Technology Will Liberate Us

Lecture Notes

- Anything that is copied is not the same as the original. Image representation is work in its own right. (Benjamin)

- The relationship between art design and media is born from this scenario

- Machine age (modernism)

- Benjamin claimed technology is parallel to new developments

- Because of photography and technology we now have to consider the original and its unique quality (before technology the only copies were fraud paintings)

- Things like movies and songs get copied and you compare whats better

- Photography is at the beginning of the scenario. It is not just your perception, it is used to create multiple viewing points. 'The camera eye has a variable gaze' 'Camera eye represents technological progress and its faith in it'

- Photograms - early experiments with technology

- Freud & Marx debate

M- Technology changes a value of a work of art. Once design enters modes of consumption the value changes. The original is not necessarily the most valuable when it can be reproduced. Labour and production leads to a bigger consumption of art and design.

- Photography moves one thing in to another context, changing the value

- Marx explores the effects of technology on society

- Freud explorers materialism of technology, the subconscious deepest desires

- Kineticsm captures the movement. Chrono photography is before cinematography - it is the start of exploring how we portray space

- Dematerialisation of art and design. Once you start to look at the moving image it moves away from form and object. Don't have to deal with an object at all.

- Richard Hamilton - uses technology to create image. With technology, objects are coded, ordered and styled, and art and design are merging together. Different types of art come together.

- Marx believes there is a logical relationship between technology and society. It is a role and tool for progress, as well as a tool for alienation.

- The original is produced by one person and their own methods. Reproductions are produced by the 'machine'. One person doesn't always see their work through from the beginning to the end. Social alienation is a result of capitalism.

- Electronic age (postmodernism)

- The computer is a centre for art and design. Moving away from old aesthetic.

- We develop and look for new technology as we are always consuming. We are always updating mobiles etc.

- Fashion becomes conceptual

- Video becomes an object

- Experimentation between different types of art. What can be done with visual images develops. Consumerism has a relationship with image.

- Simulation and simulacrum

 

- There is a direct development from the use of image in technology

- Copy of an experience is not real - simulation

- Simulation also becomes real - simulacrum

- If a piece of art was on fashion item the item becomes a piece of art in its own right

- Plays with illusion- What is real? What is copy? What is virtual, what is not?

- How much time we spend on our computers - is that experience real or not?

- This all links back to panopticism and the illusion of power

- Art uses mass media - attacks seriousness of art. At what point does art become design?

- Digital Age

- Potential leads to multimedia production

- Playing with the real and the fantastical

New Media & Visual Culture

• Emergence of new technologies
• Before the invention of the Internet, McLuhan said that the world is now like a village, connected by mass communication
• In 1450 printing techniques developed, so that people didn't have to print only using wood blocks. Printed material slowly becomes available to masses
• Newspapers and books become a circulation of knowledge and information
• Computers become vehicles for the consumption and production of material. They have changed the way we exist, and the way we engage with information
• Will the 'reader' be the end of books?
• You can now read newspaper stories online, which contain forums so people can discuss the article, and challenge it. There is a shift in power from the editor to the reader.
• New technology is democratic, allowing us to shape and change the information we receive
• There is a false sense of freedom and control with this new technology, where you can get lost in the hyperspace information
• Several senses are stimulated with hypermedia, but there are hazards, as too much on the page can be dizzying
• Books force us to engage in a way that the Internet doesn't, as you can so easily skip through with hyperlinks
• A small group of people control the information given out to a large amount of people on a web page
• A con with new this is that there is no presence between the communicator and audience, it depersonalises the experience
• Also, new technology allows for superficiality, such as 'reality' programmes such as X factor
• TV Voting gives the illusion of control
• Viewer call ins seem as if there is true interaction, but in reality, producers can cut off the caller whenever they want
• There are pro's with new technology too - more people can access information now it is mass spread
• It is democratic, also it means art is no longer elitist
• The Benetton campaign traded on images of unity, black and white people together, horror, clothes of shot solider, exposing HIV. The adverts are not socially controlling, they are more about politics than advertising.
• Leeds 13 Scam - A group of art students pretended that they used their university grant for a drinking holiday and leaked the story to a newspaper. They used mass media to gain status.
• Pollock's art is about aesthetic freedom, not about politics and without an agenda. However, there is a conspiracy story that the CIA paid him to paint these images that gave the illusion of independence in art to show Russia that capitalism was best.
• Picasso used and exploited mass media
• Lichtenstein made comic book images, which were regarded as a lesser form of art, sophisticated. He presented this art form to the elitist.
• There was a backlash against pop art, it was criticised with the mass media, as pop art was a challenge to the elitist value system.
• Warhol's prints of Marilyn Monroe are not just pop art images of the famous celebrity, there is much more to them. He has used her as a commodity, as she was represented as being like a product. The print of the Marilyn's is the same style as Warhol's print of Coca Cola bottles - another commodity. The colours used in the Marilyn print aren't realistic art colours, as this image is anti aesthetic.
• Once repeated, shocking images lose their value. Repetition causes indifference.

Advertising and New Media

Old Media

• Hesker Lever is pointed to as the pioneer of advertising. He was one half of the Lever Brothers - now Unilever - a company which manages over 900 brands
• In 1851, Britain was a superpower, it was the richest country in the world (it is now the 4th) and had the largest empire in the world
• In 1860, Britain began to print, and mechanically fill boxes
• The modern shop Lush reverts back to what soap was sold like - cut into slabs and stamped
• The main revenue for advertising was newspapers (now google is a big competitor)
• In the 1890's, better quality colour printing allowed for mass production
• Lever started buying contemporary paintings to use in his advertisements. At the time, when an image was bought, the buyer owned the copyright. He picked paintings of children and items of white linen. These images now seem old-fashioned but were modern at the time.
• The bride painting contains different generations of women and lots of white, ideal for a soap advert.The painting was edited so that the soap could feature. The idea is that the children can see that their mothers use Sunlight soap to keep clothes white, so the children should do it when they grow up. It suggests that happiness will come with this too.
• Unilever the company is still involved with contemporary art, each year sponsoring at the Tate.
• Lever was one of the richest men in the world
• Sunlight was the first international advertising campaign, telling people that they needed the product
• Lever Brothers was the first firm to hold promotional events, having a competition and a day out to advertise the soap
• They even had a royal endorsement, making them the soap makers for Queen Victoria, and started a collection scheme, where customers could save the wrappers in exchange for gifts. This is a common scheme now.
• Paintings were often of middle class scenes containing children. The posters were targeted at mothers as the brand wanted lifetime loyalty.
• Lever took over soap companies from all over the world. He spent £2 million on advertising in the first 20 years.
• There was a sinister side to Lever, he was an advocate for forced labour. He made slaves extract palm oil for the soap, but the advertisements didn't show this side of the picture, instead only showing lovely images of palm trees.
• Lever caused discussions and debates with new art forms.
• Lever was a liberal capitalist so avoided placing advertisements in left-wing papers. He was choosy where he advertised, and wanted good stock.
• John Hegarty of BBH is another pioneer of advertising, he said that advertising is telling the truth, but making it interesting.
• Working class women were the audience for Lever's advertisements. They were hard workers and so they aged quickly. The advertisements tried to advertise that the soap would make life easier, leaving quality time for romance, and also to make sure that you wouldn't age as quickly. Advertisers wouldn't get away with saying something like "why do women age much quicker than men?" nowadays.
• Even the brand Dove (a Unilever brand) uses the strategy of brand loyalty today. They suggest that a mother is responsible for a daughters beauty.
• Britishness was used as a mark for quality and success on products
• The advertisers had a clear message, aiming to point out personal hygiene, and this made sales rocket. This strategy is used in the advertisement for the men's brand Lynx today (another Unilever brand.)
• People began to study the psychology of advertising, as some believed they needed these products to be better.
• To help advertise, there were celebrity endorsements and soap companies even sponsored soap operas on the radio.
• The soap company held a promotional event where children could carve soap figures. This strategy was analyzed with psychology.
• Advertising was criticized by left-wingers during the war.  It was believed to be wrong, evil and morally corrupt.
• Economic Liberals - Admass believed that advertising was better for everyone

New Media

• In the last decade there has been a shift, and many ads now involve audience
• Communication is not just one way, it is circular now the audience are engaged
• Advertisements based on technology
• Voluntary advertisements (watching online) vs. forced (TV/print)
• Trevor Beattie - "Lots of small ideas grow to big ones"
• The YouTube video containing experiment show with diet coke and mentos had nothing to do with either company, but advertising became worth $10 million to mentos
• Advertising now talking with instead of to an audience
• The Old Spice adverts are pass around virals, replying to requests on their twitter account (marriage proposal)
• Oasis new album release advertised by New York street artists performing selected tracks, buzz on streets, news, Internet, even a documentary was made
• YouTube video awards now exist, growing areas are social issues and charities

Mobile Phones

• Mobile phones are changing the future of advertising with their apps
• Giant Hydra company - artists collaborate not compete, people from all over the world help each other with a project