Lecture. Social Media.

Looking into and exploring the affects of social media on creative practices.

- New Media - Supposed to be a break from the old which focuses on involvement and engagement instead of persuasion.

Involved a transition from global print campaigns to campaigns which involved the intended viewer interacting with the campaign. Such as websites, games, etc,

Heavily computer based, embracing new technologies to communicate messages.

Shift from MASS to MY media. Much more personalised.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

Lecture. Communication.

Communication is described in many ways.

It's useful for designers to have a grasp of how a message is communicated effectively and the theory behind it. It's not a straight forward thing and is effected by many scientific and social attributes.

Level 1  Technical  Accuracy

  Systems of encoding and decoding

  Compatibility of systems/need for specialist equipment or knowledge

Level 2  Semantic  Precision of language

  How much of the message can be lost without meaning being lost?

  What language to use?

Level 3  Effectiveness  Does the message affect behaviour the way we want it to?

  What can be done if the required effect fails to happen?

The way a message communicates can be determined by the persons class, employment or marital status, even their level of education. Gender, age and country of origin can also play a role. 

For example someone in Japan may prefer to get their information via the radio then a newspaper due to his social surroundings etc. 

Countries with lower development can be affected by western programming and in turn become more influenced by capitalism and consumerism. 

Semiotics are used to understand this.

We are guided through life by combinations of shapes which we recognize as signs. Even language when written is only a combination of shapes on a page that we can decipher through repeated exposure. 

Images also hold meanings and communicate messages we may not be aware of. For instance a smiling person indicates happiness. A crown would make us think of tradition and royalty, but then again maybe war and knights to another with different social factors.

The context of a picture such as a black and white faded image from the victorian era is vital to giving an image meaning. Without an awareness of it's setting then it becomes just face value and overall holds less value to the viewer. 

Lecture. Media Specificity.

Refers to the media or medium in which something is done. The material of use or artistic expression.

As we evolved we gained the ability to use tools and found new ways to communicate. These specific senses such as sight, sound and smell enable us create specific mediums which cater to such senses.

Media specificity describes how the media used within a specific art form mean certain possibilities and constraints on expression. And the media itself guides and constrains what results are produced.

Media itself and technology shape the way we see and move around the world. It revolutionizes the way we are in socially. From the newspaper to the iPhone.

we use it to extend our memory through photographs, sound recording, video. Things we might of otherwise forgotten can be recorded through the ages.

An example of media specificity is comic books, the way a page is separated to tell the story directly affects the way the artist will create his illustrations, through the guidelines of his media.

Lecture. Visual Communication.

'The rhetoric of the image'.

Theories of Roland Barthes - approach to understanding images.

If you've not seen this photo then you see it for what it is, literally. Just a photo of young people sat on a sofa. Happy, celebrating maybe, on a night out.
 If you've seen the show then you will automatically see this differently because you know the characters and their backgrounds etc.

Semioticians - Work with semiotics and try to unload meanings with signs and images.

Signifier - What you can see.
Signified - What it suggests.

Denote - Shows a man in front of a building
Connote - Status, power, friendliness.
Uses symbolism to project a message. For example a 'dome' on a building symbolises the architecture of Rome, Rome is power and intelligence.

The culture as in time and the area of an image needs to be known to fully understand an image.

Another example is how a dragon can be seen in very different ways when on a flag, compared to a computer game or a church window.

Can you look at a swastika and not associate it with what it's caused as oppose to it just being a shape.

Lecture. Fashion as Photography.

- Fashion photography serves the purpose of illustrating clothing to a commercial audience.
- Fashion photography takes much inspiration from still life photography in terms of setting, pose and lighting.
 - Ghost Mannequin - We have all experienced this on a website where the item of clothing were looking at appears floating like its worn by a ghost.

Advances in half-tone printing meant photographs could be reproduced in magazines much easier. Before this in the 1900's, these photograph's would of had to of been illustrations.

 
This would mean the start for later magazines such as Vogue which is a globally recognized name in fashion.

Cecil Beaton (1904 - 80) became one the most well known and successful fashion photographers.  He worked will all the big names of the time during his illustrious career. He also designed sets and lighting for broadway shows as well as photographing the Royal Family. 

 Later on we had the emergence of talents such as David Bailey. One of the most well known photographers of any genre of all time. His work was both expressive and com positionally unrivaled.

 
  Modern day has seen the influence of digital editing and photoshop is applied heavily. This has opened up new realms of possibilities.  
 

Lecture. A History of Advertising.

Lecture covers
- Contexts, advertising strategy, key points in the historical narrative.
- Traces how large-scale colour printing technology developed 19c.
- Integration of art and technology.

- Bill Bernbach (1911 - 1982) was the first advertiser to combine copywriters and art directors.

 

'Sunlight' - Lever, William Hesketh.

Built Port Sunlight in 19c. Village to house his soap factory workers. Centered around an art gallery. 

  

Colour printing on a larger scale as required by mass advertising was not available until well into the 19c. 

Kellogg's made use of this and was the first to figure out to print, fold and fill cardboard boxes. This created a product with known packaging and most importantly to advertising, a brand which can then be promoted and sold. 

Advertising before mass printing was different. Lever by the 1890's used many fitting contemporary paintings of the time to advertise his soap brand. 

He was the first to extensively advertise and sunlight became a household brand. It was what elevated his product above the rest. 

Levers company 'Unilever' became the biggest in Britain by 1930. 

Newspapers owe much to advertising and most wouldn't be able to exist without it. News of the World ended when the advertisers pulled out due to bad rep. 

Modern creative advertising aims to spread messages in entertaining, engaging and innovative ways. 

 

Lecture - A History of Type.

Typography as a term can first be traced back to ancient civilisations where they used hammer and chisel to carve letterforms out of stone.

Due to the chisel having to have a starting mark on letters, the letters of that day and age were all what is known as, serif, meaning they have tails and foots on the ends of the bases and tops. This is where the chisel would be first dug in.

Type classifications: Humanist, Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serif and Sans Serif (without serif).

Print in mass production began in 1450 when the first 'gutenberg' printing press was invented. Before this pages in books would need to be printed individually by hand and was a very time consuming matter. It also meant when this printing press was invented that the price of literature could drop allowing books to be more readily available for the lower classes.

A humanist typeface is where the stroke widths of the lines is allowed to change from letter to letter giving it a more hand rendered aesthetic.

Old style is a term referring to modern serif fonts such as 'garamond' or 'times new roman' which are made to emulate the old chisel carved stone letterforms.

Slab serifs are chunky bold letters which have their roots in woodblock printing and letterpress. Probably most associated with the style of old west in America.








Type itself and the choices used can inflict certain feelings on the viewer. For example a script handwritten font is seen as more personal where as I said earlier a slab serif is seen as a cowboy old west heritage.

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/

Lecture. High Culture Vs. Low.

Objective 1: Understand the Avant-Garde.


Dictionary Term – ‘avant-garde’  with terms like
innovation in the arts or pioneers.


The premise of describing artwork which is innovative and pioneering but also to a group doing this. 


So you are either producing avant-garde work (new and innovative) or a member of an avant-garde group.


This has led to brands and companies associating the word avant-garde to themselves in order to lead people into thinking they do are pioneers when in reality they are undisputedly not.

Innovative? Pioneering?

 In the art world at the time movements such as 'Dada' and it's artists like Marhel Duchamp were considered avant-garde in their practice. 

This work 'fountain' (1917) was considered at the time avant-garde because it was something different and new. It matches the criteria placed down for avant-garde but this doesn't necessarily mean that it's any good. 


Objective 2: Question the way art/design education relies on the concept of the avant-garde.

Art and design educational institutes have absorbed this notion of the avant-garde. When you look at course information for the majority of them you can expect to see the words radical, experimental, challenge conventions and so on.

You can even say this is paramount to the course structure for them. It's pushed on young artists and designers that to be good you need to be original, innovative and a breed of creative genius who throws away conventions and trail blazes into new creative pasteurs. 

This premise is what leads to the misunderstood tortured artist stereotype in which the world isn't ready for such radical visionary thinking such as their own. 

Objective 3: Understand the related concept 'art for art's sake'.

By the end of the 19th/early 20th century there was two approaches to the avant-garde.

1.     art that is socially committed [artists being the ‘avant-garde’ of   society, pushing forward political objectives]

2.     art that seeks only to expand / progress what art is (in itself and for itself) / art for art’s sake.

These guidelines of what was avant-garde and what was not was largely orchestrated by the critics.

Clive bell coined the term 'Significant form' as a way to describe a work of art. This however was one mans opinion and far too simplified for such a broad topic. 

The avant-garde art for arts sake approach dominated most of the 20th century. Work started becoming more and more conceptual.

A major problem for the avant-garde is that it seems to necessitate ‘ELITISM’.

What is Kitsch?

Kitsch is a term used to describe art which is considered to be an inferior worthless copy. For example when a famous work of art like the mona lisa is put onto a mug or badge.

True kitsch work aims to be taken seriously but the subject matter falls very far short. Chocolate box images come to mind which may have been well painted technically but possess no real message or purpose. 

Some artists have played on this by making work look kitsch whilst having a deeper meaning. 

In the modern day these fine artists who are considered avant garde and produce conceptual pieces such as those submitted the turner prize are largely resented. It is still as elitist as ever and considered high culture only by those who consider themselves high culture. The general populous finds it pretentious and slightly offensive that they make so much money off pieces. For example Tracey Emins dirty bed for the turner prize is not seen as artistic to most yet we are told it is by the critics who believe themselves to know better then others and if others don't understand it then it is because they are too stupid to.  

  

  

Lecture - Film - Italian Vernacular Cinema.

Italian Vernacular Cinema - 1970's.

Famous for auteurs such as Fellini who made comments on the superficiality of the middle class. Most well known for his work "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2".

Cinemas at this time were spilt into

1. Prima Visione and Seconda Visione.
2. Terza Visione (rural areas, cheaper).

The Italian working classes at this time would go to the cinema every night much like a social event. They were allowed to talk, drink and eat during the film and could walk in or leave at any point. This made them much more like a television audience then one we'd expect today in modern cinema's. 

Filone was a term they used often which was close to the english word 'genre'. This was based on geology, layers within a larger layer. 

Some examples of 'Filones' are

1. 'Giallo' - Detective.
2. Spaghetti Western.
3. Mondo/Cannibal
4. 'Poliziottesco' - Police.

Spaghetti western is probably the most well known today. These were cowboy films directed by Italians and include films like the "The good, the bad and the ugly" - 1966 (Sergio Leone).

Known for it's specific characteristics

1. Lack of dialogue.
2. Use of eye-line and cutting.
3. Differences in scale.
4. Use of camera to tell story.
5. Fragmentation of the body.
6. Catholic references.

Giallo was Italian for "yellow" like the colour of detective paperback novels of the time. Stylish and expressionistic but challenge 'good taste'. Exploitation movies. Similar to grindhouse in America. 

First 'Giallo' was by Mario Bava. "The girl who knew too much".

Based on a private eye who views a murder. Protagonist is usually American or English and visiting Italy. Always a city scape such as Rome or Milan. Never Rural.

Artistic eye again and religious references.

'Giallo' killers also had trademarks.

1. Black gloves.
2. Black hat.
3. Black overcoat.
4. Disguised gender.
5. Priests often used as part of gender confusion.

Dario Argento was famous for this 'filone' and was dubbed the Italian Hitchcock. He placed himself as the killers hands whenever they were shot. Visually stunning set pieces shot without sound so films could be dubbed. 

"The bird with the crystal plumage". Argento's debut picture.

1. Protagonist was an American writer.
2. Use of eye-line shots.
3. Use of yellow.
4. Solution often triggered by piece of art.

Lecture - Film - French New Wave.

Cinema saw a period of 'new wave', in britain but more strongly in Paris. A group of French film makers formed the foundations of this, all critiques and all wrote for the Cahiers du Cinema journal which gave Hitchcock his 'auteur' status.

1. Jean-Luc Goddard.
2. Francois Truffaut.
3. Claude Chabrol.
4. Jaques Rivette.
5. Eric Rohmer

'La Pointe Courte' (1955) by Agnes Varda. Was the first film to kick off French new wave.

They came about in the 1950's and 60's. 

1. Against the 'cinema of quality'.
2. discovered American cinema.
3. cinematic rather than literary focus.
4. importance of personal expression.
5. used light-weight cameras and equipment.
6. faster film stock.
7. films shot quickly and cheaply.
8. casual natural look.
9. used available light and sound.
10. Mise-en-scene - french landscape.

Rebellion against films shot in the past and in studios. Agaisnt films that were over contrived and over dramatic for entertainment purposes and special effects.

They celebrated American film noir as it reflected modern urban life. 

Jean-Luc Godard - 'Breathless' 1960.

Lecture - Film - Hitchcock.

Hitchcock was one of the first truly great film makers and because of such was thought of by many as an 'Auteur'. Auteur was french for author and came from Cahiers du Cinema, a journal. It celebrates the director as an artist in his own right.

Auteurs

1. like artists.
2. original work.
3. creative control.
4. technical competence.
5. distinguishable personality.

Hitchcock had a long career starting at the beginning of the film industry. He was innovative and named a master of suspense making his work very influential. He was also technical, even inventing certain camera techniques such as the 'dolly zoom'. Hitchcock played with expressionist lighting, subjective camera and montage/cutting to create tension. 

He started in the 1920's by drawing set designs giving him an artistic mind. From there he gained an apprenticeship at 'Gainsbrough' film studios. 

In 1927 he made his first film, 'The Lodger'. This is where he first pioneered the dolly zoom or more affectionately referred to by others as the 'Hitchcock' zoom. 

He was well known for certain characteristics in his films. 

1. expressionism.
2. form evokes emotion.
3. cameo appearance.
4. narrative often visual over dialogue.
5. obsessive use of blondes.
6. uses the same actresses. 

Suspense is generated when the audience is anticipating an event, not when it's actually happening. He also was involved with 'voyeurism' and interior meaning. 

In 1938 he left Gainsbrough and heading for the states. 

Psycho (Final Scene)

There are also critiques of the auteur.

1. made by 'elites'.
2. it disguises the work of others (cinematographer, art director, screen writer, editor, sound tech).
3. it offers a universal view of quality.
4. capitalist device selling a film by the director. 

Lecture 3 - Graffiti & Street Art.

Graffito : Italian for little scratch.

People have been drawing on walls since ancient times. These famous cave painting's at Lascaux, France are a prime example. They are 17,300 years old.

Kilroy was here (American) or Mr. Chad (U.K.) was possibly one of the first examples of graffiti emerging as a platform to speak out. These were seem everywhere during WW2.

PARIS May 68' during the student riots was an important time for the art form. People used it as a voice against the government. A statement that can be seen by any man or woman.  It was a way of skipping the middle man of advertising or media and going directly to the source.

NEW YORK 1970's. Another important era for Graffiti. We see the emergence of the spray can as a fast and accessible medium. It evolved alongside Hip-Hop culture and was meant to make the language of the streets visible to all.

Jon Naar, Photographer, (1973). Documented the scene and culture. 

Jean-Michel Basquit. Created a character called 'SAMO'. Started as a private joke and grew.

Because it was seen everywhere it's popularity grew and grew until he declared it 'dead' in 1979. He then went into 'Neo - Expressionism' and even collaborated with Andy Warhol.

Keith Haring sketched images in black and white using chalk on black paper. Influential.

John Feckner, Broken Promises (1980). People started to experiment with surroundings as canvases.

The Berlin Wall became a world must for graffiti.

It then started to be adapted by the mainstream as popularity for it grew. Even by coca cola. TATS CRU (1997)


It even appeared in video games. It had broken into the mass market.

More recently the term 'Street Art' has been created as it shifts into a more conceptual nature.

The french artist Space Invader using mosaics spread around the world to give a more permanent message, however light hearted that may be.

It also begins to re-emerge into galleries with work from Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

People also practice environmentally sound methods such as reverse graffiti which works by removing dirt from a wall in order to create an image.

Paul Curtis (Moose), Reverse Graffiti.

Lecture Notes 2 - Post-Modernism.

Post-Modernism was a negative reaction to Modernism.

Modernism valued:
- Experimentation.
- Innovation.
- Progress.
- Purity.
- Originality.
- Seriousness.

Post-Modernism was basically the opposite in view:
- Exhaustion.
- Pluralism.
- Pessimism.
- Disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge.

They do however both share the fact that they are tied to the modern and technology. One being an expression of and see it in a much more positive outlook whilst the other is more of a negative reaction to this.

1917 - Writer Rudolph Pannwitz spoke of nihilistic post modern man.

1960's - Beginnings.
1970's - Established as a term.
1980's - Recognizable style.
1980's & 1990's - Dominant theoretical discourse.
Today - Tired and simmering. Fallen out of fashion.

Terms: After Modernism, historical era following Modernism, contra Modernism and equivalent to 'late capitalism'.

15th of July 1972 3:32pm. Modernist flatblock project demolished in St. Louis 4 years after it's build.
Charles Jencks claims this is the moment Modernism died.

The utopian ideals of modernism didn't seem to be working in reality as it stiffled individuality. Flat blocks around the world were being demolished as too were the dreams of Modernism.

The only rule of Post-Modern was that there are no rules. A direct reaction to Modernism's strict values and guidelines to design.  It starts as a critique of the 'international style'.

Park Hill Flats - Sheffield.

A good example of this is the Park Hill Flats in Sheffield. Seen as a progressive modernist structure but in reality they spawned crime, vice and depression among the residents who eventually had to speak out to the council and ask to be re-housed somewhere else. Unlike most of these structures however this had been granted listed status by the government and therefore the council were unable to pull it down. It was granted a very post-modern renovation.

Far less serious. It allows colour and playfulness into an otherwise overbearing eye sore. Interestingly enough however it is now being sold off to a different young professionals. 

They felt Modernism favored ideas over peoples needs and individuality. Meaning Post-Modern buildings aimed to be far more frivolous.

Guggenheim Museum - Bilbao.

 Writer and philosopher J-F Lyotard wrote some musings on the topic in his book 'The Post-Modern Condition (1979)'.
- Incredulity towards the meta narrative.
- Meta narrative being a total belief such as religion or communism which gave a structure to life.
- Result of which left people with a crisis in confidence and a lack of hope which total belief gives. Leading to anxiety.

It was a clash of styles. Complexity and chaos.

Roy Lichtenstein - This Must Be The Place.

Images like this began to spur a high art and low art divide deterioration. Posing questions like why can't comic books be hung in a gallery and be seen as art?

Lecture Notes 1 - Modernity & Modernism

Art critique and patron John Ruskin (1819 - 1900) classed painters of his generations as 'Modern' such as the pre-raphaelite brotherhood.

Modern perceived as progressive and radical. The 'NEW'. Vital to the progression of fashion.

Paris Exposition (1855) showed the pinacles of 'modern' art, design and technology in the city which was viewed as the most modern city in the world.

This shift from old to new was brought about from Urbanisation. Technological discovery's led to a move from the rural to the industrial. Transport links, Telephone lines, New forms of global entertainment etc resulting in the world effectively getting smaller resulting in new ways of looking at the world obviously influencing art and design.

Cities like london and paris struggling in efforts to be regarded as the most modern.

Also classed as a period of enlightenment as notions changed from religion and superstition to science and reason.

The city became the beacon for all things modern.

Modern design such as the eiffel tower radicalised things by using modern materials and vast scale.

World time was established, again uniting a world which was once distant.

Paris went through a period known as 'Haussmannisation'. The old Paris centre which was dirty and poor was ripped out/flattened and re-thought by a designer named Haussmann. It became awash with large boulevards that allowed easier access to the city by the army and police therefore making the people easier to control. This also brought about a shift from the centre being working class to upper class and bringing about further class separation.

Georges-Eugène Haussmann

Growth of psychology in the late 18th Century as they try to break down the effects these drastic changes are having on peoples minds.

Art, Culture and Technology merge. 

Technology forces artists and designers to view the world and people differently.

The mass society layout's of cities brings about greater differences between people as faceless anonymous tendencies creep in. 

This technology inspires new artistic techniques. 

Paintings begin to experiment with cropping due to inspiration from the budding medium of photography.

Kaiserpanorama (1883)

Technology becomes a barrier between direct human interaction. 

Creates anti-modernists such as Max Nordau who are against this shift in society.

MODERNISM - Emerges out of the experiences artists and designers are having with this modern society - Modernity.

Photography again makes painters experiment away from realism due to photography being the ultimate form of this. 

Modernist icon art school the Bauhaus opens. Fully flexing it's modernist views into every aspect of art and design.

-Anti-Historicism

-Truth To Materials.

-Form Follows Function.

-Technology.

-International.

Bauhaus - Modernist Art School and Building.

"Ornament is Crime" - Adolf Loo's

- Simple effective design will always stay in fashion no matter how much to trends change.

Sans Serif typefaces were created by Herbert Bayer to get rid of unnecessary ornament on type. However serif fonts being created at the same time such as 'Times New Roman' by Stanley Morrison.

Mass production was leveling out the differences in class allowing cheap affordable design for everyone. 

Material's.

-Concrete.

-Plastics.

-Steel.

-Aluminium.

-Reinforced Glass.

CONCLUSION

MODERNITY (1750 - 1960) - Social and Cultural experience.

MODERNISE - The range of styles that sprang from modernity.