Lecture 5 - Hyperreality

Critical Studies

Lecture 5

Jean Baudrillard 1929 - 2007

Haddon Sundblom - illustrations from 1930s

Father Christmas not always represented the same way

Coca Cola ^

Cognitive illusion

Coke challenge - blind taste test/ not blind taste test -

people consume the brand not the product

Baudrillard - French Philosopher - social theorist

Pioneering theorist in semiotics, post modernism, pop culture and media theory

Associated with 'post structuralism'

group of thinkers - french 1960's +

Deleuze, Barthes, Derrida, Cixous, Foucault, Baudrillard. 

Text - anything that can be interpreted in signs - contextualised 

Structuralism - signs and language being important. Interest in 'structures' in terms of culture/ society. 

Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Lacan, Althusser, Leroi-Gouran, Kristeva.

Guy Debord - 'Society of the Spectactle' (1967)

Marxist theorist

Commodity - relations in the age of consumer culture.

Revised Marx's theories for the 60's

Images and signs. 

Society had become an 'Immense accumulation of spectactles'

Spectacle - About looking - making sense of images. Consumer culture operates on the basis of images and signs. 

Karl Marx - Philosopher and economic theorist.

'Critique of political economy'

Economy looked at with a political/ideological perspective.

Attempt to move on from this society to a better one. 

'Labour Theory of Value'

Modes of production - Capitalism/Socialism/Communism

"All that is solid melts into the air; all that is holy is profaned" Quote from Hamlet - appears in the communist manifesto of 1848.

Ferdinand de Sassure - Swiss born pioneer of semiotics.

Linguistic theory of value. 

Language functions n the basis of a theory of value.

Value is based on the exchange of signs.

Signified

--------

signifier

Marcel Mauss - Anthropologist and ethnographer

pre-strucuralist 

renowned for the idea of 'economy of the gift' in different societies. 

Gifts are only given as part of an exchange.

The gift is always reciprocated in some way.

George Bataille - Philosopher, novelist, poet.

renowned for writings on transgression/death.

gift economies. 'Expenditure without return'

Potlatch - form of sacrifice - ritualistic. 

Marshal McLuhan - Media theorist

Distinction between 'hot' and 'cool' media. Argued that the 'medium is the message'

Baudrillard - 

'Simulacra and Simulation' 1981

elaborated his theory of simulacra (developed since 1970's)

simulacra are copies of the thing they are intended to represent or stand in for - or in recent years - a copy of a copy. - reproductive representation

Contraversial subject for a long time.

Simulacra has become a key term in post modern theory and culture.

The matrix takes a lot of simulation and simulacra theory in its idea and plots.

Luis Burges - If a cartographer keeps creating maps in more and more detail, eventually the map will be as big as the area being mapped with each point exactly covering the original point, eventually making the map and reality the exact same thing with no way of differentiating.

"The generation by models of a real without origin or reality: A Hyperreal." - Baudrillard

Sucessive phases of the image-

• It is the reflection of a profound reality
• It masks and denatures a profound reality
• It masks the absence of a profound reality
• It has no relation to any reality whatsoever: It is its own pure simulacrum. 

Reflection of a profound reality - 

Body of Christ and blood of Christ

Something real going on.

Masks and denatures reality - 

If there is good then there may be evil.

Distorts reality/ masks it

Gargoyles - animal/human hybrid - denatures reality

Masks the absence of profound reality - 

Sorcery - witchcraft etc.

Whole worlds of strange creatures very loosely based on reality.

almost no basis on reality.

No reflection to reality whatsoever - 

A world of simulacrum together.

e.g. Disney Land - has no reality

Castles have history but in this instance the ideas and the films and characters came first.

Father Christmas - Illustration of the hyperreal.

has historical basis

but 'post modern' father christmas has developed from Coca Cola. 

Pure simulacra - copies of copies that do not refer to historical reality

Christmas German Market - Modern christma stradition is very germanic.

Commercialised - german markets everywhere in the country.

Birmingham German market bigger than the one in Frankfurt.

Simulacra - All UK german markets look almost identical - representations

Hyperreality illustration

Developed so far it doesnt represent the original much at all

Frankfurt has been dramatically rebuilt since the war, so the original does not exist anymore.

TV editing creates hyperreal TV not reality TV

After editing it has no real representation of reality but gives the illusion that it does.

It is its own perfect simulacra.

3 Orders of Simulacra:

The counterfeit - Classical Period

Production - Industrial Era

Simulation - Current Code - governed phase

"The Gulf War did Not Take Place" (1991) Baudrillard

'first gulf war' not a real war -  simulacrum in itself.

War is a play of images and signs. 

Seminar 2 - The Gaze

Lecture Notes - Communication Theory

"Who says what to who in what channel with what effect"

• Cybernetic/ Information theory
• Semiotics
• Phenomenonological
• Rhetorical
• Socio-Psychological
• Socio-Cultural
• Critical

Cybernetic Theory of Communication:

Source -> message -> Transmitter -> signal -> -> recieved signal -> Reciever -> message -> Destination 

Linear process.

Three levels of communication problems:

1. Technical (Accuracy, Encoding/Decoding)

2. Semantic (Precision of language)

3. Effectiveness

System theory - Mathematical

                         Biological              <- Interdisciplinary 

                         Sociological

                         Physiological

Semiotics:

Semiotics - What does a sign stand for

Syntactics - Relationships between signs

Pragmatics - Studying how signs practically affect

Phenomenogical Tradition:

Knowing through experience

The way in which humans come to understand the world

Phenomenon - appearance of an object, event or condition

Authentic human relationships

Rhetoric:

Personification as rhetoric used to humanize objects and ideas.

Hyperbole/ Irony/ Personification

Seminar 1 - Notes

This is the page of notes from the first CTS seminar. It doesn't go into much detail but has a few of the key points that were discussed about the Panoticism seminar and task. 

This is the handout from the session. It shows some of the notes made in the session and where the quotes are that I picked for the first task. It probably wasn't necessary to put up all of the pages but if I lose the handout I guess I can use this as a resource. 

Portfolio Task 1 - Panopticism

There are a lot of aspects of contemporary culture that can been seen as being Panoptic in some way and one of these is Mobile Phones. Cellular mobile technology has developed so much over the last decade that about 85% of adults in the United Kingdom own at least one mobile phone. Mobile phones consistently transmit information to several different places at any one time and this information can be accessed by authorities with relative ease if considered necessary.

"This surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration"(Foucault in Thomas. J, 2000, p.61)
Every time a phone is used for communication it will need to send data through a series of checkpoints, including mobile transmitters and satellites, before being received by the specified contact. At each point of the journey the information will be logged as a point of reference and important information about the data will be kept such as the time, location and originating mobile phone number. The majority of phone users will be aware of this fact to some degree but it is a necessary part of owning a mobile phone and having wireless contact with others.
"Visibility is a trap."(Foucault in Thomas. J, 2000, p.64)
Knowing this does not mean that any personal information about mobile communication is necessarily accessed but it means that there is never a moment when it can not be. The possibility of access at any time can modify behaviour and content of something as innocent as a phone call by creating institutional gaze. Even the possibility of "visibility" can cause self regulated behaviour in text messages and mobile conversations.

Mobile phones can also be considered Panoptic in the way that they change personal interaction. Although this example doesn't fit perfectly to a Panoptic description it does work on some levels.
"Two ways of exercising power over men, of controlling their relations, of separating out their dangerous mixtures."(Foucault in Thomas. J, 2000, p.62)
Talking over a mobile phone creates a separation that a normal conversation would not. There is little reason to meet in person when a phone call can be made from anywhere to anyone so the prospect of further development of malicious plans or unwanted topics of conversation is stunted, not to mention the fact that most phone calls can only be made from one individual to another which eradicates the possibility of excess group meetings for the same reason. Separation is a key aspect of the Panopticon ideology but so is a lack of communication so the analogy does not work perfectly in that sense other than the fact that it creates a very different kind of communication.

Aside from controlling malicious possibilities, mobile communication very generally manipulates social interaction.
"But there was also a political dream of the plague, which was exactly its reverse: not the collective festival, but strict divisions"(Foucault in Thomas. J, 2000, p.62)
The change from group meetings to sets of individually distanced conversations and messages is a big difference to the ideology of the 'festival' in which large groups of people congregate. Essentially this creates a society which is much easier to govern; an important aspect of Panopticism. With everybody physically separated the institution is under a lot more control, getting closer to the idea of docile bodies to work with.

On top of separation, the institutions have control of what should be considered socially 'normal'.
In contemporary society there is nothing irregular about a mobile conversation from anywhere in the country to anywhere else.
"The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad"(Foucault in Thomas. J, 2000, p.65)
Mobile phones alter the average dyadic of a conversation because visibility is a prominent aspect in face to face communication. Aspects of body language and reactions help to communicate emotion and understanding across a conversation and the introduction of a longer distance conversation completely changes the distinction of normality in communication. Defining "normality" is key in Panopticism as it gives a basis and a justification for control.

Lecture Notes - Critical Positions of the Media and Popular Culture

Ways in which people have theorised / categorised culture
Raymond Williams 1983
Culture - "One of the most complicated words in the English language"
            - The shared development of society
            - A way of life
            - Works of intelligent or artistic significance

Karl Marx concept of Base/ Superstructure


Base - Forces of production (Tools/Materials)
           Relationships of production (Master/ Slave)

Superstructure - Social Institutions (Legal, Political, Cultural)
                          Forms of consciousness (Ideology)

Society is fundamentally based on struggle.

Base -> Determining content and form of -> Superstructure -> Reflects for and legitimises -> Base etc.

Ideology: - System of ideas or beliefs
               - Masking, distortion or selection of ideas to reinforce power relations through creation of "false consciousness"

Representing personal interests as social interests.
Definitions of 'Popular' - Well liked by many
                                   - Inferior kinds of work
                                   - Work deliberately setting out to win favour
                                   - Culture actually made by the people themselves

Things can be high culture and popular - quantitative popularity
The idea of taste is ideological.

Inferior or Residual Culture:

Popular press VS quality press <- aimed at different classes
Cinema VS Art Cinema

Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane
"Folk Archive" 2005

Graffiti - Developed by the people for the people

Popular culture movement can be traced to the beginnings of modernity.
- Industrial revolution brings about obvious class divisions (wealth but also culture, art etc.)

Matthew Arnold 1867 "Culture & Anarchy" - Arnoldism
Culture - "The best thats been thought and said about the world"
The study of perfection
The pursuit of culture
"Minister to the diseased spirit of our time."
Working class starting to break class boundaries. Culture stops it from happening.

Leavisism - F. R. Leavis
20th Century has seen a decline in the quality of culture.
"Culture has always been in minority keeping" - Blames the increasing of the working class.

Collapse of traditional 'quality' society came at the same time as democracy.
Popular culture offers a form of distraction and compensation for real culture.
Culture is an elitist ideology dominated by higher classes.

Critical Theory: Frankfurt school -> 1923 - 33
Marxism and psycho analysis
Reinterpretation of Marxism for the 20th Century
"Late Capitalism" "All mass culture is identical"
Mass Culture produces conformity not anarchy
Hebert Marcuse - Popular culture VS Affirmative

Consuming popular culture can reduce the political meaning and just help fuel capitalism.
People may think they are making a political stand but really just conforming more to nonconformity.

Authentic Culture VS Mass Culture -
Autonomous culture
Individual creation and imagination

Adorno and Pop Music - Produces passivity through rhythm and emotional adjustment.

Walter Benjamin - "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" 1936
Mass production introducing potential progression

The Birmingham School.
The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies
1963 - 2002

Lecture Notes - Panopticism

These are the lecture notes for Panopticism on 4/11/10

1791 - Panopticon is a building metaphorically representing heirarchy

Michel Faucault (author)
            - Madness and Civilisation
            - Discipline & Punishment: The Birth of Prison

1600s + ideas about madness start to change.
"The Great Confinement"
'Socially unproductive' people locked away in confinement.
(Mental illness, criminals, single pregnant women etc)

Houses of correction - People made to work in an attempt to teach them to be normal

Houses also used to hide away the sociallu unproductive from public view.
Instead of making them 'better', the residents would make each other 'worse'.

Faucault aims to show that forms of specialist knowledge give people a higher, greater status, allowing them to be in control of others.

Pillary & execution - Deviance is publicly shown and punished.

Disciplinary Society and Disciplinary Power:
Discipline is a technology.
Keep someone under surveillance to control their behaviour and try to improve them.

Jeremy Benthams - Panopticon
lots of Panopticon based prisons have been created in the past.

Panopticon is the opposite of a dungeon.
-People get locked away out of sight in a dungeon
-Panopticons make sure that people are always being watched

Makes people believe they are always being watched. Eventually no one needs to watch them at all.
Prisoners self regulate their behaviour.
Panopticons no longer built - seen as psychological torture.

Self Regulating behaviour to become what the individual believes the greater 'invisible' power would want.

Panopticism is still used in contemporary society.
Open plan offices, bars/pubs.
Google maps is a large scale panoptic sysetm in theory.

Because surveillance is so wide spread we feel constantly watched by an invisible power.
This forces us to self regulate behaviour which keeps the world under easy control.

Relationship between power, knowledge and the body:
Panoptic power/ surveillance physically affects the body not just mentally.

Disciplinary society provides a "Docile Body" according to Faucault:
- Obedience
- Easy to control
- Self monitoring and self correcting.

Gyms show panoptic control, showing off to the public that exercise is good.

Nazis used the 'perfect body' ideal to make sure docile bodies were well kept.
Healthy people means they can work and remain productive.
Eradicates unproductive people.

The exercise of power relies on there being the capacity for power to be resisted.

"Institutional Gaze" - another description for panopticism in action

Lecture Notes - Postmodernism

Modern world, Modernity, Modernism-
Progression,
Innovation,
Experimentation,
Progress,
Intellectuality,

Post Modernism -
Pluralism
Ehaustion
Dissillusionment
Almost ironic
Skeptisism

Postmodernism is the reaction to modernism and the realisation of its flaws

Social and economic movement first refferenced in 1917 by Rudolf Pannwitz although not really a post modern world until the late 20th century

The historical era that followed modernism

Lecture Notes - The Document

Photography innovative for human kind.
Ability to physically capture the world theoretically objectively

James Nachtwey
Capturing negatives and injustices to humanity
not necessarily being objective, but trying to express one view and expression.

Objective photography not really objective either because the existance
of the photographer is intervention in the scene.
Not documenting a scene of life but manipulating perspective and choosing
what they want someone to see.

'Neutral' photos do not exist.
"Photography achieves its highest distinction - reflecting the universality of human condition in a never-to-be retrieved fraction of a second"

Even seemingly realistic 100% objective views are what that photographer want to show in light, perspective, position etc

Even something as small as the title of a photograph can completely change the context of it and the way it looks to individuals.

Photographs attempting to be realistic are often constructed to be a fantasy view of the world either conciously or not.

Lewis Hine tried to create much more realisticallystyled photographs with some historical or social value.

Photographers can alter their photographs by changing the way their subjects react to them in what they are wearing and the way in whcih they act onto the subjects, as well as having pre conceptions as to what they want to capture.

The FSA-
Series of photographers working independently but controlled by the government to document the poor farmers that were movied (photography used to make the upper classes donate to the farmers charity)

Images constructed to portray a narrative.

Carl Damman
Cesare Lombroso "Portrait of a melancholy"

Photographs can be used completely subjectively to prove or convince things which are completely false.

Conflict Photography

Robert Capu and Cartier Bresson 1947
MAGNUM GROUP
To document the world and social problems
completely mobile and international

Although these are theoretically neutral, each photographer has their own style, making each photograph stylised
Falling Soldier 1936

Nick Ut 1972
Don McCullin 1968
Banned from Falklands by the british government because of worries about what he might photograph

Robert Haeberle 1969

-----------------------------------------------------

William Klein
Made it obvious and clear that the photographer is a role in the end product of the photograph, interacting obviously with the public and his subjects. In a way, this may make them more objective by never attemtping to say that he did not alter the pkicture with his presence.

Critical Realism:
The idea that actual reality says nothing about the subject and so the scene has to in some way be staged or altered for the photograph to have any meaning.

Allan Sekula
Andreas Gursky
Jeff Wall 1992

Gilliam Wearing "Signs that say what you want them to say" 1992-1993

Jeremy Deller "The Battle of Orgreave"
Jon McPhee (Documented at the time)

Documentry photography is irrelevant in modern age of technology with cameras in several digital items that are available to almost allof the general public.

Key Features:

-Humanitarian Perspective
-Tend to portray social and political situations
-They say they are objective though may be subjective
-People form the subject matter and content

Lecture Notes - the Mass Media & Society

Age of print began 1450

Marshall Mcluhan attempted to understand the new digital technology
"Late age of print"

Gutenbergs printing press was the first machine capable of mass producing.
this allowed production of a massive scale
Also allowed knowledge to be spread to a mass market.

Computer Litteracy
Understanding and controlling the new media
Allows self publication over the internet and new ways to consume media

Technology allows empowerment of the reader instead of the writer
More power over media now than ever before

Hypertext allows quick changing and moving through webpages in seconds

Hypermedia allows loads of pictures, text and sounds

Can make the reader become lost among the Hypermedia and miss a lot of important information.
This in turn could lead to completely misunderstanding entire topics or events

"Modern systems of communication and distribution supplied by a relatively small
group of cultural producers, but diverted towards large numbers of consumers"

Theoretically the internet is not a type of mass media at all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mass Media - Negatives:

-Superficial, Un critical, almost pointless in many ways because of lack of content
-Popularity measures success rather than actual content or interesting information
-Audience is disempowered and almost fooled into thinking that they have power and that they are included in the content
-Encourages conformity in social issues (class, race, sex)
-Also encourages apathy in the sense that viewers sit and watch in vain
-Power is held by a small group of people who can really do whatever they want
-Bland and standardised

"Religion is the opium of the masses"

Positives:

-Not all media is low quality or bland
-Media does discuss injustice and negative social issues
-Creativity is a feature
-Transmission of highly classed art material can reach a broad audience
-Achieves a high democratic potential

Art in the age of Mass Media:

Basically a book about the effects of delivering high class art to a broad audience and making it public

Is art autonomous?
Jackson Pollock - Abstract Expressionism

Repetition of imagery can desensitise the public

Mass Media claims the stles of some higher art and introduces them to the public

In many cases, art and media stand together

Lecture Notes - Advertising, Publicity and the Media

Times square in New York - full of advertising, like many other places

1990s - 11,000 new TV adverts per year
25 million print adverts per year

Advertising inescapable - affect our concious and subconious mind

Karl Marx - born 1818 died 1883
wrote the communist manifesto in 1848
wrote Das Kapital in 1867

Marxism - critique of consumer culture, commodity culture

We construct identity through products and consumerism
The idea that you shouldnt be defined as a person by what you own but by who you are
Lives are run buy products and advertising
Stuart Ewan calls it the "consumer self"

Symbolic association plays a key part in products and their meanings

Perpetuating false needs -
Aesthetic Innovation
Planned Obsolesence (Products today are built to eventually break so that new ones have to be bought)
Novelty (new, different, exciting)

Commodity Fetishism:
Products use advertising and campaigns to hide their history

Reification:
Products are given human associations
(e.g. Cool, sexy, romantic)
Creates a human-like close attatchment to products

Herbert Marcuse wrote "The One Dimensional Man" in 1964

Positives:

Advertising produces money and makes society richer
The money can often be used for ethical things and lots of things aside from advertising

Negatives:

Teaches people tht they are inadequate
can advertise to children who are more likely to be affected
Makes people want things that they cant afford

Lecture Notes - Graphic Design - A Medium for the Masses

Communication through images
Still frames or animated stories

William Addison Dwiggings
1890s
British graphic design very traditional
European graphic design much more modernist in style and forward thinking

Bauhaus one of the first places to teach graphic design principles
Swiss graphic design important and influential

Hitler forced traditional art
above modernist graphic design styles of art

Communist propaganda much more modern
Design in the UK and US seemed to become much more contemporary after 1945

Design starts becoming corporate
It starts becoming about mnaking money instead of communication

Quickly became a large divide between those who advertise
and those who use graphic design in an educated or philosophical way/
Intellectually/ Morally concious raising

graphic design quickly takes a 'Punk'
anti establishment movement during the 70's and onwards.

Adbusters founded in 1989 as large non-profit
anti consumer based organisation

Lecture Notes - Modernity/ Modernism and the Mass Media

1700 - 1960 - modernist movement
Modern = to improve, make better / newer and better

William Hunt - Modern in painting style but not ideology

1889 L'exposition
Eiffel tower - Modern/ Steel
Industrial/ Modern aesthetic

Urbanisation - the switch from country to city.
Factory work, working shifts, new communication links
Telephone/ Telegraph
Invention of railways
Standardising time (date)

Trottoir Roulant - moving walkway in paris

Enlightenment - late 18th Century
Scientific/ Philosophical ideas progress
Religion dropped for science
Secularisation
The city - Product not place

Haussmanisation
Napoleon comissioned to redesign Paris city making long straight narrow roads for
modernity and easily policed streets
Social Control
Uncontrollable people kicked out

Worry about life being too fast in 1890
society of alienisation - class difference
Fashion important in class division

Modern shift style work developed further, life becomes controlled by work

Degas 1876 L'Absinthe
Compositionally very modern, very photographic.

Invention of photography becomes important to modernism

Modernist Design:
Anti Historicism (Not to look back, embrace the new)
Times new roman - not modernist, historicist
Truth to materials - No subtlety

Form Follows Function - functionality omes before the look and feel/ aesthetic comes from function

Technology advances
Internationalism - Modernism is an international language
Design to relate to the world

Bauhaus - Representation of Modernity in art. Concrete - modern technology

Post Modernism - to understand that modernism doesn' work to the extreme

Kaiserpanorama 1883
Modern technology - Technological beginnings

Lumiere Brothers

Modernism is a product of a subjective response to modernity

New York-
Modern City, Built in blocks/ grid based
scientific, mathematical.

Portfolio Task 4 - Semiotic Analysis

The first of these adverts is a Pepsi poster and the second is an Amnesty advert at a train station.

Pepsi are well known as the worlds second leading soft drink but generally do not have a positive moral connotation. Amnesty on the other hand are well known for being one of the worlds leading organisations for human rights and have a very strong moral standing.

The most notable thing about the pepsi advert is the colour which stands out above the rest of the image. The whole poster has a strong blue theme across it which does wlel in representing a sense of cool and cold and connotes the sea and the sky. These in turn connote purity and innocence which give the brand a sense of goodness while making the drink itself seem clean and refreshing.

The Amnesty advert is much plainer however, which works well in presenting the message. The advert is actually printed onto glass so that the background fits to whatever environmemt the display is placed in. By using the glass, the advert becomes reality instead of a flat, unoriginal poster and the message comes across as being more important. The seemingly mundane grey of the background choice signifies a gritty reality of the world which makes the advert believable and the consumer directly relates to whatever it shows (After all, this location is reality).

Compared to this, the Pepsi advert has very little scope for reality and is much more about selling the one particular product. Compositionally, the advert has no look of reality as the cups are slanted and have no apparent surface level to rest on. Coupled with the changing size between the two cups, this creates an effect almost like the cups are exploding out of the image towards your eyes. Two cups suggest that the advert addresses more than one person at a time and it denotes the idea of a party environment with several friends sharing the enjoyment of Pepsi together.
The background pattern is reminiscent of ice or snowflakes which again signify the cool purity of ice and the freshness of snow. The condensation on each cup is another sign for the cool, refreshing effects of the pepsi and connotes a hot environment with the feeling of needing to cool off and rehydrate by having a drink. The snow flake-like design also confusingly connotes winter which contradicts the condensation on the cups because they would need hot weather. The sparkling glittery white effect in the very middle of the poster creates a sense of value by denoting diamonds and precious jewels and the shimmering effect is another link to purity and worth.

All of these themes are completely contrasting to those in the Amnesty advert. The advert features a young black child holding some kind of automatic assault rifle. The tone of the advert is set from the first glance, and already the child loses all the usual connotations of innocence and purity and gains all of the negative connotations that the gun holds. The child actually becomes almost unrecognisable as a child and his image takes on a much less human vibe. The child is black which immediately signifies Africa similar countries and his clothes are basic and dull which signify a poor country and links back to Africa. Along with a globally shared knowledge of conflict zones at least on some basic level, the story of a child soldier becomes the definitive theme for the advert, as we can tell from the way he holds the gun that he is not just holding it but that he uses it. The dark theme of the image continues through the use of the empty bullet cases on the ground which suggest that the gun has been fired recently and connote death and destruction. The boy is stepping confidently over the cases toward the viewer and looking directly in their direction which directly involves the viewer and directs the advert at them. The image is interesting because it has so many signifiers of the darker side of Africa, yet it never specifically mentions the continent at all.

In fact, the Pepsi advert does well to signify the United States too. The style of cup itself connotes fast food and the stereotypical American style red and blue disposable cups. It also has connotations of very American style entertainment like sports stadiums and also links to cinemas. By doing this, Pepsi can easily advertise their product as being entertaining or being a part of an entertaining experience.

Despite their huge differences, many of the techniques used to suggest are similar between the two examples and they even share some themes even though they are on opposite ends of the scale.

Portfolio Task 3

The essay question that I have chosen is the first:
"Focussing on specific examples, describe the way that Modernist art & design was a response to the forces of modernity"

I have also found some books in the college library that should be useful to the essay:

1. Reyner, B. (1980) Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, 2nd edition, Massachusetts: MIT Press.   
(Library Reference 724.9)

2. Bauman, Z. (2003) Wasted Lives: Moderntiy and Its Outcasts, Cambridge: Polity press. 
(Library Reference 301.35)

3. Klanten, R. and Hellig, H. (2009) Naive: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design, London: Die Gestalten Verlag.
(Library Reference 741.6)

4. Khaler, G. (2009) The Path of Modernism from  the World Heritage of Breslauto That of Dessau: The Architecture 1900-1930, Berlin: JOVIS Verlag.
(Library Reference 724.9)

5. Pare, R. (2007) The Lost Vanguard: Russian Modernist Architecture 1922-1932, New York: Monacelli Press.
(Library Reference 720.947)


These books range between the history of modernism and modernity, the beginning of modernist architecture and cover modernism in art and design and graphic design. I think that these will give me a good variety to work with when writing the essay.

Portfolio Task 2 - Summary of text

Here is the summary of pages 125 - 129 of "Art In Theory: 1900-90" by C. Harrison.

In the begginning of the 20th century there was an attempt to create a new type of art which took elements from traditional styles but would stand out in the new century. One thing that stood out in the new century was the idea of expression. Expression was important for art because it created an individuality and a representation of the 'self' of the artist.

The avante garde style of art spread accross Europe, starting most prominently in France. It crossed german-speaking parts of europe and later hit Italy and then Russia. By the first world war Expressionism, Cubism and Futurism represented Europes avante garde reception to the modern world.

There are three main parts to mark the modern world; Modernization, Modernity and Modernism. Modernization is the term given to the technological and scientific progression which changed the world into the modern. It can be easily understood as the evolution of the machine, most notably the internal combustion engine. Modernity can be undertood as an individuals or a societys change as a result of Modernization. It is a concious awareness and reaction to modernization and the character that someone is given as a result. Modernism is then the representation of Modernity. If Modernity is an individual consciousness of the changing world then Modernism is the individual physically representing that consciousness.

There were generally two reactions to the modern which stood out, the first of which was a strong pessimism. Many thought that the machine was increasingly controlling human life and trapping the essence of humanity. The other was extreme exhilaration at the prospect of the modern world and the idea of development being extremely positive. Although opposites, both are still reactions and responses to Modernization and Modernity.

In fact there another important reaction which went deeper than the two above to understand why the modern world is what it is. It was a reaction which realised that Modernization, although visibly fueled by machinery and technology, was actually about difference in classes and the relationships between those classes. People began to realise that the working class held the capitalist world together even though they were almost always worse off for it. The ideology of socialism grew and spread and before long there was demand that art should be used to change modernity and to improve the social world.

Harrison, C and Wood, P. (eds.) (1997) 'Art In Theory: 1900-90', Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 125-9.