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28.11.08

Artifact 3: Memory

My 3rd and final media piece this term addresses memory. My work indirectly ties in with the notion of forgotten memorys it argues that they are never truely forgotten just remain buried deep within our minds. The cause of this is the ever present in which we are presented, within our society. We are fed the trival, the alluring. Our interests are so synthetic they are constantly being overwritten.

I produced this piece in Adobe image ready, although visually simplistic the process took me around 6 hours to complete, Through out the animation process i focused on the interactivity of the blocks and tried to make them react to each other realistically. This of course created a more complex animation, especially when animating multiple items in the same time frame.

21.11.08

In a recent lecture i was first made a aware of Psychogeography pioneered by Guy Debord in 1955.

This relates to the notion that most of us inhibit a structured and programmed approach in terms of the way we travel. We go about our daily lives without consideration of our surroundings, the reasons behind the positioning of a building or its scale, it smells and appearance.  You could argue, in the urban environment this is all heavily considered by the institutions who created them in order to herd and control the consumer.

This idea excites me and i can fully relate to the fact that most of us take the same route upon travelling and seeing out day to day activities. Although taking a  can be rather spectactular, in a sense it could also memorable, perhaps stumbling across an old building or walkway one had not used or seen for years. That is a possibility, aswell as discovering

For my 3rd artifact i’d quite like to interpret the view of the flaneur via an animation. Showing a journey through an urban space. Demonstrating the potential for a new conscious and alternative viewpoint on it.

Adding to this idea, i could demonstrate an ever present, influences in design for purpose of design instead of just function. The result of this is a Blend of memories causing a new functionality.

Another idea i may pursue is blending the reverse shop lifting movement with psychogeography. This might involve seemingly normal photographs of urban environments taken upon a casual journey to push past the boundaries set by the institutions. I’d like to take it a step further, however, and expand on the thrill of breaking free of post war capitalism by planting political messages within the pictures that i take. This would be intended to not just create a new memory or reliving an old one but perhaps  enhancing the meaning associated with that particular space.

“a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities…just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.”

Related research

www.utne.com

http://weburbanist.com/galleries/

Shopdropping

David Rowan Blog

Wiki Psychogeography

GLOWLAB

20.11.08

I thought about exploring forgotten memories and the possibility of recording them with the assumption that they actually surround us and on some levels effect our every day experiences albeit sub consciously.

Our possessions often get forgotten. Therefore they form part of the make up of our geography. When tidying up we move things around but not always discard them. We just accept them as part of our present but almost forget their significance and the memory attached to it. The result is a casual acceptance of their presence but a lack of consideration for the logic and feeling and feeling behind it.

17/11/08

I watched an exhibition at the Herbert art gallery today. I felt it portrayed a somewhat trival message by delving into the memory of war. The visuals were rich and appealing and also featured a blend of surreal filming techniques.

I took away from the experience a particular interest in “regretful” memory’s and there causes and preventions. I believe a lot of serious decisions that are made in the best interest of society tends to work against it in one way or another. Could this be because we attack the branches and not the root cause of the problem?

So in regards to the remembrance of the great battles and its servicemen and women…what if we questioned why war happens in the first place and learn to understand the truth behind the governments motives. Instead of just mourning about lost soldiers.