Monday, January 25, 2010

Project Update #2

My Lacie external hard drive has finally been delivered, which means I can take off with my project!

I have lots of recorded footage to run through and organize to start piecing together my project! Most of the work I have to do is editing down my footage.

I have organized to meet with a few of the international students from China just to get some of their perspectives of media here in the U.S.

Laurie Anderson work was definitely an inspiration in terms of aesthetics for my project. She does a fantastic job of presenting her ideas in a clear concise matter and as well makes them interesting to look at.

I hope to make this visually pleasing and as well as making this an informative documentary.

Postmodern World in Transition

It’s tiny it’s compact and it’s one of the most complex books I’m reading this term. It’s The Radicant by Nicolas Bourriaud. It’s difficult for me to give this book a genre because it does much more than to inform you of what art is today. It’s an analysis of world aesthetic using, politics, ethics, economics, and culture as jump-off points into his theory of art in the Post Modern world and beyond.

Media and technology has played has had a significant role in the way which our culture functions. We rely on the media for information, communicating, and entertainment. Bourriaud infers that our art culture places limits and standards to what is acceptable to the art community.

“How can one escape the impression that works are no longer evaluated how can one escape the impression that works are no longer evaluated so much as sorted and graded like eggs.”
– Bourriaud

It boils down to interest and popularity. There are plenty of artist in America alone who work very hard to get their message and ideas out to the world. It is the responsibility of the artist to market themselves well enough to capture the attention of an audience or a museum to receive critical acclaim. I view art as a form of self expression; art for art sake and art to market sell and to publicize to the world. Then their are artist and works that fall in between the categories Laurie Anderson and her work is an example of that.

The art world is in transition as well as culture and politics, were all moving from segregated individual communities to a singular global culture. It’s the post modern world; this is the time that art and people recognize their connections with the world.

“Everything is intertwined, he says and Polar opposites don’t exist… Start seeing the connections and the idea of fusion –of mixing things-seems less and less like a novelty and more just the way to world works.” Ezra Koeing of Vampire Weekend in talking about the band’s new album Contra as an example of our new era into a global culture.

Ideas and new art forms may arise but technology will always be around to define where the world is as global community. Globalization is our present and will be our future.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Laurie Anderson and The Honesty of Self-Expression


In presenting her ideas and experiences in the world Laurie Anderson uses mass media a as tool to connect and express her creativity. Mass media is accessible to the public unlike minimalist art or the work of her past contemporaries. Anderson's work shattered the boundaries and the exclusiveness that minimalist art presented. She takes idea's for what they are and doesn't attempt to deconstruct them any further.

The tools she uses to present her work using books, photographs, audio, and video are all forms familiar to the world and makes it much easier for an individual to connect with her experience as an artist. Laurie Anderson work creates the perfect balance of artistic expression and presenting her work as a part of the digital era. Her work is complex and tedious in it's process and yet simple in presentation. Her work is both aesthetically pleasing and an informative experience.

The media that presents us the news of the world could borrow a lot from Anderson's work in terms of presenting information for what it is. Their is a lack of honesty that media borrows from politics and from what politics borrows from media. It would benefit the american and political culture to have a more accurate perception of what the world is.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Carrying The World to The Future: Buckminister Fuller and His Genius


























An outstanding quality of Buckminister fuller work is the breath of his imagination and how his ideas came into fruition. His ambition for what could be was impressive and is some of the reasoning behind his popularity. Fuller was creating during and era of desperation and poverty, he brought a lot of hope to people when their was not much to look forward to.

He was innovative in his thinking of the human's role in earth system and our impact on it's function.

It's taken a few decades but idea's of sustainable design and living is a reoccurring phenomena that has become pertinent to world politics and individuals way of living.

"I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I've invented."
- Buckminister Fuller
His work is comprehensive and can apply conceptually to all forms of innovation and the human propensity to be sufficient and environmentally conscious in the new era.

Monday, January 18, 2010

My media My Vision My plans

My mission
My goal of this media project is to expose some myths and misperception of China that has developed in our western media Culture. I hope to show through video and diary what truths I’ve been exposed to of the current cultural, political, economic, environmental development of China. I would like to begin by keeping a data base of media commentary from major leading News network that criticize China’s development in any way shape or form. I would like to use this data base as reference as well as use it as visual to connect with my video/diary documentary.
• Target News Networks
a) PBS
b) CNN
c) BBC
d) New York Times
e) NPR
f) The Economist

• Other media sources
PBS documentary China From the Inside
Other documentaries about China
My video Footage

Some questions I plan to explore for the duration of my project

  • How does media shape politics and how politics shapes media?
• Any relationship whether it is formal, informal, domestic, and international; is bound by a common interest
• That interest is the initial cause for interaction
• What is United States interest in China?
• How does our relationship with China today effect it’s a portrayal in the media and the knowledge that is the shared with Untied States.
• To what extent does China’s political system influence the media’s portrayal of the Country to Americans perception of Chinese governance, culture and priorities involving the public?

Sunday, January 10, 2010

"You See Me Laughin' -The last of The Hills Country Bluesmen " Media Commentary

This is not a story of great musicians retelling the story of their claim to fame and the success that followed.
It’s a story of raw of emotion that is communicated through music for the sole purpose of listening and creating.

The technical style the director uses to tell the story of the country bluesmen is as raw as their music. The technical aspects of the film and the style which the story is told acts as a clear reflection of the history of struggle and pain that musicians like R.L Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Cedell Davis to name a few put into their music, the Blues.

Heres a short clip of the beginning of the film.





The culture and the life that’s inspired the creation of their music is expressed by the musician immediately in the opening of the film. This is their attitude through out the entirety of the documentary they openly share the struggles of their life; The blues wouldn’t be the blues with out the pain of the human experience.

Some of these musicians have never found success outside of their community and there are many interpretations of what success means to a musicians and for a few of these men having a space to perform was more then enough to make them happy. What’s interesting is that for a few of the bluesmen playing music was their only means of surviving. Their perseverance and dedication to blues is what make their stories captivating.

The controversy of Fat Possum Records taking the role as exploiters of their music is a result of media culture. I feel this is especially true for pop music. Pop musicians image is integral to their success. Foster Kamer writer for the gawker posted an article on the surrounding hype from music journalist obsession of writing about indie pop band Vampire Weekend and their Ivy League origins. Their upcoming sophomore album, which comes with a new California chic look, gives the media a point of intrigue for their fans and the public. “regionalism and branding are staples of pop music.” Saids Kamer This is the same kind of interest that is being generated by the last hill country bluesmen their music their perspective is a point of interest for the media it’s not a matter of exploitation it’s the ability to market a style of music that can reach the public.