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MEDIA 04/16/18

A VIDEO ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF ART, NOT EXACTLY THE SAME BUT RELEVANT TO IMPLICATIONS OF ELISA’S LECTURE AND TECH’S IMPACT ON ART!

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MEDIA 04/18/18 PORPENTINE!

Porpentine being her usual, awesomely weird, artsy self. I thought this captures her entire image on social media. super quirky and very personal!

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NOTES 04/16/18

WENT TO CLASS ON 04/18/18 BUT JUST DIDN’T TAKE NOTES AND LISTENED 

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04/16/18 + 04/18/18

04/16/18

Elisa (GSI)

Elisa’s lecture was super awesome! She spoke about her work with digital media, big data and digital economies. I found it so interesting how she took her browser history and created a program using javascript to show all the links, and was so candid in showing her thought process. One could potentially buy a USB of her browser history on Ebay and plug that into their computer to get similar search results to what she would get. Of course, this topic was very relevant given the recent Facebook trial and and all of the issues of security that are being brought up between the government and technology after this influx of data we have. She went on to talk about “Technologies of Care” and it was interesting to learn a bit more about what effect the internet and technology is having on us, and how technology is now such a huge part of sharing art and the art itself. It was nice to hear something very relevant and she was a very great speaker.

04/18/18

Porpentine Charity Heartscape

Porpentine is a writer, game designer, and dead swamp milf in Oakland. She develops hypertext games and interactive fiction. The sentient slime molds that I read about was particularly alarming and different which was super cool!!! I did not understand everything that she puts her time into but it’s definitely a lot of stuff. She seemed like that type of person who is insanely “hands on” and thinks of an idea and just does it (although of her work is similar in theme).

The reading linked to us, which was headed “A Death Archive” quite literally looked like someone's rough, typed notes! I loved it! It was so real and almost like we are seeing her exact chain of thoughts. I loved the descriptions of what seemed like video game plot scenes. I always think of video games as very synthetic and do not really relate them to plots, but her description made me realize that a theme and a story has to go into anything that we use as entertainment; it almost seems like a movie script. I loved how she described video games to be “chopped up, sped up, deferred, halted...looped up..” I feel as though she essentially described her journey in a txt file and it just seems so real to me. It was cool reading the game reviews, and awesome to see an artist whose thoughts we got to read, as compared to a published paper about her written by someone else. I learned something new about video games today!

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MEDIA FOR 04/09 + 04/11

WHERE I LEARNED A LOT MORE ABOUT THE BLACK AESTHETIC, LOVE THEIR WEBSITE LAYOUT, VERY MILLENIAL FRIENDLY

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NOTES 04/09 + 04/11

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04/09/18 + 04/11/18

04/09/18

African American & Pan African Culture (Art)

To be very frank, the whole video called “The Last Angel of History”, which we seemed to have spent the majority of our time watching was very confusing, but I did pick up on a few things (or so I think). The variety of music spoken about in the “The Last Angel of History” movie was eye opening (Jazz, Blues, Rap, Rock, and now House Music). I realized that almost every form of music we listen to has roots in the Black community. Techno or House Music, which is so popular now, also has its roots in the Black community. I looked up the people who started and created such music initially, and both people who came up Frankie Knuckles (house music) and Juan Atkins (techno) are black. It is so sad for me that such a huge portion of our pop culture and our trends (not just in music) come from Black people, yet we still have so so much racism in this country. In the movie “The Last Angel of History”, an artist mentioned how Black people are shown and seen as not being technologically advanced and using very traditional forms to make music. However I feel that now, with Black Panther, an attempt has been made to change this depiction. In Black Panther, the Black community is shown as very technologically advanced and America is depicted as less advanced with lots of room for of improvement (ironic). This is a similar idea to how we adopt so much from art made in the black community in our pop culture, but we our society is still racist despite the fact that they are far more advanced than us in this field.

I also found Cecile Taylor’s “improv” with his piano performance really cool! I have only ever seen piano rehearsals where students have been practicing for days. Watching Cecile Taylor improvise on stage and add his own dimension when he walked onto stage was so different for me. I guess that’s what experimental art is all about!

04/11/18

The Black Aesthetic

The Black Aesthetic is a creative organization, whose mission is to curate and assemble both a collective and distinct understanding of Black visual culture. It seems to have Began out of the E.M Wolfman Residency at Wolfman Books. The Black Aesthetic investigates contemporary black cinema, african filmmakers and queerness in black film. They aim to figure out what the Black aesthetic, and they assert that there is one. Now, they seem to have moved into producing content, namely books for now. They also feature artists on their website to lift up other black artists. Currently, it seemed Jade Ariana is being features. This organization gave me a feeling that it is made for Black pleasure and ownership, a concept I really liked. I feel as though it is not only important to work towards your space and having your voice heard with other ethnicities, but also to have a sense of home and shared identity with a group of people; this organization almost does both! I immediately thought about the question, “is there a white aesthetic?”. In my opinion there isn’t, and this portrays the fact that the Black community is still fighting to be heard and given due recognition. This notion is similar to that described in “Oakland’s Black Artists Make Space for Themselves” by Janelle Bitker. I felt the article put it perfectly when I read, “much of the art reflects an increasing urgency to preserve the local legacy of Black culture, to hold space and to explore questions of belonging”, and I find this to capture the central theme of this week’s lectures. I think it was interesting to read about the issues that the Black Aesthetic is facing, such as unaffordable rent and a cycle of people leaving because they cannot afford it. When is this problem going to solved? It gives me some solace, however, to know that groups like The Black Aesthetic exist and are working towards the problem. It is our duty as American citizens to hear them and help them. It’s amazing how intermixed art and politics can be.

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MEDIA: GREGORY SHOLETTE

“Creative Time Summit”: was nice to hear him talk again, this time about some other things than what we heard about in class!

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MEDIA FOR DENA BEARD: HER WEBSITE ABOUT THE LAB!

thought this captures her work :)

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04/02 + 04/04 notes

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04/02/18 + 04/04/18

04/02/18

Dena Beard M.A. History, Theory, and Criticism

Dena Beard received her M.A. in History, Theory and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was previously assistant curator at BAMPFA. It was interesting to hear about her work with “The Lab”, which is a space on Mission in SF that gives artists enough time, space, and funding to realize their vision in order to change the world. The Lab seeks out extraordinary artists who are underrepresented as a result of gender, class, race, sexuality or geography, whose work is not easily define and therefore monetized. I find that as important as it is to be a bold, fearless artist, it is equally important to create environments for artists to thrive. I believe that artists who are underrepresented probably have harsher and more challenging experiences in life and therefore may have the most to say; The Lab seems to indirectly help us hear the stories of these underrepresented artists which can only help us learn more about our society’s flaws. I found this lecture super cool, because as important as it is for us to hear about artists, it is equally important for us to understand the “Current Climate”, as she explains in lecture (i.e., SF prices increasing rapidly), about what the underground experimental art industry is facing in the bay area. We need to keep this aspect of our society alive!

04/04/18

Gregory Sholette

Gregory Sholette is an artist, activist, and author based in New York. It seems he has co founded two artists’ collectives; these include Political Arts Documentation and Distribution and REPOhistory. He is also the author of “Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture”; from what he spoke about it sounded as though the book is about his interpretation of astrophysics and the idea of “dark matter”. It is really cool how this book created a movement of art to expose the “unseen” aspects of many institutions. These are just a few things I caught amongst many more of his projects, including one that advocates for immigrant rights. It seems he picks up a lot of controversial, political topics in the community through his projects. It was interesting to hear about the Lower Manhattan Sign Project, which involved activist street projects addressing societal topics in New York, such as inequality, revisionist history, structural racism, abilism, LGBTQ, etc. I am constantly intrigued by the variety of artists this class has brought together; although I knew that art can be be quite political, I never really thought of the possibility of art itself literally being an active protest. It is almost as though Gregory Sholette specializes in the creativity of political events, which is an art in itself! Art is everywhere.

Along the same lines of Sholette’s heavy involvement with political and historical based issues, I chose to take a closer look at “Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and Crisis of Capitalism”; I particularly looked at Chapter 7 (Art After Gentrification). Just to reiterate, gentrification is a process of renovation of deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of the influx of more affluent residents. This is a common and controversial topic in politics and in urban planning. I love how he explained gentrification as, “the practice or repurposing resources that already exist” (Sholette 127). I never really thought about the perspective he presents, in which gentrification actually inhibits “engineering” or “innovation” because old structures are being used. Where we go to school, in Berkeley, we have lots and lots of gentrification; I find that ironic given how we are in the tech hub (Silicon Valley) and that we have some of the top engineering programs in the world. As he puts it, if “young, creative professionals who operate in these collective spaces are blurring the lines between commercial and non-commercial work, shifting from one to another depending on the project” (Sholette 128), then what is the point of them having such “hype” and “innovative” engineering degrees? I believe underprivileged areas should be funded, but I do not believe that the communities there should be removed and I do not believe that history should be swept away. Restoring is different from changing! It is ironic how Sholette is an artist, which is considered “old school” and “antiquated” by lots of people who stereotype majors and send their children to Berkeley in hopes of teaching them software, engineering, etc. Yet, those young professionals themselves are using old resources while artists like Sholette are writing about the issue. Gentrification is ok if done right but class-based maltreatment by Police and abandoned city planners should not be a part of that!

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03/19 + 03/21 MEDIA POST

How out of the box, and I love her for it! Wanted to share this video of Lynn Hershman defying the norms. 

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Notes 03/19 + 03/21

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03/19/18 + 03/21/18

03/19/18

During this lecture, we had a bit of an introduction to Lynn Hershman-Leeson, who will be coming to our class this coming Wednesday. When I came into class, the very first portable video cameras were being discussed. This was super interesting to me, because I remember between the ages of 5 and 10, I used to use my dad’s large portable video camera to video tape anything and everything, until my parents purchased the first digital camera my finally owned (potentially in middle school)! It is crazy how such important inventions that changed the scope of capturing moments are so antique and “old school” now. Portable video cameras have been a huge part of my childhood, however, and a lot of my toddler years were documented on one, until we transferred all the film on the cassettes to DVDs.

I enjoyed hearing about how Lynn highlights so much of feminism, gay rights, and general human rights in her art. It was a nice introduction to what we could expect from the next lecture. In a class where an artists’ work is intellectually challenging/thought provoking, I appreciate it when Monday lectures give a small segway into the artist, so that we have some sort of background. Also, the “Electronic Diaries of Lynn Hershmann” were quite different from anything I had seen. Thinking about a sexual relationship with food was just an extremely eccentric thought that I could not understand, but I feel as though that’s the nature of the class - we have to open our minds to others’ creativity!

With regards to the portable video camera, I loved Hershman’s piece, “The Fantasy Beyond Control” in which she talks about how a video dialogue does not talk back, and it is a “one-sided discourse”, and so her need for this caused her to create an interactive video fantasy. It is interesting to hear/read about how an artist came up with something, first-hand. I never really thought about it, but watching television or videos is extremely fragmentary, incomplete and dissatisfying. I remember my mother always telling me “stop watching TV...you are watching someone else do something instead of doing something yourself.” It is cool how she thought about taking an activity that is so common, and making it itself interactive.

03/21/18

Lynn Hershman Leeson

Lynn Hershman Leeson is an American artist and filmmaker. It seems to me that her work combines art with social commentary, particularly on the relationship between people and technology. She also seems to heavily advocate for LGBTQ+ rights! Leeson’s work in media-based technology has helped her legitimize digital art forms (i.e., the touch screen installations she discussed in lecture). Her I found it very politically and technologically relevant and suited to the environment at UC Berkeley, which is full of politically aware and technologically evolved. She has been internationally acclaimed for her art and films!

I really liked B. Ruby Rich’s “California Dreaming: The Cinematic Fusions of Lynn Hershman Leeson”. Rich describes her with the words, “she heats elements into alloys of art and science, fiction and documentary, history and futurism” (Rich 255). I feel like this sums up the impression I had of her. It was interesting to read her evolution as an artist in this article, and to see how technology actually impacted her path (i.e., the scale of reach that videos made on a portable video camera had) in both negative and positive ways, and how she then implemented that in her work. It seems that networking and “right time right place” situations also significantly helped her, just like any normal person. I really liked the idea of her documentary “Strange Culture” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. The film depicts issues with genetically modified food, and other issues of science and public policy: essentially, bioterrorism. The film scrutinizes post 9/11 paranoia, which is a topic I am super interested in. It was cool to read a little more about “Strange Culture”, its making and its effect/significance in Rich’s article.

Encompassing her “weird”, which is awesome! Such a novel concept! Love it, a prime example of her defying the norms and what is stereotypically, wrongly considered “appropriate”!

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Week 9 Multimedia Post

I decided to share a live video on Jon Leidecker improvising lives with his electronic musics as a part of “Wobbly”! Interesting!

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Week 9 Lecture Notes 03/14/18

03/12/18 - USING THE SECOND OF THE “UNEXCUSED” ABSENCES WE ARE ALLOWED IN THE SEMESTER (PLEASE EXCUSE)

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Week 9 Lecture Readings & Reflections

03/12/18 + 03/14/18

03/12/18 - USED THE 2nd OF THE TWO “UNEXCUSED” ABSENCES THAT WE ARE ALLOWED :)

03/14/18

Wobbly is the moniker of Jon Leidecker, a San Francisco-based musician/composer of experimental electronic music. I had a slightly difficult time understanding exactly he does to create his music. Although, I tried to understand the best I could and will proceed to explain the parts that stood out to me most. He seems to have been engaged with the medium of electronic music  since the mid 1980's, performing in collaboration with others and appearing solo under the unchosen pseudonym 'Wobbly', with an emphasis on live performance and improvisation. He seems to work a lot with the improvisation of recorded sounds to produce music which inherently resists the act of being recorded, particularly within Wobbly. From what I heard in lecture, and what I have read upon when I looked into him further, his more recent work involves the history and musical aesthetics implied by the physics of acoustic and electrical physics, research into the technology and creative workflow required for sound diffusion, as well as the use of mobile devices and their built-in microphones as cybernetic (the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things) improvising partners.

“The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Music”, written by Kim Cascone,discusses this intersection of the digital age with music further, and is probably relevant to the direction in which John Leidecker and his work within ‘Wobbly’ are headed. Just as Wobby combines historical aspects of electronic music with the new advancements digital age, Cascone “explores the textural details of digital sound and that exists at the intersection of classical electronic music, sound art and post-techno” (Cascone 1). Combining the old and the new seems to be a common theme with these contemporary electronic music artists. I really enjoyed the fact that this article took quotes from so many of these artists delving into similar work, and highlighted multiple perspectives and inputs; it made each one short and sweet to read!  There is a beautiful quote from this article that seems to encompass not only what current artists in this field are doing and what the future of this field is: “Tools now aid composers in the deconstruction of digital files: exploring the sonic possibilities of Photoshop file that displays an image of a flower, trawling word processing documents in search of coherent bytes of sound, using noise-reduction software to analyze and process audio in ways that the software designer never intended. Any selection of algorithms can be interfaced to pass data back and forth, mapping effortlessly from one dimension into another. In this way, all data can become fodder for sonic experimentation,” (Cascone 3). The future of music confuses me: I enjoy electronic music as long as I have the option of listening to slow pop, rock, and overall simpler music. I only listen to electronic when I’m in the mood. However, now, even “simple” music and pop have electronic music in them. I wonder how much these new electronic music advancements and the ability to create any sound of any instrument through technology and data is going to effect the authenticity of music.