My ‘well made object’!
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Post #3
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Susanna Paasonen’ argues…
‘networked devices, apps and social media services are atrophying our attention spans, eroding our capacity to think, addicting us [and] boring us’.
Paasonen,
Although I agree that our reliance on the internet can leave you feeling brain dead (I’m looking at you, TikTok), what are we supposed to do about it. Complain? In an article for the New York Magazine Sam Anderson states ‘ This doomsaying strikes me as silly…the virtual horse has already left the digital barn. It’s too late to just retreat to a quieter time’ (Anderson, 2009). He goes on to explore the possibility that the brain will adapt, the same way London taxi driver’s hippocampi grow in size, a side effect of memorising street names and routes (Anderson, 2009).
During this weeks tutorial, Dan instructed us to do nothing for 10 minutes. I was surprised by how many thoughts I had. Here are just some I wrote down afterwards;
During my research I came across Wiliam James’ Dot Theory. Elaborated on in Anderson’s article, the brain cannot just focus on the dot. It must cycle through different ways of entertaining itself. ‘subtleties of its shape, its relationship to the edges of the paper, metaphorical associations (a fly, an eye, a hole)’ (Anderson, 2009). This reminded me of a chapter for Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, pictured below is a snippet.
To summarise, being online and the doom-scrolling that comes with it takes up our time and can decimate our attention capacity. However, the world we live in depends on it. Is an hour of ‘digital detox’ helpful, or is it just a way to put off the inevitable (Syvertsen, 2020).
Anderson, S. (2009) „In Defense of Distraction‟,
The New Yorker, March 19,http://nymag.com/news/features/56793/.Bem, C
Syvertsen, T., & Enli, G. (2020). Digital detox: Media resistance and the promise of authenticity. Convergence, 26(5–6), 1269–1283. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/10.1177/1354856519847325
Post #1
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*this post was submitted on time via email*
Ingold stated in The Textility of Making that…
‘Life is open-ended: its impulse is not to reach a terminus but to keep on going’.
(Ingold, 2009)
He argues that the same principle should be applied to art, more specifically the making of art. Comparing the process of making to going for a walk, where no two steps are the same, no two processes of making is the same.
If ‘Artists…are itinerant wayfarers’ then the path is ever-changing and never ending (Ingold, 2009). An apt example of this would be me sitting here typing this out. Although the period marks the completion of a sentence, the process of finishing this piece requires consistent editing; reading, editing, rereading etc. Furthermore, the art (if you will) of writing will be something I constantly build on.
Origami was traditionally a pasttime reserved for children until a maths teacher turned it into an artform. The ‘origami rennasance’ unfolded from one mans inspiration and creativity (Newton, 2009). So, as Ingold explained, ‘practitioners…are not so much imposing form on matter as bringing together diverse materials and combining or redirecting their flow in the anticipation of what might emerge’ (Ingold, 2009). Much like how people can turn a flat piece of paper into a swan, box or frog.
Through Ingold’s paper and crafting some origami swans I began to think about my own artistic process. It highlighted my habit of rushing through to the end, perhaps due to the often fast turn around time expected in university assignments. Moving forward I hope to take my time and recognise the value in the journey, not just the destination.
Ingold, T., 2010. The textility of making. Cambridge journal of economics, 34(1), pp.91-102.
Newton, L., 2011. The power of origami. Simulation, December, pp.231-231.
Post #2
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‘Old media are ultimately the media that we imagine as fading.. They are, in a certain sense, ghosts… but can have real effects and impact’
(Natale, 2016)
When discussing the concept of new versus old media, thrifting and vintage shopping comes to mind. Once regarded as a necessity for the poor, buying second hand goods has been more or less gentrified by wealthier consumers (Ronobir, 2020).
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22396051/thrift-store-hauls-ethics-depop
As pointed out in the Natale reading, ‘the social meaning of things is constantly renegotiated'(Natale, 2016). With the birth of a new sustainably driven generation, op-shopping is growing exponentially in popularity. The secondhand market being worth approximately 33 billion US dollars (Coresight 2022). So, as culture changes old things become new again.
Natale raises a good point highlighting ‘the renovated significance of the “obsolete” vinyl records'(Natale, 2016). My sister, an avid record collector frequents our father and grandparents stash of records they bought in their adolescence. Similarly, during our class activity I focused on my history with CD players. Living through the technologies “obsolescence” as iPods then Spotify took over I doubted I would ever return to the antiquated tech. However, the accessibility and the necessity (my car only has a CD player) drove me to buy them in bulk. Interestingly, I find myself driven to albums I owned all those years ago, possibly due to its nostalgic qualities.
Natale states that ‘Tech- nostalgia can be regarded as a fascination with things that link to their parents, or previous generations’ past’ (Natale, 2016). Perhaps this ‘technostalgia’ is what drives my sister and me to seek out these versions of ‘old’ media (Natale, 2016).
Natale, S., 2016. There are no old media. Journal of communication, 66(4), pp.585-603.
Ronobir, J.R., Curran, R., Kaushal, A. and Yazdani, R., 2020. The socioeconomic causes and effects of the gentrified thrifting experience. ACROSS THE ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF SPECTRUM OF SOCIOECONOMICS SOCIOECONOMICS, p.48.
Coresight Research (2023) US fashion resale market: E-commerce and luxury capture greater share, Coresight Research. Available at: https://coresight.com/research/us-fashion-resale-market-e-commerce-and-luxury-capture-greater-share/ (Accessed: March 19, 2023).
Nostalgia
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2. phone gallery
3. I started using my cloud photo gallery around the year 2015
4. 01.12.2016
5. 05.12.2016
6. 05.12.2016
9. This photo shows me with a high school friend in Lorne on our schoolies trip. We were on the beach at sunset in a town that was empty of other high school graduates, having camped a week later than everyone else. I cannot remember who took this photos but I do remember running around hugging everyone, feeling incredibly free. I remember posting it on instagram but it has since been deleted some time between then and now. It was perhaps the first candid photo taken of me that I felt pretty in.
It was early December so quite warm however, the wind from the waves had started picking up. On this same trip there was a storm so ferocious it ruined our tent and we had to pay for a hotel. This same night we all went to the pub and ordered beers. At that time I thought beer tasted like soda water drained through an old sock but it was the novelty that made me order it. Looking back at this time I feel like I have grown so much as a person. I don’t talk to any of the people I went with. This is not necessarily a sad thing, I prefer to recognise that I have found people who align with me better. Despite this, our trip was an incredible disaster and I probably wouldn’t change anything…. except maybe getting a better tent.
Media Audit
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- What media do you use everyday?(list of technologies/platforms) What do you use them for?
- Instagram: Doom-scrolling, posting, messaging friends, posting photos.
- Facebook: Keeping up with family and friends, people who I wouldn’t typically follow on instagram. A main platform for messaging. Looking for second-hand goods on the marketplace.
- New York Times: Wordle, mini crossword.
- Twitter: Catching up on the goings on in the world. My main source of ‘news’ (mainly celebrity gossip)
- Youtube: Entertainment, education, distraction.
- Streaming services (Netflix, Stan, Binge etc.): Entertainment
- Books*: Entertainment
- Letterboxd/Goodreads
- Put a star next to any media that is offline or real world.
- Choose 3 and do basic research.
New York Times
The New York Times paper has produced newspapers since 1851 and has won 7 Pulitzer Prizes since then. The daily paper, owned by a company of the same name aims to ‘ become the essential subscription for every curious, English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world.’. Their slogan ‘”All the News That’s Fit to Print” speaks to t
- Who manufactures the product? Where is it manufactured and what interests do the company have? Do they have any philanthropic endeavours (or are they just tax write offs?)
- which of these tech or platforms measures, records or quantifies data? what kind of data?
- apart from you uses you listed, do the tech or platforms have any other uses?
- Is there some sort of hierarchy to the media you use? dependencies?