Category: Reading Assignment

Sound – Reading Assignment

What is sound?

Physically, sound is vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear. In other words, it is An aural component that almost every activity in the world has,  music, film, video etc. In art, sound refers to music which is all organized sound and silence.

How has it been used in culture and society?

From the early 1980s on there are increasing number of exhibitions at visual arts that have focused on sound;By 1995 they had become almost an art fad;
“Sound Art” has become popular which can include everything that can make sound and even.

What makes it an art?

In the author’s opinion , it is not necessary to  denominate the “sound art” as a new category of art.

Sound is a medium that can be related to other art form. The most related is music.And I think we can not deny that sound is a part of  art because it can give us a sense of  aesthetics  . That is why artist create a large number of  art works: kinetic sculpture,instrument activated by wind,conceptual art etc.

How does advancement in audio technology affect our sense?

The invention of the phonograph make it possible to record sound. The improvement of phonograph allow us to have a better experience in recording which will reduce the environment sound and the surface noise. But in the other way, some composers make use of the surface noise as the backdrop to  keep audience rapt in attention,

 

Reading Assignment: Rhetoric of the Image By Roland Barthes

1. What are some of the key questions Barthes aims to investigate in the article?

Barthe aims to investigate How the  meaning get into images.Can an analogical representation produce true systems of signs or is it just a container of free floating information? And what message that an image can pass to viewer.

2.  What are some of the key terms/ concepts introduced and discussed?

The Photograph will offer us three messages: The linguistic message, coded iconic message, A non coded iconic message.

The  image is linguistic .The image will provide a series of discontinuous signs.

What defines the third message is precisely that the relation between signified and signifier.

All images are polysemous;they imply, underlying their signifiers, a “floating chain” of signified, viewers are able to choose some and ignore others.

the drawing does not reproduce everything. However, to be a strong
message,whereas the photograph, although it can choose its subject, its point of view and its angle, cannot intervene within the object. In other words, the denotation of the drawing is less pure than that of the photograph.

3. Do you agree or disagree with his argument and point of view?

I do agree with Roland Barthes. A image contains  a series of symbols which connote the message that the creator wants to pass to viewer. And the message of the image is not only one layer.  The image is linguistic because it transform  the text into a visual denotation.

4. Provide a brief analysis (200 words) on an advertisement of your choice by using the terms/ concepts proposed by Barthes and discuss the role of text and its relationship with the image in the advertisement. Please include an image the advertisement in your post.

This printed ad is aim to promote new bread “Sweet Potato Pot” of Breadtalk. This poster have both caption and photograph.

Apart from the caption there are three main Signs in the poster: The Bread ,  six guys with a hoe as well as the logo of Breadtalk . Two of them are digging the bread in the meanwhile the rest still trying to climb the bread.  This designer change the scale of the people and the bread to create a .extraordinary scene.The  dominant color of the poster is yellow: the filling of the bread and  it shines like gold. Additionally, six guys are also in yellow  shirt(yellow is a color implies appetite).  At the first sight of the image, it has passed  you a  very strong message:the bread is very delicious!

Actually when we look at the post we will look at the image first. So the first impression will be the sign. it is straightforward enough for us to conceive the message inside. That why I agree with the opinion of “the image is linguistic”. After that , we read the text on the post,”I a gold digger”. It supports the message we have gained from the image and is in a complementary relationship with the image. The caption assist viewers to understand the linguistic meaning  in the image.