Lecture #2 Afrofuturism: A Discussion

"I am not supposed to be here." This opening phrase is rather indicative of the overall sentiment of the visiting artist. This underlying theme is pervasive throughout his work functioning not as a statement attesting to the simple overcoming of adversity, but rather a guiding philosophical fixation. Active in social reform, the artist stated the importance of the individual in a collective. Essentially it is the individual’s responsibility to the collective to help bring about social change and reform. However, he states it is important then in a culture so distanced from controversial topics to have such topics made personal and relatable. I believe this is the main area of operation pursued by his work that acts both as tools for creating personable relations to important issues as well as addressing larger aesthetic discussion within the art world. As result, the work made by the artist also takes on a larger role concerning participatory artistic authorship and socially conscious practices.

          A central element of inspiration for the artist was stated to be X-Men comics from his childhood. This influence is evident in his less socially collective artistic pieces which include illustrations and even comic-shorts. The conceptual draw to X-Men comics was attributed to the main character (during that particular issues circulation) being Storm, a black female. He found encouragement in this as well as creative direction for later projects.

          Later career exploits moved toward the aforementioned socially conscious and collective pieces such as “Intelligent Mischief.” It is evident in these projects the attempt to communicate to younger generations and expand his visual language to facilitate community outreach. The artist also utilizes sarcasm and humor in many of these later projects including his work on a ‘Survival Guide for Blacks.’ Commentary on very serious issues is also a common theme in his work. In an attempt to make these issues more personable to everyday people the artist employs impersonal tactics such as sarcasm and humor as well as group activities such as ‘protest bootcamps’ to deconstruct the dominant historical vernacular guiding social involvement. These longstanding structures the artist feels are no longer effective in a new and evolving sociopolitical landscape and he believes it is possible to modify and reintroduce these structures to encourage individual participation.

Lecture #1: A Discussion: Joel Swanson

Swanson is an artist directly in conversation with Heidegger and is particularly drawn to the complexities of glitches and quirks of modern technology especially concerning linguistics and communication.

His pieces are all aesthetically very clean and simple and, of the ones shown, all concern this common theme of linguistics, They are mostly black and white or composed of light sources such as the LED used in the Lady Gaga project or the neon tubing. The commonalities in all projects take this conversation from Heidegger and recontextualize it for the modern era utilizing modern technology and modern cultural phenomena. They are essentially a remix. But even Swanson notes that "remix has its limits" not simply in attempting to trace the source of authorship but in the loss of that authorship there begins an endless cycle of "unintentional remixing." This remixing he stated has something in common with modern capitalistic society in its own self-devouring of old infotainment and repackaging (remixing) it to appear new to the unassuming masses. This begs the question of his own participation in this process however. By remixing Heidegger does he himself contribute to the eroding of traditional demarcations of intellectual property? I believe that he is doing both. To those that do not understand the context of his work with technology and reflection on society this work only perpetuates the blind acceptance of remixes without identification of the "remixers." However, to those that do understand his work in relation to this topic the conversational underpinnings are very evident. Swanson himself notes this as "hypocritical." 

His work with pieces such as the morse code translator of Lady Gaga's Twitter feed aren't inherently evident intellectually. His curiosity with technology and linguistics combine to form an absurd and annoying blinking light on a plinth. Perhaps it thus symbolizes the absurd preoccupation with infotainment and its inherent and unavoidable flashy-attention-grabbing existence. The linguistics are simply and also devoid of any significance. In the very end the societal fascination with the twitter-feed of a celebrity is nothing. just light bits being flashed at a consumer of the information. Heidegger hypothesized that the role of technology serves to perpetuate human existence but it makes the viewer question how that can be with the advent of things such as twitter fans and followers of celebrities. Maybe in that sense Heidegger is both correct and incorrect on different levels. On the individual level the consumption of such infotainment demands a forgetfulness of one's own life to follow anothers. On the other hand, the consumption of such infotainment perpetuates human existence as a mass collective. In such the simple act of 'following' a celebrity advocates their very existence including their clothes, brands, shampoo, purses, phones, etc. All of which are extracted from nature.

Exhibit #2: A Discussion: Pink Elephants on Parade

This exhibition was created by Nick van Woert. Immediately entering the space it was clear the interest in different materials, or as stated in the gallery description, "the semantics of material." The first piece was Untitled, and composed of a plastic statue, urethane plastic and a steel base. The plastic had been melted and dripped in a very interesting way preserving the liquid-like shape of the material now stuck in a solid form. All of the materials seemed to be in conversation with each other. All of which are highly industrial components of mass production such as plastics and steel but in this gallery setting van Woert has essentially repurposed them giving them an artistic quality. The placement of this piece, Untitled, was very strategic in demonstrating this repurposing exploration of materials presented to the viewer immediately upon entering the gallery.

The objects constructed from these curious materials are in essence mimicry of their real counterparts such as the untitled piece containing materials within a plexiglas form resembling a chair. They are "materially speaking, decidedly not what they purport to be" and thus engage in an ersatz material language simply by existing. They are recognizable objects but deceptive in every other way aside from form. In the construction of such pieces the artist attempts to draw attention to the shift in our collective culture from a language that linked prototypical material with estimable values to the synthetic and ignoble. Van Woert's discussion hints at familiar themes in many cultural dialogues such as Heidegger who, similar to van Woert's nostalgia, romanticizes earlier artistic efforts and, in a sense, a lost art form of poetic creation of art. The artist cites his own influences among which are Albert Bierstadt and numerous other artists from the Hudson River School and the Romantic Era. This influence is evident upon closer scrutiny of a piece such as the chair, The synthetic materials layered inside are a grotesquely vivid and unnatural combination of colors and form flowing in patterns mimicking landscape painting. However, the result is wholly unnatural and shows a bastardization of the traditions of landscape painting that is no longer intrinsically and romantically linked between the artist and materials but instead is made synthetic and detached.

The conversation between the materials utilized by van Woert and the overall forms they create somewhat eludes me however. Assuming the role of the synthetic materials shows a shift from the prototypical material and attached values to something less it would be no great leap to assume the form also represents a reductionist cultural observation. In the case of the 'chair' the form may then suggest the plainess and meaningless of overall form utilizing these synthetics, no matter the intended connection to such beauty as in traditional landscape paintings from the Romantic Era. Conversely, the form of a chair may represent the classical forms throughout painting and sculpture used by van Woert as a vessel to convey the gross void that is the synthetic and a necessary detachment from it.

Scratch Games and Beginning Side-Scroll Level

For my pong game I intended to convey a serious topic through a rather mindlessly challenging game similar to the classic Pong. In it two parents are fighting by "throwing" a dish back and forth thus acting as the ball between the two characters. The girls, assumed to be daughters of the parents, move on the y axis of both sides at random increments. The objective of the game is to fight while 'protecting' the children from the dish-throwing.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/49805260/


For the homeless game level I attempted to merge a typical side-scroller with the look our group decided upon previously (16-bit style). The intention is to simulate a city environment for the homeless character to interact with and be faced with challenges that appear very hard-hitting to players, but in the life of someone who is homeless, they are often very real situations.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/51345976/

Game Proposal

I didn’t really want my game to be overtly political because I didn’t want to lean one way or another when making it. I thought the best thing to do then would be to use a bipartisan topic such as poverty and the unwillingness of people to help others in tough situations. My idea for a game would be to constantly walk down a street to work with homeless people on the side and you have to button mash to try to avoid giving them money. For every homeless person you don’t stop you have a bar at the top that shows progress toward the dangerzone or something like it equivalent to death in the game, where it flashes to a picture of your player willingly helping out people and not being afraid of them.

Final Characters and Modifiers

Characters

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

An American social reformer and feminist; she founded numerous civil societies including the American Equal Rights Association which sought equal rights for women and African Americans. She presented what would be the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. She duel-wields the mighty Sword of Justice and the Scale of Equality.

Richard Nixon (1913-1994)

"I am not a crook!" The infamous impetus for the Watergate Scandal who helped cover up a break-in to the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters. The former president also begrudgingly created the E.P.A. and formally resolved tensions with the Soviet Union via nuclear arms control agreements. His resignation is marked by a red-hot temper.

Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916)

A mysterious healer and powerful adviser to the Russian Orthodox tsar and tsarista. A lustful addict of women with a volatile temperament who survived being poisoned, shot, and bludgeoned, finally perishing in a frozen river having been weighed down. The Siberian sorcerer still wanders those very banks with his staff of power guiding him to exact his revenge. 

Modifiers

The Reformation (+3 Attack, -1 W.H.)

The 16th Century break from the Catholic Church sparked by Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This splintering resulted in structures that would define the continent in the modern era and includes Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the Church of England. The intellectual, political, and religious split also spurred the Counter-Reformation and inspired lasting changes worldwide.

The 19th Amendment (+4 defense, -2 W.H.)

The 19^th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote and was finally ratified in 1920. It was considered radical when it was first proposed as legislation. Several generations of women lobbied, marched, and protested to achieve the ratification of this Amendment including *Susan B. Anthony.

*Susan B. Anthony no wormhole cost to use this modifier.

Logo

Lin Emery and Kinetic Art

Kinetic art:

Art from any medium that contains movement as perceived by the viewer or depends on motion for its effect. In more recent times kinetic art typically refers to 3D sculptures and figures that move by natural means or are machine operated. However, kinetic arts definition has been blurred with typically 2D mediums suggesting "apparent movement" as in op art (optical art) and other movements. 1800s impressionists also employed the term such as Monet, Manet, and Degas suggesting movement in 3 dimensional space through motion suggesting stylistic qualities.

Emery's sculpture is powered by the wind and she states her inspiration is directly derived from nature. Most of her forms however are fractal and composed of highly polished and manufactured pieces of metal juxtaposing an otherwise objective perception of nature as flawed and organic. No doubt Calder is also an influence in the dangling rhythmic patterns of her sculptures.

“My sculpture is kinetic, meaning that it moves. The elements are derived from nature, and I borrow natural elements — wind, water, magnets — to set them in motion. The rhythms are influenced by infinite variables: the points of balance, the normal frequency of each form, the interruption of the counterpoise. I juggle, juxtapose, and adjust to achieve the dance or pantomime that I want. Then the sculpture takes over and invents a fillip of its own.”
-Lin Emery