In this assignment, I merge two of the most iconic paintings in art history!
Salvador Dali’s, The Persistence of Memory
and Van Gogh’s, The Scream
These paintings have been influential in modern pop art as it is widely referenced and used in all sorts of designs ranging from merchandise and even used on social media through Memes.
I wanted to challenge the concept of a selfie as the main reason for taking one would be to feature your face, however, by having my face melt off, it goes against the notion of being presentable in front of a camera and eventually my face just becomes a blank canvas.
As my features only begin to droop off as I open my mouth to resemble a scream, bearing resemblance to the art work. Our faces are a large part of our identities and when taken away from us, it is only natural to be in discord and disarray, which would lead us to scream.
I was fascinated by the scope of this project, because the concept of sharing our lives online is not unfamiliar to us, however, this assignment pushes the boundaries of sharing to a level which some of us may not be comfortable with sharing.
The whole idea of super participation would be to share as much possible in relation to what is on-going in our lives, no matter how minute.
I enjoy packing my days with errands or tasks to complete so that I do not feel as though I am wasting my time. Thus, we decided to record a day which all 4 of us had something to do.
My day began with having a meal with an old friend of mine. We went to Ghim Moh Market to eat lunch. I tend not to share images of what I’m having for meals because I feel that it is not engaging and it is not a reflection of who I am as a person, because I do not associate myself strongly to food.
After which, I went to the gym to burn off all the excess food I ate during lunch.
Facebook has this interesting feature which allows users to post a 360 degree view of their surrounding. This helps the viewers feel more immersed with the poster.
I also noticed that I was not the only one getting my sweat on! Reuben was at a floorball competition and he was probably working even harder than me because it was his finals. These are the things which I would not have known if we did not have Super Participation.
One interesting thing I noticed was that Brendan, Reuben and I all had photography related errands to run on the same day. I was covering one of my hall events and Brendan and Reuben had to do research for another assignment.
After my shoot, I went to have supper with my friend and I came across this, which I had to share. I just thought that it was so funny and I shared it on facebook because it is the kind of humor I relate to. (I know, I’m pretty lame)
And once again, I shared food, which is not common for me.
I was exhausted by the time I reached home so I did not have anything scheduled for the night. My groupmates, however, were night owls and they continued to stay up and post on the group!
Our idea was to record ourselves singing and distort the audio file to a point where it does not resemble anything. The song we chose was ‘Happy Birthday’, and to add a twist, we sang in the stairwell for the most reverb. Reverb is commonly unwanted when people are recording for sounds as it would make it difficult for post editing. We also made it a point to sing out of tune with the song, as well as singing at different timings.
This is to make the song as incoherent as possible, going against every possible taboo of voice recording.
This was edited by me using Photoshop and Audition.
Teri edited this using Photoshop using Filters such as neon lights and Polar coordinates.
Fred edited this using Photoshop using blur and mosaic filters.
Bryan used Photoshop and text editor to create the defining lines across the image.
The collective effort by my group made the image to become one which is organic, yet contrasting in such a way which shows aggressive lines. Because aesthetics was not in our minds, we were left to our devices to come up with something as absurd and as loud as possible. This freedom allowed us to push the boundaries of image manipulation, adding more striking colours to the image.
We tried to create the ‘illusion’ of an ATM, whereby I was withdrawing money and May Thu being the machine.
The second act was to try and pretend that we were in the same space, walking down and going up the same flight of stairs.
The Final act was us throwing an object across the screen, in hopes that it looks as though we were in the same space.
Outcome:
For the ATM act, we had to practice several times to try and get the ‘money’ to dispense seamlessly. We made sure to cover the camera when the money is being dispensed to try and ‘trick’ the audience in thinking that it was the same note.
The second act was more straightforward, but the message was easier to drive across. The main issue we faced was knowing when to come back onto the screen when the other leaves as the final position was the other party squatting.
The last act was the trickiest as it involves us throwing the paper at the correct time. I would say that the receiver of the paper had an additional problem as May Thu had to throw the paper, however, not make it obvious. The poor internet connection also made it difficult to realise when the other party was beginning to throw the paper.
As we usher in the new age of technology, I am pleased to say that something as timeless as art – is also evolving.
Throughout the ages, artists have kept their techniques and skills required to produce their work close to themselves, in fear of other artists ‘stealing’ their style. Artists have also rightly wanted their work to be a reflection or representation of themselves, which is why they seldom work in groups.
However, come the dawning of the technological era, we find that more and more artists are collaborating via means of the internet to form spectacular pieces of work. Artists are also involving more of the audience into their work, often in the process of creation.
The article brought up comments made by Claire Bishop, whereby she tries to undermine the progress of media art and at the same time give a misinterpretation of the movement or the tend.
“Bishop bypasses, discussing the relevance of ‘media art’ as part of contemporary art culture, and relegates it into what she terms as a ‘specialist sphere’.“
This was a move to potentially dissuade artist from entering the field to adhere to her elitist stance on art and how it is only meant to be created by selected skilled artists.
We were tasked to create an artwork using the method of crowd sourcing, similar to the works of Yoko Ono’s Conceptual Art Performance.
The concept for our project was to give the public access to an Instagram account, persuading the audience to upload an object which consists of their favourite colour.
What we intended for the outcome was to create a colour wheel or palate combining all the different objects.
One of the ‘issues’ we faced was audiences not providing us with appropriate image which we could use. This could be in the form of images found online (which would not be considered as objects).
As funny as this may seem, it would be one of the various challenges which may surface if crowd sourcing your art as there is no definitive way of ensuring that everyone follows according to your guidelines.
The issue can be addressed by simply having more people send in their images, however, with a limited amount of time, these images became a scarce resource and we had no choice but to use them.
The results differ in relation to Yoko Ono’s work as the rules are not as defined and there isn’t the element of responsibility or accountability when people upload their image, whereas for Yoko Ono’s work, the audience is able to judge if a participant ‘goes too far’ or against her human rights.
I would like to quote the movie Cloud Atlas.
The audience may feel as though their contribution is inadequate, however, when pieced together, it forms a collective image and it sends a definitive message that everyone has a part in the creation.
“Artists have also rightly wanted their work to be a reflection or representation of themselves, which is why they seldom work in groups.”
Relating back to this quote, I feel that this experimental piece goes against traditional artistic modes and creations.
