Lecture 2

11/11/10

CRITICAL POSITIONS ON THE MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE

-What is culture? complicated

word in our language to define

-Definition- general process of spiritual and aesthetic development of a particular society at a particular time.

-Particular way of life

-Works of intellectual and especially artistic significance

- Marx's concept of Base / Superstructure (communist manifesto)

-Base -Determine content + form of- Superstructure

-Superstructure -Reflects form of + legitimizes- Base

-Ideology - 1) system of ideas/b

eliefs, 2) distortion/selection of ideas (propaganda)

-Pyramid of Capitalist system

Bourgeoisie/Bourgois - working class

-Marx 'ruling class controls/ dominates culture'

-Definitions - 'popular'

-Well liked by many

-Inferior kinds of work (mass not kitch)

-Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people

-Culture actually made for people for themselves: made by people for people

-High culture- famous painting, popular culture-making copies, paint by numbers

-High culture-Banksy piece, Popular culture-Graffitti

-Industrialisation brought separation of class.

-Traditional vs. Popular culture

-Culture and anarchy, Matthew Arnold (1867)

-Culture-study of perfection

-"best that has been thought and said in the world"

-pursuit of culture

-seeks "to minister the diseased spirit of our time"

-Culture polices 'the raw and uncultivated masses'

-Uncultured should strive to be like cultured not create their own culture

-Arnoldism

-F.R. Leavis + Q.D. Leavis = Leavisism

-20th Century sees cultural deadline

-Collapse of traditional authority comes at the same time as mass democracy

-Popular culture-books, films, advertising

-Frankfurt school- Critical Theory, institute social research, uni of frankfurt, 1923-33

-Rise of national socialism

-New York 1933-47

-Adorno, Horkheimer, reinterpreted Marx for 20th C (late capitalism)

-All mass culture is identical

-Homogeneity + Predictability

-Conformity not anarchy

-Herbert Marcuse, Depoliticises working class

-Che Guevar t shirt

- X Factor/Big Brother= way to success is join in gameshow instead of education

-Authentic (real, european) culture vs. mass culture

-Multidimensional

-Imagination, Autonomous

-Adorno 'On popular music'

-Walter Benjamin-Work of art of mechanical reproduction (1936)

-Concept of 'aura'

-Mona Lisa - dont know what it means socially but we know its important

-Challenges high culture, when appears on t shirts books plates

-Birmingham school

Contextual & Theoretical Studies Year 2 - Lecture 1

4/11/2010

PANOPTICISM - SURVEILLANCE AND SOCIETY

- The Panopticon- Jere

my Benthams 1791

- Michael Foucault (1926-198

4)

Madness & Civilisation (book by Foucault)

- Village idiot's used to be laughed/with not outcasts, late 1600's this changed..

- 'Houses of correction' - to curb unemployment + idleness, criminals

This didn't work and the criminals affected the non criminals and so on

- Birth of the Asylum - patients split up so cant influence one another

- The emergance of knowledge/ Doctors + Physciatrists seen as 'gods'

- End of the pillory/ guillotine/ hung drawn and quartered, not physical punishment anymore, now modern discipline, keep u

s under

survallience, improve ourselves

- Millbank prison (modern prison) opposite of dungens where the person is shut away/hidden/forgotten

- Panopticon - always being watched/reforms them/ self regulation through fear of being watched

- No panoptic prisons any more as see

n as torture

- Modern panopticism = open plan offices / The office

- Factories with balconys

- Security cameras

- Google streets/ strange things on here car on fire

- Pentonville prison

- Brotherton Library

- CCTV panoptic gaze

- Archive of looked at websites, emails on computers

- Guy arrested for terrorist activity from his list of website history

- Docile bodies - easy to control/ controllable to surveyor/ self monitoring

- Gym is panoptic

- TV - very panoptic

- "Where there is power, there is resistance" Foucault

- Resistance vs. submission

- Men watch women, women watch themselves being looked at.

- Facebook - EXTREMELY panoptic

- Bruce Nauman (1960's) video corridor pieces

- Art gallery = Institution

- Chris Burden - Samson (1985)

Contextual & Theoretical Studies Portfolio (Vis Com Year 2 Task 1)

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 100-200 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are a modern day example of Bentham’s Panopticon. The Panopticon was a circular prison where the prisoners in cells around the building were constantly observed by guards in the central tower, which is a complete opposite of the dungeons, which were “to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide” (Foucault in Thomas, 2000, p64). The prison was based on the theory of Panopticism founded by Michael Foucault.

Mobile phones are a perfect example of this, as we know that they can be tracked by the battery and sim card also that certain words that we say or type can be flagged up and recorded. The trackers e.g. satellites are “visible and unverifiable” (Foucault in Thomas, 2000, p65), meaning that we can see the satellites in spaces in photos or the Internet, yet you never know for sure if your being looked at or not.

Because we never know if we are being watched or not, we, ourselves, monitor what we say, and what words we use and therefore the person becomes “the principle of his own subjection” (Foucault in Thomas, 2000, p66). Instead of, for example people being punished for committing terrorism acts, the acts can be prevented as the satellite or the police can “..act even before the offences, mistakes or crimes have been committed.” (Foucault in Thomas, 2000, p68)

“Visibility is a trap” (Foucault in Thomas, 2000, p64), which creates a fear of being watched, this produces docile bodies, making people easy to control.

Bibliography

-'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

Portfolio Task 4

Haussmann's changes to Paris (Extra Portfolio Task)

The late nineteenth century brought a new way to how people could spend their days with the onset of urbanisation and also with world time being standardised in 1912. Due to the industrial revolution, rural workers from the countryside and abroad, poured into the major cities of the world searching for employment.

'A policy of discouraging building outside the city limits had resulted in a population of well over one million being crammed into a realtivly small area' (Tinniswood, 1998, p144). In the outer edges of paris the slums grew as the population doubled and tripled, bringing with it poor health and disease from the closeness in which the working class were forced to live. The fear of illness spreading from the slums to the richer city center, meant change was needed. Baron Haussmann was brought in by Napoleon III to remodel the city and in doing so, modernize Paris. '..According to the duc de Persigny, the Minister of the Interior, Haussmann was just the man to push through radical change' (Tinniswood, 1998, p144). Haussmannisation was the term given to this major change and it began in 1852 carrying on till after 1870. The slums were destroyed and in their place boulevards and streets were built. (PJ- Director History Department, 2002-2004)

Bibliography

• Tinniswood, A. (1998) 'Visions of Power: Ambition and Architecture from Ancient Rome to Modern Paris', London, Reed Consumer Books Ltd
• PJ- Director History Department (2002-2004) 'Paris in the 19th century: from walled city to agglomeration' [Internet], Available from: <http://www.parisrama.com/english%20version/pages_history/haussmann.htm > [Accessed 24 March 2010]
  
  

Analysis of Caillebotte's painting "Paris Street; Rainy Day" (Extra Portfolio Task)

Gustav Caillebotte’s painting “Paris Street; Rainy Day” (1877) depicts people strolling down Haussman’s boulevards in the rain. Fashion had become a status symbol which now divided the classes.'One of the first industries to flourish was luxury fabrics..' (Johnston, 2007). In this image you can tell that these people are upper class from their clothes, the males shiny top hats and tailored suits. The couple in the foreground are referred to as ‘Flaneur’s’ which was the term used for rich people that walked around the city in order to experience modernity. The overall painting resembles a photograph as the image is cropped, cutting out half the man on the right side of the image. It doesn’t look staged or set up using models, it looks like a photo that captured a moment in time. Paintings began to use the cropping technique a lot as cameras became popular.

Bibliography

• Johnston, R. (2007) 'Parisian Architecture of the Belle Epoque', West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Preliminary Bibliography (Portfolio task 3)

Bibliography

• Meecham, P.& Sheldon, J. (2000) ‘Modern Art: A Critical Introduction’, London, Open University Press, 709.06 (This book would be useful for my essay as its an overview of the modernism period. It critically introduces the art of the modern world and gives reason to how the modern world influenced modern art)
• Frascina, F. & Harris, J. (1992) ‘Art in Modern Culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts’, London, Open University, Phaidon, 701.1 (This book would help me as it includes a collection of key texts about modern art and its role in modern culture. The text in the book by Timothy J. Clark - "Preliminaries to a Possible Treatment of 'Olympia'" would be especially helpful as I would like to look at the comparrison between Manet's 'Olympia' and Titan's 'Venus of Urbino')
• Ward, Glenn (1997) 'Postmodernism', Teach Yourself, London, Hodder Headline Ltd, 306.1 (Even though this book is about the period after modernism, it still includes a section on modernity and enlightenment, and its association with its faith in progress and optimism)
• Varnedoe, Kirk (2000) 'Gustave Caillebotte', New Haven and London, Yale University Press, World Print Ltd, CAI 759.92 (This will be useful for my essay as Caillebotte was an Impressionist painter. His paintings were modern and I intend to look at them in my essay)
• Tinniswood, A. (1998) 'Visions of Power: Ambition and Architecture from Ancient Rome to Modern Paris', London, Reed Consumer Books Ltd, 725.1 (This book focuses on architecture and has a few pages on Hausmanns renovations which I plan on writing about)
• Johnston, R. (2007) 'Parisian Architecture of of the Belle Epoque', West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 720.944 (This book goes into great detail, telling you everything about the Haussmannisation of Paris)

Lecture 6

Introducing Postmodernism

-Postmodernism-Not serious/pokes fun at/exhaustion/pessimision/pluralism/dissilusionist

-Modernism=Expresion

-Postmodern=Reaction

-Jean Tinguely-"Homage to New York" 1960 - performed in the Sculpture garden, museum of modern art in new york, self destroying mechanism

Lecture 5

The Document

-Photography (objective) as recording/showing the world/stepping in (capture the world)
-Represent reality
-www.jamesnachtwey.com-bond with viewer
-Palestine 2000
-Rwanda 1
-Sudan 1992 (explicit/shows the horror)
-Neutral/shouldn't be this way, photographer always influences
-William Edward Kilburn (1848)-"The great chartist meeting at the common"-seemingly neutral photo, had a reason to shoot this way
-Rodger Fenton (1855)-"Into the valley of the shadow of death
-Decisive moment-photography achieves its highest distinction reflecting... Henri Cartier Bresson
-Jacob Riis (1888)-"Bandits Roost"-they are looking at the photographer not authentic documentary/realistic set up
-A growler gang in session
-CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY/STAGED REALITY
-Lewis Hine-"Russian steel workers" (1908)/"Child laborers in glassworks, Indiana"
-FSA photographer (1935-44) (farm security administrator)



-Political propaganda/"shooting script"
-Margaret Bourke-White "sharecropperse home" (1937)
-Russel Lee-"Interior of a black farmers house" (1939)
-Dorothea Lange-"Migrant mother" (1936)
-Walker Evans
-Robert Frank, 1888
-Carl Dammann (1870-1)
-"Burdens of representation" book
-Cesare Lombroso-"Portrait of melancholy","Portraits of Italian and German criminals"(1889)
-Robert Capa-Normandy, France (1945)/war photography/conflict
-Magnum group (1947)
-"Accidental Napalm Attack (1972)



-Don McCullin-"Shell shocked soldier" (1968)/McCullin was banned from the Faulklands as they didn't want people to know the reality of what happened there
-Robert Haeberle-"Massacre" (1969)/apart of it, but can't change it)
-William Klein-"St. Patricks Day, 5th Ave" (1954-55)
-Bernd and Hilla Becher-conceptual art
-Richard Long-"A long line and tracks in Bolivia" (1981)
-Critical realism-Berlot Brecht (1931)
-Fish story (book)/Theory of the novel
-Andreas Gursky,-"99 cent" (1999)
-Jeff Wall-"Dead troops talk" (1992)



-Gillian Wearing-"Signs that say what you want them to say" (1992-3)
-Jeremy Deller-"The Battle of Orgreave" (2001)
-John Harris

Lecture 4

The Mass Media and Society

Hypermedia-Interlinking media texts on an online document

-Marshall McLuhan-Tried to theorise new digital age/how it affects us (60's/70's)

-"Age of print" began 1450 (Gutenberg printing press)

-E-Book (reader allowed more power) to replace written printed book?

-Death of the author

-Hypertext-links/text

-Hypermedia

-Lost in knowledge/internet through hypertext

-Mass media-negative/positive

NEGATIVE

-superficial

-uncritical

-trivial

-viewing figures/measure success

-audience is dispersed/disempowered

-encourages the status quo

-properganda

POSITIVE

-creativity

-social problems

-injustices are discussed

-high art material reaches broader audience

-Art in the age of mass media-John.A Walker

-AUTONOMOUS

-Modern art in the common culture-Thomas Crow

-Liechtenstein

-Tony Abruzzo

-Eat, therefore I am-Warhol

-Anti-Art-celeb masks-Warhol's Marilyn's (1962)

-Warhol-Ambulance disaster (1963)

-Repetitiveness in the media-desensitises us

-H.R.Giger

-Myra (Hindley) (1995)-Marcus Harvey-sensation exhibition (intimate relationship)

Lecture 3

Advertising, Publicity and the Media

-Times square, New York/Mass advertising/Advertising invades

-Life is governed by what we own/consume

-Commodity culture-construct our identities through the consumer products that inhabit our lives

-'The commodity shelf' Stewart Ewan

-'Decoding advertisements' Judith Williamson

-Should be identified by what we produce not what we consume

-Symbolic Associations-life will be better if you buy their product/tricked into thinking that the product will make you more attractive to the opposite sex

-Aesthetic innovation

-Planned obsolescence-short shelf life

-Novelty

-False needs

-Commodity fetishism-advertising conceals the background "history" of products. In other words the context in which a product is produced is kept hidden.

-Barrier created between people/ judged on their outfit not known for their personality

-What is a band? What does it mean? Why do we want to buy it?

-Reification-products are given human associations/products themselves are perceived as sexy, romantic, fun, sophisticated etc.

-E.g Lip gloss-sex, rather than the woman or who she is

-Frankfurt school (1923)

-"One dimensional man" (1964)-Herbert Maruce

-Ways of seeing-John Berger

-Advertising encourages the idea that your not worthy or adequate

-Makes us unhappy with who we are/manipulation

-Want products/brands you can't afford/causes feelings of jealousy and envy

-Encouraging consumption

-No morals to advertising

-anti-ipod.co.uk

-ad busters

-Victor Burgin "7% of our population own 84% of our wealth"

Lecture 2

Graphic Design: A medium for the masses

-Graphic design versus fine art

-where it originated from

-reproducing fine art for advertisments

Lecture 1

Modernity/ Modernism

-1760-1960 = Modernism

-Modernize = to improve, positive, progress, forward thinking

-The Hireling Shepherd (1852) - Hunt = Pre Raphaelite/modern not modernist/traditional style work in modern world

-Paris 1900 - most modern city in the world

-Eiffel Tower - Modern materials/new is dominating

UBANISATION

-Rural work to factory work

-Railway

-Telephone

-Trottoir Roulant (electric moving walkway)

-1912 - world time was standardised

- SECULARISATION

-Paris on a Rainy day (1877)- Caillebotte - modern/cropped/walking down Haussmanns streets

-HAUSSMANNISATION - Haussmann redesigns paris/destroys rundown houses + narrow streets/ large boulevards instead

-Flaneur - Rich people showing off taking in modernity

-Fashion became status symbol/divides class/ wasn't an issue before

Whole idea of life changes:

-not work dawn till dusk

-shift work = spare time

-not everyone felt happy

-Degas - L'Absinthe - people being left behind by the modern world/life

-Technology rather than experience things for ourselves

-Allienation

-Manmade replacing natural

-Duchamp - Nude descending staircase - movement