Culture Jamming: Shock, Shame, Fear, and Anger – Are Believed to be the Catalysts for Social Change.

John Heartfield, an anti Nazi political artist. Born Helmut Herzfeld in June 18, 1891, He was a pioneer in public political art, and probably the father of "Culture Jamming." His messages resonate with truth today as politicians unknowingly emulate the themes of the past. His 3 posters that are popular are "5 fingers Has the Hand," "Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk," and "Never Again!" He used these posters in public places to try to expose German Nazism during World War II; Trying to expose the propaganda that was prevalent during this time. I imagine his posters might have been near these Nazi propaganda posters contrasting his ideal. (Fear)

http://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/political-posters-sale

This next artist goes by the name, Eyesaw. As a child he grew to love painting graffiti because of its expressiveness and disregard for authority. Not much is known about Eyesaw, but his aim is clear when he paints. He has worked so far producing advertisement posters. He uses a simple silhouette with a short and amusing story about a person. Eyesaw explains, "By placing my work in prime advertising space the passer-by is almost fooled into believing my work is an advert selling more shit they don’t need." Society's downfall is that they are attracted to a fake ad, such as Eyesaw's and are driven to buy more. However, it isn't real. (Shame)

http://www.eye-saw.net/


Banksy- I love Banksy more than I probably should. His combination of creativity, street art, authority, urban environment, and art is what makes him a strong contender in the street art world. His identity is kept secret and he keeps a very close knit group of friends that help him with his work, but I think that with or without a secret identity the work he puts out is inquisitive and thought provoking. I looked through his website and I looked up culture jamming: Shock, Shame, Fear, Anger- Are believed to be the Catalysts for Social Change. Banksy's work is a little bit of these four. However, I believe, His work is to be a level that transcends Fear, transcends Shame, transcends Shock, and transcends Anger. It is subtle, pleasant, and encouraging. If I could add another word to the list for catalysts for social change. It would be Wisdom. Banksy understands the paint, the canvas, the people he paints, how he paints them, where he paints them, even if its abstract.  (Wisdom)

http://banksy.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLr0qZ86bJs

Chance Operations

Matthew J Koehler and Punyasholke Mishra have developed Inverso, a computer program that randomly selects lines of poetry to form Haikus. Critiques question whether this form of random poetry is a true form of writing or whether the poems the program produces mean anything. One of the more “meaningful” poems Inverso produced is this one here:

    Order from chaos

Big Bang, a day of creation

Spring is coming

(Inverso, 2002)

As an emotion species, we humans get ideas when creation and life itself is questioned. When a computer program starts putting together lines about the big bang and order and chaos and new seasons of change questions arise like, what does this mean? Or what is the author's intentions? Unfortunately the poem is random it's not any different that a nother of Inverso's Haikus:

    The gypsy moths swarm

she fears the simplicy

Winter is coming

(Inverso, 2002)

http://imej.wfu.edu/articles/2002/1/03/index.asp

Wan Chai, Joyce Yung, and Minnie Yip are the founders behind RAW: Random Art Workshop. They are based in Hong Kong and focus on organizing workshops for busy city dwellers to relax and unwind through the enjoyment and randomness that art can bring. RAW doesn't have any set system of chance that I can conclude. However, after thinking about the rituals that a business person has to go through in Hong Kong. Long hours- 6 or 7 days a week- and you're whole career feeds you and your family. Maybe taking some time at Random Art Workshop isn't such a bad idea after all. Even though the system isn't randomized, after a few years of the same job over and over again, even placing down colorful paper down on in a shadow box at random is random enough.

http://yp.scmp.com/article/4117/city-slickers-take-random-chance-art

Remko Scha gives a lecture on the present state of artificial art. Hitting on his section of “Chance Art,” he mentions Picabia and Polke who use a grid and black and white dot system, like pixels. He also talks about the construction of random shapes and random landscapes- A project by Lévy. This draws a “map” with random coastlines. He talks about these simple systems that can be applied to produce results, but there is a “language” that they are trying to develop in order to get more. One such style of coding is Harold Cohen's AARON. It's a drawing program that tries to mimic existing artists. It can have a much richer and more flexible area to develop.

http://www.artificialart.com/rs/artkunstE.html

Art/Science/Tech/Culture in the 21st Century

Himanshu Khatri is ambitiously working on a new display that will be an alternative to LCD or Plasma that we currently use today. It’s called "Aquaplay", and it uses rising bubbles to project a 3D image in front of the user. The instillation currently is heavy, uses a lot of water, and has limited viewing angles at it’s current stages. However, some are hopeful for this new type of display that will contrast the LCD powerhouse. If Aquaplay becomes a resourceful way to present images it can be useful to artist who are looking for a new and edgy way to display digital or 3D models. It can be the sculpture of the future for artists. In a gallery it can be changed to multiple different pieces to fit a theme.

http://www.pixelsumo.com/post/aquaplay

My last post will be on this quick link I saw- "Artbots, the Robot Talent Show." I had to look at this... After reading the description on the website I was a little confused. From my knowledge of robots and computers, robots cannot be creative, yet. Alas, it's about "robotic art and art making robots." There are eleven artists who build robots and they program these robots to create art, I think. These artists are Ranjit Bhatnagar, Alex Braidwood, Ivan Henriques, Katie Koepfinger, Burcum Turkmen, Korinna Lindinger, Logos, Alexander Reben, Dustyn Roberts, Ben Leduc Mills, and Shahar Zaks. I'm assuming that they to give the art a look of free will. However, even the random tasks we give to computers, and robots today run on set algorithms. The most intelligent computer we can build today is about as smart as a cricket. I think this robot art has strange yet interesting application. The non-randomness is and free will to make art is what is holding me back allowing it to be a true art form.

http://www.artbots.org/2011/

Growing up I remember seeing commercials for the incredibly popular toy Tickle-Me-Elmo. I couldn't help, but be disturbed, impressed, repressed, emotional, and stunned at the same time when I peered over Kelly Heaton's multimedia instillation "Live Pelt." I was ultimately drawn in by my memory of this doll and viewing it  in such a radical way is very striking to the senses. In one of her art pieces she has arranged to have 64 Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls transformed into a woman's coat. It provides full body vibration and can be substituted for a lover. The artist developed eight different art pieces in the instillation to describe "Live Pelt." Each with it's own twisted antics. The Trapper, The Industrialist, The Taxidermist, The Alchemist, The Sociopath, The Debutante, and The Fashionista are all different stages or characters who have their pass at each Elmo doll on their way to becoming part of the coat. Heaton's "Live Pelt" has creatively reused the retro Tickle-Me-Elmo doll, and just as some people who owned them in the 90s are getting a little older and will view the art.

http://www.feldmangallery.com/pages/exhsolo/exhhea03.html