My Video Art Project - "Bon Appetit"

My video art piece is titled "Bon Appetit"

My attempt with this video is to make a powerful statement about the cruel and harmful ways in which humans consume meat and fast food.  As a vegetarian and animal rights activist, this video is close to my heart.  I just hope to make a difference in someone's life with this film.  Enjoy :)

Last Class

Our final actual class was comprised of learning more about music and the evolution of it with technology.  I was especially pleased to see Indochine included in this class, as they are a extremely well liked by me.  It's interesting how musical group dynamics can change so much and so easily when there is a death or conflict between members.  This can be seen through Joy Division's change to New Order.  House music was also interesting to learn about.  I for one hate house/techno music, but it was interesting to learn about its origins and historical impact on the music world.

As for my final thoughts on our Art and Technology class...I loved every minute of it.  This was unlike any other class I have been in over the last four years at the University of Tampa.  With graduation only a few days away, I can leave this place knowing I learned many new and necessary things about art and culture.  Being in the art field, this class definitely gave me a strong stepping stone to begin a career in the advertising/production world.  I am so grateful for everything Santiago taught me and will never forget all the crazy classes we had over the semester.

Digital Music

The synthesizer was quite a ground-breaking instrument for the music industry.  From what we viewed in class I would say that it was first introduced into the world by a bunch of nerdy guys.  This definitely turned the typical musician image upside down, changing a great deal about the music world alone.

Looking at the image I posted of a synthesizer above, makes my head hurt thinking about how to use all of the buttons and keys.  This is also a much older system, a lot less sophisticated than the synthesizers we use today.  How people are able to operate and create amazing musical pieces with this equipment is beyond me.  I am nervous enough as is about using programs like GarageBand for my own video art project.

Music is the core of so much in this world.  Especially relating to art music changes and defines everything.  Video art would not be where it is today without music, especially digital music.  None of the popular music we hear today would be the same without, that's for sure.

Video Art (Continued)

Video art is an interesting art form.  It's odd to see how seeming mistakes can create unique and creative art.  Effects like visually going out of focus and messing with sound quality can produce these works of art.  Video art is like watching a moving painting and interpreting what you see for yourself.  Distortions are a commodity in art and we definitely have seen many amazing examples of this during the last few days of class.

I found the videos we watched of "The Residents" to be particularly interesting and amusing.  Each song and video seemed to have very powerful statements and messages tied to them.  It was definitely experimental music and video.  They remind me slightly of the band "Gorillas" and how they are not about their own individual images, but more about the music and message they are sending.  True artists.

The Beginning of Video Art

Well I have to say that the video art pieces we watched today were not what I expected.  To be blunt, they were a little boring and juvenile.  "The Kiss" used the Paint Box program to draw doodles and what looked like finger paint drawings over the singers and in the background.  I found this extremely dull and repetitive in a way.  

Not to lie, but it was tough staying awake during the first few videos in class.  "Dave's Bike" was a similar film in my eyes to "The Kiss".  It seemed pointless and that the creation of it took little to no skill or talent.

One of the few videos that really caught my attention was the one by William Wegman and his infamous dogs.  I have one of his photography books and immediately recognized his work when it was shown on the screen.  I am an extreme animal lover, resulting in my devout vegetarianism, and Wegman's work is simply lovely.  It makes me happy and warms my heart.

Other than that, I was a little disappointed in what we saw today.  I understand that with each art form comes progress and has to start at the bottom, but these films were just too long and simplistic for me to understand.  I hope to see more progression in the future :)

Performance Art

My Performance Art Piece is titled "Blind with Technology", fitting for the lyrics to the song playing to the video.  When thinking about my relationship with technology the first thing that came to mind were cell phones.  It is rare to walk around this campus or anywhere else for that matter without seeing people talking, texting, or looking at their phones.  It has become a complete human dependancy.  I have sat in my dorm room and texted my neighbors regularly and talked on the phone to my friend who lives right below me for hours.  Why do I do this through an inanimate object instead of seeing these people who I love and care about face to face?  Cell phones have taken away our human identity.  We no longer look each other in the eye, we look at a phone.  

With this concept in mind I thought, why not put my friends in a costume where they are literally walking, living cell phones?  Why not film this and the interesting reactions given by other unknowing people around them?  Well here's my video depicting just that.  Hope you enjoy!

Oh ya and we did get kicked out of the mall for doing this...what a world we live in these days.

Cremaster Cycle

Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle pieces and exhibit were quite a different breed of art.  I find it very interesting that his work was displayed in the Guggenheim museum in New York.  I can't imagine seeing such work in a more conservative setting.  8 years to create the videos and sculptures seems like an insane amount of time, but Barney seems very satisfied and took the time to create the best work he could with his ideas.  

His reoccurring themes of ram horns and football goal posts to represent gender identification is very unique and fascinating.  A quote I found extremely poignant in the documentary was "the world is our prosthesis".  Definitely a quote to remember.