Reading Response Chapter 8

Chapter 8 of Sturken & Cartwright's Practices of looking" covers the facets of post-modernistic art forms.  One of these facets, simulacra & simulation described on page 305, reveals that we have "entered into a post-modern era characterized by media and technologies of simulation, we lost sigh of 'the real'."  Sturken and Cartwright use the example of Beijing's World Park which contains small-scale replicas of world-wide attractions like the pyramids or Eiffel Tower that locals can visit without ever having left.  I think that simulation and hyperrealistic art like this can produce amazing experiences.  I do wonder how World Park affects people's desire to travel to the locations featured.  Since the park is presented as a substitute for real places, does it help sate their desire to ravel to the original location?  Or perhaps it stimulates popularity to travel.  These are questions that came to mind as I read this section.
         A relevant example could be someone staying at home to watch Netflix, rather than engaging in the real world.  While it can be immensely entertaining, it can become simply a substitute to the real thing, especially when "appreciated" in excessive amounts.    

Completed Project 1

Here is my completed project one, which is a 3-piece Adoption Ad Campaign.  I decided to have unifying images between the three of these, and they are the "heartforthefatherlesslogo", and the silhouette of the family.   

This is the billboard for my Adoption campaign.  The sunset photograph is an original that I took.  I then edited the image to remove three distracting light posts that were in front of the clouds, and removed the "Hapo" signs as they too were distracting.  The Heart for the Fatherless program has a real website, which is why I included it on the Billboard.  Since billboards are designed to present a short, clear message, I thought it a good compliment to provide a web address for those who want to learn more.  

This is my Adoption print ad.  The theme for this one was birthed via inspiration from the awesome Tri-city skies.  The print ad is designed to have more information about the subject, as well as to have a clear message.  I included a quote that doesn't originally belong to the Heart for the Fatherless program, but thought it extremely appropriate to enhance the positive message of adoption.

This is my Adoption web banner.  The function of this guy is to be a hyperlink in and of itself, so if people want to know more, they simply need to click.  I decided to stick with the family silhouette, and added it to the logo, turning down the opacity to blend it a little.  The reason it is an animated GIF is so the motion of the changing faces can attract attention to the ad.  

Reading Response Chapter 2

In chapter 2, Stirken and Cartwright further examine the relationship  between the viewer and the art piece, than an "audience" and the art piece.  They point this out as an important distinction because an individual viewer can have much more personal experience than a collective audience.  According to the authors "by looking at the viewer, we can understand certain aspects of practices of looking that cannot be captured by examining the concept of the audience, an entity into which producers hope to mold viewers as consumers."  

 They also cover other topics like taste, and how it depends on the individual's culture, ethnicity, age, background, personal opinion, etc, and Encoding/Decoding which is the process of viewers decoding meanings that the artist has encoded into the work.  I personally think the encoding/decoding process is rather fun, because artwork can vary by date made, the artist's lifestyle, the message, and various other factors.  With old paintings, you can decode a bit of history within almost any piece, and some one could go to extensive depths examining.  

Chapter 1 Reading Response

Sturken and Cartwright introduce various perspectives on how art can be perceived in chapter one.  They bring the validity of photographs into question, observing that some people think any photograph is subject to the photographer's interpretation, while others believe a photograph is close enough to the actual event that it represents the event accurately.  I found the example they used of the "Trolley" photograph to be extremely engaging and accurate.  They say this to describe the photo: "The photograph here documents passengers on a segregated city trolley in New Orleans--a white matron looking suspicious, a white boy in his Sunday best, a black man looking mournful."  It makes me immediately makes me wonder "what were these people actually thinking when this was taken?"  You can look at each person in turn and guess what they ponder as they sit in their designated cubicles, but we can't really know for sure.  Maybe the suspicious lady actually had a mischievous sense of humor and frowned for the picture on purpose?  I know some people like that.  Indeed, the interesting expressions are a big part of what makes this piece work for me as art, and in addition, this photograph is definitely factual and historical as the authors point out.

Inspiration for my Ad Campaign

I have chosen 'promoting adoption' as the subject of my ad campaign, and a major inspiration for me is the Heart for the Fatherless program.  It is a local program that focuses on helping children to be adopted from other countries.  I have friends who have used this program to adopt four children from China, and those children now live happily in a big family.  I think that this is a fantastic program to bring people together, and so I am planning to incorporate Heart for the Fatherless in my campaign, or even to cater it specifically to help this program.  Doing so can hopefully spread awareness of this specific adoption programs.

For Aesthetics for the billboard, I had the idea of using a photograph of a sunset behind Candy Mountain to represent the Tri-cities landscape in a positive light.  Then, adding the words "Tri-cities:  Adopting is Closer than You think".  The goal was so that when a local viewer sees the image, they will think "hey, I know that place!"  and perhaps it will get them interested, and further enforce the idea that adopting really is a closer option than they think it could be, especially if they live around that area.  I also wanted to incorporate a similar unifying image in each of the three pieces, besides the "heartforthefatherless" logo, to tie them together.  

For the Banner I got inspiration from web banners I've seen before on the web, where I saw faces of different people flashing in a loop.  The effect drew me in because each face brings something fresh and new to the experience, and it's kind of hard to look away.  I had decided to use this same effect in my banner.

For the Print ad I actually got inspiration from being outside under the clear Tri-cities sky.  If there is one thing this desert city has going for it, it is the wide view we get of the clear skies in the daytime, evening, or night.  I wanted to go with a nighttime theme so I could capture the splendor of nature while encouraging a positive message.

Reading Response Chapter 7

Chapter seven discusses how today's modern society has become a mega consumer culture, due to a variety of factors, such as easy access to transportation, mass production, and a demand for new products.  On page 267 Sturken and Carwright pointed out that "the rise of online commerce since the late 1990's has dramatically reconfigured this relationship of consumerism to space".  This stood out to me because I myself am an avid shopper on Amazon.com and love being able to have things shipped to my door.  I think an interesting observation about consumer culture is that there are many people, like me, who really do not enjoy shopping in person, except for a few select things.  For people like me, being able to use online shopping is more fun, and not mention convenient in many other ways.