Thursday, 29 May 2008
Thursday, 22 May 2008
EXAM PROJECT - So Far.......
For my end of year project, i have decided to make a sound piece.
The piece will be more ambient and sensual, rather than melodic tunes and tight rhythms.
The track will be representing technology of the internet as a huge kind of monster/creature/beast. The piece will show the progression of this beast being dormant(sleeping), but then arising and unleashing itself on the world. It will be kind of mimicking the story of Godzilla or Cthuhlu, arising and attacking the world.
I intend to use sounds found by myself on the internet, as well as from old horror movies such as Frankenstein and Godzilla. I'm also creating sounds using live instruments, as well as using Midi. I will use several music programs to create it. The main one being 'REASON'.
I did think of using visuals, but after thinking it over and discussing it with my tutor, i thought best to focus on just the sound, and make it really strong.
The piece will be more ambient and sensual, rather than melodic tunes and tight rhythms.
The track will be representing technology of the internet as a huge kind of monster/creature/beast. The piece will show the progression of this beast being dormant(sleeping), but then arising and unleashing itself on the world. It will be kind of mimicking the story of Godzilla or Cthuhlu, arising and attacking the world.
I intend to use sounds found by myself on the internet, as well as from old horror movies such as Frankenstein and Godzilla. I'm also creating sounds using live instruments, as well as using Midi. I will use several music programs to create it. The main one being 'REASON'.
I did think of using visuals, but after thinking it over and discussing it with my tutor, i thought best to focus on just the sound, and make it really strong.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Dissertation - Summary - THE WORK OF AURA IN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
To begin to summarise, I believe that the rise of mechanical reproduction, has radically affected how art, film and music is created and distributed as well as making us question how we create and classify art. Due to the breakdown of traditional methods, classifying art can come in limitless forms. It could be argued that within the wider context, an entirely new art form has been created which affects all these different media that encompasses both its creation and distribution as fairly equal aspects. However it could be said that the digital era is leading to the extinction of physical formats. This is inextricably linked to the demand of our current culture for instant accessibility to multimedia. Our current society is highly immersed in technology which has become a commodity of everyday life. Through a large and complex system of information and communication, multi- media are made accessible on many formats which are also open to manipulation.
The machinery and technology that is argued to dictate our digital culture cannot be represented in physical terms no more. Computer technology is making information almost disappear and become invisible. But it is almost becoming natural to us to conceive work as data rather than something tangible. The same can be said of how multi- media is increasingly being created and represented. Through the rise of capitalism and it’s compulsive drive towards abstraction, it has broadly shaped our Digital landscape. Which could say that aura in physicality is becoming of less importance or relevance as our culture demands instant access to the broad spectrum of media, and capitalism is there to provide at any expense or consequences. Just as in the film Blade Runner, the world is run by capitalist companies, such as Tyrell, that has made advancements in the means of technology and are able to clone humans. But this seems to of come at some consequence of the planet, as it’s always dark and raining.
The distinction of aura is constantly being blurred as it seems to be very relevant to the past that tie in with nostalgic elements. Time and development of technology is continuously liquidating aura and nostalgia. It is forever changing as everything is relative to what came before and after. But the ever increasing rate at which it is now morphing and becoming ever abstract, is constantly multiplying in pace due to technologies capabilities nowadays. It’s almost like a fast-forward effect that makes development happen at a dramatic rate in a short amount of time. A speeding up of the process, which can excite both terror and euphoria.
Walter Benjamin argued that aura is lost when an original piece of art is reproduced. However that is not the case in digital culture, as different mediums are a created in digital formats, so an original was never there. So how will aura be defined in digital work? I feel that nostalgia will be forever present in defining aura in the same way that certain smells and sounds can evoke specific and vivid memories of childhood and is essentially informed by the perceptions and experiences of the viewer relating to the work. Different artifacts of work are now accessible on many different formats, but more and more it only exists as information located in a broad digital media scope, such as the internet or our personal mp3 players and computers. No longer will something such as a CD have its own individual aura of physicality. The content itself can trigger nostalgia, but I certainly believe that it loses a considerable amount of its experience, due to it how it’s viewed, or listened to in a digital format.
There might come a time when we will no longer be able to revisit old artifacts such as a vinyl, and be listened on a record player. Not only would this trigger nostalgic aura in terms of the music itself, but interacting with this artifact of the past gives it something unique due to its interaction and physical experience. Whereas viewing films, or listening to music on your computer as just digital data, it has a more generic experience. A simple few clicks and you’re viewing a feature length film. This definitely does not ruin your viewing, if anything its better thanks to the digitizing of media. It allows greater variation of interacting and viewing it, but only as digital information. But I believe this is at the expense of physical formats and machines that can also be integral to a certain piece of art or media.
Through the huge blanket of communication created by our digital culture, people are beginning literally to take matters into their own hands, and manipulate and evolve our culture through the means of technology, at a rate never previously achieved.
The machinery and technology that is argued to dictate our digital culture cannot be represented in physical terms no more. Computer technology is making information almost disappear and become invisible. But it is almost becoming natural to us to conceive work as data rather than something tangible. The same can be said of how multi- media is increasingly being created and represented. Through the rise of capitalism and it’s compulsive drive towards abstraction, it has broadly shaped our Digital landscape. Which could say that aura in physicality is becoming of less importance or relevance as our culture demands instant access to the broad spectrum of media, and capitalism is there to provide at any expense or consequences. Just as in the film Blade Runner, the world is run by capitalist companies, such as Tyrell, that has made advancements in the means of technology and are able to clone humans. But this seems to of come at some consequence of the planet, as it’s always dark and raining.
The distinction of aura is constantly being blurred as it seems to be very relevant to the past that tie in with nostalgic elements. Time and development of technology is continuously liquidating aura and nostalgia. It is forever changing as everything is relative to what came before and after. But the ever increasing rate at which it is now morphing and becoming ever abstract, is constantly multiplying in pace due to technologies capabilities nowadays. It’s almost like a fast-forward effect that makes development happen at a dramatic rate in a short amount of time. A speeding up of the process, which can excite both terror and euphoria.
Walter Benjamin argued that aura is lost when an original piece of art is reproduced. However that is not the case in digital culture, as different mediums are a created in digital formats, so an original was never there. So how will aura be defined in digital work? I feel that nostalgia will be forever present in defining aura in the same way that certain smells and sounds can evoke specific and vivid memories of childhood and is essentially informed by the perceptions and experiences of the viewer relating to the work. Different artifacts of work are now accessible on many different formats, but more and more it only exists as information located in a broad digital media scope, such as the internet or our personal mp3 players and computers. No longer will something such as a CD have its own individual aura of physicality. The content itself can trigger nostalgia, but I certainly believe that it loses a considerable amount of its experience, due to it how it’s viewed, or listened to in a digital format.
There might come a time when we will no longer be able to revisit old artifacts such as a vinyl, and be listened on a record player. Not only would this trigger nostalgic aura in terms of the music itself, but interacting with this artifact of the past gives it something unique due to its interaction and physical experience. Whereas viewing films, or listening to music on your computer as just digital data, it has a more generic experience. A simple few clicks and you’re viewing a feature length film. This definitely does not ruin your viewing, if anything its better thanks to the digitizing of media. It allows greater variation of interacting and viewing it, but only as digital information. But I believe this is at the expense of physical formats and machines that can also be integral to a certain piece of art or media.
Through the huge blanket of communication created by our digital culture, people are beginning literally to take matters into their own hands, and manipulate and evolve our culture through the means of technology, at a rate never previously achieved.
Monday, 28 April 2008
Exam Project Intention - Evil: Myth & Reality
It can be said that we live in a society that is very susceptible to fear and paranoia. Creating fear always been a tactic used for centuries to keep control over people, but in the past century it’s become easier to do so world wide, and on a mass scale due to communication technologies available to us. It’s embedded and broadcasted into advertising through T.V, radio, larger than life billboards, and the internet. We are constantly warned of terrorism, rapists, pedophiles, safety of our children, ect. We are told of procedures to follow, to avoid such happenings, such as alerting someone if you suspect them to be a terrorist at an airport. Rather obvious things, but its creating a shared mind set of fear amongst people. But also the means of technology are creating fear of surveillance.
An article in the Guardian last week showed an increase of television viewing surrounding terrorism, and street crime. Viewing figures from between the time 9 until 10 showed that shows such as ‘The age of terror(1.1 million viewers), Waking the dead(revolving around a European terrorist cell. 6.8 million), Cops with cameras (3.5 million)and CSI: Crime scene investigation (2.8 million)took up 60% of audience share. It just shows how nowadays we are aware of these threats but T.V stations choose to use them as entertainment or insight.
Nowadays it is argued that there is an endless and ever growing list of things to fear or to be aware that COULD HAPPEN!! But what should we be actually afraid of, or not be a tall? The word ‘evil’ is commonly used to describe something to be feared of. For example Bush describes terrorists as evil. Evil is a broad term used to indicate a negative moral or ethical judgment, often used to describe intentional acts that are cruel, unjust, or selfish. But what is actually evil, and what is the evilness in our world? Is it what we humans have created ourselves, for instance the ‘Internet’, or in a fiction sense, ‘Frankenstein’?
I recently discovered H.P Lovecraft’s tale ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’ It’s about a creature that is a huge, octopoid sea monster, sleeping for centuries at the bottom of the ocean (either "dreaming" or "dreamless"), and destined to emerge from his slumber in an apocalyptic age. So this creature is seen as evil, as it intends to destroy humanity and end the world. This is obviously a mythical and science fiction sense of evil, but it got me thinking about it parallels in the real world. What in reality shares Cthulhu’s story?
I watched the documentary film ‘The Corporation.’ The film examines and critiques corporate practices, and draws parallels between examples of corporate malfeasance and the DSM-IV's symptoms of psychopathy. Unconcern for the feelings of others, incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, reckless disregard for the safety of others, deceitfulness (repeated lying to and deceiving of others for profit), incapacity to experience guilt and failure to conform to the social norms with respect to lawful behaviors. I found the comparison between a corporation and a psychopath really interesting yet awfully true. A pyscopath would be considered evil surely? The documentary shows how capitalists greed and disregard to humans and nature is destroying the world as well as the people. Theres not much difference to Cthulhu’s rampage of the earth, and that of which capitalism is doing to the world. The only one being that Cthulhu’s way is a lot quicker, visible and one clear direction to point our hate at.
If you asked people what are they more scared of out of; an attack on the world from a Godzilla type creature, capitalism, or the Internet? Most people would say Godzilla, but the fact is the damage from corporate businesses is a lot more real and is happening. Also the internet is a large and unknown entity, like the sea, which often creates fear or distrust.
In this project I want to explore what evil is and draw comparisons and parallels in a mythical sense, and in reality. What should would we be afraid of , or of anything at all? Is the internet a reference to Cthulhu? The internet could be seen as a large monster. Hungry and greedy for information and power. Some People have pessimistic views of the net, some don't. It offers communication and access to information in the safety and comfort of your own home. But at the same time your not sure who your actually talking to and how truthful this information is, or who’s listening in. It’s a doubled edged sword. Although it offers these great services, it can create paranoia of surveillance. Just because something is considered a monster (e.g.Frankenstein), is it actually harmful, or is it to do with how we use and provoke it. The same could be said about the internet. This is my main aim to demonstrate.
I am undecided what it is I’ll actually create, but it will be working around animation and video. Maybe some kind of interactive piece.
An article in the Guardian last week showed an increase of television viewing surrounding terrorism, and street crime. Viewing figures from between the time 9 until 10 showed that shows such as ‘The age of terror(1.1 million viewers), Waking the dead(revolving around a European terrorist cell. 6.8 million), Cops with cameras (3.5 million)and CSI: Crime scene investigation (2.8 million)took up 60% of audience share. It just shows how nowadays we are aware of these threats but T.V stations choose to use them as entertainment or insight.
Nowadays it is argued that there is an endless and ever growing list of things to fear or to be aware that COULD HAPPEN!! But what should we be actually afraid of, or not be a tall? The word ‘evil’ is commonly used to describe something to be feared of. For example Bush describes terrorists as evil. Evil is a broad term used to indicate a negative moral or ethical judgment, often used to describe intentional acts that are cruel, unjust, or selfish. But what is actually evil, and what is the evilness in our world? Is it what we humans have created ourselves, for instance the ‘Internet’, or in a fiction sense, ‘Frankenstein’?
I recently discovered H.P Lovecraft’s tale ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’ It’s about a creature that is a huge, octopoid sea monster, sleeping for centuries at the bottom of the ocean (either "dreaming" or "dreamless"), and destined to emerge from his slumber in an apocalyptic age. So this creature is seen as evil, as it intends to destroy humanity and end the world. This is obviously a mythical and science fiction sense of evil, but it got me thinking about it parallels in the real world. What in reality shares Cthulhu’s story?
I watched the documentary film ‘The Corporation.’ The film examines and critiques corporate practices, and draws parallels between examples of corporate malfeasance and the DSM-IV's symptoms of psychopathy. Unconcern for the feelings of others, incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, reckless disregard for the safety of others, deceitfulness (repeated lying to and deceiving of others for profit), incapacity to experience guilt and failure to conform to the social norms with respect to lawful behaviors. I found the comparison between a corporation and a psychopath really interesting yet awfully true. A pyscopath would be considered evil surely? The documentary shows how capitalists greed and disregard to humans and nature is destroying the world as well as the people. Theres not much difference to Cthulhu’s rampage of the earth, and that of which capitalism is doing to the world. The only one being that Cthulhu’s way is a lot quicker, visible and one clear direction to point our hate at.
If you asked people what are they more scared of out of; an attack on the world from a Godzilla type creature, capitalism, or the Internet? Most people would say Godzilla, but the fact is the damage from corporate businesses is a lot more real and is happening. Also the internet is a large and unknown entity, like the sea, which often creates fear or distrust.
In this project I want to explore what evil is and draw comparisons and parallels in a mythical sense, and in reality. What should would we be afraid of , or of anything at all? Is the internet a reference to Cthulhu? The internet could be seen as a large monster. Hungry and greedy for information and power. Some People have pessimistic views of the net, some don't. It offers communication and access to information in the safety and comfort of your own home. But at the same time your not sure who your actually talking to and how truthful this information is, or who’s listening in. It’s a doubled edged sword. Although it offers these great services, it can create paranoia of surveillance. Just because something is considered a monster (e.g.Frankenstein), is it actually harmful, or is it to do with how we use and provoke it. The same could be said about the internet. This is my main aim to demonstrate.
I am undecided what it is I’ll actually create, but it will be working around animation and video. Maybe some kind of interactive piece.
Monday, 7 April 2008
The Myth of 'Cthulhu.' H.P Lovecraft
Over Easter I was having a chat with my brother about films, conspiracies and many other randomness. We were talking about the recent film ‘Cloverfield,’ and he informed he of how it’s based on a novel "The Call of Cthulhu", written by H.P Lovecraft. Cthulhu is a creature that has been reinvented many times over. Lovecraft's creature is a huge, octopoid sea monster, sleeping for centuries at the bottom of the ocean (either "dreaming" or "dreamless"), and destined to emerge from his slumber in an apocalyptic age.
Our conversation then took a different turn around the idea of conspiracies. He showed me a page on wikipedia called Bloop, that tied in with the myth of Cthulhu. The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration several times during the summer of 1997. The source of the sound remains unknown. You can listen to it by clicking the bloop link.
Apparently with the aid of scientific technology, these recordings suggests it was from a mammal, but it had to be MUCH MUCH larger than a blue whale. What made this even more interesting (coincidence or not) was that the Bloop noise originated near the location of the fictional sunken city of R'lyeh from H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulhu", the Bloop has been linked to Cthulhu by Lovecraft fans. Apparently the film Cloverfield used the ‘bloop’ as some kind of media advertising to stir up a debate of myth versus reality, whilst promoting their film.
It made me think about how little we know about the sea, and whats actually down there. The word is 2/3 waters, so that’s a significant amount of space that is mostly unexplorable or unexplored. It’s the closest thing to experiencing outer space. Its similar in the fact that gravity has less relevance and we just don’t now whats there, as well as a feeling of isolation and vulnerability.
Is there something down there in the depths of the oceans that man has not discovered. A creature that could possible be the largest thing on the planet, but has never been sited. This excites me a lot, but cant help but feel a slight cause for concern if Cthulhu was to rise from his sleep and cause apocalypse to the world. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR NO NOT ME CTHULHU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)