dayabhatti

[dayabhatti]

Narratives in Fashion & Advertising

This lecture was about narratives in fashion editorial and advertising. For these narratives it's essential to know the audience and culture for the reference to be understood by them, hence Vogue has many different types which are all culturally specific e.g. Vogue India, Vogue Italia etc. It is also important to know where it is going to be used.

Different themes have been appropriated from paintings in magazines by different brands. E.g biblical themes like Kayne Wests rolling stone cover which is quite different as Jesus is white. Also David LaChapelles paintings which have been used and modernised by D&G. Some may argue these bibilcal references are offensive.

The importance of knowing the culture is for example references to the Mahabharat would be understood by an Indian audience but may not be effective in western culture. Likewise the Save our daughters campaign using Hindu deities to provoke reaction of how women in India aren't treated well with abuse cases etc although the country worships women Gods hence it was effective in India but may not be in England.

There are also fantasy themes which are appropriated like Vogue using Alice in Wonderland for a theme of a photoshoot using references which are recognisable by the audience in the setting clothes etc.

Contemporary cultural themes are also effective in conveying narratives in advertising and fashion for example the make love not war campaign in 2007.

Filmic themes can also be appropriated and recontextualised for example Annie Leibovitz for Vogue who references Wizard of Oz & Disney I really feel like this effective in remembering the advertisement because it was references that the audience can relate to and understand and it relates to nostalgia and rememberence of these narrative we have grown up with which has been put into the adult world.

I really enjoyed this lecture and it showed loads of different examples of narratives in advertising even by appropriating other narratives and recontextualising. I learnt how for this reason it is important that the audience and culture is known so the reference can be understood.

[dayabhatti]

Autobiography & Biography

These lectures focused on different ways narrative can be shown. Autobiography & biography are examples of narratives. For example Speigelmans graphic novel based on the Holocaust using animal representations as the victims and Nazis. I really liked how the artist created narrative tension using minimalism and dark and light tones only. The narrative was inspired by his fathers experience of being a Holocaust survivor.

Another example was Moms cancer and the experience of everyone coming together during this tough time. The artist used colour and idea of superheroes to convey the emotion. 

I found Persoplis really interesting which explored a young girls experience during the Islamic revolution who was quite outspoken which is different to how girls are brought up in the Asian community hence it was an idea I liked that the artist actually conveyed.

Other examples are cooking books and how memories are linked to the food we eat, even common experiences growing up and in life, survellience of another life etc are all ways narratives can be inspired by. 

Another interesting narrative was Leigh Ledare who was presented explicit photographs of his mother who was once an exotic dancer in the form of a family album which usually conveys the idea of this ‘perfect family’ hence it was quite odd and disturbing especially because it conveyed the relationship between mother and son which usually isn't so intimate. 

Amalia Ulman was another artist I found interesting who created this fake Instagram profile by conveying herself as this LA model and attained loads of likes and followers and I feel like it made me think of the way I as of many social media users convey this certain character and lifestyle online which you never know may actually be fake. 

I felt like this lecture really showed me the variety of examples of narratives formation which I didn’t really think of and it was interesting to see the way experiences personally and of others lives form narratives and how they can be visually communicated.

[dayabhatti]

Lecture 5 - City in Ruins

What I first thought of with the lecture title was the idea of Pompeii and the history of ruins. This lecture focused on how decay of buildings and ruins can actually spark off imagination. A term used called urban decay suggests that ruins can actually trigger emotions and memories. Another term is urbex also used as a hashtag which is the fascination with man made abandoned ruins.

The lecture explored how we have always been interested and inspired by ruins especially in art for example in renaissance paintings as backgrounds. Then in the 17th century it was used as backdrops in Shakespeares plays and later in architecture and garden design. For example a folly which describes an artificial ruin to make something look older. Pyramids, ruined abbeys and Chinese temples represent it. Mock ruins are used a lot for example the fish tank of ancient ruins. 

I really found it interesting how artists in the 19th century explored the relationship between time and ruins. I liked how some artists explored the future like the scene from Planet of the Apes when the character finds the Statue of Liberty thinking it was an alien planet. An artist I found interesting was Eugene Atget who explored and documented through photography of Paris before it became modernised.

The lecture explored how Birmingham was a place which was badly effected after the world war and the history of some buildings for example Newtown which was a building meant to be a solution for the overcrowding and poor conditions in Birmingham but it never worked.

Another building is the Birmingham library which was recently renewed whilst the brutalist building was demolished. I really liked how Ally made the connection of a piñata being broken just like the library in her art. 

I liked how the artists who occupied Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin to prevent it being demolished but was still forced to be shows the fascination of these ruins. Another artist I found interesting was Eduardo Paolozzi who represented ruins of figuration by using a sculpture of a head and disassociating it. I felt it gave a really weird and uneasy effect. 

John Martin also interested me in who depicted the ruins of Pompeii, I really liked the colours he used to express it it gave the ruins some kind of beauty which in real fact it left a lot of devastation. The fact real ruins leave a lot of devastation and inspiration like the second world war did for Jane and Louise Wilson where photographs of abandoned Nazi wall bunkers looked a lot older.

I think this lecture was very interesting in exploring the idea of ruins which on the outside may be look pointless however I feel like when understanding the history behind them it shows not only how far time has come but also what it meant in history which can actually be an inspiration for projects. Also I heard about historical devastations like Pompeii but I didn't know how much it was used by artists and in visual communication which this lecture explored. 

[dayabhatti]

Lecture 4 - Cyberspace

The lecture covered what cyberspace is which is computer communication and the ‘web’. Different people have different ideas when they imagine what cyberspace looks like reference to Gibsons science story, the Matrix. What I imagine is loads of technical shapes squares and rectangles made of blue green and red. There is a physical structure such as wires and fibre optics but it’s not what it is made up of. 

I really liked Russian Enikeevs attempt of mapping the internet using similar colours I imagined which is black, blue, yellow and the use of different shape sizes to represent connections. 

I also really liked Martin Vargic connection between the world map of charting territory and drawing onto it the most frequent websites visited. 

The lecture also covered how the idea of cyberspace existed before the internet existed and it was this idea of a parallel dimension. As the internet came about so did this idea of internet art where artists began experimenting with the web. For example Rozendaal and Lund who experimented with turning off browsers to remove text and simple animations.

Cyberspace also filters into cyber culture like the online gaming culture. Also cybergoths who styled in science-fi genre influences. The lecture also focused on cyborg which is and organism with organic and mechanic bodies however this is not a robot but rather Haribsson who was the first person in the world to have an antenna implanted in his skull to hear colour and to receive calls. 

There is also this development of virtual reality which replicates a real environment generating images and sounds for example Googles Tilt brush.  

We have also been playing with this augumented reality which is a computer generated image which influences the view of the real world like Pokemon Go, Sims etc so theres always that relationship with cyberspace. 

I found this very interesting Eva and Franco Mattes staging a fake suicide and recording peoples’ reaction its how internet art can be very controversial producing this alternate reality. I also really found Ripps work interesting in how the internet shapes the way we behave like creating Ho who models for advertising and creates this fake persona online which is relatable for a lot of people on social media and it is quite staged you only show what you want to show. 

Another thing I really found interesting in the lecture was the idea of glitch art using the internet mockups for artistic purpose. I liked Banksys 3D glitch of Disney which gave the effect she was paused but it was very weird.

I really liked this lecture although I initially wasn’t really interested in cyberspace or it wasn’t something I really thought about I realised how much we are surround by it and I found some art forms like glitch and investigating the relationship between the internet and some fake personna people keep up with really interesting. 

[dayabhatti]

Lecture 3  Treachery of Images - Surrealism

Surreal defined as being bizarre and dream like. A lot of Surrealism is influenced by psychologist Sigmund Freud who was interested in repressed thoughts and the unconscious mind which is related to dreams.

A lot of surreal images and ‘nonsensical art’ suggest/reveal things from the inner self for example from automatic drawing and free association. 

Glitch art by Clement Valla has a sense of bizarreness and surreal aspect especially to the digital world like the distorted images from failing technology which were then made into postcards.

The lecture also suggests how Surrealists were interested in the human body especially the female body. For example Dali’s piece called the Great Masturbator which was linked back to understanding his childhood and how he had an anal fixation, he was shadowed by the death of his first sibling hence this explained his obsession with masturbation and faeces. Another example being The Lovers who were veiled symbolised isolation and trauma which the artist had been through who witnessed his mum commit suicide where her clothes were wrapped her face shows the links to the art work. Hans Bellmer The doll which were fragments of a mannequin was quite shocking in the 30s and it was quite ‘weird’ also it could be argued it was political against the rise of the Nazis. 

Also there was exploration of the uncanny which is something unsettling and strange which surrealism achieves. An example is a mannequin which resembles a human figure however has no life which is strange. Something even more unsettling could be Osaka robot which could speak however it still isn't human. This idea is used in advertising which makes it more memorable for example the eyebrow dance in Cadbury didn’t have any link to the chocolate .

Another aspect of surrealism is metamorphic which is transformation of one form to another for Elsa Schiapperillis shoe hat and even Skeleton dress which then influenced Lady Gagas latex suits gives this sense of bizarreness. 

Also juxtopositioning unrelated imagery and contradictory imagery is also used in surrealism. For example Magritte Treachery of images challenged the audience in suggesting that the pipe is not a pipe it is a ‘representation’. This is also effectively used in advertising like Cadbury Gorrilla which made It funny and humorous. I think this is good in achieving imagery which is not literal and more random. 

The last part of the lecture focused on the surreal landscape moving away from the representative to the non naturalistic scenery. For example Vidya Gastaldon who creates hallucinatory scenes.

I really enjoyed this lecture as it made me think of being more creative with image making and rather than having literal imagery to think more outside the box and something that can also challenge the audience to think of a deeper meaning to my work and even make things more memorable be creating this bizarreness which doesn’t exist in reality.

[dayabhatti]

Lecture  Rave Culture & It’s Influence on visual art

This lecture focused on Rave culture which became popular during 1980s and was an escape for people from the troubles with economic recession and Capitalism when this culture became quite an aesthetic. 

There were artists such as Andreas Gursky who focused on the collectiveness of raves and crowd mentality. Also Mark Lecky who used sound and slow motion to create the rave moment atmosphere. 

Another artist Jeremy Deller explored the links between Acid House music and Brass band and this created humour and absurdity because to hear the music they sound poles apart however they had many links. 

Also with the music developed technology and visually communicating to create the atmosphere for example using hallucinatory vibrant art and lights creating a sensory experience. There was also development in the graphics, for example the use of a smiley face was common in club culture again linking back to this idea of a happy place where people come together as a collective to get away from ‘everyday’ life. Also development of psychedelic patterns and vibrant colours in arts became popular. There was development in fashion as well wearing tie-dye clothing etc.

The lecture also explored the idea of links of collective groups going to a place to reach europhia like people did whether they went to the Church or rave where they could be free and happy. 

From this lecture I understood how much popular culture has an effect on the visual art from the digital aspect to even fashion. It was very interesting to see the links in understanding the art at the time and what was going on in society. 

[dayabhatti]

Lecture 1  The Image Reproduced

 The Image Reproduced explored the relationship we have with day to day photography and whether we can all be considered as ‘photographers’. Being in such a digital world where most people from young ages have a phone with a camera and consumed by social media take pictures on a daily basis whether it is of themselves or their environment. Although pictures have been evident even before phones for example a classic family photo and even documenting childrens lives from a young age for example school photos which are then kept as memories and considered quite ritualistic because it would be considered ‘weird’ if they didn’t have something to look back at. There is also the idea of travel photography which could be taken for memories or proof to show others and it really shapes the experience rather than enjoying the moment it is more about stopping to take pictures and moving on. I really didn't think of taking photographs in such a way because it is something that seems so natural to us. 

The lecture also focused on an essay by Susan Sontag ‘On photography’ suggesting that photographs are like evidence of something existing. Also photographs being quite predatory for example using the flash and rather than asking a person if they like what they are wearing just to take a picture of them instead. Sontag also explored how in some tribes there was the belief that the photograph took away their soul however in the more developed world photographs are seen as having more of an obsessive relationship where we can alternated reality. This is where social media like Instagram in filtering out colours and giving this effect of something quite old suggesting us humans like that feeling of nostalgia. On the hand photographs can capture something quite beautiful that one day may not exist and kept as memories.

My favourite part of the lecture was the link to psychology and how when the hippocampus and memory was damaged in some peoples brains Microsoft Sense Cam which took photographs of their daily life helped increase recall and this suggests the power of photographs especially as visual memories of our lives.

The last part of the lecture focused on the psychology of a selfie suggesting vanity, a more modern approach to self portraits which have dated back to prehistoric times recording daily life and people. Also how there seems to be a psychosocial need to take selfies when likes on Instagram can increase self esteem, belonging, suggest a meaningful existence and even where a person has control over the way other people perceive them in the way they pose etc. I really didn’t think of this when taking a selfie because again it is so common and natural however it makes sense how confident people look in selfies compared to group photographs where sometimes selfies can seem ‘fake’ or ‘catfish’ as they fool the audience.

Selfies are more commonly associated with women suggesting that women are second sex and socialised that they look good because they are looked at by society and men. As I believe that women are independent and strong without men I didn't really think of this and agree that a woman should look good for herself and it should be her choice and for example children on Toddlers & Tiaras seems wrong because they are on there due to their parents choice conditioning them to believe they have to wear makeup and be beautiful.

I really enjoyed this lecture as it helped me to think of selfies and phone photography in such a different way especially how we communicate visually through what we post on social media. And digital is part of culture it is so easy to take pictures as it seems so natural to us like it is second nature.