Author: ryehezke

Roee

Critique of Minimalism: Banner Project

My banner is called Critique of Minimalism. My banner is a statement on the commerciality of minimalism, pointing out how minimalism has been used by many brands to sell products to consumers and trick them with pops of colour and fun fonts. Minimalism has begun to make all brands look dull and the same because minimalism simplifies artistic integrity. In response I went to my local Metro and put up this banner in front of the cereal section, I chose the cereal section as a metaphor for spoon feeding capitalism. I also chose to make the banner and the photo itself maximalist to further express my frustration with minimalism, as the minimalist brands melt into each other as they fill the photo with detail.

Video Ideas:

Ludonarrative dissonance: When the narrative and the gameplay contradict each other. Critiquing how a video game might completely ignore the violence in its own game and end up contradicting itself. Also shouting out games that subvert Ludonarrative dissonance.

The Good Kid M.A.A.D City piece in the AGO really struck me as it takes the album and enhances the story by showing the songs stories and messages visually. The visuals shown are all of Compton as the videos and music paint a portrait of systematic racism and poverty. I really liked how well the video piece went along with the album as the album itself plays out as a film. Especially the blend of newer and older pieces from Compton and Kendricks career like the Compton Courthouse being shown from the Not Like Us video by Kendrick Lamar.The Good Kid M.A.A.D City piece in the AGO really struck me as it takes the album and enhances the story by showing the songs stories and messages visually. The visuals shown are all of Compton as the videos and music paint a portrait of systematic racism and poverty. I really liked how well the video piece went along with the album as the album itself plays out as a film. Especially the blend of newer and older pieces from Compton and Kendricks career like the Compton Courthouse being shown from the Not Like Us video by Kendrick Lamar.

Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Today technology surrounds us everywhere. Our everyday life has been completely consumed by devices, weather it be our phone going with us to meet friends, watching TV, or doing homework on a laptop, in today’s climate we are surrounded by an ecosystem of metal and software. This writing predicts the outcome of a human world consumed by screens as it plainly explains in its title Amusing Ourselves to Death.

This information cycle has caused humanity to flatten the value of information as they are strung together in an incoherent and almost psychotic fashion. A rape of a women being reported cheerfully by an announcer, followed by Janet Jackson’s nip slip on live television and a Coors Lite commercial. This has also sprung a phenomenon of television in a way raising the youth, many college kids would feel attacked by the books thoughts on television, feeling as if they have to defend their “culture” or “parents”.

It becomes impossible to properly digest and breakdown information and stories shown in the news cycle because of how quickly this cycle moves and how it gives no room for intellectual conversation or thought. It becomes impossible to possibly deconstruct and understand a topic especially one with sensitive or political material, instead we get drivel that is posted throughout socials and the news until it moves to the next story. Perpetually putting the internet in a cycle of misinformation and misinterpretation, where being correct is not important but posting first is.

This book is extremely accurate and has a lot to talk about in todays climate, and as time goes on I believe this writing will only become more and more relevant as humanity dives deeper into our own amusement and finally be the death of us.

Spider-Man

Spiderman is playing his new game Spiderman PS4, as he becomes more and more frustrated defending the actions of his in game self. This video highlights youtube let’s play and twitch culture while also pointing out the ludonarrative dissonance present in many video games throughout time. Spiderman is supposed to be a non violent hero who doesn’t kill or brutally injure his enemies, although throughout the game Spiderman is shown to continually beat up and harm the people he fights and the game itself is littered with explosions and death. Spiderman as a content creator Spiderman has very little emotion, instead he ends up flattening the meaning of everything in front of him as he become nulled to the violence and dialogue around him. Begging for subscribers and likes while the screen is extremely concluded with different gameplay screens and chats. This is a spoof on the lets play and streaming culture that has become heavily intwined with video game culture.

I was raised by tv:

When my family first moved to Canada I was very very young (around 1 or 2 years old) and as a response to this new world around me I would look to the television. To a young me television was the closest thing I had to real North American culture (or so I thought). Many of the lessons I learned were ones stated to me by television in a very unhealthy manner. This project stitches together harmful messages or beliefs that the television advocated for while paralleling it with zombie people staring endlessly and eating up these messages (like a young sponge taking in everything around them). Don’t get to close to the tv, it will make you cruel. A sentence that in my mind perfectly describes what happens to young minds when ingesting this black tar and how it will change you and make you a meaner person.

MFA:

Neil Postman:

  • Aldous Huxley is an english writer and philosopher who wrote Brave New World where he imagined a frightening dystopian future not too far from our own
  • One where people are distracted by superficial quick pleasure like drugs and entertainment, while forgetting what is important and real
  • He argued that capitalism and this society we harboured is one that controls people through instant pleasure, happiness, and diversions
  • Neil Postman agreed with Huxley in his thoughts about entertainment and control, but he focused primarily on the media and especially television
  • He argued that television would be used to distract and entertain. That politics, laws, and news would become more a form of entertainment than anything else

Introduction

Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

  • This quote encapsulates what Huxley feared
  • A society that is controlled not by repression or fear, but by indulgence in shallow pleasures and distractions
  • The television and media that we consume and love to consume is our downfall, we are so attached to our screens that we never think to stop and… think
  • Critical thinking has dissolved as the media evolved to become quicker and the news cycles become shorter and shorter

Chapter 1

The problem is not that we are being controlled, but that we are being entertained to death.

  • This stands as the world state’s motto and the values held by this dystopian society that Neil predicted
  • Control is achieved through keeping people isolated and distracted on their phones and the news
  • Control through dopamine
    • When politics and entertainment become one in the same, it’s not that the books are censored which is a concern
    • The concern is that nobody will want to read any intellectual books

My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists – Bridget Moser:

In My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists by Bridget Moser, the author explores the contrasts between physical decay and inner resilience. Using the metaphor of dying crops, Moser reflects on personal struggles and the endurance of the human body in the face of adversity. The piece highlights how external circumstances can deteriorate and slowly whittle away at the will to survive. Although the need to live will persist, it remains strong. It delves into themes of vulnerability, personal growth, and the tension between hardship and the strength to carry on despite it all. Even when it’s time to give up hope and let go, they stay and fight through and through until the dark and bitter end.

Tattoos:

Mark Zuckerberg’s Watch was the first tattoo I made, this tattoo is the exact replica of Mark Zuckerberg’s NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR watch that he wore at his Meta connect conference. For mark the FP Journe Centigraphe Sport (his watch) is not for telling time nor is it for any other functional use. It’s mainly because it looks nice and pretty on his rist. Like a hellenist king making decorated arches for the purpose of flaunting their wealth. If he can wear a watch on his rist for no reason then so can I! This way we can all be Mark Zuckerberg with our nice watches that arent meant to actually tell you the time (: This tattoo basically serves the same function as Mark’s watch… To look nice!

Stickman Tattoo was the second tattoo I made, the tattoo goes on your two front figures and now you can have a little stickman with you at all times. The stickman is a representation of community, eternally saying hello and greeting old and new members alike. When multiple people have a stickman they become a community. This tattoo advertises the importance of community and unity in a world so divided.

PacMan Tattoo was the last tattoo I made, pac man is on multiple arms and serves as the protagonist in the middle of their own adventure. When you see a pac man on your arm or someone else’s it is a pac man on their journey through life.