sketchbook

Collifasicsm

Finished most of my project last night.  Just need to work on the original score with my budd Paul today.

Ak

Rotoscopinc

One Laptop Per Child

Research:

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

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/12/01/laptop/

http://laptop.org/en/

One Laptop Per Child is a program distributing cheap laptops to poor countries to educate/ end poverty.  Unfortunately the amount of resources going into this program could be better spent on Library’s, Schools, Clean Water, Food.  These are essential elements to worldwide life.   Laptops are essential elements of westernized living.  My main issue with this program is Laptops are a culture, internet and technology means the access to a wealth of information.  This cases culture to blend together.  I find it an ignorant assumption that Laptops are a essential system to worldwide life and education.  Many people living in rural “poverty” live this way traditionally and educate themselves and their children in specific manners.  People don’t need laptops.

Tasty

yum

Cough

Response to “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
The article “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin serves as a critical analysis of art and technology, and the ability to reproduce art.  Written without any major claims, the tone of the article and selected insight provides the reader with the assumption that this reproductive state is damaging art.  The purist views come across as bold yet old, failing, and unresponsive to the nature of art.
In the article two terms are brought to surface, Aura and Cult.  These aspects are said to be lost by the reproduction of art.  This is a poor evaluation.  Art’s aura is not affected by reproduction in theory.  If a piece is perfectly replicated there is no difference, the aura remains.  Cult is sacrificial, and should be looked at as a positive manner.  Fine art is plagued by cult; mass review of art makes for a more fitting art world, one that speaks better to the people of the world.  Art should be accusable, easy, and rapid.  There is no reason why reproduction can damage art.
The article goes on to discuss the mediums of reproduction, focusing primarily on film.  The initial connection the author draws between film and theater is misguided.  There is certainly an assumption that film is theater captured, but this is far from the truth.  The artistic quality of film extends far beyond live action and mise-en-scene; Film exists in a manner of ways.  The versatility of film, the bending of reality possible, the editing, cuts, splices, transitions, film stock, manipulation of color.  All of these are surreal elements of film that are not negative aspects, as they don’t exist anywhere else.  The reproducibility of film in no way affects the capabilities of film.
The drawn upon debate between painters and photographers is also a weak point to base any argument off.  There is no worthwhile debate, they both exist separate of each other.  It does not mean that their qualities cannot be combined, or that intermedia bridges cannot be built.  The qualities of photography differ from that of painting.  The existence of photography has strengthened painting, by encouraging it to expand beyond duties photography better fulfills.  These duties are not aura less either; they are of a different nature.
The source of such uncohesiveness in this article is the date at which it is written.  There is a difference in capitalism, art and sociological existence.  The issues are typical of a pure view of art and new issues arise today with the arise of digital art and crowdsorced art.  But a similar approach of separation should be used with these new forms as well, one that encourages intermedia but does not dispel each medias use and product.  Similar debates exist today, but there is no death of art or emotion approaching only ambiguity in practice.

Bind

Blur

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^click^

The Regency

Media is integrated in today’s life and culture.  In Henry Jenkins critical evaluation “Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape” the roles of new and emerging medias and their effects on society are reviewed.  Jenkins arranges his observations into eight separate ideas, some of which serve to be spot on, and some of which ignore art’s embracement of new media.
By attempting to direct his observations away from assessing what the new technologies are, and there influences he focuses on how the culture is behaving and utilizing new values.  This technique proves effective and the analysis is both accurate and insightful, most so with trait seven Generational.  A trait which correctly illustrates the younger generations acceptance of new media and new medias ability to essential raise children in many ways that were previously reserved for parents.  This de-localization of parenting exists in many facets of life and is defined by Jenkins trait Global.
Convergent characteristics defined by Jenkins don’t necessarily serve to new media.  The idea that the user controls the product isn’t necessarily new in anyway amongst media.  The users money has always been the most influential thing on what media comes out.  The difference in user control with new media is mostly based on the accessibility of information, which then leads to a more influential user.  Jenkins does however express the interesting ability for users to almost create demand by creating.  Manufacturing illegal and legal ways to for instance share music created iTunes.  This may be the most important part of new media culture.  The ability to easily make ideas come to life.  The all-encompassing information of the Internet and the billions of easily accessible and (sometimes) knowledgeable people, create for an environment where creations is possible free of beforehand knowledge.  Ideas are all that is required.

This accessibility is slightly ignored in the article, specifically this accessibility’s relationship to art, and creative medium.  Art as defined by the expression of ideas and concepts is now not limited to technical knowledge of certain mediums.  As all new and old mediums and teachings within them are easily accessible.  New and emerging mediums can even be user modified to better serve individual needs.  The article touches on this but ignores the importance that and with unrestricted ability it is possible to learn to do something, do it, and market it into a business.  The accessibility of computers and new media in general allows for networking to take place in social and business manners.  The article was written before networking exploded beyond just social settings and into business settings (ebay.com etsy.com).
Jenkins curiously explores what could be called a byproduct of rapid advancement and that is the inequality and inaccessibility of new technology to poorer or more unprivileged demographics.  This inequality makes a similar gap between new media users as the generational gap does for age difference.  The users that can afford the best and newest technologies are essentially more integrated into the media than those who can’t.  Generally speaking based on this observation the youngest and richest will always be the most powerful.  This can fluctuate though because the accessibility of the Internet allows for artists and creative’s to become rich almost by themselves, a possibility that would suggest that any demographic given limited accessibility to new media could also achieve.
As a whole the article accurately analyzes life in the times of new media and modernism.  The article proves itself correct by being slightly aged by the exponentially increasing scope of new technology.  Jenkins covers almost all aspects of life with new media from the intimacy of new technology to its integration into normal functions.