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From Moodle - In every communication, the process of transmission distorts the message. Interference, static, mis-hearings, hackings, amplifications and repetition all shape the content of communication and the relationship between the sender and receiver ... the always-distorted message can be examined for its own creative potential. We will also discuss the now-famous maxim: the medium is the message.”

Through the medium of Chinese whispers, we explore the miscommunication that occurs between the first and last person of the chain

Chinese Whispers

Interactive installation / Android App

Artistic research on computational creativity, 2016

In this interactive installation, the children’s game “Chinese Whispers”  – in which a message is whispered from one person to another – is played by smartphones using the default speech recognition and speech synthesis software of the device’s operating system.

The often humorous altered last statement in the communication chain is a perfect metaphor for cumulative error caused by feedback. While the human brain lacks in recollection of spoken words and tends to complete or correct flawed information creatively, a similar process takes place in the pattern matching event of the speech analysis software. This work is another attempt to explore computational creativity in an artistic manner.

Input: “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I’m half crazy all for the love of you.”

Output: *”Daisy Bell” is the first song performed by computer speech synthesis (IBM in 1961) as later referenced in Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Participatory art is an approach to making art which engages the audience in the creative process, letting them become co-authors, editors, and observers of the work. This type of art is incomplete without viewers' physical interaction.

Our group intends to curate an event where the audience largely impact the end result of the work, allowing them to partake in the creative process as much as the artists themselves. By nature, participatory art is temporal, pedestrian, more accessible.

We explored Collaboration as one of our weekly concepts, and look at the end product of the Chinese whispers format as an unpredictable innovation created by the audience (classmates) and curators of the event (us). 

Moodle Discussion - “In a world that’s increasingly networked and in which consumers and producers are no longer separate, collaborative communities are the foundation of creative production and innovation”

The complex nature of human memory is explored in the format of Chinese whispers. 

This pages demonstrates our train of thought of confusion in the brainstorming period and the jumping from different ideas for the curated event

Contemporary art and design often looks at the idea of constructed binaries, such as man/woman, soft/hard, straight/gay, dirty/clean, organic/synthetic. Considering the history of these ‘pairs’, how can art and design interrogate these binaries and offers new insights?

In the age of endless copies of copies,  or the “simulacrum,” there is no difference between the real and the representation. Whereby “everything becomes undecidable”, making the difference between binary oppositions undistinguishable. 

Commercial hyperreality discusses the oversaturation of consumer and capitalist culture. Hence, advertising paints this ideal that makes us as consumers believe it is ultimately our reality. We are confronted with an overwhelming influx of images which shape our thoughts or behaviours whether it be spending behaviour or cultural values. 

Inspired by Nam June Paul’s ‘Buddha TV’, I decided to do an experimental performance piece as I wanted to explore with new channels of communicating these key concepts by including an interactive element. Through this way, my classmates can actively participate and physically unfold an example of a contemporary simulation and I plan to film their reactions to my work.

For my previous poster, I researched into Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality and its impact on modern day capitalism and consumerism through the way it affects our interactions with others. One of Baudrillard’s predecessors Marcel Mauss, researches the value of representation and the idea over the material and the physical in today’s cultural landscape through the concept of a ‘gift’. 

I have made 3 presents for each group to open. The gifts represented the three flavours that in my opinion are the most popular amongst the junk food market: orange, lemon and grape. Each gift may have a different present however they all have 3 layers of wrapping paper to demonstrate Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality through his concept of four historical phases of the order of simulation. The first stage is the faithful copy/ real image. The second is a perversion of that reality which is slightly distorted but elements of the real is still evident. The third is the absence of reality as it pretends to be the ‘authentic’. The fourth is a pure simulation, it bears no resemblance to the original and has no relationship to reality whatsoever. As I used POSCA markers for these illustrations, I was able to present that saturated and graphic aesthetic prevalent in many advertisements as a method for enticing and seducing consumers to purchase their products.

Through presenting it with accessories such as the ribbon, I wanted people to experience the work as they would open a gift and the excitement and anticipation that comes with it. The commercial industry thrives off of the desire and satisfaction of over consumption and I hope to demonstrate this through my classmates interaction with my final works. 

For example, the orange present demonstrates the production of a hyperreal simulation. The final orange candy product tastes more ‘orange’ than an organic, fresh, physical, real orange. This reiterates that the real can no longer be produced, only endless copies of the hyperreal. However, companies attempt to blur these boundaries further from making the real indistinguishable from the ‘ not real’ by attempting to not destroy it but replace it.

Research/Inspiration - 

Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy - Baudrillard: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/

Marcel Mauss, ‘The Gift’, (book),1925

Nam June Paik, Buddha TV (performance/installation), 1976

“The manufacture of desire is what consumer culture is all about. And that desire is not for things in themselves but what those things come to collectively represent.  It is a distortion of need and satisfaction”

Upon looking at the Moodle slides for this week’s concept, I came across an activity that sparked my interest. The idea of a ‘gift exchange’ delves into the idea of the significance of idea over materiality. 

Applying it to this week’s course concept, I thought that after researching one of Baudrillard’s predecessors Marcel Mauss, it would help me develop a better understanding of the value of representation and the idea over the material and the physical in today’s cultural landscape.

Baudrillard’s elaboration of the ideas of hyperreality and simulacrum that characterise today’s global consumer culture in which the image of the product is more significant that the product itself.

Marcel Mauss' 'The Gift' is an anthropological study of the symbolic exchange of gifts that explores how it builds human interaction and relationships. The reciprocity of cultural values seems like an interesting concept to experiment with in terms of commercial reality

“Signs can be exchanged like commodities; symbols, on the other hand, operate quite differently: they are exchanged, like gifts, sometimes violently as a form of potlatch”

The ‘gift’ could act as the medium as it simultaneously acts as the message. Even though throughout the production process of commercial products is considered ‘value adding’, it is ironic how it begins to deviate from its original source

“understanding that there are multiple narratives that exist simultaneously. Creative practice assists in locating, listening and responding to these multiple “channels”.” - Context & Time Moodle slide

Artist Research #2 - NAM JUNE PAIK

The majority of Paik’s pieces are commentaries on our media dependent society. “Buddha TV”, one of his works expresses the hyper-real phenomenon. 

In this piece, a Buddha is placed in front of a portable television. The Buddha is recorded and the footage shown on the television in real time. The result is a feedback loop. The video camera and the Buddha statue are representations of mass culture and traditional cultural ideals. Their new relationship to one another suggests that the ideological boundaries once separating them no longer exist. The objects become simulacrum; they are, according to Jean Baudrillard, a “reflection of a profound reality.” 

The loop created by “Buddha TV” is an example of the hyper-real. It is unclear here which symbol is the driving force between their relationship, is it tradition or mass media? The question then becomes, “which is the original? Which is real?” Paik’s piece serves to illustrate that reality is flexible and that the hierarchy between “real” and “representation” can be dissolved.

Source: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/cctp-725-fall2013/2013/10/07/nam-june-paik-and-the-hyper-real/

From this work, this reminded me of the artificial format of ‘reality TV’ and how the manufactured portrayal of certain images are so far removed from the banal everyday reality that it becomes extremely dramatized to induce an element of shock to the viewers. For the purposes of entertainment, it negatively influences a state of delusion for society.

Experiment #2

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Through layering and cutting newspaper, I experiment with “multiple narratives that exist simultaneously” within a more physical medium. 

I came across a video created by Keiichi Matsuda that explores the hypothetical future of ‘what if’ our physical and virtual realities have merged presenting a city landscape that is saturated in media. It is really interesting during when her advanced technological perspective malfunctions and reveals the dull surroundings that the city is really made up of, which comes across as unsettling and dangerous.

His research examines the implications of emerging technologies for human perception and the built environment. Keiichi is interested in blurring the boundaries between virtual and physical, working with video, architecture and interactive media to propose new perspectives on the city. 

The visual as well as representational elements of the oversaturation of images will be a starting point to my practice-led research

Source: https://vimeo.com/166807261 

Experiment #1

To replicate the overwhelming influx of media the persona received and us as viewers witnessed, I overlapped and saturated layers of google image searches of different soft drink adverts to convey the confronting aspect of hyperreal images. These images individually each attempt to deliver the same message in that it is the MOST ENERGETIC AND FUN DRINK EVER. For example, a fanta ad had a slogan of ‘More Fanta. Less Serious’ and the pepsi being described as ‘EXPLOSIVELY CHERRY’. 

Some adverts caught my eye: 

The use of the term ‘real’ is ironic in that it is staged in a very fake setting to entice consumers into believing that what they’re purchasing is ‘authentic’.

Fanta Google Search: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fanta+ad&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiti9HXpsHdAhVHx7wKHRILBhUQ_AUIDigB&biw=1538&bih=859#imgrc=1zzFPhsbkxabDM:

Coke Google Search: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=coke+ad&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjew4bB3cHdAhVJS7wKHY1sD7QQ_AUIDigB&biw=1538&bih=859

Continuing on from my last assessment, I would like to investigate Baudrillard’s theory of Hyperreality and how it can be seen in contemporary everyday life. In particular I would like to research commercial hyperreality and the exposure of manufactured images that are marketed towards consumers. 

‘The Lie We Buy, The Truth We Can’t Lose’

We live in a world where there are endless copies and copies of our reality, which our existing contemporary society is gradually concealing it’s original truth. We are living in a simulation which threatens the difference between “true” and “false”. 

Inspired by Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Simulation and Simulacra’, he describes hyperreality as “a repetition of a reality in which the actual, original reality is often lost and forgotten”. I’ve applied this to the contemporary condition of our postmodern consumerist culture. I’ve demonstrated many different types of visual repetition such as the repetition of lines of the barcode, the repeating zeros and repetition of vowels to recreate the catchy rhymes seen in tv ad slogans. The constant repetition, effectively reiterates the message big companies convey to consumers. It’s repeated and repeated until the word loses all its meaning.

This poster creates a layered experience, overlapping paper over one another. The barcode is a potent symbol to represent consumerism in artworks that aim to critique our contemporary way of life. 

The production of manufactured hyperreal images has greatly influenced our behaviours to consume an excessive amount of messages prevalent in advertising and the promotion of products. As this overwhelming repetitive media tactics of these advertised products, we purchase and consume into the idea of superficial representations and symbols, not for what they are materially.

Personally, I find this topic very interesting to me as the transition between high school and uni has made me more aware of the world whether it be through my interactions with new friends and the mass media. As I get exposed to this new founded knowledge, I consume and consume more information and data and lost who I once was. I’m guilty of consuming a lot of these advertised goods such as cosmetics, fashion etc. as a distraction from reality as it promises comfort and in the long term I lost sight of where my values lie. This constant consuming became an investment of the idea of my identity instead of my identity itself. 

1. I planned the layout of how I wanted my poster to be set out.

2. I painted the first layer

3. I prepared the base of the poster

Barbara Kruger – Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am), 1987, https://www.widewalls.ch/consumerist-culture-art-10-artworks/

Martine Mathijsen 

‘Coop Himmelb(l)au Manifest’ , 2009, http://www.martinemathijsen.nl/portfolio.php#6

She is a Dutch graphic designer who uses innovative approaches such as layering, folding and cutting to create though provoking and concept-driven designs. These particular tear-off installations are inspired by the deconstructivist architectural statements of Coop Himmelb(l)au.

On her website, she believes that a good design should “surprise, amaze, trigger, clarify, inform”. I find these designs really interesting as  I like how the multiple layers of paper warp and misconfigure the form of the typographic in a harsh and erratic way.

Sam Winston

Cyber-Neologoliferation [from New York Times], November 2, 2006, <https://www.lostateminor.com/2012/02/21/sam-winstons-spreads-for-the-new-york-times-magazine/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=586&utm_content=586+CID_8f9685f7a701b48bd5c0c86e4841534b&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=Read+more> 

I’m inspired by how the layout of text moves organically around the page. In the first picture, I wonder if the story is swirled in the blank spaces of the article. The movement of text is almost alluring yet discomforting as it implies the loss of knowledge as it succumbs to the gravity of the page.