Movies

Brian Bress - 307 Cover

This video is slow. This video is slow, but it is so relaxing. At first, I did not know what the point of the video was. There were six black and white striped pictures. Soon, small, curved white lines started appearing in the framed patterns. Small pieces of the pattern were falling off while wisps of smoke emerged from the background. I started to see some sort of yellow tool, and then I realized it was a saw cutting the striped board. Not even one and a half minutes past when it was obvious that there were more striped designs behind the original board. This is when the video became slightly less confusing and more relaxing. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going to happen by the end of the video. I also focused on how some of the designs blended together and some of them clashed since they were perpendicular to each other. Eyes started to appear, but it was difficult to tell what the objects were. Finally, I could tell that there were people dressed up in costumes that matched the pattern. When the video was about halfway over, it was easy to see that the people were cutting shapes into the patterns. After they were finished, I realized that most of the people had a mask/head that was shaped like the shape they were cutting. This is when the video became the most relaxing. The people were standing still and trying to line up their lines or contrast their lines with the lines in the background and foreground. They also occasionally moved to show how mesmerizing the patterns could be. I think Bress wanted to express how composition and perception can constantly change within photography or a video. I understand why Bress made this video, but I felt frustrated when it took so long for everything to reach its final form.

An Interview With Penelope Umbrico

When the internet became more prevalent in society, Penelope Umbrico’s style of work changed completely. Umbrico was interested in how people share images, so she went of Flickr and found that tag with the most images was ‘sunset.’ She thought this was interesting because everyone is taking and uploading pictures of the same sun, but they all look different. Because she found this interesting, she started to collect pictures and crop them. She then studies the images because she thinks it is interesting that the sun gives off so much energy and light, but it cannot be captured with a camera. What the camera can capture is just an image, usually overexposed, and Umbrico wants to observe how the image interacts with other electronic objects, screens, and recording devices. When she video tapes the image of the sun, both the computer screen and the screen of the recording device clash and create a mesmerizing flow of pixelated patterns. She continues to repeat this process until the video shows the image of the sun fading out and into focus while also being too deconstructed to identify where the picture was taken. Umbrico also created a screensaver with the images of the sun. As the pictures change from one to the next, there is a bright white spot imprinted into your eyes and memory because it is so bright and washed out. It is ironic because screensavers were supposed to save the computer screen from having an image burned into it. However, this slideshow of sun images would definitely burn a large white spot into the screen of an old computer. Additionally, she experimented with making a fake sunset above the waves at a beach. She did this by using some of the sun pictures that she saved from the internet and making computer generated waves on a program. Finally, Umbrico points out that people may think the image they are taking is one-of-a-kind, when in reality, it is very similar to thousands of other photos. I think her work is interesting because she isn’t just appropriating, she is analyzing the works of others in a very particular way.

Walead Beshty - About The Curve, Barbican Centre, London

Walead Beshty is a photographer that covered a curved wall in the Barbican Center in London with 7,000 cyanotypes. A cyanotype is a photographic blueprint, where ammonium iron(III) citrate and potassium ferricyanide are used to make a copy of an object or an image. These cyanotypes were created on different backgrounds with all of the materials that were used up while the studio was producing work. This process lasted for one whole year. This project is significant in many ways. Primarily, his work became an installation that displays cyanotypes of personal items, pointless items, and everything in between. For example, some of the cyanotypes were of bank statements and prescription medication, but some of the cyanotypes were of meaningless items that he used to make or fix something, like a jug or a screwdriver. The wall covered in the cyanotypes shows all of the waste made in one year, but it shows more than that. Beshty explains that the waste represents that every choice has a side effect. When you use something, it produces waste, in some shape or form. Humans use many different objects in a day, and we create an excess amount of waste. Beshty hung up his installation in the most efficient way possible. He wanted to show that even though there were thousands of cyanotypes, he could fit a majority of them on the wall; out of the 12,000 cyanotypes, he managed to hang up 7,000 of them. Secondarily, Beshty’s project became significant because it shows travel and the passage of time. He started this project in LA, and he finished his project in London. Since traveling is so important to Beshty, he made note of this. Additionally, his installation shows the passage of time. The cyanotypes were collected for a whole calendar year, and he hung them up in chronological order. There was way more behind all the blue garbage on the wall.

Cao Fei - Fantasy

Cao Fei is an artist/photographer that is interested in contemporary Chinese culture and how globalization affects the younger generation. Many of her projects are video based or created on the computer. She liked to observe how Chinese citizens, like pedestrians on the streets, were affected by hip hop music. Fei took videos of these pedestrians dancing to hip hop music, and it is easy to see that the music affects them in all different ways based on how they are dancing. Fei also became interested in cosplay. In the video, she mentions that cosplay is very popular in the Chinese culture. The younger generation is highly influenced by cartoons in books and on television. When Fei documents how her culture is influenced by cosplay, she takes the time to pick the right settings for her videos. In the videos, there are people dressed up like characters from different animated shows, and they are interacting with each other and their settings. She describes that some of these young adults carry cosplay into their everyday lives. Fei’s videos are important because the people/culture she is studying makes it important when they become these characters in real life. In a way, Fei says that cosplay disconnects the younger generation from the older generation and is popular because a large part of the younger generation may be unhappy with their life. I find this interesting because the discontent of one’s life is coped with in different ways depending on the culture. Fei also creates a documentary of her interaction in a game by creating an avatar and exploring the fake world. You can infer that people may also play this game because they are not content with their life and want to be perceived in a different way. I think this is a very likely case because you can choose all of your good qualities and have them portrayed in this fake version of yourself. Her example about the middle aged man creating a young-looking avatar makes my inference more of a truth. Finally, Fei talked about the fake world she created on the computer. It is almost like a utopia that someone can explore. This is another way for people to escape from reality. Altogether, Fei analyzes and questions how her culture, especially the younger generation within her culture, is affected by globalization and pop culture.

RIP! A Remix Manifesto

I have a mix of emotions and thoughts after watching this documentary. To start off, I thought it had a very creative and interesting mash-up quality about it, which is fitting considering the topic and title of the documentary. I was immediately sucked in by all of the sounds and the images flashing before my eyes. I feel that there is more research I could do related to this topic, but Remix Manifesto outlined everything very well:

1. Culture always builds on the past.

In the short film, the narrator discusses how people build on the past to succeed and further society; without past ideas to build from and improve on, we would be held hostage to a society that never changes in a beneficial way. The past also spurs the creativity of people. Without past ideas, people wouldn’t be able to transform something with their own personality and create art. I thought it was really cool how the movie showed the link between many famous songs because they share similar lyrics or melodies. It just proves that people have been tweaking past art to make future art.

2. The past always tries to control the future.

A large portion of the documentary focused on how the past tries to control the future. I found it very surprising that Disney has become such a controlling company. They changed the copyright law in such a ridiculous way just so they could profit off of copyright infringement for many years; they even own the Happy Birthday song. I found it extremely unsettling when several people mentioned that Disney will try to sue so many people just for money. To me, Disney is “one of the happiest places on Earth.” After listening to some personal stories about Disney suing places or people, I start to question how everyone perceives Disney. We think these large companies are purely focused on making their consumers happy, but they are more set on making profit. I also thought Girl Talk made a good point when he was talking about how there are many patents on cancer research, and those patents could potentially be keeping someone else from finding a cure. That blows my mind. On one hand, I think we should give credit to people for their work and ideas, but on the other hand, I think we should share these things with others, so we can move forward as a society.

3. Our future is becoming less free.

All of these copyright laws limit us. As mentioned before, people have less of an opportunity to be creative and share their ideas, art, and creations when there are laws - some of which were created to allow people to make more money - hiding and protecting what people have made.

4. To build free societies you must limit the control of the past.

This point kind of wrapped up the documentary in its entirety. We cannot let these copyright laws limit us and take away our freedom. We will not grow as a society, and we will be held back from many triumphs if we protect ideas purely for monetary purposes. RIP! A Remix Manifesto did an outstanding job of explaining these burdens of our society.

Bernd and Hilla Becher Video

Bernd and Hilla Becher, a German duo interested in the new documentation style of photography, do not just take pictures of industrial structures. The Bechers were interested in documenting different structures within industrial areas to be able to analyze their characteristics; they did so by taking long exposures to collect a lot of information within the image. However, they were also interested in capturing the essence of the time period of which the structures were built because these machines were such an integral part of the industrial revolution. The Bechers realized that these structures were going to be demolished some day, so their photography also became historical in their eyes.

I thought it was interesting when the Bechers started talking about why they put their photographs in a grid pattern or formation. As they were documenting these industrial structures, they noticed that they all had different variations or slight changes in the way they were built. When they noticed this, they began to compare and contrast the images; the best way to do this was to put them side by side. In the grid formation, they could compare and contrast 9 or 16 structures at a time. In the video, they also mentioned that they looked at the structures as a form of art. They were interested in the technical aspects and functions of the structures, but they also noticed patterns within the buildings. I thought this was interesting because I always analyze machinery in a scientific and mechanical sense. On the other hand, when I see the grid formation of all the pictures of the same structure, I see it as art. I find myself not comparing and contrasting the buildings, but looking at the image as a whole. I find it very aesthetically pleasing because the grid of 9 or 16 pictures creates one large pattern in my eyes. I really enjoy how Bernd and Hilla Becher’s work is both a form of documentation and a form of art.

Jeff Wall video

I do not completely understand all of Jeff Wall’s photographs. I understand that they are staged, but I do not see any meaning behind most of them. He evokes feeling from some of his staged photographs. For example, in Wall’s photos of the war zone, I felt disgusted, which is one of the main things he aimed for in that image. I did think it was interesting that he wanted to add a comical portion to the photo, but that actually disgusted me more. In this example of staged photography, I also understand how the photographer evokes certain feelings within the viewer's mind. Plus, some of his photos where he was trying to capture movement reminded me of Cindy Sherman’s work because they looked like movie snip-its. However, there were several images Wall showed that confused me. I kept thinking ‘what you see is what you get.’ To me, the image of the three people walking down the city street does not have a meaning because they do not evoke any feelings within me, they do not make me imagine anything, and they do not make me question anything. I truly wish I understood his thinking behind some of his work, but I think like a scientist; I analyze things scientifically by examining what the images say on the surface - three people walking down the street. Additionally, I did not understand why he liked that some of his pictures had the black lines down the middle of the pictures. I thought it was distracting and took away from the photo, but he thought that it brought the viewer’s focus to the surface of the image. I respect Jeff Wall for explaining his reasons behind all of his photographs and sharing his thought process for why and how he created the images, but I do not have much of a connection with his work.

Vik Muniz - Waste Land Vik Muniz, born and raised in Brazil, moved to America after he was shot in the leg and could afford the travel by payment of the shooter. When he arrived in New York, his life did not immediately improve, but he worked on the thing he loved most, art. Eventually, he had his own exhibits and was featured in the Museum of Modern Art for his series Sugar Children. As a conceptual artist, Muniz was interested in working with uncommon materials to create his artwork. For his Sugar Children series, he photographed children that had parents and/or grandparents that worked in Caribbean sugar plantation on the island of Saint Kitts. He chooses to use a relevant material to make his artwork because it gives everything another layer of meaning. During this process, Muniz also takes the time to learn about the background of the area he is working in and the people he is working with. His Sugar Children series is most similar to the work he created in Lucy Walker’s, Waste Land. In the documentary, Waste Land, Vik Muniz explains how he wants to give back to people from his home country. He visited the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, to analyze how he would carry out his project. As he talks to the garbage pickers and the owner of the recycling facility, he decides to photograph some of the pickers there and recreate their photographs with garbage. In addition to photographing the locals working at the garbage dump, Muniz gets to know his subjects and listens to them describe the hardships they face on a day-to-day basis. At the beginning of Muniz’s project, most of the pickers were not proud of their past how their lives led them to their current occupation; they felt embarrassed that they collect recyclables in a dump everyday to barely make any money. After the pickers helped Muniz arrange the garbage to outline the projection of their portrait, they grew to appreciate art; they began to realize the meaning of the material they were using, and they saw how much effort went into one mosaic masterpiece. Plus, they appreciated the work Muniz created after his works of art were sold because Muniz gave back to them.
One of the things I noticed during this documentary was that the pickers did not have much (money, possessions, a nice place to live, etc.), but they were very thankful and humble people; they were not greedy, and they did not want much more in life other than happiness and success for their loved ones. I thought it was touching to see how the pickers began to appreciate themselves and cherish all of the hard work they have done to provide for themselves and their families. After they completed the project, they felt accomplished, and they were grateful for the opportunity Muniz gave them. In this sense, I do think art can change people. They had a different perspective on life after their experience with Muniz. I do think Muniz wanted recognition for his work, but I think he truly cherished the time he spent getting to know the garbage pickers. I do not think Muniz was being selfish when he began this project; he wanted to give back to people less fortunate than him. His artwork now has a deeper meaning to me, and I love how the portrait photos remind me of those charming garbage pickers.

Georges Rousse video

Georges Rousse, a famous conceptual photographer, creates abstract art and optical illusions within old, rundown buildings that will soon be demolished. He uses a grid system and traces the area he is looking at through his camera. Then, he outlines the design he wants to create on the traced image. He paints his design in a way that looks completely flat, or two-dimensional, on a discontinued, three-dimensional space, which I think is amazing. Additionally, Rousse, builds structures and cuts holes in the existing buildings to give more depth to his work. After outlining his idea, constructing his area, and painting his design in the building, he photographs his work. Rousse combines many different mediums of art into his work, and it is stunning. These mesmerizing designs continued to become more complex. Rousse painted intricate maps and large words from his journals inside abandoned buildings. I found that I was sucked into his work because I would look at the image in so many different ways. At first, I look at the big picture or design of his painting. Next, I try to determine how Rousse created such a 2D image, and I analyze the textures and different surfaces within the design. I find myself getting lost in his photographs. I also love that his original work is for his eyes only, because after he photographs his creation, the buildings are demolished. He makes his mark in many different places, but only gives the viewer a portion of the artwork’s layout to view. In a way, photography restricts the viewer because they are not physically where the photograph was taken, and they cannot take in all of the stimuli available at the point of origin.

Cindy Sherman - Nobody’s Here But Me (1994)

I enjoy photography as a hobby, but I know nothing about famous photographers. For me, Cindy Sherman’s name was unfamiliar, and I had no expectations for how her work was going to be portrayed. At first, I was confused about how Sherman’s work. She took pictures of women, but she took pictures of herself. I was not sure how her work seemed revolutionary to so many people, but as the film progressed, it became more clear.

When the video showed different photographs of Cindy Sherman dressed differently, I began to realize how much talent she has. I started to understand more about the basis of her work when she started talking about how she makes herself look like a different person by changing the angle at which she takes the photo. Sherman discussed how she used to play dress-up when she was younger, and she explained that she changed her outfit for the photographs. Her explanation reminded me of how she said she dressed differently in the streets of New York to avoid the attention of other people. I think this connection is extremely important because Sherman understands how to force people to have a certain perception of her, which is why her work is so powerful.

As Jamie Lee Curtis, a well known actress, described different aspects of Sherman’s photographs, she unraveled another aspect I had not thought about. Curtis explained how Cindy Sherman’s photos looked like a snippet of a movie scene, and she said that these snippets provoked a certain thought or understanding of what was happening at that moment. Not only does Sherman have the creative mind to compose these pictures or scenes, but she also has the patience to be so particular with putting together such specific objects to create that image. Throughout the film, her photos were shown, and they became more and more impressive to me as I noticed subtleties that add more depth to her work.

Since Sherman knew how to create different persona’s of herself and change the perceptions of her viewers, she was able to work societal aspects into her photography. For example, Sherman created many works of art related to how women are treated or how society expects women to act; this was one of the ways she took out her frustration and sent messages to the public. Additionally, Sherman wanted to bring back memories for her viewers or influence them to imagine a background story for her photos. I think this is one of the main reasons why I appreciate her work. On the surface, the photos look simple, but Sherman’s determination to evoke a certain emotion or thought into the minds of the viewers makes it much more significant. Even though Cindy Sherman was influenced heavily by society, she did not care how people viewed her work, and she continued to send artistic messages to the general public. She was brave for publishing her artwork even when people viewed parts of a human body as private and when exposing them became taboo. After watching this film, I can say that I have a deep appreciation for Cindy Sherman’s work as a postmodern photographer.