#aztr

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trends for 10/9

toxel http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2015/09/27/classic-art-cakes/

the creator’s project http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/artists-take-polaroids-of-the-digital-world

PSFK http://www.psfk.com/2015/10/apple-harry-potter-ibooks-store-enhanced-editions.html

boingboing http://boingboing.net/2015/10/07/michael-pollan-discusses-how-t.html

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trend report 10/3

Scenario In The Shade by Jonah Freeman, Justin Lowe and Jennifer Herrema is a multimedia exhibition at Red Bull Studios NYC that takes the audience through a multi-room, multi-level aesthetic experience. The exhibit includes a film, sound pieces, and architectural experiences among others. Red Bull Studios NYC website states, "Scenario in the Shade explores the history of youth subcultures of the San San International through a mise-en-scène of objects, architectural environments, and a 30 minute faux-ethnographic science fiction film, presented in the artist’s signature labyrinth of immersive interiors." I wish I had known this going into the exhibit because while I enjoyed it overall, I had a difficult time understanding the experience as a whole. Confusion aside, I did really enjoy the exhibit. It was wonderfully playful and immersive as well as visually engaging. I particularly liked the room that could be entered through hole in the wall through a wardrobe - I felt that bit of architecture was particularly wonderful, despite being so simple in concept. Other rooms I enjoyed were the basement (whose door was a port-a-potty) where the courtroom setup had 80's porn magazines behind the judges table, the shelf with all of the relabeled pill bottles, and the broken down recording studio with the audio track playing. I found all of these to be witty and fun. I even found places like the yellow hallway and the aggressively monochromatic bathrooms to be appealing. Thinking about the exhibit in relation to remix aesthetics, I'm interested in the specifics of the exhibit that the artists might have remixed from other artists - especially in rooms like the lounge with the Narnia-esque entrance, the wall of pill bottles, and the film that was playing. I wish I had more context for the works and the exhibit as a whole to be able to more fully understand how remix aesthetics were used here.

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trends for 10/2

boingboing http://boingboing.net/2015/10/01/mesmerizing-slow-motion-beauty.html

PSFK http://boingboing.net/2015/10/01/mesmerizing-slow-motion-beauty.html

the creator’s project http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/when-first-and-final-frames-tell-a-films-entire-story

atlas obscura http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mount-moriah-cemetery

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trend report 9/25

September 19, 2015 on The Creator's Project "How To Draw Your Selfie-Portrait" by Annie Armstrong Carla Gannis is an artist who is using selfies that she takes on her iPhone, iPad, or laptop camera to create what she calls a selfie-portrait. After taking the selfie, her process usually includes drawing over the image digitally and adding narrative elements to it. Through her selfie-portraits, she addresses ideas about the self in the broader context of the 21st century with consideration of corporate and brand identity, surveillance culture, and digital persona. Her images stray from conventional representation of people - she often portrays herself with unnatural skin, hair, and eye colors in strange and abstracted settings. Furthermore, some pieces include multiple iterations of her visage in the same work.I'm really excited about Carla Gannis' selfie-portraits. 

Though the visual language and general aesthetic is not my cup of tea, I love her concepts and I love the words she has said about the subject. As someone who makes a lot of art through self portraiture (whether I'm illustrating a selfie I took or controlling my DSLR with a remote from 10 feet away, or even making performative gestures on social media with concepts of the self), I love seeing other artists' perspectives on selfies and presentation of the self. aThe selfie is a particularly interesting subject of artistic consideration. When we take selfies, we tend to work with our most flattering angles and the best lighting we can get with careful consideration of how to conceal or draw attention away from blemishes and imperfections. We are literally creating an idealized image of ourselves. Our selfies are the truest version of how we see ourselves, and as a generation that sees and experiences everything through a smartphone screen, the idea of the gaze through the digital is holds a particularly interesting weight. 

I love Gannis' statement, "I am the original photographic source for all of the selfies...However, as I work on them, they become less "me" and more about a human actor or avator set within numerous contexts: imagine, cope, and finding virtual escape in the 21st century." I'm really interested in the idea that [what I believe is] the most intimate and personal perception of the self can become depersonalized and abstracted from the self and come to represent an icon of contemporary personhood. I think a lot about the argument that Gannis addresses - that "we, as humans, lay claim to our lives, our identities, and desire to imprint something of ourselves on the walls and pages of communication networks." I look to this article (and similar artistic endeavors) in the formulation of my final project.

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trends for 9/25

song exploder http://songexploder.net/the-album-leaf

art of the title http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/hannibal/

brainpickings https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/09/23/margaret-atwood-future-of-storytelling-drew-christie/ the verge http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/22/9369991/samsung-serif-tv boingboing http://boingboing.net/2015/09/24/ginat-snapping-turtle-vs-pine.html PSFK http://www.psfk.com/2015/09/3d-printed-outfits-university-of-southern-california-behnaz-farahi.html toxel http://www.toxel.com/tech/2015/05/13/flying-selfie-camera/ the creator’s project http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/how-to-draw-your-selfie-portrait

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trends for 9/11

song exploder http://songexploder.net/toro-y-moi

art of the title http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/game-of-thrones/

brainpickings https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/11/design-and-violence-moma-paola-antonelli-book/

the verge http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/22/7871173/algorithmic-typeface-hoefler-obsidian and http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/5/9266805/google-lenovo-e-logo-design

boingboing http://boingboing.net/2015/09/10/glitch-runs-of-super-mario-wor.html

PSFK http://www.psfk.com/2015/08/projection-mapping-sculptures-the-fine-arts-museum-of-lyon.html

toxel http://www.toxel.com/tech/2015/07/31/rainbow-paint-roller/

the creator’s project http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/delete-your-account-unearths-our-awkward-first-times-on-social-media

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trend report 9/18

PSFK, Sept. 17, 2015

"This Camera Will Prohibit You From Taking Cliche Tourist Photos" by Cynthia Kirkwood 

The Camera Restricta is a camera that has been developed to restrict users from taking the same photos of popular tourist areas. Using GPS technology, the Camera Restricta will read the location of the attempted image and geota­­­gs from social media feeds to determine the amount of photos taken near the user. If the camera technology determines that there are too many photos of that subject, it will block the viewfinder and prevent the user from taking a picture. The article claimed that it wanted to encourage novice photographers to look for more “unrivaled” shots.

My initial reaction to the Camera Restricta was outrage. I hated it, I hated the idea and I hated everything it stands for. I thought the entire concept was disgusting and elitist, and I hoped it never gained traction in the market. Of course, it should be noted that obviously the only people who would buy this product are the people who do seek “unique” shots in tourist-heavy locations that are not captured as often, but I still thought it reeked of 2011 airy hipster aesthetic.

I think what led to my initial outrage was that I got the sense that this kind of technology is meant to shame social media users, whether intentional or not. Oh, you’re taking a picture of that thing? There are already so many pictures of that on Instagram, why not try to take something new and original? Older generations – even our own generation for that matter – love to protest and criticize the use of smartphones and social media in general. After all, we lived in a time when there was none of that. The World Wide Web isn’t much older than I am. But when I look at these generations that will get to grow up with things as small as sharing what they had for breakfast on Instagram, I envy them. I think about what I would give to have readily accessible pictures of the friends I grew up with, or the apartment in China that I lived in as a toddler, or the places that were important to me as a kid. I think about the ways that social media and smartphones have changed image sharing and accessibility – my mom can send me a video of my cat snoring whenever she wants. When earthquakes hit China a few years back, my relatives could message our family immediately to let us know that they were OK. We are living in the age of online accessibility, and we are beyond fortunate for that. History records of this era will have an online plethora of images to reference. Don’t you wish we could have had that for the Pyramids in Giza or the Library of Alexandria?

So let the tourists take their goddamn cliché pictures of the Eiffel tower or Big Ben. Let the novice photographers learn by shooting the over-shot. So what?

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trends for 9/18

song exploder http://songexploder.net/the-postal-service art of the title http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/american-horror-story/ brain pickings http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/09/16/alice-in-wonderland-andrea-d-aquino/ the verge http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/11/9313003/tumblr-clothing-line-new-york-fashion-week-design-shop

boingboing http://boingboing.net/2015/09/17/listen-to-william-s-burroughs.html

PSFK http://www.psfk.com/2015/09/cliche-tourist-photos-camera-for-vacation-camera-restricta.html toxel http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2015/08/18/pantone-cafe/ the creators project http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/can-the-art-hoe-movement-change-contemporary-art