Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Walter Benjamin Reading- Questions

1. Walter Benjamin focuses much of his writing on the intrigue of the 'aura' a piece of art work provides sensually. He claims that art evokes a reaction and that people are attracted to art because of the aura-- which essentially is what is responsible for causing the reaction. Benjamin argues that once artwork has been copied, reproduced or has lost its 'originality' the 'aura' of the artwork vanishes. My first question is...

"If the aura of an art piece is lost after a photo, painting, drawing, or film has been reproduced, what is held responsible for the evoking the emotions, thoughts, and sensations that come from looking at these reproduced pieces of art. Is that still the 'aura' or are these emotions reactions to something else?"

2. My second question is based off of Benjamin's critique of acting and the differences in the skills varied between acting on a stage for a live audience versus acting for film. He claims that acting for film is less 'original' or authentic because it is recorded and often altered or edited by different mediums of technology. He believes the actor who acts live in front of an audience has a stronger 'aura' and is much more original than film. My question is...

"Do you agree that the two acting styles differ in a way that changes the originality or authenticity of the acting or just requires different skills?"

Monday, September 5, 2011

Assignment 1- montage- hhoff






The collection of these images started with me picking and choosing images online and out of my personal collection that stood out to me. They stood out because they caught my eye with familiarity. All of the individual images either remind me of some experience, are a part of my past, or strike an emotion that triggered me wanting to put them together. I like the idea of separating dreams from reality, yet keeping them related at a distance. I think when a human is dreaming that is when they are at their most peaceful state of mind. Reality is stressful and chaotic and overwhelming, and I tried to relay those messages through the ways of placing such random objects all over. I chose to keep certain aspects in grayscale to separate not what was a "dream" from "reality", but rather to make the viewer think about what in these pictures reminds them of dreams or  reality and how do youseparate the two different realms. To me, it's different in each collage. I chose to do my third collage in all black and white except for the stop sign because I think that makes the statement I was trying to express "stop the bullshit" and just live. I like the word 'escape' because I think it is more of a movement and an action than just a word. To escape the stresses and pressures of the day takes a lot and I think it is a word that people need to act on more. "free your mind" stand for that same notion for me... just let go.