I watched Catfish last night, the "documentary" that caused a stir last year when critics doubted its authenticity. I'm very excited about it, and my next post will be about the nature of truth in film, especially in the abstract, impersonal postmodern era. I just... don't have time to write it right now.
So... come back later.
Thanks.
-j
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Repurposed art
First, an apology for the long absence: many, many things have taken the place of this blog in the past few weeks (film projects, midterm papers, and still photography work for a CBS pilot, to name a few). I'm back.
I've been seeing an awful lot of what I'll call "repurposed art" lately on the Internet. Like Duchamp's "Fountain," these works present "readymade" material in a new (or in no) context. The amount of user-generated content widely available on the Internet in the past two decades has created an environment where material is presented, manipulated (or not) and presented to a different audience with different intentions.
First, I present the Found Footage Festival.
http://www.foundfootagefest.com/
This site takes Jameson's theory of the postmodern film as recylcing genres of the past one step further: regurgitating obscure videos, devoid of context, that would otherwise fall into the abyss of time. Not altered in any way (aside from the addition of a title card), these salvaged films find new life, with often comedic results.
Next is the idea of the internet "meme." A meme is a phenomenon specific to Internet communities, a sort of running joke based on a pop culture object. For a list of examples:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes
An amateur singer's embarrassing performance, an imbalanced celebrity's public breakdown, or even an awkward family photo is fair game for superimposed captions, repetition and merciless parody. Although often insensitive and politically incorrect, these "memes" spread quickly and become known worldwide.
Memes often make use of non-sequitur. Perhaps no better example of a complete change of context exists than this site:
http://unrelatedcaptions.com/
This site pairs an image (often stock footage or a still from a film) with a completely unrelated quote (often from another film, a commercial or a well-known expression). The viewer, in response, has to struggle to reconcile the two into a cohesive narrative. Sometimes this succeeds; sometimes it fails. The result either way is comedic.
Finally, one of the most powerful examples: John William's score to the 1993 film Jurassic Park, slowed down 1000 times.
http://soundcloud.com/birdfeeder/jurassic-park-theme-1000-slower
Soundcloud.com user birdfeeder turned what was once a calm, reflective piece into a soaring hour-long soundscape. Although no artistic merit was required (the artist merely used a sound-stretch program to automatically slow down the piece), the result is new (and arguably even more beautiful and rewarding) experience.
As Jameson remarked about art in the postmodern era, it seems we have nowhere to go but back.
I've been seeing an awful lot of what I'll call "repurposed art" lately on the Internet. Like Duchamp's "Fountain," these works present "readymade" material in a new (or in no) context. The amount of user-generated content widely available on the Internet in the past two decades has created an environment where material is presented, manipulated (or not) and presented to a different audience with different intentions.
First, I present the Found Footage Festival.
http://www.foundfootagefest.com/
This site takes Jameson's theory of the postmodern film as recylcing genres of the past one step further: regurgitating obscure videos, devoid of context, that would otherwise fall into the abyss of time. Not altered in any way (aside from the addition of a title card), these salvaged films find new life, with often comedic results.
Next is the idea of the internet "meme." A meme is a phenomenon specific to Internet communities, a sort of running joke based on a pop culture object. For a list of examples:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes
An amateur singer's embarrassing performance, an imbalanced celebrity's public breakdown, or even an awkward family photo is fair game for superimposed captions, repetition and merciless parody. Although often insensitive and politically incorrect, these "memes" spread quickly and become known worldwide.
Memes often make use of non-sequitur. Perhaps no better example of a complete change of context exists than this site:
http://unrelatedcaptions.com/
This site pairs an image (often stock footage or a still from a film) with a completely unrelated quote (often from another film, a commercial or a well-known expression). The viewer, in response, has to struggle to reconcile the two into a cohesive narrative. Sometimes this succeeds; sometimes it fails. The result either way is comedic.
Finally, one of the most powerful examples: John William's score to the 1993 film Jurassic Park, slowed down 1000 times.
http://soundcloud.com/birdfeeder/jurassic-park-theme-1000-slower
Soundcloud.com user birdfeeder turned what was once a calm, reflective piece into a soaring hour-long soundscape. Although no artistic merit was required (the artist merely used a sound-stretch program to automatically slow down the piece), the result is new (and arguably even more beautiful and rewarding) experience.
As Jameson remarked about art in the postmodern era, it seems we have nowhere to go but back.
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