Reading + BANNER

Tammer El Sheikh’s reading discusses dirty words. A word like ‘interesting’, overused and meaningless, bland.

Especially within the art world, the conceptual framework of identifying and critiquing, and creating artwork. Dirty words which we’ve been trained not to use during critiques and in art practices when writing. You should not say something is interesting and nice, that doesn’t bring any true meaning and those words are just used as filler words, they’re just there to get you to the 500 words needed for your essay to be accepted, they’re just there to make things easier. As we know art isn’t easy, the meaning behind art isn’t easy, why take the easy way when taking in art from the perspective of non-creator. Let’s be descriptive and bring in real life sense to our visions and ideas that a certain work represents… That truly creates appreciation for the work and for yourself.

“I AM NOT BOUND TO THEM” Banner
This “I am not bound to them” banner represents the rejection to allow money to control life. Money is seen as powerful, controlling, leading to greed, leading to consumerism and materialism. We choose to be attached to this concept but it is not necessary. Money comes in different colours, in different ways, and in different values. I am not bound to them, the banks nor the institutions that seem powerful if you make them powerful. Let go of this ideology, live life not bound to them. You don’t need that new car or a private jet. Those are temporary, money is temporary. You’re given one life and once your gone, you don’t take anything with you. Choose to be bound or unbound. Money can make you bound forever, bound to pay off your debts. You can choose to not be bound to them. You can become… “I am not bound to them”.

Photo(s) Description:
Floating money around the text. You can imagine the sky, the feeling that you get when you are not bound to them. To anything or anyone. Heaven or a dream. There is nothing stopping you or dragging you, your not bound. Money shown has no value. Take it how you feel it is resonating with you, we are all different and have different ideas when looking.

Field Trip – AGO and Power Plant

The field trip was very interesting and filled with a lot of various topics. You had important religious paintings in a rose pink room and you had the overall exhibit of THE CULTURE; signifying the culture behind the music, community and beliefs. The Power Plant was less intense with a more calm and shallow development. The Power Plant had the underwater palace which was very unique, movie-like, a mixture of language, and calming although somewhat graphic at points. You had the opportunity to lay down and sleep even. The other room had a unique design, the glowing strips on the wall, one was pointed out like flowing lava, Minecraft. Those strips, when taking pictures of it, looked like they were floating which I believe is seen with the eye but very faint and is on purpose because it adds a layer of depth to the experience. The breath of the man you heard through the headsets related to the physical piece but was very sexual and made one uncomfortable to the experience.

at The Culture, you had exhibits like the M.A.A.D. , which simply was video from the music videos of Kendrick. Taking these pieces and putting them into a simply artistic format rather than a video for the music on YouTube. Taking it out of context really made it more impactful, what is shown in the video is strong. The drive-by shootings, the low riders, the gang colours and more, including signs of Compton as the location. A strong location in hip hop culture.

The Floating Sea Palace by Lap See-Lam. An interesting take on film, on art. An immersive experience. A see through screen which blends the structure behind with the projected content. A loop. A lifecycle. IMAX movie like. Relaxing. You can get on some bed like bean bags and lay and become one with the piece. You don’t realize it is a loop only after a while. It takes on different languages, concepts, meanings. It is hard to understand what it wants to signify but it does attract me to be there, consider, and reflect. The relaxing and simple environment isn’t as it seems, some parts of the film are, let’s say, gruesome. It is more than sitting in a spot at the cinemas, it asks you to take on the journey and consider with the characters. You get to explore. Some of the parts are real, the pathway through, the structure, the maps. You are the Indiana Jones, you are a part of the art.

Video Assignment

Check Manny’s page for context/work-in-progress and scroll down to see finished video art.

Neil Postman Chapters

• Television has changed public discourse towards entertainment. Erasing serious thought.
• George Orwell – 1984, Aldous Huxley – Brave New World; Dystopian warnings – people are controlled by pleasure and are distracted.
• Communication shaped by the dominant platforms of the era, television prioritizes entertainment over fact.
• Print based societies like America, engaged their people to think critically, the new era erases this
• Lincoln-Douglas debate was once requiring of the complex structures in arguments, patience. Different from what is currently seen, short and to the point, fake, taken from the fact, made into entertaining, attracting, not slow factual and real.
• Declining print usage, digitalized age. Social platforms, media shared and created by anyone. Photography.
• News-Politics-Religion-Education turned into entertainment for views, for money. No longer simple and used as true sources
• Many concepts taken out of context for the public view, for the entertainment needs of today
• Society taken from the real and now a society embracing ‘content’, short viewed and short lived entertainment to fulfill emotional needs.
• Resistance from these change, from the false creations, from the unnatural and fake news that has covered our reality. Resist against the entertainment, consider educated interests and beliefs, educated wants, education.

Our Video:

Log-in to your YouTube to see, through Google account. Video isn’t as graphic as YouTube suggests. This is ‘The Culture’, a strong video art pointing towards an unjust world for coloured individuals.

Juried Art Show: Ed Video Award Winner

Description:

The Culture is a hint at the culture intertwined in African-American history. What these persons have gone through, what is happening today, where are we at in the world. Peace, justice.

Music, sports, school, friendships, relationships.

connect the audio to the visuals. What Lamar states is what is visible. A deep understanding in the culture. Kendrick Lamar, a well known artist. Who performed recently at the Super Bowl. A guy only known to some as Drake’s enemy or just a celebrity. Just a rapper. Just an artist. His words and expressions say otherwise. A long history, a talk with god. Uncle Sam. Different perspectives of those in the industry, old or young. His perspective, his life. An idea to get you to understand would be his exposition at the AGO. The videos shown and the music, that strength, the culture shown in the street, the combination. This is what he stands for, this is who he is, this is what the culture is like.

For some they do not know, they will never. They won’t understand and they won’t care. But if you want the truth, the words and the visuals are there. Manny and I, wanted to show you what still is progressing today. Not only a musical visual but speeches from individuals in history who created statements that shatter the most strengthfull of attitudes. To make you question and agree to those who ask for change. The world is not perfect but hurting others over colour is not it. We come from all over and in Canada and the US especially, racism towards African-American individuals is occurring in large numbers and is shown on the news more and more. These are countries who suppressed such individuals for decades if not centuries. The biggest thing is, we are all immigrants, we are all not from here. The true ones are those native to the land. Some think otherwise and are power hungry. They think they have more rights than others and unfortunately this ideology has created negative consequences for members. Members of the black community.

We have chosen to show light towards this subject. It may be hard to watch but it is reality. If you do not point it out, if you do not expose it, if you do not change. It will never go away. These experiences and events will not go away, it will be in the back of our mind. The only thing we can do is diminish these issues. This video is just one more impactful creation that has shown light on the topic. It is on the shorter end in terms of time but the impact is felt for life. It makes you understand and realize. It makes you want to change. It makes you want to think differently for the better. It is truth.

Together with the soundtrack, the audios, and the visuals from more than 50 videos of events, bodycam footage, interviews, and more. Combine to become one message. Face it, change it.

Video Comments

I don’t see an option to comment so here are my responses to each person’s video work.

Esais – Hold for 4

Your video is well edited and creates a peaceful atmosphere. The layering of sound is interesting as you have the breathes of various individuals holding for 4. The visuals cutting in and out creates an intensity as the video goes on. The intentional use of distinct videos and their positioning closer to the end, creates this pathway that we go on when we hold for four. As the title suggests. I feel like this video complication that you created is similar to those of individuals yawning so you yawn too. This makes me want to hold and breath deeply. Being surrounded by others practicing this method. With headphones on, it is immersive and creates a soloing of where I am. I feel like I am in a different place, not in the physical chair and desk that I am at, I am there. In a dream. In a jungle. In a position of meditation, during a class or vacation.

Cheyenne/Ana – Delete

Hello Subscribers, Delete Your Instagram

This video takes on the idea for the viewers, the subscribers, to delete their socials. Social media has been has negative, more and more. Especially, with Elon Musk’s take over of a once simple blue bird turned into a dark freedom of speech hell hole. What’s the point of being on these platforms if you’re faced with negativity throughout, now stemming from the platforms owner(s). Facebook recently made everyone automatically follow Donald Trump. If this is the games we have to play, you’re indeed better off to delete you instagram, your twitter, subscribers-hello-delete them. This video basis itself all around this topic, the creators of this video (Cheyenne/Ana), even deleting their own profiles because it’s not worth being on their to them, on these screwed up platforms. They’re telling us to do so ourselves, will you?

Yasmin – Lgbtq Inspired

Yasmin takes on the scope of compiling internet videos highlighting those who are queer/homosexual in a comedic or classic sitcom style. Bringing light to what consumer queer media is today compared to what was displayed only a few decades ago. The work shows the discrepancy between generations and how they dealt and envisioned the LGBTQ culture. A more welcoming time right now rather than an insulting discourse.

My Crops are Dying But My Body Persists: Reflection

Charlene Lau –

Moser appropriates internet culture, memes and expressions in an almost cinematic way. I would consider her work some form of experimental dance. She’s attracted to items, combines them and offers them new meaning through a landscape she reworks. Her colour is mainly based around pink and skin colour. It creates a distinct tone but also isn’t too strong to take away from what is being shown physically and emotionally. Her choices of clothing remind me of 90s Adidas track suits or even yoga class materials. I physically experience the video through the choices Moser makes in her body language, in her unexpected movements and the choice of audio which resonates throughout the piece and into my body. I believe Moser’s messages within her piece are hidden. They aren’t signified and you have to transcribe them to understand the meaning. Some of her work, when she’s blending in with the background, I feel creates a message of silence. Where she is silenced and stuck. Her repetition throughout the video creates a loop of every life in enclosed household. The video was unleashed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time where we were all enclosed and silenced to our living quarters. You weren’t even allowed to go to the local park. You had to stay in and figure out your life from within your household and make it livable. “A spectral virus seemingly lurks in the background of her work, casting a shadow over a show without an audience”. Many forms of video production were held to perform without an audience, reality TV shows and interviews were done in empty spaces. Her video is so in depth and carefully crafted, it unfortunately was only able to be displayed through a screen in front of the world, not separate and not held to just those in arts.

The role of absurdity, I consider, is a form of redefining how you can examplify an important message or create meaning in the piece that will stick with you for a long time. COVID was very absurd, it made us feel things we hadn’t before and we were placed in a terrible position. We lost emotional touch with the world and ourselves, we lost connection and we can see what could occur when connections were no longer possible; “Moser shifted positions, she awkwardly mounted the sofa’s back, caressed its dusty-rose velour, and balanced atop it, trying to feel something”. It’s a unique take on offering the viewer a message and may even bar the viewer from continuing to watch the content. It was uncomfortable but the truth. I as a male didn’t really feel an attraction to the piece but some of the symbols in the piece may have resonated better with women, when we were confined to our limits, there were things we developed that were unique to who we were and were likely altered by our gender and beliefs. Kind of like being stuck in an insane asylum or behind closed doors without knowing when it would all be normal again and when we’ll come into touch with reality. The reality we knew was no more and we were lost in the past. We escaped from the corporate world and reached into the unknown. Moser’s work shows what was possible when you’re stationary and when nobody can assist.The absurdity is an additional dimension, it offers depth and continuation throughout the piece, it makes you wonder what will happen next and it holds the viewer in an exposed and uncomfortable situation. If I saw this during COVID, I would say the piece would be asking me to be one with it. To forget the life we lived and to prepare for a new beginning. To offer what we could with no interaction between souls and to produce when the world came to a halt.

What Parents Say – Final Video

Found Image, Audio

What do parents say is a montage of overlaying clips with messages that parents typically say. More tied to what I’ve heard my parents say but of course it can be very relatable since this has become a genre across social media platforms where we recreate what we see and hear from our parents.


Previous idea: Found Images, My World
Very psychological and thought from my experiences, my brain. Happiness, pain, moments, life. It was a much stronger and weirder combination which points fingers at exactly what I’m feeling.

MFA STUDIO TOUR

Wendy Bishop and Dylan Cullen

Bishop created long exposure shots whilst playing the violin , then printed them out. This piece, known as Resonating – Photography. Shows incredible skill of offering a view whilst it flashes across the horizon.

Bishop creates large (featured 40x72inch), mathematical paintings with various squares and boxes of a variety of colours, interconnecting. As featured in one of the photos, you see displayed, Sound Resonances, based on Bach’s Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. It is using the medium oil on canvas.

Cullen creates large paintings and photos as well. Bishop and Cullen work together a lot when creating art and displaying it alongside each other within various spaces.

Cullen offers a photographic view in various women’s purses and continues this style through to her paintings. Women doing their makeup and taking photos in the washroom, a current trend and relatable action for young women. You may have seen these artworks at the Juried Art Show as well!

I found the open door MFA opportunity as an amazing opportunity to see what older year students are working on and how their practices have advanced. As I’ve had photography classes with these individuals, seeing their improvement really is an incredible opportunity. As their given the freedom to work in their own open space to create whatever their minds offer, the unique offerings and skill shine. I remember going to this MFA event last year as well and comparing the two, each year is very different. This offers insight into where our careers in art can take us for the future as we are following in similar steps and studying in the same environment. The spaces at Guelph offer us an opportunity like no other to improve and craft our brand.

Temporary Tattoo Design

For the temporary tattoo design project we learned how to use special printer paper to create temporary tattoos. This is another form of possible media in which an artist can display their work or display a meaning. For my project I had cutouts of cars. Not just any cars, cars from the corrupt officials in Romania. Highlighting this new form democracy from a formerly communist state, the rich are still getting richer. Those Bugatti’s are funded from tax payer dollars when we thought they were going towards building a new bridge or at least building a highway because the roads are horrendous and it is 2025. How are you buying million dollar cars if the roads aren’t even good enough for them to be drivable on?