Lecture- Technology, Digital Culture and Practice

Developing CoP- What do you already know?

Technological developments in production and distribution
-Start with definitions?
->Machinery/devices developed from science

Technology available to everyone
-Can scale up easily
-Democratic

Technology is evolutionary not revolutionary

Changes interpretation of information

Helps drive self definition
-you can promote and decide who you are without accolade

Bricolage- creation of products through available media and distributed through new media

zine culture CoP2

Bricolage through social media

As technology grows, what becomes obsolete?

-Screen print obsolete but still used- taken on new meaning
- Online vs. newspaper- which is more trusted? Costs and immediacy
- Different forms of communication have different purposes
- Changed knowledge of relationship with brands
- Products haven't changed but publics relationship with them have

Media experimentation

After I had exhausted quite a lot of my collected imagery, I wanted to explore how I could record them through different media

PENCIL:

Coloured pencil

- Too restrictive with colour- only the pencils I had, doesn't capture the colours of my found imagery

- I like the ease of application

GOUACHE AND COLLAGE JUXTAPOSED:

Gouache and pen

Gouache and pen

Collage of above using found print colours

Gouache and pen

Collage of above using found print colours

Gouache and pen

Collage of above using found print colours

GOUACHE:

Positives:

- Easy to replicate colours I had found

- More control than collage and pencil

Negatives:

- This is more line based, and I prefer the nature of shape driven imagery

- Found strong, solid colour trends emerging, but I prefered the print texture I had been using in collage previously

COLLAGE:

Positives:

- The textured colour shows depth, which helps to reveal the story behind the individual aspects

- The crafting of the individual shapes helps me to imbue more of my authorship into the piece

Negatives:

- A lot more time consuming

- Difficult to be accurate to the shapes I collected, meaning they have varied a lot from the start

OVERALL:

- Looking at the same image but in different media really highlighted for me the importance of media choice 

- The transferral from line to shape via collage was really educational into how to put my own authorship into the crafting of shapes

NEXT:

- I would really like to explore different media I could use, such as traditional print and digital work

- I want to break out of the journal and see what scales I can play with

Practical development

Through re-using found and donated print and painted paper offcuts, as well as textiles and acetate, I have started to create compositions based on the imagery I have found from other's work within the print room.

POSITIVES:

- Small scale ensures I can quickly explore the imagery in the way I want to, as well as having an abundance of ephemera to use

- I have found myself focusing on particular shapes already, such as the branch of leaves and the three leaf shaped flower, which I think highlights the only real impact I have on the compositions, which is my personal taste

- The reflection of colours from paper and print I have received ensures that I am not influencing the outcomes by mixing my own palettes

NEGATIVES:
- I may be over-relying on certain colours, so I need to ensure I use more of the papers I have collected

- I need to expand on media, as I want this project to focus on shape and not just collage

WHAT NEXT:

- Try other media

- Continue to trial different juxtapositions of media and imagery to create new, innovative outcomes from recycled materials 

Artist research- Beci Orpin

I found this Illustrator, Beci Orpin, who creates wonderful textures collage pieces, which I found really relevant to my project.

This is an interview from her.

Beci Orpin

WHAT DO I LIKE:

- How she uses tentative yet defined shapes to to boldly plan out compositions, and let the audience fill in the blank spaces

- She also uses textures to add a handmade quality to the work and ensure it doesn't stay flat on the page

- I also like how she uses rough cut lines instead of dainty, thin pen lines, as they tie the composition together and give a sense of place on the page

WHAT WILL I DO:

- Continue to use paper cut to get the unique shapes and forms

- Use textured offcuts to ensure that my work feels more three dimensional and has further interest in it

- Think carefully about composition and ensure I don't fill up my page too much- don't be afraid of white space!

Practical project process

For my practical project within this module I have decided to simply only re-appropriate other people's work. I will collect ephemera from the collection wallets I've placed around uni, as well as from the bin n the print room. Using these textures and shapes I will create compositions inspired by the shapes and negative spaces from the fabric I sourced from the print room earlier. 

My intent for this is to create outcomes of which, in the conventional sense, I am the author, despite none of the stimuli or colours being of my own original creation. Therefore my claim of authorship over my own work will in fact be extremely weak.

Print room inspiration

Lecture- Culture

Raymond Willams -keywords

Complexities are within modern use and meaning of a word
Cultural production can be dominated through ideologies- i.e. giving culture to 'savages'
Coining new words to describe new situations- e.g. macdonaldisation for modern globalisation
'electronic age' has begun to bring people together but has not established a 'global village'

Manfred B. Steger 
- Globalisation: a very sort introduction

Globalisation can be seen as killing non western cultures and replacing -cultural imperialism
Western values- not the same as British- British values v Trump
Find cultural forms to fight back - visual culture
The culture industry is designed to keep the status quo and maintain order

Authentic culture has different qualities (comfort of being happily pacified is representative of mass culture)
-Authentic is real, multi-dimensional, imaginative
-Active over passive

Mass culture feeds itself- ensures people stay passive to avoid change

Platos Cave

Class culture establishes alienating bodies of people
When parent cultures don't look after everyone, sub-cultures arise
- either aggressively against or co-existing

Don McCullin
Pop culture can be used to be radical

Practical research

My main inspiration at the moment is the patterns left on the fabric beds in the print room, which create beautiful snippets of peoples work.

One of the print room technicians told me about a word, 'palimpsest', which means the layering up of old texts and rubbing through using the same writing base in ancient egyptian times. I really like this word and I would love to visually explore its importance within the art culture.