgment bent on staking claims of wrong and right-good and bad. The word is actually misunderstood much like the word judgmental. To be judgmental is not wrong, it is only when your judgments precede any actual interaction or effort to understand that you are stuck in the cycle of being a judgmental/critical prick(the negative connotation). To Bartlett criticism is a form of appreciation. A form of it that's not mindlessly positive nor aggressively negative.
2.How does he distinguish bad and good criticism? Can you give an example from past critiques of an example of both?
For him bad criticism involves pretension, vague arguments, and lack in point and direction. They are critiques that simply state opinion and offer no support as to where it may have come from. He speaks of a good critique as a situation in which both the artist and the critic walk away with a better understanding of how the piece presents its intention and how that intention led to a particular reaction. At least it should involve some discourse that benefits further understanding of some sort. An example of a good critique that I have experienced was when Erica came up to me and said, " Hey, Enrique! You're too fuckin lazy- go make some art." This was a good critique because it was observant, honest, to the point and clear but most importantly galvanizing. An example of a bad critique was at a portfolio review day. The line for RISD was longest but I had heard it was a good school so I went through it. After all that waiting the guy looks through my portfolio and simply asks, " have you ever thought about dressing people up and then taking pics of them?" The only conclusion I could come to is that my portfolio must have been so dull and bland that he couldn't even address it. That, or he was an idiot. Which would you guess I prefer to believe?
3. What might Bartlett argue is the point of criticism in a situation like an art school critique class?
I'm sure that he would argue that by going through the painful process of criticism in an art school critique class the students would be pushed to think about their own art and the art around them in new ways. He would say that it helps people understand the benefits of a good critique, and always looking at your own work as well as yourself with a critical mind. He would say that if an unexamined life is not worth living then neither is life without criticism in an art school critique class. He would most definitely agree that the main point is to get all our heads out our asses, and realize how much there is out there that needs criticizing/appreciating.

Serrano's "A history of sex" Destroyed

Below is the article from the NY Times and a link to the video found on youtube (you have to be signed in to your youtube account in order to view).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/arts/design/09serr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaXK37uBX7c

Shameful Art Attack (to be discussed Dec 4)

http://nypost.com/commentary/57305.htm

SHAMEFUL ART ATTACK

By ANDREA PEYSER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEART OF STONE:
Eric Fischl's "Tumbling Woman" is on display in Rockefeller Center's Lower Concourse.
- Dan Brinzac

September 18, 2002 --

IS THIS art? Or assault?

As grieving New Yorkers marked the anniversary of the World Trade Center's destruction, the folks at Rockefeller Center got in your face to commemorate the terror attacks.

A violently disturbing sculpture popped up last week in the middle of Rock Center's busy underground concourse - right in front of the ice-skating rink. It depicts a naked woman, limbs flailing, face contorted, at the exact moment her head smacks pavement following her leap from the flaming World Trade Center.

The worst part about the piece is that you can't miss it. Even if you try.

Titled "Tumbling Woman," the sculpture is by '80s darling Eric Fischl.

Since it's planted in one of the city's best-traveled locations, tourists, stroller-pushing moms and office workers - many of whom lost friends and colleagues in the trade-center atrocity - are confronted daily with a larger-than-life rendition of a grotesque episode.

"It's disgusting!" said Ken Fidje, 34, who was poring over paperwork at a table facing the sculpture yesterday when he looked up and noticed it.

"I used to work at the trade center, and I know a lot of people who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald [which lost more than 600 workers]. "It's awful. It's awful!"

Images of desperate people leaping to their deaths last Sept. 11 were captured by news photographers and seared into the memories of trade-center survivors. But out of respect to families of the dead, the most brutal still and video images are rarely displayed publicly - and then, only after sensitive viewers are warned that they may want to look away.

No such warning is found anywhere near the sculpture. There is a plaque featuring a Fischl-authored poem that reads, in part:

"We watched,

disbelieving and helpless,

on that savage day.

People we love

began falling,

helpless and in disbelief."

Fischl - who was traveling in Croatia yesterday - was not in Manhattan, but way out in the Hamptons Sept. 11 last year, and, despite the moronic poem, he did not witness the scene his work exploits.

But one Rock Center security guard, forced to endure the sculpture because of his job, said he felt as if he were being dragged against his will back to the terrible day when he actually watched human beings fall from the sky.

"I saw 70 people fall from the tower," he said. "Fall from almost 100 stories! To see a statue of people falling to the ground - it's nothing to be happy about."

He said he was considering filing a complaint.

"You have to respect other people and what trauma this will impose upon them," said Michael Cartier, who co-founded the Give Your Voice victims'-advocacy group after losing his brother, James.

The sculpture is on display through Monday. Steven Rubenstein, a spokesman for Rockefeller Center, said the work was not commissioned.
MacBeth

Horror! homework! due on Dec 3; a 5 part odyssey

1. Watch: podcast
Art and Violence
at UC Berkeley
with T.J. Clark, Thomas Laqueur, and Francine Masiello

2. View: Fernando Botero's paintings:

3. Read: Regarding the Torture of Others by Susan Sontag

4. Read "Welcome to the Desert of the Real" by Slavoj Zizek

5. Read: The Falling Man by Tom Junod

http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/P/P78/P78045_9.jpg
http://www.shanelavalette.com/journal/00/nangoldin01.jpg
http://www.kamerabild.se/ArticlePages/200703/08/20070308083538_ADF462/goldinstor.jpg
http://art.progressive.com/images/Goldin_2003_090.jpg

the honesty in Nan Goldins photographs are beautiful

Central Park, north of the Obelisk, behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 1993
Photograph by Joel Sternfeld

Beauty

Andres Serrano's Piss Christ is a great example of beauty contradicting content.

Beauty and Gazes

Last week, I discussed social psychology experiments from the 60's and 70's and reality TV. If you are interested in reading more, please see the following websites:

The Stanford Prison Experiment
www.prisonexp.org

The Milgram experiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

This week, I am going to show an animated music video by Tim Reardon for the song Irene by Leyode:

http://specialtim.com/Movies/irene_2.mov

Alexis

Clinical/ Professional gaze

Percy Hennell. Probable Shotgun wound of left eye which has been lost. Tissue has been replaced by a flap of skin from forehead or scalp, hence the bandage around the head where the flap was raised. Antony Wallace Archive, British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery

Beauty

Hello Hello

This is Eleanor's Dress by David Hilliard. He has been one of my favorite photographers for some time, also quite the influence within my own work. Check out his website! http://www.davidhilliard.com/

Unfortunately I will not be in class tomorrow so I cannot show you the photograph in his book (it looks much better). I believe he captures beauty with all of his photographs, the kind of beauty that exsists in everyday life. With his strange depth of field and soft focus he connects the world through multiple images creating harmony between people, objects, and landscapes. I think its great, I think it's beautiful.

I can bring his book in next week. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgivinggg!

enjoyyy.
brittany

michel foucault on youtube

here

Accidental/Helpless Gaze

The photographer, image, and viewer all wish to help the impending disaster but there is nothing anyone or thing could do at this point. Therefore this is an example of the Helpless Gaze because there is a prevalent desire for intervention, but it is impossible. It is also an example of the Accidental Gaze because it is a witness to an important event.

gazes...

Clinical or Professional Gaze



The photographer certainly isnt helping this poor woman :(
apparently this photo won the Pulitzer Breaking News Photography 2007 award...
Photographer:Oded Balilty (Associated Press)
Source: www.photojournalism.org

the clinical/professional gaze

The Endangered Gaze

Photo by Donna Ferrato

the accidental gaze and the helpless gaze

So yea...everyone knows this photo I am sure. But! I thought it was a good example of two out of the six gazes from the Linda Williams article. I will discuss tomorrow!

also- heres an article that was in esquire magazine about 9-11 and a section about Richard Drew and his photograph:

http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0903-SEP_FALLINGMAN

clinical gaze

The Gaze

I was interested in the gaze of the viewer. In class I will be discussing two works, James Luna's The Artifact Piece and Jean-Christian Bourcart's Collateral.

http://www.jamesluna.com/

http://jcbourcart.com/

follow up comments to today's time and space session

Some of the projects david mentioned that includes photos from a day can be seen at http://www.247mediagroup.com/projects/day.html. There are more books than these though. I have one for Sweden that was published in 2003.

More photos by Vincent Laforet (the one with the incredible shot of the ice skaters) be seen on his site at www.laforetvisuals.com.

Pontus

Time & Space

time and space and Orlan

time and space

I think that modern architecture and interior design (shopping plaza, international airport) can show representations of time through space...

tomorrow?

can anyone give me a ride down to LACE? thanks peeps

Tuesday class and Homework update1

Hi all,
Just a reminder, we are meeting at LACE (6522 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028) on Tues at 1 pm. Hopefully, using alternative routes from Calarts, the roads won't be too jammed (see http://calarts.edu/news/14-oct-2007/i5closureupdatefacultystudentsandstaff for updates and alternative routes.) but I will update you as necessary.

The reading Allie posted is due on Oct 23 and I will give you your homework related to that reading in the next few days. Also on Oct 23, we will be watching the video The Good Woman of Bangkok- that the essay is discussing.
More to come.
Natalie

New Article to Read

Dear All,

Natalie has requested that you read the following article by Linda Williams. Let me know if you have any difficulty accessing it.

Best,
Allie

http://jbogleam.bol.ucla.edu/LindaWilliams-EI.pdf

Art Show

This is a flyer with information for the show that David and I are part of the coming two Saturdays.

Cheers,
Pontus

time/space

http://www.robgalbraith.com/data/1/rec_imgs/356_laforet_ice.jpg

Vincent Laforet | Me and My Human

In regards to time and space

I'll talk in class about the following websites as well as the concept in general of people sharing photos online, being able to pinpoint when and where a photo was taken, and how that speaks about what time and space is to people today, not necessarily just artists.

the main website that illustrates what I'll be talking about is http://flickrvision.com

however the following websites are also relevant:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/24flickr/
http://www.allphotographersnow.ch
http://www.numeronineo.com/shutterclock/home.php
http://graphics.cs.cmu.edu/projects/scene-completion/

time space

time...from space. oh!

nicole

Time and Space Assignment

I find skydiving to be an amazing departure from traditional time and space ideas and I think it is the realization of a long-time human desire to fly.

Time assignment

This is a commercial picture of a Prius. Highly stylized, highly retouched. A Prius seems high tech today but both the style of this picture and the object (the Prius) will seem very old soon. The technology may be a breakthrough but being among the first will mean you also seem old sooner.

Space and Time assignment - 10/9/07

In 2004 Frank Warren created an art installation where people created anonymous postcards that bared secrets that they had never told anyone before. In 2005 he developed it into the PostSecret blog. Here people send in these anonymous postcards and he chooses about twenty to post each week. Over the past few years the blog has become an internet phenomenon. It is so popular that he has created several PostSecret books, the fourth of which is debuting today.

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

-Ally

Alexis: Time & Space

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970)

http://www.robertsmithson.com/films/films.htm

(see SPIRAL JETTY, a film by Robert Smithson)

I will discuss in class. Thanks!

Brittany: Time and Space

here is what I think speaks about time and space today...

http://www.submediaworld.com

http://www.news.com/The-subway-tunnel-as-video-billboard/2100-1024-6173720.html?part=dtx&tag=nl.e433


I will discuss tomorrow : )

p.s I don't know how to make it so you can just click on it...sorry...i am a bad blogger.

i just think this picture represents present time and space because, space is not just horizontal anymore (architectually) its verticle, and its verticle to the extreme. every city is always trying to out-do the other for the title of the tallest building in the world. we also use every bit of space that we can for advertising, not much space is wasted in our modern cities. well, you could say it is being wasted by these horrible or even beautiful sky scrapers and neon billboards. its also an example of time, we have cars that can take us anywhere at a pretty fast speed, the modern person can now do more in a day because of fast transportation, (well not if you have to take santa clarita public transit). its an overload of the senses its exhausting! all the advertising all the go-go-go of todays world. i dont know how anyone keeps up. makes me wonder how it will all change in the future. i think we have reached our peak and from here there's no where to go but down. i just cant imagine cramming more things into one day, there's no way, i believe in the future there will be more leisure.

photo by jason langer 1999 "the visitors"

/Users/hannaharista/Desktop/jason langer visitors_99.jpg

/Users/hannaharista/Desktop/main_anselAdamsPhotography.jpg

for your viewing pleasure

I'm not the girl who misses much ( Pipilotti Rist )

Gilbreths' Motion Studies film

Tehching Hsieh

SPACE readings and viewings for next tues Oct 9

1. Chain Reaction: Jem Cohen

2. Royksopp, Remind Me Norwegian synth-pop music video

subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale*

Just Spaces

Van Change

Hi again,
If you are taking the van from Calarts, it is leaving at 1:30 instead of 12:30.

Please meet at the front entrance of school no later than 1:30 p.m to catch the van. All others should meet at the Hammer entrance at 2:30 p.m. We will attend the lecture at 3 p.m. and tour the show afterwards.

Natalie

FIELD TRIP

Dear All,

There has been a slight change to our plan for Saturday. We will now see the artist's lecture first and then view the exhibition. Plan to arrive at 2:30 in the front lobby of the Hammer.

Field Trip

Dear All,

If you are riding in the van Saturday please meet at the front entrance of school no later than 12:30 p.m. All others should meet at the Hammer entrance at 1:45 p.m. We will tour the exhibition at 2 p.m. and attend the artist’s lecture at 3 p.m.

The Hammer Museum is located at the following address:
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

Best,

Allie Bogle

Comments on readings for 9/17/07

I agree with Melissa that the Mekas article is a bit phony in how the discussion goes. Although I have to say that I find interesting that they seem to get stressed out about the fact that nothing is happening. They are dying to do something, anything while filming. And maybe that's the point. The Empire State building is there day and night. The light changes, the noise around it changes, we do different things around it on a daily basis but the building is still. Like a mountain it becomes the stable part in our otherwise hectic and changing lives.

In Cartier-Bresson's article about telling a story through pictures he describes some of the challenges a photographer faces on a daily basis. A photo is a selection of what we see. It's a selection of time and space. No one can or should try to capture everything but the challenge is to select the right composition at the right moment. I really liked his passage on p. 44 of the mental process to go through when the shot is not exactly what you wanted. "Was it a feeling of hesitation due to uncertainty?...etc." The second part for a picture story is the selection post production. I was surprised by how casual he describes the relationship to the "layout man" and the willingness to let someone else select the pictures for publishing and even cropping.

I have to admit that I've read Lazzlo Moholy-Nagy's article a few times now and except for parts of it and I can't follow his thought process. I will be happy to read other people's postings on this one.

melissa wilson Reading response 9/17/07

The Jonas Mekas article I thought was very like, self-absorbed?? All the characters talking in the text were being random and artsy for the sake of being artsy. They were trying to be different and interesting but really just sounded like idiots. They were trendezoids! The article would have been more interesting in my mind if they had talked like regular people. The whole idea of shooting the empire state building for a long period of time is a good one. But I think maybe the length of the film is a little excess. Perhaps Warhol was trying to see how long people would stay and watch the movie, if they were trying too hard to be artsy by staying and watching the whole film. But there is also the question the viewer will ask. “What if I leave and something different happens?” so they will sit through hours of the same footage, hoping something different will happen. I wouldn’t stay through the whole film; I would leave after 3 hours.

I thought the Moholy-Nagy article was interesting I liked his thoughts about time and space in photography. I was interested in the part about motion pictures, it really made me think about my own work and how I could make it a narrative, how I can make my own still photography like a movie. I just have a hard time thinking how I could do it subtly, without being to obvious that I am purposely making a narrative piece. Something to think about…..

After reading Maholy-Nagy’s article, Bresson’s article brings about a similar idea about narrative. He suggests that a single picture should tell a story. I think this would be a very hard thing to do. The content of this picture would have to be very busy, and would have to feel emotionally charged. These two things are very hard to put together into one photograph. I think you are lucky to capture one or two emotionally charged pictures in your lifetime, never mind capture it and then have to make it busy and visually striking. I don’t know, maybe you just have to be a very skilled photographer to be able to do this. I guess it’s just something to hope for. Another part of the article I liked was about how to photograph for the consumer, you have to know who your audience is. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the context of photographs, mostly how other people present your work in a way that can askew your original meaning, or might make a mistake in displaying it, which can make the photographer look bad. Bresson talked about it but I don’t think ever came up with a solution to the problem. I guess you just have to work closely with the people handling your work and trust they know what its about and can accurately display it. I love Bresson’s articles, pictures and films so I really enjoyed this article.

Class Schedule Sept-Oct

Sept 10 - Introduction
Readings:
Henri Cartier- Bresson, Images a la sauvette (excerpt) (1952)
Lázlo Maholy Nagy, Space-Time and the Photographer(1942)
Jonas Mekas, Movie Journal, Warhol Shoots Empire, 30/July//1964

Sept 17 - no class
Reading assignment posts due today.

Sept 22 - Kaucyila Brooke presents work.
Readings for Saturday:
Interview with Francis Alÿs
INTERVIEW: The Celebrated Walking Blues

SATURDAY SEPT 29
1 PM meet at Calarts for van ride to Hammer Museum
2 PM view show
3 PM Artist Talk