Video Art Questions

Question 1: The reading talks about how video is contemplative and distanced; it detaches the viewer from present reality and makes him a spectator. This got me thinking about whether or not any art truly allows interaction. Does a painting truly interact with the viewer or is it just like video? To what extent can a piece portray truthfulness and purpose without altering the way it interacts with the audience? If video detaches a viewer from reality and just makes them a spectator to what extent does a painting, sketch, or play do this? It just seems as though these forms of art also limit the interaction with a viewer.  How is it that just video art is seen as doing this? 

Question 2: The reading talks about how video uses artful techniques, but that it is only considered art when there is an intended expression behind it. Video is not considered art however when it has a purpose or something important to say, like the news. This made me start thinking how far does the news or something that has more than expression, but purposes behind it, have to go to be considered art?

Animation with sound

Stop Motion Frame Animation

Statement: For my stop motion frame animation, which I have called "Connectivity," I found it difficult just to use one of my triptych panels. I realized that I really did not have enough going on with them and I used more words in my original panels than pictures. So I basically had to start over, and I took something from each panel and made them come together. Romney and Obama go at it in the top left hand corner while the donkey and elephant also go at it. While this is going on I have the hurricane spinning at the bottom. This is suppose to represent how hurricane Issac hit during the political convention. As my animation continues I have the words "Big Story" and "Tune In" come into the frame along with the olymic ring and the aura shooter. While one may look at this and not see the relevance I found that these were the most followed stories so far this year. The Aura Colorado shooting spread through the social media newsfeed like wildfire. This also happened during the Olympics. It didn't matter if you were one Twitter or Facebook you knew exactly what was going on and all the updates. Toward the end I have the hashtag come in along with the words, "lots of impact" and "work the social media machine." These words along with the hash tag represents how social media has a huge impact on the world and the hashtag resembles how just through hash tagging you can become connected to everyone who has hash tagged what you have. It has brought a whole knew level of connectivity to the world and it is all through social media.

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Questions: 

1) Walter Benjamin discusses a shift in perception and the affects it had on film and photography in the twentieth century. He writes, "during long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence." He discusses how the manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in which it is accomplished, is determined not only by nature but by historical circumstances as well.  Benjamin writes about the way we look and see the visual work of art is different now then it used to be. How is human sense perception related to history?

2) Benjamin discusses how the sense of the aura is lost in film and the reproducible image demonstrates a historical shift that must be taken into account even if we don’t notice it. What does it mean when the aura is lost? Benjamin writes of this loss of the aura, but what comes through in this new space left by the aura that has been lost? 

Project 1: Triptych Digital Montage

 Statement: The title of this Triptych is "The New Era". The inspiration behind this piece came from my passion for the news, journalism and of course my social media addiction. It seems like a scary time in the journalism world and many believe that it is a dying profession, but really it is evolving. Print as many used to know it may be dead, but journalism is very much alive and entering a new and exciting era. Through social media news has grown and the spreading and access of information has become easier. Social media and the news seem to work hand in hand. Through social media news is able to spread twice as fast and reach more of an audience then ever before. Social media is working to connect the world and in my pictures above I show that connection through the holding of hands around the globe. We are more socially connected to the rest of the world and are becoming more aware of what is going on outside of our hometown, state, and country. Through social media not only is the news entering a new era, but so are we.