Decay & Power Part 2

So today i watched a talk by David Polka, a street artist. I thought about his opinion on how street artists portray death and decay and i think that he has an interesting opinion and i agree with his thoughts and feelings on this subject.

 

He says that cities and olden buildings express decay. They speak for the passage of time and human presence. They’re inspiring with there cool textures and the way that we can relate to architecture. You can see all the processes that had happened, you can see the contrast of seeing man-made structures return to the way they were from. It opens up new questions when you see the processes happen, like overgrown plants etc.

He says that as a graffiti artist he wants to leave a mark on the world. We all do because if we don’t, we feel lifeless. Graffiti art is highly controlled visual advertising on blank walls. It makes people feel that they can give an opinion when they look at it because its not like going to the gallery, its more open and it makes people think. This is an example of the power art can give and another opinion on decay.

If you’d like to watch the video i have been referring to, you can watch it here:

 

Nostalgia Part 2

Recently, i watched a talk from Bruce Mcall on nostalgia, a future that will never happen.

Bruce Mcall is a commercial artist for the New Yorker. He says that in his work, he uses something called  “Retro-futurism”. Which is looking back to see how yesterday views tomorrow, which he says is always wrong.

The 1930’s in his opinion, was the peak time for that because of the depression and it was a way to get away from the present and to look at the future, which was always optimistic. They thought that technology was going to help them get through it.

A retro-future that never happened — full of flying cars, polo-playing tanks and the RMS Tyrannic, “The Biggest Thing in All the World.”

He then talks about something called “Techno archaeology”, an example of this is his poster named “The Hindenburg” which was from 1947 looking at the day all american families have them.

He goes on to talk about “Faux Nostalgia” which is the yearning for times that never happened.

Bruce Mcall says that nostalgia is the most utterly useless human emotion. I don’t totally agree but I see the point. Nostalgia if taken to extreme becomes a mild case of depression and self-deception. The past is never as great or as bad as it seems and nor will the future be as wonderful or as terrible as we can imagine.

 

A link to Broce Mcall’s talk on this https://youtu.be/fOk6HQaNpdE

 

 

 

 

 

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is when we fondly remember the past, or who we are or used to be as we’re always changing. Nostalgia orbits around our identity; who we are today, wasn’t who we were 5 years ago and it’s about us, our memories and who we are now.

Nostalgia is when a person that remembers a specific memory from the past, or connecting to our past whilst still continuing to change as a person. We normally remember, or get nostalgic over good memories, not bad memories.

Music is an example of something we can get nostalgic about. Listening to a certain song can bring back different memories or connect us to the people around us listening to the same song.

We don’t always understand other people or get on with others but when (for example) two people are together and music is played, their feelings and emotions become more similar than if they sit together in silence or use words with no rhythm, which is to do with our internal desire to fit in and as a consequence of our impressive ability to communicate and be social, but also happens when we are on our own.

Nostalgia is a personal experience – the uniqueness of an event or the conflict inherent in it can produce some of our strangest memories, it can also bring up difficult emotions and memories.

References: https://youtu.be/coGfGmOeLjE

 

Innocence Through The Eyes Of A Child

When we are born, “we are born to be good”, quotes Jean Jacques Rousseau, An 18th century philosopher. When we are young we aren’t exposed to modern society and are happy in the state of nature.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was forced to flea his hometown in Genevor. He was brought up in isolation and so when he moved to Paris it was a completely different experience, it was full of luxury of the day and opulence, not like his home town which was very poor.

In 1749, he read a newspaper advert on recent advances of the arts and sciences which had contributed a contribution of morals about the world getting better. His opinion was that the world hadn’t improved people, people had changed from being good and innocent as a child and being emerged from their pre-social society.

He believes that when a person is exposed to the social society they are self loved and compare themselves to people around them. This is like social media today where people are addicted to looking at apps such as Facebook and compare themselves to others and get themselves depressed and feel the need to impress those around them. We are happy in the state of nature when we don’t think about these things and have an innocent mind and no worries.

In 1755, he published ‘Discourse on the Origin of Inequality’. He claimed that original man, while solitary, was happy, good and free.on how to raise your child and how to prevent them from the society of corruption.

In his last 10 years, Rousseau wrote his ‘Confessions’, justifying himself against his opponents. He studied his own life experiences which showed what living is like on the inside and looked at how he had been raised. He died on 2 July 1778 in Ermenonville, the estate of the Marquis de Girardin, who had given him refuge.

Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/rousseau_jean_jacques.shtml