Category: Contextual Studies

Artists: Orpheus Standing Alone, Camille L. and Anna L

~ Sarah-Jane Field ~ Leave a comment

I recalled seeing this work in a Foam magazine #51 (the previous post is also from that edition) and being really struck by the way it was put together, and incorporated a range of images, styles, as well as text. On the website there are still images, text, a bit of processing and a freedom that one doesn’t see in more ‘conservative’ examples of photographic work. I did not recall the name of the work and had to flick through old copies, and now see a similarity to one of my own texts – Orpheus in Homebase. The linking again of old myth to today’s world. What I take mostly from this work is freedom to play. (Which is interesting given my sense that there is an ever decreasing sense of play related to online forums where the conservatism of Flusser’s apparatus appears to dominate and rule.)

Self Published Art Books
— Read on www.orpheusstandingalone.com/about

Artist: Filip Berendt

~ Sarah-Jane Field ~ 2 Comments

Berendt’s ephemeral process equates well to Barad’s agenitial cut which I’ve been exploring in my own work (ideas for so far). There is also the mix of medium and ownership (like Martins and Clark) which rejects the purity espoused by Bate. Additionally, he manages to focus his work on myth and archetypical patterns cross culturally and across linear time. Worth exploring and thinking about, possibly including as an example in CS.

Monomyth project combines authorial photography with abstract painting – photographed objects are spatial collages created on the walls of Berendt’s studio and destroyed once they have been captured on film. Berendt has used that method previously in a couple of cycles (Every Single Crash, Pandemia) in which the only physical trace of the pieces he created – and thus the final effect of the creative act – was a photograph. His latest works refer to the idea of monomyth, introduced by the American mythologist Joseph Campbell (the term was originally coined by James Joyce). Monomyth stands for the archetypal pattern typical of fictional narratives, described by Campbell, shared by all mythical stories, manifesting itself as the hero’s journey, conveying universal truths about self-discovery and self-transcendence, about social and interpersonal roles. According to Campbell – and Berendt – the hero is an individual setting out on a journey leading them to the final destination: profound spiritual transformation. The journey is tantamount to making life meaningful, to searching for and discovering its meaning at consecutive stages of the trip.

text; Agnieszka Rayzacher

— Read on www.filipberendt.pl/

CS Research: (97) (PDF) ‘Lights, Camera, Algorithm: Digital Photography’s Algorithmic Conditions’ in Sean Cubitt, Daniel Palmer & Nate Tkacz (eds.), Digital Light (London: Fibreculture Book Series, Open Humanities Press, 2015), 144–62. | Daniel Palmer – Academia.edu

~ Sarah-Jane Field ~ Leave a comment

This has some useful references included and the phrase ‘marginal’ referring to decisive moment photography which may be useful alongside ‘boring’ (Elkins) ‘conservative’ (Blight) and ‘tautological’ (me).

(97) (PDF) ‘Lights, Camera, Algorithm: Digital Photography’s Algorithmic Conditions’ in Sean Cubitt, Daniel Palmer & Nate Tkacz (eds.), Digital Light (London: Fibreculture Book Series, Open Humanities Press, 2015), 144–62. | Daniel Palmer – Academia.edu
— Read on www.academia.edu/30168558/_Lights_Camera_Algorithm_Digital_Photography_s_Algorithmic_Conditions_in_Sean_Cubitt_Daniel_Palmer_and_Nate_Tkacz_eds._Digital_Light_London_Fibreculture_Book_Series_Open_Humanities_Press_2015_144_62

 

Research: Art Schools of the Future Need to Teach Students to Understand Technology. How Will That Change the Future of Art? | artnet News

~ Sarah-Jane Field ~ 3 Comments

As software, algorithms, non-conscious cognitive agents and cybernetic thinking increasingly shape the world around us, artists need to have a strong grasp of the practical and philosophical implications of this transformation,” Kaganskiy says. “I’m not saying that every artist needs to learn to code, but they should probably read some media theory and software studies texts, maybe even some posthumanist philosophy.”
— Read on news.artnet.com/art-world/art-school-tech-adapt-1742802

I can’t help thinking this reluctance is all about snobbery. It reminds me of the Blight comment re photography and conservatism which I mentioned in a previous post and which might go into my introduction- if not elsewhere in the essay.

CS & BOW: research – Cultural Capital / Capital Culture text Sunil Shah

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Re: the entangled implications of art, culture, business and ethics

‘How can artists and their work stand up to critical scrutiny if the conditions which foreground them are complicit in the creation of the subject matter they represent? What does that mean for the integrity of the artist and the ethics of the photo- journalist, documentarian or creative producer who seeks to address our world’s problems?’ (Shah, 2019)

https://www.mathieuasselin.com/cultural-capital-capital-culture

Currently looking through a book on Baudrillard so good timing to stumble across the above

CS: notes

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In my plan, I suggested chapter’s 3 and 4 would merge and become less pedestrian – i.e. subject followed by examples. Instead examples should flow throughout the essay. And that an alternative topic for 4 might present itself at some point. I’m wondering now if addressing the difference between revisionism and reviewing but coming to different conclusions with new information is worth investigating. This would entail looking at quantum erasure too where the past is changed by what happens in the future – as in chapter 7 Barad. (See final episode of Good Omens for example of this in popular culture/fantasy science fiction – relevant for BOW)

CS A4: Notes – naive realism etc.

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Veridical perception – what you see is what you get. (Hoffman, 2019 posits this can’t be the case)

Schrödinger – uses term ‘naive realism’ (Barad, 2007)

Daniel C Blight – talks about photography being conservative (agree!) (Twitter, 2019)

And photography does seem in many instances / general use to be tautological (CS A1 Field, 2019)- at which point it becomes reassuring/comforting to make and look at.

CS A3: Plan, sample text, schedule

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Full document – inlcudes Sample, plan, schedule, bibliography and reflection:

CS A3 Entanglement Draft 5 – sample only .edited

Cut section (focuses on systems but think this muddies the water in an essay that needs to retain focus, despite the rhizome nature of the methodology – the cut section provides a background, so might need to insert some nuggets of information into the main body, however.)

Section cut from plan CS A3

 

CS A2: Rewritten following feedback

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Added here 01/09/2020

Adjustments made to citations and referencing and a couple of sentences rewritten – submitted for assessment.

2019-cs-a2-can-i-be-dead-and-alive-a-the-same-time-.edited.docx-1Download

December 2019:

Following feedback from various sources including Matt, and while continuing to work on CA A3, attached is an updated version of the Portfolio Review assignment.

(Things to do – double check captions beneath mages.)

December 2019 CS A2 Can I be dead and alive a the same time .edited

CA A3: Plan and sample almost ready to share and submit

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I have been really so ill the last week which has meant lots of plans cancelled. The good thing is I have been stuck indoors watching YouTube videos of Karen Barad and reading her book and making notes and writing and rewriting and preparing A3. I’ve sort of been at it the whole time (maybe that’s why it’s taking so long to get better).

Today I sent the sample to a physicist I have stumbled across who has kindly agreed to take a look at the theory and make sure I’m not making wildly inaccurate claims about quantum mechanics. I think it may be a strange thing for him to do though because Barad whose work my whole hypothesis bounces around is this peculiar hybrid of humanities and science which is unusual. But I am grateful to have the opportunity to have an actual scientist glance over my ideas – even though I suspect it might read to him like a 5-year-old’s version of the ideas he explores.

I asked him to look at the research question and pick holes in it – it is currently looking like this:

 

Diffraction

Entanglement 

&

Photography

 

According to contemporary science-philosophies, the notion of isolated, unrelated objects in a void universe expresses an out-dated and unhelpful view of reality. Rather than seeing ‘things’ which have their own place in space and time, many academics have been exploring a universe which is emergent, and where everything is interconnected, relational, dynamic, non-linear and lively. 

 

Within this evolving view of the universe, how – or can – photography successfully communicate the contemporary model described above? Or is it fatally challenged by its ontology? 

 

I will upload his response (unless he tells me it’s all crap – in which case I’ll cry and start again) and the rest of the sample before long, hopefully.

 

Lastly, because of the Hollins paper I recorded here recently, I am tempted to rethink the very top heading. I will wait and see.