WR 7,8

Here there is a picture of my four-square prompt; it represents the cognitive functions of every person that wrote on this sheet of paper. Here's how it goes. Everything becomes sedated with one another. That's all I know. And it's by far the most intrenching post I have been able to get access towards. The first square undoubtedly unfolds to us some kind of incongruence between states of mind of this person. He/she thinks of a triangle when he/she hears the word "tick". As well, the issue of filtering becomes apparent because he/she doesn't seem to understand what the image constitutes of. Secondly, as we proceed to the other, more elegant picture of this drawer, it seems that this drawer doesn't seem to acknowledge shape when it comes to drawing well. This means that he/she probably hates to use detail when regarding shape; simply he/she doesn't regard the use of these shapes as important. Importance comes at a cost. Regarding whoever did the second bunch of words, it seems perfection is kept wisely at bay. This person tries to establish a sense a belonging with the viewer - seeks to connect his/her experience with the viewer. He or she tries to establish a sense of security. Under scrutiny, this person relevantly chooses to not mention horrific details of the gore; rather, he or she decides to establish a sense of belonging and a sense of familiarity by doting the word "Meijer" on the image.

For the third image, the shapes are relevant to the issue, yet vague in that they don't really capture the essence of familiarity. For example, the shapes are very detailedly drawn, which is a good sign that whoever made this intended to get a good representation of the ideological demonstration circulating within his or her mind. Reed made a mention to "Medicine". This represents his or her view of such thing; therefore, it is hard to tell whether he or she intended for the viewer to feel anything regarding this issue. It also raises the question: how does his or her mind evaluate subjects to get a clear composure on the meaning of intelligence?

The meaning of intelligence raises a powerful awareness of things like racism, discrimination within the mind. This discrimination within itself is a large topic to seek. To communicate with somebody about this issue is a highly stifled topic in today's society. Today's society relies on racism or other things like the discrimination of minds and the highly intelligent. Neuroscientists tailor their research statements to only the privileged. Therefore, it is the highly privileged in society that demonstrate a crave for such matters. This bases it's publication on societal themes regarding brilliance and the sought-after intellectual. The elusive intellectual. The intellectual whose mind is shunned from the rest of the world because of hatred towards this intellectual stereotype. It raises awareness about how this society seeks to evolve - when it does so, and how everyone around this political figure seeks to mesmerize things like ambiguity.

Shortly put, this stereotype and succinct fear of intellectuals seeks to diminish intellectuals' identities itself. However morbid, it is consequential.

The fourth and last cuticle contains words written by me. Sometimes I don't understand or comprehend how these things come into being. These images that were drawn were a little bit out of the ordinary. On there there is not reference to any of the above. None of it. Rather, it is an analytical voice and compensation for the knowledgeably devoid. It is decrepit, imaginative, forceful, and anxiety-ridden. It's just like that. Spontaneous, perhaps.

WR Prompt 9: YOUR Authentic Act

In the section “Spring” Lasn provides an alternative to “living in the mediacy,” showing that there is a revolutionary legacy from which contemporary culture jammers, Situationalists, Meme Warriors, and other dissident groups have drawn both strength and example. The driving force to live as not the “object but as the subject of the story” may seem counteractive, ridiculous, and even hypocritical to some of you. To others these spontaneous acts of defiance represent courageous, righteous, and necessary mentality.

1) Present me with two examples of these authentic acts: one that you agree with, support, or could even imagine taking part in; another that you oppose, that doesn’t seem worth it to you, or are even offended by. Present each of these, referencing the page or section that discusses it, and give a thorough explanation of your choices. Support your arguments (your feelings) with evidence, (past examples from Lasn, or any other material from lecture, Diamond, Leopold, discussion, or your own lives).

2) Is there an authentic act you could imagine taking part of? What context/ issue/ conditions would you agree to and, more importantly, what outcome would you be aiming for?

3) Finally discuss briefly the need (if any) for defiant/ revolutionary/ protesting forces in society (whether or not it is you personally rebelling). What does these whistle blowers accomplish? Do we think more critically because of them? Do they contribute to our ‘education’? (Informing people of the ecological footprint of their consumer habits). Do they achieve justice? (uncovering or bringing to justice wrongs of the government, corporations, or other powerful entities)?

World Changing Post #7

Art Meets Technology- Page 96

Rebecca Tulis

For my last response, I chose to read Art Meets Technology. I thought that this article was about how today’s technology is created with the help of the art. I was to find out that that wasn’t the case and it was more about how artists are using technology to create works of art that are able to change people’s perceptions.These works of art are not just a way to commentate on society but to strive for environmental awareness.

The article uses the example of a “hug shirt,” a shirt that allows one to feel the warmth and comfort of a hug. The “hug shirt” is a creative idea that allows a person to feel happier. However, another example used makes more of a statement is the game “Disaffected!” This game was made for the player to control employees and deal with problems that may come his or her way. But most of all it was made to send a message about consumption. Finally, the article referred to two different examples that promote environmental awareness. The first one is a recording device that has to do with a person’s environment and how they are interacting with it. This is a good way to allow someone to have more of a connection with his or her environment. The other example is Carbon- sniffing robot that essentially reads carbon dioxide levels in a room. It shows us the reality of how we are poisoning our air.

Reading about art and technology, I have come to the conclusion that while technology can be important to the way we lives our lives, it is up to the artists of the world to make statements about society and communicate it. Some look down on technology for how it has hurt our environment but sometimes it is necessary in order to inform the world of our mistakes.

Steffen, Alex. World Changing: A User's Guider for the 21st Century. New York: Abrams, 2008

World Changing Post #6

Conserving Water- Page 187

Rebecca Tulis

I chose to read the article entitled Conserving Water because the conservation of water is an issue I know of but don’t necessarily think about too often. The article talked about how little changes in one’s home can make a huge difference. For instance, the idea of a more efficient shower and low-flow toilet can be utilized in order to conserve. The article also expressed how important it is to know where the used water goes after it is used and use that knowledge to recycle it.

Recycling the water we bathe in can ultimately reduce the amount of water we waste each day. What I found to be beneficial to recycling one’s shower water is the fact that we don’t have to worry how much water we are using during our showers. I find it interesting that there are such products out there that when the water goes down a drain, it is immediately cleaned and therefore can be reused. However, I don’t understand why people are unaware of technologies that can make such a huge difference. I feel that while money may be a concern, if more people were aware of what they can do to redesign their homes in order to conserve water, they would make more of an effort to do so.

ReHOUSE/BATH is a program made to help people realize how much water they are using and therefore conserve. Programs like these can make people aware of the importance of water conservation but I believe that little acts like using a low-flow water fixture could make a world of difference if more people were to apply them to their homes.

Steffen, Alex. World Changing: A User's Guider for the 21st Century. New York: Abrams, 2008

WR: 7 + 8

WR: 7 + 8

Paul DiStefano

It was very interesting the way everyone responded to this exercise. Most people responded very similarly in their drawings. The reason I think this is because of the same media we are all exposed to everyday. This is the “brainwashing” that Lasn talks about. We are all exposed to the same icons and logos that are constantly forced into our heads. It is only natural in this day and age that these images would be brought up just from general words and phrases.
However there were still many differences in our reactions to this exercise. The reason I think that we still responded differently is because we are all art students. We are the young creative minds of our future that can break away from that brainwashing and look at things a different way. We have the power to take something and run with it, we don’t let the advertisements and media control what we think. Even though we are still being controlled in a way, I feel that we can use it against itself knowing how the common consumer thinks. We take that and using our knowledge of advertising we can go in a direction that brings about a better reaction than that of the media.
The most interesting response on my specific paper is on the last box, where we described what we thought of from a drawn line. The drawn line was in a shape of a tree. Most people would have written down “tree”, but not this person. This person wrote down “tree shaped Christmas cookie.” This goes to show, and is a great example of how creative minds think. Since it was a very generic tree icon, almost everyone would just think of a tree. There are not many options with that shape. However, instead of this person thinking of a tree when seeing the icon, it was put in a less obvious, more realistic response. A tree shaped Christmas cookie is more realistic because it is actually the shape of that icon, instead of an actual tree that looks very little like that icon.
We can chose to think what we actually do and want to think, or we can give in to the brainwashing that occurs constantly from our media. This exercise and this book is a good wake up call to how we are being controlled, and as art students we need to think for ourselves because we are the creative minds that can build our future.

Thabiso Mhlaba Automatist #7 + 8

Interestingly enough the four people arranged the first set of images into a face. As I was passing papers along I was noticing that a lot of the things drawn were very similar to the images that i saw in my mind but that there were also a number that seemed totally strange to me. This made me think that possibly the psychological cues that we all respond to are different based on how we live. Something that would reaffirm this notion of cults that we have discussed in class. The cults that we each might belong to unknowingly decide how we will respond to certain objects. However the fact that four people are artists might not fit in so well with the cult idea, or perhaps we are a cult with no predetermined cues. Artists by nature think outside what would be the obvious for most people. So we all respond to cues differently from each other which is what would explain the parts that don't make sense to me. Its the same reason why some people would've thought one drawing was a table instead of a clamp. Or why something was a star or an intersection. But as such we also will adapt this extraordinary ideas to existing ones. Which is why the focus of the first panel moved away from being seperate drawings of individual objects into the creation of one object with multiple elements.
Inclusion into a cult is not optional. It is something that is decided by your environment. The only people who exist outside of the consumerist cults that Lasn mentions are those who have lived in exclusion from urban society or rather 1st world society. Its difficult to put a date on the cults that Lasn speaks of because human beings have always been existing in communities. We are social by nature and as such form groups with people with similar personalities and ideals. All that consumerism does is market to these specific groups and attempt to define the beliefs of those groups. However I would argue that those beliefs existed before the markets for them. I don't believe that the images shown in the exercise are any real indication of consumerism because we have been studying the topic and are more aware of the forces at work to manipulate peoples behavior we have become a bit more resistant to those forces.
Such would be in agreement with DaDa principles. We do not wish to be categorized and lumped in with the rest of the consumers in the world. So we purposely ignore the first image that may come to our mind hoping to fight the jolts and subliminal messaging. I myself found myself viewing the exercise as simply a chance to draw more and I wasn't really worried about the relation that what I drew had with the words on the board. Maybe that was a programmed reaction of my Artist cult its difficult to know. But it leaves me with the question that if these cults really do exist how does one define them and determine which one they are in? Because surely human beings are diverse enough that we all have multiple feelings on multiple issues and very rarely share ALL the same views that someone else has. Even with in the group of artists we argue over the most basic topic there is "What is art?"
Maybe cults don't really exist we just think they do because we subconciously aim to belong to one.

"Ryan Thurmer’s Automatist Excercise"

WR:7&8

There’s something very confining about having the total freedom to respond to words or images in a 2in x 2in square piece of paper. All but one of the squares on my sheet appear to be in a list form starting from the top left corning and meandering their way down. I did this because of the unknown amount of words or symbols I would have to respond to, to save space in my 2’’x2’’ box. Perhaps though we were all just taught uniformly in our ways of communicating with pen and paper. This uniformity, though, offers a balanced symmetry for us to work with, as can be see in the left two squares. Though they many not have a direct connection to meaning their composition fits together almost like a two puzzle pieces.The right two squares are connected conceptually and compositionally. And exclamation of “OUCH!” which graphically points down to a container labeled “Rx” and a hand reaching out which takes the eye back up to “OUCH!”. This could be conceived as a message about out pain tolerance and what we do when we get the slightest injury. Instead of drinking water to get rid of a head ache, we take a few Tylenol, the cycle continues.
Now what are the influences of consumerism on our choices of what to write or draw? Again I believe the right and left side are separated here. The top left square has mostly geometric symbols, and a few organic forms. I can’t see a link to consumerism in her choice to draw these symbols but consumerism could be a factor in whomever looks at these and associates a circle with an iPod’s click wheel, or the zig-zag shape with a zipper, and so on. Below are the words written after presented with shapes: “ magnet/macaroni, sea creature, cannon/rooster, x, mouse.” The associations between these words and their image counterparts is part of a survival skill (know your environment and be able to identify it, size it up, and choose to stay or run away). My environment is full of images from past, present, and future environments many things I’ve never even used, or know much about came to mind (like the cannon). The right side I believe is directly related to media, comic books, graphics on the television and internet, give us images of what pain looks like on paper (“OUCH!”), and what healing looks like. We see thousands of symbols everyday (much like the trigger mechanism we’ve been discussing: you see, you do...) and I’m not so sure if ouch is the natural exclamation of pain, perhaps that has been programed into us from day one. Again the symbol for medication: here is the literal symbol for medication, a pill bottle with “Rx” on the label. How many of us know the where the symbol “Rx” comes from or what it even means, yet we use that as a reference, and people understand what we’re referencing.
Though our intentions, and responses may have been involuntarily the “first things to come to mind” they may not be all that natural, and perhaps we have a lot more subconscious media influenced relationships with images and words that we thought.