Liu Bolin is a Beijing-based artist who paints himself and "disappears" into his work. His work is not exclusive to just aesthetic purposes but to raise awareness about the political and social issues that rise with economic development.

1. Do you think his work addresses a problem on a universal level or specific just to that area?
2. Is his work impactful and informative? If so, how?
3. Do you or someone you know have a personal story or experience that relates to the 'theme" of his work?Please share.

Culture Jamming

A group of musicians/visual artists called Negativland are said to have coined the term "culture jamming" in the 1980's.

Culture Jamming is a practice in which activists subvert mainstream cultural icons as a form of social commentary. A lot of these efforts seek to reclaim public spaces.

Over the years Negativland's "illegal" collage and appropriation based audio and visual works have touched on many things - pranks, media hoaxes, advertising, media literacy, the evolving art of collage, the bizarre banality of suburban existence, creative anti-corporate activism in a media saturated multi-national world, file sharing, intellectual property issues, wacky surrealism, evolving notions of art and ownership and law in a digital age, and artistic and humorous observations of mass media and mass culture (from negativland.com).

Here is a famous piece from Negativland entitled Gimme the Mermaid. In this piece,music and images from Disney's The Little Mermaid are juxtaposed with dialogue from a phone conversation and the song Gimme gimme gimme by the punk band Black Flag.

Ron English

Self described "popaganda" artist Ron English likes to make waves. His work provides a constant flow of social commentary. English makes controversial art in the studio and as graffiti. Frequently English (illegally) commandeers a pre-existing billboard as his canvas. Here is an example in which English "borrows" not only a billboard, but also the materials and style of Pablo Picasso's Guernica.

English's work frequently uses humor

to dampen (or sometimes exacerbate)

the controversial aspects of his work.

What is English trying to say in this piece entitled "cloud?"

Tell us what you think about these pieces.

Are they offensive? Stupid? Profound?

Take the polls!

Propaganda in Visual Culture

Powers of Persuasion

I Want You by James Montgomery Flagg, 1940

Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other more subtle forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of Americans just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign with clearly articulated goals and strategies to encourage public support, and it recruited some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers to help with it.

Definitions
Persuasion is the act of getting someone to take a particular action or to change a particular belief.

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitudes of people toward some cause or position.

Click on the link below to view the online exhibition.
This exhibition is split into two parts. Choose 1 or 2 topics from each part to explore the questions; however, feel free to view the entire exhibition.


Link:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/powers_of_persuasion_home.html


These questions are provided to help facilitate the discussion.

1. What emotions do the images convey?

2. What words, colors, and images are chosen for impact?

3. In what ways do the posters glamorize or vilify war or the people involved?

4. Using the list of terms and the links provided, which types of techniques are used in these posters? Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial Plain Folks, Card Stacking, Band Wagon

If you are not familiar with these terms use the links provided:
http://mason.gmu.edu/~amcdonal/Propaganda%20Techniques.html


5. Do you think propaganda/persuasion techniques still exist in our society? If so, where? How?

Click on the link and view these online ads.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/news
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FWHlPVwJKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6rj5jisB7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNkhw2PsZQk

6. After viewing the exhibit and the online ads, what are the similarities? What are the differences?

7. How does technology affect the way propaganda is created? Disseminated?

8. How does technology affect the way we view propaganda?

9. Are propaganda/persuasion practices positive or negative?



Additonal information :
Why think about propaganda?
http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/intro.why.html
http://www.acjournal.org/holdings/vol5/iss3/articles/visual/visual.htm
http://propaganda.mrdonn.org/techniques.html#INTRO

Dissect an AD
The PBS election guide web site “By The People” makes the following argument for why political advertisements should be looked at more carefully.
http://www.pbs.org/elections/savvydissect.html

Federal Arts Project
Listen to the author, Roger Kennedy, discuss his book, When Art Work, about Pres. Roosevelt’s, Federal Art Projects under the New Deal.
http://wamu.org/audio/dr/09/12/r2091208-29173.asx

Teacher Resources:
If you are a teacher and would like to do a similar project with your class, click on the following:
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=405
http://propaganda.mrdonn.org/lessonplans.html
http://www.frankwbaker.com/propaganda.htm

Dance. How the mode of expression serves meaning.

Dance can express certain thoughts and emotions better than many other art forms. Here are two great examples of dance that do just that... express something that can't be done quite as well in any other way. Here are a few ideas for discussion. Please share your thoughts.

What kinds of emotions and ideas are expressed by these examples?

What kinds of emotions or ideas would be best expressed by something other than dance?

Which of these two examples do you relate to more? Why?

Stanley Kubrick used the song "Singin' in the Rain" in a scene in his classic movie "A Clockwork Orange."
For those of you who have seen the movie, how does Kubrick use the music (and a few dance gestures) to evoke very different emotions than the original?

Here is a prototype of what we want a "listening party" to look like. Participants are invited to check out the piece of music and leave responses on the blog. The "party" aspect comes from the idea that we want to plan on posting, having people look at, and respond to something as a group within a certain time frame.

We will include some direction to the conversation by asking questions or providing information about the work of art/who created it/ its cultural significance, etc.

Here are the questions/information/topics for the prototype "party"...

1. How are the words and their meaning shaped by the music Mahler composed?

2. Can you relate to the character in the song? If so, how? If not, why?

3. The movie "Coffee and Cigarettes" by Jim Jarmusch includes a vignette in which this song plays a role. If anyone has seen the movie, how does hearing the song in this way affect your understanding of the film?

All comments are welcome. We intend to present materials that we think are important, but don't be afraid to respectfully express contrary opinions.






Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!


English translation by Emily Ezust taken from:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html

I am lost to the world
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me
Whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world's tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,
In my love and in my song!