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I decided to put my thoughts about my last project on the back burner for a bit so I could attempt to respond to our second prompt. I'm still trying to wed emotion and sterility, but I think in this short clip I was really thinking about what "resurrection of difference" and "under the spectral light of ethnology" really meant. After reading this week's reading, it seemed that Baudrillard was really trying to drive home that there is absolutely no truth in terms of simulations, which really got me thinking about particle simulations, photography, and specifically Barthes and photography. Maybe I enjoyed Barthes' ideas about deadness and photography too much, because I had trouble trying to not think about him and his ideas when thinking about how to respond to the prompt. Since I saw so much overlap between Barthes and the "resurrection of difference", I decided to include a simulation of a photograph that was of importance to discussion in last term's photography class, and create something different from it to attempt to show how my perception of the photograph is currently being modified, and may change for as long as I decide to create new configurations of it. The thing that I'm kind of unsure of at the moment is where one of my configurations has taken me - it resembles a map of the Philippines. And the shadow/outline of the important explorers is still present. I had no intention of arriving at this kind of colonization output. This project could definitely go a more personal route because I have a lot of thoughts being a Filipino-American, but I think I kind of just wanted to show how a simulation could produce a totally different scenario/reality/idea.

Colleen reflection

Colleen’s work intrigues me because she has bettered the lives of others through her artwork, and given back to communities. I find that hugely inspiring, because I feel that a large part of my academic studies has informed me of art’s more so decorative than functional qualities. (An object of contemplation, only permitted within the vitrines of the white cube) I also found it interesting that she and her sister were both artists, and along with the fact that they are twins – it really got me thinking about how my sisters and I had such disparate career pathways. I found the advice she gave to us young artists to be very helpful, and I enjoyed listening to her journey from a photographer to her grad school years at Syracuse. I think it’s always interesting to hear about an artist’s pathway, to see how their work stems from their prior experiences. I don’t think I’ve been to a lot of talks with artists in an age group close to my parents, so I definitely see her as a role model. I’m glad I got to talk to her at the end to ask her how design influenced her making, because that’s a conjunction I’m interested in pursuing – space has become an increasingly important aspect in my work and everyday life.

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I started off with this (1)^st part of my long(er) term project because I am a bit enamored by this Swedish DJ, Ehrling. Check him out if you have the time.

 Ehrling, Give Me Summer

As I mentioned in class today, the hyper-real is present in my work because I am working off more or less popular audio-visual equalizers. Either way, there is a formal style to them. Sit through not just After Effects YouTube tutorials, but any Youtube pedagogy will tell you what looks good and bad. Depending on their desire to convince you to comply with whatever standard to better their expertise? or industry, they will say things like, “it looks terrible…but if that’s something you’re going for, that’s up to you.”

When we typically combine the visual and audio, we have things like movies, music videos, and light shows. I’m very interested in the latter two – I don’t know about you, but I’m an extremely visual person when I listen to music. Listening to a wholly bodily consuming song transports me to another part of the universe or point in time, and often I have the urge to create something that is that personal world. While I have explored this to some extent through painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media, video, and coding, I am still trying to express the visceral through a medium that is engaging and not completely messy or unmessy. (I don’t really like the word ‘balance’ because I feel that its connotations are limiting)

Thanks for reading all the way to this +150 but -350 word blog post if you were intrigued enough by my presentation in class today.