Art 240 - New Media in Art Blog

For my project, I decided to tackle the issue of nuclear weapons and the impact it would have on communication.  I sampled through four notable communication tones that have significance to me, Discord, Skype, Google Hangout, and an Apple ringtone.  These fit with my project because these are sounds that are more modern compared to a traditional phone sound.  This connects with McLuhan when he states, "We hear sounds from everywhere, without ever having to focus...We can't shut out sound automatically" (111).  How could you shut down sound though?  When a nuclear bomb strikes, it devastates everything in its path.  There is virtually nothing left around ground zero.  People are trying to communicate just like its another day, but then the bomb hits and everything is silent.  I want my project to simulate that silence that is in the aftermath.  This sound project couldn't be more relevant because of the lingering threat of war.  This could very well be our futur

Stephen Perkins has a lot of interesting things to say during his artist talk. He primarily talked about his background as an artist and the projects he does currently. He presented his ideas through a presentation and elaborated on his experiences through speech. Stephen was from England and talked about the school system at his school. One of his pieces, "this ain"t my scene", showed his turn to not being conventional. His art school also shaped his life career. Instead of being a painter because his instructor berated him, he became primarily a photographer even though he would dabble in other mediums. His time as an art therapist resonated with him in that he was able to draw a social benefit and meaning from his work while dealing with the patients. Unfortunately, the job wasn't for him due to it being a psychologically stressful situation over time. Stephen moved to San Francisco and got into visual anthropology. He was dealing with photography is not just an a

For this project, I decided to take pictures of various objects that seem mundane but after editing and using camera angles, it makes them look interesting. I wanted to do various objects because of McLuhan's quote, "Environments are not passive wrappings, but are, rather, active processes which are invisible" (68). Whenever we are in an environment, there are many objects all around us that may seem invisible but once we pay attention to them, they show their use for us. Are you aware of everything that is happening? No, of course not. It's only once when you put your focus on an object that it reveals itself to you. When I was taking photos, I took made sure to use interesting camera angles to engage the viewer. Sure, you can have a picture of a highlighter, but if you take it at an angle where you are eye level with it, you get a different perspective. McLuhan states, "The main obstacle to a clear understanding...is our deeply embedded habit of regarding a