#austincc

[thecristalleffect]

Beautiful and Broken: Exploring Death Through Postmodern Art

According to But Is It Art? by Cynthia Freeland (2001), the concept of contemporary art is far more complex than it might initially appear. In the opening chapters, Freeland guides readers through a range of philosophical debates centered on the enduring question: What is art? Surprisingly, this very question has sparked debate for centuries.

Freeland highlighted theories by Alexander Baumgarten (1714–1764), David Hume (1711–1776), and Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), all of whom grappled with the elusive question: What is art? Their ideas often centered around taste and the nature of beauty.

It was Hume who proposed that judgments of taste are intersubjective: people with cultivated taste tend to agree with one another. Yet it was Kant who famously claimed that something beautiful has “purposiveness without a purpose.”

Kant’s theory of the judgment of taste and beauty remains one of the most widely recognized and open to interpretation. As Freeland notes, Kant “aimed to show that good judgments in aesthetics are grounded in features of the artwork itself, not just in us and our preferences.”

My own thoughts echo Kant’s, though in a more personal and simplified way: art isn't defined by what you create, but by what it evokes within you during its creation. Art is what feels aesthetically meaningful to the individual and the emotions it awakens. It doesn’t need to appeal to everyone—and that’s precisely the beauty of it.

Then comes Contemporary Art, which stretches and redefines the “rules” of what art can be. It often centers on current affairs, taboo subjects, political ideology, and social or cultural dynamics. While all art is art, not everyone is drawn to themes that spotlight death, war, nepotism, oppression, gender, or race. Yet contemporary art—regardless of how it’s received—offers us a window into the artist’s mind and a vivid snapshot of the culture in which it was created.

Adding to the complexity is postmodernism, whose defining traits include relativism, pastiche and eclecticism, irony and self-awareness, hyperreality, and the rejection of authority. What draws me to postmodernism is its ability to blur the boundaries between reality and representation. Several compelling examples highlighted in Dino Felluga’s postmodern theory (Purdue University) include Andy Warhol, Frank Gehry, Roy Lichtenstein, MTV, The Matrix, Dark City, and The Truman Show—each reflecting postmodern ideas in distinct, thought-provoking, and intriguing ways.

The two pieces I have chosen, while truly artistic, highlight the beauty found in death and the reality that represents both its fragility and inevitability—inviting the viewer to confront loss not with fear, but with reverence and reflection.

What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come (1998) was released during a time of major societal, political, and generational shifts. The film arrived at the cusp of a new millennium and explored taboo topics—grief, suicide, the afterlife—while embracing the romanticization of death. These ideas had been explored before, but never with the same visual and emotional beauty that this film brought to the screen.

While it may not be immediately categorized as postmodern, the film clearly emphasizes many of its key traits: the blurring of reality and representation, intertextuality and genre fusion, the rejection of grand narratives, and hyperreality. It invites you into a world where painting, memory, and metaphysics coexist within a painful dream that feels real.

What Dreams May Come is one of my favorite Robin Williams films, but I haven't been able to watch the movie since his death. At this moment, the irony of the situation is too much for me, but I hope to watch it again in the future.

Zombie by The Cranberries

Before Zombie dropped in 1994, Island Records was hesitant about releasing something so politically loaded. The lyrics and composition were already haunting and beautiful, but it wasn’t until the music video came out that people really couldn’t ignore the message.

The song was powerful on its own, but the imagery in the video—like children playing with guns and Dolores O’Riordan singing from the foot of a cross surrounded by cherubs—took it to another level. It creates this strange mix of beauty and violence, layering irony, emotional contrast, and that eerie sense of blurred reality. It’s like a visual critique of how we process violence and innocence, and it challenges us to question the stories we’re told about war and justice. 

Together, the song and video embody key postmodern themes: irony and emotional contrast, hyperreality and media critique, and rejection of grand narratives. 

In the end, whether it’s a song, a film, or a surreal painting, what matters most is the connection it sparks—and the truth it helps ground us, even if just for a moment.

But Is It Art? Cynthia Freeland (2001) https://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/aesth/OUP.html

General Introduction to the Postmodern Dino Felluga, Purdue University, postmodern theory 2002 https://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/introduction.html

What Dreams May Come (1998)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come_(film)

Zombie - The Cranberries (1994) Dolores O'Riordan, singer and songer writer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(The_Cranberries_song)

[wordsinblue87]

Bought an ACC nursing shirt to support the program and me starting the nursing school in one week #austincc #nursingschool #asianhotness (at Mayfield Ranch, Round Rock) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsrQ49ABNqC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ct1nu37z4dgq

[scribe23]

Laying down basic strokes for Final acrylic painting for finals... #painting #acrylicpainting #acrylics #paint #landscape #Kentucky #bluegrass #myoldkentuckyhome #country #farm #art #school #acc #austincc #artschool #artist #illustrator #creativeprofessional #Austin #Texas #ATX (at Austin, Texas)

[momchi]

2 resources that could have made my first year of college easier

Specially in certain topics.

Oh the saint trinity of my struggles, here they are:

Math

Khan Academy: not only for math, they also have a lot for other classes like chemistry, or programming:

Khan academy: https://es.khanacademy.org/ 

Khan academy all math courses: https://es.khanacademy.org/math

Khan academy Mathematics from 9° to 12°: https://es.khanacademy.org/math/matematicas-es-high-school

Also Microsoft has launched a beta program that gives you 10 free Math tutoring session if you are a student

link: https://tutoringexperts.microsoft.com/

College life and kinda adulting

College it’s hard and can be harder if you have other struggles like socializing, I read some sections of Lumeng course for college success and was really helpful

Link:  https://courses.lumenlearning.com/

I personally don’t think you need to read it all to have a “successful” college life but it is really handy to have it on your bookmark.

Learning, memorizing, and reading

Okay Lumeng saved my life in this topic, Lumen course are Masteposts itself, for me was specially useful the Unit 4: Strategies for Academic Success because I was struggling so hard with academic books and the technique (SQR3) they teach was perfect, I also read an ig post of a girl on first year of medical school that also found really helpful this method.

link: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-learningframeworks/

[annviscom]

STM or LTM

Year 3 - FMP

(16 April 2021)

In order to move my project forward I tried to find out methods for testing short term memory. Every testing method I came across (during my very brief research) only went on for a few seconds, so, I was wondering how that would work for my project since it is most likely not possible to read an entire story or a book in under 30 seconds. Also, most of these tests included lists. Single words/images that then had to be remembered. Which is very different from remembering long sentences, up to paragraphs.

Therefore, I took a step back and looked for information about what counts as STM (short-term memory) and what is LTM (long-term memory). I was thinking that if I read a text now (say, in about an hour), it would be STM but from what I have been finding it seems like that is already within the time span of LTM.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory; sometimes it is called working memory. Short-term memory takes information from sensory memory and sometimes connects that memory to something already in long-term memory. Short-term memory storage lasts about 20 seconds. Think of short-term memory as the information you have displayed on your computer screen—a document, a spreadsheet, or a web page. Information in short-term memory either goes to long-term memory (when you save it to your hard drive) or it is discarded (when you delete a document or close a web browser).

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-learningframeworks/chapter/chapter-9-memory-and-information-processing/

According to this website, STM only lasts for 20 seconds (other sources say different times, therefore I would say it lasts somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds). That is interesting as that way, every line we read in a book (approximately, depending on how fast someone reads) is part of the STM, but as soon as one moves to the next line the previous line has either moved into the LTM or is just gone from memory. Which would explain why most people can’t remember every little detail/wording after reading a book - I don’t doubt that there are people who are able to do that though.

Long-term Memory

Long-term memory  is the continuous storage of information. Unlike short-term memory, the storage capacity of long-term memory has no limits. It encompasses all the things you can remember that happened more than just a few minutes ago to all of the things that you can remember that happened days, weeks, and years ago. In keeping with the computer analogy, the information in your long-term memory would be like the information you have saved on the hard drive. It isn’t there on your desktop (your short-term memory), but you can pull up this information when you want it, at least most of the time. Not all long-term memories are strong memories. Some memories can only be recalled through prompts. For example, you might easily recall a fact— “What is the capital of the United States?”—or a procedure—“How do you ride a bike?”—but you might struggle to recall the name of the restaurant you had dinner when you were on vacation in France last summer. A prompt, such as that the restaurant was named after its owner, who spoke to you about your shared interest in soccer, may help you recall the name of the restaurant.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-learningframeworks/chapter/chapter-9-memory-and-information-processing/

For my research this means that I have to change what I am looking for. So far I have searched for ‘short term memory testing’ or ‘short term recall memory’. I have also briefly looked through what I could find on ‘recall memory testing’ - maybe I should dig deeper into that. But I will also look into ‘long-term memory testing methods’.

I also need to remember to apply this change to the description/overall purpose of the project.

[psychclass11]

Sources

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-ap1/chapter/special-senses-smell-olfaction/

http://www.brainfacts.org/Thinking-Sensing-and-Behaving/Smell/2015/Making-Sense-of-Scents-Smell-and-the-Brain

https://www.thoughtco.com/olfactory-system-4066176

https://www.thoughtco.com/olfactory-system-4066176

https://www.thoughtco.com/five-senses-and-how-they-work-3888470

[emotionalsupportdman]

Dark AustinCC, show me the forbidden student data change form

[vickycheng7]

Taste (Gustation)

Taste, or gustation, is a sense that develops through the interaction of dissolved molecules with taste buds. Currently five sub-modalities (tastes) are recognized, including sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami (savoury taste or the taste of protein). Umami is the most recent taste sensation described, gaining acceptance in the 1980s. Further research has the potential to discover more sub-modalities in this area, with some scientists suggesting that a taste receptor for fats is likely.

Taste is associated mainly with the tongue, although there are taste (gustatory) receptors on the palate and epiglottis as well. The surface of the tongue, along with the rest of the oral cavity, is lined by a stratified squamous epithelium. In the surface of the tongue are raised bumps, called papilla, that contain the taste buds. There are three types of papilla, based on their appearance: vallate, foliate, and fungiform.

reference :https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-ap1/chapter/special-senses-taste-gustation/

[lunar-landscape]

I have to admit, it feels cool typing the "666" in my ACC student I.D.

[riellestate]

None of my teachers have posted to blackboard (: so helpful thank you

[flashpool]

Perfect #sunny day for an #underwaterphotobooth at #austincc! #makeasplash #austinview #underthesurface

[riellestate]

MY BLACKBOARD STUFF FOR THIS SEMESTER IS UP AND IDK I'M JUST SO FUCKING EXCITED TO LOOK AT MY CLASSES O WOW