In Studio Task, Ideas and Task 1: Practical "Find, Observe and Record"

In Studio Task and Ideas

After last years Context of Practice research and essay project, I really want to find a new topic that I can expand my knowledge on that I am really interested in. I really struggled to sink my teeth into the module last year until I searched long and hard and found the right research and supporting information in an area of my subject that interested me. This caused obvious delays and lack of motivation and I am determined to not let that happen again.

Ideas in relation to the contexts: Culture and Society and Politics

Drugs culture, medicine and politics:
-1960's "Hippie" image vs leading medical science surrounding psychedelic substances.
-Psychedelic drugs, the 1960's medical truths and the "Say No To Drugs" effect on the world and medical progression. (Incorrect propaganda to the masses for decades, money spent on the war against drugs, scaremongering vs the facts. )
-Psychedelic drugs and the effects these substances have had on artists in history

Nature
-Nature vs Nurture - Humans attempting to control and exploit nature (e.g GM crops) and the impact of this
-Nature vs nurture - Human instinct vs experience, impact of surroundings and individual choices. Environment vs Genes Vs Individual Choices.
-Nature vs Humanity - Environmental issues surrounding deforestation, over fishing and natural habitat destruction for human needs. Can be linked to other effects such as animal agriculture and pollution.
-Nature vs Over Population. Artistic reportage and publicity and how this applies to further generations and has changed society.
-David Attenborough's "Humanity is a Plague" argument vs Lord Robert Winston's "no need to worry" hit-back and IVF argument.
-Animal Agriculture and its true devastation including the UN's recent statement regarding how humanity needs to move to a vegetarian/vegan diet to improve the worlds environment.
-Animal Agriculture: Food products and the treatment of animals. Effects and truths surrounding Organic, Free-range and Halal products vs the growing switch to Vegetarianism/Veganism.
-Where Nature fights back - examples. derelict buildings etc


Resources & Notes

• The man who says we can live to 400

The Times and The Sunday Times
Advances in medicine mean it’s time to stop fearing old age, a leading professor in longevity Read the full story

• Demonization of marine life in movies/film….?

Whale in Pinocchio?

Jaws movie poster

• Drug culture

Living in a world where the correct information is held back from us, and drugs that could be helping our health/mental health are still globally illegal only because the government wants to “save face” because of their crap decisions made decades ago (1960’s hippies, “say no to drugs” act and LSD ban. What would happen if drugs were legalised?

Link this to art/illustration somehow??? Art, creativity and psychedelics?

Pyroclastic blow from Luminokaya on Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/141665601

https://shogofawafa.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/sex-and-psychedelics/

• Street Art/Graffiti culture

Defacing private property vs freedom of speech, expression and creativity

Is urban graffiti a force for good or evil?

5 pointz?

The effect of street art/graffiti culture on society?

growing trend of guerilla artists creating non-permanent "digital graffiti" via digital projections and using the facades of building as a surface for projecting political statements and art installations.

Links:

http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/07/18/street-art-detroit-culture-clash/30363471/

http://archinect.com/forum/thread/58642239/graffiti-culture-thesis

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/22/5-pointz-new-york-graffiti-torn-down

Quotes:

that graffiti is always the enemy because it is easy to erase unlike poverty, failing schools, etc. 

I think graffiti is about making a disruptive statement in a counter-cultural manner (really like that term). Billboards happen through a "proper" social process, so I think they're more about an established form of visual communication, like Randh points out.

But In many ways graffiti culture has infiltrated our everyday lives. Graffiti has played a role in things like motion graphics and communications design. Walk into any big name advertising agency and you will meet people who have a street culture background. The creative class has basically digested spraypaint graffiti.

I'm willing to bet that Frac's examples are gang graffiti, or the shenanigans of a few underclass middle schoolers. Bear in mind though, that good things still emerge from the bottom. One day those troublemakers might be doing graphics for Fox news billboards, or study psychiatry in an attempt to understand their childhood behavior (any stats on this?)

Documentaries:

“Bomb It” Marc Ecko

This video relates to a link metal posted (ITN architects): http://vimeo.com/49149385

The Hive Graffiti Apartments by ITN Architects from ACCLAIM Magazine on Vimeo.

Meet 2011 TED Prize Winner: JR 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5MEC5MPjvg

Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Calligraphy-Beyond-Markus-Mai/dp/3899550625

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Task 1 Practical: "Find, Observe and Record"

Keeping these new ideas in mind, we were asked to head outside and get some visual reference, inspiration and photographs linked to our chosen theme. These visual references are to be used as a basis for initial drawings and visual responses in our COP visual journal.

Observational Reference Photos:

Text: Barthes, R. (1968) 'The Death of the Author', London, Fontana.

Text: Barthes, R. (1968) 'The Death of the Author', London, Fontana.

 

 

 
























Our assumption and understanding of the text in relation to how we think the author is wanting us to feel. Our assumption of the author and their background limits our perception of the text.

The point and meaning of the work is ultimately the readers interpretation of the text, not the author and their background/beliefs/values. 

Study Task and Ideas Generation

Studio Session: Ideas generation

Context Definitions

- SOCIAL

Adjective
Of or relating to human society and its modes of organisation, ie: Social classes; social problems; a social issue.
Of or relating to rank and status in society, ie: Social standing.
Of, relating to, or occupied with matters affecting human welfare, ie: social programs.

Interacting with other people and living in communities: Humans are social creatures.
Biology/Zoology: Living together in organised groups or similar close aggregates:
-(of a bird) gregarious; breeding or nesting in colonies, ie: The mountain gorilla is a uniquely social animal.
-(of an insect) living together in organised communities, typically with different castes, as ants, bees, wasps, and termites do, ie: Ants are social insects.

• -(of a mammal) living together in groups, typically in a hierarchical system with complex communication.

Inclined to seek out or enjoy the company of others; sociable, ie: He's outgoing and very social.
Spent in or marked by friendly relations or companionship, ie: How has your social life been lately?
Intended for convivial activities, ie: A social club.

Noun
An informal social gathering, especially one organised by the members of a particular club or group.
Informal: A Social Security number.


- HISTORICAL

Adjective
Of or relating to history; concerned with past events, ie: A historical account.
Based on past events or set in the past, ie: A historical novel.
Used in or providing evidence of the past, ie: Historical costumes; historical records.

Concerned with phenomena as they change through time, ie: A historical dictionary.

Important or famous in history, ie: Famous or historical figures.


- CULTURAL

Adjective
Of or relating to culture or cultivation.

Relating to the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a society, ie: The cultural diversity of British society.

Relating to the arts and to intellectual achievements, ie: A cultural festival.

(Art Terms) of or relating to artistic or social pursuits or events considered to be valuable or enlightened
(Sociology) of or relating to a culture or civilisation
(Horticulture) (of certain varieties of plant) obtained by specialised breeding


- POLITICAL

Adjective
Of, relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state, ie: A political system.

Relating to, involving, or characteristic of political parties or politicians, ie: A political campaign.

Interested or active in politics, ie: I'm not a very political person.

Influenced by, based on, or stemming from partisan interests or political ideology, ie: The court should never 
become a political institution. The attack was a political crime.

Based on or motivated by self serving interests, especially in attempting to gain power or to please people of 
a higher rank in an organisation, ie: Political  manoeuvring  within the company.

Indicating national or regional boundaries. Used of maps.


- TECHNOLOGICAL

Adjective
Relating to or involving technology, especially scientific technology, ie: The quickening pace of technological change.
Affected by or resulting from scientific and industrial progress.


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Chosen Context area: CULTURAL
Sub area: Drug Culture? Graffiti Culture?

- Quotes:

"Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs" Thomas Wolfe

“We seldom realise, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.” Alan W. Watts

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” Edgar Allan poe

“A fit, healthy body—that is the best fashion statement” Jess C. Scott

“The first step - especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money - the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.” Chuck Palahniuk

“I don't do drugs. I am drugs.” Salvador Dali

“When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.” Bob Marley

“A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.” Frank Zappa

“Sexually progressive cultures gave us literature, philosophy, civilisation and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust.” Alan Moore

“Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.” William S. Burroughs 

“If you want to understand a society, take a good look at the drugs it uses. And what can this tell you about American culture? Well, look at the drugs we use. Except for pharmaceutical poison, there are essentially only two drugs that Western civilisation tolerates: Caffeine from Monday to Friday to energise you enough to make you a productive member of society, and alcohol from Friday to Monday to keep you too stupid to figure out the prison that you are living in.” Bill Hicks

"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs." Banksy

- Images (drawings, paintings, posters, etc):

Culture:

 Drug Culture:

- Photographs:

Culture:

1960's Drug Culture:

Street Art / Graffiti Culture: Spreading a message, impact, freedom of speech. Commissioned "legal" mural artwork vs social protest, history/tradition,"illegal" street art.

This is acceptable in architecture:

This is heresy:

Demolition of "5 Pointz"
New York's "United Nations of graffiti” 2014