Project #6: Interventionist Media

McDonald's fast food is known for it's unhealthy food set at cheap prices. This makes it easy for people to go out and grab a quick meal for next to nothing. But does the attractive price outweigh the consequences of the calorie-loaded food? In 2004, the documentary, Super Size Me, directed by Morgan Spurlock showed just how badly such fast food can effect one's physical (and psychological) well-being along with how the fast food industry encourages bad nutrition for its own profit. In 2012, celebrity chef and food activist Jamie Oliver revealed the repulsive "pink slime" that McDonald's and a few other fast food restaurants used in their burgers. The "pink slime" is made from left over beef scraps (most commonly used for dog food) that are reprocessed and repurposed for consumption. This is done by washing the scraps with ammonium hydroxide then pumping what is left with artificial flavors and colors. Thankfully McDonald's announced it will no longer use the controversial meat, but it still has a long way to go to improve the nutritional value of its meals.

 

Sources: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-scraps-controversial-beef-process/

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

Critical Questions for Reading #4

1. On page 4 Raley gives an example of tactical media in the form of persuasive game. She describes the game, TuboFlex (as seen in class), in which the player is a worker running through temporary jobs that eventually become so overwhelming the tasks cannot be completed. In the end, the player will always end up begging on the street. Raley believed the lesson of the game was that "life has been mobilized for work, that the techniques for biopolitical management of the body include the tools of the postindustrial workplace, and that postindustrial labor is not in fact radically heterogeneous." Do you agree with this statement? Do you think this is true for everyone? Should those who enjoy their jobs/careers be included in this?

2. The central idea of page 23, speaking of the political-aesthetic work of data visualization, is the difference between functional visualization and artistic visualization. Raley interprets that the difference is not in aesthetics, but instead in "intentionality, procedure, and self-reflexivity." Why wouldn't aesthetics be included in the differences? What does she mean by "procedure" in this list of differences? Do you agree that these three descriptions are the only differences between functional and artistic visualization or would you add to/change them?

Laurie Simmons Spoof: The Music of Regret

Here is my remake of Laurie Simmons' Project, "The Music of Regret". It's just a silly video full of cut scenes, but I must say, it was pretty fun to make! In her video, Act 1 (with June and May), Laurie used dolls as the characters in the scene. I don't have a bunch of dolls laying around so I decided to go with the good old sock puppets! Then for Act 2, Laurie had Meryl Streep sing with a puppet. I decided to replace the puppet with my little wolfie plush. The programs I used were Audition CC and After Effects CC.

http://www.ubu.com/film/simmons_regret.html

Critical Questions for Reading #3

1. On page 83 there is a comparison made between art and artful in that they are "separate, though linked, terms that exist to help us differentiate between what can and cannot be considered to be art." Artful, according to this reading, is the technique(s) used for appeals used mainly in commercial advertising. "These techniques are not in themselves what we would normally call art." Art on the other hand lies in the "intentionality of the artist." Have you seen a T.V. commercial that you would have considered as art? What would viral videos be considered in this case?

2. From page 90-91, the Vasulkas are introduced. Interested in the function of video in an artistic sense, they believed the notion that "video art was to television what studio art was to early forms of drawn or painted advertising." Do you agree with this statement? Is it fair to compare video art to television and studio art to early advertising?

Finished Steampunk Animation

Final animation with added sound:

• Resonant ding in the beginning for the light
• Ringing that goes with the lens flare on the girl's goggles
• Woosh sounds at the beginning and end
• Creaking door recording for the ship in the middle
• Song: ICON "Visions of Grandeur" (cut to fit the 15 second time frame)

Critical Questions for Reading #2

1. In his essay, "The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Walter Benjamin argues that the "aura" of art has been lost with the mechanical reproduction of modern modern art. "... the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence." With this, Benjamin hints that the authenticity of an artwork that is mechanically reproduced is depreciated. Do you believe the loss of the aura has such a prominent effect in fields such as photography and film?

2. Benjamin takes some time explaining his views on mechanical reproduction by describing how it "emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual" and that "instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics." He argues that with the absence of traditional value, modern art will be based solely on the practice of politics. Do you agree with his interpretation of modern art?

Steampunk Time Travel Animation

My animation is an attempt a slow-motion type scene of the sky city from my triptych. I added a few more clouds in the foreground and lens flares on the ominous man's goggles as well as on the gun. There are many small things in it that aren't seen too easily: the raven in the bottom left flaps its wings, the gears on the top right ship turn (VERY slowly so it's extra hard to see), the scenes along the bottom edge all move in subtle ways, the paper burns up that the man is holding, a very light cloud of steam is coming from the man's pipes, the entire background moves to the right, and a few other minor things. It was a lot of work but I think it was worth the time! (Though I probably still need to cut off a second or two)