Archive for the Theorists category
Jennifer & Kevin McCoy
by admin on July 23rd, 2008
The McCoy’s have developed a database of work using ideas of genre, stereotypes, relationships and representational techniques. They focus their work through the repetition and genre of human thinking, and the effect that technology plays in that process.
Like Sodeoka or vice-versa, they seek inspiration and analyse a broad scope of media to produce some sort of narrative in their work. The narrative is then presented through installations, net art or live events.1
What attracts me to the McCoys is not necessarily the aesthetics of their work, but the ideas behind the work. The approach they take not only involves facts to base the project on but achieves it in a way that creates thought among the audience. The ideas or methods may not be subtle in some cases but are still communicated effectively. Old concepts and new technologies are combined together to create an art piece with some sort of status or value that people can appreciate.2
A piece that I could relate with my own project, called Airworld, investigates the world of advertising and the possibilities new technology is creating for marketing opportunities, amongst other things. The finished project mocked branding aesthetics and jargon.3 This is the type of approach I would like to take towards my finished product.
4
1.http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/8357/1/McCoy_Jennifer_Kevin.pdf last visited 2008-07-23
2.http://www.walkerart.org/archive/E/A97375E696EE81416164.htm last visited 2008-07-23
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_&_Kevin_McCoy last visited 2008-07-23
4.http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccoyspace/248983167/in/set-72157594311709487/ last visited 2008-07-23
5. http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html
6. http://www.briansholis.com/WRITING/CONTENT/MCCOYS/index.html
7. http://www.airworld.net/
8. http://www.mccoyspace.com/
Yoshi Sodeoka
by admin on July 23rd, 2008
Sodeoka’s design process appeals to me because of his experimental style. He takes a variety of elements and mashes them together to create something rather unique. The work flow consists of figuring out the concept and meaning of the project and then assigning an appropriate look.
His experience ranges in many forms from motion graphics and installations to music performances. Inspiration comes from “the relationship between media culture, technology and humanity, and how they affect each other and so on…[he uses] a lot of old television and film footage and collage it with some noise tracks that [he] I make[s].”1
I like his attitude towards towards life, “I like going with the flow…”1 which I believe influences his work. His casual perspective is something that I aspire to yet gaining respect with the projects created. This is something I intend to take into my idea of branding and its consequences.
2
1. http://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2003/10/yoshi_sodeoka.html last visited 2008-07-23
2. http://www.c505.com/ last visited 2008-07-23
Theorists
by admin on July 22nd, 2008
The development of my research will be based on the following theorists.
Leda Cosmides:
Cosmides’ research is based around evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology contains many disciplines. It combines “cognitive science, human evolution, hunter gatherer studies, neuroscience, psychology and evolutionary biology, in an attempt to understand and map the human mind and brain.”[1]
Looking at the way humans were designed, the hunter gatherer, gives us an understanding of society without the pressures of branding and global corporations. Understanding human psychology as a hunter gatherer, I believe, is an important start to understanding the effects branding has on us as individuals today.
Douglas Rushkoff:
Rushkoff is someone that I want to pay particular attention to throughout my research.
Rushkoff “focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He sees ‘media’ as the landscape where this interaction takes place, and ‘literacy’ as the ability to participate consciously in it.”[2]
He understands how media affects people in society, and the implications of corporate brands branding individuals. Marketers are taking advantage of popular culture, and using these trends to influence people through advertising.
Henry Jenkins
Jenkins is currently the director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. He is an advocate of gaming culture but I’m more interested in his ideas in media and cultural change.
My take on Jenkins is that he looks towards the future of branding. “He is one of the leaders of the Convergence Culture Consortium, which consults with leading players in the branded entertainment sector in hopes of helping them adjust to shifts in the media environment”[3] Jenkins is trying to improve the way branding affects our society by creating awareness with branding companies and also to “teachers and parents [to] better prepare young people for full participation in contemporary culture.”[4]
This will help me understand the intended change for the future in branding and its consequences.
[1] http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/cosmides/research/research.php last visited:2008-07-22
[2] http://rushkoff.com/bio/ last visited: 2008-07-22
[3] http://www.henryjenkins.org/aboutme.html last visited: 2008-07-22
[4] http://www.henryjenkins.org/aboutme.html last visited: 2008-07-22