New Media and Culture Lecture

Lecture 5

New Media and Visual Culture

1. characteristics of new digital media 

2. definition of critical look at the mass media 

3. relationship between art and the mass media 

Late age of print

The term comes from the mid theorist Marchall Mcluhan the age of print began around 1450.

Gutenbergs printing press.

similar to a wine press but with moveable type blocks began the start of mass produced printing

19th century allows for popular print media to become available cheaply to the masses

the ability for people to produce information in print starts here

print allows people to become literate like they weren't before.

prior to the late age of print literacy mean being able to read and write.

computerate - extension of literate 

printing in this age was use for bank statements and other important documents

nowadays we use computers as consumption of info but also and production of info..

The Reader

'the rolled of the reader'- the electronic book

people no longer read print electronic viewing is taking over i.e people use the internet to read articles and are also able to comment  with their opinions

e books allow you to use the news how you choose you can skip back and forward link to individual stories, these allows us to shape and change information we receive 

Computer Media

'Hypertext' and 'hypermedia' allows you to jump straight to a story.  it can give you the feline of being lost in information were you cant get back to were you started

in schools students build their own learning with the internet rather than being thought by a teacher.

its dizzying how much information is taken in, screen size effects this and a sense that struggle or compensation with the internet as in we always have to be on the move an get through the information as fast as we can were as with a book you can get into it and slow down with it.

Definition of mass media 

modern systems of communication and distribution supplied by relatively small group of cultural producers but directed toward large numbers of consumers i.e. a small number of people communicating to a large audience.

pros and cons of the mass media.

1. superficial uncritical trivial

2. viewing figures measure success

3. audience is disempowered 

4. encourages the status quo (its conservative)

5. audience is dispersed 

6. encourages apathy

7. power held by the few motivated by profit or social control (propaganda)

8. Bland, Escapist and Standardised 

9.Encourages escapism, seen as a drug of the nation

Positives of mass media

1. not al mass media is of low quality 

2. social problem and injustices are discussed by the media

3. creativity can be a feature of mass media

4. transmission of high art material reaches a broader audience

5. democratic potential

Nothing radical happens with the internet or TV because due to the fear of loosing audience.

if your part of an audience that watches for instance Emmerdale you seem to be part of a collective, the audience is disempowered, i.e if you phone in a radio station they can cut you off, also Wagner had a campaign on FB and then he got kicked out.

artistes use of mass media art in the age of mass media

he explores what happens to art just for the few in this age of the mass media how does that relationship shift

'LEEDS 13' 

Benneton campaign..Oliviero Toscani……---an ad campaign on the surface to buy products,,but thats not what their doing the outfit is an army one stained with blood,,,this campaign traded on horror and disaster unity social cohesion, electric chair, social issues like aids/hiv --there fore its doing much more than advertising its more about politics 

LEEDS 13 - pretended to go and spend their grants on a piss up and faked photos, when they released this as a scam there was a debate about whats art.

Key Questions

can art be autonomous? (exist on its own vacuum)…i.e. its doesn't have its own politics and doesn't need new media.

Should art be autonomous? (for some yes…)

Jackson Pollock

his work is just about aesthetic appeal no politics or any thin, but theres a theory that the CIA paid him to produce this work in the time of the cold war.

Picasso had a deep relationship with the mass media..

warhol electric chair (1967)  Ambulance Disaster..the negative effects of the mass media a conditions known as compassion fatigue…if images of shock value are repeated they loose their shock value the same way he made maralyn monroe loose her ...

Uncle same Range

In this brief essay I will be comparing two very patriotic and persuasive pieces of graphic design from significant times in history, I will be looking at the message being delivered, the purpose of the message, the potential audience, fonts used, style of graphic design and socio historical context.
The two images I am comparing are 'The Uncle Same Range' (1876), An advertising image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, selling The Uncle Sam Range Cooker and a Poster by Savile Lumley (1915) about the First World War persuading you to join the army. Two similar pieces of graphic design in terms of purpose, they both aim to persuade and both use the same kind of techniques.
The first image 'The Uncle Sam Range' uses a clever technique of patriotism to grab the viewers attention, all over the image you find american flags and symbols, for instance the curtains and wall paper resemble the american flag and Uncle Sam, the most American symbol of all is sat in the middle of the picture with the american Eagle perched upon his shoulder, this shows the image is intended for Americans, we see Uncle Sam sat at a table to the right of a huge cooking stove with all sorts of working parts on it, the table has a cloth over it saying 'Uncle Sam's little Dinner Party' also sat at this table is the Globe and three women: West, Dixie and New England these are the main parts of America, the first states. With the combination of it being Uncle Sam's Dinner party and Uncle Sam sat down with the Globe we get the idea America is catering to the world. The second image uses a guilt trip approach to persuade the audience, we see a father of two sat in his front room with his daughter on his lap reading a book and his son sat on the floor playing with war toys, at the bottom of the image there is some text that reads 'Daddy, what did YOU do in the great war?' the text is in italics so we know its as if one of the children have said it, also the YOU is underlined to target individuals the same way Uncle Sam's 'your country needs YOU' poster did with Uncle Sam pointing at the audience. The war is also called the great war as to state it would have been an honour to serve in. The text used in the first image is a very well known strong, bold, western font that could have been found in old wild west ranch's this again shows american patriotism and strength, an interesting part of the Uncle Sam's Range is the Globe is holding a list that has countries on them with foods listed below belonging to each country, for instance it says: China - birds nest, boiled grasshoppers etc and: Ireland - Potatoes Raw this is showing that the Uncle Sam Range Cooker in the image to the left of uncle sam can cook almost any thing from any country therefore America is the host to all countries, and the patriotism of the image makes the audience believe that if they buy this cooker they themselves become more American for that.

5 Examples of Post Modernist Graphic Design

Cover for i-D magazine, a very post modern youth cultural magazine using bright  colour and experimental typography to create an aesthetic piece of design, a lot like the sex pistols god save the queen cover. 

Nu Bodies - Edward Fella, a piece of deconstructionism design is a good example of what  postmodernism is, it shows the rules can be bent and things can go were they please in a piece of design because it looks good.

Weingart, Wolfgang  Kunst Kredit , 1977 A really nice black and white piece of design, the composition reflecting that of a collage and also the type used shows its postmodernist style.

Jamie Reid Sex Pistols Cover, the use of bright and bold colours along with again the effect of a collage and edgy typeface gives this piece a really postmodern feel to it.

Goldberg, C - Book Jacket for 1986 reissue of James Joyce's "Ulysses", a nice simple design using a really strange postmodern type and abstract/collage layout of image.