Thoughts on Electronic Music

This past week was by far my favorite lecture this semester. Being a long time fan of various genres within electronic music I was very interested in learning about the roots of the genre. One of the things that came to my mind was the the question " is all recorded music electronic?" Well, technically speaking I'd have to say yes. the sounds we hear on a CD or MP3 are just representations of the original music. Even if that original source is 100% acoustic the recording is by nature electronic. This argument made me recall Depeche Modes release of "Black Celebration." (here he goes ranting about Depeche Mode again, ok we get the point you like Depeche Mode.) Electronic music purist were enraged that the band opened the song "striped" with a chord from an acoustic guitar. In 1991 when the band was preparing to record "Violator" the producer Flood made the statement "If you want to use guitars then use guitars." The band has never looked back and continue to produce good music. Music is music and , I think, people get to caught up on the medium used in it's creation. Electronic music still suffers from the stigma that it is just repetitive noise but I would argue that these critics obviously haven't been exposed to the vast variety in electronically created music. I don't believe that technology has hindered music, rather it is liberated it. I like the fact that I can sing and have a computer correct my pitch and tone. I'm grateful I can incorporate a full orchestra into my music without having to foot the bill for contracting the London Symphony Orchestra. I don't think the aid of a computer diminishes the value of music. I believe it enhances it. I am excited about the sense of newness when I listen to recordings by Aphex Twin, Faunts, Uffie, Erasure, and Rex the Dog. I don't feel cheated at all when I see M83, Cytoplastic or other electronic artist perform their music live. Although I'm not a fan, I hope Britney Spears continues to augment her voice electronically. Change is inevitable. Really, when you think about it, when you bang two rocks together you are creating sound and in effect using an instrument. Music is just becoming bigger, embrace it.

Thoughts on Surveilance

After viewing the Surveillance documentary in class this past week I left feeling shocked and a little conflicted. To begin, I must admit that I was pretty ignorant about the amount of surveillance all of us are under. I was aware of red light cameras, security cameras in public places as well as the advent of satellite imaging but those methods of surveillance only scratch the surface of what is really going on. I had no idea that my printer was being watched nor was I aware of the scope of information that was being collected about me and then sold to the highest bidder. It is not so much the fact that this is going on that bugs me so much as it is the fact that I’m not aware of it. Are these companies telling us about their information collecting when we buy their products, I don’t know; I haven’t really been looking. I do know that I think they should and that I’ll be looking and thinking a little more as I purchase new products and services
as well as any time I give my personal information out.

Now I do believe that our government does need to observe the flow of information globally to protect our society. In addition, with the rise of sexual predators in our society, parents and individuals need the means to protect their children as well as themselves. However, we as citizens have the responsibility to watch the government (and private industry) to make sure they are not going to far. The system of checks and balances is always in jeopardy as we have witnessed in the post 911 world.  Government aside I am troubled by the prospect of private business using information collected about peoples searching habits and then using it for their own monetary gain. I conjure the scenario in my head of people with sexual deviant pasts such as rapist and child sex offenders who have served their time and paid their debt to society (in theory…) being pulled back into their sick behavior by pornography providers who target them using their own past search
histories.

In conclusion, I believe our best defense against unethical use of information trafficking and surveillance is awareness. As artists, we have the unique ability to make me people look at things in a way or from a perspective they wouldn’t normally consider. I look forward to exploring these issues further in my work to enhance my own awareness as well as that of others about this alarming trend that isn’t going away any time soon.

Thoughts on surveillance

Hacker Redefined

My experience thus far in EMAC has altered my view of what a hacker is and isn’t. Up to this point my idea of a hacker was largely influenced by films such as “War Games”,”Hackers” and of course “Ferris Buelers Day Off”. The term has always maintained a negative connotation for me. The documentary really made me aware of the early spirit of hacking. And like DADA and Fluxus before it, This movement was largely built around the idea of changing your preconceived notion of what something is, can and should be…with a little mischief thrown in. I was also really interested to learn some of the early events that lead to the formation of Microsoft and Apple respectively. My understanding it means to be a hacker now is more or less to repurpose something from it’s original intended use. Can artists be hackers? Yes, We’ve seen many examples of this in our lifetimes haven’t we? In Brooklyn artists took turntables, a device meant to play prerecorded vinyl records and used them as instruments, Depeche Mode used the sound of trains and machinery as percussion. College Students are using old X-Boxes as servers. Hell painters have even used piss as paint. As a look back on my life I can see many things I did as a child as hacking. Children, especially boys, are born hackers. I can remember using my dog as a dish washer, a baseball card to make a “motor” on the spokes of my bike, Aluminum foil and comic strips as wrapping paper. These are all really examples of hacks. Most of those were done in fun. When I was a little older I used a hack to alter our POS system in one of the restaurants I worked in to replace our company logo with a picture of a penis on April Fools day, Needless to say the boss wasn’t to thrilled. Which brings up one critical point. As I was watching the documentary in class I was struck by some of the hackers surprise at getting in trouble for what they are doing as if the possibility never occurred to them. Yes hacking can be art, but it can also be crime. These guys like myself really thought they wouldn’t get caught. I think there is a place for hackers in the art world as well as the world at large but just like anyone else there is also the need for personal accountability. 

SRL and the Blurry Line Between Artist and Audience

I think Survival Research Laboratories is awesome. Of course they have a place in the Art world. They same people who go to first Thursdays sipping wine and cosmos may not be the audience who go to participate in SRL event. I like the interactive nature of the experience and the element of danger. Should a viewer be threatened by a piece of art? I don’t see why not as long as viewer is made aware that this is a possibility beforehand. I think about the thrills of playing a video game and the sense of danger that I get from that experience. SRL is just taking that experience to the next level. Technology is definitely changing the way we view and experience art. Art today is becoming more interactive. Everywhere we go art is popping up that you can interact with. In architecture you have shows like HGTV’s “Dream House” where viewers can log on design a log cabin and the network compiles these ideas and builds the house. Designers create apps for cell phones and web pages where the content changes depending on your interaction. Videogames these days are a collaboration of many programmers, Designers and musicians. Sony is releasing “Little Big Planet” this fall, a game that allows users to design their own content, load it to the Sony Network and let others experience their art. Today is one of the most exciting times to be alive for both artists and Viewers and the lines that divide are growing blurrier. 

Fluxus...

                   

I really enjoyed enjoyed learning about FLUXUS. The movement appeals to me because so much of my experience of art has been contained in preconceived artistic boundaries. My paintings were one thing, and my writing was another, the two were separate. Very rarely have I collaborated with other artists to create something bigger than my own ideas. As I get older I realize that this attitude will only hinder me. I’ve always felt my work must be epic,larger than life and have some grand earth shattering meaning. I can see now that much of that attitude is ego driven. That’s why Fluxus appeals to me so much. I really like the simple philosophy behind the movement.The Fluxus artistic philosophy can be expressed as a synthesis of four key factors that define the majority of Fluxus work:

*Fluxus is an attitude. It is not a movement or a style.

*Fluxus is intermedia. Fluxus creators like to see what happens when different media intersect. They use found and everyday objects, sounds, images, and texts to create new combinations of objects, sounds, images, and texts.

*Fluxus works are simple. The art is small, the texts are short, and the performances are brief.

   *Fluxus is fun.

Humour has always been an important element in Fluxus. I like the fact that the fluxus artist were seen as pranksters. I don’t really think that John Cage, George Maciunus or yoko Ono really lost much sleep over being misunderstood. The fact that the artists were all so strong in their identities as individuals made it possible for them to make such an impact as a collective. Like Dada before it, The Fluxus movement was not dependant on the support of the market driven art world to validate them. As an artist I think we sometime loose this quality. I have to ask myself why do I make art? Is it because I want a paycheck? Well, yes, you gotta eat and have a roof over your head. But it is also because I like being around other people who enjoy making art. I enjoy being around others who just have to make stuff and really don’t care if we are understood.  I think that is why I’m so attracted to the atmosphere here at MICA. It is the community. Fluxus is all about community and having fun. Isn’t that what life is all about anyway.

Past, Present, and Future Tense...Reaction

Upon reading Gregor Muir’s “Past, Present, and Future Tense,” I am convicted of the shallowness of my view of what new media is. Up to this point I would’ve labeled websites and digitally produced 2D and 3d animation as new media. This article has prompted me broaden that view. If I were to create a website with nothing on it but a white back round on it would that be accepted as new media? If so would it be considered “good” new media? Many of the works described in this article would not fit the bill as aesthetically pleasing. This in turn raises the question does art as a whole need to be aesthetically pleasing to be art. I think not. But I think it helps if it is to be accepted by the public at large. This truth makes me question what I want to get out of my time in E.M.A.C.? Do I want to make pretty pictures that make people smile and serve more or less as decoration? Am I here to just learn software to communicate others ideas and sell their products? Do I want to be like these artist who used these emerging technologies to expand the boundaries of art and force people to look at these mediums differently? I think I want to do all of these. Another thing that struck me while reading this article is all the new ethical questions that popped into my head. Is it ethical to film people jumping off a bridge to their death? Or is this a way of using art to draw attention to this occurrence? Is it ethical to create websites that people visit that leads them to think that something wrong with their computer? Is it ethical to use others work in new ways if it violates copyright laws? As I try to answer these things I’ve come to realize that I don’t have all the answers. Who am I to say what is ethical anyway. Am I responding solely to the art or the artist? Is there a difference? What do you all think? 

Reaction to Pipolotti Rist's video works

            Well, I don’t know where to begin. I definitely had a reaction to Pipolotti Rist’s work.  I going to deviate from the assignment a little and share my reaction to several of her works. I’ll begin with “I’m Not the Girl who Misses Much.” As I viewed the piece the first thing that came to mind was that it reminded me of PJ Harvey, just the way it seemed it was out of focus most of the time. As the viewer I wanted to focus the video, to get a better look at the figure and, to be honest, to get a better look at her chest. I liked the way the audio was slowed down and sped up. It kind of reminded me of DJ culture in general. Next we have “Enlastungen.”  I noticed that figure kept falling as the percussion was played. It made me think of a machine gun. I wish the words there were subtitles; I really wanted to know what they were saying. The visuals reminded me of Mark Rothko for some reason. “You Called me Jackie” was a little easier for me to view. I liked that the figure was always in view; it made the piece easier to focus on. It reminded me a lot of early nineties videos (Jesus and Mary Chain, Beck, etc.) Now “Pickle Porno” was surprising. The whole thing was very psychadelic of course, and the extreme close ups kind of got me thinking about the absurdity of modern pornography. I wondered about the link between the globe in this piece and in “Blut Clip.” What could the globe have symbolized? You tell me. I’m sure it was there for a reason. Honestly all I could think of was the scene in “Superbad” where one of the main characters gets “period blood” on his pants after dancing with a girl. The piece was kind of disturbing because that’s what I assumed the blood stood for. I liked “I’m a Victim of this Song.” I like that the video kept returning to the clouds in the sky similar to the way they appeared in the original Chris Isaac version. It is always interesting to see another artist take on someone else’s work.  What was up with “Mutaflor”? Mouth fading into butt hole, over and over again. OK, What does that mean? My favorite piece was “Awourd’Hul. I really liked the music and the use of color. Pipolotti Rist uses fruit a lot in her video work. I wonder why? To be honest I liked looking into her eyes. They are oh so dreamy, she’s hot. I liked the psychedelic color in all of her works. Anyway, I don’t know what all the imagery in the videos meant but I feel more inspired for watching them.

I like John Cage

            Let me begin by saying that I like John Cage. I’ve never met the guy but I like him.  His work has definitely challenged me to broaden my definition of what music is. Cage has really raised some questions for me. Are you ready for some really deep thoughts? As human beings we experience a piece of music in time. What if God (I believe in God) experiences music differently? If God exists out of time and views time differently than couldn’t all the sounds in the world be viewed as one big piece of music? Think about it, if you took a song perhaps and made the tempo really, really slow than it wouldn’t really appear to be a created piece of music with rhythm, harmony etc. Couldn’t all the sounds from the dawn of time be exponentially sped up and maybe appear to be a deliberate piece of music? Every voice, the chirp of every bird, the sound of every leaf rustling in the wind, every drop of rain, every cry, every foot step, the sounds of every war, and, well you get the point. Perhaps all of time is one big piece of music. I wonder if John Cage ever thought about stuff like that, I think he probably did.

            Ok, next thought. I was intrigued by Cage’s method. Cage relied on chance for many of his pieces. I think of how often I get so caught up on my work ending up just like the picture or sound I have in my head.  I admire how Cage embraced things just happening by chance. He allowed himself to be free to things just happening in his work and didn’t feel he had to make everything fit into society’s preconceived idea of what music has to be like. I was also intrigued by Cage’s unconventional method of notation. I’ve always been intimidated by making music because I had trouble reading it from an early age. The thought never occurred to me that I could write music in a way that made sense to me like John Cage did. I saw a documentary about Kanye West once and he, like Cage, writes his music in his own format. Both of them use a very unconventional but visual way of writing music. I’d like to develop my own.

            I think anything can be music. Have you ever noticed how little kids just like banging on things? When I was like a year old or something I loved to take the pots and pans out of the cupboard and bang on them like drums. According to my mother I absolutely loved it and got so much satisfaction out of it. I think John Cage was onto something very innate in human beings. We are born with a fascination with creating and experiencing sound. As we grow we develop certain tastes and expectations from music and loose that childlike wonder with just making sound without any preset idea of what it is supposed to sound like. I think Cage was reversing that tendency in himself and encouraging others to do so along the way. I think of some more modern electronic artists I like Aphex Twin, Plaid and Square pusher who have taken similar albeit less extreme approaches to making music this way. I’m sure when many heard these artists for the first time they replied, “this is just a bunch of noise.” How much more would they be challenged by John Cage. I think Cage’s work was really about sonic liberty at some level.

            The biggest thing that struck me about John Cage was the fact that he collaborated with a lot of people and they all really liked him. I think you’d have to be a really likeable guy to get so many people to work with your unconventional methodology and challenging ideas. But that’s what we see in John Cage’s career.   That’s something a lot of artists lack. Cage didn’t cop an attitude when people didn’t get him. He kept right being nice and easygoing and people were drawn to him despite his unconventional methodology. I want be like that. I want to be like John Cage.

Getting it is not the point-Matthew Barney's "The Order"

After viewing Matthew Barney’s “The Order” from his  Cremaster series I was struck with the dilemma of not knowing what to write about it. To be honest my initial reaction was “what the f**k is this!? I don’t get it. I was going to write about how the whole thing was a sort of representation of a video game of sorts. Barney begins on the bottom floor and must make his way through the various “levels” of the Guggenheim. Perhaps the “cat woman” represented one of the bosses he must defeat and maybe the guy shoveling the Vaseline was supposed to symbolize the “timer” that is so prevalent in many video games. I could rack my brain all day long to try to figure out what the piece is about but is that really the point. Is “getting it” really the point?

            I can remember the first time I heard certain songs, viewed a piece of artwork, or saw a certain movie and didn’t “get it.” Take music for example. When the Beatles released “I am the Walrus” I’m sure many people didn’t “get it,” but the song became insanely popular and revered. Although many people have spent a great deal of time trying to figure it out, and that is half the fun, it wasn’t the only thing that made it good or stand out. Pop Music more often than not has certain elements that make it successful. There has to be progression, a chorus, harmony, rhythm etc. Likewise film also contains many elements that make it successful. One element is conflict. The main character in the Cremaster series has obstacles and enemies he must defeat, it may not be clear to the viewer what the point of the obstacles is but it is clear that they are obstacles. Another element in film is narrative structure; the viewer has to know the sequence of when things are things taking place. The Cremate flows sequentially; the plot unfolds as the main character experiences it. We may not know exactly what everything means but the plot is progressed in a certain order. Another element is suspense, although the threats in the order are not always clearly defined the viewer is made aware that they are indeed threats.

            I don’t think “getting” it is always the point. A piece of work will often resonate in the consciousness of a viewer without the viewer ever really “getting it.” In fact, the fact that the viewer doesn’t get it often makes a work of art more of a phenomenon and magnifies the impact. I certainly won’t be forgetting “The Order” any time soon. Food for thought… 

Reaction to Gregor Muir's Past, Present and Future Tense

            Upon reading Gregor Muir’s “Past, Present, and Future Tense,” I am convicted of the shallowness of my view of what new media is. Up to this point I would’ve labeled websites and digitally produced 2D and 3d animation as new media. This article has prompted me broaden that view. If I were to create a website with nothing on it but a white back round on it would that be accepted as new media? If so would it be considered “good” new media? Many of the works described in this article would not fit the bill as aesthetically pleasing. This in turn raises the question does art as a whole need to be aesthetically pleasing to be art. I think not. But I think it helps if it is to be accepted by the public at large. This truth makes me question what I want to get out of my time in E.M.A.C.? Do I want to make pretty pictures that make people smile and serve more or less as decoration? Am I here to just learn software to communicate others ideas and sell their products? Do I want to be like these artist who used these emerging technologies to expand the boundaries of art and force people to look at these mediums differently? I think I want to do all of these. Another thing that struck me while reading this article is all the new ethical questions that popped into my head. Is it ethical to film people jumping off a bridge to their death? Or is this a way of using art to draw attention to this occurrence? Is it ethical to create websites that people visit that leads them to think that something wrong with their computer? Is it ethical to use others work in new ways if it violates copyright laws? As I try to answer these things I’ve come to realize that I don’t have all the answers. Who am I to say what is ethical anyway. Am I responding solely to the art or the artist? Is there a difference? What do you all think? 

Reaction to Man Ray documentary: class one

Upon watching the documentary of the life and work of Man Ray I was really left with a strong desire to learn more about the artist, the Dadaist and their influence on artists today. I liked that Man Ray, like many artists, was less concerned with success in the cultural sense and more concerned with being true to himself and his art. I believe it was this character trait that really drew Man Ray the Dadaist movement. According to Wikipedia, the proponents of Dada believed that they were an “anti-art” movement in the sense that it was a rebellion against the contemporary academic and cultured values of art. Where traditional art was concerned with aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics. Through their rejection of traditional aesthetics the Dadaist hoped to destroy traditional culture and aesthetics ( Wikipedia, Dada.)

 While I don’t believe that Dada destroyed traditional culture and aesthetics it did broaden the scope of what is considered art today. I find myself often passing by art that doesn’t conform to my learned idea of what I consider aesthetically pleasing  Man Ray’s “gift” for example is a piece that I would have probably passed by and thought, “well, that’s cool. I guess,” without much thought afterwards. After learning more about Man Ray and the Dadaist movement I want to spend more time thinking about it and think about what the artists intent was. Maybe Man Ray had no grand message he was trying to get across and he did it just because he wanted to, maybe that’s the point. Regardless the work has become something that permeates my mind and causes me to question what art is. Things that make you go Hmm, eh? (CC Music Factory, 1991.)

                                       

            I especially found myself drawn to Man Ray’s photography and film work. I kept thinking of how much his work must have influenced others specifically Anton Corbijn. I wanted to see more of Anton’s work to really identify specific works that had a very Man Ray feel to them. I went back and resisted a lot of Anton’s photography and video work, specifically his work with Depeche Mode (80’s Synth Gods from Basildon England with a career spanning 20 + years. Best known for such hits as Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence.) Corbijn tends to eschew traditional glamour photography, instead favoring a rawer look, often in black-and-white. His subjects appear to be calm and far removed from everyday life. His photographs show raw emotion. His influential style of black and white imagery with stark contrasts on grainy film (sometimes referred to as “overcooked”) has been imitated and copied in such extent that it has become a rock cliché and a vital part of the visual language in the 1990s (Wikipedia, Anton Corbijn.) Anton Corbijn's sleeve deign for the 1991 Depeche Mode release “Personal Jesus” and Man Ray’s “Prayer” both have a similar feel to them. Both images are sensual by nature and have stark contrasts to them. I think the artists’ use of stark contrast heightens the sense of danger and hints at the voyeuristic tendencies in the viewer. 

         I also could not ignore the possible homage to  Man Ray’s photo of the neck of Lee Miller in Corbijn’s 1991 sleeve design for Depeche Mode’s “Policy of Truth."                                                                                                    

            

Man Ray like Corbijn preferred to capture their subjects in natural relaxed states as opposed to the more popular posed and airbrushed styles. Man Rays catalog cover with his finger in his nose really reminded me of Corbijn’s well-known photo of Miles Davis. Both artist embraced the oily skin, wrinkles and other so called imperfections of their subjects.

            Anton Corbijns video work also reminded me of Man Ray’s. In class we saw a clip of a Man Ray film with a woman with a set of eyes painted on her eyelids. Anton Corbijn did the same thing with his 1997 video for Depeche Mode’s “ Barrel of a gun. Both film/video works have a very similar avant-garde feel to them.

            I also found influences of  Man Ray’s “Emak-Bakia” in the set design for Depeche Mode’s 2005 world tour for the album “Playing the Angel.” Corbijn created a large steel globe with various LED’s would scroll by with various words such as “love”, “angel”,“sex” and pain. The set design reminded me of “Emak-Bakia” in the way Man Ray used moving text in his film. (Both works can be found on You Tube, sorry for the lack of direct links.)

                                            ( Set design for Depeche Mode 2005 tour.)

In conclusion, I’m glad I was introduced to Man Ray and his work. I’m eager to explore the influence of Man Ray and the Dadaist in my own work and other artists I appreciate today.