letsartjournal-blog

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Elisa and Professor Skoller, I just wanted to thank you for an insightful, informative, and inspirational semester. I have learned so much about the arts, connectivity, and power that lives in the Bay Area. I have told so many people about this class and how much I have learned and grown from this experience and I thank you both for that. Again. THANK YOU!!

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We all have the power to speak out on injustice, inspirational push for change, and other aspects of our lives. Technology has brought this affordance to use and it is important to know the powers we hold with us every single day we step out with our devices that we have the power to change the world. 

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Diagram Reading Notes

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Professor Skoller

In our final lecture, Professor Skoller discussed the importance of knowing our rights when it comes to law enforcement interactions. I think this is an important thing to known and learn about because anything can happen and knowing our rights may be a tool that saves our lives in dangerous situations. As a person of color, I walk around with a target on my back every single day, although I am a woman I still face danger. I found that being a citizen journalist was very similar to Skoller’s discussion because it utilizes the power of our technology to share with the world positive negative things occurring at the moment with the press of a few buttons. Although police brutality has been an ongoing issue, the presence of cell phones has allowed us more than ever to see people of color specifically, being victimized and killed for most causes unwanted causes. The phone is a powerful tool to document this occurrence and knowing that it is our right to record these discrepancies within law enforcement is a very powerful tool. Technology has been integrated into everyday life and with that comes the responsibility to act up and speak out on these situations through the additional powers of social media. The quote the professor stated,  “see it film it, change it” spoke a statement towards being a witness and protecting others and oneself from impartialities of the world.

In the See, It, Film it, Change It diagram given in the course readings for the week truly taught me so much for the safety of myself if I ever have an encounter with a police officer. I feel as though every individual should be aware of this and especially people of color. Our lives are so fragile and bringing a gun into the equation can truly validate how easy our lives can be taken. By being a media witness and learning the information on what to capture, how to prep ones phone is critical training for being a citizen journalist. It is unfortunate that this conversation must be had more than ever, but it is important to see how much power each individual holds through our technology.

One factor in discussion we discussed further was net neutrality and what truly is at stake for our current generation. We brought up the idea of grassroots media organizations and how this aspect can also be seen as experimental especially if we lose net neutrality. Through the waves of change in our society, net neutrality would continue to bring out individuals with grassroots methods to continue to share there voice and platforms through technology.

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Professor Skoller - In-Class Notes

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 Video games are truly technological pieces of art, this diagram contains the components of all video games, however, those who create these structure and designs have unlimited creativity that influences the users and create work. Taking basic components and creating something amazing is a true experimental art form. 

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Porpentine Charity Heartscape Reading

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Porpentine Charity Heartscape - writer and game designer

Although I was absent from class, I did extensive research on Porpentine’s work and I was immensely intrigued by how colorful and eclectic she was through her many acquired talents. As I diligently skimmed her website and social media platforms, there was a reoccurring theme I vividly noticed. This theme pertained to her use iridescent colors reflected in the images and her projection of pixels as art forms. Through her website, this iridescent scheme is reinforced, however, her personality transcends with the use of text on her site. For the list of her games, she titled it “my big ass list of games” for her comics and pictures “my comics and stupid pics.” Although she is a highly skilled game designer, there an aura around her that reinforces David Wilson’s Bay Area Spirit resonating with local creatives. What I found interesting was the abundance of comments left on her website from users that have used her games. There was so much positive and gratitude for the works she has created for others enjoyment. It truly made me realize that the Bay Area Spirit not only describes the community of Bay area artists, it creates niche audiences that validate self-expression for a wide variety of personality types.

In Porpentine Charity Heartscape reading I found it reflected with the personality she exemplifies as a creator. The structure and formatting was compelling and informative. As a person that doesn’t spend time playing her reading changed my perspective on how much detail goes into creating games hundreds and thousands of people will enjoy.  It’s interesting to see the importance of the player experiences as it correlates with how much time an individual will spend on the game as a whole (1). Like many aspects of life, video games are an additional outlet of self-expression and escape and after the reading made me realize how important it is to create a space such as this..

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Porpentine - In-Class Notes 

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This art image is depicting pixels of data. In Archive Fever, you presented your browser history to the class and it made me think about the data I create every day allowing me to see the vast array of information we generate and collect everyday. 

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Elisa - The Greatest GSI

I was immensely excited to hear more about the work you have created as an artist, it was nice being able to hear your thought process and how you formulated some of your pieces. One of my favorite pieces that you showed was Achieve Fever, as you showed the video compilation of your browser history that was seasoned with emails, various Google searches, and Facebook timelines it made me realize how much data I create every day. You also mentioned that we are always leaving a trace on the internet, and you could not be more correct. Anything and everything I use the internet for is stored and internalizing. This blatantly obvious concept made me conscious of everything I do online. If someone were to collect all of my data from this year, I wonder what my links and information say about the person I am. In the digital space and online communities’ society has grown to be a part of, there are more ways than ever before that we are tracked. These factors include any time we check-in on Facebook, post of Snapchat/Instagram, or use our phones to track our sleep and activity during the day. This additional form of tracking as you mentioned the example of sleeping applications have become a labor practice instead of a regular aspect of life now that we are voluntarily documenting ourselves in ways not common before the existence of technology. As individuals, we are voluntarily opening ourselves up to the world in ways that can be viewed by others whether we like the idea or not. The “visibility and vulnerability” component is something we must accept as technology continues to shape the way we interact with others and daily tasks. The qualitative and quantitative data that we are constantly producing voluntarily again represents the voluntary labor that is allowing companies such as Facebook to make money off our own data especially through targeted advertisements.

An additional attribute of your presentation I thoroughly enjoyed, was learning more about censorship laws in Italy and how long it takes to get a film approved. When the Towel Drops 35mm film you displayed in the most antiquate way and I found it immensely beautiful. I myself preferred that it was silent instead of sound simply because it gave the viewer more to think about due to the absence of sound. Although I was unable to make it to section this week, you stated that art creates knowledge and freedom is what brings knowledge. I found this statement complex simply because we aren’t free in this “free society,” however because the illusion of autonomy and choice are heavily portrayed many believe this as fact. This idea intricate, yet a very interesting perspective I would like to further explore.

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Elisa Giardina Papa  - In-Class Notes 

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I find this art piece representative of black cultures and people and how permanent we are as individuals and should have the affordances to self-expression in any community. 

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Bitker Reading

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Black Aesthetic Collective - Creative Org.

I was taken back by the messages Jamal, Leila, and Ryanaustin conveyed during their lecture to the class. They all brought so many aspects and perspectives to discussion and I enjoyed their presence in class. Before they began they prefaced that art means different things to different races and ethnicities which I thought was very powerful. The Black Aesthetic Collective is a work in progress, they used the term TBA to inform us they are waiting to be announced, accessed, and actualized. I find that this carried within their emotions through their individual pieces. Although each presentation I thoroughly enjoyed, Leila’s had to be my favorite. The way she used her voice as a control mechanism for the crowd by filling the room with darkness and deconstructing images and sound was powerful. The question she tried to analyze was the meaning and existence of black space. The idea of space is an unchanging structure yet blackness and black space is threatened by white culture through appropriation and gentrification specifically. A statement she made that really gave me chills was that blackness and black spaces are constantly shifting but blackness knows silence through the struggles and repression we have lived through for years. I feel as though the competition black bodies have created against one another, have been produced by non-blacks however, it has created a form of hierarchies when everyone should be united with one another. Having black spaces allow for one to have comfort, shelter, and preserve intimacy in a safe environment. As Jamal stated in his piece, black men face death every day. I feel as though it has become easy for individuals to ignore the struggles people of color continue to go through and it frustrates me to see that spaces such as there's are not as prominent as they should be. The bodies that spoke before the class are holding the weight of history that is changing at a very slow rate I believe. Ryan brought up in his talk that black art spaces are constantly being left out of the conversation and blackness is expansive.

In Janelle Bitker’s piece on the collective stressed the urgency groups such as the black collective are trying to preserve the local legacy of black culture (1). I found that the housing crisis is heavily affecting all artists however, those of color are being pushed out the most in a city that once was predominately African-American (3). Leila expressed the concept of black space and how blackness knows silence and this narrative is strongly enforced bu as a result of gentrification, “we do not feel like we exist anymore… when you don't feel like you exist, you don't feel worthy. You don't feel like you should be in certain areas, even when the areas you were in were yours” (Brittsense). This statement truly validates the impact gentrification is having on suppressed people and the lack of growing diverse groups

One factor in discussion we discussed further was how Leila felt traumatized by a film she watched for people of color, yet the film was filled by a sea of people that did not look like her. Not only was this saddening for her to see, but it showed her how gentrification truly is impacting spaces she grew up around as an Oakland native.  

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Black Aesthetic Collective - In-Class Notes 

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I find that through the repression of black and brown bodies, cultural appropriation has taken many forms and continue to repress people of color. In these images, white women wear braids and a headscarf is turned in a fashion piece. White culture continues to suppress through aspects of other cultures that make them themselves as this has also been done through music today.