Atmosphere project

Atmosphere concept:

A police investigation of a murder scene 

Method:

Space/ location: 

We wanted to use a secluded space on university campus that would not raise too much attention and would already have a "creepy" feel to it. We chose under a walkway next to one of the car parks. Because it was half shaded, it created an interesting light and dark contrast, allowing us to outline a body partly in the sun, which is then broken with the sharp darkness.  This could be interpreted as an emphasis of a gruesome 'dark' deed to have occurred. Located next to plants also allowed us to not only splatter fake blood on the concrete, but also on leaves, which had a very interesting effect. 

Props:

-The police officer costume was black and white clothing with a police hat. 

-Fake blood bought from a costume shop, which we splattered on the concrete, the plants and on the 'weapon.

-The weapon was a heavy block of wood

-Chalk was used to outline one of the members in the group to act as the victims body

Sound:

-You hear the sirens of a police car (which remains playing throughout the film's duration), which was playing in a distance. We used a track which we played through a phone

-In the opening of the film, you hear the footsteps of the police officer as they approach the scene. This grinch of gravel breaks the solitude of the atmosphere, which demonstrates the secluded location.  

Atmosphere:

The feel of the scene is meant to be stark, surreal to the observer by the grisly events that would have taken place, to create a sense of disconnection with the body found (which is one of the reasons we decided to just show a body outline rather than get an actor to play the victim) and also a sense of calculation- playing on humanity's sense of curiosity as to what had taken place.

creating the atmosphere

Film:

Our idea for others to experience this atmosphere was by creating a short film where the camera lens is representing the eyes of a police officer who arrives at the crime scene. We decided this particular method as it allowed people to witness events as if it was happening to them, as if they were a police officer, observing things through their eyes. 

To make this realistic, we created dialogue for the two characters, pointing out the significant props which also allowed us to explain why they were included in the atmosphere.

The film was only just over a minute long, but in this time, we were able to capture both image, sound, the space and a story:

Script: 

Police 1/ camera walks towards Police 2

Police 1: What happened?

Police 2: A body was found this morning at around 9am. The person who found the body is currently in shock, but has been escorted to the station for a routine questioning. 

They are walking to the crime scene together

Police 1: And the victim?

Police 2: Female. Around twenty years old. At the moment is unidentified, but we are going over any reports in the last 24 hours of anyone missing who fits her description. We’ve taken her body for the forensic pathologists to have a better look and in preparation for a postmortem. 

Reach crime scene and camera looks over it, so to experience the atmosphere

Police 2: We found this next to the body. We’re going to hand it in for fingerprint testing. 

Pick up a large brick covered in blood in plastic bag and hands it to Police 1, camera looks at it then back at body outline, kneeling down to focus on the blood

Police 1: The pattern of the blood suggests that she was facing away from her attacker. She must have been hit several times on her head to firstly knock her to the ground, and then we can see from the splatters that the motion was repetitive to give her a complete head trauma. The brutality of the murder suggests that there was strong emotions involved, but considering the weapon of choice, it was in the heat of the moment. 

Police 2: We need to find out who she is and what she would have been doing here.

Challenges:

We had planned to use red and blue flashing lights, to look like their were police cars in the background, however because it was a sunny day, the lights did not prove affective enough.

Another challenge we faced was locating a replica of police tape, which would have been useful to have to tape off the area, which would have added to the realism of it. 

Folio pieces

Folio pieces:

Ways of seeing:
http://themediaquest.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/ways-of-seeing.html

Colour:
http://themediaquest.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/colour.html

Sound:
http://themediaquest.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/sound.html

Soundscape and sound art:
http://themediaquest.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/soundscape-and-sound-art.html

Introduction to space:
http://themediaquest.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/introduction-to-space.html

Making Maps

The concept of: "My World" Map

Formatted into a circle, this decision was purposefully layer out in such a way, as the world is round and because of this, maps of the world are often depicted in an oval/ circular shape. The circle in this particular map also represents my life which is is found on the inside of the circle: the perimeter of the circle/ the outer layer of the circle are black and white print outs of maps of the places that I have visited overseas, which have contributed to my knowledge of the world and more specifically, of 'my world.' The choice behind the maps being devoid of colour, is because I observed and experienced these countries in a tourist, which only allowed me to see these places as only a tourist, not knowing what it is like to live there, and hence, giving me a 'black and white' type of insight of these places. Outside of that ring of maps of various locations around the world, is the uncharted territory that I haven't been to or know of, and that is where the map ends.

"MY WOLRD" MAP- final piece 

Meanwhile, inside of the ring of maps, are the tracings of my shoes, placed in the centre of the map, showing where I stand in 'my world' and calling this middle point as "HOME." My house is the centre of 'my world' and my sense of direction is based from this totem point, which I demonstrate by creating my own personal compass. I used blue and green paper, as in a world map, these two colours are dominate in the interpretation of what the world looks like. In contrast, the use of red for the 'home' was chosen to stand out, so one's eyes are immediately drawn into the centre, so they too, can situate themselves amongst 'my world,' providing a sense of grounding and a sense of location.

By adopting the concept of 'north', 'south', 'east' and 'west', I replaced these navigational points with my own references. These references are landmarks that are significant to me in my current circumstances:

The points of my personal compass 

And that is "My World" map, of how and where I see myself in the larger world.    

  

Urban Derive

"The dérive, or drift, was defined by the situationists as the ‘technique of locomotion without a goal’, in which ‘one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there’. The dérive acted as something of a model for the ‘playful creation’ of all human relationships. It is a tactic of psychogeography." 

(Latrobe University, 2013) 

I chose the colour purple and followed it around the CBD, which I did for approximately an hour. The idea behind this was to "capture the textual run-off of the streets: the graffiti, the branded litter, the snatches of conversation… Be alert to the happenstance of metaphors, watch for visual rhymes, coincidences, analogies, family resemblances, the changing moods of the street…” (MacFarlane, R). Before I began following purple, starting outside Parliament Station, I wandered aimlessly while thinking of which colour to follow. During this period, I paid close attention to the colours around me: the numerous greys that make up our roads, our pathways and our buildings. It would be considered stark, however the area where I was walking through (I wasn't paying attention to the street names), the buildings were older and filled with character. There was a church (St Patricks) which is a hidden treasure amongst the blocks of officers that make up a large proportion of the city.

St Patricks- grey

It would be all too easy to follow grey, so despite it following me wherever I went, I decided to choose a colour that wasn't so commonplace. Although grey is dominant, there are splashes of various colours amidst it all, green being one of them. Green is found as nature strips to rubbish bins, from traffic light to railings, and for a while I followed such a railing, looking at the people around me. The majority of people were walking by themselves, many of which were on phones or electronic device (i.e. iPod). This I found as quite ironic, as people in the 21st century are so connected through the virtual space, that they aren't engaged with the world around them. They are on a mission, walking in haste set out on reaching their destination, without stopping to look at the people they pass, or noticing that I was awkwardly trying to take a photo of my surroundings...

I didn't want people to see me taking photos of them, but then I realised that no one was paying any attention anyway (however, I still felt uncomfortable taking photos without their consent)

Having realised that I began to wander around and abandoning looking for a colour to follow, I stopped at the next crossing and made my decision... I saw a lady wearing a purple coat in the distance, across the street. Purple became my colour that I would follow for the next hour.

However, by the time of crossing the road, the lady in the purple coat had already crossed at another road. I had lost that purple object, however, I was committed to purple now, so I waited for approximately ten minutes at the crossroads for some more purple to come along. Meanwhile, I observed the tiniest of details: leaning against the brick building and being aware of the weight that I put on it, hearing the ticking of the traffic lights, listening to the engines of cars that drowned out the voices of the people passing me. I smelt the unpleasant fumes of petrol and was glad of the wind (although bitterly cold) that brought some fresh air into the busy street... until a purple scarf came past, taking me away from the intersection.

Despite feeling uncomfortable following these people, I payed attention to the things I was passing, trying to engage in all the senses, of sight, smell, hearing... I followed the trail of the purple scarf until a purple checkered shirt was coming my way, which involved changing direction back to the way I had come, as well as increasing my pace from a leisurely speed to a more urgent and determined tempo. The previous figure with the scarf was listening to music on their iPod, while this purple shirt was on the phone, possibly about work- which contrasts greatly, as music can be used as a way of escape and a distraction to nullify the time passing, whereas engaging in conversation causes one to be focussed on a specific task at hand; a form of keeping grounded in a particular context.

The streets in which we were walking seemed to be an 'in-between-like' area, with people passing and not stopping, all in motion to go somewhere else. And this shirt was going into a car, so I once more stopped in the street and just observed everything while my mind became the wandering entity, just daydreaming about nothing in particular. This was eventually broken by a bright purple coat, and repeating my previous motions, I trailed the colour until we reached a row of houses down a street, on of which, the coat entered.

I noticed that I had once again found myself by green railings

With the re-emergence of green railings, I abandoned purple and just walked independently, at my own pace and with nowhere in mind. I walked around the streets, weaving in and out, making my own pattern, as if I was a needle and thread through a cloth. I was aware of the cold, which made glad for my thick coat, which then prompted me further into realising that all the purple things that I had encountered within that time, were all items of clothing. I stopped my weaving motion when I saw a purple dress and once again adopted the task...

 
which I did until I came across a park and decided that my love for parks overpowered my need to follow a particular colour. But as chance would have it, when I entered the park, I was happy to find a path lined with deep purple, light purple and pink and white flowers, which I followed, welcoming in the freshness and the completely different atmosphere of the dominating grey streets that I had encountered previously.

 No one was around and it was peaceful, which allows one to forget that they are surrounded by the busy and constantly moving city. I decided to stay here for the remainder of the afternoon, without a goal, without intent... just drifting.


References:

Latrobe University, 2013, 'Derive', Exploring Media Arts, blog post, 21st July, http://exploringmediaarts.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/psychogeography/

MacFarlane, Robert, Psychogeography: A Beginner’s Guide retrieved from http://exploringmediaarts.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/psychogeography/ 

Exploring your home

"Space is like media: We can leave a trace in space – thereby recording on to it. We store things in space, thereby inscribing it, and rediscover places, thereby replaying space. Through our experience of space, we transform it in to place. Our experience of space has an immediacy. We observe not with one sensory organ – but with all of them. Our eyes, ears, our skin, our smell, our soul. It is a potent media." (La Trobe, 2013) 

The poetics of the home: 

Under the bed has always been something to be dreaded... It was a place that no one would want to venture and see what was under there, but the things that have been hiding in this unknown and dark space has changed throughout the years. When I was younger, I heard about the 'monster under the bed' and because of this tale, I was always too afraid to look, too afraid that the monster would grab me and pull me under and drag me to the shadows where I would be lost forever. I truly believed this when I was three, and for the following few years I made an effort to jump into bed and jump out of bed to avoid that gap between the floor and my mattress, until I one day had the genius idea. This idea consisted of putting all my extra stuffed toys underneath the bed in an effort to protect myself from the chance that the monster could come out (because there is nothing more fierce than an army of stuffed toys). But as years passed and I realised there was nothing evil lurking beneath the bed, and my toys vacated to new homes, the space remained forgotten and just became a convenient place to stuff unwanted clutter which would be discovered every once and a while and then thrown out. But now, I have conquered the expanse and now have accepted that under the bed is probably the most timeless part of the entire room. By this, I mean that, everyday things move around in my room, however, under the bed remains untouched, and what else remains untouched? The past. So that is what now hides under my bed and what I saw when taking this photo. Objects from my past, like old birthday cards, notes from friends, movie tickets, etc. are now stored away in shoeboxes neatly under the bed. I don't go through them, but one day when I'm old, I will have something to look back on, like a photo album.

Under the bed

Under the bed I see two shoeboxes filled with old documents of past events and two open top boxes that are filled with "treasure," or what I thought of as treasure when I was little, like a shell necklace, a scrunchy with sparkles, letter magnets, plastic beds, badges, etc. Worthless to anyone else, but things so precious to the three year old me that was scared of the monster that no longer lives under my bed.


References:

Latrobe university, 2013, 'The Poetics of Home,' Exploring Media Arts, blog post, 9th September, http://exploringmediaarts.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/the-poetics-of-home/

Introduction to space

"Space is media"

There is virtualisation of space (like a map) and there is actual space (in the real world)- there is a distinction between the two, and sometimes it is easy to merge the two together and get them confused, especially in the current world with advancing technologies and the internet. Virtual space plays a big part in the 21st century, with what seems like everything is displayed on online forums, for example, one could visit the Louvre Museum just by going to their website and looking at their achieves. It isn't the same as seeing the artworks live, but similar to what was discussed in 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger and in my previous post of the same name, these images are taken out of its original context and brought to the comfort of your own home; there is no desperate need to go to the actual space itself. Another example is social media. It is a space that can hold endless conversations, a space that allows you to connect and reach out to numerous people and groups, sharing photos, experiences, music, videos, etc. These countless possibilities that are brought up are all found in this virtual space, and it can be said that space is most potent of the medias, as it plays such a major role in our lives. 

Virtual space

Space is a visceral understanding of what is real, which moves us on to discussing/ acknowledging actual space. In actual space, it tests all of our sensory organs, our primary medium is skin; we are able to physically feel space. We are also able to sense space with something that is inexplicable; we can sense spaces with a kind of 'sixth-sense,' for example, when entering a space and feeling uncomfortable. In Germany, one can visit the gas chambers that were used during the Second World War, at many have said that, even if they weren't aware of the horrific history about the rooms, they had an uneasy sensation go through them and got the impression that something terrible had happened there. There may be a skeptics about this, however it can undoubtably be correct in saying that space as a media is obsolete without a person experiencing it, which can be related to all other forms of media (including sound and visual media that we have previously covered). 

For the next few weeks we will be looking at the "poetics of space," at phenomenology in regards to this overlooked form of media. 

Sound project

As explored in the previous weeks, sounds has changed and adapted in many new and sometimes, radical way, due to the invention of microphones, radio and other technologies that impact on the recording of sound/ music/ noises.
We were asked to conceptualise and create a soundscape that would provoke a listener into feeling, as well as hearing. By creating a piece of music inspired by a colour, I decided to take the listener on a narrative journey,  with the intention to also allow them to think and reflect with their own experiences with this prompt.

Before beginning any recordings, I chose the colour blue (a light blue) in which my sound piece would be based on. With that, I came up with words that I associated with the colour:
-calm
-dreams
-creativity
-freedom
-memories
-sky
-melodic
-content
-hope
-peace

Choosing three words that stood out and which I could elaborate on (dreams, memories, melodic) I started linking them together:
memories: the memory of something that is in the back of the mind- the subconscious, which links to...
dreams: in a dreamlike state, a memory is being played, which then links to the tone of the piece...
melodic: sweet, intimate, to relict the state of dreaming, which is fundamentally underlined by the concept of hope. 

With this mind map of an idea, I went ahead with planning the narrative order:
the start of a memory- memory of a song/ tune (father humming a lullaby)- listener/ the protagonist hums (voice and memory is the primary stage of a melody, which can then evolve)- evolve into instrumental music on repeat (piano and guitar- acoustic, to retain the dreamlike state)- fade out, stripping away the piano to have solo guitar- daydream of a new possibility about the future/ change of outlook in life (previously living in the past but using the past experiences/ memories to grow and adapt to a new creation).

Now with the story and shape of the piece, I went to the piano and composed a basic short melody, nothing complex, so to keep the lullaby sense. Then recording via audacity, I recorded the piano part, then then the two voices humming the same melody, not adding any words, so the listener can formulate their own imaginings of what the memory actually is (I liked the idea for a listener interpreting the memory as their own). Then I recorded the piano again with the guitar improvising a background layer, which then became a solo in a separate recording.
With the recordings, through audacity I altered the sound volumes, cut the unnecessary recordings, editing the clicks or other unwanted sounds. I noticed that there was a certain degree of static throughout the recordings, which I decided to keep in, even though it was not what I initially wanted in the soundscape, because I thought that it provided a sense of what an old recording sounds like, which highlighted my idea of 'the memory.' Content with the recordings, I then arranged the pieces in a chronological order based on my narrative layout.

Adapting into a wav. file, then uploading onto Soundcloud, the piece was complete- yes, with imperfections, however, the outcome hopefully prompts the initial meaning and thoughts that I wanted to achieve at the beginning of the process.

Soundscape and Sound Art

Ecology- in terms of soundscape- aims to raise the level of consciousness about acoustic environments and help to realise the interactive relationships between emotion and understanding in pleasure, as stated in Helmi Jarviluoma-Makeia's article 'Re-sounding pleasure in soundscape studies.'

The reading for this week was an introduction into the lecture of sound art where it was discussed what sound art was, as well as delving into particular artist's works and intentions when working with sound. The exploration was broken into two sections, which were each divided into two sub-catagories:

What is sound art?

#1) Sound/ space- how sound activates space and the architecture's impact on sound ("composing space"). For example, Leitner's 'Serpentinata' has the intention of using sound to isolate the audience when listening and entering the space to bring self-awareness upon them.
#2) Strange sounds/ strange media- "sound is all our dreams of music. Noise is music's dream of us." (Morton Feldman) In this particular instance, we looked at 'avant-garde music.' This is where artists are experimental, using instruments and noises that weren't considered as musical. These artists, like John Cage  and Pierre Schaeffer were revolutionary in the music world, thanks to the development of technologies, like the microphone and record, that allowed for sounds to be captured in a way that broke from the traditional methods of live performance.

Sound as media art:

#1) "The break-down of the tool"
#2) Electronic popular music- "as listening to machines making mistakes." This section was particularly enlightening, as it deemed relevant to the popular music culture of present day. Quite often, electronic music is taken for granted, and sometimes can be considered musically lazy, however it is in fact an evolution of the avant-garde revolution of the early 20th century. Artist and music journalist, Kodwo Eshun spoke of the music being like "electricity" itself and this manipulation of sound generates a rhythm that is calling up a response in the listener's body, and this is what music essentially is: it is a medium that is to affect a listener mentally, emotionally and physically.

Soundscapes and sound art is constantly being explored and developed; new ideas and sounds are created, each initiating an experience for the listener/ audience.

Sound

If you were to sit in a room and not speak, and no one else is speaking- there is silence, until you listen carefully and realise that there are plenty of sounds that are being made. You may be sitting in the library and there may be a bird chirping outside or a dog barking. The click of a pen, the tapping of the keyboard, the turning pages of a book. Someone sneezing, another coughing, the squeaking of a chair, the sound of the heating or air conditioner. Either way, even when you are quiet, there is noise.

Noise is one of the aspects of sound; it is the unwanted or undesirable, coming from the term of 'nausea.' However, it is interesting to know that over the past century, noise has become the focus in many musical genres. For example, composer John Cage is interested in the idea of noise overlapping other noises and wanting to highlight the concept that music listening also involves the other sounds that are present in the place you are listening from (like the additional sounds in the room around you) and that no matter how many times a piece is played or performed, the experience is different each time. He demonstrates this in his radically famous piece '4:33'

The other aspects of sound is hearing (our auditory perception- sound travels in waves and is very much a physical thing, so hearing is how we perceive the waves) and listening, which is focussing in on a particular sound, as well as reverberation, which is the bouncing of sound. This last one in particular is crucial for performance spaces, in terms of acoustic and whether a certain style of sound is suited in a particular context. If we were to look at music and the different genres, the space in which music is played impacts a great deal with how a listener experiences the performance. David Byrne elaborates on the concept of how mankind has leant to "adapt and change what we do to fit the context"over time in terms of music...



Reference:

John Cage's 4:33 retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4

Ted Talks, uploaded on 11th June 2010, David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8kcnU-uZw 

Image Project

Initial interpretation: an elderly man who displays an air of humbleness, looking away from the viewer, with his head bowed down in contentment or in compassion. Black and white, contrasting to the young boy running past in bright colours of blue and red, who is not aware of the photographer. Questions: who is this man? who is this boy? What are their importance in being captured in an image?

In context: This is a photograph of graffiti artist, JR's work from 'Wrinkle of the city of Havana' which is part of a series of pastings and murals in Havana that have been featured in a short Cuba film documenting these images. "'Wrinkles of the City,' [is] a global series of public art installations and expressionistic murals centered around enigmatic portraits of the residents in each metropolis, from Berlin to Shanghai..." (Nowness, 2014)

Using photographs from the internet, I recreated this image with the intention to recontextualise the initial interpretation, with the idea of reversing the image of the young and old, producing an emulations that covers different kinds of issues about the society in which we live in.

The process: the background features a wall of graffiti that displays more signatures and logos as a type of vandalism, rather than the established street art of JR.

Background layer

I wanted to use a background that has bright colours, which differs from the original's pastel blue/green wall. In a way, I'm transferring the reds and blues of the younger boys clothes onto the new wall, but not only his colour scheme, but also youth itself has been moved to the wall, rather than the old man and the old, chipped wall of the original.

2nd layer- adding an upset babies face

 When deciding a youth's face, I wanted to use a photograph that was completely opposite from the content and compassionate old man, resulting to this image of a upset and sad baby. Another significant difference with this new profile on the wall is that the baby is looking directly at the camera, which should stimulate a feeling of compassion within the viewer, which contrasts greatly to the original, because in that, the old man, with his head bowed, it is as if he is looking compassionately at something (perhaps the young boy running past). So, even though the age and composure of the baby and man are different, there are still the same emotions present, but now the giver and the recipient are changed. 

3rd layer- adding the old man

Just like the reversal of the subject on the wall, the same has been done for the figure in the foreground; instead of the young boy running past, heading towards the right, I have added an old man walking past, heading towards the left. This change of direction was deliberate; if you were to imagine a timeline that runs left to right, the original boy is heading towards the future with a whole life ahead. But here, the old man is facing the past, knowing that his life has been lived. Also, his image is neither black and white like the image on the wall, nor in colour like the original boy, but is captured in sepia, as if fading away, which contributes to the concept of knowing that his time was in the past.

Touching up- the most challenging part

The most challenging part of the process of emulation was touching up on the finer details: erasing around the walking sticks. It involved zooming up on the man and slowly and thoroughly rubbing out without accidentally rubbing out the sticks themselves. But eventually, the end result of the emulation:

The emulation's possible meaning: figuring out this young generation's placement in the present world and the older generation's placement in the present world. The wall is covered with quotations and signatures by different people, leaving a mark in history, to call out for help or to just to be remembered somewhere. There is always new paint being added constantly (differs from the peeling paint of the original), mainly reds and pinks, that can be associated with passion: love, hate, anger, lust... The baby on the wall is crying out, pleading for someone to show some sympathy (differs from the humble old man of the original), while the old man walking past is also looking directly at the viewer, in despair for what the world has come to, and wanting to return to the past, to a much pleasanter time (differs from the young boy running towards something in the original). 

These alterations have transformed the original message left by JR, while still containing the same types of people and emotions, just presented with different roles. 

References:

 JR & José Parlá: Wrinkles of the City (online), 24th July 2014, Nowness, retrieved 14th August 2014 from http://www.nowness.com/day/2014/6/24/3954/jr-and-jose-parla-wrinkles-of-the-city 

Playing around photoshop

This was my first time I used photoshop, with the task to create a collage. With my enthusiasm, I created a portrait with this symmetrical and expressionless face as my 'blank canvas:'

and turned it into a multilayered portrait that features three other faces to replace certain features, creating a non-recognisable hybrid:

The original face that I began with was empty, the eyes cold the mouth giving away no feelings, so I sought it as my mission to transform that devoid-of-emotion canvas into something that spoke many different things to a viewer. Firstly, I turned the background layer into black and white, then adding the eyes and nose from an old man who, I thought, displayed empathy and weariness about the world.  The eyes are seen as the 'gateways to the soul,' so I decided to enhance the blueness, which can be associated with clarity, melancholy, as well as dreaming and calmness, which enhanced the emotions that I saw when I first looked at the image of the old man, and replacing the models void-like "soul." The mouth was taken from an image of another old man from a third world country, who is smiling despite his situation, which I thought contrasted greatly with the straight face of the background, who is a young woman from a first world country. I had the hope to spark some thought in the viewer, so I added the fiery red hair as a prompt to that, which also contributed to the absurdity of the mismatch face. The hand I decided not to turn black and white because I liked the idea that it could be owned by someone else, but that is open to interpretation, like the rest of the portrait: it is open to interpretation. 

Colour

Humans have three primary colours- other animals on the other hand, can see colours beyond our imaginings. A bee can see more of the ultraviolet end of the colour spectrum, and flowers are more ultraviolet in colour, attracting bees for their survival. Meanwhile, snakes, sharks and other predatory animals of that nature, can see more of the red end of the spectrum. The eye is a unique and fascinating machine in a living body... we are optically driven. Light is the first media performed and it's through the fragmentation of light that we experience these colours and are personally effected (how the light let's us see things) and affected (how light and colours make us feel things).

Despite the mechanics of the eye and the frequency with light and the electromagnetic spectrum, with different wave lengths and frequencies, let's focus more on the affects of colour, of how we perceive things individually and culturally. To elaborate with this idea of colours changing in meaning through different cultural backgrounds, let's use the example of the colour white:

• In Western culture, white is seen as a colour of purity, which differs from Mexican culture, who see white as the colour of death. 
• "The experience of colour is closely related to the experience of light and is also a matter of cultivation. As much as perception is linked with memory and recognition, our relation to colour is closely derived from our cultural habitat. The Inuit, for instance, have one word for red but various for white." (Elaisson 2006, pp 75)

Because of this concept of colour stimulating the body and mind (colour psychology) due to experience, this means that association of colours would also vary between the cultures/ cultural upbringing. One of the most stereotypical colour associations in the western world would be the idea of blue being a "boys colour" and pink being a "girls colour." Interestingly enough, the reverse was what it traditionally was perceived up until the early twentieth century; blue, being a delicate colour and representative of the Virgin Mary, was a colour worn by girls, while pink was a strong and more outgoing colour, so it was worn by boys. This is a classic example of how colour association is not fixed and is forever changing and adapting. (For further information about the history of the pink and blue in terms of gender, click here.)

"Colour has in its abstraction an enormous psychological and associative potential, and even though it has been cultivated to the extreme, [like the blue and pink] the amount of individuality in experiencing colours is equally extreme." (Eliasson 2006, pp 75-6) This means, in terms of media and multimedia, colour plays a crucial role in one's interpretation of a particular thing. For example, a propaganda poster may use extravagant contrasting colours, for example: red (which can be associated with passion, anger, love, strength) against a colour such as yellow (making the red stand out even more). This would be to invoke a certain thought, feeling and emotion...

References:

Eliasson, Olafur, “Some Ideas about Colour,” Olafur Eliasson: Your Colour Memory, Ismail Soyugenc and Richard Torchia, Exhibition catalogue, Glenside: Arcadia University Art Gallery, 2006: 75-83.

Hartmann, Margaret 2011, The History of pink for girls, blue for boys, Jezebel, viewed 12th August 2014, http://jezebel.com/5790638/the-history-of-pink-for-girls-blue-for-boys 

3 Point Perspective

One of our activities for this week was to attempt a three point perspective drawing. Drawings that have a 3D element to it use vanishing points, whether it be a one-point perspective, two-point perspective or three-point perspective. The vanishing point is the place where all the objects featured in the picture lead off from on a horizon, or off the page, thus giving it the 3 dimension effect,  allowing the drawing to be accurate to how one would see an actual object vanishing into the distance.

One-point example:

retrieved from http://exploringmediaarts.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/perspective/

Two-point:

retrieved from http://exploringmediaarts.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/perspective/

My own three-point attempts:

This is my own, however I saw a similar image as inspiration on google images

'Ways of Seeing'

John Berger's first episode of his 1972 documentary 'Ways of Seeing,' is rather enlightening, as it allows one to notice the contemporary persons' "ways of seeing," which we otherwise take for granted. The preliminary video- before our continuation on from our introduction to what 'exploring media arts' entails- Berger "questions some of the assumptions usually made about the tradition of European painting" and "the way that we now see them in present day" (Berger, 1972) by providing us with visual and audio examples to demonstrate his contention. In the end credits, it is acknowledge that many of the ideas that were elaborated in this half hour program were first outlined in an essay by Walter Benjamin (German literary critic) in 1936.

An overview of the points in which Berger wished to convey were that: due to the technology of the modern day- with camera's and the ability to replicate original European artwork- changes the way in which a viewer perceives the work. This means that, before this advancement in technology, one would only be able to see a particular painting in one place, and that one place would house the original. Whereas today, we are able to witness a replica, whether it be a photograph of the original, a printed copy of the original, or even watching a program like John Berger's and seeing the original through the camera, which means that we aren't seeing the painting like it would look if it were right before our eyes without having a lens obscuring and manipulating it. And since we are now able to view a painting anytime and any place, the context of the painting changes too, as it no longer is in it's intended spot. For example, many masterpieces during the Renaissance were commissioned to be placed in churches or in grand buildings, but now it is possible for that same masterpiece to be found in one's own home, thus, manipulating it from it's original context.

Berger then continues to discuss how other medias have the ability to manipulate how the audience perceives an image. For example, if one were to hear a piece of music while looking at a work of art, it subtly changes your subconscious into seeing it in a unique way, different to how you would have seen it if you were to listen to another piece of music, or if there was just silence. And this silence is what Berger then highlights, saying "the most important thing about paintings themselves is that their images are silent, still" and that "occasionally this uninterrupted silence and the stillness can be very striking." (Berger, 1972)

He explains that the most obvious ways of manipulating a painting would be via the mediums of sound- like explained previously- but also through the use of movement and focus. This links back to the idea of making replicas of an original piece. By zooming up on one area of a painting, a viewer's concentration is immediately drawn to what is right in front of them, losing the content of the piece as a whole, and losing 'the bigger picture.' This ease of manipulation of an image also demonstrates the ease in which one can manipulate a viewer.

We see a woman's portrait

Which comes from Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus'

 Towards the end of the program, Berger then demonstrates that "when painting are reproduced it becomes a form of information," implying that the "meaning of an image can be changed according to what yo see beside it or what comes after it."(Berger, 1972) Throughout the entire episode, John Berger is speaking in a discussion-like tone, addressing the viewer, which engages them and allows them to interact with the examples that Berger chooses to display, which is extremely beneficial for the viewer to understand the impact of a painting when it has been modified, and the different "ways of seeing."



References:

Berger, J (1972), John Berger/ Ways of Seeing, Episode 1 (1972), (online video), 8th October 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk

Image found at http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/botticelli/venus.jpg.html 

Introduction to media arts

It is a very curious thing that, despite growing up in the generation where technology is the predominate feature in society, I have been able to bypass having the ability and skills of using these everyday devices. Computers are a mystery to me. They fascinate me, yet terrify me, due to my inadequate knowledge of how to use the different programmes, however, my love for the arts and the aspirations of being a writer some day, I decided to face my fear and enrolled in the 'exploring media arts' subject at university, with the hope that I won't fail dramatically.

To introduce the concept of media, our first lecture opened up with the inspiring message that we shall look into media in it's deeper and more traditional sense: as a medium of different senses and how it communicates to the person in a conscious and fundamental, beyond cognitive level. With that, I felt bursts of excitement fill my mind, as each week was outlined, looking at the use of image, sound and space, to conclude with the overall atmosphere designed by media.

Despite my excitement and determination to try my best within this subject, my first tutorial started on a bit of a troubling note. Firstly, I couldn't find my classroom, so ended up being late, then when I finally found the room, and sat in front of a free computer, out of all the computers in the room I could have sat in front of, it was the one that was the faulty one, which didn't let me log in. With that, I had to change computers and my little fear began to bubble inside me, as everyone was beginning work, I was still struggling to turn my computer on. However, my fear subsided again when I discovered that everyone was really friendly and we began to watch a video about three-point perspective pictures. Even though I'm useless at technology, at least the art aspect of the course appeals and will make everything worth while.

This is the media quest: starting from scratch with knowledge and skills, with the intention to learn and develop a better idea of how to use programmes to convey different mediums in the 'deeper and traditional sense' of media.