During this project I chose to visit the Zabludowicz Collection and see their exhibition ‘World Receivers’. The Exhibition, curated by Tiffany Zabludowicz, is pioneered by Cindy Sherman and Isa Genzken with fourteen other artists also involved. The space has been used by these artists to explore the theme of individuality and its links with identity, politics and sociology with the freedom we have today. I decided on going here to explore my CTS research as I have been writing about identity and individuality and how it comes into play with our social media world. I discovered this exhibition was on due to my following of Signe Pierce- an artist featured at the space. I adore her aesthetic and sociological reasonings for the work she creates as they more often than not relate to ideas im interested myself to explore.

Within the space Pierce has her own installation titled ‘VORTEXTUALITY’. The space is covered in her signature holographic which is almost hidden by a sheet of fabric which alludes to the idea from the outside that firstly;  is it somewhere where were ‘allowed inside’ and secondly; one youre inside it is almost as if youre closed off from whats happening outside. The first interaction with her installation did spark many thoughts when analysing the use of the fabric, of course it is not uncommon to simply mask an exhibition space like this but the fact we question ourselves in wether were socially ‘allowed’ to view an interactive art piece was significantly interesting. Inside the colourful space you almost feel like you been transported into one big infinity mirror, the holographic materials manipulating the structure of the room itself and confuses you on where you are Pierce’s aim throughout the exhibition is to create portal like installations that could transport you to another place- this is very connotive to how I receive the installation to be representative of social media. Online we are transported to a alternate universe of ourselves or whom we pretend to be. To add to this point, the use of the holographic sheets and the lighting on top of them also repeats reflections- this reminded me of a real life glitch effect which is an unreal way to represent social media in real life as its almost the online world being shown in real life. The way the sheets are hung are also very intriguing-as she wanted to represent identity tone fluid, I believe she had them loose and relaxed from the ceiling to show how identity isn’t rigid and structured. On the tv placed in the room,not only can you see yourself in this ‘world like’ situation but every few seconds a filter is changed and added on the screen to manipulate the image. Filters/ effects used mimicked the photo booth app on Mac which distorts how you see your appearance.

Seeing Signe Pierce’s ‘VORTEXTUALITY’ was super interesting for me. Although the space was only small I felt due to the distortion I was in almost another world and not a box room. I also felt the use of the TV made me feel like within this small room I was a performer or the only thing of importance- I took away from this as a member of the audience that online and in our virtual reality of social media Pierce was trying to show how we are infact an online performer and identity is a highly unique, fluid and layered concept.

 

From the CTS session about surveillance; I began thinking of social presence in different terms. Social presence of a woman compared to the sense of self, of queer people in social spaces and also the contrast between our social self compare to our online persona (an example would be influencers). All of this connects due to the constant monitoring of these people within society and social situations even though the visability of the individuals In these groups aren’t apparent when they need it. Im very keen in looking into the social media aspect of our social selves and how do followers come into play under the term of surveillance. More often than not Generation X will ‘complain’ that Instagram and social media is a load of rubbish as people are so much invested in it that it can be individuals only careers- this also led me to thinking how our sense of self can potentially be warped / manipulated by the environment of online culture.

Firstly, I wanted to explore the ideas between social identity and our own sense of self in terms of social media. Social media when you critically think about it is such a new development and creation within modern day technology- it has had such an impact on everyone within the world in any different ways and often not for the better depending on own personal experiences. When posting to the likes of instagram, you can control the way you are portrayed, what aesthetic of style you want to show off and also manipulate your body and face. For the likes of festival bloggers, in order to easily show off what you’re selling and promoting in order to earn more traffic and deals, more often than not these bloggers will saturate their photos, post colourful edits, use glitter effect filters to connote the popular trend of festival fashion. In October 2018 and article come out that was very striking to a lot of instagram users about how their favourite influencers have been caught out in faking an entire life style- this was very eye opening to a lot of readers and started a trend between you-tubers of trying to prank their subscribers and followers into thinking they went; on holiday, a festival, are rich etc.- This exposed the instagram reality of promotion and being an influencer. This makes a lot of sense as a large majority of festival influencers gain popularity for their shock value of what they’re wearing; Pants with bum cheeks cut out, wearing almost any dress to ‘go to the shops’, wearing nipple pasties for a day trip etc. All these attributes gain attention and following as the majoirty of the followers wouldn’t do that themselves / haven’t got the confidence to do this so instead follow them in order to see more extreme content. The reality of this though moving the surveillance of the followers and brand deals, a lot of these influencers are infact the same as their followers; they create this wild persona of people who aren’t scared to go out in just a bikini on a casual day but instead create this fake realty in exchange for more popularity and sponsorships. Of course this isn’t always the case- when being the likes of a festival blogger, the key is in the name to go to festivals and wear these outfits like a lot of them do, but festivals and summer events aren’t always around so what else is there to photograph and create in minus degree weather/ its too cold to go out in booty shorts and chaps. When your career is a niche online branch such as its important to keep up the persona / aesthetic otherwise you will eventually lose the crowd, sponsorships and endorsements yourecieve for posting such content.

Although this example is in terms of profit and majority business, this example follows suit in personal life. Through images you have the means to capture what you want people to see, you can play about with filter colour effects to create a mood to your photograph, its a skill of art. With this individuals with no agenda other than themselves can portray themselves in a particular way to other people. By this, I mean someone through social media can portray themselves socially as a particular style/ look/ aesthetic/ type of character where as in their sense of self they may be completely different. This example though of the use of social media for a sense of persona in social situations can backfire and do the complete opposite; Someone may have a sense of self being X and wanting to portray themselves as X through instagram; through there efforts though they could be watched and received as Z- not what they aimed for. This use of peer surveillance through social media means that the individuals audience (society) all has different experiences and backgrounds meaning their use of manipulating themselves on social media can be effects depending on these factors. This idea of self manipulation of the online world led me to research Robbie Cooper and his work ‘Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators’. His creation explores the people behind gaming avatars and the link of their creation versus himself, although instagram isn’t gaming I feel like relates greatly in the way we can sit at home by ourself and manipulate images into something ultimately so unreal it isn’t us.

This idea then led to the exploration further of manipulation of a persons self online through the likes of facetune which is now wildly popular but also the surveillance people and celebrities who use this are under. An example of this would be the newly popular expose accounts such as @beauty.false. This type of instagram account will take images influencers posts online and not only compare them to photos of the influencer in normal day/ without lighting filters etc, but they also have started pointing out ethical issues. This falls under many umbrellas including what image / goals they give off to impressionable audiences, how an influencer looks in real life compared to their obvious photoshop and editing plus discussing and showing the likes of the new trend of ‘black fishing’ thats been noted among influencers.

Black fishing is when someone who is white manipulates themself online (and also in real life) to have what society deems the attractive attributes of a black woman. This includes having golden brown skin, curly hair, big lips, big hips and appropriating cultural practices they do (e.g hairstyles that have been used over years to keep black hair in top condition such as cornrows). The reason I believe not only this relates to the theme of surveillance in terms of sense of selves, is due to the fact these accounts take into consideration why these celebrities may photoshop or manipulate a certain image and instead of bashing them to a social presence such as ‘cancel culture and exposing culture’ now does, but instead educates a presence that this isn’t reality and the influencers sense of self is warped thus making them want to manipulate their social self into their own ideal. This type of account has now socially become a trend, meaning lots of other people have decided to make their own expose style accounts to watch these influencers under a microscope.

This type of body manipulation via apps like facetune works in a number of levels- mainly by creating unrealistic goals for passive yet influential audiences but also: by getting the original picture before the likes of facetune; you can manipulate the model by angles and lighting.  When posting online; were all guilty for wanting to get the best picture possible- we all want to look nice, but what do we deem as nice? The more an audience surveils an influencer- they will pick up common trends amongst a group of celebs. The biggest example of this would be the Kardashians, when Kylie Jenner was noted to have larger hips and a bigger bum than usual contrasting to her tiny waist, many people were in awe and confusion meaning it was a large discussion and several articles going viral (such as the daily mail) for bringing this subject to light. Because she is attractive and reposted everywhere- this ideal body became a trend. people started getting butt implants and silicone in their hips to achieve this look. When this became a trend influencers were called ‘insta baddies’ for following this crowd. Not everyone has the means to afford this which lead to the over use of facetune and photoshop to create this figure, leading again to how ‘exposing’ accounts found their first subject. This surveillance of someones social self persona lead to a massive trend that is still going on today and leading to false hopes and goals people strive to achieve.

In conclusion I feel like due to social media and how were all under surveillance by not only our followers but society, The gap between an individuals sense of self versus their social self in widening and becoming more apparent which I find uncomfortable and like a Black Mirror episode in real life. The two contrast and can be swapped around with one another in different situations but in reality what we see online isn’t a real projection of someone: wether its their aesthetic, life, style, body, personality anreven race. Instagram culture in my eyes has become very damaging in creating a false sense of reality where our online social personas create their own highlight real narrative of their life: Instagram posts aren’t real and will never be ‘us’.

In this CTS lesson we discussed the idea of visability vs visuality within the term of surveillance. In other words; What can be seen vs how we see it. You think of this statement in both ways being visual representations, An example of this could be the perception of muslims in western media: What can be seen could be the rate of Muslims in the UK from 2008 compared to 2018 versus how it is present to us and how we perceive it; Depending on beliefs someone may think its bad, good or neutral.

One quote that was mentioned was “Visability is a trap”. This could be perceived in many ways. Some points I noted where: Youre always vulnerable, You can face more backlash the more viable you are, you mightn’t want to be seen. Youre just an object of vision- (Panopticism) for society.

I started to think about the sense of self in public vs in private- similar to visibility vs visuality and how we portray ourself. As a lot of my work features social media and aspects of social performance im really intrigued by this debate and hope to not only focus on this in my essay on the usual narratives of the social presence of women compared to men- but race, class and gender expression in terms of possibly society vs online vs in private. I also want to use this idea in my Locating practice work. Ive been meaning to focus on the object of what is femininity in terms of the mcbling aesthetic but contrasting this with social class- exploring how your class plays a part In your social and self portrayal.

 

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In this session, we explored and discussed the importance and necessities of institutions and ultimately their importance. We began discussing the different types of institutions- the ones that you can select via free will vs the ones that make you need them / cant live without.

Institutions of free will consist of an example such as the Santander bikes around london. The bikes are available to anyone who has access to them and a credit / debit card to pay for it. They’re always mostly available and there are many points around the city to pick them up and drop them off as you wish. There is no harsh advertisements or gimmicks to drag you in and force you to us them, you can freely decide if its something you want to do with no major societal or financial pressure.

In contrast to this, something I thought about was Apple inc as an institution. Apple dominate the Laptop, computer but mainly the phone industry. Apple is everywhere, everyone has at least one apple product and its constantly the talk online. Whether its a new software release, a New model has been created or It’s being compared as the better off in memes also featuring android phones-you cant escape Apple. Its a social and classist expectation of people of all ages and backgrounds to own at least an iPhone, even better if its the newest edition.

One aspect I also looked at was the concept of charities as institutions alongside their involvement of money. This lead me to think about water aid and how only a small percentage of donations actually go to the water aid help, the rest going to advertisement and in the back pockets of their owners.  Of course there should be some donation aside to use for promotional and education purposes if it will be well used but in this case it appears.

In this session, we discussed the previously read text but more so discussed the use of objects and their social role.

Firstly, we were pointed out that objects are an extensions of human form, meaning we connect ourself physically to objects with the example of being a chair as without them we would have to ‘squat’. This then progressed into the idea of bar stools, how some bar stools are placed and created for individuals with no children to perhaps stay only a short time. This also lead to the conversation that objects are merely just actors. They have personality and actions they create will draw attention, An example of this would be someone sat down and the chair collapsed underneath them, the chair would have the spotlight and all attention would be drawn to it. It was about the human connection to objects as well as the mental connection

In week 1, 11th of feb, we were introduced to the ‘future of image’ diagram which is ironically and image itself, this was after reading page 151-163 of Bruno Latour-missing Masses.

In the text, I received these pages as an explanation of the ideology of how each piece of technology has an impact on society and our socialisation. The prime example of this was hinges, man would have to physically break a hole in the wall in order to pass but now can easily open the door and have it close behind him, allowing the action to repeat. This was then evolved into a groom (doorman) granting entrance. This the made me think about club bouncers and how they can dictate entrance and can control the insides behind the door.

When looking at the ‘Future of them image’ diagram, the subtitle explains how basically once the diagram is understood in means of work and logic, we will have ultimately worked out AI and the future of image. When analysing some of the links, all of this came back to me and related to myself as our relation to each other through images- an output of technology. The nature of this map is to show how every concept has a link in some shape or form. This ranged for me like the likes of a USB stick, through different concepts, it appears to be connecting with compression (the act of making a file smaller), to linking with watermarking. Watermarks are added to images so that they can’t be used without permission, The watermark can be placed onto a compressed file or image to further stop this, A watermark may be labelled on the usb to show the brand of purchase or its quality etc and coming full circle; A compression may be needed to fit into the usb max file sizes or to be put into a machine with a maximum GB.

In week 9 of CTS, We planned our essays but also read about the use and effect of denotations and connotations. Denotations and connotations is something I have a background in.

During my A-Levels I studied media studies where I learned the importance of them and what an object could potentially cause and effect. I used the knowledge I had of them through my artwork as I like to work conceptually, meaning that when I create something I often than not prefer having connotations for my art direction, angles, mis en scene etc. I planned to use this effect throughout my current work as I believe connotations show links surrounding my work and the reasonings that are more subtle. In the Connotation and dentition worksheet I read, Roland Barthes gives a perfect example when discussing ‘The Photographic Message’ (1961) of how these semiotics are used. He says the attribute of denotations to an image (photography) simply shows that the image has no code or no meaning. Contrasting this with an image using connotations, the image then has a code of something historical- meaning that in order to understand the connotation we tustve learned about it previously.

An example of a connotation we tustve learned would be the connotations of simply the colour red. People perceive red as a representation or ‘code’ for: Love, Anger, Passion, Rage, Valentines day, Festive, Blood or Lust. These connotations come from both primary and secondary socialisation. An example of connotations in film could be from American Beauty. The most iconic scene in this film is where the protagonist lays in a bed of rose petals and is sprawled out elegantly tot show off her figure as more red petals fall on her. This is a connotation for how the main character envisions her in his dreams of being lustful and desirable. Through cultural changes in film, this scene has been referenced in codes of entertainment. In 2009 a woman tried to surprise and seduce her partner by pending thousands of pounds to recreate the alluring scene (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4606130/Valentine-lover-recreates-rose-petal-scene-from-American-Beauty.html). If someone had saw this image without knowing the referencing behind it, they may not understand the origin of inspiration. Also, from the American Beauty scene; roses now have a more significant meaning to show passion and lust, hence why also a lot of people on valentines day may cover their bed in roses for their partners as a surprise and initiation fro romance.

Denotations also are used frequently in our entertainment and lifestyle culture but something are over looked. Because with denotation there is no hidden meaning its often only used in reference to an evaluation. Bignell, J giveth perfect example that a Rolls Royce car’s denotation that its just a car- where as its connotations of its use would be luxury and wealth.

Semiotics is something I will always use in my work as the viewer has a ‘aha!’ moment when they see a reference they understand. For me it makes my work more interesting and I can address and portray situations the way I want to through my use of something so simple as choosing a colour over another. Although sometimes people get carried away with connotations, it still give the audience an insight to their own reality of the work.

In this CTS lesson we learnt the importance of capitalisation of the alphabet and where the origin of their importance began and came from. I found this lesson very interesting and enlightening from not only why capitals are used in normal language, but the connotations behind their use alongside how they are changeable in different environments.

My first thought was how respected jobs, institutions and educational levels within society are all capitalised, this was including; Dr, PhD, BA, MA, ‘LAPD’, UAL. This asserts a hierarchy in society of power between people for e.g if someone is studying a ‘BA in DFAD’ versus somebody ‘unemployed’. Whilst on first thought many people believe the two words does not have a divide- Upon further look the capitalisation of something more ‘respectable’ Boosts the individual and systematically shows them that they are in theory more respectable.

During the class I debated with a fellow classmate who believed that taking notice of this situation would just ‘fuel bigotry’ and drives our ‘snowflake society’.  My point against this individual that in order to move on in society and erase the systematical hierarchy we must acknowledge the past and how in grained this system is.  In my opinion it clearly does create a barrier especially within the education system. It appears to me the more capitalisation is used the more of a higher status and power you have. An example of this would be: “Mr John Smith JR who has GCSCE’s, a BA, MA and a PHD to come a DR” in contrast with the likes of “Miss Jane Smith who has 5 GCSE’s”. From a first glance of records you would believe Mr Smith would be more respectable, intelligent, be wealthy and successful due to his achievements. Although this may be the case due to Miss Smith’s lack- it still wouldn’t mean that she doesn’t qualify for any the above (Successful, Happy etc). The same goes in the business realm to add to this; If a new company creates a brand name all lower case and portrays this on the logo, they may be seen as independent, unprofessional and if they’re going for an exclusive look they won’t achieve it, where as capitalisation or full word capitalisation gives authority and a air of formality. An example of this would be like comparing the “Yves Saint Laurent” logo, a brand built upon elegance and exclusivity, to the likes of “depop”- an all lower case logo for an app designed to re sell old and used clothes or independent brands.

To conclude on this matter; Ive discovered the origin of capitalisations and how we perceive them may effect our interactions with an individual, group or industry. Although something so simple-  they denote many aspects on how we read and process particular words, expressions, brands, meanings etc. This has made me also very aware within my own work how I may use texts, fonts and lettering in the future depending on its brand identity and whether capitals will effect how it may be received.

Referencing is a systematical way to credit authors, painters, sociologists etc to their work or providence of information. It is also described as a way to explain where particular information has been sourced from. There are many types of referencing styles, including Harvard referencing format within essays or the likes of captioning found images by their producer, time, date etc legitimately. 

One of the many reasons why we should use referencing is to give credit to the producer. If you had created a piece of work and someone for example used your piece of work to aid their own essay and had their work advertised, you would not receive any recognition for whatever they had used of your property. This could lead to missed opportunities, revenue loss, copyright infringements, a feeling of disrespect and most importantly; you simply wouldn’t be recognised for your hard work which has benefitted another person. An example of a good and often overlooked reference would be in a gallery space. A variety of work and images upon display are open to the public, not only is this a great opportunity for the artist to show off their creations but someone may want to study they creator more, therefore the likes of artist statements and captions are useful so that is easy to locate the source. 

When somebody doesn’t reference, like stated earlier, lots of issues may arise. One large issue which comes with not referencing is plagiarism. Within the likes of essay academic essay writing, If a student or even an author submits a piece of writing where they have copied and pasted something simple as a sentence from online; the individual could be penalised for using somebodies information as their own. This can come with legal consequences also, the original source owner may have taken copyright acts out onto this piece of work meaning that if someone was to use it without their permission or credit they could potentially face a legal fine or more serious consequences. An often mistake of referencing is amongst students such as myself writing dissertations or other form of essay submissions not referencing their evidence, quotes or “copy and pastes”. This ends up with them being penalised or even disqualified from their qualification marking as it is legally classed as plagiarism. In September 2018 ITV reported that thousands of students where under investigation for misconduct, all including plagiarism within work and exams. They also reported that amongst students there was 7000;s reported cases of plagiarism in 2015/2016, where as there was only 6,600 in 2016/2017.

Finally, It is hard to always reference every single thing you write about. Sometimes its confusing when you’re talking about a subject and think that it must be referenced when it may not need to be. Im very aware of the fact I must be careful when writing in essays as I do not want this to not only happen to me, but discredit another artist for their work and yet give them the attention they deserved.

When I visited 180 The strand for the “strange days: memories of the future” exhibition, I didn’t initially know what to expect. The sentence “Memories of the future” highly intriugs me as a memory is something we can recollect from a past experience, where as if we place this in the context of the future; it is almost like we predicting what a future could be in possibly certain contexts. The fact it was all moving image based, When using film or video- it is easy to warp and document a particular ideology or point of view as the audience will often forget that it may not be reality and take it for fact, causing a personal relation. If a particular artist had a certain point of view of the future it is easy to show this concept in positive light or be biased towards their agenda.

Due to alot of the work being on social commentary, It opened up a forum of discussion with not only my peers but also from what I saw online.

One of the most talked about installations I viewed was ‘Jungle of desire’ by Wong Ping. The primary coloured geometric animation tells a story about a husband who hides in his wardrobe watching as him wife becomes a prositute to boost her own sexual pleasure which she feels she isn’t receiving from him, As the animation continues you begin to notice that the husband forms a Herd of jealousy towards the men after an undercover police man begins to take advantage of his wife, Feeling this- the husband talks about wanting to harm the officer through a deep depression and eventually killing him with his own farts. Although the animation is very humorous, its a form of dark comedy in the way the reality of it would be highly upsetting for an individual but the way in which it is described is childishly comical.

In terms of the exhibition theme, You could say the husbands memory of the future would be killing the villain using his own farts for blackmailing his lover- in simpler terms; Brightening his future by fantasying of getting rid of evil. In a serious soicoiolgical context, Sex work is a hugely taboo subject and when a woman especially choses to go into the sex industry, a lot of the times she receives unwanted commentary on her sociolgical value. To add to this point- Although the female may opt for this career, they may often be taken advantage of.As sex workers have such a low rank in society, many customers will abuse this by either not paying, becoming violent, treating them with little or no respect or acting out disturbing fetishs’ or criminal acts due to purely a social ranking. This animation for me was a commentary on this issue which was executed in an amusing way so that the audience could engage in something they believe is a comedy when in reality the more you think about its connotations, you see its really a social comment. 

I personally found each exhibition work fitting in their own way, whether it was obvious, subtle, connotive or simple social and historical commentary. Although as said that some pieces were not explicitly commentary on the concept of future, I believe that many where simple a capture of our current world and how beautiful or destructive it may be. An example of this for me was ‘4th floor to mildness’ by Pipilotti Rist. In this piece of interactive work the audience must lie on a bed in order to view the projected videos of sea life and ceans onto cloud shaped surfaces above. This was very intimately feeling to me and was conotive of dreaming what a future could be like, this resonated with me due to the extinction of the great barrier reef and the way the earth environment is declining. It simply showed how beautiful our world is and could maintain to be. 

From just entering the venue I was very overwhelmed due to the style of curation and size of the exhibition as it resembled very much a labyrinth but after a while you begin to find the flow of each of the rooms. Unless you have 3-4 hours to spare as ‘The londonist’ suggested, like me you would feel very overwhelmed by the lengthy pieces and large amount of gallery space. This was further emphasised by the large concept of what the exhibition was curated around- Lots of the works as mentioned previously were very self interprative which many could find this confusing.

To conclude, I thoroughly enjoy this exhibition. It was eye opening, very thoughtful in its curation and execution, engaging and was appealing for artists who all have different visual aesthetics they may be attracted to (e.g animation, film, documentary). I wish to visit the space again to not only re-process the works but also for future exhibitions as the curation was overwhelmingly brilliant throughout its structure and how it forced you to visit every ideology to understand each persons interpretation.