The past three lectures I've been to have been really diverse and exhilerating. I love visiting artists!! I saw Mark Hosler talk about Negativland's projects, which is inspiring in terms of taking whats already there and mix/mashing it up and spitting it out with new meaning. But I've always felt that thats inherent with all media being forced down the American throat. It's so easy to see their underlying messages, their 'ulterior motives.'
The next was Michael Brohman who's currently showing in the UTSA Satellite Space. I absolutely enjoyed his lecture because he explained the backgrounds of each piece he showed us. And I love his work because it is extremely personal to him and he uses specifically non-traditional media, including cast iron (as opposed to bronze,) feces, roadkill, and human bones to create his sculptures. His concept is always involving a struggle between two forces (one is himself,) and using the tension it creates, he makes work that evokes your own personal struggles, (to which I can definitely relate.)
The next lecture was brought to me by Leslie, my digital tools professor, when she had the class go down to the University of the Incarnate Word to see Brandon Wiley. Super cool. He was lecturing about the internet. Aspects of the internet I didn't even know existed. His goal is to fix the internet I didn't even know was broken! Apparently, there's two versions, different web languages, AND too many retarded filtering, blocking, scanning, and blacklisting entities. His explanation of what's really going on online was eye opening for sure. My favorite part about the presentation was the fact that he's got all this wild and crazy information on what's happening all the time, but he didn't need flashy images or videos to explain it. He used a regular old bulleted outline from a regular old word processing application: text only. His personality, humor, and passion about the pertinent subject commanded everyone's full attention. I learned a lot and have an interest to learn even more about the internet, its flaws, muzzles, and potential.
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Lots of input via the lectures lately! Sounds like it has been a positive experience for you. To Mark Hosler's credit, the Negativland work was truly on the ground floor of the evolution of the culture-jamming media movement. The messages may seem tired & old now, but I think were more lively in their day.
ReplyDeleteMaking apparent the ubiquity and dominance of media messages has been a very important challenge (for artists, educators, and others). One thing I am sensing in relief to that work nowadays is the desire by artists to actually offer something to the audience, instead of simply commenting on what is. The big resurgence of 'participation art' for example...