Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Postmodernism

Postmodernism

  • People in the past did not cross cultures...they only lived one way of life
  • There is no more ONE morality, ritual, concepts, belief system
  • New communications have developed that allow for people to be connected no matter where they are in the world
  • Jean Baudrillard's concept of Disney
    • Explains that Disney is an imaginary world where people can go to escape
      • Adults have the ability to act like children
      • Every concept of Disney appears to be a fantasy
    • Baudrillard explains that maybe reality is not as realistic as people would think
    • Disney creates a disguise and causes people to believe that their reality is true reality 
    • Relates what people believe to be true reality to a simulation
    • Compares actual prisons to life BEING a prison

Monday, March 27, 2017

The Shape of Time - George Kubler

In "The Shape of Time", George Kubler discusses the aspect that "...in short tall materials worked by human hands under the guidance of connected ideas developed in temporal sequence"(8). This stood out to me the most because to me it meant that everyone's inspiration comes from what they see and feel in life. Although artists convey these emotions in different variations, they tend to be very relatable. He then goes on to talk about how everyone has a "collective identity". This too a different way of thinking about art and life combined. Everyone does view matters differently based on their culture and where they come from. Having a "collective identity" made me realize that even when art may be challenging to understand, every artist is coming from events that have happened in their lives. Therefore, every viewer has the ability to understand, relate, or sympathize with what the artist was trying to convey even it does not immediately make any sense. Kubler also talked about how a person can shift tradition in order to find a better entrance. He made this point in order to show that not every period of time has to have one specific focus. Artists have the ability to come in and change how art is "supposed" to be done based on their own creativity and emotions.  

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Fractured Histories - Gallery Visit

During my visit to the Fractured Histories gallery opening I found the pottery in the room to be very intriguing. The ancient Greeks used to depict many of their beliefs and rituals onto these works of art. Not only were they created for purposeful reasons but also as a symbol of what they believed in. 
The pottery that stuck out to the me the most was the one pictured below:

At first I didn't think much of it until I got a closer look. The bottom of this vessel has two eyes. These eyes in Greek culture are said to ward off evil. I found this to be meaningful to me because I wear a hamsa necklace everyday. On the hamsa necklace it is a hand with an eye in the middle of it. This is to symbolize the hand fending off jealousy and the evil eye. In a similar sense the eyes on this vessel are also doing the same but just in a different culture. It is always cool to see that ancient history and modern day beliefs can still coincide. You still see this eye in the above picture on peoples necklaces, bracelets, keychains, etc. and it still means protection from evil. Similarly I wear the hamsa necklace for the same meaning. 

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Data Visualization

I found the post interesting part of the Data Visualization video to be when he said that "people are using visualization today to do something". This stuck out to me because data is a huge aspect of life today. Almost everything we do has a system of data. The video also went on to talk about how the creator can have a different reason for creating the data visualization than how the view is going to perceive it. 

I was able to relate this video to a class I took last semester called Data Mining. Our final assignment was to take this massive amount of data on SAS and choose key variables to analyze. The data was on a grocery store and its various locations throughout the United States. You may never think that your local grocery store is processing data, but in fact it is taking into account many things you are doing while there. These include: scanning items, which brands people are buying the most, how much money is being spent, what type of payment is being used...etc. From there we created a data visualization on the variables we felt were most important to the store in order to better their profits. 

Below is a picture of what the data visualization I described above can look like:
Image result for SAS data nodes

It is interesting to think that data can be used with almost anything, but it is also important how it is presented as well. The video also referred to data visualization as creating a story. This also stuck with me because if there isn't a clear objective or narrative then it will not make any sense to the viewer. Just how typical artwork conveys a message, so does data but just in the form of numbers, shapes, lines etc that all connect into a story about the particular subject.