Monday, December 13, 2010
This class in summation
I feel as though I learned a lot in this class, which is kind of strange because this class was only four months long as Josie stated. But these past four months seemed to have been power packed. This class was much more intellectually driven than sculpture classes that I had before. I went back and fourth on whether it was better to have a class that was more work based or more thought based. I believe the thought allowed for much better work. Other classes of course wanted to students to do independent research, but sometimes its hard to research a lot when the pressure to have work is so heavy. Plus sometimes my independent research is history and fact based, like the sugar trade in Brazil, and not on abstract thinking like identity, which everyone can relate to. One of the best things that I am taking away from this class is the manner in which to interact with the viewer through my work, like I stated in the entry "Final Project". Also, this class had so many presentations, that I started to feel a little more comfortable in that role, eventhough I know I mumble and move around and say "like" way too much. I learned that Radiolab is awesome. I also learned how to blog and how to use video and audio editting software. I feel like my sculptural work is becoming more integrated into things that I truly relate to and not solely things in the world that I find interesting but have no true impression on my day to day life. This is a much better way to work, drawing from things that affect me currently not something 5,000 miles away that I find interesting and are in a very complicated way associated with american life.
Radiolab "Words"
I was really intrigued by the case of the 27 year-old man who had never learned language. A while back I watched a documentary about feral children. The documentary stated that because these children had never learned language and were past the age of 4, they were now incapable of learning it. The neurologist on the documentary showed that the part of the brain that processes language was malformed. So when I listen to this podcast I was very absorbed by the fact that this man was capable of learning language. The difference in the two cases must be that he was around other humans, and the language center of the brain formed in a very rudimentary state based around human non-verbal communication. The part about the reaction of the 27 year old after realizing his first word and making the connection between language and object was really beautiful; about seeing a whole world open up in his eyes.
The case of the woman who had a stroke and went in and out of understanding language was interesting in the way that she had to re-teach herself language. I thought the part about her feelings of bliss when she wasn’t thinking in verbal thought was kind of misplaced. Animals don't think in verbal, language-based thoughts but they are definitely not at peace or in a state of bliss constantly. The feeling of bliss that she experienced probably had something to do with the pleasure center and other areas of her brain being affected by the stroke.
The currently evolving new language segment was strange in relation to the 27 year-old's case. Why had the one group of deaf children, with no language being taught to them, develop their own means of communication and eventually sign language, and the other group with the 27 year-old hadn't? Is the development of language dependent on population size? It was really impressive that after only one generation of basic language skills, the second generation was able to start expressing, and thus thinking about, abstract thought and concepts. It also make me wonder if abstract thought is only capable when language is present, and language presents many restrictions in abstract thought (like the issues around I, or in the metaphors we live by), then isn't that sort of a strange catch 22, or a paradoxical relationship with language and abstract thought?
The case of the woman who had a stroke and went in and out of understanding language was interesting in the way that she had to re-teach herself language. I thought the part about her feelings of bliss when she wasn’t thinking in verbal thought was kind of misplaced. Animals don't think in verbal, language-based thoughts but they are definitely not at peace or in a state of bliss constantly. The feeling of bliss that she experienced probably had something to do with the pleasure center and other areas of her brain being affected by the stroke.
The currently evolving new language segment was strange in relation to the 27 year-old's case. Why had the one group of deaf children, with no language being taught to them, develop their own means of communication and eventually sign language, and the other group with the 27 year-old hadn't? Is the development of language dependent on population size? It was really impressive that after only one generation of basic language skills, the second generation was able to start expressing, and thus thinking about, abstract thought and concepts. It also make me wonder if abstract thought is only capable when language is present, and language presents many restrictions in abstract thought (like the issues around I, or in the metaphors we live by), then isn't that sort of a strange catch 22, or a paradoxical relationship with language and abstract thought?
Radiolab "Memory and Forgetting"
This podcast was a little too interesting. Oliver Sacks cases always freak me out just a little because they are so bizarre that I start to imagine getting one of them. This podcast made me fear encephalitis at the core of my being. The thought that one minute all that constructs of a capable human being is lost because of a lack of memory retention is wholly terrifying. Also it tears at the ideas behind nature vs. nurture. In this case because the nurture element, or experiences element, to Clive Wearing is gone and cannot be formed the nature element, or genetics, does not matter, he can still not function. It almost makes an argument that humans personalities and psychologies are much more a make up of their experience. The Wearing case also shows the fragility of the human mind, which is probably the most terrifying part. Like reading the "The Bell Jar", I was constantly questioning my retention and sanity while listening to this segment.
The segment on the painter that was painting a subconscious memory for years was incredibly engaging. The artist could remember the visual memory but couldn't recall any of the other aspects of the memory like touch, or language, or smell. Then after enough time he stumbles upon the right visual trigger to set off the entirety of the memory into conscious thought. That's pretty intense.
This radiolab also threw me for a loop because the idea of constantly recreating a memory each time that it is remembered is slightly unnerving. Every time that I remember something, which is a million times a day, I wondered if I destructed the original memory. If now that I have remembered it, it will never be correct. It makes me think the funny stories I tell to friends and if these stories are now almost completely falsified due to the instability of memory. If memory is in some ways who we are as we see through the Clive Wearing case and if memory is incredibly unstable and fragile, than everyone must be incredibly fragile and unstable. Scary!!... I'm exaggerating this a little but still this radiolab was enthralling.
The segment on the painter that was painting a subconscious memory for years was incredibly engaging. The artist could remember the visual memory but couldn't recall any of the other aspects of the memory like touch, or language, or smell. Then after enough time he stumbles upon the right visual trigger to set off the entirety of the memory into conscious thought. That's pretty intense.
This radiolab also threw me for a loop because the idea of constantly recreating a memory each time that it is remembered is slightly unnerving. Every time that I remember something, which is a million times a day, I wondered if I destructed the original memory. If now that I have remembered it, it will never be correct. It makes me think the funny stories I tell to friends and if these stories are now almost completely falsified due to the instability of memory. If memory is in some ways who we are as we see through the Clive Wearing case and if memory is incredibly unstable and fragile, than everyone must be incredibly fragile and unstable. Scary!!... I'm exaggerating this a little but still this radiolab was enthralling.
Final Project
"Pillow"
Leather, Main art t-shirt (as stuffing), Sticky Rice t-shirt (as stuffing), two ex-boyfriends t-shirts (as stuffing), wood pedestal and frame, hardware
"Personal Aesthetics"
Two frames, two digital photographs, photograph from 7 years ago, screen-printed self-portrait with ground pavement from 1000 W. Broad St., wood from sugar printing machine, hand sewn cloth from thrift stores, spray paint, hardware
"It's Called Working"
Worn aprons from Sticky Rice, remnants of meals made for customers over the past six weeks, approximately fifty lbs hand colored sugar, clear vinyl, thread, rope, wood, and hardware
I am very happy with the way these three small works turned out. They are much more autobiographical than any of my previous works. In thinking about identity, I knew that I alone experience my identity, and everyone else experiences their own. In trying to make work to express issues surrounding identity or my experience with identity, there would be a good chance of isolating the viewer or creating work that is overly prescriptive to how the viewer should think when looking at the work. So I decided to go about creating the work in a way that just showed them how I experience identity and places where the idea of identity is problematic.
I also try to continue working with some of the interests I have in staging and framing, because I felt that it related to identity well. How our identities are the frames that we put around ourselves whether its conscious or subconscious really interests me. Also how our past becomes the framework for our future, and how memory sit in this framed segment of what is remember of an experience and what is not. The aprons that I wear at work seem to strangely record a past of making, but then the aprons get turned in washed and returned to be worn by a fellow workers in the food industry. It’s as if this identity that I put on, that simultaneously keeps me or the person under the apron untarnished, is traded among the group. But also this part of my identity as food preparer is just a trait and in some ways is not my identity. I have not always worked in this way, but it would be unclear and incorrect to say that it is a personality trait. The history of the clothing with function of the clothing interested me, as well as the transient nature of this part of my life that I identify as something I do.
The theatre set like laundry line worked really well; in that the viewers understood it. It was a reference to the stage with out being a stage. The 3deminsional frame on the "Pillow" piece also was apparent as a framing apparatus to the viewers. I really like this new way of thinking about working; giving the viewer something not trying to tell them something. Its a very slight variation I suppose, and I foresee it being problematic when the dealing with less autobiographical subject matter. But for now I like the idea.
Radiolabs on Time
(So I didn't realize that you wanted us to post responses to these on our blogs, I thought they were just going to be discussed in class. I only say that because I wish my response could be more candid and less the memory of my initial response. I apologize for misunderstanding or not paying close enough attention to the directions)
Both the radiolabs "Time" and "Beyond Time" were incredibly interesting. Overall, radiolab does an excellent job and I am now addicted to listening to them. In the "Time" episode, the slowing of the Beethoven piece is really fascinating. I began messing with Audacity software and slowing down other songs so I could try and hear something different out of songs I already knew. I couldn't tell if what I was hearing when the music was slowed down was the actual parts in the songs that are inaudible because of the speed or if they were just the digital software creating noise when the songs were slowed down to a massive degree.
I didn't realize how recently standardized time was created. It was really interesting to hear the story of a town that all had different times; the bank varying from the butcher. I have a little trouble imagining this and I would assume that it would be incredibly frustrating. The excerpt about the athletes being in the zone was pretty awesome. Everyone has felt the feeling of time flying by or time dragging, but the athletes seemed to have experienced this at a greater level. It relates to the Oliver sacks patients that time is actually traveling much slower or much faster for them. This except is kind of terrifying. If a person is living with a different perception of time, than they are actually living in a different world, where communication is just not possible. This part made me think of the validity behind many of stories in Einstein's Dreams.
The Jad and Robert’s goofy little explanation of the theory of relativity really really helps to clarify the theory for me. This part is actually what made me want to read Hawking’s "A brief history of time". Before I had taken that theory as factual but not completely understood it.
In "Beyond Time", I found the section on the artist Terri Wilcox to be kind of silly. I thought that the artist was being slightly naive. There is no way to truly live in a different time; he is just living in nostalgia of that time. He's being overly reverent of a time that he truly knows nothing about. He only knows about it through mediation of books and stories.
I also thought that the idea of discovering fate in the fact that it take a little while for your brain to transmit signals to your finger was slightly absurd. Of course if takes a while for your brain to transmit those signals and for the action to take place. There are a lot of steps that take place in order for your body to react in a way that someone is telling it to. For one the language that is being told to you has to be deciphered for the meaning and then the correct neurotransmitters must be signaled. The light on the brain scan that occurs way before the action is probably a part of the brain simple reacting to someone directing information towards them, which happens before the directions are completely spoken. There are so many other ways of describing the brain scans that fate seems very far off as a conclusion.
Both the radiolabs "Time" and "Beyond Time" were incredibly interesting. Overall, radiolab does an excellent job and I am now addicted to listening to them. In the "Time" episode, the slowing of the Beethoven piece is really fascinating. I began messing with Audacity software and slowing down other songs so I could try and hear something different out of songs I already knew. I couldn't tell if what I was hearing when the music was slowed down was the actual parts in the songs that are inaudible because of the speed or if they were just the digital software creating noise when the songs were slowed down to a massive degree.
I didn't realize how recently standardized time was created. It was really interesting to hear the story of a town that all had different times; the bank varying from the butcher. I have a little trouble imagining this and I would assume that it would be incredibly frustrating. The excerpt about the athletes being in the zone was pretty awesome. Everyone has felt the feeling of time flying by or time dragging, but the athletes seemed to have experienced this at a greater level. It relates to the Oliver sacks patients that time is actually traveling much slower or much faster for them. This except is kind of terrifying. If a person is living with a different perception of time, than they are actually living in a different world, where communication is just not possible. This part made me think of the validity behind many of stories in Einstein's Dreams.
The Jad and Robert’s goofy little explanation of the theory of relativity really really helps to clarify the theory for me. This part is actually what made me want to read Hawking’s "A brief history of time". Before I had taken that theory as factual but not completely understood it.
In "Beyond Time", I found the section on the artist Terri Wilcox to be kind of silly. I thought that the artist was being slightly naive. There is no way to truly live in a different time; he is just living in nostalgia of that time. He's being overly reverent of a time that he truly knows nothing about. He only knows about it through mediation of books and stories.
I also thought that the idea of discovering fate in the fact that it take a little while for your brain to transmit signals to your finger was slightly absurd. Of course if takes a while for your brain to transmit those signals and for the action to take place. There are a lot of steps that take place in order for your body to react in a way that someone is telling it to. For one the language that is being told to you has to be deciphered for the meaning and then the correct neurotransmitters must be signaled. The light on the brain scan that occurs way before the action is probably a part of the brain simple reacting to someone directing information towards them, which happens before the directions are completely spoken. There are so many other ways of describing the brain scans that fate seems very far off as a conclusion.
Goddard Shorts and Kerry Tribe video
Immediately upon watching these videos I thought of the Freudian theories of when the ego and the superego are fully formed, which I believe he theorized around the age of 10. I also remember being told that the idea that personal identity doesn't start to manifest until the age of 10, these could be the same theories and apart of the same memory but I'm a little confused on it now. Anyway, these notions started to affect the way that I was watching the Goddard shorts. I began to think of the subjects he was interviewing as in some strange way unaware of themselves. I don't interact with young children very often, but somehow their responses seemed apathetic. As if they didn't have the capability of understanding Goddard was pining for their viewpoint on identity. This was very interesting because I cannot remember myself before I was truly aware of my identity. Then I thought that maybe to a young excitable child the questions were just boring, tricky questions that they didn’t want to put energy into.
I thought that the children acted differently from the children that I have interacted with. Most children that I have interacted with are excitable and proud. They seem to generally enjoy talking about themselves and their daily actions. In my experience, once you get a child talking about something at school they go into every single detail and haven't learned the notion of highlighting the interesting parts for who ever they are speaking with. The Goddard children seem quite and humble. I began to relate these differences to cultural differences. American children seem narcissistic where as these children were anything but. I wondered if I was projecting and making illogical connections due to my limited interaction with children.
Some of the questions that Goddard was asking seemed inconsequential to the notions of self-image. Like the question if the children thought they should get paid for being in school, if school is working to them. I wondered if he was equating the level of importance in working to a paycheck, and if he was digging to see if the children thought the work they were doing in school equated to the work of their fathers.
The Kerry Tribe video was interesting because it gave me the chance to see the responses of an american child or so I assume. The child was much more confident in her responses and willing to expand on her viewpoint of the question. The child is also the daughter of the questioner, which that level of comfort with the interviewer could explain the confidence in the response. After watching the Kerry Tribe video, I realized that maybe I just have an allusion about the way in which children act and think. The dual video projections were nice and some of the images were serene, but I didn't really see the connection with the interview footage. Like the landscape images and the image of a chair in a hallway, they exist and they are images but why those particular images were lost on me.
Both the Goddard and the Tribe piece left me a little unimpressed unfortunately. It’s possible that I'm too stupid or cynical to see the weight of the videos. I attribute some of the importance of the Goddard work to the rise in interest in existentialism in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. So Goddard asking questions of existence to young children is quite a profound idea. I think the main reason that I am a little disappointed is because the responses of the children are simple and unentertaining. So many of the responses were "yes" "no" "I don't know".
I thought that the children acted differently from the children that I have interacted with. Most children that I have interacted with are excitable and proud. They seem to generally enjoy talking about themselves and their daily actions. In my experience, once you get a child talking about something at school they go into every single detail and haven't learned the notion of highlighting the interesting parts for who ever they are speaking with. The Goddard children seem quite and humble. I began to relate these differences to cultural differences. American children seem narcissistic where as these children were anything but. I wondered if I was projecting and making illogical connections due to my limited interaction with children.
Some of the questions that Goddard was asking seemed inconsequential to the notions of self-image. Like the question if the children thought they should get paid for being in school, if school is working to them. I wondered if he was equating the level of importance in working to a paycheck, and if he was digging to see if the children thought the work they were doing in school equated to the work of their fathers.
The Kerry Tribe video was interesting because it gave me the chance to see the responses of an american child or so I assume. The child was much more confident in her responses and willing to expand on her viewpoint of the question. The child is also the daughter of the questioner, which that level of comfort with the interviewer could explain the confidence in the response. After watching the Kerry Tribe video, I realized that maybe I just have an allusion about the way in which children act and think. The dual video projections were nice and some of the images were serene, but I didn't really see the connection with the interview footage. Like the landscape images and the image of a chair in a hallway, they exist and they are images but why those particular images were lost on me.
Both the Goddard and the Tribe piece left me a little unimpressed unfortunately. It’s possible that I'm too stupid or cynical to see the weight of the videos. I attribute some of the importance of the Goddard work to the rise in interest in existentialism in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. So Goddard asking questions of existence to young children is quite a profound idea. I think the main reason that I am a little disappointed is because the responses of the children are simple and unentertaining. So many of the responses were "yes" "no" "I don't know".
identity and immunology response
This podcast was a little difficult to follow. It was interesting from a biological standpoint about how the body identifies itself at the cellular level. It was also interesting in the notion that there are these elements in the body that are ready to attack anything at will but must be held back. I thought the idea of a physiological memory was interesting too. I didnt realize that our bodies have evolved to hold on to specific antibodies incase we come up against the same pathogens again.
This podcast is a good showcase of how the microcosm and the macrocosm structurally resemble each other. I really enjoy playing with the idea of the body as a world and different organs are cities where cells white and red blood cells are people.
I also enjoy thinking about the relation that the markers that our bodies have to identify itself are like the metaphorical markers that our mind creates when address the idea of personal identity. Like where I grew up is a marker when thinking about who I am, but that is truly indicative of nothing of my true identity.
There were definitely parts in this podcast that got a little sticky in medical jargon, but overall it was helpful.
This podcast is a good showcase of how the microcosm and the macrocosm structurally resemble each other. I really enjoy playing with the idea of the body as a world and different organs are cities where cells white and red blood cells are people.
I also enjoy thinking about the relation that the markers that our bodies have to identify itself are like the metaphorical markers that our mind creates when address the idea of personal identity. Like where I grew up is a marker when thinking about who I am, but that is truly indicative of nothing of my true identity.
There were definitely parts in this podcast that got a little sticky in medical jargon, but overall it was helpful.
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