Lecture 7 - Digital Production and Distribution

"We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us"
- Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980

This quote from Marshall McLuhan provided the base for this lecture, posing the question of how dependent are we on the technology we have chosen to create?

Considering the first Apple Mac, created in 1990, it is interesting to consider how technology has grown in prominence. Technology seems to have changed from being about limitations to being about possibilities. The mac offered designers an affordable outlet for digital reproduction, a tool that most children have access to now. James Bridle's idea of the 'New Aesthetic' describes the place of digital technology in visual language. The increasing desire for the digital aesthetic, perhaps explaining the availability and access to technology through our desire to blur the lines between the digital world and the real world. 

The ability of technology to realise fantasy solutions drives technological development. The place of technology in films seems to constantly unwrap new possibilities and so the designer and maker are at the forefront of technological development. I question how far this can go. If technology enables us to create fantasy technologies, which then become real technologies, surely we will be dependent on a dream lifestyle that constantly needs redesigning? Alluding to a utopia, Marshall McLuhan critiques this technology; "World War 3 is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation".

From this lecture it seems that technology poses a threat to our skills sets and ability to provide for the demands of modern culture, yet it also suggests that technology supports its own development by encouraging nostalgia and people wanting to uphold aged technologies.

Lecture 6 - Print Culture - Part 2

Continuing on from a look into early print cultures, this weeks lecture focused more on the role and place of print in modern culture and the way print influences the communication and receipt of information.

Considering the idea of 'aura' , the return of mechanical production methods in the 21st century does not seem unjustified.  An interesting point raised in the lecture was; why are people still interested in the handmade when there are new, easier and more efficient methods that achieve reliable results? In terms of fashion and day to day exercises of communication and distribution, digital seems perfect for its fast turn-arounds and immediate results. Yet I have understood that the aesthetic quality and labour involved in products can alter how they are received. The hand of the maker evident in print processes, and their uniqueness through process gives them qualitative weighting and challenges mass production.

Mechanical print seems to promote the humanisation of communication.

Interestingly, points were also raised about the consequence of print. The ability of print processes to produce multiple outcomes is suggested to remove their aura. However, I feel this is an issue only applicable to the reproduction of art, and most certainly digital reproduction. The very nature of print is unpredictable and never the same, so I think the aura of mechanical print goes without question. Digital print and reproduction however, are more controlled and exploit the aura of mechanical techniques, killing the culture surrounding them.

In light of my critical writings it may be useful to explore this sense of aura and process in terms of taste and how media and process is related to the status art works achieve.

Lecture 5 - Print Culture - Part 1

Having already started to look into the mechanical art world through type, this weeks lecture followed on from that, addressing the emergence of print in an increasingly industrial society. 

Working Class Industry

It is undeniable that fine art paintings and sculpture have a certain aura surrounding them through their tradition, creativity and autonomy and so a process that produces outcomes on a mass scale is surely in no competition of hierarchy. I am interested in how the connection the masses had with print as an industrial process might challenge this. Fine Arts have always operated a high status, inaccessible to the working class, and only associated with those who can afford them. The industrial revolution evidently broke down these barriers by introducing art and design to the masses. Since mechanical processes were at the forefront of jobs during the industrial revolution, the working class came into contact with these production methods and could share the status of this mechanical produce. The very nature of print as a mechanical, mass process, brings it to an almost universal audience, it's maker could be anyone, challenging the need to elevate oneself to the level of a painting, as suggested by the common architectural decision to use steps to lead up to an art gallery, instead, being readily available in working class society.

John Martin Belshazzar's Feast, 1820

Aura and Reproduction
Similarly, the lecture made me question the aura of the fine arts, and the so-called 'culture' of art and design. While print as a mass process does not share the aura of a one-off, handmade painting, it is unpredictable and captures unique curiosities in a very similar way. I learnt that the capabilities of mechanical print to produce large scale outputs was frowned upon as being art for the masses, for those who could not afford 'real' art, yet I question this approach with consideration of reproduction. 
John Martin's Belshazzar's Feast, 1820, initiated this idea of reproduction, a secondary market that almost exploits the fame of high art, exploiting its aura and bringing it to the masses. Comparing the reproduction of a fine art painting with the mass production of a print seems challenging. Recreating a famous painting for the sake of consumerism seems to strip any aura that work had by removing its autonomy and hierarchy. Alternatively, the conscious decision to carry out a 100 unit print run may work for a consumerist purpose, yet the marks and alignment errors made in the process allow these prints to maintain a degree of autonomy, and indeed support the power of the working class. 

Hand blocking at William Morris workshop

SB1 - Study Task 2 - Triangulation & Referencing OWN SOURCES

TRIANGULATING QUOTES
Furthering the initial annotations and analysis made on my chosen documents I have started to triangulate these by identifying quotes and their relation to my chosen subject; 'Rules of taste enforce structures of power'. The sources I have collected so far cover a range of view points and reasoning on the theme of aesthetics and taste, however I feel at this stage I need to include a wider range of sources.

The book from Grayson Perry, whilst very specifically related to the subject, seems slightly biased as it is from an artists point of view. While the source provides valuable reasoning for the argument, it may be useful to find more sources that comment from an external position, perhaps somebody not in the art world, or perhaps somebody that occupies the art power structure, like a critic or curator.

The source from Brent Kalar seems particularly interesting in its more generalized view of aesthetics. Considering aesthetics as a whole, rather than just aesthetics in art, the source provides a whole view of the issues of taste and the problematic nature of defining 'good' taste. 

So far I have identified several sub-themes to discuss in my essay: 
-Sentimentality
-Subjectivity and Objectivity
-Popularity
-Commercialization and consumerism
-High and low brow

SB1 - Analysing Sources - PETER WARD

ANALYSING SOURCES
From my initial research into taste and aesthetics, I started to consider the almost 'tacky' aesthetic surrounding commercialized high arts, particularly through the placement of high art images on objects of everyday use. Peter Ward discusses this in the book Kitsch in Sync, studying the place of high art in domestic spaces and commercial outlets. This connection that commercialism has with the deterioration of status opens up some interesting paths for analysis. 

The main issue raised by Ward is; Is it better to give in to commercialism or art hierarchy? 

KEY QUOTES AND INITIAL ANALYSIS 

- "The act of hanging a particular picture on a wall [...] to make some sort of statement about where they stand in the world in terms of taste and status"

Ward proposes the question; What does your art say about you? suggesting that liking art and owning art, does not go without a restrictive and impersonal control, almost as if we cannot have autonomous taste.

- "Tretchi committed the cardinal sin of commercializing his work and selling it to the masses."

It is interesting that an artist of popularity and critical acclaim was happy to give in to the tacky consumerist art world rather that the pretentious hierarchies of gallery based 'high art'. It may be interesting to consider the inevitability of Sontag's 'structures of power', since the artist seems to operate a liminal space between conforming to 'high art' powers and consumerist powers.

 

SB1 - Analysing Sources - BRENT KALAR

ANALYSING SOURCES
Furthering my initial research into my chosen theme of aesthetics, I had identified this essay from Kalar as an interesting source for discussion through it's connections with philosophical interpretations of aesthetics and taste; The Demands of Taste in Kant's Aesthetics. Kalar discusses the root of taste and how we conform to expectations of taste as a societal code. 

 

An interesting idea raised by Kalar is the issue of sentimentality  and how this sways any sort of suggested or organic opinion of aesthetic, recognizing that the individual remains conscious in their view and operation of taste. Relating to my chosen quote from Susan Sontag; "Rules of taste enforce structures of power', Kalar seems primarily to argue against this idea, largely focusing on the subjectivity of taste and the worth of all tastes. However he does discuss our insecurities.

KEY QUOTES AND INITIAL ANALYSIS

- "Our natural response to 'whatever departs widely from our own taste and apprehension' is to condemn it as 'barbarous'. However, once we discover that the other side has the same opinion of our taste, we become more hesitant about pronouncing positively in our own favour."

Evidently we are insecure in our own taste as we know of 'the other' taste and so we cannot be confident to promote a subjective and independent view of taste since we are unable to accept our own. 

- "all tastes are of equal worth, that no one person's taste is better than another's"

Kalar seems to suggest that structures of power don't exist in the sense that we have our own taste, until we question it based on another's. He recognizes that we all have a right to 'taste' differently and as such, seems to challenge Sontag's idea of 'rule of taste' in suggesting that taste is without rule or code. 

-  "judgements of taste are really just expressions of sentiment, and 'all sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is always real, whenever a man is conscious of it' "

It is possible that since sentimentality is personal, taste relies on our own connection with the subject, sentimentality may in fact play above popularity and fashion.  

SB1 - Analysing Sources - GRAYSON PERRY

ANALYSING SOURCES
Following on from the collection of possible sources made in session, I have started to analyse some of these and pick out key ideas and quotes. I've found Grayson Perry's book Playing to the Gallery particularly useful as it discusses the issue of taste and aesthetic from an artist's perspective but considers the dialogue between artist and audience.

The main concept I drew from this book was the idea that curators, critics and collectors are the definers of 'good' art. I am interested to explore this idea of who is in charge of taste in modern societies and how has it come about that an artist has to choose to conform to 'high art' or 'low art'. 

KEY QUOTES AND INITIAL ANALYSIS

- 'Exposure of an artist in the media and the resulting fame is seen as tacky by many highbrow types; they don't think it should influence the validation process, they think being popular is a dodgy quality in art'  

Perry here seems to critique the media, suggesting that they shouldn't be able to decide what is good, yet they remain in control by saying what is tasteful. Furthermore, the 'highbrow types' think popularity should be organic, despite use being told popular works are 'good'. 

- 'If you go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa, you're so built up because it's the most famous artwork in the world that it's inevitably going to disappoint. But if you just walked in on it, you'd go, 'Wow, that's an amazing painting.' '  

It is interesting that gallery owners enforce their own power by projecting their own taste, but in doing so , they reduce the taste of the work, holding it up to such a level that it becomes commercial. 

Are art critics/ collectors/ curators willing to degrade their own taste to commercialism and popularity in order to make money?

Does commercializing 'high art' disrespect it and go against its power?   

- 'the part of our mind that cannot stand not knowing, not understanding fully, so when confronted with a soft problem like 'What is good art?' Our mind starts generating baloney to cover its discomfort.'

Evidently, people cannot identify a definition of what good art is, so we put our trust in what we are told, rather than generating our own opinion.  

Lecture 4 - The History of Type - Part 2

Following on from last weeks introduction to the history of type, this weeks instalment focused on the evolution of type through modernist and post-modernist values. 

TYPE AND COMMERCIALISM

The Bauhaus drove the commerciality of type through a 'form follows function' approach. This idea interests me as it demonstrates the interplay that type has with the reading and understanding of language. Products that are to be sold in multiple countries require multiple visual language tools and type becomes the pivotal component in each tool, The mass production and mass industrialisation that took over after WW2, undeniably begged for type as a means to promote, sell, and use products. 

TYPE AND CULTURE

This increasing functionality of type is challenged by post-modernist values though, where a 'rip it up and start again' approach was in action. Discernible in punk artwork by Jamie Reid, this non-conformist approach explores disjointed language and inconsistent typefaces.

I am interested to consider this transgression in light of popular culture and the place of the emoji. While emoji's neglect words and type for pictures, their codes are in fact made up of symbols that seem to echo early alphabets. I then question whether type has lost prominence in modern culture, or rather has gone full circle to its beginnings. 

SB1 - Study Task 2 - Triangulation & Referencing

Following on from the sources found in relation to our chosen quotes, this week we have begun to study these in a more collective sense, through triangulation. 

Triangulation relies on identifying similarities, differences, reasoning and flaws and how these interplay to support or challenge an argument. 

Working with some given sources as a starting point, it was interesting to see how separate documents can become inter connected when unpicked. The three sources, from the Manifesto Project addressed a similar issue in very different socio-cultural time contexts.

Applying these documents to my own quote; 'Rules of taste enforce structures of power', I identified many similarities and differences.

-consumerism as driving force of culture

-designers conforming to consumerism as a means to an end

-society shapes the work as opposed to the individual

-lost sense of self

In light of forming an argument, it is important to consider that a manifesto is subjective so needs to be cross referenced with other documents in order to form and objective argument. Identifying different responses to the issues outline in my quote, this exercise has encouraged me to take a more objective and whole view of my documents before drawing a conclusion, as often, subtle comments can corroborate more explicit ideas.