Review: Berger and Podcast

Berger

Something that I really took from this article was the general idea that "A picture is worth a thousand words". I have always thought that this was a very true and very interesting especially because of all the different words that we have to describe all of our daily behaviors, actions and experiences fall short when we look at picture, or try to describe something that we have seen. I think this is why people stumble over words before saying the common phrase "you just had to be there" or why in the moment you'll hear people saying that they "just have to take a picture". I think this is absolutely because we lack the dialogue to fully explain things we've seen.

Then comes the issue of when we actually get to see a picture. Like the article says, learning more, in many ways, mystifies instead of clarifies. Instead of seeing a photo and feeling the force of being there, there is always something lacking. Even if one tries to place oneself in the situation, like the article stated, there is always something missing. For example: seeing a landscape and viewing oneself there, but not seeing what else is around. That is the lack of knowing. It is mystifying because while one feels that they are receiving all of the information by the photo there is always the knowledge that there is more than the photo, either in sight or experience. 

For example, in the photo about one could feel that they are truly taking in the experience of being on a dock above beautiful water, but this photo provokes more questions than it answers. How long is the dock? What is behind the dock? Is this a private location or public spot? Where is this located? Is it even real, or is it a product of photoshop? All of these questions are born from the photo, not from the explanation of the photo.

Maybe this is why cubists were so popular? Because they showed so many angles in a single portrait and allowed for the observer to make their own conclusion, while also giving the observer lot of information.

In the explanation of a photo emotional text is often used and I think that this is because using emotional text is the best way to relate to that which we don’t know. This is because most people are so familiar with emotions. To be told that a painting has blue lines that move slowly across the page and that they fade into a darker abyss doesn't capture the same response than if you say that the photo makes you feel sad. That the movement and color combine in such a way that gives the feeling of sadness and longing.

Picasso's last work

Podcast

My favorite part of this podcast was the discussion of the galloping horse and the camera's ability to expand and condense time. I thought this was really interesting and I really liked getting to see what was being discussed in the powerpoint in class. Looking at all of the slides combined one after another made the images of the galloping horse pull together a lot like the end of La Jetee. It's a section where the mind and the eye want to "connect the dots" and create a flowing movement "video" but that is truly impossible. I think that refers back to the camera's ability to expand and condense time. While it can prompt the mind to expand time and "fill in the gaps" to create a more fluid image, the camera is still controlling time and condensing it into 20 short frames.

Maggie

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/this-runner-proves-that-female-athletes-are-stylish-and-stro?bffb&utm_term=4ldqphh&s=mobile

This girl is making serious fashion waves in the running world!

Help me follow my dream? Maybe? Maybe yes?

I'm trying to be the next Tara Stiles y'all. Well not really but this is something that I am crazy passionate about and I would love some support.

Cup Of Noodles

That's what I'm currently eating and what more could I possibly want? Expect maybe a less burned tongue. So the past few days have been super crazy for me, but also completely amazing. Over the weekend I was driving home (extremely hungover I might add) made a wrong turn and ended up 10 minutes from my boyfriend who I was missing so so much. I called him up and he told me that he was a climbing comp for setters, so I changed up my plan and went to spend the evening with him. The comp was so awesome! The climbs were so inventive and creative (IF YOU LIVE CLOSE TO DC YOU CAN FIND THE GYM BY CLICKING HERE!) I wish I could have climbed them, but unfortunately I left my climbing shoes at home.

I think my favorite part of the comp was meeting pro-climbers and actually getting to talk to one of them for a long time. She was super sweet and a total badass. You can visit Nina Williams's blog by clicking here! I currently have a signed poster of her in my room now, she's just amazing. It takes a special kind of climber to crush V11s and climb V12s.

So I spent the night with my amazing boyfriend doing normal couple things... eating avocados and drilling holes in doors. I had to leave the next morning and drive back home because on Monday I had a meeting with a knee specialist (oh yes, it's still bothering me..yay -_-). Sunday was full of driving and it was boring... so Monday comes around! And I go to the knee guy and he tells me that when I fell my femur and my tibia came together and crushed into my patella, which bruised the patella and femur bone, while also tearing my meniscus. THANKFULLY, most of my healing has already been done. I'm doing PT for 6 weeks and trying to stay off of my knee, but to be honest I've been running and climbing because stopping is just no fun.

Oddly enough in climbing I got my first V4 a few days ago. Maybe I thrive on pain, wouldn't that suck?

In other news, Kevin shaved his face and every time that happens I have no idea who he is.

Review: Flipovic, Batchen, Borges

Flipovic

I really liked how Flipovic went over the overlap between the past and the present and the personal thoughts each person has on determining what is the past and what is the present. Personally this made me think of my journey in Buddhism. In Buddhism one of the largest principles is that all is suffering. This phrase is not nearly as pessimistic as it sounds, what is actually meant is that the world is full of greed and other wants that can distract oneself from what is momentarily going on. An example of this is a person who is enjoying a moment and then is instantly saddened by the thought that that moment will have to come to an end. 

Batchen

The point that Batchen makes about pictures being from our past is one that I have always loved, but I don't share his same feelings.  Batchen focuses on death as a negative thought than can enter one's head when looking at a photograph. However I have never seen it like that, I have seen the prospect of death, but never seen it in such a negative light. To me death is the ending of a beautiful life through a beautiful process. I don't see a photograph as being a reminder that as we age we rapidly approach the end, but rather as a reminder that time is passing and the we need to enjoy the moment we currently hold. Looking at a photograph and only seeing the negative future negates the need for photographs, as they are typically something used to remember a beautiful and happy moment. To me death is part of life, and when you fear or dread death you begin to fear and dread your day to day life, because you see it as a stepping stone toward what you despise. I love the connection between viewing the past and anticipating the future, but I believe that the future does not have to be interpreted as so negative, just because death is part of everyone's future. Why couldn't pictures of the past be motivation to create more positive moment in the future?

Borges

First, I love that he started with a joke.

Second, this piece is essentially Buddhist through and through and I cannot believe we are reading so much Buddhism! (Or maybe I'm just seeing it everywhere, but I digress).

Third, from the moment that Borges said each moment is the only moment that exists it was clear to me that this was a piecce heavily rooted in eastern philosophy, most likely Buddhist thought. LOW AND BEHOLD! he references Zhuangzi (he spells it Chuang Tzu) and his dream of the butterfly.

This dream is the dream the allowed Zhuangzi to create Taoist thought. Taoist philosophy greatly influences Buddhism's development in China. The butterfly dream has many interpretations, but the one that I prefers says that in the moment that Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly he was that butterfly and that the moment he thought he was Zhuangzi he returned to himself. There cannot be two thoughts occuring at the same time, so Zhuangzi cannot be both himself and the butterfly at the same time. This answers the question that Borges prompted: "Is not one single repeated term sufficient to break down and confuse the series of time?" 

Review: The Whole Ball of Wax

Art is something created or captured to express a mood, emotion, event, or concept (etc). Art is not completely definable because it relies on the observer's opinion and mood. Art to one person may not be art to another, however there is a such thing as objective art.

Review: The Whole Ball of Wax by Jerry Saltz

The first thing that struck me about this article that I neglected to address in my first draft of this blog post was the quote “Art is a bridge to a new vision and the vision itself, a medium or matrix through which one sees the world, and that grants that pleasure is an important form of knowledge. Art is not optional; it is necessary.” This pulled my attention because it was a point that maybe I took for granted, or just never fully saw in day to day life. Art surrounds our culture and both influences it and is influenced by it. Artists will portray the world in the way that they see it, which is creative. They dive deeper than the superficial details that most people are satisfied with and find new meaning in everyday experiences.

Art is necessary because of the way that it pushes our culture to see new things in already existing pieces. For example, the beauty of nature is frequently overlooked, until artists put nature into museums and in their works. This creates a Gesault switch (a Gesault switch is seeing something you have seen before in a totally different, new way) where people see intrinsic beauty in a tree or field they would have otherwise walked past. The Gesault switch is how art brings a “new vision” to the everyday world.

I thought this piece was very interesting and it sparked a lot of different thoughts for me, particularly when Saltz discussed the Cartesian view that some art is "dead". As a philosophy major this resonated with me because of all of the research and studying I have done on Descartes and Cartesian thought. The phrase "I think, therefore I am" originates from Descartes "I am, I exist" and essentially is Descartes's argument against the idea of a grand deceiver (someone who makes a person believe they are alive and in control when actually acting as a puppeteer). I would like to apply this model to art and the different forms I believe art can take.

I believe that there is subjective and objective art. There are works of art that will remain whether or not some people might view it as art. This is clear in instances where archaeologists find artwork from ancient civilizations and can tell that it is art. The archaeologists might not find a piece to be art, but they can conclude that it was art, but virtue of knowing the significance it held of people of an earlier time. To me objective art is a topic that could come from Saltz's observation about art being dead. I think it syncs up beautifully with my own personal definition of art being that of the observer's opinion. If tomorrow no one regards the Sistine Chapel as an amazing piece of art than it still remains (objectively) art. 

The other form of art that I believe exists is subjective art. This art tends to be momentary and lose its significance over time. An example of this is little children may be thrilled with their 3rd grade "artwork" only to look back at it as adults as junk. In the moment they believed it to be art it was subjectively art, and when that opinion about it was lost it no longer remained art. It was simply a sketch or illustration.

I thoroughly enjoyed Saltz's piece because it sparked a lot of reflection on my part. Sometimes I struggle to read deeper into article texts and I was excited to find so many personal connections and extensions from Saltz's view.