Joe Mulford Contextual Lectures Viscom

Hello, here is my blog for writing up on my Visual Communication Contextual Studies lectures for my first module, Introduction In Visual Communication.

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Fourteenth Contextual Lecture: Psychogeography

In this lecture we learnt about how we unconsciously use psychotherapy on a daily basis much of the time, from checking in at a location on Facebook to admiring a location. We also learnt that the location we are based in influences the work that we create, as we subconsciously take in what we can and can’t do with a location, as well as what we like about it. We also learnt about how many practitioners used narcotics which drastically altered what they saw in a location. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Thirteenth Contextual Lecture: More Than Nothing

In this lecture I learnt about the concept of silence and that it is more of a theory that is created by people to describe the aspect of quietness, as absolute silence is impossible unless you are in space where there is no air and as such no sound waves can pass through it. A particular creative piece which challenges the theory of sound and silence was John Cage’s ‘4:33′ which is a musical recording of absolute silence, with only the sounds of the audience being captured (e.g. Coughing, moving in their seats etc) and this shows that there is no such thing as silence, and the audience are being involved in the musical production rather than the artist. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Twelfth Contextual Lecture: Visual Noise

In today’s lecture I learnt about how to interpret the world around me and that like sound, too much visual stimulation can lead to mental fatigue and overload. I particularly found the video clips of a train in China and a busy street interesting as indeed it was hard to think about anything else at the time of the video playing, and the rest of the group experienced something very similar, as we all sat in silence for the duration of the clip. I also learnt about how artist’s and other creative people have a link to a metaphysical existence as they are always thinking in conceptual and theoretical ways. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Eleventh Contextual Lecture: Ethics And Responsibilities Within VisCom

In today’s lecture I learnt about how important it is to pay attention to the world that we live in as artists and be able to collaborate with other types of artists to produce a piece of work for ethical purposes rather than consumerism. it is highly important to stay aware of political influences and to be aware of sensitive audiences and what a design decision could lead to, whether it be good or bad. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Tenth Contextual Lecture: Information Anxiety

Today in this lecture I learnt about how to properly find and process information in a creative professional environment and style as well as how to format it correctly. I particularly found the structure of lines in a paragraph interesting, in that there should be no more or less than 10 words per line, as too much can lead to boredom and mental fatigue, whereas too little is too brief. I also learnt how to properly conduct a survey in order to find primary information to use for ideas in a brief. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Ninth Contextual Lecture: Postmodernism.

In todays lecture we learnt about postmodernism as well as modernism in art and architecture. I particularly found the architectural part interesting as we learnt that in the creative industries form/function is important alongside an aesthetic reason for a product’s existence, such is the case for the Park Hill flats in Sheffield. They were initially designed as affordable housing for the working class, which then fell into disrepair, and are now refurbished as trendy, high-rise accommodation. This also shows how the form and function of a product can change as time goes on. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Eighth Contextual Lecture: The Portrait

Today I learnt about the conceptual ideas behind portraiture in art, from self portraits to psychological portraiture. I particularly liked Nan Golding's self portrait showing the damage that her abusive boyfriend had done at the time, as this serves a civil purpose as well as a creative purpose, as it archives the abuse and marks the abusive individual out by showing the world what he did. I also found Robert Mapplethorpe's 'The Bull Whip' interesting as it is used to show his participation in homosexual and homoerotic culture in the 1980s, which then progressed to a sickly Mapplethorpe's posing with a skull on a cane before dying of AIDS.

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Seventh Contextual Lecture: (All) Ready Made

In today’s lecture I learnt about the legal perspective of pastiche in visual communication and art, and how it is not ‘copying’ or ‘plagiarising’ another artists work if the inspiration is used to explore other types of context and meaning. An example of this is the short film ‘Logorama’ that we watched today. The use of product placement is overwhelmingly obvious, although it is not a breach of the law as it is used artistically to explore new context, which in this case is to parody the amount of advertising that we see today by literally making structures from advertising materials. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Sixth Contextual Lecture: Appropriate And Connectivity.

In today’s lecture I learnt about how many artist’s don’t actually create work using original ideas, more often than not they create work which is based around a pre-existing idea which is then twisted into the artist’s vision and they put their own spin on it. The change of context that I found the most interesting was the augmentation of the world-famous Mona Lisa portrait, going from the original piece of work to the Mona Lisa with her breasts and stomach showing, to a cross section showing a baby inside. I personally like this change of context as it puts more of a visceral, realistic twist on an otherwise picturesque yet widely appreciated piece of work. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Fifth Contextual Lecture: Protest

In today’s lecture I learnt about how the act of vandalism can be used as a form of less-than-legal protest in response to a very relevant and large issue. An example of this was in the billboard advertising a car which said ‘Come rain, come shine’ with ‘Come climate change’ added to the bottom in an act of defacement and vandalism. This is of course in response to the negative environmental impact that cars have to the environment and the world. I personally found it interesting because it shows of legality can’t necessarily obstruct people’s opinions on a matter, especially on a pressing issue like this one. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Forth Contextual Lecture: Production

In today’s lecture I learnt about how products can be ‘up cycled’, in that products that are no longer wanted or no longer fit for their original purpose can be re-used for something new, such as using scaffolding to make the frame of a table and putting wood on top of it. I felt like this part of the lecture could benefit me in my photography specialism as it could potentially lead to interesting product ideas in the future, such as using recyclable materials to make darkroom prints with, such as cardboard or potentially even plastic. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Third Contextual Lecture: New Perspectives.

In this lecture I learnt about David Carson’s work for the 90′s magazine Ray Gun, where he exploited then new software programmes like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator back in the early 90′s, which were then very crude by today’s standards. I found it interesting how such basic concepts nowadays were revolutionary back in the time, which techniques such as cutting, pasting and layering onto a blank document being such a radical new art form with the infancy of virtual art. It also changed how art is distributed and produced, as before these new programmes this technique would’ve been time consuming to do by hand, whereas on a virtual programme it would’ve been made fairly quickly. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

Second Contextual Lecture: Abstraction In Art Through the 19th And 20th Centuries.

In this lecture I learnt about revolutionary art movements such Vorticism in photography, dubbed vortographs. They rely heavily on combining classical elements of photography such as the subject, composition and the background and combining them to boil photography down to the essence, which is what abstraction in art should be about. I also thought that the abstract art by Kasimir Malevich was relevant to this idea, in particular his piece The Zero Of Form which was merely a black square. This emphasises the idea that abstract art should be about capturing the essence of the idea that the artist intended and creating something simple yet radical. 

[joemulfordviscomlectures-blog]

First Contextual Lecture: Victorian Era Cinema And Photography Forerunners

In this lecture I learnt about the forerunners of photography such as the Daguerrotype, which was the first method of fixing an image so that it is permanent, this is also linked to other methods such as wet plate photography which came later, both before gelatin-based films were invented. I also learnt about the beginning of film and cinematography, with basic inventions such as the stereoscope and the zoetrope, the former creates a 3-D ‘stereo’ effect when focused correctly, and the latter creates an ‘animation’ of sorts when spun fast enough. This in itself links towards how image making has a direct relationship with moving image, and as such photography and filmmaking.