Task

Nicki Minaj -Pink Friday
Nicki Minaj has always called her self 'The Black Barbie' and her style usually represents this, sometimes having bright blond hair, pink outfits and a Barbie necklace. 

The cover represents her style and an idea that she has of being a Barbie, with stretched out of per portion legs, bright pink 'perfect' hair and stiff facial expression you can immediately see a connection to Barbie as the brand and part of the title 'Pink' is in the font style of the Barbie logo.   

The Simpsons 
inter textual Film references
40 films

Reference to Psycho

Shrek
References a lot of fair tales including characters such as
Snow White & the seven Dwarfs / magic mirror
Pinocchio 
The ginger bread man
Three Blind Mice
Puss in Boots
Cinderella & the fairy godmother / step sisters
Big Bad wolf & Little Red riding hood
Three little pigs
Sleeping Beauty
Captain Hook
Rapunzel
The old Lady in the shoe
Peter Pan & Wendy
Thumbelina
Tom Thumb
Humpty Dumpty
Three Bears
The little Mermaid
Robin Hood and a lot more.


Marithe et Francois Girbaud add referencing The Last Supper
news story "Milan Bans 'blasphemous' poster"
'The Last Suppers'

Nas - Untitled
The ninth studio album from Nas that caused a lot of controversy because of the original intended title of 'N*****' the album artwork is an edited image of his back made to look like the letter 'N' has been lashed into his skin, referencing slaves, relating to the past and the title that was originally planned for the album.
Title Controversy

In a song from the album title 'Hero' Nas gives a brief interpretation of the situation that involved the name change of the album to 'untitled'

"This universal apartheid

I'm hog-tied, the corporate side

Blocking y'all from going to stores and buying it

-They were going to prevent the album from being released if the name wasn't changed.

First L.A. and Doug Morris was riding wit it               

-Referring to chairman of record label 'def jam', L.A. Reid & chairman of universal music, Doug Morris who both said they were supporting the decision of the album title.

But Newsweek article startled big wigs

-There was a threat to Withdraw $84 million from the state pension fund, invested into Universal and its parent company, if the album's title wasn't changed.

They said, Nas, why is he trying it?

My lawyers only see the Billboard charts as winning

Forgetting - Nas the only true rebel since the beginning

-Suggesting it was a way of rebelling, going against the people who are trying to prevent the album from being sold because of the title. 

Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow

Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce, or Billy Joel

They can't sing what's in their soul

So untitled it is

-Saying that it has been changed to untitled, deciding in the end that if the name wasn't changed it would be able to be sold and Nas had said that it was important to give people the music so after holding out he eventually settled from leaving it untitled.

I never change nothin'

But people remember this

If Nas can't say it, think about these talented kids

With new ideas being told what they can and can't spit

-Trying to say that if he can't do what he likes as an artist in the position that he's in, how is any one else in a worse situation going to have the freedom to say what they like, express their opinion. Particularly referring to the music industry, where some labels will try and create an image for you and not everything is entirely your decision.

I can't sit and watch it"

Nas Feat. Keri Hilson -Hero

Locate an intertextual artifact, identify the texts it references and how they function to give the work added meaning

with this in mind consider whether a postmodern practitioner's work can ever be truly 'original'

bring both your example and texts it references to next weeks session prepared to tale to the group about them

video / art ....

Notes

Postmodern space and Time
Post modernity is a key concept within contemporary art and design circles.
It can't be understood in isolation from modernism.


Zugmunt Bauman has called it 'liquid modernism' because it's hard to pin down.


Modernism
-was not a period
-describes a wide range of texts that influence how we now think and experience the world.
-Co-existed with other styles and concerns
-Concerned with 'meta-narratives' unified explanations
-A direct extension of enlightenment thinking / philosophy 


Enlightenment thought concepts:
-Universe is rational and can be understood through the use of reason alone
-Truth is arrived at through empirical observation, application of reason and systematic doubt.
-Mans experience key to mans understanding of the truth
-All life both social and indivdual, can be understood and ......
-Humans are no exception
-Therefore mankind can be engineered.


Initially modernism was concerned with evidencing progression
-World war had a massive impact on modernists and hence.........
-Nationalism was seen to be a source of conflict 
-Fine art became increasingly apolitically avant-guarde and abstract art-for-art sake.
-Design was driven by 'reason' radical break with preceding forms


Utility Scheme
-Fashion was minimalistic I didn't have any added extras to clothing that weren't necessary
The 'Mao Suit' -The epitome of modernist 'form follows function'
commuters [1986]
Modernism struggled to survive World War 2
-Clothing had no added extras
-Utilitarian principles employed in rebuilding western societies
-Seen as inhumane and restrictive
-Flats, parkhill Sheffield


Postmodernism, originally  used to describe an architectural style
-reaction of the international style of high modernism
-Concerned with decoration, playful design
-Style over content
Frank Gentry
-Frequent references to the past other disciplines, popular culture, etc.
-Styles / music from different places mixed together
'Style is a concep in the arts characterized by distrust of theories and ideologies and by drawing of attention to conventions' -Oxford English Dictionary


Key Postmodern Theories
Baudrillard
-"The gulf war did not take place" [1991] " The Gulf war is not happening"
Questioned that maybe it isn't a war because most of the combat was from the sky using technology.. radar detection on screens, not traditional hand to hand combat.
Decisions were made from 'mediated reality'.
-We make sense of our world through mediated images, for example we might have never been to a certain country but get the impression that we know what the place is like through images we are shown.
Derrida
if we don't have words to explain things....
Foucault 
-looked at the idea of power.. Visual means of control such as prisoners acting in a certain way thinking that they are being watched.
Heidegger
Lyotard


Postindustrial identity is constructed through lifestyle choices and the selection / consumption of commodities 
-Life has become an interplay of local and global factors
-Cultural plurality 


Roland Barthes - The language of fashion 'Identity is not fixed it can be re-written'


Inter textual 
Christian Agulara -Aint no other man' -1920/30's Proabition


-Taste is not 'neutral' or 'natural'
-de naturalising material culture
-Taste is an ideological construc*****
-[Ideology = body of ideas and beliefs]
-Notions of 'good' and 'bad' taste linked to class systems and morality.
John Rushin -English critic and reformer [1819 - 1900]
-The taste of masses was of concern to social engineers and philanthropists 
-Public are galleries and museums intended to 'educate' the masses.


Thorstein Veblen -In the theory of the leisure class [1899]
-Things have meaning beyond their functional or 'use' value


Busta Rhymes Feat. P Diddy - Pass the Courvoisier: part 2
-Increased Courvoisier sales and also meant that 60 -85% of their sales were to young black people


Bernie Ecclestone -Hublot watch add, after being beaten up for his watch he used it as a marketing idea that he took to the company and now it is used along side a slogan with the image of him.

Taste no longer 'trickles down' it not goes up to, style spotters actively seek out new underground.


Run DMC
-Gained a contract with Adidas from getting fans to hold up their adidas shows at shows.
-Talking about power of the individual
-Emphasis on economic power and lifestyle.
Judith Butler - Gender Trouble [1990]
Identies are fluid
consumer culture gives us the props to perform a wide range of identities, allowing you to buy the style you want.
50 Cent -Performed identity, photo shoot set up like a drugs factory, creating the image that he is portrayed as through his music and style.


Modernism was concerned with evidencing 'progression' 
Advertising, showing people what they want and giving them the idea that they can get it.
Allan's Anti-fat -Improving image
Healthy Woman - Corset of Health
makemeheal.com
Ho Verra -Skin Fondation
Loreal - Age re-perfecting -Jane F******  advertising ageing products when she has had surgery and images are airbrushed etc.
You buy what you are - changing yourself to be 'ideal'


Orlan
using plastic surgery, questioning it's use. She's interested in the way society etches it's conventions on the female body, 'Carnal artist'


Tattoos -Tribal to modern day
body modification  -Japanese foot binding, purely for fashion making their feet smaller to fit in small shoes but they can't walk due to the change.
New York Times 'If the shoe won't fit, fix the foot' 
Avatars = Creating an 'improved' version of yourself, it gives you the freedom to create an appearance for yourself, creating something within the image of yourself, maybe how you would like to be?


Advertising and Consumption
-Developed as the by-product of the industrial revolution
-Started in england in late 18th century late [1700s]
-Marking the start of the modern world
-Society experienced a 'paradigm shift'
-Standardisation
-Packaging industry starts
-Designer
-Birth of consumer society
First ad's reasoned with the consumer 'reason why'
Developed into atmospheric advertising
USP =Unique selling point
selling you a way of life rather than just the product 'buy what you are, an image'
selling an inspirational image
Adorno -Lifestyle advertising is an integral element 

Task: Reviewing a Current TV Ad

Ferrero Rocher Ad
Starts with the scene of a 'heavenly' setting highly edited in post reduction, accompanied with relating sound and the voice over of a woman. The tone of voice and way in which she is speaking gives the feeling that she is telling a story which relates to the opening line "A long time ago..." making you feel as if you are being told a story.
The actors / actresses are dressed in costume as gods / goddesses making the product feel almost luxury how it is displayed and with the gold packaging and golds, creams and browns used in the setting it feels smooth to look at and you get the feeling the chocolate would be the same.
In one part of the ad a woman fires a arrow at the stacked pyramid of chocolates and they fall to the 'gods', using a bow and arrow, a symbol of love, indirectly saying that you'll fall in love with the taste. 


Saying "a long time ago.. the Gods of Olympus would gather every night, and to make every night special they had a divine secret"
"A long time ago" gives you the feeling that the brand has been well established for a long time.
"The Gods of Olympus" If it's good enough for 'gods' they must be nice.
"To make every night special they had a Divine secret" Making the chocolate sound like a reward and saying that it was a 'secret' you feel as if you want to be apart of the secret and try them. "gather every night" like it's a special occasion or used as a celebration sweet.  
"One day it slipped from the heavens" Giving the feeling that it was accidental that we have come to have it and the idea that it fell from heaven, so it being perfect.


"Ferrero Rocher, share something special" is the closing line, accompanied with the visuals of a  gathering of friends / family at Christmas as its the time of year the ad was created for to boost Christmas sales. It also has a few 'magical' sound effects and effects of gold glitter falling transforming into the chocolates.

Notes

Signs / symbols
-The way people use symbols and signs all the time and how they are interpreted by different cultures in different ways.
-Being able to understand body language e.g arms folded etc.
-Sounds being used as a connection to images
-cartoon strips having images that show different times and we can put together in our head what has happened in between the space. 
Apple logo vs IBM logo
Apple has variations on their logo and their first logo was quite a bit different to their current logo.

-The logos are symbolic and could be linked back to Adam & Eve 

-The old logo made from coloured stripes could show that it is for everyone.

-The new logo is stylish and slick I think it represents their brand well as I think of expensive equipment that is very much in style and with the current fashion trends.

-Apple computers are also used more by people in the creative industry, artists and designers. So the logo represents creativity and the changing / variations of it show keeping with current trends.

IBM

-They have stuck with their original logo from the start with no variations, this could show that they are not changing and people who have used the brand from the beginning might like the fact that they have remained the same.

-However the design might be seen as a bit dated now 

-It could have been designed to look computer related with the cutting [negative space] within the letters.

looking at both logos.. Apple has a symbol for their logo where as IBM have characters I think that this would mean that Apple would be more globally recognisable as you can instantly recognise it as being an apple even if you hadn't heard of the brand where as IBM's logo doesn't give you any idea of what it stands for and in other languages it would mean something different.

www.ABSOLUTAD.com

-commissions artists to do pieces for advertising 

-they all use the shape of the bottle within the design which is sometimes hidden so you have to really look for it to see it.

Language

Sign =signifier [significant] form

         =signified [signifie] concept

'Cat' = "cat" + 'Image'

Signs

Iconic signs - look like things that they signify: portraits / photos

Indexical signs - refer to other forms of language: clouds being rain / footprints

symbolic signs - have meaning only due to context: words / flags

The arbitrariness of spoken languages meaning can be illustrated by looking at our writing systems

A phonetic alphabet records sound values e.g a letter 'A' corresponds with a particular vocal sound.

Bob & Roberta Smith "Learn how to speak Bob"

symbols can be dragged on to lines to make sentences from a made up language and they each have their own sound so once you have chosen some you can play it and it plays the sounds as if it is being read.

Fashion 'not just clothing'

signs, symbols and iconography that non-verbally communicate meanings about individuals and groups.

-Shows identity / groups / labels

-Tribal systems, identifying belonging

Graphic Design

"something that stands to somebody for something in some capacity"

Chartes Sanders Pierce

"Graphics is first and foremost human communication"

"the art or profession of visual communication that combines image, words and ideas to convey information to an audience esp. to produce a specific effect"

Structuralism

everything we encounter is something we can read

Syntagmatic Relation - A relation that links signs into more complex text

Hussein chalayan -Table dress winter 2000

crossing boundary's of what people would usually agree is a skirt and what is a table. Raises questions of what is acceptable and functional.

Fashion changes but still follows some rules such as having sections of the body that items are made for such as skirts / trousers / shorts etc. 

Parote = spoken/ individual usage of signs within a system

Langue = structural rules and conventions of a system.

Video Pink - Stupid girls

-This video has a lot of signs starting with an angel and devil, good and evil religious symbols

-The clothing, body coverage what images these portray 

-Culture, buying a little dog, coffee, phone, make-up in the car = materialism

-Written messages on T-Shirts on the side of the dog 'cage' etc. "stays younger longer" relationship between real / modified world

-Popular culture - celebs effects on younger generations - kid watching TV in the video

signs / symbols how people are represented

-gender stereotypes at the end girls toys | football

-personal acceptance  

-The video set-up, girl wearing a sports top but holding a barbie, through the video it's as if shes making a decision on which 'side' to choose at the end

-Final image, edited unappealing image of old woman in bright pink with blond hair [barbie reference]  

-Locations, tanning salon / gym = Improving yourself to be 'perfect'

-Camera angles, looking up to her when she's dictating from a stand and looking down from above when she is led in the hospital bed to have plastic surgery, putting across teh message of importance.

Post-structuralism

meaning not contained within a text it relies upon meaning from other text.

Marcus Harvey -Myra 1991

Andres Serrano - Piss Christ 1989

  

Roland Barthes 

"The Death of the author" in image, music and text

Intertextual

What is pinks paradigm?

-Rebel, clothing = leather jacket, piercings, hair style

associated with punks > what it goes with e.g signs representation 

Notes

The Role of the artist
Ancient Egypt 3000 -1000 BC
---
Renaissance [rebirth] AD 1420 -AD 1525
Mannerism & Baroque AD 1525 - AD 1700
Romanticism mid / late 1800
Realism 
-seen as shocking and offensive when first seen
-painting ordinary people with little money e.g field workers, where as romanticism was more aimed at rich, perfect scene image.
Impressionism
Futurism
Cubism
Post Modernism
-Martin Creed: Gallery piece "the lights going on and off" 2000 -interested in what it means to be an artist
-Damien Hurst: Manufacturing art work
Prior to Renaissance
-The self was not considered to be a subject to explore in isolation  
-Prior to this artists had generally been commissioned to produce work for patrons - depicting religious, moral etc. themes  


Pliny the Elder AD 77
-wrote 'natural History' as important source of artists values in the 15th and 16th centuries
-Demonstrated extraordinary status Greek artists could achieve, which Renaissance artists aspired to.


Lorenzo Ghibern "gates of paradise"
-Sculptor, goldsmith & architect
-first artist to write a biography
-had new ideas about status of male artists


Francesco del cossa 1470 "The triumph of venus"
-plea to patron to be paid for commission as making a name for himself
-the response was he would continue to be paid for work by square feet


Artist as Entertainer 
-expected to arouse the senses and provide experiences that trigger the emotions of the viewer

Michael Craig Martin
"an oak tree" glass on a shelf
he questions what is art about, what their expected to do.

Art & Crafts divide

-crafts - skills & processes where as Art is not

-Modernism - a radical break from the history that preceded it.

-Characterised by a quest for novelty 

Modernism

-complex and diverse - not straight forward progression from early avant-guard to...

-Politicised / Expressive / Formal / The ???

Artists as having access to higher sources of inspiration and talent

-The mythology of the artist having a temperamental personality

-nowadays celebrity culture, the personality's portrayed 

-Artists as being 'other' : modernist idea artists being different. Able to look at society as if they aren't part of it.

Art & Democracy / commerce

Damien Hirst: has to be experienced and the shop is where people can experience it in a democratic atmosphere  

Artistic "personalities" 

-psychology

-social history

-the artist as 'civillizer' as 'border crosser' [challenges ideas / critical] as a 'representor'  

-artists demonstrate good taste to people

Psychologist 

-Lombrosos [1863] artists had more in common with the 'insane' than with 'men of normal disposition' : supported Victorian & Romantic notions of artists

-Otto Rank [1932] artists temperament could not exist without a support ideology.

-Rudolf & Margot Wittkower [1963] notions of the artist are driven by 'cultural trends'

-Becker [1982] art works can not be the product of a sole individuals work and effort. There is always an influence whether it be other peoples work, something that's happened to influence the piece of work etc.

The Death of the Author

-Roland Barthes [1977] image, music, text

-the artist was a genius / interpreted the meaning

-we come up with our meanings through culture what we understand things to be

-anything is a text we take images apart and read them

The Role of an artist
-To produce 'great' works of art that are valuable for there own sake
-artists as 'outside' 'genius' 'to be a cultural civilizer'  'border crosser' 


Artist placement group
Suzanne Lacey 'theory is on fire'
Joost Conijn 2004 [website]
-kids that live outside an airport on Amsterdam, questions what children can and can't do, what's considered as dangerous.

Newspapers

The Guardian Culture Section includes Art, Design, Photography etc.


The Independent Arts & Entertainment  

Question..

Do artists / creative practitioners have more responsibility than other members of society for addressing social issues?
I don't think that artists or creative practitioners should have more responsibility to address social issues but due to the way they / there work is seen by the public they have in a way be given a responsibility to make sure that the work they put out is 'suitable' for the public and isn't giving off the wrong message.There position in the view of the public gives them the power to put across a message that could address social issues but the way in which people view it might be different.

Notes

Ethical Considerations
Graphics copyright issues with images, fonts, logos. The content of the design.


Photography What's considered to be an expectable image, who decides what image can be showed to the public. Misinterpreting a brand, someone might take a photo using a branded item in a way that the company wouldn't want it to be portrayed. publishing rights, who has ownership of the photo and does the photographer still have a right to it if they sell it to or work for a publication. Paparazzi, how much freedom do we have to take photos, long lenses into private property etc. Involvement, a photo is used as a record of life but in the case of natural / wildlife photography should people be allowed to get involved an example of this is Kevin Carter's Vulture

Fashion Model size issues, materials used fur, skins etc. animal cruelty. Fair trade & child labour. Environmental issues involved with creating and shipping the items. Health & safety in the work place, using workers in LED Country's where they have a lower standard of care so there for it is cheaper for the companies. Modification of animals, selective breeding them to have more fur etc. 


Art If your painting a portrait to sell you will need permission of the person etc. 


Questioning..
As a consumer does it matter to you that your paying for child labour or if your the designer would you design for the company knowing this.


Cradle to grave design -designers should following the issues all the way through the life of the product from choosing materials that will last, are recyclable etc. making things sustainable


Mark Fast plus sized Models Daily Mail story London Fashion week 2009
a member of his team refused to work with him because of his decision to use plus sized [14] models in the show,  but what message is this sending out to people.


Some brands only have clothing that goes up to a certain size as they don't want their brand associated with larger people, this isn't the image they want portrayed. 
Now with trends in fashion changing so quick they have 'throw away fashion' it could work out cheaper to keep buying new clothes from somewhere like Primark than it would be covering the cost of washing it & as the new fashion trends are changing all the time clothing isn't used for as long any more.


Art, gallery's what is acceptable..


Marco Evaristti - Goldfish in Blenders this exhibition gave the audience the chance to turn on two switches if they wanted to which would blend a fish and in a few cases some people actually did do it, this would make you question how is it acceptable and how far can you take it before those people who did it would think it was wrong for example if it was a small fluffy animal would they have switched it on?? Story from The Independent


Guillermo 'Habacuc' Vargas -Starvation, the piece of work he set up was a dog tied to a short rope that he got off the street and he left it there with nothing and a title was written above it in dog biscuits saying 'you are what you read' his point was to show that every year hundreds of dogs die of starvation and no one does anything about it, but as soon as you put it in a gallery people take notice and say it's cruelty. Guardian Story


Image manipulation, changing reality 


one of the first edited images was of Joseph Stalin, there were several photos he had with Leon Trotsky when he was working along side him, how ever they fell out and Leon was executed, Stalin had him removed from photos that he was in along side him. This was an attempt to 'alter recorded history'. 


Photos were considered as evidence, showing what was happening at the time they were taken, however manipulating or editing them is becoming increasingly easier and it can be hard to tell what's real and what's been changed.   


Thomas Demand creates image that look like real places, but he does is purely constructed from materials like card then photographs them, the way they are set up and photographed makes them look like actual room and place. From a glance you wouldn't be able to tell they weren't rooms like the image below, this could be a form of editing or misleading the viewer.

Operation Orlan

She looks at woman in art and history considered as beautiful and has operations to make herself look like them, she has the surgery while awake and talks all the way through as it is recorded. Looking at identity and changing it, people are usually recognisable by photos on passports etc. fingerprints that are unique and names, she is changing as much of this as she can. 

Robert Flaherty 1922 -Nanoke of the North, supposed to be a documentary of life in the north pole, was completely constructed, the iglu was set up so that a camera could fit in it, the person they were documenting had a wife but she was replaced by two stage wives because they looked better, they set up hunting scenes but using spears when at this time they had access to guns that they would be using anyway so it was almost set up to show life as people would expect them to be living rather than true to life.

Museum of Mankind, when they received a walrus body and a sketch of it to stuff it they over filled it as they had only seen a walrus from the sketch they were given they didn't know it's body shape, they have rolls of fat but as the sketch didn't show this they filled it solid. This shows how important information is, nowadays we can picture what certain places look like without even being there because of images, videos etc. but also the fact that images can be manipulated 'improved' doesn't always give a true to life view.

Time Magazine -OJ Simpson

the choice of editing that time magazine used on the image of OJ Simpson leaves the viewer questioning what their intention was.

National Geographic - Moved pyramids together in a cover image, as their magazine was portrait and the photo was landscape to make it a better composition they moved one of the pyramids closer so they filled the page more.

Madonna for Louis Vuitton - the original images and the edited ones for the campaign were quite different they made her look a lot younger, from looking at this edited image in particular it makes it harder to notice that it is Madonna in the photos. The thought that I get is that they are using Madonna as an icon for marketing but don't necessarily find that her 'image' is as of importance because of the amount of editing they have used. Looking at the photos you would think why didn't they just use a young model if that is the outcome they are trying to achieve which it seems like from the image, however the publicity from using Madonna would be worth more than the final image.