Week 06 - Noticing the ignored
Experiential Drawing, Capture, Writing, Recording, Play, Photography
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
Research, explore and analyse different ways of seeing, looking and capturing.
Document, explore and evidence your ways of seeing, thinking and observing.
Imagine and communicate something unique.
Communicate your interpretation visually.
Document and communicate your working process on your blog.
Participate in and reflect upon debate on the ideas wall.
Manage your independent learning through good planning and self-direction
In this week’s lecture by Susanna Edwards, we were asked
Ways of seeing - how do we capture information
How do I use recording tools to capture information?
How can you really look at something from multiple ways of seeing?
How can you capture and record in multiple ways?
Notes from a lecture. This week’s lecture includes various examples of influential artists and designers
There are multiple ways to document information these days and with online platforms there are also multiple ways for information to be seen.
But is there too much information for our brains to take in and do we miss vital information that is under our noses everyday and how can we capture this information and make sure it is seen?
John Berger - Ways of Seeing
He changed the way we looked at art in Ways of Seeing;
I enjoyed this film the most so wrote my own notes on this.
READ l WATCH l LISTEN - John Berger
John Berger talks about the art of storytelling and is renowned for his work in 1972 ‘The art of seeing’ was regarded as the most influential art programme ever made his theories about how we see great works of art made them seem like our everyday life. He questioned the assumptions that we view paintings as less spontaneous and natural than we believe and the interpretation of the essence of a painting as more vivid than the paintings themselves, especially with European art.
He argues that the invention of the camera, it gives a very different perspective of the world from all different angles. Whereas a piece of art is only seen from one perspective and everything around the image is part of its meaning. Such as artworks within churches. An extreme example is the icon where pilgrims travel to the place.
He encourages us to look and critique centuries-old masterpieces from a different perspective not as the result of divine inspirations but as products of the time and place in which they were created. Because paintings are silent and still, they can be manipulated using movement and sound into something different.
Paintings on film and television can be manipulated even more as a camera can pan into a specific area and can change the whole movement of the picture.
One of the critical points that Berger makes is that art is not inherently valuable but rather is assigned value by the institutions and individuals who determine its worth. He also criticizes the traditional art world for being elitist and exclusive, and argues that it reinforces existing power structures.
Berger's ideas were influential because they challenged conventional ways of thinking about art and images. He showed that our perceptions of these things are not objective, but are shaped by social, cultural, and historical factors. He also questioned the role of the art world in shaping our understanding of art, and argued for a more democratic and inclusive approach to art criticism and appreciation. His ideas helped to open up new ways of thinking about the relationship between art and society, and continue to influence critical discourse in art and media studies today.
Reflection
It's difficult to say precisely what John Berger would make of art and the internet culture and communication today. One of Berger's central arguments was that our perception of images is heavily influenced by the social and cultural context in which we view them.
It's possible that he would see art and graphics online as a way for ordinary people to subvert dominant narratives and challenge established power structures, but he might also be concerned about how they could be repurposed and taken advantage of by those in authority. As a marxist, he was very aware of the negative sides of global capitalism and how this influenced our relationship with art.
References:
John Berger, Ways of Seeing - Episode 1