Magnetic Movie

In Ruth Harman and Joe Gerhardt's 2007 movie "Magnetic Movie," they partner with UC Berkeley's NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories to explore the invisible world of magnetic forces. Using bright colors and scientific research, Harman and Gerhardt create a world unseen by any human eye. Because magnetic fields are hard to physically see, there are discussions about whether or not thats truly what they look like, but the artists bring to life this mysterious world. Using sound effects from actual documented science experiments, the artists act like scientists as they discover a whole new world.

This article and movie was fascinating because one never realizes how the magnetic field of the earth is all around them. Different shapes of particles and the force of the field create images, as depicted by the artists, that no one has ever seen. Like I have always believed, science and art and closely related and in this you can see the marriage perfectly. Maybe we can use art to discover even more about science that we didn't know.

Relationship Amplifer

In the shape of a lion, Max Lawrence uses something called the Darlington Pair which he also refers to as the "Relationship Amplifier." The Darlington Pair, according to the exhibition information for the piece is "a set of two transistors that amplify weak signals into stronger and sharper signals for both audio and microprocessing" in electrical science. Max uses this in his art to represent the way that two people can come together, as in a relationship and create that separate element that wouldn't have existed if not for the joining of the couple.

This piece is both fascinating and confusing for me. I totally understand his concept but why a lion? Lions usually stand for pride and strength, which can be the result of the union Max is talking about, but I still find it a bit confusing. I would understand that he didn't want anything too corny, but I never would imagine a lion as a symbol for a relationship. I do find his mix of art and science to be fun. As a fan of both, the way that Max uses them together compliment each other, and in a way reinforce his idea of combining two to make three.

Thanksgiving Dinner in 5 Seconds

According to Rhizome.org, Marisa Jahn and Steve Shada's "Thanksgiving Dinner in 5 Seconds" is directly reflective of the American people's fascination with instantaneous gratification. Using "rocket triggered lightning," the entire sculpture plays on the Native American totem pole as the symbol for the first dinner between them and the European Settlers. Everything that makes up this sculpture is American. From the Native American totem pole, to the turkey signifying the American frontier and lightning representing the discovery made by Ben Franklin, a prominent American in colonial days. Bringing the whole rocket science aspect brings this piece to the twenty-first century, even though it is heavily reminiscent of America's past.

I found this piece interesting because it is true that over the years, people are always looking for a quicker way to get something done and have grown impatient. The fact that the artists have connected the past with the future in this piece really says a lot about our country. We have come a long way, and have a long way to go. This piece does a good job connecting the two and gives the audience some thought on what might come next. This is also really fitting because Thanksgiving dinner takes for ever, and everyone dreads the long day of cooking. I'm sure people would be very thankful if they could use rocket power to get it done in a shorter amount of time.

Doesn't everyone love parking?

In "Public Parking", people take guided tours of cities with historic sites of public parking as it relates to "the more general ideology of utopian capitalism." Basically this project is about teaching people how parking affects us and the cities we will in and how parking has changed and how is continues to change as society grows and times change. On their website they discuss that currently they are "looking at the disappearance of surface parking lots" that is happening all over the country, not just in certain areas. Tours have been given in Brooklyn, NY., Chicago, IL., and Hollywood, CA., for example.

I find this project really fascinating because it explores something people often take for granted. It also is a nice mix of media and a public physical attraction. By using a physical tour and putting it on the web, it can read twice the audience. The idea is also really cool. With so many people driving on the roads these days, public parking is such a huge issue. I never would have thought that parking would evolve, but it certainly has and continues to.

Fedex Ships!

For my subversment project I decided to take a fedex print ad and change it. The message from the ad is that fedex shipping is fast and painless. In fact, what they don't tell you is that there are many roadblocks when something bad does happen to your package. Like every other pack and ship company there will be some problems and drawbacks but having more experience with the company lets me see the truth behind what goes on.

Is the internet really forever?

Everyone always says, whatever you post on the internet will stay there forever. Well, until Zack Gage came along, that might have been true. In his project called "Temporary.cc" each time a "unique visitor" visits the site, a piece of information from the site is deleted. So instead of collecting information, such as every website is known to do, "Temporary.cc" will eventually "fall apart entirely," ultimately "becoming a blank white website." The way this whole website works is that every time a visitor visits the site the website deletes part of itself and thus this changes "the way browsers understand the website's code and create(s) a new composition through self-destruction. "

This project caught my eye because it is definitely different than any other website on the internet. Today in the digital age, people would prefer to save something electronically because it will always exist, unless some tragic crash or some other disaster occurs. Computers are not designed to intentionally delete its own material, which makes this project all the more interesting. The end result will be the deletion of the entire project, which can be said of the more typical pieces of artwork such as paintings or other medias, but one would think if it was electronic it could live forever. I guess Zach Gage has taught us wrong.

John Berger

In John Berger's article, he explored the nature of publicity. Many people would find that quite odd because quite honestly, publicity is everywhere but what people don't know is what really drives publicity. First off, publicity is everywhere. In the subway, on the road, on tv, I mean you can't escape publicity. What many might not realize is that publicity deals with the past and focuses on the future, meaning that the present isn't dealt with. It want consumers to see themselves in the future with whatever product is being promoted but it uses the past to hook people into the advertisement. Publicity persuades the consumer to want the product. It also manufactures glamour. Through publicity, glamour plays a key role in selling a product. Glamour exists through personal social envy that is produced by publicity. If this didn't exists, consumers wouldn't be envious of the product on TV and want to go out and purchase it. Publicity also plays on the fact that in today's society, people are measured by "you are what you have." By using inciting images and making the consumer envious of those with the desired product, the consumer will run out and buy whatever is being sold just to be considered "in". This basically is an anxiety that makes the consumer purchase the product.

Just from the tone of the article, one would think that publicity is bad. In some aspects it seems that way, but capitalism thrives on it. Because publicity is all around us, people are basically brain washed to think that if they don't have this product they will be considered insignificant. These companies making these ads aren't helping us by providing us the product, they are making us feel bad about ourselves in order to buy their product. Unfortunately profit is the only drive that keeps this cycle going. Whether this is bad or not, it is continuously used all around us, so I guess it is up to the consumer whether publicity is good or bad for society.