Thursday Idea blog #10

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Thursday Idea blog // Magritte and other odds and ends

I think this is a good time to further flesh out what i'm doing with this project.

From Magritte by Jacques Meuris

"His painting choice was based, from the very beginning of his definitively surrealist period, on an observation whose actual implications were not understood until later: namely that by the most faithful reproductions of objects, things -- including people-- and all that we see around us in everyday life, one can force the beholders of these images to question their own condition. There is one proviso, however: it is necessary for these objects and things to be combined in some unexpected, or in other words, unaccustomed, manner.

My project and its working mode are directly inspired by the above statement. Realizing that what i was most interested in about the super hero figure reporter figure was the relationship to it and why it existed or continued to be perpetuated. That it sold media that it was a tool to sell advertising and the product that is the commercial character of the figure in question. While I at the time of this writing am still struggling with what complimentary figure can be placed with the hero reporter, i have gone on to find other relationships that function in the same way. Or rather, by pairing other characters, archetypes and recognizable figures in uncommon instances, i feel that i can engage the viewer to seek out what the relationship between the two subjects might be (based on their own experiences and ideas ) and then to look at their relationship to those ideas. Where they came from, how they were formed , why they make those connections. While this is a serious aim I believe that there is an inherent element of humor to the project. I would further suggest that this is a positive thing, that by taking a road in image making that is less harsh than my usual presentation, that the viewer might find it easier to engage the work. I feel that it is important to me to also attempt to bring the viewer a feeling of playfulness. I do not intend to make fun of the subjects of my photographs but I consciously choose to go about their creation and presentation in a manner that could easily be found funny or that the viewer might draw a sense of amusement from.

THursday Idea blog // NEW DIRECTION BUILDING ON THE OLD

After considering the direction the project was moving i have decided to use the image of the super hero reporter but to drop the focus on the individual figure. Through several conversations and a lot of writing I have decided that the reporter figure is more interesting when compared/contrasted against a complimentary cultural counterpoint. Taking that dynamic in mind and considering what it is that makes the work of artists like Lynne Cohen and Alex Soth so interesting to me, I have decided to create a series of diptychs that share common elements but act as cultural counterpoints. I mention Soth and Cohen as their series take images that might be similar in form and content but are different enough that the viewer is asked to tease out the relationship between the images and to find the overarching threads that bind them together. Taking again from the original project idea I will expand upon the idea of cultural worship, of modern saints. I believe that based some simple observation one could state that in our American Media Culture the celebrity has taken the place of traditional figure of worship. Also from that view I have felt that these relationships have a great element of the surreal and absurd. I have long had an interest in Rene Magritte and have responded to his stylistic elements and presentation on many occasions. I think that in this case the common blue sky that visually joins the figures in his paintings might be a useful unifying visual element and signifier relating to the absurd relationship between the public and the common media tropes. I feel like I might be able to bridge this further into other common media related relationships but not necessarily one that shares a unified theme of media depiction. Perhaps one link between my figures is their economic relationships, the overarching question being, "what are they selling?"

Some of the pairings i have written up are as follows

drug dealer // pharmacist

televangelist // politician

sports player // ?

day laborer // millionaire

THursday Idea blog // the hero narrative in mass media // the media in haiti part 1

the hero narrative in mass media serves not only to drive up ratings but to advance the clout and admiration of reporters. One easy example of the hero narrative at work in popular media is the public persona and television journalism work of CNN's Anderson Cooper. Looking at the recent incident in which Cooper saved a young boy after the boy had been hit with a piece of concrete thrown from a roof top during a looting spree in Haiti.

CNN video of the incident is here and gawker analysis of the CNN media coverage in general is found here as well as a collection of videos from the cnn broadcasts
http://gawker.com/5451459/anderson-cooper-saves-boy-as-cnns-haiti-coverage-reaches-strange-apotheosis

From the gawker article its clear to see i'm to the only one who finds something a little off about the media coverage, to use their words:

"But things got weird tonight as the news/newsmaker barrier was dramatically breached.

On AC360, Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta played a team of roving superhero reporters, covering the news but only after saving everyone's lives. (Imagine if somebody could be Clark Kent and Superman at the same time.) Here's a gripping report from Anderson "AC" Cooper on looting, which ends in him picking up a bloodied kid and dragging him to safety."

The idea of the heroic foreign correspondent is one that has a long history in modern media. From George Orwell's account of the spanish civil war in "Homage to Catalonia" up to Anderson Cooper's "Dispatches from the Edge" which cover's his early life in contrast to covering the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 as well as armed conflicts in Africa and Hurricane Katrina. The image of the hero reporter is supported by the ongoing narratives like those of CNN coverage in the current Haiti crisis. As an easy case study is the presentation of Dr. Sanja Gupta 's story (the video is also on the above gawker post). the incident in question being that there were no qualified neuro-surgeons around and Dr. Gupta was called to attend to a young girl who had a shrapnel injury to the head. The question of presentation comes about when the story is delivered in conversation fashion over a video of Dr. Gupta scrubbing in and performing surgery. What is the news value of this story? why when asked to perform a medical task which required his pick up by helicopter did the cameras accompany him?

The main question that i feel arrises from the situations being presented and the manner in which they are presented is one of authenticity. When presented with a catastrophe, in which the death toll continues to climb well into the hundred thousands now why are the news stories focused so frequently on the exploits of the reporters sent to tell the larger story?

THursday Idea blog

In developing my concept for this semester's work i've been considering the role of reporters and the narratives applied to the major network reporters in haiti. In my past work i feel that I concentrated on events that were closer to home, in the case of the ash project I covered the topic of mass trauma through the lens of media where that trauma happened to the american public. In looking toward haiti i do not feel that i can take the same approach. For the most part the american population has not directly experienced the events of the disaster in haiti. Looking beyond haiti toward the general mythos of the foreign correspondent, I believe it is fair to say that the narratives built around the coverage of disasters abroad has continued over time to prop up the correspondent as a super hero like figure. What i am suggesting here is that in the coverage of events like the haiti earthquake and the coverage of the Tsunami not long ago as well as other international incidents is taken in only through the lens of the major media networks and in forming ratings grabbing narrative packages around the stories presented, networks continue to push their major correspondents the likes Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta to new heights at the center of their ongoing coverage. I am seeking to find a visual form that connects these larger than life characters and their often pristine presentation to the bleak realities of the destruction that surrounds them. Through this contrast i hope to raise questions in the viewers mind about the authenticity of the coverage, and the motives in creating such narratives amidst the already powerful human drama that is a disaster.

THursday Idea blog #9

new artist statement.
i think a really helpful piece of the process to figuring out where my project is at has been having to write a new artist statement for the project to be presented after the midterm at the research presentation. It absolutely needs some cleaning up but i do feel that it has helped ot form solidify the new ideas of the continuing project.

The concept of my work is to create images that hijack the visual language of fashion photography in an effort to explore the relationship between consumers and the social and economic situation in which they act. The experience of economic coercion reaches every person that engages in the western consumer landscape both directly and indirectly. Foucault suggests that our internal relationship to coercion leads us to desire the ability to coerce. Advertising has a long tradition of working towards controlling the choices of consumers and in turn western economic powers have a history of exploiting those who produce goods. In participating in the current consumer environment the consumer is complicit in this exploitation. The youth obsessed world of fashion photography and the advertising it produces seeks to create a mental environment of desire in the viewer, thus moving the consumer to desire the objectified contents of the advertising and while asking them to engage with a system of coercion that produces the objects featured.

In pursuit of my concept I have created images that seek to use the visual language of youth targeted fashion advertising to suggest the coercive relationship that forms as a result of participation in the current economic environment that produces the goods to be sold to those youth targeted by these ads. The elements of the consumer object, the coercive object and the objectified person form a visual language that I hope will bring the viewer to question the relationship of the objects pictured and lead them to examine their relationship to those interactions.

thursday Idea blog #8

I will definitely be reshooting for the final. while i may use a few images from my previous shoots i will be refining my process to include a tripod to secure a specific vantage point. i want that vantage point to be from slightly above and down the point of view of the person arresting the subject as opposed to the more straight on near ground level shots i've been taking. something cin between the images included at the top of this post. I think if i am making it more about the relationship to the consumer it should include slightly more about the consumer and if its relating to fashion photography i should also include more of the subject while still leaving the identity exposed only by way of the objects and materials they are wearign and choosing to show the world as their outward appearance.

Thursday Idea blog #7

In attempting to figure out where i'm going with the other less lethal weapons in my projects i've been considering how they relate to the objects used by protest groups against institutions, buildings and representatives of state power. Maybe a side by side comparison of relating objects in diptych form would be a good way to present them. paint bombs or glitter grenades compared to tear gas, gas masks to bandannas, whip cream pies compared to pepper spray, signs to batons. One image contrasting the vibrant colors and energy of actions such as funk the war against the dark and more uniform color palette of the police force.

thursday Idea blog #6

I'm currently exploring ways to expand my work beyond the use of handcuffs on to at least one other less lethal class weapon used by state and national law enforcement agencies. the ones that appeal most are pepper sprays (OC) and CS/CN gasses also known as tear gas. from my personal experience with both of these items the more visually appealing of the two is the tear gas that often is tinted in many shades of color some bright such as the blue tear gas i deployed against myself and 400 others at the RNC in 2008 in St Paul, Minnesota. In conversations with Paul we've discussed how the tactics employed by the students for a democratic society members that were there employing the funk the war model of street action creates a different visual presence than the more common black bloc set of tactics. While both often employ the same militant actions, the taking and holding of physical space, redecoration of the urban landscape, and occasionally the destruction of private property, the perception of the groups in the media and public view have very different characters. I've often joked at funk the war actions that "we bring the music, the police bring the light show." and in working with this project i'm interested in finding a middle ground where the weapons of state power meet the vibrant visual textures of the funk the war street tactic.


its these images versus

Thursday Idea blog #5

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108388646279717843565.00047511f1c3e76b114a4&t=h&z=16

Inspired by the radical cartography post i've been mapping the locations of the mass arrests i've been performing. i'm thinking about how my locations reflect ongoing police raids and arrests. last week a home in New York City was raided by the JTTF (joint terrorism task force) and the inhabitance detained. the warrant was issued based on the alleged use of the inhabitance of twitter during the protests in pittsburgh the week before. In response i performed several arrests in the home of a student here in richmond.
i'm not sure how i will use the mapped information but it may be useful in creating visuals for the project.

thursday idea blog #4

the weapons/devices/mechanisms of repression

Some things already seen and yet to be used in pittsburgh during this latest round of protest and repression

LRAD (long range acoustic device)
generally mounted on a vehicle these devices produce a sharp loud noise that can lead to permanent hearing loss if you are too close

extendable and fixed batons
made of steel in the extendable version, wood and other plastic coated metal materials

CS/CN gas
also known as tear gas. this is a weapon developed for chemical warfare regularly used on protesters in the united states. It may surprise some to learn that for the military to use this same weapon it requires a direct order signed from the president to deploy. the long term effects of this weapon are unknown any medical studies are unavailable to the public as it is a weapon not a medically approved substance.

Mace/Pepper spray (OC)
oil based, and spread by contact with water. creates intense burning where ever it makes contact with the uncovered body. inhalation can lead to serious injury if compounded with asthma or other respiratory issues. If not removed within hours of contact burns up to 2nd degree can develop on the effected areas of the body.
International Association of Chiefs of Police suggested at least 113 pepper spray related fatalities had occurred in the United States

Hand cuffs
metal, standard police equipment

Quick Cuffs
nylon or other plastic material, do not have double lock device. in regular handcuffs a double lock is employed to prevent the further tightening of applied cuffs. there is a higher risk of nerve damage and soft tissue damage

less lethal munitions
rubber bullets, "bean bag" baton rounds, wooden dowel rounds, wax rounds. plastic electroshock delivering rounds


the following is from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less-lethal_weapon#Safety.2C_effects.2C_and_legal_status

Safety, effects, and legal status
In the United States of America, the University of Texas-Austin Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) conducts basic research to advance electrodynamics and hypervelocity physics related to electromagnetic weapons.[9] Generally considered 'non-lethal weapons', electromagnetic weaponry do however pose health threats to humans. In fact, "non-lethal weapons can sometimes be deadly."[10]
Department of Defense policy explicitly states that non-lethal weapons "shall not be required to have a zero probability of producing fatalities or permanent injuries."[11] Although a Human Effects Advisory Panel was established in 1998 to provide independent assessment on human effects, data, and models for the use of 'non-lethal weapons' on the general population,[12] the TECOM Technology Symposium in 1997 concluded on non-lethal weapons, “Determining the target effects on personnel is the greatest challenge to the testing community,” primarily because "the potential of injury and death severely limits human tests." However, "directed energy weapons that target the central nervous system and cause neurophysiological disorders may violate the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980. And weapons that go beyond non-lethal intentions and cause “superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering” could violate the Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977."[13]
Some common bio-effects of electromagnetic or non-lethal weapons include affects to the human central nervous system resulting in physical pain, difficulty breathing, vertigo, nausea, disorientation, or other systemic discomfort. Interference with breathing poses the most significant, potentially lethal results. Light and repetitive visual signals can induce epileptic seizures (called the Bucha effect). Vection and motion sickness can also occur.
Project Pandora, conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, WRAIR, included externally induced auditory input from pulsed microwave audiograms of words or oral sounds which create the effect of hearing voices that are not a part of the recipients own thought processes. Microwave pulses can also affect the epidermis (skin) and dermis, the thick sensitive layer of skin and connective tissue beneath the epidermis that contains blood, lymph vessels, sweat glands, and nerve endings, generating a burn from as far as 700 yards.[14]

Thursday Idea Blog #3

All of these thoughts about coercion, state power, police action and the presence of police in a community are all of great importance to me as today was the first day of the the group of 20 meetings in Pittsburgh. already on the pittsburg indymedia website there are reports of dozens of riot cops hanging out near the university campuses. the next few days are sure to be full of reports of police brutality.

already the reports are ominous

RT @someclevername: police choppers spotlighting friendship park/wooded areas in hollow behind bloomfield. what is this, blade runner #g20 Wednesday September 23 2009 12:31am

RT @G20IMC: G-6 Billion March Rerouted by Police http://bit.ly/Z5DwK #g20 #pghg20 Tuesday September 22 2009 11:58pm

i'll be watching closely as i've decided to sit this summit out. I'm sure that there will be plenty of numbers to make work from.

Thursday Idea Blog #2 An exploration of the idea of photography as a use of force:

An exploration of the idea of photography as a use of force:

In activist literature and in modern Anarchist analysis there is an idea that power can be categorized into three modes.

The first: Power Over
When power is experienced or used in the form of coercive force. Power gained by oppressive social and economic conditions, and systematic violence impressed upon one group by another.

The second: Power With
When power is experienced or used in the form of collective action against unjust conditions or systems experienced in whole, part or symbolically by members of the collective. A common idea that is directly related to this kind of power is solidarity.
Solidarity can be defined as:
noun, plural -ties.
Union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.: to promote solidarity among union members.
Community of feelings, purposes, etc.
Community of responsibilities and interests.

(Definition from dictionary.com)

The Third: Power Under
When power is experienced or used in the form of actively or passively giving up the power of an individual or group to another group or system.

I would like to attempt to examine the use of photographs and the practice of photography through this lens in order to tease out the ways in which we experience and employ photography as an act power or use of force.

Some quick examples that may lead to an understanding of how this analysis might play out.

Power Over:
In the Early 1900’s the Roma populations of Eastern Europe were rounded up and confined to specific geographic locations outside of cites and their populations documented. Some of the first uses of photography in the criminal justice system can be found to have been employed during this time. The mugshot has become a common element in the visual language of criminal justice. The first recorded use of the photograph in the form of a mugshot and mugshot book was during this period. Roma populations were photographed and the images held with the local authorities or police forces in a process of criminalizing whole groups of people without charging every individual. As such the entire population through the means of the photograph were shaded with suspicion and subject to social systems of domination by local authorities.

Power With:
The photograph as an act of solidarity has been evidenced by the tradition of modern war photography. Whether intentionally or not the photographs of the Vietnam War and atrocities committed therein added a visual texture to the news or massacre and destruction at the hands of western powers. There is a strong tradition of leftist photojournalists taking their craft to conflicts in support of conflicts in support of social movements. One notable photographer who acted in solidarity with embattled social groups is Robert Capa as he documenting the Marxist and Anarchist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Power Under:
Power Over could be seen as being experienced by the average American citizen through the means of advertising and mainstream media. The effects can be seen in the links between body image issues and the depiction of women and men in advertising. In politics and the creation of culture the process can be seen as giving up the power to create culture and define political issues by interacting with these arenas as passive consumers rather than image makers and producers.

Thursday Idea Blog

From the Momentary to the Permanent
(or the coercive use of force in the moment as a stand in for the constant use of force in the everyday)

Throughout of our lives we live under the threat of coercive force. As a basic building block of the relation of the individual to the larger system of capitalism the threat of starvation (a threat of physical violence) for the most part guarantees the participation of the individual in the path of submission to hierarchy and the system of wage labor. From this basic building block, the use of coercive force takes many forms most visibly in the role of the police. As the only public institution with the sanctioned ability to use coercive physical force (violence), police action is the most recognizable form of order maintained through force.
Several project ideas i've been kicking around include a conceptual mass arrest of my fellow students in which the temporary use of coercive force as experienced through the application of handcuffs becomes a permanent representation of that use of force through the record of the photograph. In the process of serialization, the photographs of many students in handcuffs becomes a record of a conceptual mass arrest. Another project takes cues from both street art and my experiences in alternative processes. In this exploration I would use source photographs of riot police gleaned form the upcoming G20 meeting in Pittsburgh on the 23 and 24 of September to recreate life size replicas of the police formations in the form of cardboard cutouts in and around the campus and richmond metro area. The temporary installation of the police into the local environment becomes a permanent record of a physical occupation of space through the photograph. As a body of work the photographs together would become a record of how the police representations change the use of physical and in this case public space to both students and members of the general public.
obviously these need to be fleshed out a bit more than they have been but i feel like they both offer opportunities to further explore the ideas i've been presenting.