#l4viscom

[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. 

[orbotherworldrb]

The Mimic Octopus and Giant Cuttlefish

I was shown the mimic octopus and the giant cuttlefish and it helped me gain an idea of what I wanted my animals to do, How I wanted my animals to blend in. I thought I would share these links and let you be amazed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SCrRYDOg_s

Both amazing camoflage

[orbotherworldrb]

The sailfish mix cheetah ended up looking like this, I have used this as a prototype which was really useful when coming to build my final piece due to it giving me an understanding of the different pieces that I needed to create quite a small fish.

[orbotherworldrb]

What I've added here is my ideas from start to finish with the creations of the ant/whale that i am submitting as my final. I decided to mix the two animals from two totally different ends of the spectrum as I found out some facts about the ant which made them perfectly suited together.

So the facts I found out were:

1. Ants can lift 50 x their own body weight.

2. If ants were the size of a human, They could lift the empire estate building.

3. The average adult blue whale weighs 196,000kg. If an ant was the size of a blue whale, It could lift 9.5 million kg.

4. Ants are able to live up to 30 years of age.

5. Ants can survive up to 24 hours being submerged underwater.

Due to these facts, I thought they would be perfect to mix together. I also thought that if I could make the ant/whale at a big enough scale then I would be able to show the audience and give the audience a sense of scale.. ish.. I decided to do the ant/whale in the pattern that I have so it could adapt and blend in with different environments. This is more of a desert ant but it needs some imagination to be able to see what it would look like if it was in forested mountainous areas of scurrying along the ocean floor

[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]

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.