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

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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.

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 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.