Response to Walter Benjamin
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Death of the beautiful semblance
Reading Walter Benjamin was an exercise in both fascination and frustration - I found myself understanding his writing, enlightened with my interested picqued, to only the next moment vehemently disagreeing with his words and having a deep desire to argue. He began by discussing the reproducibility of art - claiming that though art has always been reproducible, the introduction of mechanical methods made an impact in a way that was truly unique in history. Yes, this is true. I agree.
He continued to speak about the revolutionary influence of photography on art, which I don't think anyone could break with. He discusses photography as a process that freed the hand of the most important artistic functions, letting us only use our eye to look into a lens. This 'devolution' was connected to an increase in the speed of perception which was, in turn, connected to the birth of film. Though I wouldn't necessarily qualify the act of looking into a lens as 'artistic functions ... devolved', I still follow his chronology.
Benjamin touched on the loss of the presence in time and space for reproduced works. This loss for him includes any changes that the piece may have undergone under time and under different ownerships. I can identify with this sense of loss, and can't help but wonder what he would have to say about the web and electronic images, the originals of which can't be revealed by chemical and physical analyses. [Wouldn't it be amazing if there were some kind of way to analyze the history of pixels?]
Benjamin continues in a discussion of the desire of the contemporary masses to bring things closer, again, I would love to hear him on the state of art and media today. He speaks of the loss of authenticity and goes on to discuss his contention that mechanical reproduction severs the ties between ritual and art and forms a connection between politics and art...art is no longer based in ritual. His introduction of politics into the mix in this instance isn't lacking context and I'm not sure why the two ideas of ritual(cult) and politics are seen here as mutually exclusive forces. It seems that politics has always had a connection with art..who and what was depicted, who had the freedom to pursue art, what was purchased..
One of his ideas that really resonated with me was when, in a discussion of portraits, he identifies the cult of the remembrance of loved ones as the last refuge for photographic cult value. I would argue that there's a much larger and stronger cult presence in photography - the cult of the remembrance of lost moments, places, winds, oceans, blue shirts.. There is much more to fleeting than the fleeting expression of a human face. Though he identified Atget as the one who transitioned photography to the recording of historical significance, I can't go there with him - these lines are much more blurry than indicated here and to ascribe this developmental chronology to photography is, in my mind, reducing the artistic importance of the medium. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there emerged different types of photography that hold different aspects of the world important.
It seems his discussion of photography is not so much a discussion of photography of art, but as the mode of mechanical reproduction. He is both discussing the validity of photography as art, but also as the primary tool with which the mechanical reproduction of art is made possible. I would think that these are two separate discussions.
Throughout Benjamin's essay, it seems that his perception of authentic art is that which is representational - the subject of which is perceivable with the human eye. His essay touches on many aspects of art, as a field and an endeavor, but lacks any discussion of abstraction - a field that he seems eager to ignore in an attempt to get his point across.
After reading this essay, I wanted to be able to place Benjamin historically. I tried to guess the time period in which this piece was written. I guessed the early 40s, but in fact it was 1935. Over at Wikipedia, I read Susan Sontag's feelings on Benjamin as that, in Benjamin's texts, sentences do not seem to generate in the ordinary way; they do not lead gently into one another, and do not create an obvious line of reasoning. Instead, it is as if each sentence "had to say everything, before the inward gaze of total concentration dissolved the subject before his eyes", a style of writing and thinking Sontag calls "freeze-frame baroque." Sontag writes that "his major essays seem to end just in time, before they self-destruct."
Indeed, I would identify with her interpretation of his text as freeze-frame baroque, and her evaluation of his sentences as having to say everything. He seemed to encapsulate all of the history of art in each sentence, only to complete his essay with a misplaced consideration of the aesthetics of warfare. His final paragraph served as a summary of the formative differences between the ways in which fascism and communism treat the artistic process.
posted by Amanda @ 9/30/2007 08:26:00 PM, ,
Photo Composite
EJ, Chris and I worked on making three composite images. Here is one of them:
This just in.. here's a second one:
and here's the last one:
posted by Amanda @ 9/30/2007 07:07:00 PM, ,
Cross-posting my video
Sunday, September 23, 2007
I made a short video of my ride to work and uploaded it to YouTube.
And here's the same clip on JumpCut:
YouTube v. JumpCut
I had set up a YouTube account a few weeks ago, figuring that I would need it eventually at ITP. So, I had already gotten that one going and knew a little bit about the interface when it came to uploading this clip. We were to cross-post on another site as well. Of the sites mentioned in the syllabus, I initially registered with Revver. After checking out the site a little bit though, and looking at their model of pairing each user with a 'targeted advertisement' I decided to take a look at JumpCut. I am more interested right now in exploring different video sites, and didn't want to bring profit into it - especially in this instance where the video I was uploading was purely an exercise. The two sites are both pretty intuitive. Look for the upload link (located in an obvious place on both), choose your file, enter title/comments/tags and wait for it to load. The upload process using JumpCut was much faster. I also seemed to save time because they allow you to enter your tags, etc.. while the clip is in the process of being loaded. YouTube handles it in two different steps and takes a little longer. I also liked that JumpCut keeps the user aware of where they are in the process by displaying the percentage loaded on the left hand side of the window, and displaying text on the right telling you that your movie hasn't been completed yet. When it's finished, your video is ready to be watched, shared or posted. YouTube, on the other hand, displays a symbol to indicate that your video is being uploaded, though doesn't provide any indication of how long it will take. Also, when my video was done being uploaded, a page loaded with the embed text immediately. I logged into my blog, entered the embed code and published my blog, not realizing that the video wasn't 'live' yet. My blog displayed a message that my video was no longer available, so I uploaded it again - and again it took quite a long time. I realized that I had to wait until my video was marked as 'live' on the 'my videos' page, before I could link to it. I took a little more time to look through the JumpCut site, since I wasn't familiar with it. It's geared toward creating/editing and remixing movies and also allows for flickr and facebook importing. As far as uploading a simple clip, it was easy and fast. I had a bit of a hard time finding the embed code though. I went as far as consulting the site help and searching for videos tagged 'embed'. Ironically, I did find a clip on embedding YouTube videos to Wordpress, but nothing about JumpCut. After a couple of minutes I realized I just needed to click 'share'; that provided me with the link, embed code, thumbnail code and the option of posting to Digg, del.icio.use, facebook, etc...
Of the two, I definitely preferred using JumpCut, and look forward to using its editing capabilities.
posted by Amanda @ 9/23/2007 03:25:00 PM, ,
This tree grew in brooklyn and grows...
posted by Amanda @ 9/22/2007 02:20:00 AM, ,
Responses to Class 2 readings
Friday, September 21, 2007
Everquest, the 77th Richest Country
I joined Facebook a few weeks ago when I started school, really just to keep in the loop with ITP events and the new people I was meeting. Yesterday I noticed a link on the right-hand side of my window asking if I wanted to buy the gift of the day. I assumed it was just a free thing that you could send along to your friends, but then i checked into it a little bit and realized that it costs money. A dollar will buy a shoe gif that you can send to a friend - and they're limited edition. So, you're using your credit card to purchase something virtual, for someone with whom you're communicating with online, and it costs real money.
The concept is is novel to to me, but brings new meaning to "the thought that counts' with regard to gift giving. What this really made me think of, though, is the article that I read a few days ago about EverQuest, and how people trade virtual goods and currency for real dollars. In his article EverQuest: 77th Richest Country Clive Thompson tells us about the booming economy in gaming...not in development and marketing, but in auctioning off one's online posessions and identities. This was the first that I have heard about this (mostly because I'm not at all plugged into gaming culture) and I find it fascinating. I visited a couple of auction site to check out the phenomenon.
Above, currency for sale.
Below, characters for sale.
Initially, the meta concept of profiting from virtual sales of virtual currency was a hard for me to get a handle on. However, in gaming of all kinds, we always need accesories and we always strive to win. What's the difference between buying better cleats and buying EQ platinum? What I find a little more difficult to grasp is buying household goods, and homes themselves online. It seems that the currency is an accesory in the game that functions as a way to increase the liklihood of a player doing well, but on other hand, the household goods just seem like luxury items that are acquired for the sake of acquisition. Looking at EverQuest as the 77th riches country forces us to look at how and to what we ascribe value in this culture. It's fascinating, in that it's an economy and a market that created itself.
The paper that Edward Castronova had originally written with his findings about the economic power of EverQuest was read widely and, as Thompson pointed out, serves a unique purpose. EverQuest functions as a laboratory in which human behavior and economic factors can be observed. A Virtual world functioning as a full flegged economy is revolutionary because it demonstrates "the world's first truly egalitarian polity", one in which players are not born into wealth and prosperity, but need to earn it themselves. Clearly, though, for the buyers of already established characters who don't need to level-up, they are breaking this pattern and influencing the world to become one in which the elite are favored.
For me, there are two pivitol themes in this article: 1., What does it mean when one can generate an income selling goods that only exist in a virual space? How do we ascribe value to goods and services when they are not palpable? - Is there a ripple effect in the larger economy however small? 2. The idea of EverQuest and similar game environments as being truly egalitarian. How accurate is this, and how long will it last - is that tide already been turning? Was it ever really egalitarian to begin with, i.e., were the users on even ground? Even though all users start with nothing in the game, the concensus is that the one thing that a player really needs to level-up is time. Are the more well-off in our society more able to devote the time needed? Where are the inequalities between players that would cause the game to be unequal. Clearly, as auctions persist, those who are financially well off are in an advantaged position.
The Blogs of War
John Hockenberry wrote this piece for Wired magazine about members of the military who maintain blogs and often post from the combat zone. There are a number of different factors at play here: the security and confidentiality of military operations (Hockenberry uses the example that in wars of the past, soldiers couldn't have matches for fear that they would give away their location), personal expression versus the desire of the military to be in control of its portrayal in the media, and the right of the public to have access to diverse media sources during a time of war. Chris Missick asks the question in his blog Should I as a lower enlisted soldier have such power to express my opinion and broadcast to the world a singular soldier's point of view? I think, throughout history, that soldiers have always been able to express their opinions, but the key difference between now and wars past is the role of time in that expression. In the past, a soldier would perhaps keep a journal, write letters or take photograhps that would take quite a while to be viewed by the public (if they ever were). Clearly the military is struggling to keep up with developments in technology in the way that all of us are. However, by the time set policies are in place, I suspect that technology will have moved on. I seriously doubt that the military would be able to squelch the pervasive use of technology in the field - especially as they continue to recruit young people into their forces. People are already dependent on their gadgets, and it seems that being in a war in a foreign country, away from friends and family, would a time when one would increase the desire to communicate. I was interested to see that Missick was so analytical about his own role while blogging from a war zone. I wanted to see what he had to say about recent developments in the war, but his blog hasn't been update in over two years. The Wired article was published in August of 2005 - the same month he stopped posting. Perhaps he was pressured to stop writing, perhaps he just moved on. For now, one can read his archives like they would read a journal from the past, from one man's experience.
This blog has an entry GoogleMaps images that actually capture a battle in Sadr City. In this case, no one person is responsible for the images, but they are visible throughout the world nonetheless.
Labels: reading response
posted by Amanda @ 9/21/2007 10:45:00 PM, ,
Video of the day.
wow!
posted by Amanda @ 9/21/2007 10:34:00 PM, ,
Assignments
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Assignment for this week:
Shoot a video, post and cross-post on youtube and one other video website
read EverQuest: 77th Richest Country and post a response. Read The Blogs of War from Wired and post a response. Customize blog using CSS learned in Monday's class.
posted by Amanda @ 9/19/2007 12:46:00 AM, ,
Orality and Literacy
Monday, September 17, 2007
Walter J. Ong - Some thoughts on Orality and Literacy or, does poetic = noetic?
Ong opens up by discussing primarily oral cultures and the differences between cultures that use orality as their sole communication vs. those that employ textual communication. He talks about the fundamental differences between the ways in which these cultures not only communicate, but record, innovate and adjudicate as well. He references literature throughout history - back to Homer and the Greek. I personally find that his writing style is quite inaccessible - almost as if he is trying to prove the point that cultures with written language trump those without - at least from an intellectual standpoint. He describes oral cultures as those who value their elders as keepers and recorders of the knowledge vs. literate cultures that value the young; innovators who are in the process of learning and developing - in these cultures recording history isn't as paramount, as history is preserved in literature. Ong describes primary oral cultures as those for which there is not concept of the written word. At one point he tells us that language is so overwhelmingly oral that of all the many thousands of languages . . . spoken in the course of human history only around 106 have ever been committed to writing to a degree sufficient to have produced literature. There are, today, thousands of spoken languages that have no literature. He touches on the importance of maintaining mnemonics and proverbs in primary oral societies. Again, in contrast, chirographic/typographic societies are able to record, analyze and create from their written words. My perception is that Ong believes that noetic culture = literate culture. He rails on the idea of oral literature as beyond oxymoronic. Indeed, I would say that Ong's work is some of the least 'oral' literature I have encountered in quite a long time.
In truth, many of the concepts that Ong has introduced are not ones to which I have given much thought. I am beginning to recognize the great rift between primary oral and literate cultures. The organization structure of the primary oral is understandably different. Ong presents several studies that look at the ways in which members of primary oral cultures see themselves and their relationship to the world (perhaps more central than the literate). I would argue, though, that while these ideas are important to explore, that there are - in our current world - many more cases of cultures that fall somewhere in between primary oral and literate. If only for the introduction of packaging, advertising, logos on clothing and popular culture, I would say that you would be hard pressed to find a culture that is completely without literacy. By that same token, there are those fully immersed in our culture who remain illiterate - it would be interesting to examine these two aspects of literacy, respectively.
One idea that I found particularly resonant was that of primary orality increasing group-based communication and behavior, v. literacy, which tends to increase solitary time (as reading and writing are solitary pursuits). Additionally, he touches on the importance of sound in primary oral culture: In a primary oral culture, where the word has its existence only in sound, with no reference whatsoever to any visually perceptible text, and no awareness of even the possibility of such a text, the phenomenology of sound enters deeply into human beings' feel for existence, as processed by the spoken word. For the way in which the word is experienced is always momentous in psychic life. To me, it would be interesting to extend this idea past being the receiver of the [oral] word, to being the participant in the oral [word]. It would seem, to me, that the potential for interaction in a primary oral culture is significantly increased over that of the literate. Perhaps it would be helpful to weigh these benefits within the context of this comparison.
In chapter four, Ong begins to touch a little bit on my question about the literate culture's potential for interactivity. He speaks of writing as a technology .. 'essential [like other artificial creations] for the realization of fuller, interior, human potentials.' He speaks of writing as the provider of distance and perspective and as a provider of consciousness. He moves into a discussion of Learned Latin.
“In western classical antiquity, it was taken for granted that a written text of any worth was meant to be an deserved to be read aloud.” Fascinating to consider this within the context of today's technological culture - pervasive blogging, mailing and texting .. where it is, in fact taken for granted that texts, specifically, are inherently undeserving of being read aloud. That is, in fact, why they exist. Have we become so literate and alienated from the oral, that we have come full circle?
posted by Amanda @ 9/17/2007 01:39:00 AM, ,
55 Word Story
Sunday, September 16, 2007
many johnny walkers
stumble slightly
startle stare
rain slicked hands
up the stairs
worn mattress
salty sheets
truthful whispers
beginnings of something
something real
now, one summer passed
you, up at the alter
me
in the pews
with flowers strewn
undone
reason these two should not be joined?
speak now or forever hold your peace
posted by Amanda @ 9/16/2007 11:18:00 PM, ,
remember?
posted by Amanda @ 9/11/2007 02:45:00 PM, ,
I thought it might be nice to get myself a youtube account and to try to get at least a little video up. Voila.
posted by Amanda @ 9/10/2007 09:27:00 PM, ,
This will be where I house my communications lab stuff. Because my class is on Mondays, we have yet to meet. Check this space out sometime next week for the goods.
posted by Amanda @ 9/07/2007 02:27:00 AM, ,